
FUN!
STEVE SMITH SEE OMWC ON ROAD. HOPE HIM COME VISIT STEVE SMITH! WHILE WAIT TO SEE, STEVE SMITH MAKE LINKS FOR FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN PEOPLE. YOU READ LINKS, STEVE SMITH GO BACK CLEAN CAVE FOR VISITORS.
- THIS SAY MUCH ABOUT EU. STEVE SMITH FEEL BAD FOR COW. MAYBE STEVE SMITH ADOPT COW IF NO CAN STAY IN EU? COULD LOVE COW, PET COW AND NAME GEORGE!
- GO AWAY MOOSE! YOU NO STAY HERE! STEVE SMITH MAKE MOOSE LEAVE. DRAG MOOSE OFF AND MAKE BEHAVE. BY MAKE BEHAVE, MEAN RAPE. STEVE SMITH NO LIKE MOOSES. THEM ALWAYS BEING PESTS.
- YOU NO GET MONEY! BRITISH HOOMAN ANGRY AT EU. MAYBE HIM ANGRY ABOUT COW STORY, AND THIS REVENGE? WANT SEE DRUNK EU PRESIDENT DEMAND ENGLAND MONEY, GET HEADBUTT FROM HOOLIGAN. STEVE SMITH LAUGH AT THAT.
- THAT NOT HOW FAMILY FUN DAY GO! PHILADELPHIA STRANGE PLACE. STEVE SMITH NO GO THERE.

STEVE SMITH TRY YOGA!
I post and Steve Smith kills the thread.
Take this
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/06/09/the-g-7-summit-summed-up-in-one-photo/
Caption contest.
“Hush, Angela. Men are talking.”
Contest closed.
No matter what you say I will not have any more gruberschnizel.
Hopefully if I keep looking at her, people will think she’s the one who farted instead of me.
Angela: They put that ad-blocker detector in because of GDPR, didn’t they?
“I don’t care how long you hold your breath, Donald, Vladimir can’t come over and play today”
I’d stand but The Hat was accidentally placed with the rest of the luggage in the fuselage so I’m sitting on him until he warms up.
You know what, even if that wasn’t the case I still wouldn’t stand. Fuck you people.
“I asked for hot Quebecki piss hookers and this is what Justin sent me? Sad.”
Merkel: Ve haff vays off makink you talk!
Trump: Sorry, I’m fresh out of fucks to give.
“I can’t wait for the stupid losers at the loser Washington Post to go apeshit over this photo for no reason whatsoever. Losers!”
If multiple entries are allowed.
Trump: I don’t care if it’s a tradition, I’m not putting everyone’s drinks on the United States’s tab.
I don’t know about a caption, but look at the positioning and body language; Abe looks like he’s firmly on Trump’s side in all this.
I gather the two of them have a personal friendship, not just a “correct” diplomatic one.
You know who else teamed up with a Japanese guy?
Pavel Checkov?
Straffinrun?
He said “guy” not “gal”.
You don’t want to do a buddy comedy?
Not gonna go with Lee Marvin?
+1 Mifune
Or Frank Sinatra.
Mr Baseball?
Alec Guinness?
+1 majority of one
Michael Douglas?
David Bowie?
Bolton: I just crapped my pants and I’m glad.
Bolton: I nutted in a sock earlier fantasizing about bombing arabs
Ugh, I just ate.
“We demand you stop sitting on Justin’s head this very minute.”
I’m not going anywhere until I get my second scoop.
“I see you’ve been raiding Crooked Hillary’s wardrobe again.”
“If you let loose two buttons I could see your saggy tits. Saggy tits. Sad. Get a boob job like Melania. Oh, and you are a dumb bitch. The dumbest. Bad deal. I make the best deals. But not with saggy tits.”
This might win the “What’s Don’s internal monologue?” prize.
I think I may be over qualified for this position.
That’s the bored, annoyed Trump who’s thoughts are understandably on the fat kid.
Ha, he looks like he’s in total control there. No, seriously, he looks like the boss sitting calmly at his desk while everyone else has their hair on fire about some stupid thing.
The article is funny, too. “OMG, OMG, OMG, Look at his tie. It’s too long. OMG.”
He is heading to what might be the start of a pivotal moment in world history. Can’t say I blame him for being impatient with people who think “inclusive economic growth” is the world’s most pressing issue.
Impatience is understandable when dealing with pols. He may stumble into a good result (opening up freer trade) by threatening to do something stupid (raising tariffs if they don’t lower theirs). I’m gonna hold on judgement until we see what comes of it all.
I’m not convinced. He really seems economically illiterate. If it works out on trade it won’t be 4D chess. It will be luck.
That’s why I said “stumble” and “stupid”. Yes, he’s not playing 4D chess, but we might get something good ala Forrest Gump.
From your lips to God’s earsm
I was thinking hitler in the bunker (that scene evryone makes funny) plus trump is literally hitler
THIS SAY MUCH ABOUT EU. STEVE SMITH FEEL BAD FOR COW. MAYBE STEVE SMITH ADOPT COW IF NO CAN STAY IN EU? COULD LOVE COW, PET COW AND NAME GEORGE!
Video of STEVE SMITH with duck. Close enough.
*looks around for signs of Swiss*
Well, my time in Dallas is nearing the wrap-up. I’ve been attending the mini convention they put on in place of the store opening (Since the store was not ready to open yet). And entered the “Scrap Daemon contest with This guy. The basic format is, you get forty five minutes to make something (anything) out of random bitz in the middle of the table (the bitz are shared among the five people at the table). I managed to make a Chaos Zoat tripping over a Nurgling.
There were better entries when I left, so I doubt I’ll win.
Please say hello to Alice.
Dallas Alice.
I would have suggested saying hello to Debbie.
Eh, I’d rather not. She fucked a dog on camera.
I didn’t say you had to fuck her….
You sound conflicted.
Alice https://youtu.be/gMnPJ-bxuH0
I understand why people are into 40k but GW is such an awful company I could never get into it.
They used to be, but they changed leadership and have been a much more customer-responsive company of late.
“my time in Dallas is nearing the wrap-up”
come for the chile rellenos, stay for the drugstore cowboys and sanctimonious Prestonwood bitches
good news: UCS_escaped_TX as a username isn’t taken yet
chile rellenos is my favorite, but I’m always afraid to order it because, well, pronounce rellenos wrong and it sounds like something I don’t want.
Just point to it on the menu and give the waitress a knowing look. Be mysterious and inscrutable.
May even get you laid.
Everytime I go to the local mexican joint I get the same gay waiter, so your outcome is undesirable (for me anyway, I’m not one to judge)
Huh.
Here you go then.
but, the e makes a long a sound in spanish.
Fuck it. Can you pronounce Chile Verde?
Cheelay Bearday. Doesn’t sound like anus at all.
Just wanted to say I appreciate y’all for tolerating my late-night venting sessions.
I’ve dealt with depression and anxiety for 20+ years, including a suicide attempt and hospitalization. My daughter is too important for me to do anything like that, but when I see people like Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade giving into that urge, I understand, and that voice that still lives in the back of my mind gets a little louder. Venting helps me drown it out a bit.
So, um… I’m not sure where I’m going with this. But thanks.
Vent all you want.
You’re not alone, either. Runs in my family and apparently I got the bug too. I have it under control but I am always aware of that dark cloud that follows me around. Vent away!
If it makes you feel better, keep doing it.
Vent away. Keeping it inside makes everything worse.
Fully agree. *Furiously continues*
Even Your Future Reptilian Overlords are here to listen…occasionally
Many of us can relate JB. No worries. Checking out with responsibilities is what separates the men from the boys. That and making some poor shlep find your body. Not cool. When I get to the point of offing myself I hope I have the means to sail to the middle of the plastic swarm in the ocean and cover myself with plastic bags as I drown so a whale eats me.
That’s…oddly specific.
I really like the middle of the ocean. Regardless the ocean, although I have never technically been to the middle of any of them. There are very few people other than those on your boat so it is a good place imho. As to the bags joke, don’t you read the links bro? It is from some days ago. I will start the trend of referencing links from days past in a post if it kills me. Bad choice of words there, but you know what I mean.
I actually chuckled at the reference.
Son, vent! I like to think this is the kind of place where you can say what’s on your mind and read the uncouth, horrid responses of people who will tell you that you smell funny but still sit next to you at the bar. Seriously, though, I think we’ve got ourselves a community here, and that means people who will say all kinds of wild shit but at the end of the day be there when you need them. So vent.
^^^This x 10000
Keep venting. Do it S much as you want as long as you want.
Don’t tell him what to do!
/Libertarian
LOL
This was a pretty good day. I normally do food processing stuff on Sunday but the weather lended itself to today.
I harvested the three heads of cabbage I’ve been growing and 11# are now resting comfortably in the fermentation crock. In a sign that summer is here, I also harvested the scapes from the hard neck garlic.
I pulled several chunks of smoked brisket and pastrami out of the freezer that have been waiting until I could get to them. All is now sliced, vacuum sealed and in the deep freeze.
One Manhattan down, a glass of Pinot in hand, it’s now time to grill a couple of pork chops that have been brining with garlic and fresh herbs, and whip up a batch of garlic scape pesto pasta.
I think the evening will end with bourbon and a movie in the man cave.
Stopped over in Sioux Falls. You do NOT want to know what’s in our bottle tote.
Bring it.
Meet us in Montana.
Fermentation crock is a step into fermentation I have not taken. My fermentation endeavors stop at sour dough starter, the last of which I killed in a week. It is very dry here and I did not fully appreciate the microbial activity that appeared after two days. It was too soon in my mind and I killed it due to lack of feeding. I am a murderer of yeast. I read a book on the subject, (Katz? too drunk to look) and that is some fascinating food there.
That is the book to reference.
I didn’t like sauerkraut until I made my own. Night and day from the commercial stuff and stupid easy to make. I’ve also fermented carrots, eggplant(meh), hot sauce and half sour pickles. Daikon radish and kimchi are also on the short list.
I have no problem creating a sourdough starter; I just get lazy and forget to replenish it and change the container every week. I usually end up with pink fuzzy mold on the inside, which I read is very dangerous even after the dough is cooked.
Mine was ten years old when neglect finally did it in.
Fermenting cabbage, saur krout or kimchi?
Replenishing the sauerkraut stock. There’s always a jar in the fridge and I do choucroute a couple of times a year.
My great uncle made his own kraut. For his wake we ate what remained, it was the best I ever had. We spent a lot of time with him, but it wasn’t until then that I learned of the kraut. If I had known before I would have gotten the recipe.
The recipe is pretty standard. 3tbsp of kosher salt to five pounds of cabbage. Massage it with your hands until the cabbage gives up it’s water, which takes 5-10 minutes. Into the crock. I use one with weights and a water lock on the lid. 5+ weeks later, delight. Some let it go for months.
Where has Jon Titor been lately? Will he try to the find to the Ontario Liberals into a classical liberal party? Something they haven’t been since the Victorian Times? Even a Mitch Hepburn is too much for them…
I should mention that Turdeau Jr.’s advisors were former Dalton McGuinty advisors so we all know where Canada is going…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Democrat
uh-huh.
I’d like to see proof of that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_centrism#Policies_(in_general)
So…Cosmotarians? Seems to be what the LP wants to become…
Uh-huh. So these “radical centrists” aren’t in reality very fiscally responsible and “creating jobs in the public sector” contradicts this and they are quite willing to engage in identity politics so this is all nonsense…
IOW *our* Top Men. harnessing market forces and carefully regulating industries “for the public good”. Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?
They’ve been trying, the problem is those pesky market forces keep moving in ways they don’t want,
But surely you’re not suggesting we should embrace unfettered capitalism?!
[dramatic chipmunk music]
“COULD LOVE COW, PET COW AND NAME GEORGE!”
Now I’m imagining STEVE SMITH’s voice as sounding like the Looney Tunes abominable snow man instead of Grimlock from Transformers.
According to the official canon, hearing STEVE SMITH’s voice is like having a handful of nails thrown at your face.
Police say 37-year-old Nicole Myers then punched the vice principal. They say she then punched the principal and the two fell on the ground.
Mom’s got knock out power.
Just finished up a very fun 30 year retirement party for our Master Chief Petty Officer at Old City BBQ Williamsburg – very tasty, excellent atmosphere. Will definitely head back there in the future.
No fancy ceremony, no uniforms, just good food, music and community.
Dunno how many rock bands out there (much less Swedish bands) have ever re-recorded an album with a country western theme, but Royal Republic did a pretty good job with their “Nosebreakers” version. Specifically the modified version of “Full Steam Spacemachine” including the little rap in the middle. Fun stuff.
Well, the lead singer of Behemoth has a side band called “Me and That Man”, that’s…interesting. It’s like…well, I guess it’s like if a Polish guy who was in a black metal band decided he’d like to kind of fiddle around with blues.
Might have to look it up. Royal Republic/Nosebreakers is essentially them covering their previous songs completely. On the other hand, you have Volbeat (Danish) where it’s metal with a country western/classic tinge from the get-go – esp with the lyrics. Either way, a fun variation on a theme.
I’m a Behemoth guy, and I have to confess that while I appreciate that he’s interested in doing other stuff I’m not wild about it. I actually like country, and I like old blues, and I like death metal, and never the twain shall meet, so to speak.
Aaron Lewis from Staind went for this to country music. But he had a slow slide into mainstream first and I don’t know if he does any of his old songs as country.
Although, looks he does Mudshovel as country and it sucks.
Al Jourgensen from Ministry had a country side project called Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters.
I liked his synth-pop side project called Ministry.
Things took a turn for the better after the first album.
That may be the best country band name ever.
Drinking the Freedom Reserve from the last post. Not bad at all, and not the usually overhopped that’s the flavor of the day. Not sure I’d buy another pack but not going to dump it down the drain either.
In honor of the supposed recipe origin.
This is exactly what I wanted the link to be. I may try to find some of the Freedom Reserve as well, would be great for July 4th.
today in bathos
***
The war of words between Trudeau and Trump escalated after the U.S. president left the meeting early. Trump fired back at Trudeau’s comments in a tweet later Saturday that called the Canadian leader “meek and mild” during the meeting of allies.
…
“Canadians, we’re polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around,” Trudeau continued.
He said the country won’t hesitate to impose its own retaliatory tariffs.
“The president will continue to say what he says. I have made it clear to the president that [imposing retaliatory tariffs] is not something we relish doing, but it’s something that we absolutely will do,” Trudeau said, according to the Montreal Gazette.
***
It’s amazing how petulant Trump made world leaders look. Abe looked like he would rather be in a Karaoke bar.
Who wouldn’t?
On CNN: “Trump plunges West into crisis over summit spat”
Yeah, the entire Western world is in crisis now.
I was just remembering watching CNN on the first Gulf War. It was pretty amazing. Had I paid more attention to Bernard Shaw hiding under a desk and Peter Arnett fabricating his coverage, I wouldn’t have been as surprised when CNN went full hysterical proggy.
There’s a great movie called The Shipping News about a guy who becomes a reporter for a newspaper in a small town in New Newfoundland.
***
Billy: It’s finding the center of your story, the beating heart of it, that’s what makes a reporter. You have to start by making up some headlines. You know: short, punchy, dramatic headlines. Now, have a look, what do you see?
[Points at dark clouds at the horizon]
Billy: Tell me the headline.
Quoyle: Horizon Fills With Dark Clouds?
Billy: Imminent Storm Threatens Village.
Quoyle: But what if no storm comes?
Billy: Village Spared From Deadly Storm.
***
oopsy- delete the new
typos, I make them
Peter Arnett’s son in law is John Woo. Yes, that John Woo.
Persian Gulf I was planned by S.H.E.I.L.D. that’s why Phil Coulson was there.
Make no mistake, tariffs are dumb.
But if other leaders are so enlightened, why employ them in retaliation, hmm?
*Spoiler*, but not really. CM Punk got manhandled by a cameraman. He managed to got the distance, but is all fucked up. No more of these, please.
CM Punk is one of my favorite pro wrestlers of all time. I have multiple DVDs of his highlights from Ring of Honor. His athletic talent and his acting (as you do for pro wrestling) talent is undeniable.
He’s not a MMA fighter. I can give him credit for trying, but he should probably stop now.
Yes, he’s not an MMA fighter. I don’t watch WWE, so I have no idea about his skills there. Just no more taking places from real fighters.
“GO AWAY MOOSE! YOU NO STAY HERE! STEVE SMITH MAKE MOOSE LEAVE. DRAG MOOSE OFF AND MAKE BEHAVE. BY MAKE BEHAVE, MEAN RAPE. STEVE SMITH NO LIKE MOOSES. THEM ALWAYS BEING PESTS.” Who the hell has a swimming pool in Alaska? Does it got hot and stay hot long enough for a family to use?
Pace Juvenile Bluster…
My dad will be 86 in a month and change. They took him in today when he developed a fever which is either due to an infection or it’s what they call terminal fever. Even if it’s the former case and he gets through that infection, he doesn’t have long to go. He’s really gone downhill over the past year, and he wasn’t that well off a year ago either. He’s been on a downhill slide for four+ years due in part to Alzheimers.
The thing that gets to me the most about this situation is that I’m not really feeling as much as I “should” be in this situation. Part of the reason is because if I were tested I’d come to find out that I’m somewhere on the spectrum; another part of it is, I guess, knowing that he’s been existing in a hellish state these last few years, angry and humiliated by his condition in his more lucid moments, and that when he goes he at least won’t have to deal with that anymore. And of course, I think about me, that I absolutely want nothing to do with what he’s going through if I make it that far, but will I have the willpower to end my own life in that case? Or do it while I’m still able to carry it out on my own? And again, this is hard enough when you’ve got a wife, children, and grandchildren taking care of you; I won’t be similarly situated.
Thanks in advance for any kind words you wish to share; I’ll read them for sure, but I don’t know if I’ve got any responses in me for the rest of the night.
I used to think I’d be somewhere on the spectrum as well. Turns out I’m not. What I think is happening is that everyone is supposed to be so emotional these days that when someone isn’t, the immediate conclusion is that they’re on the spectrum in some way. Even we have come to think that. I think it really has more to do with just having the wherewithal to recognize that sometimes that’s just life and having enough control over your emotions to not let it immediately overwhelm you.
My heart goes out to you. Getting old sucks- SP and I have both dealt with and are dealing with the same kinds of issues in our families. Often, the feeling hit later, and pretty hard. That’s not comforting words, I know, but it’s unfortunately often true. On the upside, though the pain will never go away, time helps dull the sharpness of it.
Sorry to hear that. I take care of my uncle now is in late 80s, he’s in good health except the COPD. A couple years ago he had a surgery and went into a coma and wasn’t expected to make it, but he did. Not sure how I’ll deal when he passes since I lost my father a few years ago and taking care of my uncle was how I filled that void.
On taking your own life, there’s been a lot of talk about that the last couple days, it’s nothing I’d ever do or want done to me. No matter how bad life is, my existence is the only assurance I have of reality, and if reality only exists through me then killing myself or letting myself die would be the death of the whole world. I’m kind of narcissistic like that.
Wow, that’s tough. Sympathies to you and your father. I have no wisdom to offer….only the knowledge that you are not alone. Many of us have similar situations, concerns, and fears. The decision to end one’s own life is one’s own and if done for love, not spite, is difficult to criticize. That said, there are people in our lives who want and need us, even in our frailest moment. Consider that as you contemplate your situation.
Am I going to hell for being reminded of Heathers? Which reminds me, the new version, which was bound to suck ass, has been shelved because of the Boss Hogg effect.
My remaining grandparent died in November after 5 years of deteriorating health. We all knew it was coming and so did she, so none of us were very emotional.
I heard that one day, my uncle went to check on her in bed and she asked him “am I dead yet?” When he sad no, she just sighed and said “oh…damn it”.
Grandma Derpy had a great sense of humor. When I was young she told me: remember, candy is dandy but sex won’t rot your teeth.
At the funeral, most of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren (there are at least 20 of them) were there. It almost like a family reunion. One of the great grand kids said “hey- where’s Great Grandma?”
I forget which relative fielded that question, but the answer was “well, she’s in that box over there.” The great grand kid said “well let her out! she’s missing the party!”
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Congrats: you’re clear-eyed and intelligent and don’t feel any need to fit others’ life models or meet arbitrary expectations.
My excuse for a similar inappropriate intensity (heavy on the light days and light on the heavy) is a yin/yang view of every experience. The joy of bringing home a new puppy is tempered by the certainty of my delivering the coup de grace when it’s due a decade or two later. I mourned my son’s ninth birthday because it signaled to me that half my time sharing a home with him was over.
And today I luxuriated in my Dad’s shooting his best round ever on a decent course: 88. That’s nothing special for normal folk, I’m sure, but it’s a rich experience for him. It’s hot as a forge here, humid with pollen and mosquitos, so we’re riding and probably won’t return to walking our eighteens again until September. Dad’s 77, didn’t finish high school, a tough old bird from a Faulknerian nightmare who broke his dominant wrist as an infant: so he shot that 88 left-handed. He doesn’t feel sorry for himself, he likes doing nice things for others, and in a bizarre way I’m more haunted by his ignorant, violent, hillbilly childhood and his tortured coursework at the school of hard knocks than he is.
He’s still kicking, vibrant even in many ways, but I know he’ll fall off the back of the pack and be dragged down by wolves soon. So, like with the puppy, I was especially thrilled by his excellent day because I know he won’t defy gravity forever.
Nor shall I……..hang in there.
OT: Just devoured a fish pie – cod fillets in bechamel sauce with dill topped with thinly sliced potatoes and baked.
Making a good ol’ vegetable beef stew tomorrow. I made the broth out of some beef bones from the butcher. The nice thing is that when you stew the bones, a ton of fat comes out. I waited until it solidified into a nice disk, tossed it in a pot and boiled all the water out, then froze it in ice trays and made little beef fat ice cubes. Now when I want to fry something, all I have to do is toss one of those babies in the hot pan.
What are you nutcases cooking tonight and/or tomorrow?
Fried chicken thigh and a failed pan sauce that mostly stayed in the pan and some mashed potato flakes. Not my best effort. At least I learned a couple lessons for next time.
Grilled, brined pork chops and garlic scape pesto pasta. Not sure what’s on tomorrow’s menu.
I had some frozen country fried steaks, pretty good. I guess tomorrow I’m reheating the from scratch beef stew I made Thursday.
Grilled Alaskan salmon, jalapeño cheese grits, and sautéed zucchini from the garden tonight. Sous Vide beef filet, sauté mushrooms, and roasted rosemary potatoes tomorrow. Life is good.
Tomorrow will be corned beef. Served with braised buttered cabbage/shredded carrot/sauerkraut. On the side will be black and green olives, hard boiled eggs, cornichon, chilled tomato slices, and spicy pickled peppers. White wine spritzers. Chilled red grapes for dessert.
When Dean Obeidallah thinks you’re an asshole…
***
Maher, during a discussion of the economy under Donald Trump, acknowledged that it was “going pretty well.” Then Maher, the sometime liberal, shared his hope that the economy would tank to hurt Trump politically: “I feel like the bottom has to fall out at some point. And by the way, I’m hoping for it. I think one (way) you get rid of Trump is a crashing economy.”
He then jaw-droppingly added, “So please, bring on the recession. Sorry if that hurts people, but it’s either root for a recession or you lose your democracy.”
This is wrong on so many levels. It’s despicable for Maher, who is wealthy enough to have donated $1 million in 2012 to a super PAC, to root for an economic downturn in exchange for political gain.
***
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/09/opinions/bill-maher-recession-obeidallah/index.html
I think we all know our leader has little to don with it.
But does that all means politics is overvalued?
“Sorry if that hurts people, but it’s either root for a recession or you lose your democracy.”
We dont have a democracy, dickhead. We have a republic and some of us are trying to keep it in spite of you and your ilk.
For no particular reason, I advise you all to practice subscribing to youtube videos before Tuesday. It’s just a couple clicks.
CM Punk should’ve fought Holly Holm. Would’ve been closer. (Half joking)
Remember the running back Whisper Goodman?
He did MMA.
This dude…
So now you get to keep calling yourself Sheriff when you’re out of office to? Government positions are not titles of nobility.
Wait till they become hereditary… oh..
+1 Mr. Napolitano
Even worse, in my opinion, was the treatment of the title of Attorney General as some sort of military rank. Fawning reporters just could not stop calling that sanctimonious prick General Ashcroft as if he held the Queen’s commission.
“Trump told reporters Saturday when asked about what might happen if those countries did not agree. “We’re like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing. And that ends.”
This has been the case since the end of WWII. The Europeans are like spoiled 20 yo’s living on mom and dad’s dime who are being told they have to get out of the nest and pay their own way. This is why we elected Trump and why he will win re-election.
Euroweenies: Move out. Get a job. Pay your own way.
I am sorry, did I say 20 year old?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/unemployed-30-year-old-sued-parents-move-june-1-article-1.4008051
Suthen, I made the baba ghanoush recipe you posted in the previous links. Wife and I ate a whole bag of pita chips and the entire bowl of it in one sitting. Thanks!
Oops, I meant the recipe for dip you posted. You mentioned baba ghanoush and I crossed my wires there.
In fairness, for much of history, the norm was for people to live with their parents until they were married. Of course, in those days, most people were done with school and job training by the age of 20 and married by 25.
The American practice of kicking kids out at 18 is viewed with horror in many places, as is the practice of dumping off old people in nursing homes.
The emphasis Americans place on being independent it is not found in many other places. It’s a value among settlers and frontier people, like the Boers.
Settler/frontier cultures are also very big on owning guns.
So Much this. My Wife is form India, and things are VERY different in terms of your commitment to family. It isn’t that Americans love their family any less, we just have a very different conception on how to show that love. Indians are expected to basically give it all up, money, jobs, educations, etc. for the sake of family, Americans are a lot less likely to coddle their relatives, in part because we view being independent as a good unto itself.
Thankfully the wife sees the good and the bad of those obligations, so while we send back a bit of dough for Amma and Dad, we’re not going to bankrupt ourselves because they felt like remodeling their apartment.
Anyway, I have been pretty mixed on Trump’s presidency wrt foreign policy. Very disappointed that we’re stick mucking around in the middle east, though I wonder if he has some sort of grand exit strategy, but I really don’t see what is wrong with his tactic of raising tariffs to get better deals. It is certainly a risk, but at worst you lower the tariffs back down and they (assumedly) do the same. I wouldn’t mind seeing us threaten to move our bases out of Germany and into, say, Poland as well. All those dollars that flow through those bases have to make a significant contribution to the German economy, even if they are going strong otherwise.
I was just thinking about that picture of Trump @ the G7, and I can really see why the Euroweenies hate him so much. He is literally everything that a bad stereotype of an American would be.
Gaudy in displays of wealth.
Loud and obnoxious.
Uneducated, uncultured especially wrt to other cultures. (dunno how true the last bit is, but that is certainly the perception)
Brags too much about how great we/he are.
He is like the tourist from hell.
There are people in the world who hate the US because they can’t figure out how a young nation of crude barbarians could become so wildly successful.
They must be cheating somehow, they say to themselves.
Read Sayid Qutb’s book Milestones as an example.
NJR has a very long piece about a billionaire hedge fund manager named Ray Dalio. I’ll spare you the torment of having to read the whole thing, but if you want to give a shot, here it is:
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/06/how-to-make-everyone-in-your-vicinity-secretly-fear-and-despise-you
Dalio wrote a book about how to succeed. The gist is in order to make correct decisions, people must learn to suppress their emotions and see things objectively.
Oh, the horror.
He holds his employees to very high standards and a lot of people burn out and leave.
Well, NJR does not like this one bit. How dare he hurt people’s feelings! He should use his billions to feed the poor.
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But what it should mostly teach us is that the top levels of the economy are inhabited by cruel, delusional, selfish people who have no problem treating underlings as experimental subjects. Principles should sit on leftists’ bookshelves next to Capital as a clear argument that those who have amassed an obscene portion of the world’s wealth do not deserve it and are morally dysfunctional. If it can teach us a single principle, it is that workers should respect people like Ray Dalio exactly as much as he respects them.
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The thing that leftists don’t get is that if you want prosperity, you have to let people keep what they earn. The downside of this you will end up with small numbers of very rich people who have do goofy things like hire a bunch of oiled up Chippendales to dance for them on their yachts.
Yes, we’d all prefer to see rich people spend their money is more sensible ways, but there’s this little thing called “freedom” and “private property”.
I disagree, someone gets to be a chippendale dancer like they always dreamed, they probably spend their oiled-dancing money on eminently ‘sensible’ things. I used to think extravagant spending was a bad thing, but I’m no longer convinced of it– there is an inherent utility for the person who spent it that way, and probably some kind of pay off down the line for those employed in giving the insanely rich that which they want.
Medieval Europe had all sorts of restrictions on this type of spending for the merchant class, and I’m not convinced it helped their economy rather than hurting it, if it is true it hampers the economy, then the rich are really spending it in a more sensible way by ‘wasting’ the money on chippendales dancers.
“I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol and wild women. The other half I wasted.”
― W.C. Fields
Let me put it this way- there’s a reason why Carnegie is celebrated and Pullman is not.
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In 1897, Pullman died of a heart attack at the age of 66, only three years after the strike. Fearing that some of his former employees or other labor supporters might try to dig up his body, his family arranged for his remains to be placed in a lead-lined mahogany coffin, which was then sealed inside a block of concrete.
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I’m fine with rich people enjoying their money. The company town thing is a bit much.
I’m reading Explaining Postmodernism by Stephen Hicks (he’s an Objectivist as far as I can tell).
Given that postmodernists deny all objectivity and state that the only way to truth is through feeling, the question is “Why are all of them leftists?”. After all, socialism is the economics of the future, it’s the progenitor to the scientific communism that Marx predicted. If objectivity and truth are false idols, then how can one hope to organize an entire economy?
Hicks posits that it is not postmodernists that are socialists, it’s socialists that are postmodernists. Having been thoroughly and completely debunked by history, every communist attempt failing miserably, the socialists chose a philosophical approach that allowed them to justify their truth with their feelings. They just know socialism is the right answer. It feels right to them, so it is right.