Having returned from my New England sojourn, I am prepared to bring you the best, most interesting, and most compelling links to the most important news stories of the day. This will allow you the opportunity to post recycled outrage stories, titty pix, and endless discussions of Eurotrash “sports.” My return was not without some unwanted adventure. As I feared, SP’s babysitter was a wee bit too indulgent, though I admit that she’s easy to spoil. The photo above is what I returned to find, and lesson learned- leaving the babysitter with one of my credit cards for emergency use is not without risk.
In history, today is the birthday of the great actor Lionel Barrymore and the remarkably pretentious chef Alice Waters. Also, Ann-Margaret, Marcia Strassman, and my mother, who will celebrate the day with Publix roast chicken on the menu. Anyway, an interesting news day.
The FISA court’s warrant request rejection rate has climbed precipitously from extremely rare to very rare. So basically, the 4th Amendment is still a joke and this court is still a rubber stamp, but with a small nick on one edge. Secret courts staffed by secret people, holding secret hearings about secret matters- welcome to America.
As if it were needed, James Clapper again is shown to be one of the most horribly dishonest and duplicitous human beings on this continent.
This had to be an amazingly painful headline for CNN to write.
“Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!”
Not good news for me, and that explains why responses to my videos are down sharply. I’m setting up a work-around, though.
Every once in a while, I’m proud of my erstwhile home city. I do enjoy how sports figures don’t even blink when they defend free speech by other players, but oppose it by the people who pay the money that pays their enormous salaries.
Of course, mass school killings only happen in gun-happy America, right?
And now, more Old Guy music for y’all to ignore. In this instance, the greatest (and I would argue, the most quintessentially American) composer and band leader with my favorite male vocalist, who headed jazz towards a much more R&B sound and could arguably be called the father of that genre. Fun fact: Al Hibbler couldn’t read music. Of course, being blind was an impediment to that… There’s no credits, but I’ll bet that the sax solo was Johnny Hodges.
Comments
278 responses to “Saturday Morning Back In The Saddle Links”
Fun fact: Al Hibbler couldn’t read music. Of course, being blind was an impediment to that…
My piano teacher growing up studied Braille to become a music transcriptionist.
The exam was 35 pages of material and you could only make two mistakes. The first time she took it she made three. 🙁
The deception and dishonesty of self-appointed elites to keep their grip on power is just breathtaking. Here is a hint: if you think of yourself as elite, you aren’t. You are just a power-mongering, lying shitweasel.
Also, you cant have secret courts in a free country. Disband the FISA court. Shoot it in the face, hit it with a shovel, take a dump on it and then set it on fire. Same for the no-fly list.
People debate the no-fly list back and forth with high passions–about the government directly stripping people of the ability to move about for no reason other than bureaucratic say-so, no justification other than its own caprice, no explanation other than FYTW.
But one of the least remarked things about it–indeed, I’ve never seen it remarked–is just how unnecessary such a wielding of state police power is for its intended purposes. (And just how revealing of the government’s power-drunken lust for overkill.) For imagine this: Suppose the government never did ban anyone on the list from flying commercially. Not a single one. It simply maintained, and made publicly available, a list of persons whom it considered of interest for terrorist investigations. This is certainly not the type of information whose public release per se–albeit normally ad hoc in uncollated form–normally raises an eyebrow as some sort of rights violation. One might even say it’s commendable–government transparency and all, don’t you know libertarians! Perhaps many citizens would actually appreciate knowing that they are indeed a person of interest in this manner.
You can see where I’m going. Commercial aviation is not a naturally low-barriers-to-entry industry. (Caveat: This whole narrative is greatly complicated by the enormous government involvement in the industry, and enormous regulatory barriers to entry imposed thereby.) It is almost inconceivable that every single commercial carrier will not want to reassure its customers, the vast number of whom are not on any such list, that we value our guests’ safety above all else here on DiegoAir, and do not allow anyone under Federal suspicion for terrorism to fly for any reason, no exceptions. Problem solved, fearmongering security theater public policy goal accomplished, government enemies list punished, clean hands Federal Government–no rights violation necessary, civil liberties fetishists.
I’d say this violates the “Bake Me a Cake” decision, but we’ve seen that wrong-thinkers can be denied being a customer.
The no-fly list has to be the single, stupidest thing in existence. If these people are THAT suspected of terrorist ties – why haven’t we kicked them the hell out of the country?
The no-fly list has to be the single, stupidest thing in existence.
Only in a world without a sex offender registry. Throwing alleyway pissers and 17-year-olds who sexted their 15-year-old girlfriends on the same list as society’s most despised criminals has to take the cake. Combined with the blatant and absurd civil liberties violations, the mandatory prostration before the local police, and the potential for lynch mobs, it has to be exceed the no-fly list, in size if not in scope.
Utterly repugnant travesty top to bottom that even “the good guys” flee from touching. Always glad to see people with the balls to say it, even if it’s just a fellow pseudonymous Internet commenter!
So your objection isn’t to the sex offender list per se, it is to the over-expansive use of it?
Even if the list only consisted of serial rapists and child abusers it would still have all of the other aspects I named. It is a pointless abomination from top to bottom; criminal records are already public, and the restriction of liberties post incarceration is punitive no matter what the Nazgul say.
OK, it wasn’t clear which aspect bothered you most.
You probably disagree with the whole “it isn’t really incarceration, we’re just holding them in a psych facility – indefinitely” thing too.
Don’t even get me started on that shit. You should see some of the language openly used by politicians to refer to the affected sex offenders when pushing or describing these post-sentencing civil commitment laws. Strictly the language of medical concern for these patients I can assure you!
This is why I am so wary of the much-ballyhooed “2A-respecting” “solution” of more aggressive commitment of the mentally ill deemed “dangerous.” The intersection of mental health treatment–of saying, this person is incapable of exercising his rights as a human being; he requires our paternalism–is something that requires the most scrupulous caution. Unlike so much else for a lover of freedom, it is often a hard call–and that makes it all the more potentially insidious and dangerous. And it’s not like this isn’t historically a prime tool of state abuse of the most serious kind in less free societies!
Keeping medical treatment as “clean” as possible from state issues is also why, as I’ve argued, the current “compromise” “medicalization” of suicide–whereby the state determines in fact precisely when a life has become so wretched, a person so sick, that his life is “officially” not worth living according to the state–is in fact the worst possible approach. Yet another thing that must not be allowed to pollute and pervert the healing mission of medicine!
So the thing about the sex offender registry isn’t just that it spreads an overly wide net, it also makes a mockery of the justice system. If someone is still a risk to commit rape or child abuse, and this is something that you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, then they should still be in prison. If not, then they should be free. It’s cruel and unjust to put someone in some kind of legal grey area where they’re constantly under suspicion of a crime they haven’t committed.
The problem is that you can’t imprison people for being a risk to offend. That is a huge dilemma when it comes to a small subset of sexual offenders.
Most people who work with hard core sexual predators (especially the kiddie diddlers) will tell you that there is no “cure” and that it almost a certainty that they will re-offend if let out.
So what is to be done? It is almost certain that they will assault someone if they are let out. However, our justice system is built on the concept that you are innocent until proven guilty.
I don’t have an answer. On some days I think that involuntary commitment is the answer, but then as Diego and Kbol above say, you are on the slippery slope of doing an end around of one of our central pillars of justice.
On the other hand, I understand people who don’t want to live next to one of these people.
One thing for sure, it doesn’t help that we have blown the actual number of these sexual predators way out of proportion. They are a tiny minority of the population. But the scaremongers have lumped all the other people who have ever done something wrong in with them so suburban moms see rapists everywhere.
Until the new mentality (with a lot of bathwater along with the baby–see Lenore Skenazy–also a much braver soldier against sex offender moral panic than most libertarians–for other examples) kicked in over the course of the ’80s, the world was a lot different. Kiddie porn was legal, there was little awareness of kiddie diddling and a lot of people got off with a slap on the wrist–most famously John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and a lot of other serial killers–for doing some shocking things to little kids.
Thing is, for all our kiddie porn dragnets, sexting panics, statute of limitation abolitions, sex offender registries, “human trafficking” crackdowns, other dead-kid laws, and so forth…when you look at the actual sentences in your state for some of these more severe crimes you might be shocked at how lenient they remain on paper. We have addressed this through a bunch of feel-good “administrative solutions” that compromise our principles as a republic often to no effect other than reassuring theater at all.
I don’t have a perfect solution either but I think displaying half an ass’s commitment to keeping people separated from society, if that is indeed what is called for, through incarceration as sentenced by a criminal trial might be a start. But again, we’re if anything going the other way. Anthony “FYTW” Kennedy abolished the death penalty for baby rape on one of the most brutal cases imaginable. State after state has weakened the longstanding clear-cut principle of biological parents’ rights in order to address the alleged travesty of rape victims having to regularly meet their rapists–and for what? Could have been solved without weakening this crucial precedent for a free people with the simple measure of sentencing these people to twenty years minimum. And so forth.
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime!
I agree that there’s not a good solution, and I don’t have a workable answer either. It just strikes me that the old bit about law not being a precision tool is particularly applicable when it comes to stuff like this. And, again, it just strikes me that there’s something unjust about saying, “Ok, you’ve done your time. Kind of. Now you’re free, except that we’re going to monitor you for the rest of your life and you’re going to have to tell all of your neighbors that you’re a convicted sex offender until you’re driven to suicide.” I’m against the death penalty, but it seems like in this case it would be more honest and less cruel.
Diego, you hit the nail on the head. The reason Minnesoda pioneered the use of involuntary commitment for the sex offenders is that a lot of them were sentenced under the more lenient laws of the 80’s.
Not being able to retroactively up their sentences, the pols weaseled their way into the involuntary commitment to a “mental health” facility.
I’ve been heartened to have the courts trying to remedy this lately. They’ve been knocking the involuntary commitment folks around a lot because no one has ever found a way to be released. Because of that they have found a few candidates that they think might not be too dangerous to release to a halfway house.
OK. This is why the glibertarian party will never win any seats in Congress.
We can’t even work ourselves up into a lather to proclaim that we have a solution to kiddie diddling and that it is the only one that will work and is moral and anyone who doesn’t agree likes to cornhole babies.
Fuck this nuance shit!
Why not simply subject the “no flyers” to strict scrutiny? Take them and their baggage aside for special inspection. Every item thoroughly gone over, no carry on allowed, maybe even a strip search. At least those who find themselves on the list because their name is similar to some Yemeni terrorist’s, or their asshole neighbor has some influence with the Feds, will have some recourse and can visit Aunt Judy in Jibbep. What, they are suspected of having laser vision and can melt the cockpit doors or mind-control the pilots?
Too dangerous to be allowed to fly, too innocent to be arrested for anything.
Well we dont live in a free country. Just enough freedom to keep the corptocracy moving along
Hey, I’m a lot of things, but I’m not a liar! I always give the least untruthful answer possible!
They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.
Slammer, I’ve heard that quote before, but damned if I can find the source. Do you know where it came from?
Daniel Webster
Thanks. Much appreciated.
That is quote-worthy.
Without getting into whether the court is necessary, the reason the feds have such a high success rate is because before the application gets to the FISA court, it goes through multiple lower level reviews. That weeds out (or forces them to rewrite) the weaker ones.
Also the reason for the high reject rate may have nothing to do with the applications than who is heading the administration submitting them.
Not good news for me, and that explains why responses to my videos are down sharply. I’m setting up a work-around, though.
If the children want to see your videos, they’ll figure out a way around the block.
Happy birthday OMWC’s mom! I won’t even ask here about Dad, but you can read more about him here.
I’m sad. I see no deep-dish or pinapple pizza, vegan items, or culturally appropriated ethnic foods on the Barbie Food Truck.
Next thing you know you’ll want an anatomically-correct Barbie too.
Or gender-fluid. I’m sure HM has the appropriate futanari links.
Pizza, ok.
Hamburger, ok.
Corn on the Cob…WTF
No negotiations!
Paul Ryan has your pineapple pizza right here
RINOs who aren’t running for re-election since they know they’d lose speak out against Trump. NBC of course, talks about how stunning and brave they are.
On one hand, I like the idea of politicians leaving office, but on the other hand the chances are high that the new politicians will be no better, and likely worse.
I used to think term limits were a great idea until I realized it’s having exactly that effect at the local level.
How Cosby’s ‘Pound Cake’ Speech Helped Lead to His Downfall
***
In federal court and the public consciousness, his moralizing accelerated the cultural backlash against him and provided evidence that would be used against him at trial.
…
In the meantime, Cosby had built an image as a prophet of black conservatism, scolding poor blacks for not lifting themselves out of poverty, and for focusing on discrimination.
…
Many of the statistics cited in the speech were false, a slander on some of the most vulnerable people in the country, and Cosby seemed less concerned with black prosperity than with black respectability.
…
Cosby sought to be a moral example to the black poor. Instead, he ended up proving just how much those with wealth, fame, and power can get away with.
It is staggering to think of the scale of the crimes that Cosby has been accused of. It is even more astounding to think that we might not even know about those crimes had Cosby not made the decision to scold poor, black Americans for not engaging in the same superficially “respectable behavior” that allowed him to hide the allegations of dozens of women across decades. He was brought down, in part, by his inability to resist hectoring others on how to behave.
***
Poor Cosby. If he had just towed the Team Blue lion, he would go down as another Ted Kennedy.
Puddin’ him in jail now. I guess they found the proof in the pudding.
Picture Pages is gonna get real.
People are already Kundera-ing “Picture Pages.” I talk to people who seem to sincerely swear they most certainly do not remember any such thing.
I sure never saw it.
I suppose this has already been done to death here, but you can never do it too much.
Hey, hey, hey….where the fuck is the Junkyard Gang anyway?
Last I heard Fat Albert died of diabetes, Leroy was shot by the cops, Rudy’s serving 20 to 30 for dealing crack, and that guy with the weird hat that went over his eyes joined the Nation of Islam.
He now has a giant bowtie that goes up past his lips.
LOL
Okay, so Russia turned out to be nothing. But, Stormy will take Trump down, so not to worry. Hillary will be president any day now! It’s coming.
Ms. Clifford, who is better known as Stormy Daniels, was paid $130,000 by Mr. Cohen to keep quiet about claims that she had an affair with Mr. Trump after meeting him in 2006. She sued last month to get out of the nondisclosure agreement she signed in October 2016, claiming it is void because Mr. Trump had never signed it.-
So, she didn’t take the 130k? She gave the money back? If she took the money it seems to me she agreed to the NDA.
She seems like an extremely obnoxious cunt and an idiot, but we’ll have to see what ends up happening with the Cohen payment. If she can get out of a poorly-protected contract without getting sued, there’s a lot of opportunity for new revenue. From what I understand, nobody has seen this contract.
I’ve never heard her speak. Glibs is my sole news source and I’m mostly here for the booze and food stuff.
I don’t blame her for wanting to get out of the contract on a technicality that’s outside of the spirit of the agreement, and keep the 130k. There’s a potential for a much larger windfall if that’s the case.
High Risk, High Reward. Just like the porn industry. Sounds like she is in her wheelhouse.
From the CNN article:
Oh, I dunno. They gave Obama one prematurely.
The most ironic NPP of all; given to someone who had accomplished nothing and would indeed accomplish something significant – just not in the advance of world peace.
Premature adulation.
He can join Obama–and Arafat, Kissinger, Lê Đức Thọ (declined–the only one on this list with any dignity), the United Nations, the European Union, Aung San Suu Kyi, Kofi Annan, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Al Gore, Elihu Root, Kellogg and Briand, that “environmental and sustainable development activist” who thought the white man created AIDS…
Honestly I can’t see getting all that upset about Obama winning the Peace Prize. It’s like the pearl clutching when the ESPYs degraded themselves by giving one to Caitlyn Jenner.
Degraded themselves kind of like this?
http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/news/colin-kaepernick-nfl-amnesty-international-award-national-anthem-protests/16hktaimsi7ik1454iz9jpmzup
The current Amnesty International also is an NGO whose award the modern-day prisoner of conscience Colin Kaepernick richly deserves. He can join next year’s pregnant transman who draws international attention to the lack of gender-neutral language in the NHS’s abortion protocols.
Or otherwise described, the most masturbatory of all NPP awards.
I think Lê Đức Thọ declined less about dignity but more about trying to score political points in the he said-she said treaty violations. Lê Đức Thọ also went on to be the Khmer Rouge’s advisor from Vietnam in the 70’s.
Are you sure about that? It’s been a while since I remember much of the fascinatingly Byzantine recent political history of Cambodia (in that respect the Lebanon of the Far East), but I thought he advised the pro-Vietnamese opposition (and later the People’s Republic of Kampuchea when it took over).
By the way, how weird is it that the China-backed Commies called themselves “Democratic Kampuchea” and their enemies the Soviet-backed ones called themselves the “People’s Republic of Kampuchea”! Never heard anyone address that.
Yes, you’re right. I get the Khmer commies mixed up. The mass murder one and the less murderous ones.
Trump should turn it down and say the NPP is a joke.
The worst joke in the history of mankind. Sad!
Now here is a classy prize. The Trump prize. Absolutely the best. masculine. Obviously I get the first one being Trump. Solid gold plated, middle finger. Shows who’s boss. Look at Nobel, what he ever do? Nothing. Low energy, low IQ loser.
They gave Obama one prematurely.
Whaaa? Obama got his Peace Prize for ending racialist divisionism in America. Everybody knows that.
No, he got it because they knew in advance that he was going to start seven new wars. All in the name of peace, of course.
Wha??? Only Congress can declare war. Obama just continued the ones he inherited. Or used kinetic military military actions or whatever the fuck the euphemism still is.
Disposition matrix. You in the matrix? You gonna be dispositioned.
Talladega tomorrow.
I was expecting this.
By far Will Farrell’s best.
I’m a Step Brothers man.
The modern athlete is insufferable.
NBA stars and coaches can yap about their opinions on issues that may offend part of their fans basis, but heaven forbid they vent and express themselves.
Suck it.
He was all coked out during that interview probably.
The move may have seemed sudden but the seven-term Pennsylvania congressman, who had initially announced plans to retire last September, has spent much of the past year eyeing the door — and speaking his mind.
Since announcing his retirement, he has denounced President Donald Trump and been critical of Republican leaders. He told MSNBC last week that he’s leaving Capitol Hill “in part due to frustration,” naming the president as one factor. “Sure, the president is a reason,” he said.
I can’t wait ’til he comes out in favor of decriminalizing marijuana, as a brave private citizen espousing the cause of justice.
There is a tiny revelation there – he must have known what a fucking hypocrite he was all of that time. But – wasn’t that hypocrisy necessary to get elected? Could anyone get elected by not appealing to the appalling bases? I tend to think not, which tells me the real reason this country is fucked is because of the broad hypocrisy of the people who actually vote for these TEAM assholes.
Speaking of NASCAR, what are they going to do when Ford no longer has a nameplate sedan to race?
Ford’s deciders have lost their minds.
Put F150 on the plate? It’s not like the race cars have anything in common with the production car anyways. I wish they would go back to having to use production models.
Chump Car!
Wyden the Thug using his power and position to threaten the NRA unless they revealed membership and other organization details is still pissing me off.
Its not like there a unanimous Supreme Court case addressing this exact subject.
Immunity from state scrutiny of petitioner’s membership lists is here so related to the right of petitioner’s members to pursue their lawful private interests privately and to associate freely with others in doing so as to come within the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Yeah I don’t know if I’d give Congress its unchecked investigatory powers if I were designing things from the ground up. Though I suppose it’s no different from all the other unchecked powers given the various branches that are limited only by their officials’ sense of propriety. Still, the track record is pretty poor. For ideological reasons, the HUAC years are rightly villainized but it’s talked about as a distant artifact of the bad old days; no one says boo about it as an ongoing travesty, with lawmakers dragging private parties in (to say nothing of those who “cooperate” out of the intimidation of the power) to “discuss” things they have no business discussing. (Dirty music lyrics, violent video games, what tech companies are doing to cooperate with the government to keep us safe…)
I’d like the super investigatory powers of Congress if they’d ever use them to look into the other govt agencies. Nope, it is always shaking down private groups, citizens and private companies.
Maybe get that magnifying glass trained on Lois Lerner or the Justice Department? Or Fast and Furious?
In their report, House Intel Republicans assert that when Clapper was initially asked about leaks during his July 17, 2017 committee interview, he “flatly denied” discussing the Steele dossier “or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists.”
But Clapper “subsequently acknowledged discussing” the dossier with Tapper. He also admitted he might have spoken with other journalists.
Committee Republicans note that Clapper’s interaction with Tapper took place in early January 2017, “around the time [Intelligence Community] leaders briefed President Obama and President-elect Trump, on ‘the Christopher Steele information.’”
In a report of their own released on Friday, Democrats claimed that Republicans had an “intent to smear Clapper” with their allegations about his media contacts.
“Despite this dark insinuation, the report neither cites evidence, nor even alleges, that Clapper disclosed information – classified or unclassified – illegally or improperly,” Democrats write, noting that Clapper was authorized to engage with the media.
Those nefarious Republikkkins, attempting to besmirch the good name and reputation of a noble public servant. And that lying raping crook Trump was in on it.
Fapper Clapper raps dapper Tapper?
How dare you besmirch CNN? They are a super straight news orgainztion
How the fuck can they keep Clapper on the payroll now? The guy leaks a bombshell allegation (sure it was Fake News) to you and a few months later you put him on the payroll?
If Clapper does get laid off from CNN, there will always be a place for him at the Clinton Foundation with those pay for play skillz.
My university buddy, now an engineer at Hyundai Seoul, pretty much singularly credits Trump with progress on the NK matter. Without solicitation, he said as much to me last week. Nice for CNN to join world public opinion on this.
I’m not saying this just to knock President Trump, but I don’t necessarily see how he should receive credit for this thaw in Korean relationships. Perhaps he has applied enough pressure on China to convince them that forcing the North to the bargaining table is in their own best interest at this point. Generally, though, I think the South’s president and his sometimes too congenial attitude toward the North probably deserves the bulk of the credit. Whether or not in five years time anyone will want to accept credit for the deal that is eventually reached, only time will tell.
I personally don’t think he deserves the outsized share of the credit, but he certainly talks about it a lot, bringing his ridiculous celebrity along with it. I’m sure he would be happy to take the credit, especially if even people in SK want to give it to him.
I read this article which seems to have uncovered the primary reason why the Norks have stopped their nuke test programme.
Thanks for the article.
I agree with your original point, though, I’m sure it pained CNN to have to write that headline.
That was OMWC’s original point. It’s always delightful when CNN has to say things they don’t like.
I think CNN is giving him credit because there is a pretty good chance that Kim goes off the rails and backs way out. By praising him now, they can really pile on the blame later if it fails.
Trump might as well take credit for some sunshine, because he’ll damn sure be blamed for the rain.
What exactly has Trump done in the Korean situation? I know he has insulted the NK president and enforced sanctions. Is there more to it?
You just summarized the entire art of the deal.
“Sell me this car for $5”
“No. $15,000”
“$15,000? You’re pathetic. Why would I ever pay that much for a piece of shit like your car? You’re such a loser. SAD”
“Ok- no deal then”
“Here’s $15,000, loser”
Doesn’t sound like a very good deal.
What do you know, loser? SAD
Doesn’t matter. The American President is supposedly World Emperor – gently guiding* the rest of the world into the enlightened space that America occupies.
* and using bombs is a completely gentle way as long as they are very precise bombs
I believe the economic pressure on the Chinese combined with NK’s nuclear mountain clusterfuck, has forced China to step up and force the Norks to the table.
^This + infinity
The proof of that will I think manifest if, post-summit, we start hearing Trump say nice things about how great a working relationship we have with China and how they’re partners in world peace or whatever.
I think it more likely that China wants to assert its military power over the other nations out that way, and sees NK sabre-rattling as giving the U.S. excuse to keep or build up U.S. military forces in the area. Chinese long game is to get U.S. military out of SK, Philippines, Japan, Taiwan.
Man, Kim really is a far fuck and a stark contrast with pretty much every other person in North Korea that is on a compulsory diet.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/28/alfie-evans-dies-long-running-legal-battle/
All is well now. The State has conquered over decency and liberal values. The UK child, Alfie, is no more. It took nearly four days without food, water, and oxygen support, but he has finally died for the crime of making the State look foolish.
There has been a lot of talk in the West about the passing of the “liberal order” particularly after the Brexit vote, the election of President Trump, the continued reign of Orban in Hungary, and the conservative Catholic parties of Poland dominating every branch of government. The governments of France, Germany, Canada, and the anti-Brexit forces of the UK (which includes the elites of the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democratic parties) are often held up as preserving the “liberal order”. But, these commentators are often just defining “liberal” as those nations that still support managed trade deals and liberal immigration policies (of course, the US still maintains a far more liberal immigration policy and takes in many times more immigrants than France, Germany, and Canada combined, but perceptions are what are important to these commentators- not reality).
Not a word is ever mentioned that refusing to allow people to leave your own borders is far more totalitarian and illiberal than regulating who may immigrate to your country. The UK stopped a family from leaving its own country’s borders in order to send a message to its other subjects (in no way can the people who reside in the UK be considered “citizens” in the true sense of the word) that to defy the ruling of the State’s experts is sacrilege. In the end, the UK government wouldn’t even allow the child to die at his home. Even that concession was too much. It was the problematic so called “illiberal” governments of Italy and Poland who vocally opposed the travesty that was unfolding in the UK.
If the “liberal order” is the loss of parental rights, state forced euthanasia, speech codes, the confiscation of all means of self-defense, and a bloated uncaring bureaucratic mechanism that views individuals as cogs in a machine rather than human than that order is neither “liberal” nor worth preserving.
It’s pretty sick that he got the State-ordered hospice treatment without parental consent.
They ought to bury him in Italy, a country that actually seems to have a fucking conscience.
The UK just starved a child to death.
Bravo.
If it were me, I bury him in Italy and get the fuck out of England.
“Liberal democracy” is essentially “Lib Dem”-ocracy, if you will (a party that suffers not from the fact that no one respectable believes what they do but the fact that everyone does. In other words, technocratic elitism–and to them, like I’ve been saying, belongs the future. Mike Bloomberg is pretty much the far right wing of this crowd; the struggle between them and the “far left” wing is at this point just an intramural bourgeois fight (think Jeremy Corbyn) rather than anything authentically working-class. There is not going to be any kind of danger like socialism heavy enough to bring the advances of capitalism to a halt, nor those of globalization; there will be some perfunctory acknowledgement of the virtues of those hard-left concerns but nothing close to fatal. And that world will be perfectly tolerable to most of the better-off and better-positioned–indeed, they are completely at home in its culture, adore its plutocratic technocracy and hope to thrive under it.
I dropped by to link that nut-punch, if someone hadn’t already.
I don’t believe in a Hell, but I almost want to, just to see the responsible parties get a fraction of what they deserve.
At the end of the day, I’m just left stunned, wondering why. Why the bureaucrats would do this, why the courts would allow them, why so many people would support it, why anyone would attack the parents, why the Tories wouldn’t stop it, why the Church of England wouldn’t speak out against it. It’s as though the NHS is the state god of England and all the others are members of its death cult.
I get the impression that the NHS really is practically something of a religion there. Clues I have seen include the creepy worship of it during the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics and a totally out-of-nowhere fawning reference to it by one of the modern Doctor Whos.
I haven’t really been following this story but I’m guessing the reason it went down like this is because that kid’s care was judged too expensive over the long term…?
They haven’t got the guts to be that honest.
Then what reason did they give?!
Continued treatment would be inhumane.
I am not making that up.
You mind if I quote that – that is brilliant.
Could anyone get elected by not appealing to the appalling bases?
I tend to look at it from the other side of the coin: no honest man would want the job.
Ford’s deciders have lost their minds.
The best part of that story is that they will more likely than not take the money they “save” by not making cars and piss it away on a bunch of those “connected cities” boondoggles Bill Ford has fallen in love with. They might as well announce they’re going to make solar powered passenger planes.
What’s that, trains or some shit?
Why is everyone so sure this is a bad decision by Ford?
I’m not. If trucks are more profitable, build more trucks. Disclaimer: I have no business experience
Ceding a good portion of the market to other manufacturers just seems like a bad idea to me. If gas prices ever spike up again they’re going to be in dire straits although this move probably is good for their bottom line in the short term.
I wonder if gas prices will spike back up anytime soon though. With fracking and new technology who knows. I worry more about a change in government that will push for higher energy prices more than anything.
That’s what I was thinking too.
I expect Ford will continue to produce cars for other national markets; they build a lot of cars in Europe, as I recall. It would be the work of months at most to flip some production to the States, using established designs and processes, if the market changes again.
Our next vehicle will be an F-350 Super Duty Diesel, so we’re OK with the move.
You do not want a Ford diesel. I have a car (and truck) nut friend and the last good Ford diesels were in the 90s.
We went with Dodge because of the Cummins diesel (on his, and others, recommendation).
2003 was the last year for the 7-liter International Harvester Diesel in Ford Super Duty trucks; that engine was damned bulletproof. The original Ford DuraMax Diesel was crap, but they have resolved a lot of the problems with the 6.7 liter version, mostly by reducing injector pressure.
I won’t buy a Dodge under any circumstances, the great Cummins engines notwithstanding. I’ve driven Fords for over 40 years, and I’m not changing now.
OK. My mechanic was the other one who said the Ford diesels are nothing but trouble. Go for a Chevy then. We had a Silverado 2500 that I loved – just didn’t have enough engine to pull the trailer we upgraded to. The Dodge is a year old and absolutely no complaints (hope I don’t regret saying that).
I honestly don’t get brand loyalty. Then again I do get bad experiences.
Is there any licensing issue preventing Ford from releasing Ford Australia editions here? With all the mustang reboots/reissues/special releases – how is it that nobody has yet rereleased a custom Ford Falcon XB or anything similar in Australia or the US?
I would love to get an unmodded left hand drive Falcon clone. Automatic or otherwise.
Ford, regrettably, stopped production of the Falcon a year or two ago.
So a great time to [re]introduce it (for the first time) in the US as a left hand drive model. Esp if there’s still another Mad Max flick planned. Although I’d pair it up with the remastered original for advertising.
I wouldn’t mind having a Ford truck at some point. F-150s seem to deliver good value. On the same token, if I was going for an economy car, I’d rather have a Toyota or a Honda based on the reliability and ability to those cars to achieve 200-300k mile odometers with few maintenance headaches along the way.
I’d have bought a basic Ford Ranger (yay Mazda engine) a long time ago if it had adequate leg room. It has an awfully small cabin for a pickup truck.
Also last time I was in Hong Kong, I had to do a double take when I saw a cherry red Ford Ranger in pristine condition waiting in Kowloon traffic. The first and only pickup truck I ever saw in Hong Kong.
Neat. That is one of the fun things about travel for me, seeing all the different vehicles.
While the low-margin products they’re culling are less profitable per unit, they’re also a more stable (read: recession-proof) source of revenue. Lots of companies chase after high-margin items only to discover, much too late, that those margins can disappear entirely practically overnight.
But OMWC, that’s only nine deaths. Columbine….13. Sandy Hook …28. Pulse….49. Las Vegas….58. That yokel church shooting….26. Parkland high school…..17. That’s an average of 34.8 deaths, okay? That’s about 75% fewer mass killings per year. Science.
When I did links a couple days ago, I did note that it was the anniversary of the Ehrfurt shootings, which hit your average of 17. Breivik, of course, did much better, but a summer camp doesn’t count, you expect shootings there.
Lots and lots of different kinds of shootings.
Surprisingly not bad take on Ye by The Week
The Week is actually a pretty good publication. Good diversity of opinion
It depends on the author.
I assure you that Matthew Walther has spewed out some of the dumbest shit ever put into print.
And the Week publishes (shudder) Shikha.
They have a few people who are more consistently better.
but many of their writers are in this sort of = “people who pretend to take not-progressive-left stances on things primarily for the purpose of tire-kicking ideas on behalf of the progressive left” –
iow, they’re like, “What if a progressive left type were to consider X, non-progressive-left idea? HERES HOW THEYD SEE IT”
its like they translate ‘otherwise sane idea’ into ‘retarded’ so that their audience can grasp it.
“Police have arrested a 28-year-old suspect identified by the surname Zhao who had been a student at the school and was apparently seeking revenge for having been picked on…”
That must have been some world-class bullying for him to hold a grudge for so long. Or he was held back 14 years.
It’s time for some common-sense pupil control.
It’s time for some common-sense pupil control.
Ban Cyclogyl now!
What’s that, trains or some shit?
My first attempt to reply got fatfingered.
“Connected Cities” is like a super sized Internet of Things. The streets will talk to your personal transport module. The drawbridges will open by magic, and your refrigerator will drive itself to the store for restocking. It will be just like the Jetsons, only no Judy Jetson robot sex slave. Booooo!
If Ford wants to drop marginally profitable product lines to focus on what they actually make money at, I applaud them. If not for the giant shell game created by CAFE mandated fleet mileage number-juggling, GM and Ford would probably have become truck manufacturers decades ago. I just assume they’ll squander the chance to get really good at it.
giant shell game created by CAFE mandated fleet mileage number-juggling, GM and Ford would probably have become truck manufacturers decades ago.
Which is really too bad. There are car manufacturers without trucks, it only makes sense for there to be truck manufactures without cars.
Nissan is ramping up their Titan line, Hyundai is adding a pickup, and gas mileage is only a small part of the equation. These cars are increasingly disposable. Lease, drive, hand it back.
People want what they want. I must admit, though, the butt-hurt on the car sites is impressive.
I’d prefer my sexbot to be more like Priss anyway, Judy Jetson’s too much of a prude.
I’m looking for something like Lucy Liu…
Interesting thing about cultural preferences and standards of beauty, my wife is a Hong Konger and thinks the narrow eyes and freckles make her unattractive. She’s always looked good to me.
Judy Jetson’s too much of a prude
That’s what you think.
Jedi in the streets, Sith in the sheets.
Some good news on the #metoo front, for a change:
http://nationalpost.com/opinion/christie-blatchford-tvo-host-steve-paikin-exonerated-after-sexual-misconduct-investigation
Maybe #tooLocal
Again, she issued a threat: “So I am gathering letters from other women with similar experiences of you — we’ll add a letter from my EA and my own letter and will be sending to your board and CEO next month.” She urged him to step down “before this blows up” and cautioned that, “I can’t control how the other women will want to handle their issues with you — they may expose you.”
But Paikin in essence exposed her: He immediately handed the email over to TVO and called her accusations “complete fiction.”
There were and are no other women.-
Do you suppose this is a case where they start to buy their own bullshit. She had nothing on the guy, but assumed ALL MEN ARE RAPIST, so her gambit to extort him should work? Or is it more a matter of there is no risk to try it. Its not like there are any women doing hard jail time for fake accusations.
So I flip on the morning news and see a story about my city or state (forgot which) being about to legislate a “right” for adoptees to find out who their birth parents are. Is it me or does this not seem like a spectacularly bad idea? I guess somebody wants fewer kids given up for adoption.
I know how it works in Florida in closed adoptions. The bio parents put their name on a list and when the child is 18 they can search the list if they want. Seems fair. The kid can look them up if they want and the parents can be found if they want. Side rant: I have few people close to me adopt children and the bio parents in both cases basically wanted for my friends to pay for and do the hard work of parenting, but they still come around for the fun part of having kids. Kind of pissed me off. If you want to be the parent, then be the parent!
Lisa Joyner hardest hit!
How the fuck do you enforce such a right? Is it just about getting an unaltered birth certificate, or is it about forcing the adoptive and birth parents to comply with invasive legal edicts?
I wasn’t fully awake but I think there was some talk about access to birth certificates.
I’m going to go out on a limb and predict this will lead to more abortions. That is not one of my pet issues or anything; I just think it’s a point of contention that will probably go entirely unmentioned given the state of local politics.
Ooh, let me try:
“Indiscriminate chemical weapons are the Manspreading of combat tactics“
Well, you are juxtaposing a deadly serious thing with a silly thing; she is juxtaposing some vapid reddit-caliber musings about episode lengths with a silly thing.
Your analysis is the Manspreading of glib comments
Isn’t the entire comment section one big act of manspreading? How do you narrow it down?
If one is manspreading and passing gas, I can kind of agree.
The Week is actually a pretty good publication. Good diversity of opinion
Huh. It seems like everything I have seen there was spectacularly bad.
Anyone here into some hot Straight For Pay action? Then turn on MSNBC right now to see the gay-activist elite taking turns bending down and giving Joy Reid some of the most energetic, thirsty head you’ve ever seen!
I think I’ll pass.
You are so vanilla.
That’s a disturbing mental image.
https://www.straightguysforgayeyes.com/
NSFW.
My gay roommate first alerted me to that site back in the day. Unfortunately, it truly is what it says on the tin. Compared to the rest in this now-booming genre, the chicks are by far the least attractive (so are the dudes, but I suppose what do I know), and they do not bother showing much of them just the dude. And everyone and everything just looks sketchy cheap and unerotic. Newer competitors by contrast are outstanding; their girls look more like lad mag models than do the typical porn stars and annoying overacted “sexy” chit chat seems to be discouraged, which…me likey. I would watch more porn if they had more girls like that.
Isn’t one SugarFree enough?
In the infinitely wise words of Reddit incel: “Femoids are hypergamous and selective, they cannot change who they are. It is inherent to them. Femoids are inherently evil.”
http://archive.is/TVRq3
Ass Glibs rejoice!
I only barely know what “incel” means and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know what “femoid” means.
Dittoes.
Nice cope there, gaycels.
Outstanding! This is solidly white-boy-style ass sensibilities, which I unapologetically and enthusiastically possess.
HM haz disappoint.
28. She has a nice rear without being cartoonish.
https://kek.gg/i/5Nj7hk.jpg
see the gay-activist elite taking turns bending down and giving Joy Reid some of the most energetic, thirsty head you’ve ever seen!
Eeeeeewww! I’ll stick to my Judy Jetson sexbot daydreams.
Christ, Reddit incel is a cesspool. Here’s another gem.
https://imgur.com/y3ge5Zq
Counter list: grow some balls, dude
I thought Incels were DONE on Reddit; didn’t HM use their ban reaction as one of his front page descriptions?
They opened a new subreddit called “braincels”.
They have lots of emphatic warnings about violating reddit’s TOS.
Is a braincel a milder form of incel that at least has gotten to unfasten a bra?
A few of those are correct, but the majority is just whining.
So how long before wrong thinking subjects start sneaking out of the island prison that is England the way they used to sneak out of Nazi Germany?
I’d welcome them here. We got some of the best Germany had to offer that way.
+1 Fritz Lang
Actually born in Vienna.
Governor Moonbeam.
http://moonbattery.com/ignoring-frigid-winter-jerry-brown-screams-that-3-billion-will-die-of-global-warming/
See, here on the east coast they don’t play at being some combination of “out there” and “hippie”. The power-grabbing, back-scratching, and money laundering are more or less transparent for all to see.
You have to respect their honesty I suppose.
Yeah, after the Democrats take over (permanently) in November NY will not so much resemble Cali’s version of prog dystopia as our own sui generis kind.
LOL.
http://babylonbee.com/news/planned-parenthood-defends-bill-cosby-sexual-assault-is-only-3-of-what-he-does/
Other good ones:
“Libertarian Careens Car Through Back Yards, Open Fields, Off Cliff To Avoid Using Government Roads”
“John Bolton Stays Up Late Nuking All The Peaceful Countries In ‘Civilization VI’”
and, in the same vein:
“Planned Parenthood Workers Breathe Sigh Of Relief As Anti-Violence Protesters March Right On By Their Office”
Is there any licensing issue preventing Ford from releasing Ford Australia editions here? With all the mustang reboots/reissues/special releases – how is it that nobody has yet rereleased a custom Ford Falcon XB or anything similar in Australia or the US?
I would love to get an unmodded left hand drive Falcon clone. Automatic or otherwise.
I don’t know about Ford, but GM brought a Holden over and branded it as a Pontiac GTO in the early 2000s. In fact, I think that platform is still under the Camaro.
Yeah….but a remastered Mad Max-mobile would be awesome. “Last of the big V-8s”
I would trade my Judy Jetson sexbot, and her mom, for Yoga Pant Girl #3.
Hey Glibs, been following but not posting lately. After 19 years in Minneapolis I’m getting my shit together to move back to eastern PA. Want to be closer to my folks. All that good shit. If there’s gonna be a MN Glibs meet-up before May 29 I’m in. I’ll even Uber all the way out to Maple Grove!
We’ll get something together, for sure! Congrats on escaping!
Thanks. Keep me in the loop.
Totally. I was just thinking it was time for a meetup now that it looks like the glaciers have retreated for a few months.
Where do you live Lefty? We can definitely move the party your way.
I always think that Glib meetups are similar to the rendezvous that the old mountain men used to have. A bunch of misanthropes occasionally gathering for:
First hayeksplosive now you? What’s happening in Minnesoda?!?
I would say something about high taxes and crazy government, but CA and PA aren’t exactly libertopia…
Something must be really wrong in MN then.
Endless winter followed by mosquito season?
My recollection of upper Midwest weather:
(1) Winter is very long and cold.
(2) Spring is mud season, and a few weeks of nice springy weather.
(3) Summer is surprisingly hot and humid. And very buggy.
(4) Fall is actually very nice.
The Vikings.
You have to make it through the Twins before that.
PA is way more libertopia than most of the northeast.
Very low bar.
We’re in the middle. https://www.freedominthe50states.org/overall/pennsylvania
Our liquor laws have improved a bit with grocery stores now selling beer.
We’re still good on gun laws, self defense, and only the state police are allowed radar guns.
I blame you Q. Every day you post pictures of people wearing very few clothes. That wears on us Minnesodans. The idea that there are places where you can venture outside not wearing 7 layers and not only survive, but enjoy yourself.
Foul tempter!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNmrR8SQ5Z0
Having been lured to The Week, I found this.
Apparently, the Post Office isn’t losing enough money fast enough.
The idea has been floating around for years, but it’s been given new impetus by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who announced this week that she’ll be offering legislation to put a bank offering simple, low dollar financial services like debit cards, checking and savings accounts, and even small loans, in every post office in America. Here’s her rationale:
For millions of families who have no access or limited access to a traditional bank, the simple act of cashing a paycheck or taking out a small loan to fix a car or pay the gas bill can end up costing thousands of dollars in interest and fees that are nearly impossible to pay off. The Postal Bank would solve this problem by putting a retail bank branch in all of the U.S. Postal Service’s 30,000 locations, providing low-cost, basic financial services to all Americans, and effectively ending predatory lending nationwide. [Kirsten Gillibrand]
Great. Let’s turn the Post Office into a bank. That’s how they do it in Limeyland, so it’s gotta be a good idea.
Congress persons. Is there anything they can’t make worse?
Who doesn’t want to be treated like pond-scum while doing some banking? I mean, come on.
Won’t pass now or ever. Yawn. Call me when the story is, “Why Democrats are about to get postal about stoked banking.”
There used to be postal banking in the U.S., as JFree on TOS liked to point out. But there’s little point to it today, with anyone being able to buy shares of mutual funds backed by U.S. bonds, and the FDIC insuring all deposits at private banks. Unless carefully done (have you seen the people in Congress?), the system would just turn into another government slush fund.
Like Japan – negative interest rates have kinda shuttered that whole idea (in the US).
I see this as a similar situation as to when the IRS started online filing.
The scammers figured out very quickly that they could file using fraudulent identities and get an instant refund. By the time the IRS figured out that there was no Mr Warty Hugeman, it was too late.
How long would it take for the scammers to figure out how to scam postal banking? 30 seconds?
Didn’t payday lenders make money?
For millions of families who have no access or limited access to a traditional bank,
There’s a reason for this, but she’s probably not aware.
Speaking of mind-numbing idiocy as perpetrated by The Week:
The post office already performs some financial services like selling money orders, and because of its scale it could offer these services at much more reasonable rates of interest and fees than people are forced to pay now. This won’t please the payday loan industry. But this is one of those times when it’s worthwhile to say to a special interest: Too damn bad. They’ve gotten rich by exploiting the most vulnerable Americans for long enough.
this person is apparently unaware of that pesky “risk premium” concept.
Only because it isn’t their own money. There is no risk when it comes to other people’s money.
They drink to forget.
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/385223-washingtons-heavy-drinking-ways-in-spotlight
Correct me if I’m wrong, but last I checked the overwhelming majority of the residents of the District of Columbia do not lead lives remotely in proximity to the concerns of the “Washington political class” and their “culture of intoxication” that “cuts across ideologies,” with their endless stream of “hobnobbing” black-tie “fundraisers and receptions with long bar tabs” replacing the “three-martini lunch.” The concerns of this (albeit absurdly bloated) group of elites, even if they drink like fishes, could not be the explanation for the higher drinking rates of Washingtonians as a whole if the difference is anything very significant.
So… The majority are crackheads?
TCM just showed a short (they never identify or list them!) on the mildly interesting Johnny Price. Check out the short online if you like sports tricks.
I presume you mean Diamond Demon from 1947? It’s listed on the daily schedule page. They don’t schedule most of the shorts far enough in advance for them to show up on your box guide.
Sounds like a Pete Smith short.
[checking]
Yup.
Crap, I screwed up the link:
http://www.tcm.com/schedule/weekly.html?tz=est&sdate=2018-04-28
Hey, look- another one
The greatest short-term threat to the well-being of the American people is not immigrants, political correctness, or even obnoxious Canadian professors. It’s our very own central bank, the Federal Reserve.
The economy is doing fairly well, with growth ticking along and (more importantly) unemployment low. Yet there is a serious risk that the Fed will pointlessly strangle the economy by raising interest rates before full economic strength is reached. They prioritize a hypothetical future risk of inflation over the current welfare of the working class.
———–
Ultimately, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that worries about inflation are merely the sublimated class interest of the rich. Further growth might increase sales and revenues, but it would probably also eat into sky-high corporate profits (particularly those of finance). It might even push inflation briefly over 2 percent, thus eroding the value of nominal assets. Even if a real economic boom did increase profits, it would come at the price of more assertive labor that might gain more political strength, and make demands for more regulation or investigations into the corporate crime spree of the last decade. Better to keep the economy weak and corporate elites at the pinnacle of power and influence than risk a potentially destabilizing boom.
The lesson for anyone who wants to create a real full employment economy is simple, however. The Fed will have to be brought to heel first, either by changing it into an ordinary government department, or stacking its board with people sympathetic to the working class. The current arrangement simply is not working as advertised.
Yeah, that’s it. The Federal Reserve is just another tool of the patriarchal elites, whose sole reason to be is crushing the plebs and keeping them down. Of course, I just saw some patriarchal fat cat on my teevee a day or two ago shrieking about how the Fed needs to be stopped, because another few basis points will completely shut down the housing and construction markets, and throw the economy into total disarray. I’m confused.
Nothing helps the working class like making everything more expensive.
An enemy of the politically connected plutocracy! Maybe with a few tweaks this Fed-hating fellow can be won over to the radical libertarian side. Been done plenty of times before.
I actually found the Kanye article in the first place while surfing for articles on the Toys “Я” Us liquidation. Probably the least ridiculous piece written by their economics editor Jeff Spross.
Further growth might increase sales and revenues, but it would probably also eat into sky-high corporate profits (particularly those of finance).
Yes, growth is notoriously the enemy of profits.
demands for more regulation or investigations into the corporate crime spree of the last decade. Better to keep the economy weak and corporate elites at the pinnacle of power
At least they don’t say this crime spree started under Trump. In fact, they date its beginning to the start of the Obama administration. Which, oddly, also had a vast increase in regulation and a concomitant increase of “investigations” into businesses. Why, its almost like Big Corp doesn’t really mind regulation.
So, I just saw a headline in my Google feed thing on my phone that went something like, “Anthony Bourdain will be travelling to Trump country in an upcoming ‘Parts Unknown’.” There was a bit about him confronting his prejudices about Trump supporters.
I can guess how this goes: Bourdain visits the benighted masses in flyover country, is surprised to find that some Wal-Marts sell vegetables, reminisces about his youth before he learned how to not be poor white trash, and comes away convinced that, in time, with enough missionary work, the ignorant rubes who live outside of the metroplexes of America may some day join their enlightened, urban brethren.
I actually like watching Bourdain. I think he’s entertaining. I’m fan of his shows. But, goddamn, he pretty much epitomizes the limousine liberal. He’s convinced he’s got it all figured out while at the same time being so far out of touch with people outside of his immediate circle that he just assumes everyone else is less sophisticated, less intelligent, even less morally developed. It’s the quintessence of fart-huffing. He doesn’t realize that “Trump country” is the norm, not the exception. He’s the outlier.
Anthony Bourdain’s parents are both Manhattan corporate executives so probably not. I find this excursion to “Trump Country” almost cartoonishly obnoxious (what would be utterly awesome is if the previews were a troll and he ends up just going to Midwood, Brooklyn for some Sephardic food), but I remember having a lot of affection for his twist on progness at a time when I was almost entirely liberty-woke. He was unapologetically politically incorrect, a profane and zealous berater of smoking bans, food bans, animal rights, junk food nannyism and “fat acceptance,” etc., all things that were early matters of outrage to me. He spoke with passion about how overregulation and red tape was a cronyist and often all but openly corrupt regime that did nothing but fuck over the little guy trying to get started; he did interviews with people struggling against The Man in that respect and on people whose businesses were bulldozed by politicians in the name of urban renewal and so forth.
You’re right about that bit. What I meant was that he’s done a show or too referencing his edgy youth and his days working his way up through the kitchen brigade while living something like a gutter punk. When he goes back to the places of his youth or sees places where people are lower on the economic totem pole he sometimes comes off with this “This reminds me of when I didn’t know better, myself” vibe that I find condescending. See, that take you’re talking about is something I really like about him, but then he’s one of these guys who on the one hand will bemoan the corruption and oppression of big government and then seconds later wonder why the government isn’t doing more to solve problem X.
Wonder if he knows how to change a tire?
More Big Jet TV eye candy.
This one is Russian, and kind of scary. Started off saying “You vill not ask us about our politics. You vill not ask us about our marketing.”
I’d be more scared if there were a track suit involved.
(this was onboard the AN-225. Almost never get to see the insides of that thing)
Cheese & crackers!!
The Alfie story is hitting close to home for me. I spend time at five or so special needs schools taking care of kids with all sorts of awful physical and mental disabilities. Some of the kids show no response to external stimuli and I don’t know what the neurologist has to say, but I’m sure that for many of the kids the situation is similar to Alfie’s. Basically, they are just shells of a human. But they are human. We take care of the kids by assuming they can hear us, can feel that someone cares, can have their existence acknowledged as human beings. Over the dozen or so years I’ve been doing this, we’ve lost about six that I know of. It’s a mother fucking kick in the head every time. I’m sure every singe caregiver at the school has wrestled with the idea that maybe these kids would be better off if we simply let them pass. We never talk about that, though. The unspoken rule is that we treat every child with the maximum amount of dignity that we possibly can. It’s the opposite of a death cult. Give your kid a hug. Should Alfie be taken off life support? Should the parents try for the hail Mary? That is way beyond my ability to judge. What I do know is that government bureaucrats should not be involved in any of this.
“Give your kid a hug”
Interesting point. Before I had kids my take on this story would have been much different. Once my wife started bringing home whelps from the hospital, my perspective went through a massive shift. Same with abortion (still not for making it illegal, but it isn’t a simple choice to me anymore).
It would be interesting to find out if a lot of these NHS folks had kids or not. I’m hoping that the monsters who wouldn’t let the family take their kid somewhere else were all childless. It would help me make sense of their decisions.
I’d be willing to give them a little bit of the ol’ benefit of the doubt if the NHS was built on an ideology steeped in the murderous tradition. Never really bought the argument that Merkel, Macron, May etc would be more likely to be willing to sell out their countries because they don’t have kids, but I’m rethinking that.
OMWC would like to give your kid a hug.
The thing you can never forget about the NHS is that it is not really a health care delivery system, it is a public health management system. These are profoundly different missions.
Health care delivery is about, well, delivering health care within bounds set by patient (and provider) consent and economic constraints. Under this system, Alfie would have gotten care if the parents could find someone who was willing to provide it and absorb the cost (which they did).
A public health system, on the other hand, is about collective management of the health resources consumed by a population and the metrics or outcomes that are experienced by the population. Its fundamentally collectivist. The NHS does not exist to provide health care to Brits; it exists to run population health experiments on Brits. IMO, its a monstrous system that we are, naturally, trying to import in dribs and drabs.
That said, their refusal to allow Alfie to exit their system is still odd. Brits are allowed to get care outside of the NHS. My only thought is that their collectivist system inherently discounts agency of individuals, and thus their humanity in many ways. They had an algorithm for Alfie, and they were going to run their algorithm on him, whatever it took.
Sharing that one (anonymously) because it needs to be said.
More sophisticated economic analysis from The Week:
Are Democrats getting their progressive groove back? Over the past week, a number of presidential hopefuls in the Senate have signed onto a job guarantee, a sort of public option for employment. If you want a job, the federal government will find you one, and pay you a living wage plus benefits to do it.
It’s big and bold and inspiring. And it might cost less than you’ve heard.
“Let’s start with how a job guarantee would work.
There isn’t legislation for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) version yet. But it sounds like a national program with regional branches. The latter would gather information about who needs work and what needs to be done. Then they would match the needs up.”
I’ll be huddled over here in the corner, weeping.
Anyone want to throw out any guesses as to what the % of welfare folks would a) accept one of these govt jobs or b) last more than a couple months before their personal behavior got them fired.
I’d almost be down for this plan just to listen to the commies like Bernie try to explain why all the deadbeats stayed on welfare and didn’t accept one of his wonderful $15/hr jobs.
*Of course the current welfare system will be in place. Don’t be stupid. No way they get rid of that in order to implement their new plan.
last more than a couple months before their personal behavior got them fired.
(a) Can be fired for lack of performance or (b) government employee. Pick one.
Yeah, the whole premise is – pay someone even if they aren’t doing anything of value and have no particular inclination to doing so.
I think a huge percentage (if not a majority) that took a job would just stop showing up after a while. No firing necessary.
Even among white collar workers it is astounding how many people have a hard time just getting to work every day. When I lost my mind and let myself be pushed into management roles, it made me crazy when I’d have people always giving me some excuse for why they couldn’t show up for work. Those same people were then outraged when they didn’t get the same raises that the people who showed up on time every day got.
Now that I’m thinking of it, you could almost make money for some pay per view access to the “Excuse Line” that would be set up for these people to call into when they were going to miss work. Every manager in the US would pay just to feel somewhat good about their current crop of idiot workers.
Let’s start with how a job guarantee would work.
It won’t.
Remind me again, is CBC the official state media for Canuckistan?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/alfie-evans-1.4638184
How are the doctors part of a narrative here?
Seriously? He wasn’t dying. He was stable, and he managed to survive 5 days on his own when doctors gave him 3 minutes…! What is wrong with these people?
there were no bad guys among those directly involved.
How is it that the people who actually made and enforced the decision to trap him in the NHS so he could be starved to death aren’t “directly involved”?
At some point, the lack of opposition by doctors and nurses makes them culpable as well. “Just following orders” only goes so far.
There’s plenty of bad guys among those directly involved. In fact, I would say everyone on the NHS side is a bad guy. A very bad guy.
What happened to “first, do no harm”? I think every person involved in this who could have disobeyed the diktats of NHS officials and yet didn’t is just as responsible for murder as the people who made the decision in the first place. And I do mean murder.
I find this excursion to “Trump Country” almost cartoonishly obnoxious (what would be utterly awesome is if the previews were a troll and he ends up just going to Midwood, Brooklyn for some Sephardic food)
Austin, for chicken wings Thai-style.
Every time I see the “Waffle House hero” mentioned, I think of Dean Winters on 30 Rock
/obscure
But there’s more to it than just the $500 billion estimate.
That’s because if we got a national job guarantee up and running, something else would happen too: Medicaid, food stamps, and other programs designed to help people in poverty would massively shrink. They all operate by providing benefits to people who fall below a certain income threshold. And with a job guarantee in place, far fewer people would ever drop that low (and in the case of Medicaid, they’d get their health care through their job, too). Spending on other social ills tied up with unemployment, from health problems to crime to incarceration, would shrink as well.
There’s another piece to this: All those newly employed workers with spending money would stimulate private businesses as well, leading to more job creation and wage gains. That would drive up tax receipts, even without any change to current tax policy offsetting yet more of the costs.
Dizzy, now.
So
fucking
dizzy.
Take a deep breath….
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/food-stamps-disability-welfare-medicaid-enrollment/
Dying. Those people are dying in the streets.
And that’s not even getting into modern monetary theory, which says you don’t need taxes to “pay for” federal spending.
WHEEEEEEEE!
modern monetary theory, which says you don’t need taxes to “pay for” federal spending
Well, we’ve been paying a lot of federal spending with debt for a very long time. And apparently, no plans to stop. At this point, its not “do you incur debt”, its “how much in taxes, and how much in debt”. If you can do 1/3 in debt, why not 2/3? Why not all of it?
Its going to end the same regardless – sooner or later, the currency will implode. I guess the argument is “it hasn’t imploded yet, so maybe it never will.” Science!
“it hasn’t imploded yet, so maybe it never will.”
That is actually a succinct summation of MMT.
I’m listening to this peppy little ditty
Play the Peace Doves game!
I’m not a car guy by any measure, but am I wrong for thinking that Porche owners are in their own class of douchebaggery?
I’m sitting at the coffee shop and there are three guys who all came in separately and they are all wearing a black Porche jacket with the emblem on the chest and red stripes on the sleeves. 2 of the 3 also have aviator glasses. One has driving gloves.
WTF?
Race team?
I don’t think so. Just three guys around 50 out for a gab session.
There’s a reason we call them Porschloecher – Porschholes.
Asians can be so culturally insensitive.
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/04/27/yellow-fever-name-long-beach-whole-foods-365/
am I wrong for thinking that Porche owners are in their own class of douchebaggery?
Old joke-
What’s the difference between a porsche and a porcupine?
The porsche has it’s pricks on the inside.
I’ve always heard that told about BMWs, and felt it fit better for Audis, personally
Where the fuck did that apostrophe come from?