After an eventful day yesterday, SP and I ended up in Sioux Falls, SD. What sorts of events, you might ask? The usual Mann Act violations? Sure, but the real adventures were storms and Jews. The latter will be expanded on in a separate post. The former was typical midwest stuff: tornado alerts, flash floods, massive thunderstorms. Nothing like 3 feet of visibility to add excitement to a ride.
The fun parts were because of our tendency to avoid interstates and keep to back roads, where we find charming towns, nice people, and a few odder attractions. Unlike most internet website elites, we had no urge whatsoever to write a rednecks-in-the-mist article, but then again, we know how to change a tire.
Happiest of all is our dog, who so far has managed to spread her urine across five states, with three more to go. Speaking of which, we had a surprise when we got to the pets-allowed hotel we had booked: they have a policy, not stated on their website, of limiting pets to 80 pounds and under. Looking at our behemoth, we figured this was going to be a challenge. “Scrunch down, pretend you’re a beagle!” Slipping in the side door, away from the front desk, was the key to success.
June 10 is quite an auspicious day in history. In precedent which has been continued to this day, it is the anniversary of the US invading a country that posed no threat, with the Marines landing in Cuba. The worst outcome of this war was its contribution to the rise of Teddy Roosevelt, certainly on the list of our Ten Worst Presidents. It’s also the birthday of Nat Hentoff, perhaps the last honest liberal, and Bobby Jindal, the less said about, the better.
Speaking of spreading urine, here’s some links to news items that caught my (((eye))):
This was talked about last night a bit, but didn’t make the formal links post- but should have. CRISIS, PEOPLE, CRISIS! Angela, Justin, and Manny are horrified. I’m famously not a fan of Trump, but shit like this is starting to win me over.
And while we’re in Trump mode, this sort of thing cracks me up. Want more Trump? This is how you’ll get more Trump.
Want to win my vote? Cut TSA by 90%, at least.
When I want to understand science and public policy, the first guy I ask is a third world commie wearing a dress. Fuck off, Frankie. AGW Derangement is fading away and you can’t save it.
Everything is better with monkeys. Everything.
Here’s a follow-up to the linked story from yesterday about people checking their phones during sex.
Uh-oh. Of course, the idiot reporters can’t be concerned with what they mean by “traces.”
Last of all, it is sad for me to note the passing of former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Danny Kirwan. Kirwan was in the band during the years when they did interesting music rather than the shitty pop that later brought them greater riches. He had the unenviable job of playing guitar on the same stage as Peter Green, but he still managed to imprint his personality in the music. And that inevitably leads us into today’s Old Guy Music. Fittingly, this song is from Kiln House, the first album from FM following Peter Green’s departure. The album is… uneven. But the high points were Kirwan’s songs, and this one was perhaps his best. Our band covered it in many gigs, and it was just as fun to play as it is to listen to.
“Man And His Monkey Are Caged By Cops”
Just blame the monkey for the car theft. Everyone who knows monkeys realizes that dealing with them is a matter of gibbon take.
Where’s Swiss’s gaze when we need it most?
Somewhat surprised the monkey wasn’t forcibly ripened from his arms when he was arrested and then shot for the sake of officer safety,
Now everyone is going to go ape because I missed that pun.
I see what you did there, Swiss will be along shortly to respond to that howler.
He goes bananas over this stuff
A spanking is in order.
Relevant
*NARROWS GAZE *
Classic monkey take.
“meat free” meatballs cracks me up
Don’t laugh, we’ve tried several commercial versions with varying degrees of success. Routinely, we’ve been using the Gardein product, which is very nice if (like us) you like fennel.
A couple weeks ago, we had some that were made by RAHeinlein and her husband. Absolutely superb even if you’re not a vegetarian. I hope they go commercial with them.
What lies behind the effort to ape meaty meals rather than creating new, balanced dishes without falling back on the fact that animals are tasty?
Kind of like lesbians using strap ons?
“green beans” made of pork mmmmm
Because lots of vegetarians want to get a certain taste/texture profile without killing animals.
Of course, your dichotomy is false- using processed protein does not mean you can’t create “new, balanced dishes.”
What dichotomy? It’s an observation of behaviours. So few foray into innovation and so many just imitate their old omnivorous ways.
I haven’t taken a comprehensive survey, but I assure you that my fellow cooking geeks and I do both. The processed proteins are just one more set of ingredients.
So, what’s the breakdown of cooking geeks to non- within the meat-abstaining population?
No idea. I’d guess more than average because of the lack of fast food and relative scarcity of pre-prepared items.
Fuck it. Kill the animal already.
It’s weird until you stop thinking of them as imitation meat and just think of them as something like…shit, can’t think of the name. Those Lebanese hush puppies that come with a yogurt sauce. There’s a lot of vegetarian stuff that I enjoy on its own merits, not as a substitute for meat.
/not a vegetarian, btw
falafel?
That’s the one.
NO MONKEYS
No monkeys?
“I don’t think those things are true. And he, there was something about his affect which was oddly kind of languid for him,” he said. “I don’t know what it means but he did not look well to me.”
The radical assessment was given support by Mother Jones DC bureau chief David Corn, who said: “If you were talking to me this morning the way we just heard Donald Trump talk, I would ask you if you’d taken any medication, advise you not to operate any heavy machinery.”
Bring out the men with the butterfly nets.
He may also face a charge for possessing an unlicensed monkey.
Clouseau! Get in here!
Being forced to have a license is very specieist
You’d think at some point, reality would intrude. Trump is a rich man who became president despite having zero political experience.
This is not the profile of a mentally ill person.
OTOH the desire to be President could be considered a warning sign of problems
My ideal president continuously tents his fingers.
Your ideal President is Mr. Burns?
Excellent!
I don’t think wanting to be president is anymore pathological than the desire to be a rock star or a gold medal Olympian, or a billionaire, or an astronaut.
People who are focused on themselves concern me much less than people who want to remake the world.
At one point, a deputy uncuffed Hession so that he could sign paperwork and “say your goodbyes” to the monkey
“Oh, see ya later, Deputy.”
Absolutely Cowering!!
TDS is a hell of a thing.
Funny thing was that SP hadn’t read any of the discussions of that photo, but when I showed it to her last night, her immediate reaction was, “He looks like he’s in charge.”
And she is no more fond of Trump than I am.
I read his body language as : “Keep yaking, the answer is still no.”
Yes, he is in charge.
It’s like we don’t live in the same reality (because we don’t).
If the adjective used were ‘petulent’ I’d agree, as it does fit the posture. But that person doesn’t seem to have a grasp of what words mean.
C’mon, he said “absolutely” before it. Must be true.
That posture says to me: how much longer do I have to put up with these morons?
Fixed that for him.
Is that Bubbles? Needs new prescription.
…wait, Trump is the guy sitting down with his arms folded looking like he’s just waiting for the lady to stop talking so he can say “No”, right? Yeah, that’s not cowering. That’s someone who has already decided that you’re not getting what you want from him.
They even used that pic on the Fox show today, which has me confused because I thought Fox News was supposed to be all a bunch of Trumpkins. The whole show has been bashing Trump this morning.
I’m beginning to suspect Krugabe isn’t particularly fond of this Trump feller.
Still, there has never been a disaster like the G7 meeting that just took place. It could herald the beginning of a trade war, maybe even the collapse of the Western alliance. At the very least it will damage America’s reputation as a reliable ally for decades to come; even if Trump eventually departs the scene in disgrace, the fact that someone like him could come to power in the first place will always be in the back of everyone’s mind.
What went down in Quebec? I’m already seeing headlines to the effect that Trump took a belligerent “America first” position, demanding big concessions from our allies, which would have been bad. But the reality was much worse.
He didn’t put America first; Russia first would be a better description. And he didn’t demand drastic policy changes from our allies; he demanded that they stop doing bad things they aren’t doing. This wasn’t a tough stance on behalf of American interests, it was a declaration of ignorance and policy insanity.
———
Was there any strategy behind Trump’s behavior? Well, it was pretty much exactly what he would have done if he really is Putin’s puppet: yelling at friendly nations about sins they aren’t committing won’t bring back American jobs, but it’s exactly what someone who does want to break up the Western alliance would like to see.
Alternatively, maybe he was just acting out because he couldn’t stand having to spend hours with powerful people who will neither flatter him nor bribe him by throwing money at his family businesses – people who, in fact, didn’t try very hard to hide the contempt they feel for the man leading what is still, for the moment, a great power.
Whatever really happened, this was an utter, humiliating debacle. And we all know how Trump responds to humiliation. You really have to wonder what comes next. One thing’s for sure: it won’t be good.
Argumentum ad assertum, Krugabe’s stock in trade.
Without reading or listening to what Trump actually said (and I’m sure as heck not going to do that), I’ll just assume Krugabe’s column is 99 and 44/100 percent hysterical bullshit.
“You really have to wonder what comes next. One thing’s for sure: it won’t be good.”
A bunch of journalists set their hair on fire and pen this is the end of the world as we know it articles while thinking people roll their eyes at the over-reaction. Wash, rinse, repeat…
Einstein of Canada….priceless.
Ooops. Was supposed to be in response to Straffin below.
Without reading or listening to what Trump actually said (and I’m sure as heck not going to do that), I’ll just assume Krugabe’s column is 99 and 44/100 percent hysterical bullshit.
But does it float?
Trump complained about Canada’s dairy protectionism, which is dumb because all rich countries subsidize farmers and the US is one of the worst offenders. Looking at you, sugar beet farmers.
His larger point on tariffs is correct though: many other countries impose much higher tariffs than the US does, but we’re the bad guys for saying: stop or you’ll get a taste of your own medicine.
That said, tariffs are dumb. Here is a list of countries with the highest tariffs. It includes such powerhouses like Bangladesh and Ethiopia.
http://www.businessinsider.com/wef-countries-with-highest-trade-tarrifs-2016-10
So “Russia!” is the new “Booosh!” I see.
Islam of Peace takes on Justin.
Tawhidi is a good man, brave too.
Worse that that, he compared those ISIS fighters to the discrimination faced by early immigrants and specially pointed out Italians (and even Greeks and Portuguese).
That revealed a lot about this goofball’s shallow mindset. He’s a mimbo. It’s cute if you’re just putzing around as a career politician in Timfucktoo but he’s the fricken PM. Very not good.
Wow, first I’ve heard of that guy. Interesting dude.
Health insurance rates expected to rise. Republicans to blame, totally NOT Obamacare.
“There’s one party trying to give people health care, and the other party is trying to take it away. It really is that simple,”
Is he talking about America?
Why exactly, would anyone want to take healthcare away from people? What is the motive? What is the end?
To save money!
/NHS
You have a good point there.
At this point, they are to blame. Chickenshits that they are.
“Health insurance rates expected to rise. Republicans to blame, totally NOT Obamacare.”
I guess the missed the premium raises for the 6 years before Trump was president. Which makes me think they all still live in their mum’s basement.
They remember; they just ignore it.
It’s just like how everybody’s taxes were going to go up. When their take home pay actually went up after the tax cuts went through, they just pretended they never cried about how their taxes were going up to pay for tax breaks for the rich.
I know several people who won’t even acknowledge they got tax cuts, and others who think it’s some kind of trick.
Obamacare is limping along on it’s last leg. 20 states are suing over it because now without Mr. penaltax, the law is unconstitutional and probably will not stand up to a SCOTUS showdown. 5-4, it’s gone. Then premiums will start going down. What will they say then? Just trot out Nancy to prattle on aimlessly about crumbs?
Exhibit 5,000,000 of why you should never try to appease progs and also how Republicans are pussies and morons for not outright killing obamacare. Now they not only didn’t end it like they promised their base, but they’ll still get blamed for the natural repercussions of obamacare anyway. Truly stupid people.
More armchair psychoanalysis
But to Trump, the very idea of international cooperation is anathema. He sees every relationship, whether among people or nations, in zero-sum terms. Either we’re the winner or the loser, and if it’s not obvious that we’re the winner then we must be the loser, the chump, the sap, the sucker. That’s why he sees it as such a great and brilliant victory that he pulled us out of a series of international agreements: the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Paris Climate Accord, the Iran nuclear agreement. The point isn’t that each of those deals were perfect, but to Trump they were disastrous primarily because they involved the United States joining with other countries in the hopes that everyone could emerge better off. That’s an idea he just cannot wrap his head around.
Was this insight gleaned via crystal ball, consultation with the spirit world, or some other manner of divination? I guess it’s just obvious; as plain as the nose on your face. A guy who has put together large financial deals involving multiple partners could never grasp the concept of mutual benefit.
Not to mention that taking a deal for the sake of taking a deal is just stupid. Some deals are actually counterproductive to our interests.
He sees every relationship, whether among people or nations, in zero-sum terms.
Sounds like anti-free-market people.
Projection, as always.
Socialism/communism is explicitly zero-sum
And if he does cooperate, he’s a puppet.
That posture says to me: how much longer do I have to put up with these morons?
Either that, or, “I’m not going anywhere until I get some ice cream.”
And it better be two scoops….
Good morning mammals. Yesterday I managed to free dive 48 ft, a new personal record.
Behold Your Future Reptilian Overlords are quickly adapting to your home world.
Free diving….I dont recommend it. Even for lizards.
I managed ~60 feet once. That was the first nosebleed I suffered in my life. I never did that shit again.
Scuba for the win.
Nice! 40’ was my best back when I was in shape and diving.
http://www.kmbc.com/article/federal-public-defender-s-office-says-thousands-of-prison-phone-calls-have-been-recorded-in-leavenworth/21208817
tl;dr: At least 1,500 calls from federal inmates awaiting trial to their lawyers were recorded (unconstitutional). Federal prosecutors admit to listening to “at least 1” (very unconstitutional, and you know that if they admit to 1, there’s a lot).
I’m sure maybe a case or two will be thrown out or a conviction reversed, but prosecutors have absolute immunity and won’t face bar discipline, so they’ll go back to doing it again and hope they don’t get caught this time.
If you talk on a phone in prison you are being recorded. To assume otherwise is foolish.
If you talk on a phone
in prisonyou are being recorded. To assume otherwise is foolish.Where is Sheriff Taylor when you need him?
They should make every prosecutor watch that episode every month.
Everything is better with monkeys. Everything.
Unless you are making stew. Not sure I would use monkey in a stew.
bushmeat is a thing.
But it’s also prone to transmitting Ebola.
Canada import tariffs:
https://www.export.gov/article?id=Canada-Import-Tariffs
Disruption
A record 139 taxi medallions will be offered for sale in bankruptcy auction this month — the latest sign that a deluge of ride-sharing apps like Uber are squeezing cabbies out of business and deeper into debt, as well as pinching the incomes of for-hire drivers, according to analysts.
The medallions will be auctioned for a fraction of their original value — some likely having cost their owners as much as $1 million or more apiece.
A minimum of 20 will be sold, the auctioneers say. The collection is part of the 13,587 licensed medallions required to operate New York City’s fleet of iconic yellow cabs. Back in 2013, a medallion fetched a whopping $1.3 million.
Today, prices have plunged to between $160,000 to $250,000 each, as a wave of ride-sharing vehicles floods the market.
Are they all from the same cab company? Who knows? Dumping that many medallions on the market at one time is going to really drive down the price.
Oh noez!
Here’s a crazy idea:
Maybe instead of pushing up some prices (like the price of labor) or pushing down other prices (like the price of borrowing money), we could let price fluctuate according to supply and demand. That way, we wouldn’t have shortages of overpriced goods and surpluses of under priced goods.
I call it: let-people-to-be-free-to-buy-and-sell-ism
I can get an Uber in remote Brooklyn in minutes. A taxi? LOL yeah right. Never. These people whining and moaning about “competition” and “OMG too many cars to choose from” can shove it up their ass.
Uber is such a fantastic lesson in economics for people who previously have had zero knowledge of how markets work. For that reason alone I would love it even if I didn’t use it as much as I do.
Damn… my neighbors can pack away the beer. I’m kinda hungover today though I managed to sleep through most of the night.
Lansing trip was good – though too much rain – and I managed to score an original 1991 pressing of This Mortal Coil – Blood. UK vinyl in the era of the CD is pretty rare so I was willing to cough up the $50. Also got a rare Chet Baker album – Cool Burnin’ – from 1967.
Bonus – a Linda Lawson LP from 1960 where they list her measurements on the back notes : 36-24-36. A different era for sure.
And now time for a 5 mile run.
Linda Lawson going nuclear
The NSA’s newly declassified propaganda posters are wild.
You know who else used propaganda posters…
Hollywood?
This guy?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_%22Hope%22_poster
“Beware the truce of the bear” is my favorite.
The state-worshipping one is straight out of 1984. Always a good idea to be reminded of how these people think.
Ya, that one is kind of frightening. WTF? Who ever made that one needs to be something something woodchipper.
That one is by far the most revealing of their mindset. True collectivist authoritarianism.
Give the Pope some credit, he knows a religion when he sees one.
He also made the question “Is the Pope Catholic?” less certain.
I had to let up on the commie pope a bit when he stepped up for Charlie Gard. Just a bit.
WAITAMINNIT!
President Donald Trump on Saturday said he wanted to see the elimination of trade barriers between the United States and its closest allies amid tensions over the Trump administration’s move to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU, Canada and Mexico.
Speaking during an impromptu news conference at the G7 summit in Canada on Saturday, Trump said his ultimate goal was the elimination of all trade duties.
“Ultimately that’s what you want,” he said. “You want a tariff free. You want no barriers. And you want no subsidies. Because you have some cases where countries are subsidizing industries and that’s not fair.”
How can this be? Trump doesn’t understand economics. Krugabe told me so.
Every time I think of that guy I think of the trillion dollar coin absurdity. I am sure this coin would have Obama on it with his nose in the air.
I recommend this one: http://www.bookwormroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Arrogant-Obama-278×300.jpg
WaPo headline:
“Trump Waffles Again (sub:) Mental Health Experts Warn of Dangerous Instability”
You know who else used propaganda posters…
Russian twatterbots?
Crisis News Network™, a division of DNC… Shit, I’m only glancingly following that topic and I can spot the glaring lies, distortions, and rhetorical tics from a mile away.
More:
G7 leaders had intended to use the summit to confront Trump on the tariffs, which they have described as protectionist and a threat to the global economy.
Trump said he discussed the idea of eliminating tariffs with his G7 counterparts.
“I did suggest it … I guess they are going to go back to the drawing board and check it out,” Trump said. “The relationships are very good,” he added, mentioning his discussions with French and Canadian leaders specifically.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to indicate room for negotiation ahead of a delayed meeting with Trump, telling reporters “Sometimes we disagree.”
Globally, tariffs are close to their lowest levels ever — averaging around 2.9% — according to the latest data from the World Bank. Tariffs have been falling for decades due to free trade agreements.
It really pisses me off when these clowns use the term “free trade” when what they really are referring to is “managed trade”.
No tariffs, no subsidies, please.
Trump said he discussed the idea of eliminating tariffs with his G7 counterparts.
Is that what Zoolander was referring to when he said Canada won’t be pushed around?
extra credit time
For those wanting more challenging derp, click here.
Come to the nightmare. Come with me. You know you wanna.
sample
***
Regeneration and purification through violence is the credo of the American empire. D.H. Lawrence, like Du Bois, saw it, and said, “The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer.” The pillars of American capitalism are genocide and slavery. America was not blessed by God. It was blessed, if that is the right word, by producing the most efficient killing machines and trained killers on the planet.
***
[Kiff sigh]
“W.E.B. Du Bois, more than any intellectual…”
Sorry. I had to stop reading right there.
It was blessed, if that is the right word, by producing the most efficient killing machines and trained killers on the planet.
Even taking into account the efficacy of America’s armed forces, can they hold a candle to, say, Stalin and Mao?
I guarantee if you said the word “Holodomor” to the ejit that wrote that you would get a blank look in return.
That, or sputtering about how it wasn’t socialism’s fault, it was a logistical problem, not done out of malice, etc etc bleegle argle blag.
What could be more efficient than killing 20 million people by starving them?
Say what now? Does the NYT actually believe the Pope snaps his fingers and oil executives come running?!
Commie Pope wants to bring back indulgences.
Perhaps they thought they were at a soccer match.
And this falls into the GAO’s line of work, in some way?
Even as the #MeToo movement shines a light on the pervasive problem of sexual harassment, there’s still little known about the economic costs associated with it.
How much do workers and companies lose from job turnover, for example? What about the value of ideas that could have been generated if people had stayed in certain industries?
Four Democratic senators are trying to answer these questions.
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Patty Murray, Dianne Feinstein, and Elizabeth Warren are pressing the Government Accountability Office to help quantify the economic cost that companies incur as a result of sexual harassment — and not just the money for legal settlements of harassment allegations.
“While employers tend to focus on direct costs to a business, such as legal fees or settlement amounts, the true cost of sexual harassment includes indirect costs such as decreased productivity, increased turnover, and reputational harm,” they write in a letter to the GAO. “All of this is an impediment to employee performance and employers’ bottom-lines.”
What this country needs is some more made-up numbers about inequality, so we can tighten our chokehold on the goose that lays the golden eggs.
The SJWs are postmodernists to a one. It’s feels over facts, subjectivity over objectivity. Yet they constantly trade in these dubious statistics and analyses that purport to show some marginal economic cost associated with a behavior they don’t like. It’s a huge contradiction that rarely gets pointed out.
That’s insulting to actual postmodernists.
Nonsense! They’re the reality-based community. They say so themselves.
***
The phrase was attributed by journalist Ron Suskind to an unnamed official…
***
And that’s all I needed to read.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community
If we ever take the media and our education system back from these idiots, or at least come up with a strong alternative, they’re toast. This is one game I’m not sure why the right in this country are not fighting.
“Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Patty Murray, Dianne Feinstein, and Elizabeth Warren”
The dream team of stupid.
It would be quite difficult to assemble that level of stupid in one place.
Watch them in the upcoming Oceans 4 as they rob the American people, forever.
Pretty damn white too. I thought straight white women were supposed to stfu these days
They’re trying to reclaim the top of the greivance pyramid – they’ve lost a lotta ground to bodies of color and transfolk in recent years.
They left off Amy Klobuchar. Not fair. Sad. What has Minnesota ever done for, ooops, to you? List is incomplete. Fail.
The Vikings’ 58 years (and counting) of failure have been endlessly entertaining.
Good idea. I’d love to know the economic costs of being afraid to talk to half of your co-workers for fear of being fired for having eyes.
“While employers tend to focus on direct costs to a business, such as legal fees or settlement amounts, the true cost of sexual harassment includes indirect costs such as decreased productivity, increased turnover, and reputational harm,” they write in a letter to the GAO. “
What about the costs in complying with idiot regulations and the costs in reduced morale from browbeating rightthink into employees?
It’s going to be interesting when presidential campaign season gets back into full swing to see the media temper tantrums when they realize that they’ve pissed away what little credibility they had left on this non-stop TDS and no one will believe the xe who cries wolf.
I’ve often thought the same thing – are they so disconnected from the perspective of the average Joe that they’re willing to whittle away even the tiny amount of popular esteem they have left?
So far the answer seems to be, “Hahahayes.”
“Why can’t we hate men?
It’s not that Eric Schneiderman (the now-former New York attorney general accused of abuse by multiple women) pushed me over the edge. My edge has been crossed for a long time, before President Trump, before Harvey Weinstein, before “mansplaining” and “incels.” Before live-streaming sexual assaults and red pill men’s groups and rape camps as a tool of war and the deadening banality of male prerogative.
Seen in this indisputably true context, it seems logical to hate men. I can’t lie, I’ve always had a soft spot for the radical feminist smackdown, for naming the problem in no uncertain terms. I’ve rankled at the “but we don’t hate men” protestations of generations of would-be feminists and found the “men are not the problem, this system is” obfuscation too precious by half.
But, of course, the criticisms of this blanket condemnation of men — from transnational feminists who decry such glib universalism to U.S. women of color who demand an intersectional perspective — are mostly on the mark. These critics rightly insist on an analysis of male power as institutional, not narrowly personal or individual or biologically based in male bodies. Growing movements to challenge a masculinity built on domination and violence and to engage boys and men in feminism are both gratifying and necessary. Please continue.
So men, if you really are #WithUs and would like us to not hate you for all the millennia of woe you have produced and benefited from, start with this: Lean out so we can actually just stand up without being beaten down. Pledge to vote for feminist women only. Don’t run for office. Don’t be in charge of anything. Step away from the power. We got this. And please know that your crocodile tears won’t be wiped away by us anymore. We have every right to hate you. You have done us wrong. #BecausePatriarchy. It is long past time to play hard for Team Feminism. And win.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-cant-we-hate-men/2018/06/08/f1a3a8e0-6451-11e8-a69c-b944de66d9e7_story.html
Projection. Bigotry writ large.
#fuckoff #getajob
Well, she’s free to hate men all she wants. Typically when you go around hating people just based on some identity factor, it actually makes you a bigot, and people are going to start hating you right back. So have at it.
I wonder if she would have been so keen to tell men to back off so she can step in back when the main role of men was to go out and jab megafauna with a pointy stick?
Personally, I might be OK with staying at home all day and having my wife bring home the bacon. Especially when she constantly pesters me for some sweet loving (which I will dole out sparingly in order to motivate her to bring back more money).
“start with this:”
How ’bout you start with making me a sammich.
Commenting on Trump’s trade wars and his clash with the other G7 members. I don’t know about anyone else, but I have been sick as hell of the Eurotards trash talking the USA over how we don’t have healthcare and how they have a higher standard of living. We’re all just a bunch of dumb hicks. By paying for the Eurotards fucking military protection, we’re basically supporting all of their social programs they think makes them so much better than us. Trump needs to cut them the fuck off now and let’s see what happens. Just do it already and watch them squirm.
Yeah, it’s pretty frustrating to hear Euros bitching about US domestic policy and complaining that we’re warmongers because of our massive defense budget (which, admittedly, is excessive) without so much as a peep about how those bases they complain about are part of a defensive umbrella under which they live, rent-free, allowing them to maintain a piddly-shit military and blow a ton of money on free shit for the plebs.
We totally do have universal healthcare anyway.
Every old person or person within 160% of the poverty level gets free health care. In some states, the range is greater. It’s much greater for women and children. You get subsidies past that well into middle class. Your company is subsidized by the government into getting you health care. If you choose not to get it, you can sign up for it after you are already sick. At any time. If you have any emergency, even without insurance hospitals must treat you.
Our system has many flaws, but how exactly is it not universal?
Before the ACA there were health clinics all over the place here in MD that would treat you based on income. So if you had no income, it was free. That and like you said, no emergency room will turn you away, health insurance or not.
I’m always hearing the Eurotards complaining about how expensive everything is there compared to the USA and how it isn’t fair and at the same time saying how much better their standard of living is. It’s sickening.
Well their standard of living is not better, and having many friends in France, Germany most people with money have private insurance anyway.
I think it’s Democrats falsely claiming that.
Also we spend immense quantities of money on human welfare. No civilization in history is as generous as we are. Any flaws with our system, are mainly due to ineffective government imo.
In every country outside of the US that I know people in, they all have private insurance, the public system is shit and everyone knows it. Socialized medicine is more like a eugenics program than anything else. As well as a way to fleece the middle class out of half their income.
Yeah I think our media is greatly peddling myths here.
Also, the so called greater standard of living is based on questionable metrics. Americans are way wealthier and not just by a little. What middle class people in France live in, I would consider low quality in the US.
A clothes dryer or a dishwasher are luxury items in Europe.
Europeans pay about 40-50% of their income in taxes, plus about a 20-25% VAT tax on everything, which explains their constant whining about how expensive things are. Also, there is not much upward mobility in Europe. They’re always talking about how unfair things are in America because billionaires, but a few wealthy families in Europe have had most of the wealth for the last 400-500 years. How many people do we see in Europe rise from the bottom to get extremely wealthy? Any?
Let’s not go overboard. I lived with a middle-class German family in the 80s and they had all of that.
What they don’t have is the room to build bigger houses which is the biggest difference that I notice.
“Let’s not go overboard. I lived with a middle-class German family in the 80s and they had all of that.”
Well, that was before Germany made their energy costs ‘necessarily skyrocket’ and their world class car companies decided to give up on stuff people want to buy and do away with the internal combustion engine. Also, their dish washer has been replaced by a guy named Ahmad who has no job and 6 kids to feed. Merkel would also like to replace your other appliances with 3 more Ahmads.
I’ve spent a good amount of time in the NL, Ireland and Spain. I’d say most of the homes I visited either did not have these or if they did they used them very sparingly due to high energy costs. Could be different in Germany for sure.
My experience is that dryers are really expensive to run. My German relatives have them, but rarely use them.
One of our friends daughters from France was visiting us last summer and broke her arm. She of course had private insurance so it was no issue. Her parents said the government healthcare is still useful for things where quality is not a concern.
They purposely interchange health insurance/coverage with health care.
Just like immigrant and illegal immigrant.
They don’t have a higher standard of living. I, for one, like having counter space in my kitchen, and two bathrooms with a real shower and not a single bath where the shower is an attachment to the sink. (Actual apartment of grad school friend – she lives in a very nice, upscale neighborhood in Copenhagen that she can only afford because her aunt owns the building and she still has to have a roommate.)
Copenhagen sounds like Manhattan. You should see some of the “kitchens” and “showers” there.
But Copenhagen isn’t known as one of the super expensive housing markets like NY or London. It’s an average European city.
My last job was working for a large German company and I had this conversation all the time with them.
The Europeans would all cluck about how sad it is that people are tethered to their jobs because of health care. You try to explain that even if you have to get private insurance for a while you still end up having more take home pay than they end up with. They are tethered to high taxes just by being alive in Germany. At least we have some options.
The phrase “all taxation is theft” would instantly drive all the Europeans in the office into a froth. At the core of their being, they believe that everyone really does owe the State the fruits of their labor.
https://www.pga.com/news/golf-buzz/rickie-fowler-announces-engagement-allison-stokke
I am now officially in mourning. If anybody wonders why, do a Google pic search of ‘Allison Stokke’
do a Google pic search of ‘Allison Stokke’
Oh my.
Which one were you lusting after?
“Race, Gender and Trump: Everything You Think You Know is Wrong”
https://quillette.com/2018/06/08/race-gender-trump-everything-think-know-wrong/
Kids today and their photoshops.
https://twitter.com/neontaster/status/1005547880654962688
The Last Supper one is hilarious.
https://twitter.com/BenHanDD/status/1005837117908488193
“Kim Kardashian Meeting Donald Trump in the Oval Office Is a Nightmare We Can’t Wake Up From”
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-appearances/kim-kardashian-meeting-donald-trump-in-the-oval-office-is-a-nightmare-we-cant-wake-up-from
I remember when the New Yorker had literary standards.
Yeah, some poor old lady got let out of the rape cage. How can we ever live with this?
If someone met with Trump and got him to pardon a nonviolent drug offender (never mind getting him set on broader reforms), I could give a fuck less if that someone was Bozo the Clown (rip).
To the left, it’s all about appearances over results.
Trump just needs to out of nowhere deschedule cannabis. That would be the final deathblow to the left, half of them would suffer from exploded head on the first day. The rest would develop such a severe case of TDS that they’d wind up in the mental ward. The NYT would spend the rest of their days churning out one drug warrior article after the other.
Trump just mentioned a couple days back that he would probably sign a bill that would leave the Feds out of states’ decisions to legalize weed. I’d love to see it happen.
Yeah, the way I see it, he’ll most definitely sign it. It’s a start.
This is basically my response when I’m asked if I like Politician X.
If X does something I like then I consider it a good thing. I really don’t care who does it.
This way of thinking baffles the team players.
“Yes, I am definitely more essential to society than a plumber or a firefighter. What kind of question even is that”
https://twitter.com/ZJemptv/status/1005010759812870144
LOL
“Fuck the white working class”
https://twitter.com/ZJemptv/status/985031458422231040
The DNC really need to get her out across the country stumping for the Democrats in the midterms. How can they just let talent like this go to waste?
Yup. “Fuck 60% of the electorate” would make a great campaign slogan.
How many people do we see in Europe rise from the bottom to get extremely wealthy? Any?
Richard Branson and, umm…
Branson was never poor, but…
“In March 2000, Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for “services to entrepreneurship”
This would never happen in today’s UK. Instead he’d probably wind up in jail over something harmless he said.
Drake?
The UK isn’t as bad as it was 20, 30 years ago. I have no idea when it comes to the rest of the continent.
Hard hitting Face The Nation actually had Susan Rice on to talk about the Korea talks. Yeah, I muted it.
This bothers me but then again, this is how the system is supposed to work, not as a mandate of the federal government.
https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/10/vermont-require-all-residents-have-health-insuranc/
Ironic that VT would implement an insurance mandate – doesn’t seem to mesh with their recruitment initiatives.
Many Americans work remotely these days, free to consider state tax rates among other things in choosing where to live. The overtaxed state of Vermont thinks that’s a recruiting opportunity, and the state government is offering $10,000 grants to recruit workers willing to move to the Green Mountain State.
Governor Phil Scott last week signed the Remote Worker Grant Program law, which invites folks who work from their laptops for out-of-state employers to do so in Vermont. The program will dole out up to $500,000 over three years to cover moving and work-related expenses for those who sign up.
With Vermont’s high tax rates, the one-time subsidy is effectively a loan—with a punishing interest rate. Alongside a top marginal income personal rate of 8.95%, Vermont’s property taxes were third most onerous in the country in 2017, according to ATTOM Data Solutions. The burden will increase this year with the new $10,000 limit on the federal state-and-local tax deduction. In March Mr. Scott also announced a “Stay-to-Stay” initiative to convince some of Vermont’s 13 million annual tourists to stick around. Visitors were treated to networking events and job site visits, all on the taxpayer’s dime.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/vermonts-relocation-grant-1528499306?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1
It’s easy to do things with other people’s money.
“Take that, Trump!”
“Haggis pizza for lunch.”
https://twitter.com/CountDankulaTV/status/1005812138601009154
OK, well, now that’s worse than pineapple.
With a fruity beer on the side.
“My Life Isn’t Your Porn: Why South Korean Women Protest
You might have heard the stories — of cameras that look like lighters, flashes of light inside nooks and crannies at a public restroom, subway upskirting — but they might have sounded like stories of other people. On June 9, some 22,000 women gathered in South Korea to say they’re not. It could happen to anyone.
The demonstration in Hyehwa, Seoul, was the biggest women’s rally thus far in South Korean history (seconded only by the same organizer’s first rally on May 19).”
https://www.koreaexpose.com/south-koreas-biggest-womens-protest-in-history-is-against-spycam-porn/
https://twitter.com/i/moments/1005502822274740224
You had me at Korean pron.
What about the costs in complying with idiot regulations and the costs in reduced morale from browbeating rightthink into employees?
Get a grip on yourself, shitlord. Those are investments. They pay dividends. Huuuge dividends.