ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. ZARDOZ HAS HAD A GOOD WEEK. GOOD, HONEST GRAIN HAULING AND COUNTRY MUSIC.
ZARDOZ LIKES IOWA SO FAR
IF ZARDOZ STILL AROUND FORT DODGE AREA AROUND HARVEST TIME, HE WILL HAVE TO MAKE IT A POINT TO SEE LOCASH. ZARDOZ NOT CONCERNED WITH WHAT BRUTALS HE WORKS WITH SAY ABOUT FORT DODGE – ZARDOZ BELIEVES THEY ARE SIMPLY BRUTAL H8ERS, AS ARE MANY FROM FROM WATERLOO. HOW DO CHOSEN ONES LIKE ZARDOZ’S SICK IOWA BURN?
REGARDLESS, HERE ARE LINKS FOR HIS CHOSEN ONES, WHOM ZARDOZ LOVES A BUSHEL AND A PECK. AND A HUG AROUND THE NECK.
- GERMAN BRUTALS AND TEXAS BRUTALS TAKE DIFFERENT POSITION ON SAME ISSUE
- BRUTAL ROB LOWE CLAIMS TO HAVE SEEN “WOOD APE” IN OZARKS. ZARDOZ’S FRIEND STEVE SMITH DENIES RAPING ROB LOWE IN WILD, BUT HAS FAMILY OUT THAT WAY.
- OHIO BRUTAL HAS NOVEL SOLUTION TO DRUG WAR
- BRUTAL SPACE AGENCY DENIES CHILD SLAVERY ON MARS DISAPPOINTING ZARDOZ’S BEMONOCLED CHOSEN ONES.
First?
*falls out of chair*
Good news everyone. Gary Johnson will return to politics! We may get those gay nazi wedding cakes afterall!
I propose a thought experiment.
What would it take for you to become a self-described Republican?
What if they slashed Medicaid eligibility for the first time ever? What if that cut $880 billion in spending over 10 years?
Would that do it?
What if they deregulated like crazy?
What if they pulled out of the Paris climate accord?
What if they were really good about protecting the Second Amendment?
I still consider myself a libertarian, and that’s what I call myself. I think about what it would take for me to call myself a Republican, and I keep thinking that they are barking up the right trees.
What would it take for you to call yourself a Republican?
Aren’t they already trying to do a lot of the things you want from President Gary Johnson?
Republicans are winning despite people not calling themselves “Republicans”. The two parties should change their names to “Not Republican” and “Not Democrat” given most people are voting that way anyways.
Oh, and go away, Gary. You blew a once in a generation opportunity when all you had to say was, “I want to get government off your backs”.
I don’t think Republicans are thought of primarily as the party of prayer in public schools, anti-abortion, or even anti-gay marriage anymore.
And if Trump took that yoke off their backs, he might be the best thing that could have happened to them.
I don’t think Republicans are thought of primarily as the party of prayer in public schools, anti-abortion, or even anti-gay marriage anymore.
They’ve lost every culture war issue. All of those things are non-starters even if they wanted to revive them – the courts will not let it happen. So what you’re left with is basically the “cut taxes” rhetoric, which never really turns into reality because the Republicans as a political party (saying nothing of the value of their actual ideology) are effete to the point of uselessness even (maybe especially) when they are the majority.
I think cutting taxes is a winning issue.
I think you have to target working people for the cuts.
Voters pay taxes. Most of them wouldn’t if they didn’t have to.
They need to simultaneously highlight all the useless fluff they’d cut or they won’t get anyone from the other team on board.
There are 9 Dem Senators from Trump voting states running in 2018. Couple more from close running states.
The GOP has no killer instinct. You ought to be fucking panicking those fuckers, pressing them hard, making them go on the record on Obamacare, on high taxes, on common sense regulatory reform. Either get them to cross the aisle and cut taxes and repeal Obamacare, or hang it around their necks so your candidates can win.
Like I said, they don’t want to advance the ball, they just want to hold it, then punt.
*Like I said, they don’t want to advance the ball, they just want to hold it, then punt.*
Who knew Republicans were so similar to the Chicago Bears?
If Trump passes the tax plan I’ve read about, he has my vote in 2020, barring anything over the top negative he does.
There are two types of people who don’t want lower taxes. 1. Those who already pay no taxes and believe that the government are going to throw them a bone from the table of the evul rich, and 2. Liars.
Hyperion, I would rent-seekers like GE to the list. I doubt that they have an army of lobbyists influencing the people writing the laws, while also paying $0 in taxes is a coincidence.
But they suck up to the right lefty groups, so they’re responsible corporate citizens. And totally not cronyist ratbags promoting things like green energy policies that just so happen to mean people have to buy their products.
“They’ve lost every culture war issue. All of those things are non-starters even if they wanted to revive them.
I won’t do all caps like Zardoz, but how many times must I mention that guns and drugs are culture war issues?
Some of the most faithful battlers for gun rights are also prolife and against compulsory gay cakes.
“the courts will not let it happen.”
What the courts allow to happen depends on who the judges are. Who the judges are depends on who the President and the Senators are.
We’re not a free country if the government gets to designate classes of human beings as nonpersons who can be killed without due process.
We’re not a free country if the laws relating to marriage can be rewritten at the whim of judges who violate their oaths of office.
We’re not a free country if small businesses can be driven into bankruptcy because it doesn’t help cater Adam and Steve’s wedding.
We’re not a free country if the government is actively working to undermine the family, the foundation of a free society.
Trump signs law that allows states to deny funding to Planned Parenthood
Trump was the first GOP candidate to realize that the evangelical Republicans are the equivalent of the black Democrats: You don’t actually have to do anything, they’re going to vote for you regardless. The fucking idiots used to spend the entire primary giving the Democrats soundbites to run in swing states, trying to thump the Bible. Trump is a twice divorced casino magnate who clearly gives less than zero fucks about abortion or gay marriage. But evangelicals broke huge for him, because he never tried to hide it or downplay it. He never gave grandiose speeches about how much he just loves Jesus and how important it is to do SoCon X, Y, or Z.
Part of it is that a lot of liberals are openly hostile to religion. So really all a Republican needs to get the socon vote is to promise not to force them to bake gay wedding cakes, or make their daughters share locker rooms with chicks with dicks.
Well, he did read to his audience from Two Corinthians.
They’re still thought of as the anti-abortion party, but all of the other ones are pretty much passé positions now. The country is still pretty much 50-50 split on pro-life/pro-choice, so I think that the debate will continue for some time. I don’t think that it should be a religious question, either: the question should be framed as which right do you think is more fundamental and supreme in the life of a human: the right to life or the right to liberty. I lean towards the former, therefore I’m a pro-life libertarian.
Something to consider about the pro-life/pro-choice dichotomy is that most people fall somewhere in between. There are maybe 10% of the population on each side that take the most strict opinion on each side of no abortions at all vs abortions for whatever reason at any time. Abortion isn’t really a 50/50 it’s more of a 10/20/20/20/20/10.
So there are plenty of people that would identify as a pro-life, but have no problem with the morning after pill, while others would consider that a type of abortion, and other even more conservative groups like the Catholic Church would say that even using birth control goes against God’s will. Likewise, most people who identify as pro-choice would balk at the notion of an 8-month pregnant woman aborting a perfectly viable fetus to spite the baby daddy but groups like Planned Parenthood argue that should be perfectly legal.
Most people accept that at some point between the point when sperm meets egg and a kid rides their first waterslide ride feet first, a baby was created. The point where it went transformed from a mass of undifferentiated cells into a baby is debatable.
I think the GOP has been pretty good about distancing itself from the extreme 10% on their side and moderating their position, with a few notable exceptions like Todd Akin. But the Republicans that get elected and re-elected tend to be moderately pro-life, nibbling around the edges, doing things like trying to defund Planned Parenthood. And cutting funding to a controversial NGO is a fairly libertarian thing to do
The Clintons were able to thread the needle back in the 90s with the argument that abortion “Should be safe, rare, and legal.” It was a pretty good argument, since it was pro-choice, but not pro-abortion. In 2016, the Clinton’s were happy and willing to go to fundraisers with the head of Planned Parenthood. Bill probably would have used it as a Sista Souljah moment. Instead Hillary totally agreed with her and put herself in the 10% extreme opinion camp.
I guess Republicans just watched that one Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons.
If Trump did all those things, I would vote for him and for whoever voted for them. That would be enough for me to hold my nose on the other stuff.
I highly doubt we actually get any movement on that stuff. That’s always the issue with the Republicans: they don’t actually want to move the ball down the field, they just want to hold onto it for a few downs, and punt it back.
Exactly. The Republicans do a decent job as the out of power opposition party. In power? They fight with themselves on how to compromise with the Democrats and their sycophantic media allies who just received major defeats. Perfect example, Obamacare. They voted for a full on repeal how many times when they knew it would never get through? Now that it could get through? They fumble with how little they should water down the ACA. I’ll vote for any Republican that promotes some of my values, but I really think the party as a whole would need a major overhaul to get me to identify as a Republican.
What’s most infuriating is that if they did the following:
1. Repealed Obamacare
2. Passed Rand’s healthcare reform plan
3. Reset the regulatory apparatus back to the year 2000
4. Passed the Trump tax plan minus the tariff
Then they would preside over an insane explosion in economic growth. Unemployment would be well under 5% by the 2018 midterms. Wages would probably go through the roof. We’re talking economic boom times not seen since the 90s. The media and the Democrats would be talking about “the economy might be growing too fast, and it’s all the Republicans fault.”
But they’re just too fucking stupid.
I think it’s that their constituents are stupid, and economic cycles don’t always sync with election cycles.
This country has a decade of pent up potential from Obama’s fecklessness. If the GOP knocks the chains off, you’re going to see instant, explosive growth. But they need to do it now. Right now. Make Susan fucking Collins go on the record and vote for prosperity and growth over regulation and stagnation. Make these supposed “moderate” Democrats in Trump states explain to people why they’re voting against common sense reforms.
The Democrats were ready when Obama took the oath of office. They had their plans, and they rammed it through. It cost them their majority, but they accomplished their mission. The Republicans are feckless, worthless, stupid. Especially considering if they would just pass the Rand Paul wishlist they could be the party of the greatest economic boom in decades.
Every fucking Republican politician needs to have The Silent Majority tattooed on their fucking forehead. They spend way too much time listening to paid agitators, the media, and the loathsome worm tongues that inhabit Washington.
Viking1865 – One good thing that Trump has done since becoming president is break (or at least mildly threaten) the cultural and media bubble that the DC establishment is so used to. That alone is IMO worth more than any particular policy change at this moment in time, since politics is downstream from culture.
The Republicans are the perfect argument for AnCapism. Even the team that says what you like won’t do it.
When I hear “Republican” I picture Mitch McConnell’s very punchable face. No thanks. They would have to wipe out the cronyism, drug war, and military boner for me to consider it. I will say though, it is nice that they are throwing us a few bones which is more than Mr Transparency Hussein Warboner did
I dunno… am I gay-married in Texas?
I would call myself a Republican if they ended the drug war, pulled the government totally out of economy, and abolished all laws not related to agression. I’ll be waiting.
Those are the two issues sticking things up for me: foreign policy and the drug war.
I’ve got no use for the drug war or neocons–not that Hillary and Obama weren’t awful in their own way.
Trump is a pragmatist. I wish that were more indicative of the Republican party as a whole.
The drug war and the economy are the two things I want to see fixed more than anything. The Republicans suck moderately less on the economy than the dems. I have seen nothing from the Dems or the repubs that leads me to believe that either one has any kind of grasp on how much the drug war is hurting this country.
Neocons are, for all intents and purposes, big government leftists that identify with the Republican Party b/c of patriotism and appetite for regime change wars. It’s encouraging that Trump mostly avoided these types in his cabinet besides Haley, who’s in a useless UN position and is merely a sympathizer, not a leading thinker.
I could become a ‘libertarian’ Republican, like Rand Paul claims to be. But for now, the Republican Party has a hell of ways to go, I hate them almost as much as I hate Democrats.
The question is what do they have to do to change your mind?
A:
B:
C:
A. End the war on drugs.
B. End the ‘America needs to police the world’ bullshit.
C. End the police state support and get on board with justice reform.
D. Knock it the fuck off with the culture wars.
Those are on top of things you already listed, not in place of them. I’m really good with what
RepublicansTrump is doing right now on deregulation, the economy, other things you mentioned.Have to agree with Hyp here. It’d take them doing everything both of you mentioned to get me to identify with them. I’d still probably never register as one, but I’ll vote for whoever represents my values/principles best, no matter which party they run with. Or not vote at all.
“D. Knock it the fuck off with the culture wars.”
So, they’d have to embrace “common sense gun control”? That’s the only way they’d get credit for abandoning “culture wars.”
That depends on who’s giving the credit. While I don’t necessarily disagree with your stance on guns being a “culture wars” item, that idea can, to a degree, be countered with the fact that arming/SD is expressly addressed in the Constitution.
God, guns and gays
Yeah, those are exactly they types into whose faces I would shove the 2A. If I missed anything, I apologize.
To my eye, the culture war stuff is already dead or dying.
Culture war stuff to me is about gay marriage, censorship of sexual content, prayer in public schools, teaching evolution, and it looks to me like those issues are either all dead or dying.
Certainly, Donald Trump isn’t associated with any of that stuff.
I’m not going to complain about the Republicans being culture warriors when they’re abandoning that stuff.
As a general rule, I’m philosophy over party. GOP is generally good at the state level, less so at the national level (besides the Freedom Caucus and Conservative Senate Wing). This is why I tend to vote for GOP at the state/local levels, and depending on whether the national nominee is an establishment shill or not, will either vote Libertarian or GOP in a national seat.
To answer the question of what can change my mind and identify myself as a GOPer? If there ever is a Senate nominee that I really want in the primaries (my House district is ultra-safe Team Blue), in which case I’ll register to vote one in. But again, for me, philosophy will always trump team to me.
I’ll vote for a libertarian leaning Republican first. If there is no acceptable Republican, I waste my vote and vote L. Voting for a statist Republican is no better than note voting at all. If I can’t find either 1. Republican who is acceptably libertarian, or 2. Someone who running on the LP platform, I sit it out. I’ll call this the ‘Paul school of voting ‘.
I’m seriously thinking of cancelling my voter registration. I’m pretty sure my vote doesn’t matter and, where I live, being on the voter list means you can be press-ganged into serving as a polling place “volunteer.”
What if they saved us from the horror of Hillary Clinton?
What if they nominated 2 or 3 originalists judges to SCOTUS?
What if they drove the corrupt leftist media insane with nothing more than a few silly tweets?
Problem is, that’s not Republicans doing/trying to do all of those things, it’s Trump almost on his own, doing those things DESPITE of Republicans.
The GOP needs to cleanse themselves of the douche stains of McCain, Graham, Collins, Ryan, etc, and vote in more like Paul, Massie, and Amash.
And of course, Trump is not even close to libertarian. He’s doing libertarian like stuff simply out of hatred for big over regulatory government (remember he’s a business guy) and their corrupt allies, the mainstream media. I’m a fellow hater, so it does make me feel a certain kinship with the Donald. Sometimes it’s hard to not like the guy as much as I don’t want to.
Hopefully Brakey in ME and Petersen in MO (if he runs as a GOP) are Senate nominees next year. Those two would be a great first step in moving the GOP in a more libertarian direction.
Thanks for the post on that. I haven’t been keeping up enough.
Honestly, going in with my only expectation being “he isn’t Hillary,” I’d say I’ve been mostly pleasantly surprised with Trump. About the only huge missteps so far have been Obamacare and Syria. (Well, I suppose Sessions too, but as others have said before, anyone filled in that position was going to suck)
As far as Obamacare is concerned, “keep golfing with Rand Paul” is my main advice. Every time he talks to Paul, he tweets or says something vaguely conservative, like today.
Amen
Definitely hope Rand gets a lot more of ear time. One thing I’m really disappointed about is that I thought Peter Thiel would have more influence on Trump. But he’s sort of disappeared. I think he’s a really private type of person, as am I, so maybe that’s why. He may not be the richest of the Silicon Valley moguls, but he’s maybe the smartest and by far the most libertarian, probably the ONLY libertarian. Which makes no sense since what’s left of the free market is what made them so wealthy.
I wonder if the radical leftists in Silicon Valley have been threatening him and he’d rather not be in the spotlight too much.
Sessions is the entirely dumbest thing he has done so far. I mean I know WHY he did it, but the guy is nothing but trouble for the Trump admin. There is absolutely no upside to a gnome like creature who thinks it’s 1980 and that opposing even medical cannabis is a viable platform in 2017.
A part of me wants the Russian conspiracy to be true only with Sessions so that he resigns, but I’m too principled to cheer for that. The best thing I can hope for is that he is muzzled for four years, Trump gets re-elected, and taps Gowdy as AG next time. He’s not perfect, but he’s at least voted yea a bunch of times on pro-civil liberties bills and is pro-NSA reform.
The problem is that the AG position is pretty much a law enforcement position, and in that line of work you don’t get to the top position without being a statist asshole of either the left or right. So pretty much anybody qualified and able to get through confirmation in the current political climate would suck from a libertarian perspective.
I’m more inclined to cut him some slack, partly because I think he’d move in a more libertarian direction if he wasn’t constantly fighting Congress and partly because praising him pisses off the MSM.
“Reason Staff” wrote the article. Brrr.
From the comments:
“Murgatroyd|6.29.17 @ 1:44PM|#
‘By the end of today, the two-time Libertarian Party candidate for president will be midway of the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests in northern Colorado more than 1,400 miles into the 2,800-mile Tour Divide bicycle race.’
Part of the race goes through scenic downtown Aleppo.”
“Good news everyone. Gary Johnson will return to politics”
Oh, please tell me that’s sarcasm.
You don’t want to hear about Nazi cakes and how Hillary is a good public servant?
Umm, no. I also never want to see another ‘libertarian’ who is dumber than Samantha Bee. That shouldn’t even be a thing. Also, what the fuck was the name of that dork Gary wanted for VP?
Weld. Ugh, Weld…single-handedly the reason why I pressed the Trump button on Election Day.
Depends on what his ambitions are. What if he runs as an R against Heinrich in light-blue New Mexico in 2018? That would be wonderful! Trying another presidential run, though? Boooo…
He said he wouldn’t last year, but who knows. I can’t imagine the LP would run him again, but they’ve done stupid things before.
“Child sex slaves on Mars”
One of Bowie’s darker albums.
Exactly what Bowie and some NASA guy would say.
What was Major Tom up to there?
Aaaahhh. Exactly! Preverts.
Now, this is just horrible. First, they deny the Child Slaves, And now they dehumanize them by refusing to call them humans.
Merkel relaxed her position and said, “Come inside”. At least her policies positions are consistent.
Did you steal that from SF?
Can any ole ODing pill head in OH buy Naloxone or do they have to call an ambulance to get it
According to Wikipedia, you can get it from a pharmacist in OH without a prescription.
I guess that makes it a bit better if they stop sending ambulances.
I used to buy pot from a heroin junky, about half the time he would want to shoot up while I was there “just in case I need a ride to the hospital”. He would do it, nod a couple times then say “im good”. I quit buying it from him after a few of those instances.
Wait…this guy would sell to you and then proceed to chase the dragon while you were still there? Am I right in assuming he wasn’t very good at holding on to his sales profits?
You would be correct. It’s not like I was t-totalling though. I’d snort an oxy while I wait to see if he might die. I guess that makes that story not quite as crazy.
Yes, snorting an oxy makes the story less crazy.
Kids these days.
I forgot that’s not really normal. There is a fairly big step to go from that to banging heroin though.
THIS. Straight to CafePress to do up a T, with the Bender pic and all.
“BRUTAL SPACE AGENCY DENIES CHILD SLAVERY ON MARS DISAPPOINTING ZARDOZ’S BEMONOCLED CHOSEN ONES”
Richard C. Hoagland and Andrew Basiago scoff at your denials.
Where the fuck is Ft Dodge? Articles should say what state they are being written about. THERE SHOULD BE A LAW!
Umm, well, it’s mentioned twice.
I didn’t see it in the article. Where? Kansas comes to my mind. Not that I want to go there.
Caption under the pic and the first para after the pic. Although, on second reading, it doesn’t directly connect Ft.Dodge and Iowa.
I don’t see it in the caption, but yes thanks it is at the bottom of the page. I was joking with the comment, but it is a pet peeve of mine that newspaper sites don’t say up front what state they are in. They assume only local people read their site. The linking that goes on these days one would think they would add that info in a byline. I am not a journalism major or paper editor so maybe I am out of the loop there. It is not something I lose sleep over. Snark is always appreciated. You could have said, “it is at the bottom of the page dumb fuck” and I would not have been offended.
“Springfield man goes on shooting spree”
Sorry for the snark.
If Zardoz is in Des Moines again I recommend Fongs Pizza. It’s a mix of Chinese and pizza, the crab Rangoon pizza is very good.
I think STEVE SMITH is moonlighting as ZARDOZ, the sentence structure looks off.
“COME INTO MOUTH OF GIANT HEAD, ZARDOZ HAS SPECIAL GUN FOR HIK..BRUTAL!”
Has anybody checked with Mr. Lizard about their Martian slave colony?
OHIO BRUTAL HAS NOVEL SOLUTION TO DRUG WAR
There’s something to the suggestion that law enforcement isn’t the worst of the negative consequences of opioid addiction, and, if that’s the case, then law enforcement probably isn’t much of a deterrent.
I bet there’s an anti-Medicaid argument I could finagle out of that. If a lot of people become addicted to opioids through prescriptions and unscrupulous doctors, I wonder how many people might never become addicts sans Medicaid.
There would be a lot of broke old people. A LOT
I thought about that article, and I am not sure I disagree with the OHIO BRUTAL. Life choices. I don’t think the most people OD’ing on opiods are doing so due to pain. They are getting high. Sometimes you choose a route that kills you. Why is that your neighbors fault and why is he on the hook for it? If he is there and wants to resuscitate you, fine. Otherwise…………..
The Medicaid argument I have not thought about. I wonder how that breaks down.
Let them get treatment if they need it and if they OD that’s the breaks. No one gets out alive anyway.
Here’s the basics of the argument. I’ll put it in more than one post–with one link per post. That way I won’t bother someone from Glip staff to approve it.
Argument starts out as a reaction to the charges that cutting Medicaid, as the Republican plan wants to do, would be devastating to the opiod crisis. Everybody from Mother Jones to Wired has written article about it.
Dig into the numbers.
—-National Institute of Health
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/relationship-between-prescription-drug-heroin-abuse/prescription-opioid-use-risk-factor-heroin-use
So, Point 1: People are becoming addicted to opiods through prescription drugs.
Point 2: The overwhelming majority of people who are getting opiods for non-medical use are getting them either from a doctor or from a friend or relative for free (who is getting them from a doctor)
https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-DetTabs2014/NSDUH-DetTabs2014.htm#tab6-47b
Point 3: People who make less than $20,000 per year are 3.4 times as likely to become addicted to opiods as people who make more than $50,000 a year.
—-Center for Disease Control
https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/heroin/infographic.html
Is it unreasonable to suspect that people on Medicaid, who make less than $20,000 per year, are getting their prescription opiods either directly or through a friend, by way of the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion?
That’s 11 million people who make less than $20,000 per year.
Everyone I’ve known who got pills, and it’s no small sample size, were on Medicare/Medicaid and probably made less than 20,000 without their pill profit
I don’t know about medicaid. There may be something there. It would be nice if some journalist looked into that. I do know, anecdotally, that I broke a bunch of ribs, (7 of the things), last year and they prescribed me opiods. The prescription was short. I had to go to the doctor every few weeks to get it renewed over a couple months. I did not want an opioid because it is not good to drink beer when taking them and fuck that. But that is what they gave me. When I could stand the pain without them I stopped. If a person will be addicted to something it is me. I am not addicted to opiods. It is a choice for many who want them and con a doc into prescriptions. That is my thought. How many of the OD’s were chronic pain patients? For what? Killing ones self with drugs is a choice regardless of who pays for it. Anyone who has been rock bottom and came out of it can tell you they knew they where at rock bottom. Sometimes people don’t leave the bottom and die. Sometimes babies die on a dirt floor under a thatched roof of a Tukul in South Sudan. People die everyday all over the planet. One just has to look around and wonder why they are alive. Luck or choices?
Luck. All it woulda taken is for something as trivial as a different best friend as a teen and you or about anyone else could go down that road. Except for the people lucky enough not to like them. I have a theory that everyone has a drug they would like enough to possibly get hooked under the right circumstances. Most find it in their early, stupider years.
Neither luck or choices: its government! Legal heroin would have good QC and clear dosages on the package. No fentanyl mixups, or shooting rat poison. How many people die from legally obtained drugs each year? Damned few.
I don’t know. Even then I think one knows when they are over the edge. They just stop caring and roll with it. That is still a choice. Luck is a big player in life though, We could have experienced the simple luck of being born on the dirt floor of some Tukul in sub-saharan Africa. Life is a crap shoot. I have little pity for someone who ruins their lives with drugs. Dirt floor baby had no choice. The end is the same. Dirt floor baby never had a choice and didn’t promote the idea of theft from his neighbors though. If individual people want to help addicts, have at it. It is not the governments responsibility.
I hope the point isn’t getting lost that the government seems to be financing access to opiods through Medicaid.
I haven’t decided where I come down on the “Narcan ’em or let ’em die?” thing, but if you don’t happen to be smack dab in the middle of Opioidia, here’s a link that might give you some idea of how ridiculous it’s getting ’round these parts.
20 times? I’d say after once, cut them off. Give them the option to get treatment or get cut off. Right now it’s simple enabling.
Whatever the solution is, keeping Medicaid expanded isn’t it.
I can understand keeping Medicaid despite the opiod “epidemic”.
But they really shouldn’t blame cutting Medicaid for making it worse.
I’m looking at articles from Rolling Stone, NPR, ABC, Mother Jones, and Wired all doing exactly that.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/trumpcare-will-be-a-disaster-for-opioid-epidemic-w490160
My (limited) understanding is that a lot of the current problem is due to the fentanyl being used to cut the heroin, so the junkie is getting more than they bargained for. I’d contend this might be an argument for legalizing heroin – if it’s not “underground”, the sellers might be less likely to cut it. (I’m open to having fallacies in my reasoning pointed out, but how long could any entrepreneur get away with selling obviously contaminated product in a free market?)
This is my understanding as well. But I’d go further.
If “getting high” were not a reason in and of itself for making stuff illegal, we could have a much better way of handling this stuff. Instead of a quasi-legal status like pot is getting, or like Portugal is trying, if recreational drugs were fully legal under “safe and effective” type of regulatory standards, then we would have a much different world.
Instead of Steve the dealer handing you a ziplock, you’d go to Walgreens and pick up a box or a bottle from Smirnoff, Coca-Cola or Pfiser that was designed for recreational use. Drugs could be designed to enhance the euphoria while reducing the addictive side effects. Also, they could be designed for short term effects, so people could drive home. Or with an antidote, so you could get plowed and then drink a shot of the antidote and drive home.
Fully legalizing getting high would really change the landscape. It wouldn’t be without negative consequences – I’m sure there would be a period of time before we got good information about the true addictive nature of some of the new drugs, or about some unintended side effects. But twenty years down the road, getting high on things other than alcohol would be the preferred route, since alcohol isn’t that great of a high and has quite a few negative effects.
I’m with you on full legalization, but after generations of scaremongering, as a practical matter it’s probably going to require starting with MJ (including getting the Feds with the program) to show the general public that it won’t bring on the Potpocalypse. Now, if only the powers that be could resist the temptation to throw crony capitalist shenanigans into the pot legalization ballot measures – Ohio tried that in ’15, but the voters weren’t buying it. Just make it legal without creating a monopoly, dammit!
Somalia has better roads.
It is obviously the fault of all the libertarians running St. Louis.
It was parked in a handicap spot. Maybe it was towed.
Another from BBC, but it’s awesome. Just when I start to think all humans suck…
Except for that old biddy who backed into… how the hell did she get that far out into the lake?
Merkel is literally Hitler now?
Ja, heil!
Too ugly.
Her mustache and his are nothing alike.
Last day of old job today.
First day of new job next Wednesday. New job I get to work from home 60-70% of the time. Some travel. Really looking forward to it. Smaller company, but the only thing they do is advertising. (Old company was part of a corporation that did sales training and other junk.)
Should leave you with more time for participation in links threads.
Congrats.
Takes a bit of getting used to.
Ha.
It’s not exactly brain surgery.
Disney To Remove ‘Wench Auction’ From Pirates Of The Caribbean Ride
I’ve never been to a Disney property or seen any of the movies – what is the actual “ride” component to this thing?
It’s a boat ride around a bunch of animatronic scenes. I mean, you’ve seen Small World, right? Or know what it is? It’s that, but pirate themed.
I will admit the mass rape scene is rather graphic and out of keeping with the rest of the exhibit, but after you get the kids to quit crying and explain the context, it’s a really instructive lesson in why pirates were pretty evil bastards after all.
See the Simpsons Duff Gardens episode. Same shit.
Unpossible. I was always taught pirates were nice guys.
You float on skiffs through several set pieces with animatronic 18th century pirates doing 18th century things. Like auctioning off wimmins.
Do you die at the end from lack of minimum wage laws?
Nope, scurvy.
Still better than the It’s A Small World ride.
Pfft. They were LUCKY to die of scurvy. Back when I was a child, before Obamacare, people were keeling over left and right from lack of health insurance. Worst death you could imagine. The onset was sudden, like a bus running you over. And then it bled you dry, while your family watched. Horrible.
No they die in the gunfight in the end when the one dude figures out the wench he just bought has a penis. It then goes woke as fuck and the last pirate sitting on a log as you float out into the sunlight says, “Aye ye little pirates, you should not discriminate against wenches with cocks, they still be wenches”.
You ride in a small boat and view several animatronic people enacting scenes like the wench auction, prisoners trying to entice a dog who’s holding the cell keys in his mouth, and a scale model ship battle. All with earworm music playing.
https://youtu.be/Zx9tTkTmM8U
at least at the Anaheim one, they’ve added music from the soundtrack of the movies, so it’s not quite as earwormy anymore, imo. But yeah, it used to be almost as bad as Small World.
I always thought it was the coolest ride at Disneyland when I was younger, long before they made the movie ‘based’ on the ride. The first part, where you plunge your ‘boat’ into an underground river, under a skull-and-crossbones groaning at you “dead men tell no tales”, only to come out under a tall, dark sky, in the middle of a bay, with a cannon battle between a cargo ship and pirates splashing around you, was awesome. Especially stoned (which was really the only way to do Disneyland/world in the 1980s — back when everyone smoked cigarettes, you could even walk around the park discreetly puffing a well-rolled joint, and no one would blink — or you could always do some quick one-hitters in the Sky Ride gondolas. Failing that, get a hand stamp and go out to the parking lot and fire up in your car).
Now that they’ve changed the ride to make it more like the movies — even though it was the movies that were based on the ride — it’s nowhere near as great anymore, it’s mostly just like the other Disney tie-in merchandising rides.
Nothing will make your buzz better than walking 80 miles around a hot theme park
Now that they’ve changed the ride to make it more like the movies — even though it was the movies that were based on the ride — it’s nowhere near as great anymore, it’s mostly just like the other Disney tie-in merchandising rides.
This guy gets it. Especially the captain on the pirate ship during the aforementioned cannon volley. He sounds like the most stereotypical gay guy in world history now.
Did you grow up in a German forest baking goods for a witch? What the hell no Disney? I thought all children were ran through that ringer.
I went to Disneyland as a child, and went back later as a teenager. I can proudly say I have been hucked out of both Disney World in FL, as well as Disneyland in Anaheim. My friends and I knew how to Disney.
I live an hour drive from Disneyland. Never been. Even my 8 year old daughter prefers camping.
That is Japandisney though. That doesn’t count.
DisneySea was interesting when we were there a few years back. The 20,000 Leagues ride inside the volcano is pretty cool.
Plus (and this is my age showing) I loved seeing Bianca and Bernard (from the Rescuers) wandering around — I’ve never seen them in the US, and it was my favorite when I was a girl.
We went to local amusement parks which is fine by me cuz I never liked Disney shit. Plus we were kind of poor so vacationing in FL or CA was not ever going to happen.
I can relate. Going over the mountains to Denver amusement parks was a big deal. We did one trip to CA when I was a kid. The trip that got us hucked out of Disneyland was a spring break group effort of 7 guys in a station wagon sleeping in parking lots and southern California beaches. Magic Mountain was better. We didn’t get thrown out.
Them animatronic women need protectin.
I like redheads
That’s because you have very good taste in women
Agreed. I even married one. Damn they can be the bitchiest women on the planet, though.
I should have heeded the advice about them in Still Life with Woodpecker.
One of my all-time favorite novels, admittedly for personal reasons.
Great frigging book.
I’ve only been with two redheads, both a bit nutty. One of my best friends is a redhead. He can drink more alcohol and remain standing than anyone I know.
They’re all crazy. Archie’s advice, Always be careful poking it in crazy.
I think I can say with confidence that my hubby of 21 years would beg to differ. Or at least he’d defend me as being the “fun” kind of crazy.
I didn’t only mean crazy crazy. Fun crazy fits. Red hair dye doesn’t count btw.
History doesn’t exist anymore.
So I bought a shit ton of high end gin last week as well as good tonic and ginger beer. Thank you no tax NH.
What can I make besides the obvious g&t and mule variants?
BTW I have lots of limes
Is “ginger beer” what the redheaded pirate lady drinks?
In his absence. *narrows gaze*
Trade the gin for rum and use the ginger beer and limes for Dark and Stormy.
Im in a gin mood. Rum is a winter drink for me except for planters punch.
Nothing goes together like rum and spring. Just ask the Amish.
I would comment but to respond would not be plain.
By the way I recently played volleyball against a group of Amish at a camp ground. That was an interesting night. My team was pathetic and I think we encouraged them to stay with the church that night.
If it’s high-end end gin you won’t want to mix anything with it. Mixers are for the cheap stuff.
I can’t say I ever saw gin as a shooter or on the rocks. Only as a martini or Ricky.
Well, I meant besides basic tonic.
I like my gin & tonic to be 50/50.
I have fever tree
Also, Mule Variations was a good album.
I believe a chocolate Jesus was mentioned on that album.
What’s the high-end gin? Different ones are going to call for different things. I think cucumber garnish is great with Hendricks, for example.
The Negroni, like one of out commenters, is a lovely cocktail. I’ll usually omit the sweet vermouth. Sometimes I’ll add tonic.
I find Gin Rickeys refreshing, though I still prefer a good G&T. Use Key Limes for a different twist.
You could try an Aviation, if you can find Creme de Violette. French 75s are good if you’ve a sparkling wine you don’t really care for.
Decent enough gin, I’m drinking straight. Junipero is a favorite, as is Cadenhead’s (especially the Old Raj, at 55% EtOH.)
And that would be “our commenters”, not Out. Though there’s nothing wrong with that, if it’s the case.
Thanks for the advice.
Good gin is hard to come by locally besides Hendricks. I was traveling and found “The Botanist” and “diplomae”.
I really like cucumbers and gin, but forgot to buy some, so thanks for the reminder.
Teenager spared jail after urinating on elderly lady in Pret A Manger
Throw the book at him. Right in the junk.
So pissing on old people gets you out of doing time?
Proceeds to rob bank, then finds the first geriatric he sees, unleashes torrent of warm urine, lives happily ever after.
That … photo … the one in the ‘Keep calm I’m a lesbian’ shirt. Who cares, you insane shithead, just stay the fuck away from me.
First!
20th is almost first. We’re running out of these participation trophies, damnit!
Are you talking to us or your girlfriend?
Now, that was funny.
Friend recommended this podcast by Dave Smith. It was fine, but Dave and his guest Owen Benjamin must’ve have said, “like, um, like” a couple thousand times. He was like and I was like and like we were like…
Made it unlistenable.
Check out Tom Woods’ and Jason Stapleton’s podcasts if you want something a bit more well spoken. I like Smith’s podcast too but the likes do get to be, like, a bit much sometimes, you’re right about that.
Been listening to Woods since he started that podcast. Yeah, it’s great. Sometimes I listen to Stapleton’s. Classical liberal position. I like it. He’s been taking a lot of time off lately. That’s why I’m looking for new stuff.
A few others: Justin Mohr Show, Lions of Liberty, Johnny Rocket Launch Pad
Thanks, I’ll check them out.
Not exactly libertarian, but The Eastern Border is a really interesting look at Soviet history.
Norm McDonald. He quit doing it but there are about 30 episodes that are anywhere from entertaining to excellent. Not political though
Bill Burr’s good too. He veers into leftie territory sometimes but he’s just a naturally funny guy and he’s pretty evenhanded with his criticisms when he occasionally wanders into politics.
Funniest comedian ever but I don’t like his podcast. I can listen to myself bitch about the same things and not even have to go to the trouble to download
Like, um, like is how I feel about your avatar.
I’m why there are no female libertarians.
She is fine. Portman’s not too bad either.
Me centered shit, but I’m performing in a small production of Hamlet today. Wish me luck or I’ll haunt you.
Are you hung over?
Watch your back. Something about Shakespeare seems to be making people crazy lately.
That was stupidity all around. It’s a fucking play, get over it. One the other side they’re saying JC was about how assasination is bad. Wrong! It’s about how when you kill the leader, make sure you don’t become evil yourself.
If I remember the Shakespeare class I took in undergrad (20 years ago, so probably not), it’s more about the inevitability of becoming evil yourself after killing the leader.
Which character?
Marcellus. They didn’t want a geezer playing Hamlet. Ageists.
Does he look like a bitch?
Break a leg! Is the production pretty traditional Elizabethan, or is it “modernized”?
Not modern. Generic version.
Are you wearing a Natalie sweater with poky nipple implants and have had your hair done correctly? Be woke is all I can say.
I’m a voice actor by trade. Only the second time I’ve done this, so I’ll heed your advice.
Link youtube so we can be woke too.
Lame!!!
Break a leg
OT: I bought an 1897 book of literary magazine back-issues at a local used book store. In it, I found this article criticizing a proposal to abolish the ownership of dogs. I guess statist assholes are nothing new… (emphasis mine)
“A distinguished writer … put forth an original argument, which may be cut into the following theses: That man has tamed and befriended the dog, to his own jeopardy; that it were well now, in spite of his own great and acknowledged worth, to avenge, or to avert, the death of one child from rabies, by eradication of the offending species from the earth. At first blush, such a theory has almost the look of a grim and dim colossal joke, like Dean Swift’s famous proposal to cook the surplus infant population of Ireland. But Mrs. Meynell is not joking: she is calmly and fairly announcing a verdict, with her usual pensive, attractive air of having thought it all out before you were born.“
Aren’t all mammals succeptable to rabies? Preventing the possible death of even one child would require a hell of a lot of killing of a lot more than just dogs.
Bats can carry rabies. Just think about *that* the next time you go for a quiet evening stroll…
Any of y’all glibs ever taken your kids to one of those Great Wolf Lodge places? Thinking of making a trip to one for a few days + a visit with the in-laws. Kid loves the idea based on the commercials for the place on Nickelodeon. Doesn’t seem too expensive, and I really don’t want to go to Disney in the middle of summer.
Almost. There was one in Wisconsin on our way to the great Northwest and we were going to stay there for a couple of days. I can’t remember now why that didn’t happen, too long ago.
This one?. I grew up in northern Wisconsin and the idea that you need an indoor water park in the summer is crazy. We’d go down to the Amoco station and buy a tube for a buck, head to the river and be set for the day. Kids these days, SMDH.
That’s the one.
Taking the redeye tonight and we’ll be in Eagle River tomorrow morning, there for boat/water good times through the great fireworks in Three Lakes the night of the 4th.
Can’t get much more ‘northern’ Wisconsin than that, eh?
You Uncle Buck types bringing your horny teenage sons up to pork our girls. We know how Cologne feels.
Growing up in northern Illinois, Wisconsin had a great draw with its 18-year-old drinking age. There were even bars right on the other side of the border, who weren’t shy about the clientele they were catering to — one I remember was even called “Jumpers”.
My first night I ever got hammered in a bar was in Wisconsin, the night before I took the SAT test (they really didn’t make that big a deal about it back then — and no one had ever heard of taking a test or preparing for it, you just took it…. but it probably still wasn’t the best idea to take it just a few hours after puking up beer and shots on my girlfriend’s front lawn.) Thank goodness they didn’t make that much fuss about drinking and driving back then, either, or we certainly wouldn’t have driven 30 miles to go to a bar that would serve 16-year-olds without carding. The legal limit back then was .15, almost twice the .08 it is today.
Happy Fourth of July Mr C.
You too Suell! Going anywhere, or sticking around the Bay Area?
Damn great story! Just hanging here. 4th in the fog. I went on a boys trip to Montana last week to fish for a few days. I love that place. I watched a bunch of teens climb into the back of a pickup truck and remember that doing the same here when I was that age. Talking to the locals about how you used to be able to drink a beer while driving under the limit.
Took the family there last year. The Dells is an interesting place.
I really liked the Wolf Lodge, it was obviously touristy, but nice and family oriented. I’d recommend it, if water parks are your thing. The kids had a great time.
Also, make note of the life guards. They are trained to make a circuit around their area at the bottom of the ride and make big, overt head movements to show “I’m looking in this corner, Now I’m looking in that corner”. They also test them with fake baby and toddler dolls that they send down the slides or drop into a corner when they aren’t looking.
Also, also….. if you go to the Dells at least, take note of the employee dormitories. They need an army of kids around college age to staff all the resorts and water parks, so they have these crappy old dorm buildings hidden away behind hedges and fences. Very “exploited underclass” meets “a whole lot of very young people with little to do in their down time all living together”. An excellent opportunity for a union organizer with an MD to come along and dispense cures for STD’s along with union pamphlets.
Haven’t been to that particular one, but it’s a safe bet that the kids will like it.
Rand, schooling the socialistas
Sanders’ response was hilarious.
I’m now convinced that the Canadian Gulags are in the Northern Yukon and John is probably one of the guards.
And, BTW, when I said Rand schooling the socialistas, I didn’t mean that they’re learning anything. That’s obviously not going to happen. Because muh feelz.
“at a far lower cost per capita”
Did you forget to include the taxes, Bernie? Why yes, yes you did.
Nono, we’ll only tax the greedy rich people! We can have cheap communal health care for everyone else!
Which is why all those middle class Europeans and Canadians he’s so high on, pay a comparable tax rate to US citizens, right? Oh, they pay 2x or higher in taxes? I am shocked! Yeah, middle class in Eurotardia is not the same as middle class here in the US, reason being they’re being taxed into near poverty to pay for their ‘free’ stuff.
I would think that I pay pretty close to 50% of every dollar I make in taxes of some sort; fed and state income, property, ssi, gas and other excise, and sales. In Europe it is even higher, maybe from 60 to 75 depending on country and situation with some exceptions.
Europe has a much higher payroll tax. It’s probably at least 20% higher for the avg tax payer, maybe as high as 30% more. And they have VAT taxes.
Does the EU have any say in the tax laws, or is that still up to the individual countries?
There is a decent amount of variation. Because taxes are often hidden by government, or at least spread out over various activities and purchases, it might be better to look at Tax Freedom Day as a metric.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day
“No, I’m talking about voluntary groups, not the gulag.”
That is a tremendous line. Really cuts to the heart of it. We need loads more of that.
The things that Bernie gets wrong, as most leftists get wrong, are:
1. Scale.
2. Demographics (leftists typically refer to this as racism).
3. Force vs voluntary. (force is always preferred, because people will not willingly do the right thing). Also, like to refer to this as the human nature problem.
I loved that line too. Too many times the GOP accepts the Left’s bullshit premises and try to argue on their terms. And all that does is embolden them to come up with more shitty premises. I think something that the GOP needs to do is make it clear that the Democrats are willing to use the monopolistic violent power of the government to achieve their goals under the guise of the common good. Drive it home that the Democrats believes in the worst of humanity and thus willing to use government to destroy anyone who aren’t part of the hive.
As far as health care goes, I really do hope that Trump is listening to Rand Paul because his plan is pretty kick ass
I was taking to a customer the other day, a successful mid 30’s woman and was mentioning that I had just got back from Montana. She asked about how it was and in talking about it I mentioned that seeing motorcycle riders with no helmets. She made a “haven’t they made a law about that up there” comment and I replied that I was pro choice in regards to almost everything. If you own your body you get to decide how to treat it. It made her stop and think, just for a few seconds. Our culture needs constant repetition of that idea. I’d love to see more popular culture that represents it.
I am really toasted now, so all I have to say to you all is “I Love You, Man.”
Waifu went riding horses, what the fuck do I do with this long weekend? Fly-fish? Golf? Pull pudd? It’s not the same when it’s not verboten.