A curated selection of rather Romanian commercials

Look, I assume every glib is thinking, if we wanted to see Romanian commercials we would have beaten them out of you. Well no need for violence, stout yeomen! I decided that I will enact your labor for you (whether you want it to or not) and present the following. I tried to use a selection which reveal a bit of Romanian spirit, a bit of Romanian flavor. The video quality is not great and mostly there are no English subtitles. But it matters not, as they send their message across just fine.

In case you don’t want to actually watch the video

First we start with Rom Tricolor, a candy bar that is, like many cheap candy bars, mediocre overall, but for some reason you want to eat it. Rom is rum, so it is chocolate on the outside and a rum essence cocoa cream in the inside. This is enhanced by nostalgia, as for me it tastes of childhood. Their campaign was based on a slogan “Romanian sensations since 1964”

Two of the commercials go into communist nostalgia and the good old days when the actual fashion police came a calling, because “We will not tolerate such attire for the socialist youth”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5BsN9BKoFI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A2uL06ewxU

The third is a modern view of certain less than ideal aspects of Romanian culture, centered on the person of the Cocalar – which I have no idea how to translate in American. It is what the English might call a chav. This one is for Q as it briefly contains a female in a bathing suit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKoQbzn1q1c

A different commercial focusing on history is for a painkiller called Algocalmin, which has been since made prescription only in most countries, even banned in some, as it contains a substance called metamizole, which is actually bad. Now in my family we didn’t really use Algocalmin as a painkiller, but there was nothing like it to break a very high fever. Worked like magic for that purpose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GnbfqBGgnA

Next couple are for detergent – DERO comes from “Detergent Românesc” (Romanian Detergent) –which is no longer Romanian, but a brand of Unilever. The commercials are basically a couple talking about the kind of stains DERO removes –ciorba de burta (tripe soup) and coal dust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=qycKgN3HVwQ

It’s just fine if you forgot what a bowl of ciorba looks like.

“I hate ciorba de burta. My father hated ciorba de burta. His father hated ciorba de burta. Where are we going to get these stains?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=ZbfmTi3VMOQ

Now we have one showing the fabled Romanian construction workers in their natural environment, for cheap rotgut liquor with the slogan “Unde’s multi puterea creste” – basically Strength in numbers. (The name is Unirea, or Unification, and the slogan was the one during the unification of Wallachia and Moldovia)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=28&v=hiWCol_MOH4

And finally a commercial recommending buying a TV, so one can more easily tell the difference between a priest and Batman

 

 

 

Comments

273 responses to “A curated selection of rather Romanian commercials”

  1. Zunalter

    I appreciate that the “rum” candybar is the one that reminds you of your childhood.

    Oh Eastern Europe, never change.

    1. DEG

      I wish I had rum candy bars when I was a kid.

    2. I first glanced at that and saw it as “Crom” – I thought that was quite a powerful candy bar.

      1. bacon-magic

        A riddle in every bite.
        *ow steel hurts*

        1. You will contemplate these Romanian Commercials….on the Tree of Woe.

          1. DEG

            That’s easy for the one with the hot woman.

    3. PieInTheSKy

      For rom there is also the american version

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDalPc_fB8c

      1. Zunalter

        Is that sold in America?

        1. PieInTheSKy

          I don’t think so it was made in Romania to make fun of “patriots” but who knows 😀

      2. Q Continuum

        I want.

  2. Zunalter

    Also, why is there a fork next to that bowl of soup?

    1. Caput Lupinum

      Well, eating soup with a fork explains why it stains everything.

      1. Zunalter

        Fair point!

    2. LJW

      The soup is so acidic it ate through a spoon making it look like a fork?

    3. Q Continuum

      It’s a test. If you use the fork, you’ve got a one way ticket to the sterilization chamber. Eugenics in action.

  3. The batman one confused me greatly until I realized that your link cuts off the first half, now I’m just mildly confused.

    1. PieInTheSKy

      shit I didn’t realize my YouTube links had the time I stooped watching. Gah

      1. This is just crazy talk.

    2. PieInTheSKy

      the dialog is basically: I told you he was a priest but you no, batman batman

      1. Zunalter

        …is the implication that the version of batman they saw on TV so bad (due to their terrible TV) that IRL they mistook a priest for him?

        1. PieInTheSKy

          basically

      2. Chipwooder

        So, Romanians hate Batman? Is that what I’m to take away from that commercial?

        1. Too closely rivals their local bat hero – Vlad Dracul?

          1. Chipwooder

            Good point. They see Bruce Wayne as a weak imitation – he’s never even impaled any Turks on stakes!

          2. PieInTheSKy

            Not to defend old Vlad but them Turks had it coming

          3. Chipwooder

            Still do!

          4. Bobarian LMD
          5. bacon-magic

            Kebabs

  4. DEG

    it briefly contains a female in a bathing suit.

    She’s hot. Thanks!

    1. egould310

      KK may even enjoy “the punchline”. It’s a video for all Glibs.

      1. Yusef drives a Kia

        Is that Jesse in the third commercial?

  5. … I really want to try ciorba. I’d even eat the head, IDGAF.

    1. Florida Man

      If you really want to eat tripe, the Peruvians have you covered.

      https://www.piscotrail.com/2017/02/11/recipes/cau-cau-peruvian-tripe-stew/

      My youngest BIL’s favorite dish.

      1. I will eat just about anything, but I draw the line at having to make it myself. Lol.

        1. Florida Man

          Just go to your local Peruvian restaurant.

          *googles Peruvian population of Montana*

          Huh. Zero.

          *shrug*

          Whatcha gonna do?

          1. Just wait until I travel to a place that has a Peruvian restaurant, I guess. I learned my lesson back in college when I attempted to make miso soup. I’d never had it before but was dying to try it. Having had miso soup from several different restaurants now, I look back on what I made with extreme personal embarrassment. That was the last time I’ve made something without trying it somewhere else first.

          2. Playa Manhattan

            Empty the packet into hot water?

          3. Chipwooder

            Besides, if you had a local Peruvian restaurant, why would you get tripe instead of the roasted chicken?

          4. RBS

            Why not both?

          5. Playa Manhattan

            My local place runs out of chicken almost every night.

            When people walk in and see this:

            they tend to change their order.

      2. bacon-magic

        I tried a fried tripe at a local dive…meh.

        1. Not impressed, eh? Would you say it was the tripe, itself, or just the prep at the dive bar?

          1. bacon-magic

            I haven’t tried anywhere else yet…I’ll update when I do. It was chewy and bland. Chewy I didn’t mind but the bland part…I imagine Uncivil would be on it like white on rice.

          2. Did it come with any sauces? I don’t mind a little blandness if there’s a good dipping sauce…

          3. bacon-magic

            Hot sauce. This was a Jordanian one stop shop that caters too the local black population. Was one of my favorite dives til a Kuwaiti guy opened up a block up the street. (he makes his own hot sauce and actually adds some of his ancestral flair to the food).

          4. Gustave Lytton

            actually adds some of his ancestral flair to the food

            I prefer not to have the cook’s genetic material in my meals.

          5. bacon-magic

            You ain’t living then.
            *stirs soup and shaves at same time*

          6. Gustave Lytton

            Shaved bacon in soup gets a pass.

          7. Florida Man

            Yeah, you don’t really want to compare ethnic cuisine to dive bar food.

          8. Playa Manhattan

            Tripe is good in pho.

          9. Bobarian LMD

            Menudo is excellent for the hang-over.

  6. bacon-magic

    Where da Vlad the Impaler for President commercials at yo?

    1. LJW

      Sounds like that could be a high stakes campaign.

      1. bacon-magic

        A lot of sleepless nights.

      2. Vhyrus

        Swiss signal lit.

        1. bacon-magic

          Lit like a bat signal?

        2. *unfurls Swiss flag, lights pint beacon*

          1. robc

            Wouldnt it be 1/2 liter beacon?

          2. robc

            [insert 1984 quotation here]

          3. robc

            “E could ‘a drawed me off a pint,’ grumbled the old man as he settled down behind a glass. ‘A HalbMaß ain’t enough. It don’t satisfy. And a ‘ole Maß too much. It starts my bladder running. Let alone the price.’

            Screenplay by George Orwell and robc

        1. bacon-magic

          *vampiric hypno-gaze*

          1. Lemme see here…

            Ah, found it!

          2. bacon-magic

            That only works if you didn’t invite into house. Muah aha ha ah ah. *dog barks*
            Dammit they got a dog. Foiled again.

          3. Rasilio

            Friggin Vampires, just shitlords who don’t understand that consent can be revoked at any time, even months after you had them over for dinner.

      3. The Other Kevin

        Those commercials will never see the light of day.

        1. Et tu, Other Kevin?

          *narrows gaze*

    2. Chipwooder

      If only they had gone ahead with that abortive Dracula amusement park.

      1. bacon-magic

        Bloody good show.

      2. Vhyrus

        Menstruating women get in free?

      3. Actual Romanian Army encampment at Tallill, Iraq. March 2008.

        1. Chipwooder

          Heh….nice. There is a great hole in the wall restaurant near us run by an older Romanian couple. It’s not specifically a Romanian restaurant, although they do feature some of their native dishes (it’s right next to Rare Old Times, in case sloopy is reading this). Anyway, the first time we went there, my wife was taken aback by the volume of Vlad Tepes/Dracula décor they feature.

          1. bacon-magic

            Near St. Louis we seem to have gotten a lot of Albanians. They don’t cook much of their cuisine though. *has sad*

          2. Chipwooder

            We have a surprising number of Bosnians who came to the area as war refugees. They have a few excellent restaurants of their own.

          3. Bosnian food is agreeable, yes indeed.

          4. bacon-magic

            Yeah lots of Bosnians in St. Louis. Haven’t been to a Bosnian restaurant yet. *kicks self*
            Really nice people.

          5. Bobarian LMD

            Fried Ravioli is Bosnian?

          6. Under Enver Hoxa, Albanians did not have this “food” of which you speak.

        2. mexican sharpshooter

          I remember those guys!

          1. mexican sharpshooter

            Now that I think about it, I arrived in Talil 2 months after that photo.

          2. Dang man…we almost crossed paths…in April, I got sent down to “help” the IA 14th DIV retake Basrah…so I was thrown to the tender mercies of the 1 Scots then the 4 Scots.

        3. DEG

          I like their sense of humor.

      4. PieInTheSKy

        I mean I am not saying the Romanian presence had much effect but they weren’t completely useless

        1. They did the intermediate security when I was at Tallill….out to 10KM (?) – and they also spent all of their pay at our PX (Post Exchange) buying electronics. 🙂

          1. Chipwooder

            Had to beat having the Ugandans like we did at Al-Asad. Those dudes were definitely not believers in the necessity of deodorant, plus they were letter-of-the-law pains in the ass. You see the same guys every single day – do you really need to see every single fucking guy in the seven-ton’s ID every time?

          2. Were they Triple Canopy? Aegis? Yeah…I ran into some similar types in Baghdad.

            On the other hand…nobody knows more about where you might be smuggling or hiding stuff than Africans.

          3. bacon-magic

            Racist!

          4. Chipwooder

            No idea. They wore plain khaki uniforms, that’s all I remember.

          5. Probably Triple Canopy….the Bargain Basement o’ Security Contractors!

          6. bacon-magic

            Ugandan underarm gun holster.

          7. mexican sharpshooter

            We had Ugandans at Talil. The best part was the line of Ugandans at the chicken wing counter at the DFAC and they had no idea whatsoever why that was funny.

  7. Sean

    Good job on being consistent on providing us with alt text.

  8. Chipwooder

    Here’s a commercial for you. It’s not from Romania, but it features a gorgeous Romanian.

    1. PieInTheSKy

      I hit that. Was okay but not great

      1. Chipwooder

        *high five*

        What’s she saying in the ad?

        1. PieInTheSKy

          I don’t speak eyetalian

          1. Chipwooder

            Aha. I just assumed it was Romanian since she’s, y’know….

          2. Q Continuum

            A vampire?

  9. I enjoyed this survey of Romanian commercials. Excellent curation.

  10. Private Chipperbot
    1. PieInTheSKy

      the world done gone full retard?

      1. They did done gone, indeed.

        1. Q Continuum

          Full retard is like peak derp; something will come along to shatter the glass ceiling soon enough.

    2. You know who else faced backlash over boobs?

      1. PieInTheSKy

        Q?

        1. Q Continuum

          I wouldn’t call it a “backlash”…

          1. The Sleeper

            More like an uprising.

          2. Sorry Q….you’ve been caught just like us and the links….5 minutes late and you face an Attica style uprising!

          3. Q Continuum

            ATTICA! ATTICA! BOOBS!

      2. Gustave Lytton

        Dow Corning?

        1. Playa Manhattan

          They deserve it. Monsters.

      3. MikeS

        Chuck Schumer?

        1. Bobarian LMD

          He needs backlashing to keep his shoulders from sagging.

      4. Brett L

        Top heavy runners?

          1. PieInTheSKy

            To be clear boob job means breast reduction

            But it did inconvenience her playing tennis

            better image

            http://adevarul.ro/assets/adevarul.ro/MRImage/2013/06/14/51bb5705c7b855ff569084fe/646×404.jpg

          2. DEG

            She should never have gotten a reduction.

          3. Q Continuum

            Breast reductions are a crime against humanity and should be tried at The Hague.

          4. Q Continuum

            And lordy they were so perfect before. Drop tennis and go into swimsuit modeling, more lucrative anyway.

          5. PieInTheSKy

            eh she has 20 million USD career earnings so that may not be true

          6. Q Continuum

            But why won’t she think of the rest of us!?!

      5. Zunalter

        Janet Jackson?

      6. Troy

        My scrotum

        1. bacon-magic

          Oh this one is alright huh?

          1. Private Chipperbot

            You know who else changed his mind about boobs…

          2. Q Continuum

            Definitely not me.

          3. bacon-magic

            Playboy?

      7. Tundra

        Not sure it was a backlash, but the whole kerfuffle reminds me of this.

      8. Simona Halep?

    3. Vhyrus

      I see this more as people holding the left to their own standards. They’re saying if a man in this day had dared to say the same thing he would have been publically condemned. Feminists want equality? Well here’s yer fuckin equality!

      1. They’re absolutely right about that. For the record, I don’t think it’s a big deal at all. I just also think that it isn’t a big deal if Cam Newton or anybody else does it, either. As a culture, we desperately need to pry the stick out of our collective ass.

        1. Nephilium

          Not that there’s anything wrong with a stick up your ass…

          /Seinfeld

  11. John Titor

    It’s just a pity that only three Romanians own televisions and they’re all powered by peasant children turning a modified grain wheel.

    1. Wait…you are saying they have not advanced to OrphanPower yet?!

      1. John Titor

        Haven’t even got to it in their tech tree, they’re really bad at playing Civilization.

        1. *shakes head sadly*

          1. robc

            I used to “joke” that the reason you can’t get ice in a drink in Europe is they haven’t gotten the refrigeration advance yet.

            My other reason was that they forgot the recipe.

        2. LJW

          I blame Ghandi

          1. LJW

            Gandhi*

    2. PieInTheSKy

      laugh all you will until all your good software jobs get outsourced to Romania and all you have left is moose and poutine for GDP

      1. AND TIM HORTONS!

        *shakes empty 50 Timbit box*

        1. Chipwooder

          And Molson

          1. Tundra

            And really good hockey players.

          2. Yes, many of those.

        1. PieInTheSKy

          Actually Amazon want to hire 1000 programmers in Bucharest next couple of years. And we didn’t even send em a giant cactus or nothin

      2. John Titor

        Also, you forgot baby seal clubbing.

        Lookit this smug little bastard, he’s basically asking for it.

        1. bacon-magic

          Can’t see him but readies club.

          1. DEG

            My neighbor across the street is from near Toronto. She told me about visiting Ottawa as part of a road trip to visit family. She suggested I visit Ottawa. I had no interest in visiting Ottawa so I just humored her. Reading that story, maybe I should head to Ottawa.

          2. bacon-magic

            How do you wrap canadian bacon around a loin eh?

      3. 0x90

        The best coder I’ve ever met is Romanian.

  12. LJW

    Transylvania on Halloween

    https://youtu.be/TyvEa0hTfOY

    1. PieInTheSKy

      what the fuck is that?

      1. LJW

        Was searching for the Anthony’s Bordain No Reservations Transylvania episode and came across that.

        1. LJW

          Apparently that was produced by the Transylvania tourism board. Not very enticing.

          1. CatoTheElder

            Transylvania is really a nice place to visit. Went to Brasov a several years ago, in October if memory serves. Visited Vlad’s castle, but stayed at Poiana, a ski resort. Hiked back to Brasov and had a great time. There’s a fantasic Romanian barbeque restaurant in Poiana (I’m from Texas, and know what great barbecue is.) Brasov is a great cafe city. I’d love to go again, though I’d pass on Bucharest the second time around. Bucharest is a hard partying city, but I’m too old for that.

            Bottom line: Transylvania is a great place to visit, and not nearly so weird as Halloween weirdos at Vlad’s castle portray.

        2. PieInTheSKy

          Bourdain that is. But the guy came in Romania in a very sad time. He would have found much better food these days

      2. Chipwooder

        Wait…..aren’t you supposed to be telling us? Who’s the native around here?

        1. PieInTheSKy

          There’s lots stupid in this country. I can’t keep up, local as I may be

    2. Suthenboy

      Huh. I see the bearded axe stuck in the table. In the modern imagination it is a battle weapon or a tool for torture. In fact it is a carpenter’s axe use for shaping logs into lumber. In the old days when iron was nearly as valuable as gold today when people went to war they mostly didn’t have specialized weapons – they brought the tools they used every day and used them as weapons.

      1. robc

        [carries mousepad into battle]

        1. Nephilium

          Chuckles at robc’s mousepad.

          /readies keyboard

  13. mexican sharpshooter

    This one is for Q as it briefly contains a female in a bathing suit.

    I’m going to level with you Pie. This is the only link I clicked.

    1. PieInTheSKy

      And? Would?

      1. Q Continuum

        Approved.

      2. mexican sharpshooter

        I won’t toss her overboard.

  14. Chipwooder

    I’m assuming the morning thread is pretty much dead so I’ll plop this down here – Tom Perez says that the Electoral College is not in the Constitution:

    “The Electoral College is not a creation of the Constitution,” Perez said during a lecture at Indiana University Law School. “It doesn’t have to be there.”

    Article II, Section 1, Clause 2:

    Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

    1. mexican sharpshooter

      You expect Top.Men. to know what is in the Constitution?

      1. Nephilium

        Who can understand it anyways? It was written in some old dead language, wasn’t it?

        1. mexican sharpshooter

          “Seriously, have you ever read that thing? Technically it doesn’t even give us the right to use the bathroom!”

          /Prog

        2. Zunalter

          Totally, the F’s look like S’s. Indecipherable.

    2. Suthenboy

      Oh, so they are back to trashing the constitution. I cant keep up with them. It’s almost like they make whatever argument is convenient to them at any given moment.

      1. Tundra

        Not really an argument – more like a tantrum.

        All the thought-provoking insight of a crabby toddler.

    3. nw

      So I went looking to see if the constitution actually specifies a “college” of electors, rather than
      just electors and that they meet. (It doesn’t. It just says that the electors of each state shall
      meet and send their votes to the president of the senate.)

      And then at https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/constitution I found this:
      “The Second Amendment gives citizens the right to bear arms.”

      Um… no it doesn’t. It guarantees that the government won’t infringe the pre-existing right.
      The constitution doesn’t grant rights, it secures them. That’s the theory anyway.

      1. Chipwooder

        Seems like more a matter of semantics than anything else. Call it a “college”, call it whatever else you want, the process is there in the text.

        1. cyto

          But the “grant rights” thing isn’t just semantics. It is the crux of everything in the dispute between statists, collectivists and individualists.

    4. whahappan

      And he’s a lawyer, too.

    5. cyto

      Also, the 12th amendment is entirely devoted to laying out the process for the electoral college.

  15. Q Continuum

    In keeping with the weird commercials theme:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giGAEe3_Ft0

    1. RBS

      Mmmmm, milk seafood noodles.

      1. …is milk seafood noodle how you say chowder in Engrish?

        1. Q Continuum

          I know of chowdah, but this “chowder” you speak of? What is it?

    2. LJW

      I want to go to Japan just to watch the commercials

      1. Gustave Lytton

        I don’t remember such as great collection of commercials while watching live tv. Car ads, cigarette commercials, face masks and other consumer products, etc. just like anywhere else.

    3. Jerry Beans?

      LACIST.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Tom Perez says that the Electoral College is not in the Constitution:

    Okay, then.

    1. Q Continuum

      Tom Perez sez “I’m a know-nothing ignor-anus.”

      1. cyto

        For those who don’t follow such things, it is in there twice.

        First in Article II.

        Then it is revised in the 12th amendment.

        I can just hear him now: “Yeah, but other than those two times…”

  17. Just Say’n

    https://twitter.com/KT_So_It_Goes/status/923597378334191621

    Pretty good summary of the 401 (k) cap idea that Republicans are stupidly floating around

    1. Just Say’n

      Only Kurt Vonnegut’s alter-ego could express our national politics so poetically

    2. Vhyrus

      I would definitely vote for trump again if he tweets fart noises. I mean, covfefe was basically a fart noise but that was also hilarious.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Paging Swiss

    If Spain has not split in two, its media almost has. There, the struggle over the restive region of Catalonia plays out in parallel universes.

    From Madrid, the region’s secessionist drive is portrayed as an act of sedition deserving to be put down. In Catalonia, the narrative is more about aspirations for self-determination by a people with a distinct identity.

    “We’ve got parallel story lines led by extremist representations that are filled with clichés,” said Enric Hernàndez, the editor of the Barcelona-based newspaper El Periódico.

    The central government in Madrid may soon try to align those narratives by taking charge of Catalonia’s public broadcasters, Catalunya Radio and its larger sister television company, TV3.

    The move could come as soon as this weekend, after another tense and unpredictable round in the standoff. The Catalan Parliament will meet Thursday to review a possible declaration of independence, a day before the Spanish Senate is expected to approve a raft of emergency measures under Article 155 of the Constitution to give Madrid direct control over the region.

    Among those measures, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wants to guarantee “truthful, objective and balanced” coverage in Catalonia.

    This sounds… not good.

    1. Q Continuum

      Just start shooting and get it over with.

      1. John Titor

        If that happens Catalonia gets rolled by various EU members, primarily Germany. Allowing breakaways is basically a death sentence to their little scheme.

    2. Zunalter

      That’s the nice thing about Libertarianism, two disparate cultures can co-exist, since one is not trying to politically dominate the other.

  19. John Titor

    I forgot to ask: now that Soave is back on Reason, is his book out or did he give up on it? I’m too lazy to check and feeling a little masochistic.

    1. Q Continuum

      Salon rejected his employment application. The hair was just too much.

      1. John Titor

        I would think the fact that he’s an alt-right Nazi would be the more likely cause of his rejection.

        1. Q Continuum

          Soave’s official new nickname is “Blood and Soil”.

          1. Just Say’n

            Jeff Deist hardest hit

    2. Just Say’n

      I tried to Google his book, but I found this instead: https://www.datalounge.com/thread/14746517-robby-soave-fuckable-libertarian

      Is this for real or did someone from the commentariet make this?

      1. John Titor

        If that’s the gay forum where they all talk about how they want to fuck him I’m pretty sure HM found that before (not that I wouldn’t put it past HM to get a bunch of university students to make it for a passing grade).

  20. Juvenile Bluster

    OT: Andrew Cuomo presents a very compelling case for doing away with the state and local tax deduction.

    Andrew Cuomo‏Verified account @NYGovCuomo

    New York will be destroyed if the deductibility of state and local taxes is included in any final plan that passes the House.

    1. kinnath

      Time to write my two Republican Senators and get them on the right track.

      1. RAHeinlein

        I support eliminating SALT deductions, but I think Iowa may be one of the states where this doesn’t net-out as we’re definitely not a tax-friendly state and also fully-loaded.

        1. kinnath

          Sacrificing a pawn to capture a rook.

          1. RAHeinlein

            Agreed 100%.

    2. Raston Bot

      as Ken pointed out earlier this week. it’s a brilliant move.

      1. Bob Boberson

        I disagree. I think it’s a case of thinking that it’s ok to compromise on process if the outcome is good. In this case especially we have no guarantee that we will have a good outcome (i.e. shrinking the state) Higher taxes does not mean that blue states will be any less blue, if that were the case we should have seen a tidal surge in voting for fiscal responsibility in the last 50 years. As is often stated here, progressivism is a religion and it’s adherents will not abandon it over a deduction or lack thereof. Lawrence Vance has a pretty good response that line of thinking here:

        https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/07/laurence-m-vance/tax-deductions/

        1. antisthenes

          Yeah, they’ll just fight even harder to do force their policies on the whole country once they can’t afford to do them in their states.

    3. Q Continuum

      You mean people might actually start responding to excessive taxation by their home state in way they vote? UNPOSSIBLE.

  21. Raston Bot

    Richard W. Painter‏ @RWPUSA

    Don’t act stupid. Opposition research paid for by Americans is legal. Opposition research paid for by the Russians is not.

    can somebody splain to me how “opposition research” paid for by Russians is illegal?

    1. John Titor

      We’re going to have to define what the fuck ‘opposition research’ means in the first place.

      1. Q Continuum

        Digging up the fact that the opposition candidate got a blowjob from another guy at summer camp when he was 13.

        1. Chipwooder

          Hey now, let’s leave Lindsey Graham out of this!

          1. Bobarian LMD

            He said ‘got’, not ‘gave’.

          2. Bobarian LMD

            NTTAWWT

          3. Q Continuum

            8===D O-:

    2. Raston Bot

      okay, guess i’m just stupid then because it turns out there’s this:

      https://www.fec.gov/updates/foreign-nationals/

      The Act and Commission regulations include a broad prohibition on foreign national activity in connection with elections in the United States. 52 U.S.C. § 30121 and generally, 11 CFR 110.20. In general, foreign nationals are prohibited from the following activities:

      Making any contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or making any expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement in connection with any federal, state or local election in the United States;

      i’m assuming the oppo research would be the Podesta hack. color me meh.

      1. Bobarian LMD

        Donations to the Clinton Foundation have nothing to do with any of this.

  22. Fatty Bolger

    One of the goons in the second ROM commercial looks like Ed O’Neill.

  23. Nephilium

    One lone US city has fixed all of their other problems to tackle the problem of expensive internet service. What could possibly go wrong?

    1. Q Continuum

      Given the choice between many possible good ideas and one stupid idea, SF will go with the stupid idea every time.

    2. Suthenboy

      Internet Utopia. That made me laugh out loud.

      In five years all of the people clamoring for a free pony today are going to be crying about all of the horseshit in their house and blaming someone else.

      1. Nephilium

        FFS, I had to struggle to get past the second paragraph:

        I urge you to read that sentence again. It’s a ray of light. In an era of short-term, deeply partisan do-nothing-ism, the city’s straightforward, deeply practical determination shines. Americans, it turns out, are capable of great things—even if only at the city level these days.

        Defeating the Nazis, landing a man on the moon, having a city run an internet service. All about the same.

        1. Zunalter

          Yea, it gets derpier as you go down:

          the private sector, left to its own devices, has no particular incentive to ensure a widespread upgrade to fiber optic connections.

          1. Suthenboy

            Wow, thats a jaw-dropper.

          2. I can’t get fiber optic internet in my house.

            Why? Because of local government and crony capitalism. That’s why.

    1. Q Continuum

      As opposed to Peter North, who scores and shoots.

    2. John Titor

      You know what I can’t afford? Extravagant life pensions for non-military government employees…

      Same government concerned about your 401k contributions now paying Lois Lerner $100k/year life pension, with raises.

      And this is why Trump gets elected. The aristocratic class flaunt their privileges and corruption, then wonders why the plebs hate them.

      1. Q Continuum

        +304 Electoral Votes

      2. Raston Bot

        where is that quote?

        1. John Titor

          Iowahawk’s main Twitter.

      3. I called the 2016 election during the primaries The Hunger Games Election. Some people still don’t get it.

    3. Tundra

      Damn. Ice-cold and beautiful.

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      Fuck woodchippers. This calls for the boats.

      1. Q Continuum

        How ’bout a Pear of Anguish?

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pear_of_anguish

        1. Dr. Fronkensteen

          Tree of Woe?

    2. Just Say’n

      That’s disturbing. I can’t read stuff like this anymore. Having a child completely ruined by cold black heart

      1. Troy

        Same. I have grandchildren too. I cant imagine…

    3. Chipwooder

      I can’t read that. Just can’t. I reached a point at which I simply can’t stomach reading about the horrific things people have done to their own children.

      Just drag them out back and shoot them and be done with it.

    4. RAHeinlein

      Some of these comments…

    5. DEG

      There are no words.

      1. mexican sharpshooter

        What the fuck? comes to mind.

        1. DEG

          That came to mind but wasn’t strong enough.

          1. mexican sharpshooter

            What the fucking mother fucking fuck is wrong with these fucking fucks!?

            Seriously, they find themselves face down in a ditch–at the very least.

          2. Suthenboy

            It’s called insanity. It is very real and more pervasive than most people realize. There is an interesting movie about a woman who falls down that rabbit hole, no pun intended, but I cant remember the name of the movie. In the end she quits her good job, sells her house, abandons her family and goes off to work with PETA. What I noticed about the character is that she is governed solely by her emotions. Accuracy or bias conformation?

    6. Tundra

      Didn’t I see this in Trainspotting?

      It makes me sick.

    7. kinnath

      To be sure, these cases are terrible.

      But there have been cases of parental neglect going back to the beginning of time. Any effort to make the village responsible for the child causes more problems than it solves. DHS ruins more lives than are lost in these kinds of cases.

      The only solution is to throw the parents in jail for decades (until they are no longer fertile) and move the remaining kids someplace safe.

      1. Q Continuum

        I’m down with the summary execution solution suggested above.

    8. Raston Bot

      out on some week-long meth bender? poor baby was sitting in the swing for a week. fucking degenerates.

    9. Waterfall Insurance

      My former next door neighbors… Iowa isn’t all covered bridges and dream fields. http://www.kcci.com/article/1-year-ago-today-16-year-old-natalie-finn-dies-of-malnutrition/13084340

      1. Waterfall Insurance

        I lived next door to them for two years. There were chicken coops in the backyard and their tv was in the garage but other than her boyfriend watching sports in the garage we almost never saw any of them, really creepy in hindsight. My grandmother lives down the street and a lot of my neighbors gave them food but we’re told to stop by their mother. The panhandling as far as I know hadn’t started when I lived by them.

        1. Q Continuum

          That is just unbelievably fucked up. Starvation is one of the most agonizing ways to die.

          1. Waterfall Insurance

            The reason they had so many animals is they worked with a website where they received money to care for rescue animals.

  24. Not Adahn

    I don’t remember if you’ve commented on it before, Pie, but exactly how embarrassed for us do you get when watching Comrade Detective?

    1. Q Continuum

      How ’bout how embarrassed is he of us in general? “Fucking North Americans, what is wrong with them?”

  25. Nephilium

    It looks like Tesla may be a target soon. Who when there’s a fight between green cronies and auto unions?

    1. mexican sharpshooter

      Who [wins] when there’s a fight between green cronies and auto unions?

      Tulpa?

    2. Tundra

      Orville Redenbacher?

    3. Q Continuum

      No one. No one wins.

    4. Suthenboy

      Didn’t I read not long ago that union membership is down dramatically…something like 80%?

      Of course that film-flam guy Musk doesnt have his greenie blowjob buddy in the Whitehouse anymore. Trump has been knocking heads with unions his whole career and he doesnt seem very amenable to green boondoggles.

      Maybe they both lose. Good riddance.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Who when there’s a fight between green cronies and auto unions?

    The goons lawyers.