Its been a good loooong weekend so far. Lots of heat and humidity, as God intended. The Astros took two of three from the Yankees after someone gave me a hard time about it on Saturday. And Wimbledon got underway. A bunch of signings in the NBA, which will interest our Romanian contingent. And soccer is just around the corner.
Of course, all of those things pale in comparison to football. College or pro. Take your pick. Its still the greatest thing in the world and I daresay its what has made America the greatest nation on the planet. Well, that and creating more than our share of the world’s wealth, our development of time- and labor-saving devices, our advancement of democratic institutions and our ability to put men on the fucking moon when nobody else could.
So enjoy this independence day. Even those of you from other countries. Because even with our whiny, butthurt snowflakes, even with a blowhard of a president, even with dickheads on college campuses trying to take away free speech and even with those choads from antifa trying to stir up a civil war, this is by far the greatest place on earth.
Now that my heart is racing, here are…the links!
::SMDH::
Jeopardy decides to “Stay Woke”. Hilarity ensues. (TW: Salon…but worth it in case your tear barrels are running a bit low)
Generation Z will likely be conservative, contrasting the millennials. The study says their (Gen-X) parents are doing a good job of raising them to recognize bullshit when they see it. You’re welcome world. We may have just saved you.
Elon Musk can’t seem to get his factory working as planned. But don’t worry. I’m sure some government agency will throw money his way to help out with his latest Tesla scam.
Hey, can somebody get the governor on the phone and have him get one of those pardon forms out? Because when a child rapist serves 27 months and the parent of his victim who kills him gets 40 years, I think there is something wrong with our justice system.
Welcome to Austria. Now turn around.
You guys have seen all of those migrant stories of the influx pouring into Italy lately, yeah? Well if Austria has their way, they might just stay there rather than pour into other nations. (Note: OMWC pointed out the disclaimer at the end and how lovely it is. Enjoy it, but be sure to get your Newspeak translator out first.)
Looks like the two most progressive places on the left coast don’t like each other. Now if only we could get people from Williamsburgh Brooklyn to move to…wait, where would they go without their parents funding it? Nevermind. There’s no equivalent.
Go out and have a great holiday. You earned it, America. (Enjoy work the rest of you!)
Am I the only one who still calls it INDEPENDENCE DAY?!
So enjoy this independence day. Even those of you from other countries.
Apparently not!
::drops mic::
::clotheslines JD::
There goes sloop assuming we read the articles again. *Shakes head*
+1 Welcome to Earf
President Whitmore does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoLywiaM6PA
Have something to cleanse the brain of that awful movie.
Somehow Independence day 2 makes the original look like a masterpiece
Vivica Fox as a stripper is all the brain bleach I need.
You forgot her middle initial, A. As in, Vivica, a Fox.
No doubt
Nope. I do.
That depends, JD, are we real?
You men, I assume, are real. The women, no.
Looking around the Interwebs nearly every site refers to the holiday as the Fourth of July. Maybe I’m just paranoid but it seems like an Orwellian attempt at sending the original meaning of the holiday down the memory hole.
I can’t believe I almost forgot about this.
Have any clerks in a retail store been fired yet for saying Happy Independence Day? That is how you know you’ve got a real war on Holiday X going on.
Morning links? *puts down torch and pitchfork*
*picks them up and riots anyway*
*flips keyboard*
Non-Partisan WaPo Infects Children on Independence Day
Side Note: Normally I wouldn’t have an issue with teaching your kids to laugh at authority, but I just know that these leftists @ WaPo just want their preferred Top Man and are willing to use and manipulate anyone, including children, in that pursuit.
Democracy dies in derpness.
I think WaPo has started conducting job fairs at psychiatric facilities and halfway houses. It’s the only way to hire talent that fits with their culture.
They’ve really lost their collective mind. And while the chin-strokers there and at the NYT and CNN pat each other in the back for “resisting”, a solid majority of the nation inches a little further away from their overall stance because they realize these people take everything Trump says way too seriously.
I see more and more people saying that they didn’t vote Trump but wish they had, that Trump is winning them over or something to that effect. Simultaneously the ‘resist’ crowd is getting more shrill and insane. Watching the left die is more ridiculous and fun than watching Monty Python.
The nose-holders in my circle are ever so slowly unplugging the more they watch the insanity. I look at myself as an early investor, a swing state investor, no less (NC). If the current trajectory holds, 2020 will not be a nose-holding vote.
That Jeopardy story is great. I am going to assume it was intentional.
If you’ve watched the show much, they always do stuff like this. Though I’m sure they didn’t mean it in a mocking way, they just like puns.
I never thought of Jeopardy as a trolling show, but progs are trolled by anything. Good job, Jeopardy.
I notice that Salon has become nearly unreadable. It took forever for the page to load, the article is chopped into little pieces that you have to hunt for while the page jumps all around loading 10x as much content as the article in click bait ads. I dont think they expect anyone to actually read their content, they just want clicks. It’s almost like lefties are just con artists. I dont think I will be giving them any more clicks.
Also, the comments were either not loading or not there. The comments tab wasn’t linked for me either.
Salon’s writers made them unreadable long before their page became a mess.
Quality servers are racist donchaknow?
HA!!
I remember some years back the usual suspects bitching when the contestants saved a category on black Americans for last. It reminded me of the time the Teen Tournament had a category on silent movies.
And watching Arthur Chu blow the ToC final was pleasant.
What Doug wasn’t on that show?
SPLITTERS!
But enjoy you lack of healthcare and murder rate of 120%
I can’t BBQ today because of the all the children and elderly folks’ bodies piled in the streets!
Sounds like a great BBQ.
What are you, poor? Why would you BBQ in the streets or even near the streets? Don’t you have a 12′ wall with concertina wire and broken bottles atop it to keep you separated from the hoi polloi?
Oh, I thought you were talking about Mexico for a second.
Everyone is murdered, then 20% come back as zombies, and are murdered again
The Astros took two of three from the Yankees
But what about the Pirates?
Trapped at the Austrian border?
You know who else had to cross the Austrian border?
Hannibal?
Sergeant Hulka?
“Our big toe.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger?
The Von Trapp family?
Atilla?
Wolfgang Puck?
General Chuikov?
I pledge allegiance…
TO YOUR MOM!!!! HAHAHAH!
(hangs head in shame)
Liberal Arts in the Data Age
https://hbr.org/2017/07/liberal-arts-in-the-data-age?utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
“From Silicon Valley to the Pentagon, people are beginning to realize that to effectively tackle today’s biggest social and technological challenges, we need to think critically about their human context—something humanities graduates happen to be well trained to do. ”
what exactly does “think critically ” mean in this context
“If we want to prepare students to solve large-scale human problems, Hartley argues, we must push them to widen, not narrow, their education and interests”
So they need to study both critical gender AND critical race studies. Personally I would rather these students not try to solve large-scale human problems.
“Morson and Schapiro’s solution is literature. They suggest that economists could gain wisdom from reading great novelists, who have a deeper insight into people than social scientists do.”
Now I kinda agree with this. Problem is what humanities and liberal arts were 50 years or 100 years ago are not what they are now.
Yeah, critical theory seems like a method of turning your brain *off*, not using it to it’s upmost and actually being a critical thinker.
I dated a girl who got really deep into critical race theory during law school. She basically went from someone I could have a reasonable disagreement with to batshit crazy because of how she changed her worldview.
That is exactly the purpose of it. In her deep studies did she ever run across quotes of the originators of that nonsense where they said essentially “The purpose of this is to fill people’s heads full of shit so that they cant function and with enough of them we can collapse society”?
She used to work for an organization that traveled around rural Georgia making unannounced visits to farms to check up on the migrant workers. She never could figure out why the farmers were never happy to see her.
Did the sex get better as she got crazier?
Yes, she had a whole host of other issues too.
Daddy issues are the best. Don’t put a ring on that finger or knock them up though.
Yeah, when “let’s have kids” talk started I knew my time was up.
Econ is a humanity, and is enough to widen your view. Everything else is made up bullshit.
Everything else?
How perfectly philistine.
Every other social science.
True, Plato is mostly made up bullshit.
but that doesn’t mean its not worth reading “The Republic”+the dialogues.
i think the stuff you think of as ‘made up bullshit’ isn’t really ‘the humanities’. Its the stuff that’s come to replace it.
Forget it. It’s STEM fetish town.
“what exactly does “think critically ” mean in this context”
prog harder?
Happy 4th my American…I want to say friends but I’ll stick with….poopyheads.
I stand by the assertion Gen X is the coolest, most well-adjusted generation.
The baby boomers are a bunch of bitches. The millenials are a bunch of bitches. And the people that defeated Hitler and the Japs are almost all dead.
It’s up to us to save this planet, Gen-Xers. Please start having as many kids as me and Banjos and raise them right!
I’ve heard this stuff about Gen-Z for awhile now, but aren’t they the kids who are being brainwashed in college and all through public school. You know, the same ones rioting over speakers and such? If Gen Z’s eldest are 21 now, they’re the ones doing all this Campus bullshit, right?
Yes, but Gen X parents are pretty good – at least that’s what the article asserts- at knocking that shit out of their kids’ head.
I know I do it.
I stopped at one kid but she has the mental power of three!
Well this is where the generation thing doesn’t work well. I’m a millennial, but mis Padres are Gen-Xers.
My parents did it, and I turned out to be a millennial that hates millennials.
It’s such a vocal minority doing that shit though. The overwhelming majority of college students are out there going to class, partying on the weekends and working on getting in the real world and earning a living.
It was that way with “student leadership” and “rights” types when I was there, when you were there and with every generation to go to college since the first ones opened up.
I don’t even know if they had a student government where I went to school. Didn’t give a fuck…same as everybody I knew.
Unfortunately that vocal minority are going to be the administrators.
That’s because Generation X was written by a Canadian, eh.
No, pretty sure he was English.
Will Tesla’s Elon Musk revolutionize the auto industry and become the Henry Ford of the 21st century? Or are his bold visions too untethered from the complicated realities of mass-market motor vehicle production, sales, distribution and repair?
And- most importantly, what happens when everybody who wants a Tesla has one?
*A number far lower than 500,000, I bet.
I think we passed that number already,
And- most importantly, what happens when everybody who wants a Tesla has one?
Or a BMW, Audi, Jag, Porsche or Volvo. I don’t think the people furiously masturbating to Elon’s vision understand that total available market is not a sales forecast.
I don’t know, the pre-orders were pretty impressive.
Problems is (one of many) – you can’t scale up production of a vehicle at the rate he promised and not have a huge raft of manufacturing and ultimately, quality problems. And unlike software land – if version 1.0 leads to fatalities, you can’t just fix it with patches over the next few years.
Good Guy with Gun Theory Debunked?
I suppose one would really have to dig into the studies to see how badly (or appropriately) they doctored the data. Whats everyone’s thoughts on this?
I know for most libertarians freedom includes the consequences of freedom, so is unlikely to change minds, but has the right to carry movement benefited from a coincident drop in crime? And is the NRA’s purported strategy to play to feelings rather than data the right way to go? (probably, yes)
I skimmed over the article and found the link to the actual study, where I found this gem:
So they copied methodology from two fields of study that are known for a comical inability to make accurate predictions, but we’re supposed to believe that their conclusions about guns and crime are totally super serious?
Yeah, I kind of feel the same way, but how else can you get answers in these fields? The only thing you can do is either say “we have no idea” or do a kind of smell test on the controls they used and see if they make sense or are missing something important.
The inability to find an answer otherwise does not justify finding incorrect answers and touting them as correct.
Also this:
“The Stanford team found precisely the opposite: “Ten years after the adoption of RTC laws,” they write, “violent crime is estimated to be 13-15 percent higher than it would have been without the RTC law.””
Than it would have been?
Of course! You see, all these experts have exclusive access to a trans-dimensional wormhole where they can peek in and take a gander at alternative universes where their brilliant social control policies were NOT passed, then they can tell us plebians what a horrible dystopia would have unfolded if we hadn’t agreed to their new laws!
Or they can’t just plain lie:
“”I wasn’t surprised to find violent crime went up,” Donohue said. “You’d expect guns to contribute to violent crime.””
Except it didn’t go up. It went down. Significantly.
It’s like jobs created or saved.
Right, they’re trying to control for demographics and predict what crime rates *would be* without RTC laws. The validity of the study all depends on how applicable the applied controls are.
They’re probably using a control group of a similar demographic in a city that did not pass RTC. Not that it makes any sense unless they have everything else the same: income, standard of living, job opportunities, etc. IOW, it’s an impossible claim to make but one that is routinely made.
Typically in this type of research today, there’s an agenda before the research is even started. There’s some funding and the source of that funding expects certain results. I’m guessing that in the study we’re discussing now, the expected result is finding that RTC results in increased gun violence. To achieve this, you just cherry pick the variables so you eventually arrive at your desired conclusion. Failure to do so results in no more funding.
Also, I read the article more thoroughly and noticed something: They haven’t shown that it’s people with CCW licenses who are committing these crimes (the crimes that are adding up to this new crime wave). If it’s non-licensed people committing these crimes, their case against Right to Carry laws is pretty weak.
That’s sort of what they are saying.
“Lawful gun-permit holders, the researchers theorize, could contribute to a street-level arms race by bringing more weapons into public, where they are more likely to be lost or stolen, making their way to the black market. The more that people become aware that their environs are filling with guns, their perceptions of society could become colored by fear and anger, thus leading them to more readily become violent.”
There are two obvious flaws with that. Firstly, laws regarding buying/owning and carry are two different things. And places with much more restrictive laws on the former have much larger black markets (eg. NYC, Chicago). Secondly, people who legally carry not only have a much lower crime rate than average, they have a lower crime rate than police and Mayors Against Illegal Guns. So that second sentence is total BS.
Right, because when a gun is stolen it’s picked out of someone’s pocket while they’re walking down the street, and not swiped as part of a burglary or stolen from someone’s bedroom by a friend of someone’s kid.
stolen from someone’s bedroom by a friend of someone’s kid
ding ding ding. winner
“Has the right to carry movement benefited from a coincident drop in crime?”
I know this is not the point you’re trying to make, but I just feel it’s worth mentioning from time to time anyway. The drop in crime happening at the same time as CCW expansion, whether causal or not, is irrelevant. Those kinds of arguments would only matter to a Utilitarian. The right to self defense is absolute, regardless of any external societal effects. If associating a crime drop can be used for PR and persuasion, so much the better. But in terms of a person’s right to carry, it *shouldn’t* make a difference (yes I know that most people don’t think that way so we need rhetorical firepower to convince them).
I’d also add that the anti-CCW crowd always claims that expanding access to CCW’s will lead to the Wild West. The drop in crime shows that not only did that not happen, but things got better (even if most of it is because of an aging population).
Keep in mind that gun-grabbers lie. It’s what they do. Everything they say is designed to deceive in some way.
Giant, steaming pile of bullshit that jumps right out at me : “violent crime is estimated to be 13-15 percent higher than it would have been without the RTC law.”
There is no way to falsify that, no way to know that. It is a completely baseless assertion.
My well reasoned response to them is “Fuck you. You cant have my guns.”
I prefer something along the lines of “Sure, and gun-grabbing would lead to a bloodbath bigger than the Civil War. Good Luck.”
Oh, don’t be silly. Nobody wants to take your guns away! They just want mag limits, assault weapons bans, mandatory background checks, psychiatric evaluations, no concealed carry, a 50 percent tax on ammunition, limits on construction of new shooting ranges, registration of guns and owners, and the immediate confiscation of guns from people accused or suspected of domestic violence, holding extremist viewpoints, or marijuana addiction.
But nobody would ever dream of taking away a single gun from anyone! You must have been watching too much Alex Jones!
GET YOUR FUCKING GAY FROGS AWAY FROM ME!
I looked at that Wikipedia article about the “gay bomb”.
Hmm… Considering that ancient Spartans were doing each other in the butt all the time, I’m skeptical that turning enemy troops gay would reduce their effectiveness as a fighting force.
The Sacred Band of Thebes, the guys who used to kick Spartan ass, would agree.
It’s not meant to diminish combat efficiency because of gay sex, it’s meant to diminish combat efficiency because of their cultural response to gay sex. I.E. drop it on a military force from a culture that, say, views homosexuality as a ‘throw of a roof’able offense and watch morale drop dramatically. Not say it’s a sound idea, it’s just more complicated than “gay sex reduces the effectiveness of fighting forces”.
Exactly. They just want “common sense gun control” all of which you stated.
Prior to the election before my Bernie Bro friends unfriended me on facebook and stopped all contact, I was having a discussion with them about gun ownership and lists. It was right after the crazy kid in Oregon shot up a community college. Their immediate reaction was, “nobody should own guns until the mental health situation is taken care of in America”. Which then turned into a discussion about the no fly list/no buy list. I said, anyone who the authorities did not think voted the right way, or said the right things would find themselves on a no buy list. They then posted a meme of Sam Elliot that said something like, “if you think common sense gun control means they want to take your guns, do you also think birth control means they want to take your penis?” Something like that. This was just a few posts after they said nobody should own a gun in America.
Oh sure. They know that they can’t get rid of the Second Amendment so they’ll never outright ban guns, they’ll just restrict them as much as possible.
That is a dumb fucking analogy. I’m assuming you’re paraphrasing, but there’s no parsing of it that doesn’t paint the person using it as a total idiot. Birth control is voluntary. Gun control is not. And when it comes to involuntary birth control (see: China), then it absolutely means the state is going to take your babies away (as in, forcible abortions). Idiots.
The only way that analogy makes sense is if the right to bear arms means the government should pay for me to own guns (and all the ammo I can fire). 😛
It was a super dumb analogy, and ya, I am paraphrasing. I can’t remember a direct quote I think it was more an attempt to equate people who value the second amendment as guns being an extensions of their penis like fast cars or big trucks. I was scratching my head at it for a bit. It was a shame to see these people go that hard left. They were common sense classical liberals when we lived around each other. Baby Boomers. What do you do?
This makes me feel special. I got a Bernie Bro friend of mine to vote for GayJay last election.
I may have had a chance, but their Obama worship got to me and I unleashed all the illegal warmongering and downright unconstitutional actions of the prick and that was the last straw. Unfriended. I think they have an Obama shrine in their house.
Classic motte and bailey. You destroyed their hard to defend bailey (“nobody should own guns until the mental health situation is taken care of in America”), so they retreated to the motte (“if you think common sense gun control means they want to take your guns, do you also think birth control means they want to take your penis?”) where they would be safe again.
I wouldn’t say it is baseless- they massaged some data to get some conclusions, supposedly in the same way that gun-loving researchers have done, and got a differing conclusion. Now, their methods may be shit, and they may also be lying, but I wouldn’t say it is entirely non-falsifiable. You could run your own analysis and control for different factors (or control for them in different ways) and try to disprove them.
My well reasoned response to them is “Fuck you. You cant have my guns.”
This. There’s no point in debating them anymore.
I think the one thing that the gun lobby learned from watching the cigarette banning process is that you can’t give up an inch anywhere or pretty soon you have lost everything.
Any time a study says, “(Something) is estimated to be X% higher than it would have been without (variable Z)…”, it’s garbage. Full stop.
I’ve always thought the POTUS was a doofus…but, there might be some actual genius behind this level of trolling:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/882186896285282304
He’s the greatest thing in American politics since I can remember.
Hey, do you know what happened to the comment section from the other day?
That comment section was an unfortunate victim of the rioting that day. We accidently burned down the server that was keeping those comments.
For what article?
ZARDOZ Sunday night links.
Somebody at Glibs Central Command accidentally turned comments off and it hid them. I just fixed it.
Weird. Glad it was something normal.
I cant wait to see the response from CNN, WaPo, NYT etc.
As for him being a doofus….havent you ever seen a hustler in action?
I just got back from a vacation provided by a timeshare company, so yes, I have fresh memories of being the target of a hustle. I have seen some footage of DT testifying in congress about some building projects where he’s obviously not an idiot, so I suppose I should have caught on earlier.
I should have said “where he doesn’t leave the impression that he’s an idiot”
O…MG – wonderful
I’m dying over here.
That’s fucking hilarious. Que the prog outrage. That’s an all white choir. No POC at all. The president is sooooo raciss.
That’s the creepiest thing I’ve seen since “Barack Hussein Obama. Mmm. Mmm.”
Oh, come on. That’s not even the creepiest thing you’ve seen since yesterday. We know you.
Fair enough.
Well, one was comprised of adults willingly participating. The other was comprised of children (7-8 year olds) in a compulsory government school program, IIRC.
And the lyrics:
“Mm, mmm, mmm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mmm!”
Yeah…not quite as creepy in my opinion.
I’ll concede if you can prove to me that the former wasn’t also paid for with my tax dollars.
I don’t know if this counts as proof, but it was Part of Dallas’s First Baptist Church’s Annual Fourth of July concert and took place 30 minutes into a two hour program.
I doubt tax dollars went to fund a tune written by the church’s former music minister for an annual event or its public production.
Not funded by taxes, but all churches are tax exempt, so sort of.
That’s a stretch.
Unless not giving=taking.
Not taking = giving, in this formulation.
Now I’m seeing that it was done at the Kennedy Center by the church, who has an annual program there. It looks like that ABC story got that part wrong.
So did they rent the Kennedy Center? Or was it part of a government program? Either way, I don’t recall a direct reference to Trump in it, just a slogan. But either way…8 year olds, dude.
“Don’t any of you work?!?” /rufus
Seriously though….does America’s Hat get a day off work today – I mean a proper day off, not like that weird, quasi-bank holiday they had last week?
The state slaves of Trudy II do not get leasure time.
RE the Gen Z article. The thought occurred to me that Obama was tagged and advertised as ‘hope and change’ but his presidency maybe had an opposite effect to the extent people saw right through his BS thus paving the road for Trump. If he truly was a ‘game changer’ people would keep voting for the agenda he left behind. Instead, they’re running away from it.
I don’t know if Sun Tzu said this or if I’m making it up but I remember reading somewhere: “If you truly want to destroy your enemy, give him everything he thinks he wants.” I see Obama that way in many cases. By the effect that he’s had on the Dems and Progressivism in general, it would be hard to tell if he’s a deep cover plant sent to destroy the American Left.
My grandfather had this little related gem – “Hell is having your dreams come true”.
Priceless.
Twilite Zone, THIS IS THE OTHER PLACE
/Sebastian Cabot
For some folks in my generation (Millennials), he truly was a “game-changer” – during those crucial teenage years, he gave them that sweet taste of honey known as free shit, and have gotten them to believe that he was a gateway to even freer shit from even truer believers. Anyone that was initially skeptical, though, are running the hell away now. That’s a good thing.
Tesla has dropped a few details on its cost-cutting approach: the Model S has two screens, the Model 3 will have one. The Model S is stuffed with three kilometers of wiring, the Model 3, 1.5 kilometers.
*recoils in horror*
A good argument for breaking away from royalty:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4662222/Princess-Olympia-Greece-extravagant-21st-b-day.html
We don’t have a princess wearing a gown with platform sneakers.
You know you would.
True.
Also, would, wouldn’t, maybe:
(first group of pics)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4664000/Cara-Delevingne-Kristen-Stewart-Katy-Perry-Chanel.html
So… you don’t like boobs?
Is Susan Powter getting royalties for those awful haircuts?
And I have no idea who this is:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4664526/Kaya-Scodelario-attends-Chanel-AW17-Paris.html
You clodhopper!
The Greeks are way ahead of you. I don’t know if there’s some sort of weirdness with the British press because Prince Philip is descended from Greek royalty, but in Greece this chick is no princess (nor her father a “crown prince”) as the Greeks abolished the monarchy in the 1970s.
She also lost her crown:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4663724/Ariadna-Guti-rrez-rocks-pink-bikini-Gianluca-Vacchi.html
Germany still has “royalty” jet-setting around too.
I think it’s a general desire by British press to throw on trapping to draw readers, although deposed aristocrats or even office holders seem to hold on to their titles for life in the press generally (note that her father is referred to as a Crown Prince even though his father is deceased).
She is still a princess of Denmark. The current Greek Royalty is descended from a Danish prince elevated to the kingship of Greece in the 1800s, thus the style of Prince/ss of Greece and Denmark.
The Brits are just about the only nation in Europe that still has a non-ceremonial Royal head of state. Nations like Sweden, Greece, the Netherlands have very public royal houses who are virtual commoners, and have almost no social perquisites that other landed gentry have. My personal test would be whether they have greater disposable assets than a moderately successful business family.
Most of them have some personal land and income, some hold property in trust for the nation – the Windsors, for example, can’t just decide to sell Richmond Park or Sandringham – so in practical terms, the properties aren’t an asset, they’re a liability, because (certainly in the case of the Windsors), they’re holding a property in trust, but they’re on the hook for some of the operating costs.
It’s one of the reasons I’m not a vehement anti-monarchist in practice at the moment; Elizabeth has been a model royal, and given that the Windsor Corporation, Ltd., has high visibility and may well be significant revenue generator for the UK in a way that a President or Dictator might not be, She’s certainly good for tourism, and may well be a valuable social stabilizer in the future. Elizabeth demonstrates what is *possible* in a functioning, modern, activist monarchy.
Of course, my opinions on the practicalities of modern monarchy may change when Charles gets in. It’s an issue I know many back in the Old Country that feel the same way. Those concerns have been aired multiple times, for example in the *excellent* (and best) UK version of House of Cards. You can watch the series for educational purposes, since it’s also an excellent primer on the day-to-day workings of British Parliamentary process, and entirely complementary to the (also excellent) Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.
Sandringham is QEII’s personal property, as is Balmoral. Richmond Park is owned by the Crown.
In a practical sense, can you anticipate a situation (short of bankruptcy) that the Windsor Family would dispose of a palace?
Not sure even Charles would do that.
These are not in any practical sense realizable assets.
No, but George VI did have to purchase the estates from his brother as they were not given up by abdication.
We Must Declare Independence
*TW applies only to BULLY!
Straffinrun proves he’s a right-wing facist Paulista! Why doesn’t he comment about Paul’s views on homosexuality! He doesn’t, all Straffinrun can do is online harassment!
Did it feel like Hihn was here, or do I need to work on my impersonation of him better?
If you tucked your shirt into your whitey tighties first, sure.
The dumbass bully continues harassing me! All you can do is throw out personal attacks, you can’t disprove what I’m saying! This is what the Paulist cult is like! They want to impose their facist Christian Theocracy on the rest of us!
I dunno, doesn’t seem butthurt enough yet.
It takes true butthurt to channel the hihn
Needs more ALL CAPS. Someone last night did a really good impression, put a chill down my spine.
On the one hand, I give Sanders +1 for actually mentioning the Federal Reserve and wanting to do something about monetary policy. The mainstream candidates generally leave that subject completely untouched. On the other hand, I give him −2 for wanting to put “farmers, students, and workers” in charge of it.
“All power to the Soviets!”
Bernie is a low-intelligence demagogue who probably doesn’t even realize how mind-numbingly retrograde his rhetoric is.
It’d be hilarious if a ton of people in his Personality Cult weren’t constantly talking about him as if he were some kind of savant.
Is Generation Z the same as Generation Snowflake? Maybe it’s the Team Red version of Team Blue’s snowflakes?
I thought the Millennials were the snowflakes?
The article said Generation Z is in their early 20s which makes this current crop of college snowflakes part of Gen Z. No doubt the Millennials have plenty of snowflakes.
Does that mean that I’m a Millennial with Gen-Z crossover tendencies? (Didn’t go to college until I was 22, just graduated)
I thought Gen Z was everyone born from 2005 onwards?
Gen X ( y ) or Gen X ( * ), NTTAWWT.
How ’bout some good ole American tits for your 4th o’ July?
http://thechive.com/2017/07/03/flbp-breaks-for-no-holiday-period-45-photos/
PS: Number 17 looks like a RealDoll brought to life, and I’m ok with it.
PPS: It’s probably been said before, but WTF with the stupid duck lips? WHY?
PPPS: Yes I know I’m not supposed to be looking at their faces…
Stupid expressions go away, but the ink leaves its ugly stain for life.
I think they are supposed to be smoochy lips but I always get the impression they are implying “I am too hot for you, kiss my ass”. I find it a turn-off.
Did somebody bring up realdolls?
Because this guy loves his!
So… this is about straffinrun right?
I don’t need a doll, I got a backpack.
For those of you keeping score at home, that line down the middle is called a “raphe”.
I’ll remember that next time I have a discussion with the vicar about genital anatomy.
Well, playing with a life-size doll in public takes . . . balls.
It’s better than Straff’s back pack which are…….balls.
I had to Google FLBP. That was a good laugh.
The synthetic control approach, a research method now widely applied in economics and political science…
The very same technique they are squealing about with regard to the Seattle minimum wage study done by Wash U? That one?
Like everything else, they like it when it confirms their prefab conclusions, and hate it when it doesn’t.
I have a serious problem with the Gen Z – Millennial comparison these people are making:
I hate generational comparisons, anyway. It is a tact used by political leftists, especially the journalistic left, to categorize mass swaths of people into warring factions and identity groups. Life is about individual experiences, not groups.
I agree. But it’s fun!
Indeed, are you on Team Gen-X or TEAM Millennial?
Team X, barely.
TEAM RUFUS.
Team Orphan-Manager?
I’m a millenial but I identify as GenX.
Stop generationally appropriating me shitlord.
PROVE IT.
He’s just saying that to get with a MILF.
AND BE PREPARED FOR A KNUCKLE SANDWICH IF YOU LUMP ME IN WITH THOSE USELESS MILLENNIALS!!!
{Lump}
You called my bluff.
(hangs head in shame once again)
Interesting about the deployment. But here’s an anecdote that lends to the Millennial stereotype (and I admit enjoying piling on them because….just because). My front door neighbour bought the house next to his for his kids/investment. Both are in their mid to late 20s. The son is never around while the daughter is around half of the time out ‘finding themselves’. So the father is doing all the work and fixings needed on the house – by himself. The other day he was fixing the fence, planting, cutting grass etc. while the daughter came from her motorcycle ride sat down and started taking selfies on the steps with her puppy Rottweiler. She didn’t lift a finger. He did confide and complain to me about this behaviour. She lets the dog shit in the yard and doesn’t pick up the dung much to his chagrin and annoyance and apparently the house is a mess. Last week there was an orange cone on its side blocking the pathway to the door she didn’t even bother to erect or even move for two days until he did it. I know it’s unfair to tag a generation on this behaviour but it seems to be an overall theme with millennials?
I always have my daughter come around to do even the basic of work; even if it’s to just ‘go get’ things. ‘Go get me a beer!’
Mind you, if you say he didn’t do his job as a parent maybe you’re right.
At least she’s working now. Part-time but she’s not fully independent yet.
From my (admittedly limited) experience, if the kids turned out as lazy shitheads with no work ethic or discipline, it’s because the parents didn’t teach them.
Constant budget cuts. I would love for them to dissemble that.
I was seeing red before I even got to that, and completely missed it, nice catch.
Really? No music link to the one of the greatest anthems for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1mlCPMYtPk"'Merica ever?
*Sigh* This is what happens when I try to post before a ride…
Native Australians outraged by gay porn studio using sacred didgeridoo as dildo
So this didgeridoo in particular is sacred, or all didgeridoos are sacred and shouldn’t be inserted into any orifi?
I’m with the native Australians on this one.
“one of the actors, Jack Hunter, plays the didgeridoo”
The role of a lifetime!
Starring Jack Hunter as the didgeridoo
You think they’re sacred or you just don’t want them inserted into people?
Because I didn’t think the Catholic Church were an offshoot of the abbos earth worship.
http://divine-interventions.com/religioustoys.php
NSFW.
Hmmm.
Did anyone else not a particular omission from the range of products?
I think I did, and I’m sure you did too!
Also, needs moar of (((them))).
What do you do with the Bible?
Couldn’t figure that one out either. Depending on size maybe you could use it for spanking?
It looked like it has a dick-sized hole in the bottom.
More seriously, I can’t imagine most of those items being used in anything other than an ironic manner.
Indeed, the Jackhammer is going to end up mounted on some drywall much more likely than being used for mounting, just to be edgy.
“Ooh look, I’m gonna stick a crucifix up mah snatch. Way to disrepect da baby jeebus!” – I though sex was meant to be pleasurable (or at least profitable) – why would you do that? Go find something more anatomically rewarding!
Excellent. Thanks. Shopping for my next nativity scene is almost complete.
Despite Mrs #6 being quite religious, we instituted a family tradition for Christmas which some of our neighbors find to be in rather poor taste.
We have one of those small nativity scenes, which is pretty routine, but we add a kangaroo, in homage to the Monty Python ‘s The Pope and Michaelangelo.
That link gave me a laugh. See if you can talk Mrs 6 into a Mariachi band and a blow up sheep.
Just because it’s not traditional doesn’t make it heretical. Sounds like a great combo. Next year add a dinosaur or maybe an ostrich.
It’s not that I share their beliefs, but that pornographers find ways to make everything worse, starting with sex and then proceeding to musical instruments.
The only approved sex is procreative missionary position sex.
Anyone who finds porn distasteful and doesn’t want to watch musical instruments shoved up various orifices…is a theocrat…such an extreme theocrat that they think the Catholic Church is too libertine.
Well, the Catholic Church does have a reputation for having a lot of devotees of rusty trombones.
With so many images of attractive actresses on non-porn sites (and semi-respectable sites like the Daily Mail), I don’t see the need for people (unless they have specialized tastes) to watch full-on porn.
If you’re a glutton or gourmand, do you want to watch a video of people eating a meal at a French restaurant?
Based on those pornographers who donate to the Reason Foundation, and whose work Reason described, it seems that porn nowadays is not aimed at the person of conventional sexual tastes.
I doubt that musical-instrument abuse is a conventional sexual taste, either.
“OMG Eddie, why don’t you just go and join ISIS, you American-hating jihadist!”
“crikey, that’s not a digeradoo”
I’m waiting for G’day’n II: Electric Didgeridoo to be released.
Australian midget porn title…
Shrimp on the Barbie
Generation Z is a product of 9/11, global terrorism, school shootings, perpetual wars, the Great Recession, high unemployment and constant budget cuts.
Are you fucking kidding me?
Yeh, I remember me and my buddies sitting around the TV complaining about the budget cuts back in the day!
‘I can’t get my act together with all them budget cuts!’
“…high unemployment and periodic, time-limited slowdowns in the rate of budget increases”
FIFY.
Speaking of music links
Have some JIMMAY!
I suppose we can hear it twice.
Donald Trump wants disabled people to suffer…and lose their lawyers
FAKE NEWS! He wants them to suffer AND DIE.
I’d don’t expect to to sue me Mr Bond. I expect you to die.
Introduced Jackass the movie to my 13yr old son last night. Hopefully don’t end up regretting that. God I forgot how funny that was
It’s one of those treasured pieces of juvenalia that I appreciate because it reminds me of my youth and it is something I’m pretty sure would be met with widespread outrage today. Ditto ‘A Christmas Story’ for the scene in the Chinese restaurant alone. Sometimes it feels liberating to not have to think and just watch a bunch of idiots do things that anyone with an IQ in the double digits would never consider doing. The laughter brought on by the Jackass productions is a primal, physical reaction and it should be passed down to younger generations.
May I humbly suggest Blazing Saddles?
My kids loved Monty Python and the Holy Grail
+1 “Time for the oral sex!”
Young Frankenstein
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Human CentipedeThat is all.
All good suggestions. Let’s also not forget Stripes, Fletch and Caddyshack.
Also Life of Brian.
Slapshot. Spies Like Us. Vacation. Top Secret!
Animal House, Fish Called Wanda and Raising Arizona
Three Amigos, Mr. Mom (which is hilariously dated but still funny), Back to School, The Money Pit, Club Paradise
So the father is doing all the work and fixings needed on the house – by himself. The other day he was fixing the fence, planting, cutting grass etc. while the daughter came from her motorcycle ride sat down and started taking selfies on the steps with her puppy Rottweiler. She didn’t lift a finger.
I see this with my (possibly soon-to-be-ex) girlfriend and her kids. She runs herself ragged doing stuff for them, and they just sit on their asses and expect to be waited on hand and foot like royalty. I finally told her one day, “I don’t mind doing things for YOU, but I’m not willing to provide maid service for your three able bodied children. Tell them to wash their own goddam dishes.”
She is training them to be helpless.
My nieces are the same way… my siblings have failed at life (besides not producing a male heir).
So I guess we’ll just need it to prop up didgeridoo makers?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/sex-procreation-hank-greely-stanford-professor-prediction-humans-no-longer-reproduce-a7821676.html
While that may be possible, I don’t see the mechanism to stop people from having sex.
Is there a line on that in Vegas cause I’m all in on the negatory.
“Within three decades people will no longer be having sex to procreate, a professor from Stanford University has said. ”
Sure buddy. Thats gonna happen.
Possibly not in the circles in which the professor socializes, but that’s been the case for quite a while, and really, I don’t see it as much of a problem if it happens to his tribe.
That may be the dumbest thing I’ve ever read. Clearly this guy has not met the Amish.
Though, I do like the idea of having my own super children…
He’s taking his ball{s} and going home!
http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/james-deen-maria-demopoulos-documentary-showtime-lawsuit-1202486648/
Why in the f would a porn star rape someone? Why not just go to work for God’s sakes.
Because feminists have informed me that rape is never, ever, ever about sex; it’s always about power and the patriarchy. Or something.
Well it is about power in a lot of cases. Let’s not diminish that component of it.
Fair enough.
I cannot fathom how gratifying (if at all) actual violent rape sex could ever be – so I do believe it is more about power than the actual sexual act.
You spelled “Seattle” wrong.
Seattle has Kshama Sawant, KO.
“As their lives themselves were the gifts of Providence, who is not willing to recognize in their happy termination, as well as in their long continuance, proofs that our country and its benefactors are objects of His care?”
How does one celebrate the Fourth on a space station where open flames are forbidden?
Lots and lots of whiskey?
Clearly they need to design and set up exterior fireworks. There is enough data on how to get things to burn in a vacuum that they could do it. Then just balance out the forces on the exterior of the station and fire them off.
Just toss a handful of nuts and bolts into the atmosphere – they can do that from their position right? Watch the little meteor show from up above.
Speaking of studies, and the egregious misrepresentation of
It’s relatively easy to conduct and publish research that shows that Medicaid enrollees have worse health care outcomes than those with private coverage or even with no coverage. One such study that received considerable attention was conducted at the University of Virginia Health System.
For patients with different kinds of insurance — Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance and none — researchers examined the outcomes from almost 900,000 major operations, like coronary artery bypass grafts or organ removal. They found that Medicaid patients were more likely than any other type of patient to die in the hospital. They were also more likely to have certain kinds of complications and infections. Medicaid patients stayed in the hospital longer and cost more than any other type of patient. Private insurance outperformed Medicaid by almost every measure.
Other studies have also found that Medicaid patients have worse health outcomes than those with private coverage or even those with no insurance. If we take them to mean that Medicaid causes worse health, we would be justified in canceling the program. Why spend more to get less?
I don’t think anybody has claimed Medicaid kills people, but that seems to be the working assumption these people are making. Because when you start from there, anything can be made to look good.
Skimming through that, I don’t see how Medicade comes out looking good.
Independence day in Ghana vs. the U.S.
There is an interesting story about immigration up at the New York Times. It’s citing some interesting statistics and trends–and attributing the to Donald Trump having been elected.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/world/americas/honduras-migration-border-wall.html
“Central Americans, ‘Scared of What’s Happening’ in U.S., Stay Put”
The things the Times is damning Trump for are things Trump might take credit for come time for his reelection. Take this quote for instance:
The piece goes on to document how horrible life is in Honduras, and may be correctly characterized as arguing that U.S. immigration policy should be changed for the benefit of Hondurans.
This is like my take on environmentalism and it’s the Achilles’ heel of progressivism generally: The entire progressive philosophy is about using the coercive power of government to force people to make sacrifices for the benefit of others. When the New York Times is arguing for a more liberal immigration policy, they don’t even bother addressing how a more open immigration policy might be good for Americans–subconsciously or otherwise, they think American immigration policy should be about Americans making sacrifices for the people of Honduras, et. al.
Talking about the benefits of immigration to Americans would seem selfish to them–they’d much rather talk about how Trump should and Hillary would be forcing us to make sacrifices for the benefit of Hondurans.
Same thing with environmentalism–same thing with ObamaCare–same thing with gun control–same thing with every progressive issue I can think of. They’re so obsessed with forcing people to make sacrifices for others, they can hardly even think in terms of people who want what’s best for themselves, their own families, and their own standard of living. No wonder progressives are immune to arguments based on economics. Presenting policy preferences as a function of what’s in our own best interests is unthinkably selfish to them. It isn’t that they don’t believe in economics–but they don’t believe we should choose what’s in our own best interests.
We persuade others by showing them what’s in their own best interests–but progressives don’t necessarily care about that.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Objectivism. I find their personal devotion to Rand kinda L. Ron Hubbard like creepy and their insistence that we can’t have freedom until everyone becomes rational self-defeating and silly. But it’s time to brush off Rand’s stuff about the virtue of selfishness again. Not wanting what’s best for yourself, your family, your standard of living, and your freedom may be the real root of all evil.
Your exactly right. The sad thing is that there are some good convincing arguments for open borders, but that means working with dirty libertarians*.
*This is not to be construed as me claiming that all libertarians must accept open borders, or that those who don’t, don’t have good arguments.
It’s been said 1000 times before;
1. Open Borders
2. Welfare State
1 and 2 mutually exclusive.
I totally agree.
MulattoFeed: Watch as The Pholosopher EVISCERATES Q Continuum.
Welfare enables lazy Americans to not do the jobs that immigrants come here to do. Kill the welfare state and all of a sudden lazy Americans would be picking lettuce. Welfare distorts the market for labor. Immigration would be good without the welfare state.
Kill the welfare state and all of a sudden lazy Americans would be picking lettuce.
I dunno, a lot of them might die in the riots first.
From overexertion, right?
Immigration may be good without the welfare state.
The people who hire illegal immigrants are doing so because they think it’s in their best interests.
Plenty of women couldn’t afford to work if it weren’t for cheap illegal immigrant labor working as nannies.
Old people couldn’t take care of their lawns, clean their houses, cook for themselves or live “independently” without the benefit of cheap immigrant labor.
The benefits of all the cheap labor aren’t completely erased by the mere existence of welfare.
Oh, and if we had an open borders treaty with Mexico, that let any Mexican citizen across the border so long as they had an ID we could verify independently, the ID showed that they weren’t wanted criminals or convicted felons (to our satisfaction), and showed that they were immunized against certain communicable diseases . . . that treaty could also stipulate that a) Mexican citizens aren’t entitled to federal food stamp programs, federal rent assistance, etc.
I think you’re missing my point. There will always be a market for cheap labor. Right now, illegal immigrants are a large part of that market. Welfare exempts Americans from being a part of that market. Lazy Americans are subsidized with my tax dollars so that there are job openings for illegal immigrants. If there is so welfare, there is no market distortion. I get to pay less in taxes and lazy Americans get to go to work.
it’s not about illegals coming here to get benefits, it’s about benefits for Americans screwing up the labor market.
The people who hire illegal immigrants are doing so because they think it’s in their best interests.
Yes, they do. Larger profit margin and who doesn’t like that. They also hire legal immigrants/visa holders because it is in their best interests as well. No FICA withholding. It is cheaper. It also distorts the labor market. So does welfare. Walmart pays shit because people will work for shit because they also get food stamps if they have enough kids. It happens over and over across the country. A company says, “we can’t get workers for the wage we are offering”. So daddy government says, “Ok, no prob, bring in some temp visa workers”. We don’t have a free market when it comes to labor. If we did, wages would go up. Maybe somebody might have to go help mow their parents lawn. I don’t know, I would do that for my dad. I’d like to think most people would.
“If there is so welfare, there is no market distortion.”
Yes there is.
It’s called the U.S. border.
I’m trying to get rid of that artificial market barrier.
You’re talking about something like a self-imposed oil embargo.
Except instead of oil, it’s labor.
No, you oil barrels can’t come work in our country–because you were born in Mexico.
Take away the welfare state, and that giant labor market distortion running along the Rio Grande remains.
In the meantime, there are excellent reasons to get rid of welfare that are unrelated to welfare–and we can make that “welfare” word as big as you want it.
We can include public schools and Medicaid in the conversation. There’s no reason to tie those issues to immigration. The Republicans are fighting to cut back Medicaid eligibility right now–with no reference to immigration. Why tie any of it to immigration?
The eligibility for the federal food stamp program is out of control–immigration or no immigration. Why tie cutting that program to immigration? You’re just feeding into the socialist narrative when you make eligibility contingent on citizenship. Why would it behoove us as a nation if people come think we’re entitled to free food, free rent, etc. because we’re U.S. citizens? And if we make them entitled to free food, free rent, etc. because they’re U.S. citizens and others aren’t, what do you imagine they’re going to come to believe about the entitlements of citizenship?
We’re only looking at one side when we say that we can’t have open borders so long as we have welfare. Why aren’t you considering that when people come to believe that welfare is an entitlement attached to citizenship, we will become a more socialist (wealthy distributive) nation?
Being a U.S. citizen doesn’t entitle us to anything but the right to vote, the right to be within U.S. borders, and the right to hold office. And I will continue to oppose any policy that holds that being an American citizen entitles you to free food, free healthcare, free rent, or free anything else.
. . . not even if the policy in question is meant to discourage immigration.
You want to cut welfare programs. I’m way ahead of you in that line.
“In the meantime, there are excellent reasons to get rid of welfare that are unrelated to
welfare[immigration] –and we can make that “welfare” word as big as you want it.”Fixed!!!
I agree with her point. It’s the two wrongs don’t make a right. However, from a practical standpoint, the only way, IMO, that open borders/absolute free movement works is if the welfare state is dismantled. Otherwise it creates perverse incentives for people to relocate and only drives government welfare programs into an even faster death spiral.
I don’t see immigration and the welfare state as being mutually exclusive.
It’s possible that the benefits of cheap labor could outweigh the costs in terms of welfare.
It’s possible to cut welfare independent of immigration and vice versa.
As I’ve argued before, I find the connection of welfare to immigration rather off-putting from a libertarian perspective. There’s a system of government where people are entitled to welfare simply because of their citizenship–it’s called socialism.
If we’re going to say that people are only entitled to be within our borders, vote, and hold office because of their citizenship, then we probably shouldn’t deny welfare benefits on the basis of citizenship. I’m all for cutting welfare for everybody across the board.
Meanwhile, the New York Times is saying that immigration may be dropping by 60% from a year ago! And that’s without cutting any welfare whatsoever.
“There’s a system of government where people are entitled to welfare simply because of their citizenship-it’s called socialism”
The welfare state is immoral regardless of who’s receiving the largess. Welfare state + open borders just amplifies the moral hazard.
I appreciate the moral hazard aspect.
Do you appreciate the problem with tying welfare benefits to citizenship?
I appreciate that welfare benefits shouldn’t exist at all.
The people on the right and the left, if you want to use those terms, are fundamentally different in the way they think and see the world. You pointed out just how stark that difference is: the things that Trump does that the left wails and screech about the most are the things that are going to get him re-elected.
From the NY Times’ point of view, even *considering* our own country’s interest (especially the interest of low-wage American workers) is selfish and fascist. It’s even selfish and fascist to consider national-security needs and trying to minimize the risk of large numbers of unassimilated people coming and producing a certain proportion of jihadis.
Their own views are so extreme they project extremism on others – Trump must want to set up the kind of exclusionary policy over which FDR presided.
The idea that Trump still wants us to be a nation with generous immigration, while being more cautious about who we let in…and basing these decisions on the good of the country…that sort of nuance escapes the NYT altogether. (The Dems are the party of nuance – is that still a talking point?)
From the NY Times’ point of view, even *considering* our own country’s interest (especially the interest of low-wage American workers) is selfish and fascist. It’s even selfish and fascist to consider national-security needs and trying to minimize the risk of large numbers of unassimilated people coming and producing a certain proportion of jihadis.
It’s selfish and racist and bigoted to consider our own interests above those of other races and religions.
I genuinely believe this was in the background behind Obama’s efforts on refugee policy, the Paris climate accord, the Iran nukes deal, etc.
We kept looking at these things thinking, “How could this be in America’s best interests?”, when that wasn’t his criteria at all.
His refugee policy was about the interests of refugees.
His Paris climate accord was about the interests of people in the developing world.
The Iran nukes deal was about the interests of the people of Iran.
In his mind, that selfishness was about racism among other things.
Anyway, that’s one of the things Trump said during his campaign that had real resonance, when he talked about putting America’s interests first.
He’s wrong about some of the things that are in America’s interests. I think free trade and, yeah, immigration is in America’s interests. But Trump being wrong about what’s in America’s interests is far superior to those who don’t care what’s in America’s best interests.
It’s like the difference between 1) a CEO who’s wrong about what will make the company more profitable and 2) a CEO who doesn’t care whether the company is profitable.
I can argue with a CEO who’s wrong.
I don’t know what to do with a CEO who doesn’t care if he’s hurting the company.
“He’s wrong about some of the things that are in America’s interests. I think free trade and, yeah, immigration is in America’s interests.”
As far as immigration, based on what he’s tried to do so far, it seems Trump believes legal immigration, including restrictions on migration from certain problem countries, is in America’s interest.
Yeah, not all immigration is in out best interests–and if there’s a security threat from certain countries, I think the government has a legitimate libertarian responsibility to protect our rights from those threats.
I don’t think cheap labor coming across our borders is a bad thing by itself. Labor is a resource, and having access to cheap labor is like having access to cheap oil–it’s generally good for the economy. That’s what I was trying to say–I think Trump is wrong about that.
I also think that having open borders (as I mean it) depends on our ability to keep out those we reject for being a threat. In other words, you can’t have open borders (people coming across legally simply by showing an ID) without being able to close the border to those we reject.
To the extent that Trump is shutting down illegal entry to the U.S., he may be doing the proponents of legal immigration and open borders a big favor–albeit unwittingly.
Dalmia has a piece in the current mag bemoaing increased deportations where she doesn’t even bother attempting to formulate an explanation of why this is a bad thing for America or how it won’t get Trump re-elected. It’s just taken for granted that more illegals = good.
Which current mag? Mother Jones?
If there’s any 3D-chess angle to “build the wall”…. its that simply “talking lots of shit about how you hate illegal immigrants” has a repressive effect on the flow of immigrants. regardless of the enforcement reality, potential border hoppers will assume the worst and stay away.
i think there’s also probably just some natural ebb and flow, and the NYT is just trying to amplify this story to make Trump rhetoric responsible for excess human misery.
It’s not just a matter of assuming the worst and staying away.
Even if you’re a destitute peasant worker in Mexico or Honduras, or wherever and you consider migrating to the US illegally, there are financial and other costs. If you can’t be certain that those costs can’t be offset by the move to the US, you’re probably not going to even attempt the move. In some respects, the Mexican government should be grateful to the US because I’m confident that migration into Mexico on their southern border will have fallen too.
Twitter and liberal freakouts via mass media is THE cheapest way to limit immigration. The NYT is serving Trump well.
This Independence Day, I’m calling on my fellow Americans to impeach Donald Trump
For the first time, I can’t bring myself to celebrate the 4th of July this year, because we as a people simply cannot move forward and progress the American story while this caricature demagogue holds office
(“Nash Riggins is a freelance journalist based in Scotland, having moved to the UK from America. He currently writes for The Huffington Post, Ones to Watch and World Finance. Follow his blog…”)
“Two-hundred and forty-one years ago today, America’s founding fathers joined together to declare their independence from despotism….
“Are we going to stand with a leader who stigmatises the disabled and treats women like worthless playthings? Are we going to let him break apart families and judge a man by the colour of his skin, or the god he prays to? Are we going to watch people die because we’ve let the President snatch away their access to basic healthcare?…
“So if you care about your country, put down your phone and do something.”
(autoplay ad)
Party pooper.
It’s low T. Give him a break.
Puts down phone, Calls UK Immigration and Naturalisation Service at Lunar House, Croydon, UK, talks to friend about having Nash Riggins’ work visa rescinded because:
1. He’s an idiot
2. Has a name that sounds like he’s the inspiration for “Guy Noir” in a Garrison Keillor (who?) show
3. He said the Muslim down the street has a poor sense of fashion.
(if you really want to get him arrested/deported)
I know it’s overdone but:
treats women like worthless playthings?
Bill Clinton is president again?
Ha
“treats women like worthless playthings”
But enough about Mr. Clinton…
DAMMIT!
It can’t be said enough.
I bet this shithead didn’t celebrate the 4th before Trump. I bet he is another one of the ‘how to raise your kid not to be a patriot’ crowd.
Moved to Scotland? Good riddance.
No way! This kid has always been woke!
I think that is him. Looks like the pic he has when he was HP’s student blogger
And his engagement picture (which also lines up a lot of other details)
Owen Jones acolyte, Jon Stewart wannabe.
America is better off without him.
When in doubt, throw more money at it
The Affordable Care Act vastly expanded access to addiction treatment by designating those services as “essential benefits.” That means they had to be covered through both an expansion of Medicaid to far more low-income adults and the marketplaces set up under the law for people to buy private plans. Both the House and Senate health bills would effectively end the expansion and cap federal Medicaid spending, resulting in the loss of coverage for millions of people, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
According to the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health, there were roughly 1.35 million low-income Americans in 2015 with an opioid use disorder. Only 25 percent of those people get treated in a year, although the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of health insurance coverage has provided more resources for closing the treatment gap.
We can’t limit the funding for teh OPIOID EPIDEMIC!
Won’t somebody think of the politically connected “clinic” operators and “drug educators” and the selfless bureaucrats needed to administer these programs?
They want us to believe there are at least a billion depraved dope fiends lolling and drooling and puking all over themselves (while simultaneously engaged in the dreaded White Slavery trade) who desperately need our government’s help. People doing stupid things which are bad for them is not a crisis, unless and until their bad habits present a real threat to others.
Cheap, pure, and legal opioids will solve the opioid problem.
Funny how when Laudanum was available off the shelf at drug stores, people weren’t using OD’ed corpses as sandbags against the tidal wave of blood.
Only because the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire burnt them all to death first.
Exactly.
Most of the overdoses are probably due to adulteration with more dangerous substances (like fentanyl) or inconsistent strengths of the base ingredient, which is inevitable in a black market. If drugs were legal, these problems would be much less prevalent. That’s why Jack Daniels is not 80 proof one week and 140 proof the next week (yes, I’m sure there’s a regulation that requires the accurate ABV% to be printed on the bottle, but distilleries would still do this if only for reasons of cost accounting and consistent quality).
Anecdote: When I worked at the women’s prison, a lot of girls would get released and die of an overdose soon after; they would go home, hook up with their old lowlife friends, decide to shoot up some heroin for old time’s sake, and just die. It turns out that a person can’t just shoot up their old dose of H after a few years of more-or-less sobriety.
Pffft. What’s another 16 years in Afghanistan, chopped liver?
I suppose we can hear it twice.
Listen, Shirley- we’ve been over this before. You post inks. I ignore them.
How is this for the Minnesoda trifecta? Yesterday I was out on a small lake on my kayak and I had a loon calling from 20 yards away. At the same time a bald eagle soared overhead. Then I caught a walleye. Uffda!
The only thing that spoiled the story is that it was probably the smallest walleye I have ever caught. It was only about 6 inches long. A complete baby. I still am not sure he hit my bait, or if the leech grabbed him.
Needs moar lutefisk.
What do you think he was using for bait?
Peak lutefisk was reached 5 minutes before lutefisk was invented.
All lutefisk created since that time has been a glut in the lutefisk market.
If people can like beer, than people can like lutefisk.
(And Rule 34 implies that there must be lutefisk porn out there.)
Nice! One of our locals, or are you up nort?
Pike lake (small backwater off Eagle).
We are having a wonderful 4day weekend of doing nothing. No plans, no obligations. I love vacations like this.
Sure, lure me in with a hot Jessica Simpson photo then make me lose my lunch with that Amy Schumer (?) photo.
That’s Jessica Simpson too, just 5 years later.
I know she put on weight but please tell me that’s someone else. There’s a difference between letting yourself go and auditioning for My 600 Pound Life.
From TOS, 2Chili doing what he does best.
Should get your blood going a little.
I never thought Finicum was particularly suucidal. I think he knew that attempting to go for his gun was going to get him killed. I subscribe to the theory that the feds fired first and Lavoy’s actions were in response to being fired upon.
Well from the Phillando Castile debacle, a cop just needs to know you have a weapon to be justified in shooting you.
i don’t think that’s a “theory”. Its what actually happened, and yet they still call it a good-shoot.
the Oregon cops only claim their own shots were ‘justified’. if the FBI started shooting at the guy the second he stepped from the car, it seems hard to claim that his ‘making a move for a gun’ was anything other than self-defense.
I saw the video and was not convinced that Finicum was going for his gun. It looked more to me like he was shot and reaching for the spot where the bullet hit him. His whole body flinched an instant before he reached. That’s my memory anyway.
They murdered the guy straight up was my impression. You dont cross the king’s men.
It’s nice when law enforcement steps on each others dicks. Then they fight amongst themselves.
I’ll be flying my freak flag today.
*salutes*
How is that any different from any other day?
no H.
Ok, but do you have some E? Or at least some Special K?
there was some period where heroin was popular in the hood, but it passed relatively quickly (mid-late 2000s). it got too expensive for ‘artist’ drugs. Molly/Coke was the most popular.
Have i told you the story about the bar “Kokies”? it was at the end of my block. they sold cocaine, and little else (the drinks were shit, which seemed stupid to me because cokeheads will drink like fish until they’re broke). they had a little booth in the corner (one of those ‘take a strip of B+W photos of yourself for $1’ things) where you were supposed to partake. It was only open for like 2 years after i got there (99-2001), and i didn’t figure what was going on until like the third visit. As you might imagine, the clientele were ‘talkative’. It was a strange mix of puerto ricans, punks, and puerto rican punks. they constantly got into arguments about what to play on the jukebox.
The typical hipster tale =
If these new whelps are Generation Z, what the hell are they going to call the next one. Do they start the alphabet over? A1? won’t they have an ego.
We should have stopped collectivizing age cohorts a century ago. The only shared characteristic is the time frame in which they spawned.
I think the correct answer is “they will all be gay“, because alex jones is right
So, Generation F for “Fabulous”. Done!
The Bible recognizes differences between generations
We’ve reached the end…
its all cyborgs from here on out. gay cyborgs.
The Singularity Generation!
After the singularity, they stop calling them generations. They become “iterations” instead.
Iteration 1
Iteration 2
. . .
“Cohort 6, Cohort 6, report to your sleepshop.”
The post-generation generation.
You prolific bastards, I’ve finally caught up! Actually, I got caught up last week, but it took a while to get my VPN set up behind seven proxies.
Long time lurker from ToS, I started reading that back when you were still free to gambol, but didn’t become a daily user until after the Great Enregistrationing. I love this group. I love the wordplay, the spontaneous games (though I still haven’t figured out the rules to the *slap* game yet). But mainly I love the fact that people here are mostly motivated by having fun. For me, the zenith of TSTSNBN came with the Independents threads. Are GMSM and Kibby auctioning off the naming rights to their kid, or are they just naming it Kmele?
Frankly, the only thing wrong with you people is your taste in Scotch. Speyside is an excellent appetizer course, Highland is for people that would rather be drinking whiskey, and if you’re not at least finishing with something from an island, something has gone horribly wrong with your liquor cabinet.
Like many of you, I’m a dual-classed scientist. Currently I’ve got an engineering title, in a field that took me from the human-activity paradise of Austin to the natural beauty of Upstate NY. I was a violist back in the 20th century (the girls were easier than in the sciences), and spent about a year on the renfaire circuit (again with the girls — this time in corsets.)
To earn my keep, here’s a link I’m surprised hasn’t showed up here yet: it’s got guns, guys with beards, and alt-text for crying out loud.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZluTvTCkVA
“the only thing wrong with you people”
Have you met Sugarfree?
Maybe he has, and was all “I love this guy”?
Am I the only one who reads ‘ToS’ as ‘the original series’?
If these new whelps are Generation Z, what the hell are they going to call the next one.
Haven’t you heard? Procreation is at an end. There will be no more generations.
I think its unfair to “Alabama Man” to have such a ridiculous photo on the cover story about him.
it also makes me hungry for crawfish
He’d better keep his head and remember what the Good Book said.
“don’t forget”.
Next you’re going to tell me the song was called *Southern* Man.
Hope Neil Young will remember
Why? Nobody needs him around anyhow.
I assume this has already been posted today but since there is no way to keep up with you post happy nazi cislords, I’ll post anyways. Obligatory.
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/064/268/girl_gun_fuck_yeah1.jpg
She needs to shoulder that thing properly.
And her finger is on the trigger! Who taught her how to hold a shotgun?
Okay, so she’s at a skeet shoot. Either shoulder it or take that finger off the trigger already…
Maybe she just fired it or is in the process?
Logic would dictate that she’s not actually inside the borders of the skeet club, and is being a tad bit irresponsible.
Dat car doe.
I’ll be happy to instruct her on how to handle a gun.
She’s either got a booger hook positioning problem, or she’s about to get some sideboob damage, even if it is a .410
Cue comments about how she’s probably not had experience with “big bore” guns.
It’s a freeze frame of the gun going up you shitheads. I wish I had that framed in my living room.
After seeing this story I wonder what Trump’s honorary tartan will be.
Wait. What? You don’t think they will create a tartan for him like they did for Obama? No way.
p.s. They say it has navy blue in it to represent the flag of Hawaii where he was born, but it sure looks black to me. Just saying.
Do you think Obama will wear that? He will look like he is riding a chicken stuffed in a checkered bag.
Well, since he’s got Scottish blood anyway, it’s likely he’d just adopt the tartans of his mother’s line, the McLeods. If he’s going for flamboyant, he can go for the black and yellow “Loud MacLeod” dress tartan, although strictly speaking, his mother’s family as Islanders wouldn’t have worn it. If he’s going to go traditional*, he ought to be in the hunting MacLeod which is a much more flattering blue-green pattern, which I suspect would be Kmele-worthy. It has a noble military tradition too, which would piss off all the right people.
In fact, after some research, there are plenty of photos of Trump (and Donald Jr.) out there in the “Loud McLeod”.
* Mustn’t be forgotten, but the whole ‘tartan thing’ is largely due to Queen Victoria liking her lovers in easily identifiable colors. In the 18th Century, the reason a clan might have a yellow tartan is that they had a lot of spare onions. If they had access to dulse, they’d be having browns, cup moss – purple, etc.
Well, there’s another money laundering scheme uncovered.
It says the money goes to charity, and IAMAL but it seems like that money could be used to offset taxes, right?
Beuhller?
It’s white and gold.
OK, I’m surprised it doesn’t have an elasticated waist.
And a gold sporran?
OH MY!
I was thinking pink.
With a shoulder strap.
Ah, it wouldn’t be Wimbledon without the top seeds all sailing through after their opponents retire for a quick paycheck.
Happy Independence Day y’all. I’ve just caught up to all of the comments today.
It’s about that time to head to the parental units house for the annual 4th celebration with all of the extended family. I look forward and dread it every year. I love 75% of my mom’s family and can’t stand the other 25%.
Every year i have to walk the line of keeping my mouth shut about anything political,economic, or remotely controversial around uncle J and M and having a good time.
I came very close a few years ago to kicking the shit out 2 of my moms brothers. So I’ll see if loudmouth 1 and 2 can keep their drunk asses in line this year or if “what do you think your better than me !!! ” will be the tune.
Wish me luck. I can’t drink as I have a meeting with Asia tonight and a design review with my customers the rest of the week.
A family affair and you can’t drink?! Oh man, good luck.
No harm with a few brunch beers.
I can’t pull the pin, but maybe I can thread the needle a bit. Mikkeller beer geek brunch it is.
I can’t drink as I have a meeting with Asia tonight
Have more than a few then tell them about how great America is and about independence day and that the Slants won their supreme court case.
I can’t drink as I have a meeting with Asia tonight
Tell them their third album was shite.
I would love to. The silence on the line would be welcome.
I have all of the Axis powers jacking my 4th this week.
My best friend is coming over and requested that I provoke the inferiority complex brothers so he could watch. Any other year I would ablige.
OH, C’mon. Don’t you want to go to those meetings with a good ‘you should see the other guy’ story?
Asia?
Drunk and sullen is my preferred mode for dealing with my in-laws this year. If it’s not the politics from the elders, it’s the virtue signalling and economic numbskullery from the yoofs.
One of the last big family reunions I was talking with a cousin who’s a bit younger than me about retirement planning and getting that going, since he just graduated. Told him, “first thing you do is go to HR and find out how to maximize savings. Find out what their max match is, and do that at a minimum. Do that before you get your first paycheck”. His idiot dad walks over and goes “Fuck that. You just got a great job, live a little. You’re 23, you don’t have to worry about retirement yet.” We both just kind of looked at him. This dude is 59, and his retirement plan is his Social Security check. He hasn’t paid off the mortgage on the giant ass house he owns, but he seems to think in 6 years he’s gonna be able to flip his boss off and enjoy a life of leisure on his Social Security.
Happy Fourth, fellow Glibs! Here’s a little TOP MEN action to get your afternoon going:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-fbi-agent-s-car-weapons-and-gear-stolen-in-chicago-s-west-loop-20170703-story.html
Preparing to be cast out of the fold here.
Given that FBI guys have to travel around in cars, and FBI guys sometimes have a legitimate need for tactical gear, and that if you drive a car in CHI, there’s a non-zero probability that it may be stolen, I’d be surprised to hear that there weren’t firearms in the vehicle.
What I’d like to think is that they were in a lockbox at least as secure as the lockbox the FBI would expect me to be transporting those firearms in.
I blame RTC laws!
/prog researcher
Ya think?
Anthropology majors, one suspects
In truth, this expedition wasn’t a joke, but more of a fascinating ethnographic adventure. My friends and I didn’t plan on eating at Hooters initially. We go to Princeton, where two of us are international students, and that Saturday, we craved the spicy curries and fluffy flatbreads of our pre-college lives. A new biryani joint had opened up at a strip mall not far from campus, so we took an Uber over to check it out.
Across the parking lot, we spotted a branch of the famous restaurant chain, complete with a Hooters owl and a sign in the window that read: “Delightfully tacky, yet unrefined.”
“Let’s just go in for appetizers,” one friend suggested, lingering by the entrance as she looked longingly at a hamburger through the glass. “We have to eat here at least once before we graduate. It’s so American.”
“Look at the monkeys. See how cute they are!”
Hooters food is pretty blah, save for the fried pickles.
For Jesse..
Similar
I’m going to cut him some slack. I think he was trying to say something nice about America.
I also think that exporting Hooters and Girls Gone Wild would do more to get young muslims on our side than anything else. Fire up Voice of America again (maybe call it Pr0n of America) and start broadcasting it into any ME country we can.
But did they learn how to talk to flyover people?
Looks like the two most progressive places on the left coast don’t like each other.
And linked in the comments yesterday.
NeverTrumper says, “Muh butt huts!”
A spirit of instability in government will cause Americans to lose confidence in our public institutions. When citizens lose that basic faith in their government, it leads to corrosive cynicism and the acceptance of conspiracy theories.
—————-
We have as president the closest thing to a nihilist in our history — a man who believes in little or nothing, who has the impulse to burn down rather than to build up. When the president eventually faces a genuine crisis, his ignorance and inflammatory instincts will make everything worse.
Republican voters and politicians rallied around Mr. Trump in 2016, believing he was anti-establishment when in fact he was anti-order. He turns out to be an institutional arsonist. It is an irony of American history that the Republican Party, which has historically valued order and institutions, has become the conduit of chaos.
I don’t know where this idiot Wehner has been for the past twenty-odd years (other than up his own ass), but I’m pretty sure “corrosive cynicism” regarding the government has been widespread for quite some time. It’s rather interesting that our friends at the NYT would choose to print this flagrant appeal to OBEY on the 4th of July. Let’s celebrate the Declaration of Independence, an explicitly seditious document, by publishing an appeal to steadfast loyalty and obeisance to the government.
And yet they never, ever stop to think that that it’s a two-way street – in order for citizens to have faith in their government, the government must keep faith with its citizens. Which it has failed to do for a long goddamn time, all while being cheered on by weasels like this guy. Reap, sow, etc.
… sounds positively feudal …
In “a penny for your thoughts” news:
Study finds hackers could use brainwaves to steal passwords
Ummlet me have one of those porno magazines, a large box of condoms, a bottle of Old Harper, a couple of panty shields, some illegal fireworks, and a disposable enema. Ehh, make it two.
+1 graffiti and Shirley in a car accident
Whatever you’re planning, count me out.
Fascinating rhetorical gambit on the part of NYT:
The administration had suffered several reversals in federal court to its plans to limit immigration from a group of majority-Muslim nations until the Supreme Court allowed part of the policy to proceed late last month. A federal judge in California also blocked the administration’s threat to penalize cities that provide legal sanctuary for undocumented immigrants.
A number of other Trump administration actions to undo regulations it inherited, including a rule on grizzly bear protection and another on chemical spills, are likely to receive close scrutiny from the courts.
Mr. Pruitt had imposed a 90-day moratorium, which he later extended to two years, on enforcement of parts of the E.P.A. methane regulation. He had also argued that his action was not subject to court review. But the appeals court ruled that the agency’s decision was “unreasonable,” “arbitrary” and “capricious.” The agency, it said, did not have authority under the Clean Air Act to block the rule.
I like the way they make it seem as if “The Courts” act independently to review Public Enemy Number One’s foul misdeeds, absent the usual cast of politically motivated litigants, provided with support by the agencies themselves.