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347 comments
1
Patricia Kayden  May 11, 2019 • 9:18:44pm

Plus Russia supports Assad.

2
Eclectic Cyborg  May 11, 2019 • 9:19:04pm

For whatever reason this song is hitting me tonight:

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Swingin

3
Belafon  May 11, 2019 • 9:19:46pm

Things like this can get me discouraged when I’m struggling to learn my bass. Take a look at this guys reach at the 3:46 mark:

Long fingers

It’s a three fret reach for him. I can barely manage two up there.

4
Belafon  May 11, 2019 • 9:46:57pm

It translates roughly to “These people are totally filthy” in Urdu.

5
Belafon  May 11, 2019 • 9:47:04pm
6
Belafon  May 11, 2019 • 9:51:47pm

Pokemon Detective Pikachu was a pretty good movie, and I’m really thinking that Paramount may want to consider pulling Sonic the Hedgehog.

7
Hecuba's daughter  May 11, 2019 • 10:06:37pm

re: #5 Belafon

hakeem jeffries’ husband
@notcapnamerica
Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren have moved ahead of Bernie Sanders among candidates that voters are considering for the Democratic primary.

My 32 year old nephew and I were discussing candidates today. He was not fond of Biden at all; his favorite by far is Warren. He really likes her policies and style.

8
Dread Pirate Union Local 13  May 11, 2019 • 10:06:54pm
9
Teukka  May 11, 2019 • 10:07:42pm

re: #8 Dread Pirate Union Local 13

The grasses are already brown

There have been numerous grass fires here in Sweden already. I really worry about summer.

10
Anymouse 🌹  May 11, 2019 • 10:08:06pm

Wonkette explaining what wingnuts are doing to Democratic bills in the House.

Equality Act Hit By Avalanche Of Brutally Stupid GOP Amendment Proposals

It’s projection always. All the amendments are virtue signaling to their voters. None of the amendments will get past committees intact, and even if one did, the amendment could be used against them (similar to the school voucher bill which passed in Louisiana to continue funding segregation academies, and immediately repealed when a mosque applied for the program).

11
Belafon  May 11, 2019 • 10:09:41pm

re: #7 Hecuba’s daughter

My 32 year old nephew and I were discussing candidates today. He was not fond of Biden at all; his favorite by far is Warren. He really likes her policies and style.

It’s still a who’s in the news at this moment situation, which is why Booker and O’Rourke have fallen. It’s also why so many of the candidates will be gone before debates start. Their support is minimal and most of them aren’t proposing things that get them in the news.

12
Joe Bacon 🌹  May 11, 2019 • 10:09:47pm

re: #5 Belafon

[Embedded content]

I hope Bernie fails to make the 15% threshold in Iowa and then Warren delivers the knockout blow in New Hampshire.

13
Anymouse 🌹  May 11, 2019 • 10:11:04pm

re: #12 Joe Bacon 🌹

I hope Bernie fails to make the 15% threshold in Iowa and then Warren delivers the knockout blow in New Hampshire.

Why not sooner?

14
Joe Bacon 🌹  May 11, 2019 • 10:11:19pm

re: #8 Dread Pirate Union Local 13

The grasses are already brown

I noticed that last week when we were driving from San Jose to Salinas and back. Hills are very brown.

15
teleskiguy  May 11, 2019 • 10:13:26pm

re: #9 Teukka

There have been numerous grass fires here in Sweden already. I really worry about summer.

There’s been grass fires in the southwest corner of Colorado already. It’s been wet the last week or so, and they’re dealing with mud flows and slides from last summer’s enormous fires.

16
Anymouse 🌹  May 11, 2019 • 10:17:42pm

re: #8 Dread Pirate Union Local 13

The grasses are already brown

Usually the grasses here would be turning brown, but the rainy season is still going. It’s still quite green around here. So far there haven’t been any significant grass fires, and no prairie fires.

17
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 11, 2019 • 10:19:33pm

re: #14 Joe Bacon 🌹

I noticed that last week when we were driving from San Jose to Salinas and back. Hills are very brown.

All the [hills] are brown,
And the sky is gray.
I’ve been for a [drive]
On a summer’s day.

Video not the one you probably expect:

Sia - California Dreamin’ (Music Video from San Andreas OST)

18
Anymouse 🌹  May 11, 2019 • 10:21:51pm

I got a letter from the VA hospital in Cheyenne today. (Giant rubber stamp on it “Women’s Clinic” - thanks folks.)

The clinic says they have now reviewed all the information from the hospital in Scottsbluff and they have entirely ruled out breast cancer. They are referring my case back to Primary Care for further evaluation.

19
Anymouse 🌹  May 11, 2019 • 10:26:45pm

re: #17 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

I like Sia’s cover of the song. Putting those movie clips with it makes it look like a wingnut fantasy.

20
Anymouse 🌹  May 11, 2019 • 10:43:24pm

Author Natasha Tynes goes BBQ Becky on a train because an employee was eating. Her book publisher has cancelled her upcoming book, and Ms. Tynes set her Twitter feed to private.

blavity.com

21
Joe Bacon 🌹  May 11, 2019 • 10:45:49pm

Meanwhile Britain continues to shoot itself in both feet.

Latest poll shows the new Brexit Party in the lead for Europarliament elections.

The Brexit party also continues to gain a lot of traction in the lead-up to the European elections
European election voting intention, change since 23 April

The Brexit party 34 (+6)
Labour 21 (-7)
Liberal Democrat 12 (+5)
Conservative 11 (-3)
Green 8 (+2)
Ukip 4 (+1)
SNP 4 (-1)
Change UK - The Independent Group 3 (-4)

From Bad to Worse if a snap General Election is called:

The Opinium poll also makes grim reading for the Tories and Labour when voters were asked how they would vote at a general election. Labour is on 28%, while the Tories are on 22%, just one point ahead of the Brexit party on 21%.

Meanwhile Vlad and his pals just cracked another case of champagne open as they’re toasting the fall of the US and UK.

theguardian.com

22
Anymouse 🌹  May 11, 2019 • 10:46:45pm
23
Dread Pirate Union Local 13  May 11, 2019 • 11:05:55pm
24
teleskiguy  May 11, 2019 • 11:07:28pm

Local conservationist Usha Lachungpa said road building in the area could have led to snow sliding down the mountain and blocking roads.

Humans. A virus with shoes.

25
Hecuba's daughter  May 11, 2019 • 11:13:23pm

re: #18 Anymouse 🌹

Good luck! Hopefully your doctor will be able to find a specialist who is qualified to determine the cause of your condition and develop the appropriate treatment.

26
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 11, 2019 • 11:18:16pm

re: #24 teleskiguy

The Matrix - virus scene

27
teleskiguy  May 11, 2019 • 11:29:11pm

re: #26 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

People Suck

28
De Kolta Chair  May 11, 2019 • 11:32:10pm
29
mmmirele  May 11, 2019 • 11:36:32pm

I made it to Osaka, Japan, got through immigration with no hassle, checked into the hotel and I’m now watching sumo on NHK. The only words I understand are the names of the rikishi (wrestlers) and the moves they execute to win. Looks better on TV than on YouTube.

30
goddamnedfrank  May 11, 2019 • 11:38:02pm
31
Hecuba's daughter  May 11, 2019 • 11:47:13pm

re: #30 goddamnedfrank

[Embedded content]

From snopes, this was actually a label from 2004 disparaging Bush, not Trump.

32
A hollow voice says, Inpeach...  May 11, 2019 • 11:50:51pm

re: #30 goddamnedfrank

Giving new meaning to the expression, “all thumbs.” (Read the whole thing, moron!)

33
teleskiguy  May 11, 2019 • 11:54:17pm
34
ckkatz  May 11, 2019 • 11:54:23pm

Like RightWingConspirator, when I carried, I did not chamber a round. I figured that the second or so I saved chambering a round was not worth the risk of a negligent discharge.

I generally no longer carry for two reasons.

First, if I feel that I need a gun to go someplace, perhaps going there is not a good idea.

Second, I don’t have much interest in shooting anyone, nor in getting into a gun battle.

As always ymmv.

35
teleskiguy  May 11, 2019 • 11:57:03pm

re: #34 ckkatz

Like RightWingConspirator, when I carried, I did not chamber a round. I figured that the second or so I saved chambering a round was not worth the risk of a negligent discharge.

I generally no longer carry for two reasons.

First, if I feel that I need a gun to go someplace, perhaps going there is not a good idea.

Second, I don’t have much interest in shooting anyone, nor in getting into a gun battle.

As always ymmv.

Giphy

36
ckkatz  May 12, 2019 • 12:12:17am

re: #22 Anymouse 🌹

Interesting.

Yes, it is illegal to eat or drink on the metro. Yes, the metro cops on occasion have busted folks for it. Often, I suspect, to sanction other, non-criminal behavior.

Certainly, I find Ms Tynes’ harrassing and doxxing of people who are essentially minding their own business is far more obnoxious.

37
goddamnedfrank  May 12, 2019 • 1:05:12am

re: #34 ckkatz

Like RightWingConspirator, when I carried, I did not chamber a round. I figured that the second or so I saved chambering a round was not worth the risk of a negligent discharge.

I generally no longer carry for two reasons.

First, if I feel that I need a gun to go someplace, perhaps going there is not a good idea.

Second, I don’t have much interest in shooting anyone, nor in getting into a gun battle.

As always ymmv.

The only time I ever actually contemplated shooting someone was over 20 years ago, in the Cascade district of Seattle. Some asshole was beating the absolute goddamned shit out of a woman in the parking lot four stories below my apartment. The building was shaped like an H, he had her cornered in the narrow planting area, just wailing on her. When I look down from four stores above I could see that she had blood running all the way down the front of her shirt. After I called 911 and while waiting for the cops I thought I should do something more, so I took my Marlin, leaned out the window and just started yelling incoherently, shaking the rifle like that insane Tusken Raider from Star Wars. The cops drove into the alley really quickly, like half a minute to a minute later, and arrested the fucker. I ducked back inside and didn’t go down to talk to the officers because I knew that yelling like a madman while menacing someone with a rifle was not a good look. Some months later I got a call from the prosecutor on the case, there’d been some kind of bureaucratic fuck up and they’d temporarily lost my info, he wanted to know if I would agree to testify at trial. I agreed, but on morning of the trial the prosecutor called me up again early and said the dude had accepted a plea bargain.

Anyway that’s my random gun story. The one thing that suck with me for a long time is that because of the shape of the building I could see that some of my neighbors were witnessing the same incident, yet when I talked with the prosecutor he told me that I was the only one that called 911 that night. That shit bugged me for a long time afterwards, and has really colored the way I view the average person’s capacity for basic decency.

38
ckkatz  May 12, 2019 • 1:23:23am

Fascinating story, thanks for sharing it! And good for you for intervening and quite possibly saving the lady’s life.

I am sorry to hear about your neighbors’ uninvolved behavior.

Reminds me of the Kitty Genovese story. Although I understand that there are now arguments that reports about the neighbors were badly mis-stated.

I have been fortunate to not have had to shoot anyone. Or even had to seriously consider it. I have been in fist fights. But mostly in Pittsburgh back in the days when there were generally understood rules about the limits.

Edit - Cut and paste missed the first line, had to add it.

39
teleskiguy  May 12, 2019 • 1:37:42am

re: #37 goddamnedfrank

You know what clouded my perception of human decency? Wealth. Huge properties right next to the ski area! Some were cool. A few of them were complete scum bags,

I learned quite a bit working in the service industry in my teens at a world class ski resort.

40
Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus  May 12, 2019 • 1:51:19am
41
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 2:24:44am

re: #38 ckkatz

Fascinating story, thanks for sharing it! And good for you for intervening and quite possibly saving the lady’s life.

I am sorry to hear about your neighbors’ uninvolved behavior.

Reminds me of the Kitty Genovese story. Although I understand that there are now arguments that reports about the neighbors were badly mis-stated.

I have been fortunate to not have had to shoot anyone. Or even had to seriously consider it. I have been in fist fights. But mostly in Pittsburgh back in the days when there were generally understood rules about the limits.

Edit - Cut and paste missed the first line, had to add it.

I was 8 when the story about Kitty Genovese hit the news in NYC. It made a big impression on me, how an entire neighborhood could ignore that kind of thing. Just now, I wondered if 9-1-1 was in service at the time. I guessed it was not, and I was correct. Kitty was killed in ‘64. 9-1-1 wasn’t rolled out until four years later, in Indiana. Would it have made a difference if 9-1-1 was available in Queens at the time?

42
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 2:26:09am

re: #39 teleskiguy

You know what clouded my perception of human decency? Wealth. Huge properties right next to the ski area! Some were cool. A few of them were complete scum bags,

I learned quite a bit working in the service industry in my teens at a world class ski resort.

Rich people tend to be the worst tippers, too, and the worst guests in hotels.

43
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 2:50:46am

Here’s some trivia for you Angelenos. Why is the LA reservoir filled with 96 million black balls?

Why Are 96,000,000 Black Balls on This Reservoir?

44
Dr Lizardo  May 12, 2019 • 3:06:09am

Looks like the NRA is pretty much hemorrhaging money. And it seems Wayne LaPierre has some pretty expensive tastes, too.

Separately on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported on leaked documents—also from letters North sent to the organization’s board last month—that appeared to show that the advertising firm Ackerman McQueen helped pay for luxurious clothing and travel for LaPierre. According to the anonymously posted documents, LaPierre billed $39,000 for just one day of shopping at a clothing boutique at Beverly Hills. On another line, he charged $18,300 for a car and driver in Europe, and in another, $13,800 for a summer intern’s rent. The firm tallied up more than $542,000 in clothes, travel, and other expenses, much of which went into flights. North suggested the costs meant “financial impropriety” by LaPierre. The NRA has said the expenditures were justifiable for LaPierre’s work and public appearances.

slate.com

45
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 3:24:32am

re: #41 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

I was 8 when the story about Kitty Genovese hit the news in NYC. It made a big impression on me, how an entire neighborhood could ignore that kind of thing. Just now, I wondered if 9-1-1 was in service at the time. I guessed it was not, and I was correct. Kitty was killed in ‘64. 9-1-1 wasn’t rolled out until four years later, in Indiana. Would it have made a difference if 9-1-1 was available in Queens at the time?

No it wouldn’t have made a difference. The previous method before 9-1-1 was dial 0. The operator would connect you.

I still have the card next to my telephone from when they rolled out 9-1-1 just a couple years ago which says “9-1-1 Help is on the line, call 911 now for emergencies: fire, police, medical. Applies to Bayard 308-586 and Broadwater 308-489.”

I have a card with the sheriff, fire brigade, and EMS telephone numbers next to my telephone. If I didn’t have that, and before 9-1-1 was available here, instead of fumbling around in the telephone book looking for them, dial 0.

46
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 3:30:41am

re: #45 Anymouse 🌹

An interesting coda to the New York Times reporting on the Genovese murder and the presence of thirty-eight witnesses is the NYT has retracted that statement (in 2016). Via Wikipedia, that font of all human ken [citation needed]:

Reporters at a competing news organization discovered in 1964 that the article was inconsistent with the facts, but they were unwilling at the time to challenge New York Times editor Abe Rosenthal. In 2007, an article in the American Psychologist found “no evidence for the presence of 38 witnesses, or that witnesses observed the murder, or that witnesses remained inactive”. In 2016, The New York Times called its own reporting “flawed”, stating that the original story “grossly exaggerated the number of witnesses and what they had perceived”.

en.wikipedia.org

47
Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus  May 12, 2019 • 3:31:48am

Here let me rant again at how horrible the pay-offs are in the state run lotteries.

The supposed probability of getting three white balls correct is about one in 580. And what does the lottery pay for doing this, on a $2 ticket?

$6.

If any casino paid out that poorly they would be out of business quickly because customers would not return.

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

But that is even more absurd - 4 whiteballs correct is a long shot at only one in 36,525 and yet the payout is only $359 on a $2 play.

The only payouts which are anywhere near reasonable are the 5-whiteball and the jackpot. Those are of course designed to be very difficult to get, as witnessed by yet another draw without a jackpot winner (and no 5-ball winner here in California, which outside of the jackpot pays out differently than the other 43 jurisdictions.)

The draw-games are becoming ever less popular over time, while the scratcher games dominate sales.

It is clear to me that the gamble by the Multistate Lottery group to allow the draw games to make the jackpot odds longer - thus have few winners and thus have gigantic jackpots - was only a short-term gain in sales. The poor payouts and the difficulty of getting even 5 whiteballs has made the the whole thing seem less attractive.

On HGTV’s My Lottery Dream Home, it seems a great number of winners are scratchers (and this season also professional poker players.) Looking at the Cal Lottery webpage, and the news/winners section, there are a large number of scratchers winners.

For example, according to Calottery: calottery.com there are still 50 available winning scratcher tickets offering million dollar plus payouts, sitting in the vending machines/vendor displays. There will be no-where near that many million-dollar plus winning tickets in the draw games over the next year or two, here in California.

Anyway, gambling is by its definition not a sure thing.

Yet certainly, for a long-running enterprise, it seems to me that the state lotteries’ draw games need to rethink what they are doing if they are going to stem the decline in interest.

48
Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus  May 12, 2019 • 3:36:28am

re: #47 freetoken

I am the love-child of Sisyphus and Cassandra.

49
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 3:39:12am

re: #44 Dr Lizardo

Looks like the NRA is pretty much hemorrhaging money. And it seems Wayne LaPierre has some pretty expensive tastes, too.

slate.com

Wonder if the Russians are behind those leaks…or Assange…

50
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 3:41:29am

re: #5 Belafon

[Embedded content]

Thing to take into consideration: We haven’t even really reached the first debate. We’ve had small public town halls or campaign events, but we haven’t seen all these folks up on the same stage to take turns trying to address each other directly. Figure we’ll really begin to see major shifts in the polls the moment first blood is drawn on a live stage.

51
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 3:45:56am

re: #47 freetoken

I don’t know about the decline in interest in the multi-state consortium lottos (Mega Millions and Powerball). I know in Nebraska the state Pick 5 is more popular than either (unless those games get to insane levels of payouts for the jackpots).

Nebraska’s pitch for the Pick 5 is that the profits (minus administration and such) goes to state conservation programmes. That is a pretty popular pitch in the state.

Odds are pretty sucky on the Pick 5 as well (2 of five numbers, 1 in nine odds=a free play, 3 of five, 1 in ninety-five odds=$9, &c).

All lottos really are, are legal numbers rackets. When the mob ran numbers rackets the odds weren’t any better either, though with the state running the numbers racket there is alleged benefit to the state (if the state doesn’t cut the budget of programmes the lotto ostensibly helps, such as states where it is put to education).

52
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 3:58:52am

re: #48 Cassandra’s and Sisyphus’ Love-Child

I am the love-child of Sisyphus and Cassandra.

Well, that was quite the change from the previous comment. /s

For some reason for me, hovering over a person’s avatar is no longer giving the data LGF usually gives (karma, comments, &c). Is that just my computer (I re-loaded my browser) or is that others too?

53
Patricia Kayden  May 12, 2019 • 4:21:28am
54
Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus  May 12, 2019 • 4:23:13am

re: #52 Anymouse 🌹

I always had to click on, not hover over, the avatar.

And that still works for me.

55
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 4:31:42am

re: #54 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus

I always had to click on, not hover over, the avatar.

And that still works for me.

Congratulations on reaching 138,776 karma points. Duh, I don’t know why I forgot the “click” part. Brain in neutral or something.

On the issue of 9-1-1, Indiana wasn’t actually first, Alabama was. The FCC negotiated with the Bell System to implement a nationwide calling system (which still hasn’t been implemented nationwide yet).

Alabama thought that was a good idea, so they beat out Ma Bell and implemented it before they did.

en.wikipedia.org (9-1-1)

Much of the world uses 1-1-2. In the United States, if you dial 1-1-2 it maps to 9-1-1 on AT&T systems. (In Canada and a few other countries, all phone systems map 1-1-2 to 9-1-1.)

56
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 4:39:06am

re: #28 De Kolta Chair

[Embedded content]

Such an easy way to avoid Tariffs? Make or produce your goods and products in the good old USA. It’s very simple

Raw materials ya knobhead

57
Dr Lizardo  May 12, 2019 • 4:48:46am

re: #56 DangerMan

Raw materials ya knobhead

Trump - and I’d venture a good many of his supporters - simply do not understand the complexities of the modern world.

And when they contemplate it, it terrifies them.

58
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 4:50:49am

re: #56 DangerMan

Raw materials ya knobhead

You’re thinking too logically, you gotta employ wingnut logic, which says that if US companies just made things in the US, then the companies to produce the raw materials would just spring up overnight to meet the need. In this fantasy land, there’s a wealth of unused production capacity that could just be turned on with the flip of a switch, the workers who were fired coming back in to put the mills and foundries back at full capacity in a matter of days or weeks. That old factories will be brought back online and start churning out “Made in the USA!” products overnight because it’ll be “cheaper” than the cost of importing products produced overseas.

Of course, in this magical land, there’s legions of unemployed workers with the skills and knowledge to do all this, which is totally contrary to the “BEST ECONOMY EVAH!!!!” fantasy they want to believe at the same time.

59
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 5:00:16am

re: #58 Targetpractice

You’re thinking too logically, you gotta employ wingnut logic, which says that if US companies just made things in the US, then the companies to produce the raw materials would just spring up overnight to meet the need. In this fantasy land, there’s a wealth of unused production capacity that could just be turned on with the flip of a switch, the workers who were fired coming back in to put the mills and foundries back at full capacity in a matter of days or weeks. That old factories will be brought back online and start churning out “Made in the USA!” products overnight because it’ll be “cheaper” than the cost of importing products produced overseas.

Of course, in this magical land, there’s legions of unemployed workers with the skills and knowledge to do all this, which is totally contrary to the “BEST ECONOMY EVAH!!!!” fantasy they want to believe at the same time.

Cause we have absolutely every raw-raw material and can just dig up out of the ground right? //

60
steve_davis  May 12, 2019 • 5:03:06am

re: #22 Anymouse 🌹

[Embedded content]

almost everyone can feel a visceral dislike for folks like this. we’ve all done service industry jobs at some point where some anonymous asshole has decided they needed to speak with management/department heads about whatever miscellaneous sins of omission, commission they feel we’ve committed.

61
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 5:05:36am

re: #28 De Kolta Chair

[Embedded content]

This is so economically illiterate.

62
steve_davis  May 12, 2019 • 5:08:43am

re: #30 goddamnedfrank

[Embedded content]

ah! had to go to the thread to understand what I was supposed to be looking at!

63
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 5:10:03am
64
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 5:13:00am

re: #61 HappyWarrior

This is so economically illiterate.

That’s why we need to elect a businessman to be president!

65
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 5:13:51am

re: #63 Anymouse 🌹

WTF is wrong with Covington?

66
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 5:14:00am

from downstairs

teleskiguy

You know what’s kind of fucked up about this story? No weapons of any kind allowed in Red Rocks Amphitheater, and yet my close friend was able to smuggle a knife into the venue. I yelled at him about that, too.

This was about a month before I lost it and became suicidal, and then days later a dude in this same circle of friends shot himself in a skate park near Parachute, CO.

Dude, you just got the computer toy of a lifetime!
It’s always worth sticking around for the next act
It’s your script. Rewrite on the fly if you have to

67
jeffreyw  May 12, 2019 • 5:14:25am

Good morning!

68
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 5:15:02am

re: #59 DangerMan

Cause we have absolutely every raw-raw material and can just dig up out of the ground right? //

Of course.

No oil? We’ll just build coal power plants, that’ll get Appalachia back to full employment!

No rare earth metals for electronics? We can get by without them, American innovation will come up with something that’s just as good with what we got!

Not enough food products to feed every American? Farmers will be so thrilled they can get away from crap like soybeans and start planting things we need! And farmers will be thrilled to sell their products to American consumers, rather than sending it off to those damned foreigners for high prices. If they don’t think so, we can just fix that by banning food exports!

And so and so forth. Just believe in the awesome power that is “‘Murika” and you can fix any problem.

/////////

69
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 5:15:13am

re: #59 DangerMan

Cause we have absolutely every raw-raw material and can just dig up out of the ground right? //

And all those mothballed factories with weeds growing up in the cracks in the shop floor can be put back in service with a flick of a switch.

70
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 5:15:14am

re: #59 DangerMan

Cause we have absolutely every raw-raw material and can just dig up out of the ground right? //

Yup. Steel, brass, plastic, fiberglass, all that stuff comes from mines or wells. /s

71
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 5:16:24am

re: #69 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

And all those mothballed factories with weeds growing up in the cracks in the shop floor can be put back in service with a flick of a switch.

Make Packard Great Again. /s
en.wikipedia.org

72
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 5:16:37am

also downstairs

rightwingconspirator

One can debate the efficacy of each kind of safety. Thumb safety, vs trigger safety and “safe action” that kinda blends single and double action triggers. Bottom line is train on what you use enough to work the gear safely. Daily carry? Go with an empty chamber and train to load and draw. One smooth motion.

I don’t care what anyone owns, how many, or why

Control your weapons at all times. <<<<<<———-That there is a full stop
Accept total responsibility

73
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 5:20:03am

re: #64 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

That’s why we need to elect a businessman to be president!

next time we do will be the first time

74
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 5:22:06am

re: #68 Targetpractice

Of course.

No oil? We’ll just build coal power plants, that’ll get Appalachia back to full employment!

No rare earth metals for electronics? We can get by without them, American innovation will come up with something that’s just as good with what we got!

Not enough food products to feed every American? Farmers will be so thrilled they can get away from crap like soybeans and start planting things we need! And farmers will be thrilled to sell their products to American consumers, rather than sending it off to those damned foreigners for high prices. If they don’t think so, we can just fix that by banning food exports!

And so and so forth. Just believe in the awesome power that is “‘Murika” and you can fix any problem.

/////////

when all you have is a flawed understanding of 19th century economics, every problem looks like a nail

75
BogeyMon  May 12, 2019 • 5:23:50am

Happy - left a comment for you on the previous thread about your upcoming trip to N.O.
I mis-spoke (mis-typed?) about the live music, it is Frenchman St, not Magazine St (was thinking about the WW2 museum), just walk up the street, listening to the bands through the windows and pick the bar you like, it is a short cab ride from the quarter.

best muffaletta is at the Napoleon House, cool old building, built for Napoleon to live in after is escape from the 2nd exile - didn’t happen

you will need to plan a full day for the WW2 museum, lot’s to see

Hit Mother’s on Poydras for a debris po’boy, you won’t regret it

The streetcar on St. Charles is a great way to get to Audubon Park and Zoo, only a buck and you get to see the mansions along St. Charles.

Hope you have a blast!

76
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 5:26:05am

re: #73 DangerMan

next time we do will be the first time

Trump is the diametric opposite of all he was advertised to be.

- Suck at deals
- Doesn’t understand basic business principles
- Not a billionaire by any stretch of the definition
- Made the swamp deeper and stinkier
- Traitorous (anti-MAGA)
- Not smart neither
- Lies more in one minute than any normal politician can in one day

77
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 5:41:11am

Trump’s problems (among others) are that he is impulsive and immune to listening to good advice. He times markets all wrong, buys properties at elevated prices because “he always wanted them,” changes his direction on a whim. Losing billions in real estate development takes some real (non)talent. Losing money running casinos, too. I am sure there were very smart people who told him, “Don’t buy the Plaza. It’s a money pit.” “Atlantic City has too many casinos now. It doesn’t need two more.” “There’s not enough passengers for a shuttle between Manhattan and AC.” “Omaha Steaks already sells damned fine meat.” “No one is going to buy Trump-labeled water.” “The Russians will expect repayment — or else.”

And so on.

78
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 5:45:49am

re: #69 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

And all those mothballed factories with weeds growing up in the cracks in the shop floor can be put back in service with a flick of a switch.

That’s assuming the factories are either still standing or haven’t been repurposed. And assumes the machinery is still there and in good repair, rather than sold off ages to ago to square away company debt, moved to another factory, or left to slowly convert into a pile of iron oxide.

The fantasy world of Wingnuttia is one that just sits in stasis, the workers just waiting for the call to come back to the factory, turn on the machines, and go back to churning out products at the same pace as “The Good Ol’ Days.” In the real world, most of those workers have are either permanently retired, rendered unfit for labor, or have trained for other work. Skills that go unused don’t just remain as sharp as the last day you used them, they need to be maintained the same as the machines that they applied to.

So even if all those factories were maintained at hot-standby, ready for somebody to come in and turn on the lights, it would still take months or years to train enough workers to reach minimum capacity. And that’s assuming you could find enough willing to do the work, since no company even serious about such an endeavor is likely to pay the sort of wages it would take to draw people away from industries that pay the same or more for less physical work.

79
Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel  May 12, 2019 • 5:47:59am

Being a science fiction type, I am long familiar with the idea of humanoid robots intruding into our daily lives. It’s something else though to see it finally happening in my own, actual, old Texas guy life. This morning I picked up my smart phone and apparently breathed on it wrong because the Google Assistant popped up unbidden. I was piqued since I wanted to make a call and was perfectly capable of doing so without automated assistance.
I said, “Fuck off!” The soothing female voice immediately responded, “Have I upset you somehow?”
I found it disturbing, something of an audio version of the uncanny valley.

80
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 5:50:18am

re: #77 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

Trump’s problems (among others) are that he is impulsive and immune to listening to good advice. He times markets all wrong, buys properties at elevated prices because “he always wanted them,” changes his direction on a whim. Losing billions in real estate development takes some real (non)talent. Losing money running casinos, too. I am sure there were very smart people who told him, “Don’t buy the Plaza. It’s a money pit.” “Atlantic City has too many casinos now. It doesn’t need two more.” “There’s not enough passengers for a shuttle between Manhattan and AC.” “Omaha Steaks already sells damned fine meat.” “No one is going to buy Trump-labeled water.” “The Russians will expect repayment — or else.”

And so on.

When you assume the mindset of a narcissist, most of it makes sense. He’s not a man who makes business decisions that benefit him, he makes business decisions that stroke his ego. Build a huge tower that will never have enough businesses paying rent to break even? Don’t care, it’s got my name on it in big golden letters, that’s a sign of success.

Too many casinos in Atlantic City? None of them say “Trump,” so that’s gotta be rectified.

If I slap “Trump” on my planes and offer luxury services, I’ll draw the sort of people who will fly on those jets just to say “I flew on a Trump airliner!”

Trump steaks, Trump vodka, Trump water? It’s got my name on it, it’ll practically sell itself!

The Russians expect repayment? Tell them I won’t pay, we’ll see how serious they are about calling in the debt when they’ve got so much with my name on it that they’ll go bankrupt!

81
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 5:52:30am

re: #79 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel

Being a science fiction type, I am long familiar with the idea of humanoid robots intruding into our daily lives. It’s something else though to see it finally happening in my own, actual, old Texas guy life. This morning I picked up my smart phone and apparently breathed on it wrong because the Google Assistant popped up unbidden. I was piqued since I wanted to make a call and was perfectly capable of doing so without automated assistance.
I said, “Fuck off!” The soothing female voice immediately responded, “Have I upset you somehow?”
I found it disturbing, something of an audio version of the uncanny valley.

LOL!

I think my response to Google Assistant would be something like that plus “Yeah you upset me. How do I erase Google Assistant?”

My dial telephone will never ask about my emotional state. For that I am grateful.

82
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 5:54:24am
83
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 5:57:06am

re: #82 Anymouse 🌹

Miraculously, the USA did not suddenly turn into a socialist wasteland.

84
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 5:59:00am

re: #83 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

Miraculously, the USA did not suddenly turn into a socialist wasteland.

You wouldn’t know it by the comments on that thread.

They really are scared of her.

Good.

85
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 6:01:09am

And NPR didn’t ask the follow up question: Who do you think did that?

86
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 6:02:05am

re: #80 Targetpractice

When you assume the mindset of a narcissist, most of it makes sense. He’s not a man who makes business decisions that benefit him, he makes business decisions that stroke his ego. Build a huge tower that will never have enough businesses paying rent to break even? Don’t care, it’s got my name on it in big golden letters, that’s a sign of success.

Too many casinos in Atlantic City? None of them say “Trump,” so that’s gotta be rectified.

If I slap “Trump” on my planes and offer luxury services, I’ll draw the sort of people who will fly on those jets just to say “I flew on a Trump airliner!”

Trump steaks, Trump vodka, Trump water? It’s got my name on it, it’ll practically sell itself!

The Russians expect repayment? Tell them I won’t pay, we’ll see how serious they are about calling in the debt when they’ve got so much with my name on it that they’ll go bankrupt!

Indeed, and it’s worse than just narcissism. He’s fundamentally insecure, which is why he needs all those things with his name on them in big golden letter. He craves attention and adulation for doing stuff that deserves only derision and mockery. These are personality traits that should have disqualified from public service, but the GOP and the Russians figured that had a useful idiot to manipulate, so here we are.

87
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 6:06:25am

re: #86 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

Indeed, and it’s worse than just narcissism. He’s fundamentally insecure, which is why he needs all those things with his name on them in big golden letter. He craves attention and adulation for doing stuff that deserves only derision and mockery. These are personality traits that should have disqualified from public service, but the GOP and the Russians figured that had a useful idiot to manipulate, so here we are.

It’s why I consider it a greater punishment in his post-presidency not to jail him, but to force him to spend the last years of his life trying to fight off creditors and tax collectors as his financial chicanery is laid bare. His whole “empire” torn down until everything labeled “Trump” is either sold off, melted down, or relabeled. His heirs left penniless as their “brand” is reduced to nothingness, whatever inheritance might be left spent paying off their father’s debts for decades to come.

88
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 6:10:41am

re: #87 Targetpractice

It’s why I consider it a greater punishment in his post-presidency not to jail him, but to force him to spend the last years of his life trying to fight off creditors and tax collectors as his financial chicanery is laid bare. His whole “empire” torn down until everything labeled “Trump” is either sold off, melted down, or relabeled. His heirs left penniless as their “brand” is reduced to nothingness, whatever inheritance might be left spent paying off their father’s debts for decades to come.

The GOP will forget he ever existed, and historians will assess his term in office as the worst presidency in US history.

89
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 6:13:25am

Eric Swalwell with an unusual angle to reach the public with his message:

90
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 6:14:44am

re: #88 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

The GOP will forget he ever existed, and historians will assess his term in office as the worst presidency in US history.

Warren Harding and James Buchanan breath sighs of relief.

91
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 6:17:31am

re: #90 Anymouse 🌹

Warren Harding and James Buchanan breath sighs of relief.

Nah, they already have figured they’re off the hook now.

92
BogeyMon  May 12, 2019 • 6:18:35am

re: #91 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

they’re dead Jim…

93
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 6:20:49am

re: #92 BogeyMon

they’re dead Jim…

I know, Bones.

94
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 6:22:40am

re: #92 BogeyMon

they’re dead Jim…

You get their tricorders, I’ll grab their wallets.

95
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 6:23:24am

re: #94 Targetpractice

You get their tricorders, I’ll grab their wallets.

Don’t forget the canoli!

96
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 6:26:04am

re: #68 Targetpractice

Of course.

No oil? We’ll just build coal power plants, that’ll get Appalachia back to full employment!

No rare earth metals for electronics? We can get by without them, American innovation will come up with something that’s just as good with what we got!

Not enough food products to feed every American? Farmers will be so thrilled they can get away from crap like soybeans and start planting things we need! And farmers will be thrilled to sell their products to American consumers, rather than sending it off to those damned foreigners for high prices. If they don’t think so, we can just fix that by banning food exports!

And so and so forth. Just believe in the awesome power that is “‘Murika” and you can fix any problem.

/////////

California is full of rare earth elements, we just have to get rid of all those pesky environmental regulations and we can have at them

97
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 6:26:57am

On the other hand, guillotines are looking increasingly like an essential item (or at least a good investment opportunity). What douchecanoe at USA Today wrote this tripe?

98
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 6:27:20am

re: #87 Targetpractice

It’s why I consider it a greater punishment in his post-presidency not to jail him, but to force him to spend the last years of his life trying to fight off creditors and tax collectors as his financial chicanery is laid bare. His whole “empire” torn down until everything labeled “Trump” is either sold off, melted down, or relabeled. His heirs left penniless as their “brand” is reduced to nothingness, whatever inheritance might be left spent paying off their father’s debts for decades to come.

He will have a steady income stream from ghost-written books and appearances.

99
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 6:28:37am

re: #97 Anymouse 🌹

On the other hand, guillotines are looking increasingly like an essential item (or at least a good investment opportunity). What douchecanoe at USA Today wrote this tripe?

How much does the average 1%-er spend on “nonessentials”?

100
jaunte  May 12, 2019 • 6:28:41am

“…Article I vests in legislators a right to “not be questioned” about “any Speech or Debate in either House.” This “speech and debate” protection gives members of Congress the ability to decline to testify in court, or to produce documents related to their lawmaking responsibilities, without fear of being held in contempt. Courts have rightly read the language broadly to encompass privilege claims by legislators’ aides and even to prohibit FBI searches of lawmakers’ offices during corruption investigations.

In stark contrast, Article II, which governs the executive branch, conspicuously lacks parallel language about a privilege. This is not because the framers were sketching the presidency with broad strokes, failing to include details comparable to those in Article I. For example, Article II outlines the president’s right to seek Cabinet heads’ written opinion about the departments they oversee, and even explains the process by which the president can make temporary appointments when the Senate is in recess. If the founders thought something like executive privilege existed, it seems they would have said so.”

101
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 6:30:42am

re: #97 Anymouse 🌹

On the other hand, guillotines are looking increasingly like an essential item (or at least a good investment opportunity). What douchecanoe at USA Today wrote this tripe?

[Embedded content]

You gotta love the contradictory arguments that we’re served up all the time: “Wasteful spending is a sign of American exceptionalism that would be wiped out by socialist policies!” and “If only people would stop wasting money on things like fast food or haircuts, they could save money like responsible capitalists!”

102
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 6:31:02am

re: #96 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

California is full of rare earth elements, we just have to get rid of all those pesky environmental regulations and we can have at them

President Obama addressed this, calling it a national security issue. You’d be amazed to discover President Trump’s tariffs have actually hurt that programme.

Trump opened millions of acres of California to mining rare earths, but his tariffs mean that the companies which would like to do that cannot, because they cannot get the appropriate equipment.

103
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 6:33:55am

re: #97 Anymouse 🌹

So, we all need to be like Little House on the Prairie, cook all our meals, cut our own hair, make our own clothes, and not work outside the home?

Frugality is a smart idea, but dumping on people for spending money on innocuous purchases like soft drinks is wrong. How about people like Betsey DeVos who own several yachts they never use but once a year, and multiple homes that stand empty?

104
Joe Bacon 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 6:37:05am

re: #85 Anymouse 🌹

And NPR didn’t ask the follow up question: Who do you think did that?

[Embedded content]

The answer—Obama is the reason I can’t sell my soybeans to China.

And they would say that since they are brainwashed by the 24/7 GOP Bullshit Machine.

105
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 6:38:22am

re: #99 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

How much does the average 1%-er spend on “nonessentials”?

If I spent over $1,400 a month on non-essentials, I would starve. That would be 40% of my disability.

We usually weigh in under $250.

106
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 6:38:32am

re: #97 Anymouse 🌹

On the other hand, guillotines are looking increasingly like an essential item (or at least a good investment opportunity). What douchecanoe at USA Today wrote this tripe?

[Embedded content]

It’s paternalism writ large. “We know better than those serfs eking out a living, wallowing in their ignorance of high finance. Let’s make them feel bad about their silly attempts to extract some meagre joy from their pitiful lives.”

107
Dr Lizardo  May 12, 2019 • 6:38:53am

A movie for a sleepy Sunday.

Chaos.
Panic.
Disorder.
Guy in a monkey suit and another guy in a marine lizard suit.

King Kong vs Godzilla | Hollywood Movie | Action Hits

108
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 6:46:46am

re: #101 Targetpractice

You gotta love the contradictory arguments that we’re served up all the time: “Wasteful spending is a sign of American exceptionalism that would be wiped out by socialist policies!” and “If only people would stop wasting money on things like fast food or haircuts, they could save money like responsible capitalists!”

Down that thread Popehat weighs in on who came up with that. He was answered it was a study commissioned by a life insurance company which used skewed data (heavily weighted toward wealthy people).

109
jaunte  May 12, 2019 • 6:49:39am

re: #99 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

My business partner owns a sailboat, and spends a lot of time in the Caribbean, floating around the super-yachts of the 1%. He told me this story about a non-essential daily purchase. Some of the super-rich buy boats with fashionable black or dark blue hulls, to stand out among all the white ones. Every day the drying salt spray shows white on the dark surface. So every morning, the wealthy yacht owners pay their crews to wash off the accumulated spray. With fresh water.

110
jaunte  May 12, 2019 • 6:50:29am
111
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 6:52:16am

re: #105 Anymouse 🌹

If I spent over $1,400 a month on non-essentials, I would starve. That would be 40% of my disability.

We usually weigh in under $250.

I would say less than $100 here, by the time I cover rent, utilities and automobiles, there is precious little left for restaurants beyond an an occasional take-out.

112
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 6:52:50am

re: #110 jaunte

[Embedded content]

Ben is such an idiot.

113
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 6:53:17am

re: #101 Targetpractice

You gotta love the contradictory arguments that we’re served up all the time: “Wasteful spending is a sign of American exceptionalism that would be wiped out by socialist policies!” and “If only people would stop wasting money on things like fast food or haircuts, they could save money like responsible capitalists!”

Avocado toasts wrecked an entire generation’s prospects of home ownership…

114
jaunte  May 12, 2019 • 6:54:15am

re: #112 HappyWarrior

AOC would kill him in any debate about wasteful spending.

115
BogeyMon  May 12, 2019 • 6:55:15am

Happy, please see my #75

116
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 6:55:40am

re: #100 jaunte

[Embedded content]

Those would be the same conservative jurists you championed. But yes conservative jurists are always projecting.

117
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 6:55:55am

Speaking of wasteful spending, from the link posted upthread:

Leaked Documents Allege the NRA Has Been Spending $100,000 a Day on Lawyers

118
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 6:56:43am

re: #115 BogeyMon

Happy, please see my #75

Cheers. Thanks.

119
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 6:57:19am

re: #114 jaunte

AOC would kill him in any debate about wasteful spending.

I would love to see who is funding his sorry ass.

120
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 6:58:00am

re: #111 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I would say less than $100 here, by the time I cover rent, utilities and automobiles, there is precious little left for restaurants beyond an an occasional take-out.

Someone posted this on-line calculator on whether you should consider rideshares or owning a car.

rideordrive.org

Amazing that as little as we paid for our car (relative to other cars), no interest (we bought it with cash), and as little as we drive, it still says we would do better with rideshares.

Funny that. I wonder if Uber or Lyft owns the Website? (I suppose I could call a rideshare from Scottsbluff, then wait at least an hour for it to get here or something. There is no such service here.)

121
jaunte  May 12, 2019 • 6:58:46am

Should amend that to any “actual” debate, not the usual Shapiro overtalking performance art.

122
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 6:59:14am

A Progressive income tax isn’t some socialistic argument, it’s something that is almost as old as the Republic itself but Ben “I worship Capitalism because it pays my grift” Shapiro ignores that and just calls progressive income tax proponents jealous since he has no original thoughts.

123
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 7:02:47am

re: #108 Anymouse 🌹

Down that thread Popehat weighs in on who came up with that. He was answered it was a study commissioned by a life insurance company which used skewed data (heavily weighted toward wealthy people).

Ayep, like so much else, it’s just bullshit disguised as “advice.” Same with Delta saying you could save money to spend on drinks or video games if you just got rid of the union that keeps Delta from screwing you harder and longer without any lube.

124
The Vicious Babushka  May 12, 2019 • 7:03:01am

So how is everyone’s Mother’s Day?
On Friday afternoon I received this beautiful flower arrangement from “My Boys” (actually my 2 sons in Florida & one of my NY sons vacationing in Florida):

My #2 son is driving in from Toronto today.
My youngest daughter sent me a video of her 1-year-old dancing to “Baby Shark”
My DIL (married to my youngest son) enjoyed breakfast in bed and announced that she is expecting their 4th baby. Already have 3 daughters: 1 8-year-old & 5-year-old twins.
In memory of my mother (who passed away 2 years ago) I made a donation to Planned Parenthood.

125
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 7:06:35am

re: #120 Anymouse 🌹

Amazing that as little as we paid for our car (relative to other cars), no interest (we bought it with cash), and as little as we drive, it still says we would do better with rideshares.

Because the entire business model is flawed and those drivers are losing money over the long term.

And the profits that Lyft and Uber generate are being used to develop driverless technology.

126
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 7:09:54am

re: #119 HappyWarrior

I would love to see who is funding his sorry ass.

Rational Wiki suggests that after he left Deadbart, he was being funded by Paul Manafort. They link to a Think Progress article which talks about Mr. Manafort’s plea agreement apparently pointing to him as Shapiro’s funder.

rationalwiki.org
thinkprogress.org

127
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 7:10:57am

re: #125 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Because the entire business model is flawed and those drivers are losing money over the long term.

And the profits that Lyft and Uber generate are being used to develop driverless technology.

The business model is not flawed. It works very well for Uber and Lyft and their investors.

128
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 7:12:17am

re: #126 Anymouse 🌹

Rational Wiki suggests that after he left Deadbart, he was being funded by Paul Manafort. They link to a Think Progress article which talks about Mr. Manafort’s plea agreement apparently pointing to him as Shapiro’s funder.

rationalwiki.org
thinkprogress.org

Yeah I saw that he was spreading Russian propaganda at the behest of Manaforf. For someone who loves to lecture about self reliance, he’s a fucking puppet of others. There’s a reason why he doesn’t practice law because he’s not as intelligent or well versed in the law as he thinks he is and no self respecting firm would hire him.

129
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 7:14:18am

re: #127 Anymouse 🌹

The business model is not flawed. It works very well for Uber and Lyft and their investors.

yes, it is flawed only for the drivers. It nets them a bit of income but in the long term, no profit at all

130
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 7:16:00am

re: #129 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

yes, it is flawed only for the drivers. It nets them a bit of income but in the long term, no profit at all

I raised four kids, and I did enough driving people around to last me a lifetime. Being a gig chauffeur has zero appeal to me.

131
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 7:18:36am

re: #130 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

I raised four kids, and I did enough driving people around to last me a lifetime. Being a gig chauffeur has zero appeal to me.

The point is that it involves zero risk or investment for the companies.

Some people are attracted to jobs with no set hours, but the reality is that they have to be permanently on call to make a living from it.

132
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 7:20:30am

re: #130 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

I raised four kids, and I did enough driving people around to last me a lifetime. Being a gig chauffeur has zero appeal to me.

My father did Uber for awhile and had done cab driving in the late 80’s when I was a little kid. He preferred Uber. More autonomy. I like ride sharing. On a rainy, boozy night, finding Uber is much easier then finding a cab. I use both though.

133
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 7:21:17am

I talk to my Uber drivers tho. Most are doing it to supplement income or if they’re like my Dad, retired.

134
Colère Tueur de Lapin  May 12, 2019 • 7:22:40am

re: #125 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Because the entire business model is flawed and those drivers are losing money over the long term.

And the profits that Lyft and Uber generate are being used to develop driverless technology.

I understand ( sorta) the driver mindset for Uber and Lyft, but they are being used. And, neither company has yet to make a profit and their only goal is to use human-controller systems until the tech and regulatory mods are in place for driverless cars.

The “strike” that happened on wed will not cause either company to treat their contractors better. The business model is a failure due to ridiculous pricing, but people will continue to drive for them until the companies have used them up and moved onto computer control.

135
PhillyPretzel  May 12, 2019 • 7:22:56am

re: #120 Anymouse 🌹

re: #130 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

I am a member of the strap hanger set. I usually get my monthly transpass from my place of work. Whatever Lyft and Uber is of very little concern to me.

136
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 7:23:15am

re: #132 HappyWarrior

My father did Uber for awhile and had done cab driving in the late 80’s when I was a little kid. He preferred Uber. More autonomy. I like ride sharing. On a rainy, boozy night, finding Uber is much easier then finding a cab. I use both though.

My wife’s first ex-hub did driving for Uber for awhile. He switched to Lyft but is not happy with them either.

137
wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam  May 12, 2019 • 7:25:19am

re: #135 PhillyPretzel

I am a member of the strap hanger set. I usually get my monthly transpass from my place of work. Whatever Lyft and Uber is of very little concern to me.

I’ve been fortunate that for the last ten years I’ve been able to walk to work. Plus, I’ve been able to time it so I can retire and not have to commute to work ever again.

Bed time here, because I am not yet retired and tomorrow is Monday here. Bye everyone!

138
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 7:27:40am

re: #133 HappyWarrior

I talk to my Uber drivers tho. Most are doing it to supplement income or if they’re like my Dad, retired.

We do not use such services (they aren’t available here anyway). In the rare case we need to hire a car (such as when we were in Denver for the Shelly Segal concert last month), we use a real taxicab service.

Went to the front desk, asked them to call us a cab, that was that. When we returned we called the same taxicab company, and by some sort of luck had the same driver. Taxicab drivers are (usually) better treated by their employer, are properly insured in the event that is needed, &c.

139
Colère Tueur de Lapin  May 12, 2019 • 7:28:35am

re: #129 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

yes, it is flawed only for the drivers. It nets them a bit of income but in the long term, no profit at all

It’s flawed for 5he companies, too; they continue to hemorrhage money. The IPOs were successful, but will in the long term only if they can drive competition out so they can raise their prices. While I noted the tech and reg issues that need to be in place, it’s still a ways off before communities will allow driverless tech. Even if the per mile record is safer than human driven cars. Computers killing people doesn’t go over well, look at the reaction to the few driverless accidents that have happened.

140
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 7:29:12am

re: #136 Anymouse 🌹

My wife’s first ex-hub did driving for Uber for awhile. He switched to Lyft but is not happy with them either.

It’s definitely not something you want to do long term. I’ll have to ask him more.

141
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 7:29:18am

Lyft and Uber are not allowed in Germany. But for that, parcel delivery people work on a similar model and are every bit as exploited.

142
Belafon  May 12, 2019 • 7:30:08am

re: #89 Anymouse 🌹

Eric Swalwell with an unusual angle to reach the public with his message:

[Embedded content]

Didn’t Obama do something like that? And I seem to think Hillary did as well, but I’m not entirely sure.

143
Belafon  May 12, 2019 • 7:32:05am

re: #97 Anymouse 🌹

144
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 7:32:36am

re: #138 Anymouse 🌹

We do not use such services (they aren’t available here anyway). In the rare case we need to hire a car (such as when we were in Denver for the Shelly Segal concert last month), we use a real taxicab service.

Went to the front desk, asked them to call us a cab, that was that. When we returned we called the same taxicab company, and by some sort of luck had the same driver. Taxicab drivers are (usually) better treated by their employer, are properly insured in the event that is needed, &c.

I’m aware. I’m just saying that Uber/Lyft can really help in a pinch. Cabs aren’t always easy to find and if it’s a night, I’ve had too much to drink or smoke and it’s rainy, Uber can be a lifesaver. I usually use Metro if I can tho.

145
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 7:33:51am

re: #143 Belafon

[Embedded content]

We consider ourselves a consumer based economy so we’re going to shame Americans for uh consuming.

146
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 7:35:12am

re: #145 HappyWarrior

We consider ourselves a consumer based economy so we’re going to shame Americans for uh consuming.

We should learn to accept that pay cuts and tax hikes are not a bad thing if we just learn our place in society, which is to help the 1% concentrate more wealth.

147
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 7:37:26am

re: #146 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

We should learn to accept that pay cuts and tax hikes are not a bad thing if we just learn our place in society, which is to help the 1% concentrate more wealth.

The goal of every economy should be to innovating new products and providing a better/more affordable life for households than the previous generations.

148
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 7:40:57am

re: #146 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

We should learn to accept that pay cuts and tax hikes are not a bad thing if we just learn our place in society, which is to help the 1% concentrate more wealth.

And like a bunch of religious zealots, we should also accept that we cannot enjoy the fruits of our labors for that way lies sin and immoral behavior, so must instead immerse ourselves further in our work to stop such temptations. That only the rich and powerful may enjoy such because Capitalist God smiles upon them.

///////

149
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 7:43:25am

re: #148 Targetpractice

And like a bunch of religious zealots, we should also accept that we cannot enjoy the fruits of our labors for that way lies sin and immoral behavior, so must instead immerse ourselves further in our work to stop such temptations. That only the rich and powerful may enjoy such because Capitalist God smiles upon them.

///////

The worship the rich bullshit is exactly why I reject modern Capitalism. Likewise, I reject modern Socialism for not wanting to live in the real economic realities that people live in. And unlike both, I think both diehard Capitalists and Socialists, I actually think both economic philosophies have some viable ideas in them and that you can have a democratic society that includes elements of both but then again I’m not a self righteous douche. Economic purity is stupid.

150
Rightwingconspirator  May 12, 2019 • 7:45:54am

re: #18 Anymouse 🌹

I got a letter from the VA hospital in Cheyenne today. (Giant rubber stamp on it “Women’s Clinic” - thanks folks.)

The clinic says they have now reviewed all the information from the hospital in Scottsbluff and they have entirely ruled out breast cancer. They are referring my case back to Primary Care for further evaluation.

I went to bed early, so absolutely delighted to see that news this morning.

151
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 7:48:46am

re: #150 Rightwingconspirator

I went to bed early, so absolutely delighted to see that news this morning.

I’m both delighted (no breast cancer) and concerned (could be other cancer of endocrine systems). Could also be certain diseases (which are treatable) or genetic (won’t hurt me but nothing they can do about it), or “duh we don’t know.”

My wife is getting tired of me whinging about “tit pain,” noting that teenage girls go through it all the time, ya wimp. /s

152
I Would Prefer Not To  May 12, 2019 • 7:49:33am

How the fuck is “online shopping” a nonessential? People that write this stuff understand the economy as well as trump. Don’t even get me started on average…And good morning from a rainy NY.

153
Eventual Carrion  May 12, 2019 • 7:50:30am

re: #70 Anymouse 🌹

Yup. Steel, brass, plastic, fiberglass, all that stuff comes from mines or wells. /s

But with tRump’s deal with Russia monied men, we will always have a good supply of asbestos.

154
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 7:51:57am

re: #152 I Would Prefer Not To

How the fuck is “online shopping” a nonessential? People that write this stuff understand the economy as well as trump. Don’t even get me started on average…And good morning from a rainy NY.

It’s a bunch out of touch assholes who write this stuff who think we should all be good peasants and let the Lords have all the good stuff. And we should be oh so thankful to the Lords for giving us their jobs that they give to us from the bottom of their hearts.//

155
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 7:55:08am

re: #152 I Would Prefer Not To

How the fuck is “online shopping” a nonessential? People that write this stuff understand the economy as well as trump. Don’t even get me started on average…And good morning from a rainy NY.

I suppose that depends on what you’re buying.

I like how they put “grooming” under non-essentials. Lots of people in that thread are weighing in on how much money they can save on showers and haircuts, at least until they’re fired from their jobs.

156
William Lewis  May 12, 2019 • 7:56:14am

re: #79 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel

My first reaction to any of those things is to google “how do I permanently disable X”

157
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 7:57:55am
158
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 7:58:03am

I always thought the argument that the Capitalists made in the Cold War that separated us from the Communists was that we were able to enjoy our lives. What’s the point of having an economy based on innovation if everyone in the economy can’t enjoy it? If the finer parts of life: Good booze, food, travel, recreation, etc are only for the wealthy, then frankly that’s why you get Communist revolutions. Gah this out of touch bullshit pisses me off.

159
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 8:00:45am

re: #149 HappyWarrior

The worship the rich bullshit is exactly why I reject modern Capitalism. Likewise, I reject modern Socialism for not wanting to live in the real economic realities that people live in. And unlike both, I think both diehard Capitalists and Socialists, I actually think both economic philosophies have some viable ideas in them and that you can have a democratic society that includes elements of both but then again I’m not a self righteous douche. Economic purity is stupid.

Even Adam Smith pointed out that markets are supposed to benefit everyone: producers and consumers, employers and employees, buyers and sellers.

And in order to do that, markets have to be regulated to some degree.

160
Belafon  May 12, 2019 • 8:04:09am

re: #159 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Even Adam Smith pointed out that markets are supposed to benefit everyone: producers and consumers, employers and employees, buyers and sellers.

And in order to do that, markets have to be regulated to some degree.

And that the people we really have to watch out for are the rentiers.

161
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:05:43am

re: #159 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Even Adam Smith pointed out that markets are supposed to benefit everyone: producers and consumers, employers and employees, buyers and sellers.

And in order to do that, markets have to be regulated to some degree.

Adam Smith understood that because Adam Smith was developing Capitalism as a humanistic response to Mercantilism. People like Shapiro and the USA Today writer aren’t echoing Smith, they’re echoing the robber barons that shat on the aspirations of the less well off in the Industrial Revolution to be something other than labor for industrialists.

162
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 8:06:51am

re: #158 HappyWarrior

I always thought the argument that the Capitalists made in the Cold War that separated us from the Communists was that we were able to enjoy our lives. What’s the point of having an economy based on innovation if everyone in the economy can’t enjoy it? If the finer parts of life: Good booze, food, travel, recreation, etc are only for the wealthy, then frankly that’s why you get Communist revolutions. Gah this out of touch bullshit pisses me off.

It was actually something that we in the West supposedly claimed separated us from Communist nations during the Cold War, that the few members of the Party enjoyed the finest things while everyone else was “equal” in poverty. And that the West was so superior because capitalism meant everyone could partake in the fruits of their labors, that a “nuclear family” could afford a new home, new cars, all sorts of gizmos and gadgets, good food, and still have money left over to send those kids to college.

163
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:06:53am

Lincoln correctly saw the importance of labor. Capital is obviously key to capitalism but you need labor and you need to value your laborers.

164
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:07:52am

re: #162 Targetpractice

It was actually something that we in the West supposedly claimed separated us from Communist nations during the Cold War, that the few members of the Party enjoyed the finest things while everyone else was “equal” in poverty. And that the West was so superior because capitalism meant everyone could partake in the fruits of their labors, that a “nuclear family” could afford a new home, new cars, all sorts of gizmos and gadgets, good food, and still have money left over to send those kids to college.

Yep and now they shame people for doing just that.

165
The Vicious Babushka  May 12, 2019 • 8:12:09am
166
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 8:12:10am

re: #152 I Would Prefer Not To

How the fuck is “online shopping” a nonessential? People that write this stuff understand the economy as well as trump. Don’t even get me started on average…And good morning from a rainy NY.

As Anymouse noted above, what this really is is a damned advertisement for insurance masquerading as a “study.” The idea being that this is money “wasted” that could go towards “responsible” things like…an insurance policy. And browbeating regular people for not having “rainy day” savings because of such spending, when in reality most of that spending is because for so many people every day is a “rainy day.”

167
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 8:12:32am

re: #162 Targetpractice

It was actually something that we in the West supposedly claimed separated us from Communist nations during the Cold War, that the few members of the Party enjoyed the finest things while everyone else was “equal” in poverty. And that the West was so superior because capitalism meant everyone could partake in the fruits of their labors, that a “nuclear family” could afford a new home, new cars, all sorts of gizmos and gadgets, good food, and still have money left over to send those kids to college.

And once Communism was defeated as an ideology, they threw of any pretenses of humanity.

168
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 8:15:00am

re: #162 Targetpractice

I came from that last generation, my dad worked in a steel mill, we owned a car and our own home, our mom raised us at home and we all wound up middle-class.

169
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:15:05am

re: #167 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

And once Communism was defeated as an ideology, they threw of any pretenses of humanity.

Which I gotta say even though I consider myself to the center of AOC and a lot of the new left on economics, I welcome them. Capitalism thrives when it has competition. Capitalism as the only show in town gives you Russia 1917.

170
Colère Tueur de Lapin  May 12, 2019 • 8:15:21am

re: #164 HappyWarrior

Yep and now they shame people for doing just that.

Only if you let them; shame is a great mechanism for control (see all religions) if you let it be. Ignoring what others say is good for you because it benefits them is just prudent.

171
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 8:15:58am

re: #169 HappyWarrior

Which I gotta say even though I consider myself to the center of AOC and a lot of the new left on economics, I welcome them. Capitalism thrives when it has competition. Capitalism as the only show in town gives you Russia 1917.

Russia had feudal serfdom with a thin veneer of capitalism slapped on top of it

172
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:18:43am

re: #171 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Russia had feudal serfdom with a thin veneer of capitalism slapped on top of it

I’d say post liberation of the serfs in the 1860’s, it definitely became more capitalistic but true enough. Point is capitalism without competing ideology is dangerous. And I think Smith would agree with that. Despite what people like Shapiro think, we are not anti wealth, we are anti hoarding wealth at the expense of others. A tax cut for a wealthy 1% like Ben and the assholes that fund his sorry ass gets them another boat. A tax cut for a middle class family helps them stay property owners.

173
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 8:19:04am

re: #167 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

And once Communism was defeated as an ideology, they threw of any pretenses of humanity.

Hell, they didn’t even wait that long. The whole idea of capitalism being concerned about humanity was dead as the dodo by the end of the 60s.

174
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 8:19:04am

re: #76 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

Trump is the diametric opposite of all he was advertised to be.

- Suck at deals
- Doesn’t understand basic business principles
- Not a billionaire by any stretch of the definition
- Made the swamp deeper and stinkier
- Traitorous (anti-MAGA)
- Not smart neither
- Lies more in one minute than any normal politician can in one day

Ie a fraud

175
makeitstop  May 12, 2019 • 8:20:39am

Frank Turner was, as always, pretty awesome last night. Here’s the view from our seats. I didn’t spend much time snapping pics because I wanted to absorb the music from a gifted songwriter and his excellent band.

176
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:20:52am

re: #173 Targetpractice

Hell, they didn’t even wait that long. The whole idea of capitalism being concerned about humanity was dead as the dodo by the end of the 60s.

The backlash to the Great Society because LBJ dared say that PoC should be able to enjoy the same fruits of the New Deal that white America got.

177
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 8:21:26am

re: #162 Targetpractice

It was actually something that we in the West supposedly claimed separated us from Communist nations during the Cold War, that the few members of the Party enjoyed the finest things while everyone else was “equal” in poverty. And that the West was so superior because capitalism meant everyone could partake in the fruits of their labors, that a “nuclear family” could afford a new home, new cars, all sorts of gizmos and gadgets, good food, and still have money left over to send those kids to college.

Turns out the Horseshoe Theory of politics seems also to apply to economics.

178
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:21:43am

re: #175 makeitstop

Frank Turner was, as always, pretty awesome last night. Here’s the view from our seats. I didn’t spend much time snapping pics because I wanted to absorb the music from a gifted songwriter and his excellent band.

[Embedded content]

Way cool man. The Drums were pretty good last night too. Didn’t take any photos though.I always get a band shirt when I go to shows. It’s my way of supporting the artist and it’s always a good keepsake too.

179
Dr Lizardo  May 12, 2019 • 8:21:49am

re: #168 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I came from that last generation, my dad worked in a steel mill, we owned a car and our own home, our mom raised us at home and we all wound up middle-class.

Exactly the same situation I grew up in - except my dad was a baker in a Union shop. And he was also a Shop Steward.

180
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 8:21:58am

re: #77 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam

Trump’s problems (among others) are that he is impulsive and immune to listening to good advice. He times markets all wrong, buys properties at elevated prices because “he always wanted them,” changes his direction on a whim. Losing billions in real estate development takes some real (non)talent. Losing money running casinos, too. I am sure there were very smart people who told him, “Don’t buy the Plaza. It’s a money pit.” “Atlantic City has too many casinos now. It doesn’t need two more.” “There’s not enough passengers for a shuttle between Manhattan and AC.” “Omaha Steaks already sells damned fine meat.” “No one is going to buy Trump-labeled water.” “The Russians will expect repayment — or else.”

And so on.

Yeah well he’s president and ‘your’ not, and he’s been living like a gold plated King on other peoples money his whole life so checkmate libtards. //

181
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:22:25am

re: #177 Anymouse 🌹

Turns out the Horseshoe Theory of politics seems also to apply to economics.

I’ve been observing that diehard economic lefties and diehard capitalists have a lot in common. Not in the ideology itself but how they approach things.

182
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 8:23:30am

re: #172 HappyWarrior

I’d say post liberation of the serfs in the 1860’s, [Russia] definitely became more capitalistic but true enough.

All those serfs had to work to pay back to government for buying their freedom from the landowners. The nobles took the money and pissed it away abroad, on Capri, Baden-Baden or Paris.

Village councils wound up groups of single workmen to the cities to live in barracks and work at slave wages to help pay off their collective debts, one of the things that led to the extreme unrest at the start of the 20th century.

183
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 8:23:52am

re: #172 HappyWarrior

I’d say post liberation of the serfs in the 1860’s, it definitely became more capitalistic but true enough. Point is capitalism without competing ideology is dangerous. And I think Smith would agree with that. Despite what people like Shapiro think, we are not anti wealth, we are anti hoarding wealth at the expense of others. A tax cut for a wealthy 1% like Ben and the assholes that fund his sorry ass gets them another boat. A tax cut for a middle class family helps them stay property owners.

I’ve evolved to the opinion that hoarding money is no different than hoarding cats or newspapers. It’s another sickness.

In the case of hoarding money, we have a solution (progressive taxation and punitive taxes on inheritance).

184
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:24:51am

re: #179 Dr Lizardo

My Mom’s parents were a bricklayer and a waitress. Not successful but not hemorrhaging either. The problem is we have a bunch of politicians who have convinced themselves that investing in our Middle Class is socialism even though investing in the Middle Class in the first place is how we have had our most successful economic booms i.e. The GI Bill, Interstate Highway, etc. But a self righteous asshole reads Hayek or Friedman and thinks that’s the way.

185
sagehen  May 12, 2019 • 8:25:35am

re: #122 HappyWarrior

A Progressive income tax isn’t some socialistic argument, it’s something that is almost as old as the Republic itself but Ben “I worship Capitalism because it pays my grift” Shapiro ignores that and just calls progressive income tax proponents jealous since he has no original thoughts.

Adam Smith on progressive taxation:

“The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. A tax upon house-rents, therefore, would in general fall heaviest upon the rich; and in this sort of inequality there would not, perhaps, be anything very unreasonable. It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.”
Wealth of Nations, 1776

186
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:25:58am

re: #183 Anymouse 🌹

I’ve evolved to the opinion that hoarding money is no different than hoarding cats or newspapers. It’s another sickness.

In the case of hoarding money, we have a solution (progressive taxation and punitive taxes on inheritance).

Taxing inheirtence also prevents you from getting a ruling class of people who are there not based on merit but who their parents were. Ya know, the exact thing that many of our ancestors fled.

187
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 8:26:27am

re: #87 Targetpractice

It’s why I consider it a greater punishment in his post-presidency not to jail him, but to force him to spend the last years of his life trying to fight off creditors and tax collectors as his financial chicanery is laid bare. His whole “empire” torn down until everything labeled “Trump” is either sold off, melted down, or relabeled. His heirs left penniless as their “brand” is reduced to nothingness, whatever inheritance might be left spent paying off their father’s debts for decades to come.

Rememeber a mere few months ago the speculation he wasn’t all that rich. Less of a billionaire or maybe just amultimillionaire??

It’s gonna turn out he owes more than he “owns”
No equity.

188
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:27:36am

re: #185 sagehen

Adam Smith on progressive taxation:

“The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. A tax upon house-rents, therefore, would in general fall heaviest upon the rich; and in this sort of inequality there would not, perhaps, be anything very unreasonable. It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.”
Wealth of Nations, 1776

Yeah but what does he know, he only developed Capitalism, he’s never “destroyed” AOC on Twitter. // But yeah revisionists have this idea that it was only Marx that wanted things like this but Smith was writing about the necessity of a progressive tax structure as early as 1776.

189
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 8:27:44am

Studies come out declaring that much of American society has no savings and would be deep in debt or even forced to declare bankruptcy if they ever had a major expense (medical emergency, major accident, home damage, etc).

Instead of suggesting that things like higher pay, universal health coverage, or guaranteed benefits would help many workers, the gatekeepers of modern capitalism declare the problem lies with the workers and how they’re not trying hard enough to lift themselves up by their own damned bootstraps.

190
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:28:27am

In the end, I subscribe to what Justice Holmes said about taxes, I like em, with em, I buy civilization. Unfortunately many capitalists just use stupid phrases like “Taxation is theft” as if that has any real meaning.

191
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 8:28:44am

re: #97 Anymouse 🌹

On the other hand, guillotines are looking increasingly like an essential item (or at least a good investment opportunity). What douchecanoe at USA Today wrote this tripe?

[Embedded content]

I’m sure I’m late to this game but “buying lunch”?

192
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:28:57am

re: #189 Targetpractice

Studies come out declaring that much of American society has no savings and would be deep in debt or even forced to declare bankruptcy if they ever had a major expense (medical emergency, major accident, home damage, etc).

Instead of suggesting that things like higher pay, universal health coverage, or guaranteed benefits would help many workers, the gatekeepers of modern capitalism declare the problem lies with the workers and how they’re not trying hard enough to lift themselves up by their own damned bootstraps.

Correct.

193
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 8:29:06am

re: #184 HappyWarrior

My Mom’s parents were a bricklayer and a waitress. Not successful but not hemorrhaging either. The problem is we have a bunch of politicians who have convinced themselves that investing in our Middle Class is socialism even though investing in the Middle Class in the first place is how we have had our most successful economic booms i.e. The GI Bill, Interstate Highway, etc. But a self righteous asshole reads Hayek or Friedman and thinks that’s the way.

The Interstate Highway System had to be sold to conservatives as investment in national security rather than the country’s infrastructure though.

194
Jay C  May 12, 2019 • 8:29:17am

re: #102 Anymouse 🌹

President Obama addressed this, calling it a national security issue. You’d be amazed to discover President Trump’s tariffs have actually hurt that programme.

Trump opened millions of acres of California to mining rare earths, but his tariffs mean that the companies which would like to do that cannot, because they cannot get the appropriate equipment.

The Law Of Unintended Consequences in action…. Trump Era Edition.

And the environmental issues related to rare-earth mining aren’t trivial: IIRC, the waste products from rare-earth mining/processing are not only highly chemically toxic, but radioactive as well. Properly dealing with the slag or slurry or whatever is, AFAICR, a problem which hasn’t been solved yet (mainly, I think, due to the costs).

But that, rare earths are a textbook example of Chinese market-grabbing: they can exploit their own own lodes at lower production costs than almost anybody, and will subsidize things to keep them low, if need be. They also don’t give a damn about environmental consequences (I’m guessing China’s way of dealing with rare-earth mining waste is likely to be just piping the radioactive slurry into the nearest river, and post a few “do not drink” signs here and there…..)

195
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:29:24am

re: #191 DangerMan

I’m sure I’m late to this game but “buying lunch”?

Yeah apparently the little people shouldn’t treat themselves to lunch ever.

196
makeitstop  May 12, 2019 • 8:29:24am

re: #178 HappyWarrior

Way cool man. The Drums were pretty good last night too. Didn’t take any photos though.I always get a band shirt when I go to shows. It’s my way of supporting the artist and it’s always a good keepsake too.

Yeah, I got a new FT shirt last night, too. Pretty cool - it’s got a rose and his sig over the heart, and the tour dates arranged around a skull with a rose in its mouth on the back.

I figured I’d get something different from the FTHC ‘Always on Tour’ shirts this time - I’ve got two tees and a hoodie with that logo now.

I was really surprised at the mix of the crowd last night! The kids were all down in GA moshing and singing as usual, but there were an awful lot of Olds like me up in the balcony. And everyone went home happy. We brought my drummer and his wife who had never seen FT before. Two more lifelong fans, they loved him.

197
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 8:29:40am

re: #187 DangerMan

Rememeber a mere few months ago the speculation he wasn’t all that rich. Less of a billionaire or maybe just amultimillionaire??

It’s gonna turn out he owes more than he “owns”
No equity.

I think what we’ve seen so far indicates that the only reason he remains afloat right now is that if the banks all called in his debt, they’d likely go bankrupt as he’s so conned them into extending him credit that the amount he owes would be far more than they could ever hope to get from him.

198
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:30:20am

re: #193 Anymouse 🌹

The Interstate Highway System had to be sold to conservatives as investment in national security rather than the country’s infrastructure though.

Yep and to be fair, I think that was a good part of how Eisenhower saw it when he proposed it in the 50’s but there’s no denying that it helped.

199
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 8:30:50am

re: #186 HappyWarrior

Taxing inheirtence also prevents you from getting a ruling class of people who are there not based on merit but who their parents were. Ya know, the exact thing that many of our ancestors fled.

The exact thing we now have in office…

200
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:31:06am

re: #196 makeitstop

Yeah, I got a new FT shirt last night, too. Pretty cool - it’s got a rose and his sig over the heart, and the tour dates arranged around a skull with a rose in its mouth on the back.

I figured I’d get something different from the FTHC ‘Always on Tour’ shirts this time - I’ve got two tees and a hoodie with that logo now.

I was really surprised at the mix of the crowd last night! The kids were all down in GA moshing and singing as usual, but there were an awful lot of Olds like me up in the balcony. And everyone went home happy. We brought my drummer and his wife who had never seen FT before. Two more lifelong fans, they loved him.

I still need to get a FT shirt. I saw him play before I started my hobby. He puts on such a great show doesn’t he?

201
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 8:31:35am

re: #191 DangerMan

I’m sure I’m late to this game but “buying lunch”?

It’s the standard capitalist bit about how the poors could save so much money if they avoided buying fast food and just brought a sack lunch to work every day. You know, because we all have the time to cook lunch nightly, have enough leftovers to eat the following day, or could survive on ham sandwiches.

202
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 8:31:38am

re: #191 DangerMan

I’m sure I’m late to this game but “buying lunch”?

Avocado toast and a latte.

203
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 8:32:29am

re: #188 HappyWarrior

But how can you make a good point unless you quote-mine someone saying exactly the opposite of what you propose? /s

204
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:33:12am

re: #199 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

The exact thing we now have in office…

Yep and frankly with the exception of Dole, every Republican nominee in my life has been. Not that I don’t think Bush I or McCain served honorably in public life but both men had a step up early on because of who their fathers were. Conversely, Gore and Kerry are teh only Dem nominees in my life part of that system. Both Clintons and Obama worked their way up. As you’ve said before, conservatives could have said Obama, raised by a single mom who ended up as a Harvard law graduate as a great American success story, instead they smeared his late mother as a whore and acted like he got where he got through AA.

205
Rightwingconspirator  May 12, 2019 • 8:33:19am

Heh I don’t really want to be the “military post” guy around here. Alas aviation is something I enjoy tracking, and that brought me around to this more political event in a B-52 bomber. My take is Trump is trying extra hard to make noise here. What say you guys? My bold.
theaviationist.com

The U.S. Air Force is positioning four B-52s to Qatar. And, for the very first time, at least one of the Stratofortress bombers could be tracked online as it deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base to Al Udeid…

The first two of four B-52 bombers, radio callsign “MYTEE 51-52” have arrived to Al Udeid, Qatar, from their homebase at Barksdale AFB, Lousiana, on May 8; the second “wave” (MYTEE 53-54) followed on the same route on May 9. While “Buffs” regularly deploy across the world and are visible almost daily on flight tracking websites, this Middle East deployment marked the very first time a B-52 bomber deploying to the CENTCOM area of responsibility could be monitored, live, during its transit from CONUS to destination.

206
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 8:34:31am

re: #204 HappyWarrior

As you’ve said before, conservatives could have said Obama, raised by a single mom who ended up as a Harvard law graduate as a great American success story, instead they smeared his late mother as a whore and acted like he got where he got through AA.

and that really brought home to me how hollow their ideology is when it is really put to the test.

207
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:34:48am

re: #203 Anymouse 🌹

But how can you make a good point unless you quote-mine someone saying exactly the opposite of what you propose? /s

Ha. Seriously, I think these guys are such hacks. They have no idea about the historical conditions that led Smtih to write Wealth of Nations or Marx to write the Manifesto.

208
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 8:35:03am

re: #205 Rightwingconspirator

Heh I don’t really want to be the “military post” guy around here. Alas aviation is something I enjoy tracking, and that brought me around to this more political event in a B-52 bomber. My take is Trump is trying extra hard to make noise here. What say you guys? My bold.
theaviationist.com

[Embedded content]

Didn’t wingnuts used to flip their fucking lids over shit like this, with even Donny making a yuge amount of noise about broadcasting to our enemies what we were doing?

209
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:35:47am

re: #206 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

and that really brought home to me how hollow their ideology is when it is really put to the test.

Because it’s a sham. Right wing ideology in America is to advocate for a permanent aristocracy in a nation that specifically isn’t supposed to have aristocrats.

210
makeitstop  May 12, 2019 • 8:35:56am

re: #200 HappyWarrior

I still need to get a FT shirt. I saw him play before I started my hobby. He puts on such a great show doesn’t he?

He does. And his band is sharp as a damn tack. That’s what incessant touring will do for you.

The high point of the show was when he called his accountant (Ed) out on stage and had him do an epic crowd surf during ‘Photosynthesis’. Pretty hilarious.

211
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 8:36:28am

re: #207 HappyWarrior

Ha. Seriously, I think these guys are such hacks. They have no idea about the historical conditions that led Smtih to write Wealth of Nations or Marx to write the Manifesto.

Adam Smith was writing against mercantilism and state-subsidized monopolies like the East India Corporation.

We now have much the same situation with our defense contractors and energy companies.

212
Dr Lizardo  May 12, 2019 • 8:36:35am

re: #187 DangerMan

Rememeber a mere few months ago the speculation he wasn’t all that rich. Less of a billionaire or maybe just amultimillionaire??

It’s gonna turn out he owes more than he “owns”
No equity.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Trump is hopelessly underwater - in debt over his head and owing money to everyone. Sure, he has real estate holdings, but he probably owes so much that if even if he sold every last property in his portfolio, he’d still be deeply in debt.

213
Rightwingconspirator  May 12, 2019 • 8:36:59am

re: #208 Targetpractice

Didn’t wingnuts used to flip their fucking lids over shit like this, with even Donny making a yuge amount of noise about broadcasting to our enemies what we were doing?

Yes they did. Loud, often, profane and annoying as hell.

214
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:39:02am

re: #211 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Adam Smith was writing against mercantilism and state-subsidized monopolies like the East India Corporation.

We now have much the same situation with our defense contractors and energy companies.

Exactly. And Marx was writing in an age where children were laboring in textile mills for little pay and overworked. I don’t agree with Marx’s conclusions. I think capitalism can work but you need regulation and you need to provide your population something or else you end up with a permanent and small wealthy powerful class and a large permanent poor underclass. And no Middle Class. The middle class means stability both economically and politically.

215
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 8:40:57am

re: #212 Dr Lizardo

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Trump is hopelessly underwater - in debt over his head and owing money to everyone. Sure, he has real estate holdings, but he probably owes so much that if even if he sold every last property in his portfolio, he’d still be deeply in debt.

Which is why he’s absolutely scared shitless that his financials may see the light of day, because the moment that happens will pretty much mark the end of Trump Org. He and his brood will be unable to find anybody willing to extend them more credit, while those who already hold their debt will start suing them for whatever they can recover. Even death won’t be an escape, with debt collectors stripping his family of every bit of its “wealth” to cover outstanding debts.

216
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 8:41:46am

re: #204 HappyWarrior

Yep and frankly with the exception of Dole, every Republican nominee in my life has been. Not that I don’t think Bush I or McCain served honorably in public life but both men had a step up early on because of who their fathers were. Conversely, Gore and Kerry are teh only Dem nominees in my life part of that system. Both Clintons and Obama worked their way up. As you’ve said before, conservatives could have said Obama, raised by a single mom who ended up as a Harvard law graduate as a great American success story, instead they smeared his late mother as a whore and acted like he got where he got through AA.

Barack Obama is the literal example of what conservative and libertarian economic theories state: That despite your background or upbringing, if you apply yourself and grab the opportunities as they come along, take risks when they can help you, you can rise above your station, even to be President.

Instead, the GOP went for the same racism they’ve touted ever since Goldwater.

The adverts could have written themselves for the GOP: We don’t agree with his politics, but he’s proof our policies and ideas are right.

217
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:44:04am

re: #216 Anymouse 🌹

Barack Obama is the literal example of what conservative and libertarian economic theories state: That despite your background or upbringing, if you apply yourself and grab the opportunities as they come along, take risks when they can help you, you can rise above your station, even to be President.

Instead, the GOP went for the same racism they’ve touted ever since Goldwater.

The adverts could have written themselves for the GOP: We don’t agree with his politics, but he’s proof our policies and ideas are right.

Right. Obama is a great American success story. Whether you like him or his policies or not, the guy worked himself up. He didn’t have a military general officer pedigree as McCain did or a Governor/auto executive father like Romney did.

218
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 8:45:30am

re: #208 Targetpractice

Didn’t wingnuts used to flip their fucking lids over shit like this, with even Donny making a yuge amount of noise about broadcasting to our enemies what we were doing?

Plus those B-52’s don’t need to be there. The range of a B-52 is such that even if they wanted to use them on Iran, they could fly from somewhere like Diego Garcia.

On the other hand, in Qatar they make a tempting target for someone who might want to attack them.

219
calochortus  May 12, 2019 • 8:45:41am

re: #215 Targetpractice

Terry Gross did an interview on Thursday with someone who is writing a book about Trump and Deutschebank. How and why Trump managed to get loans from Deutschebank when no one else would lend him money.

I recommend it.

220
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 8:46:47am

re: #217 HappyWarrior

Right. Obama is a great American success story. Whether you like him or his policies or not, the guy worked himself up. He didn’t have a military general officer pedigree as McCain did or a Governor/auto executive father like Romney did.

But saying anything positive about him would mean that they would have to, however grudgingly, acknowledge his accomplishments, and they just…couldn’t…bring…themselves…to…do…that.

Wonder why.

221
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 8:48:06am

re: #218 Anymouse 🌹

Plus those B-52’s don’t need to be there. The range of a B-52 is such that even if they wanted to use them on Iran, they could fly from somewhere like Diego Garcia.

On the other hand, in Qatar they make a tempting target for someone who might want to attack them.

It’s pure wag-the-dog, Donny trying to turn people’s attention elsewhere. Thing is, the amount of forces that would be necessary for even a punitive strike on Iran would be impossible to disguise as anything but. So all we really have is a waste of taxpayer money, putting bombers where they’re not needed for the purpose of threatening something we’re not going to engage in without sending out a massive warning sign.

222
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:49:51am

re: #220 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

But saying anything positive about him would mean that they would have to, however grudgingly, acknowledge his accomplishments, and they just…couldn’t…bring…themselves…to…do…that.

Wonder why.

Because giving Obama any credit about anything even independent of politics enrages their base. The GOP base loves hearing about self reliance usually from people who were born with it made i.e. Romney or benefited from the programs they want to destroy or weaken i.e. Ryan. They don’t want the hard truth which is that no one makes it totally alone.

223
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 8:50:29am

After Pence went on at Liberty University about “secularists” persecuting Christians.

224
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 8:53:46am

re: #223 Anymouse 🌹

After Pence went on at Liberty University about “secularists” persecuting Christians.

[Embedded content]

Because when you really get down to it, the only parts of the Bible evangelicals give a damn about are in the Old Testament. Much like military veterans, the only use that evangelicals have for Jesus is as a martyr, as in “He died for your sins.” His teachings, his pity, his pleadings for the faithful to do right by those who don’t follow the faith? They don’t have time for that, they think God won’t let them into Heaven unless they convert as many of us “heathens” as they can in life.

225
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 8:55:07am

Mike Pence is a whiny little asshole who thinks having to live in a country that doesn’t execute gay people is persecution.

226
Dr Lizardo  May 12, 2019 • 8:55:52am

re: #215 Targetpractice

Yep. The Trump “empire” will disappear in a puff of smoke as the air turns yellow with legal pad paper.

227
jeffreyw  May 12, 2019 • 9:01:28am

re: #209 HappyWarrior

Because it’s a sham. Right wing ideology in America is to advocate for a permanent aristocracy in a nation that specifically isn’t supposed to have aristocrats.

They use bad arguments because they don’t have any good ones. If they argued for what they really believed they would never win national elections. Good policies don’t need lies about them to pass in congress.

228
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 9:03:07am

re: #227 jeffreyw

They use bad arguments because they don’t have any good ones. If they argued for what they really believed they would never win national elections. Good policies don’t need lies about them to pass in congress.

Yep. It’s why they use scare tactics whether it’s about black people, LGBT people, immigrants. The right doesn’t believe in empowering people. It believes in making people hate people.

229
Belafon  May 12, 2019 • 9:05:47am

re: #223 Anymouse 🌹

After Pence went on at Liberty University about “secularists” persecuting Christians.

[Embedded content]

*Excludes black Christians*

230
Rightwingconspirator  May 12, 2019 • 9:05:49am

Well another Trade War battle, so I Paged an interesting article, idea is the trade deficit is a fiction. I know the author somewhat as a fellow jewelry career guy. He enjoys a high profile thanks to his online diamond trading site.

231
jeffreyw  May 12, 2019 • 9:07:12am

re: #208 Targetpractice

Didn’t wingnuts used to flip their fucking lids over shit like this, with even Donny making a yuge amount of noise about broadcasting to our enemies what we were doing?

Threats don’t work if your enemies don’t know you’ve made them. Bluster only works if your enemies don’t know it’s bluster. I’m sure the B-52 countermeasures suite is good but if they didn’t also deploy wild weasels they are vulnerable as hell.

232
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 9:08:36am

re: #229 Belafon

*Excludes black Christians*

and liberal Christians. Pence wants to discriminate against LGBT and LGBT friendly Christians. There’s a lot that has annoyed me about Mayor Pete but he is right about one thing and that’s Christianity doesn’t have to be hostile to gay people. And that drives mother’s husband crazy since his whole vision of Christianity is based on exclusion.

233
Rightwingconspirator  May 12, 2019 • 9:11:47am

re: #231 jeffreyw

It’s a very threatening package when looked at overall. They don’t drop bombs in a fight with Iran, it will be long ranged missiles, coordinated with the other air forces in the region, the same planes that fly in the SAM zones and take them out, before or with the Wild Weasels. Those are F-18, coming with the carrier strike group. Put together these moves are a massive can of whoop ass that is going for all the wrong reasons.

234
sagehen  May 12, 2019 • 9:15:14am

re: #223 Anymouse 🌹

No Christian has ever been persecuted for being a Christian in the US.

[Embedded content]

in Colonial times, and really the early days of the U.S. — there actually was serious persecution of minority denominations by the majority denomination. Each State had an official religion, and the Anglicans were pretty nasty to the Baptists, Catholics, Quakers, etc. The whole reason there’s a Rhode Island is because Roger Williams had theological differences with the Massachusetts colony’s Official Religion.

That’s why the 1st Amendment was needed; our Founders were well aware of the 30 years war, the 100 years war, the English civil wars, and more than a thousand years of other Christian Sect A v. Christian Sect B wars that soaked all of Europe in blood.

235
Belafon  May 12, 2019 • 9:16:26am

re: #233 Rightwingconspirator

It’s a very threatening package when looked at overall. They don’t drop bombs in a fight with Iran, it will be long ranged missiles, coordinated with the other air forces in the region, the same planes that fly in the SAM zones and take them out, before or with the Wild Weasels. Those are F-18, coming with the carrier strike group. Put together these moves are a massive can of whoop ass that is going for all the wrong reasons.

And, as we know in Iraq, without an occupying force, there’s no win. And getting that occupying force into Iran will be hell. And that’s if no other country helps Iran.

236
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 9:16:45am

re: #234 sagehen

in Colonial times, and really the early days of the U.S. — there actually was serious persecution of minority denominations by the majority denomination. Each State had an official religion, and the Anglicans were pretty nasty to the Baptists, Catholics, Quakers, etc. The whole reason there’s a Rhode Island is because Roger Williams had theological differences with the Massachusetts colony’s Official Religion.

That’s why the 1st Amendment was needed; our Founders were well aware of the 30 years war, the 100 years war, the English civil wars, and more than a thousand years of other Christian Sect A v. Christian Sect B wars that soaked all of Europe in blood.

And sad to say, the further we got away from that, the more that Christians forgot that some of their greatest persecutors were other Christians. As you all know, I’m of partial Irish stock. Catholics were definitely second class citizens because of their faith in Ireland for a long time.

237
jeffreyw  May 12, 2019 • 9:19:04am

re: #233 Rightwingconspirator

It’s a very threatening package when looked at overall. They don’t drop bombs in a fight with Iran, it will be long ranged missiles, coordinated with the other air forces in the region, the same planes that fly in the SAM zones and take them out, before or with the Wild Weasels. Those are F-18, coming with the carrier strike group. Put together these moves are a massive can of whoop ass that is going for all the wrong reasons.

They probably are fitted with those carousels than let them shoot long range standoff armaments, to be sure. They could use any number of systems to the same effect but he wanted the B-52s because of the name recognition - his own recognition. Even Trump knows what a B-52 is, they were in the news while he was earning his CBDB badge in the trenches of New York City.

238
Amory Blaine  May 12, 2019 • 9:21:39am

If a lifetime of following rules, working and being productive doesn’t afford the american with any privilege besides the essentials, maybe the violent criminals are right to be violent criminals.

239
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 9:21:59am

re: #233 Rightwingconspirator

It’s a very threatening package when looked at overall. They don’t drop bombs in a fight with Iran, it will be long ranged missiles, coordinated with the other air forces in the region, the same planes that fly in the SAM zones and take them out, before or with the Wild Weasels. Those are F-18, coming with the carrier strike group. Put together these moves are a massive can of whoop ass that is going for all the wrong reasons.

It’s still an empty threat without there being some sort of point to such a strike. Without a provocation of some sort, a strike on Iran would be quite obviously a campaign stunt, something ordered by Trump in an effort to take pressure off him domestically. There’s no “imminent threat” to the US proper or our interests. None of our allies are asking for armed intervention to hostile actions by Iran. And the UN has not taken any action that justifies armed force. In short, we’d be bloodying Iran’s nose for no other reason than because we can.

240
Eclectic Cyborg  May 12, 2019 • 9:24:12am

re: #97 Anymouse 🌹

On the other hand, guillotines are looking increasingly like an essential item (or at least a good investment opportunity). What douchecanoe at USA Today wrote this tripe?

[Embedded content]

What? You can’t survive without lunch and drinks and grooming??

//

241
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 9:24:56am

re: #226 Dr Lizardo

Yep. The Trump “empire” will disappear in a puff of smoke as the air turns yellow with legal pad paper.

He will continue to have an income for his speeches, appearances and ghost-written articles and publications. But everyone associated with him will be megaf*cked.

242
Teukka  May 12, 2019 • 9:26:28am
243
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 9:26:45am

re: #232 HappyWarrior

and liberal Christians. Pence wants to discriminate against LGBT and LGBT friendly Christians. There’s a lot that has annoyed me about Mayor Pete but he is right about one thing and that’s Christianity doesn’t have to be hostile to gay people. And that drives mother’s husband crazy since his whole vision of Christianity is based on exclusion.

What annoyed me about Pete Buttigieg was he was here in Omaha praising Mike Pence as a fundamentally good man.

Nope. Pence would have Buttigieg thrown in jail if he could do it.

Pete Buttigieg called Mike Pence a ‘super-nice guy.’ Where’s the outrage? (Goes to LGBTQ Nation)

They note when Biden did that, he got pilloried, so why did Buttigieg get a pass?

244
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 9:29:48am

re: #243 Anymouse 🌹

What annoyed me about Pete Buttigieg was he was here in Omaha praising Mike Pence as a fundamentally good man.

Nope. Pence would have Buttigieg thrown in jail if he could do it.

Pete Buttigieg called Mike Pence a ‘super-nice guy.’ Where’s the outrage? (Goes to LGBTQ Nation)

They note when Biden did that, he got pilloried, so why did Buttigieg get a pass?

I have no idea. If I had to guess, it’s that Biden has done this often. Doesn’t make it right. And you know what, I’m sure Pete’s not lying. I’m sure Pence is pleasant enough but it doesn’t change that he bases his policies on the belief that all non Evangelicals are damned.

245
Rightwingconspirator  May 12, 2019 • 9:30:05am

re: #239 Targetpractice

It’s still an empty threat without there being some sort of point to such a strike. Without a provocation of some sort, a strike on Iran would be quite obviously a campaign stunt, something ordered by Trump in an effort to take pressure off him domestically. There’s no “imminent threat” to the US proper or our interests. None of our allies are asking for armed intervention to hostile actions by Iran. And the UN has not taken any action that justifies armed force. In short, we’d be bloodying Iran’s nose for no other reason than because we can.

Will the IRG provoke something? Yikes. Whole lotta guns in the room, and one or more of the patrons is drunk on power.

246
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 9:30:50am

I don’t need politicians to treat Pence like he’s an asshole. I need politicians to say that it doesn’t matter if Pence is a “nice guy”, he supports policies that discriminate against people. Ned Flanders is probably the “nicest person” on the Simpsons but he’s also super judgmental to anyone who isn’t a conservative Christian. That’s Mike Pence.

247
garzooma  May 12, 2019 • 9:31:22am

re: #234 sagehen

[…] The whole reason there’s a Rhode Island is because Roger Williams had theological differences with the Massachusetts colony’s Official Religion.
[…]

AFAIK, Williams had no theological differences with the Massachusetts colony — except maybe thinking the Puritan church not strict enough for his tastes. Rather, he had issue with there being an official church. His line was “forced worship stinks in God’s nostrils.” So he set up Rhode Island as a colony that didn’t have an official church, and allowed any religion to be practiced.

248
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 9:32:19am

re: #243 Anymouse 🌹

What annoyed me about Pete Buttigieg was he was here in Omaha praising Mike Pence as a fundamentally good man.

Nope. Pence would have Buttigieg thrown in jail if he could do it.

Pete Buttigieg called Mike Pence a ‘super-nice guy.’ Where’s the outrage? (Goes to LGBTQ Nation)

They note when Biden did that, he got pilloried, so why did Buttigieg get a pass?

I’m gonna take a guess that, by this point, nobody really sees Buttigieg as a serious contender. Or at least don’t believe he’s gonna last long now that Biden has actually entered the race. Plus Biden was seen as the heir apparent to the Obama legacy, while most have written Buttigieg off for his repeated appeals to Trump voters.

249
Teukka  May 12, 2019 • 9:32:29am

re: #245 Rightwingconspirator

Will the IRG provoke something? Yikes. Whole lotta guns in the room, and one or more of the patrons is drunk on power.

*sighs*

Looks like this will be my quote of the year…
This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we’ll be lucky to live through it.
— Admiral Josh Painter, “The Hunt for Red October”

250
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 9:35:23am

re: #248 Targetpractice

I’m gonna take a guess that, by this point, nobody really sees Buttigieg as a serious contender. Or at least don’t believe he’s gonna last long now that Biden has actually entered the race. Plus Biden was seen as the heir apparent to the Obama legacy, while most have written Buttigieg off for his repeated appeals to Trump voters.

Pete is doing a good job of calling pseudochristians out for their hypocrisy and I am sure he is setting his own sights at 2024 or beyond, he has already grown massively in name recognitions.

251
Jay C  May 12, 2019 • 9:37:16am

re: #233 Rightwingconspirator

It’s a very threatening package when looked at overall. They don’t drop bombs in a fight with Iran, it will be long ranged missiles, coordinated with the other air forces in the region, the same planes that fly in the SAM zones and take them out, before or with the Wild Weasels. Those are F-18, coming with the carrier strike group. Put together these moves are a massive can of whoop ass that is going for all the wrong reasons.

re: #235 Belafon

And, as we know in Iraq, without an occupying force, there’s no win. And getting that occupying force into Iran will be hell. And that’s if no other country helps Iran.

Not to mention that Iran most likely has a non-trivial amount of long-range weaponry of its own: “stand-off” warfare may sound good in principle, but I’m guessing the (US’) public won’t be too pleased if they send one of our Fleet Carriers to the bottom of the Gulf..

252
Eclectic Cyborg  May 12, 2019 • 9:37:20am

No insane Trump tweets yet today.

And not even the decency to tweet a damned thing about Melania for Mother’s Day.

Meanwhile, on the timeline of a real President…

253
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 9:43:31am

re: #244 HappyWarrior

I have no idea. If I had to guess, it’s that Biden has done this often. Doesn’t make it right. And you know what, I’m sure Pete’s not lying. I’m sure Pence is pleasant enough but it doesn’t change that he bases his policies on the belief that all non Evangelicals are damned.

I find it hard to square “fundamentally good man” with “I want to oppress anyone who doesn’t hew to my religious beliefs.”

I’m not sure who would be stoned first: Buttigieg for being gay and a liberal Christian, or me for being an atheist.

254
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 9:44:13am

re: #252 Eclectic Cyborg

No insane Trump tweets yet today.

And not even the decency to tweet a damned thing about Melania for Mother’s Day.

Meanwhile, on the timeline of a real President…

[Embedded content]

Or even his own mother.

255
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 9:45:10am

re: #253 Anymouse 🌹

I find it hard to square “fundamentally good man” with “I want to oppress anyone who doesn’t hew to my religious beliefs.”

I’m not sure who would be stoned first: Buttigieg for being gay and a liberal Christian, or me for being an atheist.

you will both be given a chance to repent

256
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 9:45:53am

re: #253 Anymouse 🌹

I find it hard to square “fundamentally good man” with “I want to oppress anyone who doesn’t hew to my religious beliefs.”

I’m not sure who would be stoned first: Buttigieg for being gay and a liberal Christian, or me for being an atheist.

I can’t either. I think it’s naivete on his and Biden’s part.

257
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 9:45:59am

re: #235 Belafon

And, as we know in Iraq, without an occupying force, there’s no win. And getting that occupying force into Iran will be hell. And that’s if no other country helps Iran.

Wingnuts oppose “nation building” (the idea that after you defeat an enemy in war and occupy their country, you work to build up society again). All they want to do is destroy.

258
jaunte  May 12, 2019 • 9:46:44am

re: #257 Anymouse 🌹

Making them objectively pro-terrorist.

259
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 9:47:10am

re: #255 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

you will both be given a chance to repent

Then we’ll be stoned.

260
jaunte  May 12, 2019 • 9:49:58am
261
Eclectic Cyborg  May 12, 2019 • 9:50:29am

re: #259 Anymouse 🌹

Then we’ll be stoned.

Only if you make sure to bring the good stuff.

/

262
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 9:51:36am

re: #260 jaunte

[Embedded content]

You weren’t under investigation until you fired Comey. But we get it, you always lie and whine. I feel sorry for your youngest son for having such a shitty example for a father.

263
FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀  May 12, 2019 • 9:52:29am
264
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 10:02:10am

re: #261 Eclectic Cyborg

Only if you make sure to bring the good stuff.

/

I live in the wrong state for that. Now if Teleskiguy is passing through, maybe he can. /s

265
goddamnedfrank  May 12, 2019 • 10:04:26am
266
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 10:07:20am

re: #265 goddamnedfrank

I hate that right-wing phrase “identity politics.” All politics is identity politics, and always has been.

A hopeful politician puts forth ideas, and you identify yourself in that and say “Yeah that’s what I support.” (Or the opposite.)

No right-winger ever engaged in identity politics (cough, abortion, guns, racism, &c) No, those aren’t identity politics, they’re something else but not that.

267
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:07:59am

re: #265 goddamnedfrank

[Embedded content]

This is so frustrating. Anyhow it’s easy to complain about so called identity politics when your identity isn’t the one under attack. I really have lost a lot respect for Pete the more I learn and see from him.

268
jaunte  May 12, 2019 • 10:08:30am

re: #265 goddamnedfrank

“What I worry about is not the president’s fantasy wall on the Mexican border that’s not going to get built anyway,” Buttigieg said. “What I worry about are the very real walls that we are putting up between us as we get divided and carved up.

Good work amplifying Republican talking points, Pete.

269
retired cynic  May 12, 2019 • 10:09:38am

re: #265 goddamnedfrank

I liked “mayor pete” when I first heard him, but he has been taking an axe to my regard for him. I think I’m done.

270
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:09:50am

re: #266 Anymouse 🌹

I hate that right-wing phrase “identity politics.” All politics is identity politics, and always has been.

A hopeful politician puts forth ideas, and you identify yourself in that and say “Yeah that’s what I support.” (Or the opposite.)

No right-winger ever engaged in identity politics (cough, abortion, guns, racism, &c) No, those aren’t identity politics, they’re something else but not that.

It’s totally stupid. When policies explicitly target people like you, yeah you should band together. Frustrating that so many white male Democrats want to echo the wrong answer on this. This tbh is why I’m hoping the nominee is a PoC and or a woman.

271
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:10:12am

re: #269 retired cynic

I liked “mayor pete” when I first heard him, but he has been taking an axe to my regard for him. I think I’m done.

Ditto. He’s still got a lot to learn.

272
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 10:14:14am

I notice that the people most often using the phrase “identity politics” are white people whose identity isn’t being attacked.

273
BigPapa  May 12, 2019 • 10:15:50am

A more sour phrase is ‘virtue signaling’ which is itself a virtue signal.

274
Eclectic Cyborg  May 12, 2019 • 10:16:07am

re: #271 HappyWarrior

Ditto. He’s still got a lot to learn.

Yep. Youth and inexperience can be an advantage at times…but not when you’re running for President.

275
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:16:08am

re: #272 Targetpractice

I notice that the people most often using the phrase “identity politics” are white people whose identity isn’t being attacked.

He has been attacked for his sexuality but at the same time, he has made it part of his campaign and I’m fine with that but I’m also fine with Kamala making her Jamaican immigrant and Indian immigrant mother part of her story too.

276
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 10:17:16am

re: #275 HappyWarrior

He has been attacked for his sexuality but at the same time, he has made it part of his campaign and I’m fine with that but I’m also fine with Kamala making her Jamaican immigrant and Indian immigrant mother part of her story too.

His sexuality has been attacked, but the fact that he can run for the presidency at all shows that it is not the sort of hindrance that it was even 10 years ago. He might as well adopt the GOP line: “I got mine, so fuck you!”

277
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:17:43am

re: #274 Eclectic Cyborg

Yep. Youth and inexperience can be an advantage at times…but not when you’re running for President.

Yeah a more seasoned politician wouldn’t be talking this stupid but honestly I don’t think it’s inexperience per say here, it’s just a huge blind spot that a lot of white people including unfortunately a lot of Democrats have. I wouldn’t call it out right racism like what Trump does but this combined with is own record towards South Bend’s African-American community is concerning. I don’t need people to say they’er colorblind. I need people to say they’re color aware.

278
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:19:00am

re: #276 Targetpractice

His sexuality has been attacked, but the fact that he can run for the presidency at all shows that it is not the sort of hindrance that it was even 10 years ago. He might as well adopt the GOP line: “I got mine, so fuck you!”

Agreed. And honestly it frustrates me that Julian Castro who is more qualified for the job and mayored a much larger city is in single digits. I’ve been a fan of Mayor/Secretary Castro ever since his 2012 DNC Keynote. I concede he’s not super charismatic but he is perhaps the best voice the Dems have on immigration. He would be a huge asset IMO.

279
Targetpractice  May 12, 2019 • 10:23:03am

It should also be noted that the two men who are attempting to bring Trump voters in order to bolster their chances (Sanders & Buttigieg) have both spouted off about “identity politics.” The fact that both are white men whose privilege is built into their poll numbers should be a clue that neither has any clue how tone-deaf such statements sound.

280
Joe Bacon 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 10:23:55am

re: #171 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Russia had feudal serfdom with a thin veneer of capitalism slapped on top of it

Alexander Gerschenkron’s analysis showed that Russia started industrializing later than Western Europe but it industrialized in a far faster rate compared to the West. That was another factor that allowed the Marxists to gain a powerful foothold.

281
FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀  May 12, 2019 • 10:26:05am
282
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:26:38am

re: #279 Targetpractice

It should also be noted that the two men who are attempting to bring Trump voters in order to bolster their chances (Sanders & Buttigieg) have both spouted off about “identity politics.” The fact that both are white men whose privilege is built into their poll numbers should be a clue that neither has any clue how tone-deaf such statements sound.

I was going to say. Bernie is the biggest purveyor of the IDENTITY POLITICS IS BAD game even though he does it himself constantly when talking about how he comes from “the white working class” The guy represents a state not only less diverse than our party’s base, he represents a state less diverse than our country and I know I can’t fault Vermont for being that white, I can fault that how tonedeaf he is on race. Remember when he belittled a young Latina who wanted to be the first of her group to get elected to a certain office? He has no idea about what that means since he’s on default mode(white straight guy). And yes I know he’s Jewish too).

283
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:27:37am

re: #281 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀

[Embedded content]

Happy Counting Down the Days Till your Daughter Sees your old tweets and changes her name and moves to a commune and disowns you day, Baby Whiplash! Seriously dude, get the fuck over it already.

284
Belafon  May 12, 2019 • 10:27:40am

re: #278 HappyWarrior

Agreed. And honestly it frustrates me that Julian Castro who is more qualified for the job and mayored a much larger city is in single digits. I’ve been a fan of Mayor/Secretary Castro ever since his 2012 DNC Keynote. I concede he’s not super charismatic but he is perhaps the best voice the Dems have on immigration. He would be a huge asset IMO.

Part of running for president is getting noticed. And Castro just isn’t doing a good job of that. To be fair, some of that is he’s not white, but Harris and Warren are managing it. Castro is also needs a liberal fan club like Warren, Harris, and Sanders.

285
Eclectic Cyborg  May 12, 2019 • 10:28:21am

re: #281 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀

Don’t any of these RWNJs have the capacity to not be assholes for one day??

(Rhetorical question)

286
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:28:53am

re: #284 Belafon

Part of running for president is getting noticed. And Castro just isn’t doing a good job of that. To be fair, some of that is he’s not white, but Harris and Warren are managing it. Castro is also needs a liberal fan club like Warren, Harris, and Sanders.

Yeah that’s true. He’s not a good self-promoter.

287
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:30:13am

re: #285 Eclectic Cyborg

Don’t any of these RWNJs have the capacity to not be assholes for one day??

(Rhetorical question)

The “man” you’re talking about was raging against Obama on the day of his daughter’s birth. The same guy who acts like he’s Mr. Pro-Life. As I said, I really hope one day his daughter sees what he did to make a living and wants nothing to do with him. He’s a miserable fucker who finally got a good humiliation and from a fellow conservative no less.

288
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:31:45am

Ben is triggered by the fact that there are people who don’t conform to his concept of gender identity . Got news for ya Benny, the world isn’t just for you. You don’t have to like or even understand that transgendered parents exist but they do exist and it really sucks for you that it chaps your ass because the concept of unconditional love is so foreign to you because your parents obviously didn’t love you enough or otherwise you wouldn’t be the miserable prick that you are.

289
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 10:34:36am

re: #281 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀

Wasn’t Shapiro the guy who when his wife was in labour was furiously tweeting about Obama?

290
I Would Prefer Not To  May 12, 2019 • 10:34:50am

I see Shapiro went to the school of Huckabee humor.

291
Renaissance_Man  May 12, 2019 • 10:35:47am

re: #278 HappyWarrior

Agreed. And honestly it frustrates me that Julian Castro who is more qualified for the job and mayored a much larger city is in single digits. I’ve been a fan of Mayor/Secretary Castro ever since his 2012 DNC Keynote. I concede he’s not super charismatic but he is perhaps the best voice the Dems have on immigration. He would be a huge asset IMO.

He is in single digits because he gets zero media attention. He gets zero media attention not because of charisma, but because he is not a white man. Being a man, he won’t be attacked by the media like all female Democratic candidates will be, but he will simply be ignored until he goes away.

292
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 10:35:47am

re: #285 Eclectic Cyborg

Don’t any of these RWNJs have the capacity to not be assholes for one day??

(Rhetorical question)

One of the Twitterati here could ask him that on that thread directly.

293
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:35:54am

re: #289 Anymouse 🌹

Wasn’t Shapiro the guy who when his wife was in labour was furiously tweeting about Obama?

Yes.

294
Eclectic Cyborg  May 12, 2019 • 10:36:25am

re: #289 Anymouse 🌹

Wasn’t Shapiro the guy who when his wife was in labour was furiously tweeting about Obama?

Yes, he was.

295
The Vicious Babushka  May 12, 2019 • 10:36:31am

re: #288 HappyWarrior

Ben is triggered by the fact that there are people who don’t conform to his concept of gender identity . Got news for ya Benny, the world isn’t just for you. You don’t have to like or even understand that transgendered parents exist but they do exist and it really sucks for you that it chaps your ass because the concept of unconditional love is so foreign to you because your parents obviously didn’t love you enough or otherwise you wouldn’t be the miserable prick that you are.

Baby Whiplash even insists his own fellow Juice are “JINOs” if they don’t adhere to his own unique & peculiar “Jewanvelical” political religion. Judaism, even the “Ultra-Orthodox” do not agree with his extreme position of abortion. Abortion is not only permitted but it is REQUIRED if there is a threat to the woman’s life. A fetus does not become a person until it takes a breath.

296
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:37:27am

re: #291 Renaissance_Man

He is in single digits because he gets zero media attention. He gets zero media attention not because of charisma, but because he is not a white man. Being a man, he won’t be attacked by the media like all female Democratic candidates will be, but he will simply be ignored until he goes away.

Oh I wasn’t implying he was where he was because a lack of charisma. I definitely think he is being ignored because of his ethnic background too. A former cabinet member and mayor of a large city should be getting more focus and it’s not like he’s not talking about the issues.

297
The Vicious Babushka  May 12, 2019 • 10:37:53am

Just a reminder this Mother’s Day, I have 9 Jewish children & 43 Jewish grandchildren and if Baby Whiplash thinks he is a better Jew than I am he can fight me & all my team members.

298
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:38:47am

re: #295 The Vicious Babushka

Baby Whiplash even insists his own fellow Juice are “JINOs” if they don’t adhere to his own unique & peculiar “Jewanvelical” political religion. Judaism, even the “Ultra-Orthodox” do not agree with his extreme position of abortion. Abortion is not only permitted but it is REQUIRED if there is a threat to the woman’s life. A fetus does not become a person until it takes a breath.

Yep as you have told many of us, a lot of his views aren’t in line with Judaism and that’s fine but he doesn’t get to shame more liberal Jews like yourself for having different views and call them Kapos and question their commitment to your faith. He should just give up Judaism and become a Christian Fundamentalist already, he’s already there on being a raging assholic with no sense of humor.

299
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  May 12, 2019 • 10:39:00am

re: #297 The Vicious Babushka

Just a reminder this Mother’s Day, I have 9 Jewish children & 43 Jewish grandchildren and if Baby Whiplash thinks he is a better Jew than I am he can fight me & all my team members.

and you can be the one to remind him that abortion is legal in Israel and covered by health insurance…

300
I Would Prefer Not To  May 12, 2019 • 10:39:58am

re: #297 The Vicious Babushka

Just a reminder this Mother’s Day, I have 9 Jewish children & 43 Jewish grandchildren and if Baby Whiplash thinks he is a better Jew than I am he can fight me & all my team members.

I’m sure you could kick his ass without help.

301
Interesting Times  May 12, 2019 • 10:40:01am

re: #295 The Vicious Babushka

Baby Whiplash even insists his own fellow Juice are “JINOs” if they don’t adhere to his own unique & peculiar “Jewanvelical” political religion.

That reminds me of this deeply disturbing thread Sarah Kendzior retweeted - have you personally seen any of the things she’s talking about?

302
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:40:12am

re: #297 The Vicious Babushka

Just a reminder this Mother’s Day, I have 9 Jewish children & 43 Jewish grandchildren and if Baby Whiplash thinks he is a better Jew than I am he can fight me & all my team members.

You also know your faith inside and out. He’s entitled to his opinions but he’s not entitled to belittle liberal Jews who are pro choice, pro LGBT, and don’t share his unquestioning faith in Bibi either. He would be a lot more bearable if he were just honest about the fact that his opinions come from his own biases not some deep rooted faith.

303
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 10:41:12am

re: #297 The Vicious Babushka

Just a reminder this Mother’s Day, I have 9 Jewish children & 43 Jewish grandchildren and if Baby Whiplash thinks he is a better Jew than I am he can fight me & all my team members.

I still think your family should move to my town.

As I noted before when you told me that amazing number of family members, your family would become the largest religious group here, and the town would flip blue.

304
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:41:37am

re: #299 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

and you can be the one to remind him that abortion is legal in Israel and covered by health insurance…

Also allows gays and lesbians to serve openly in their military. If Israel wasn’t heavily Jewish, Ben would hate Israel like he does other countries that have those policies.

305
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:42:32am

re: #303 Anymouse 🌹

I still think your family should move to my town.

As I noted before when you told me that amazing number of family members, your family would become the largest religious group here, and the town would flip blue.

Plus you would have a kickass bakery. Kickass bakery and turning the town blue and I’m not just talking blueberry desserts too!

306
Teddy's Person  May 12, 2019 • 10:43:46am

re: #302 HappyWarrior

He would be a lot more bearable if he were just honest about the fact that his opinions come from his own biases not some deep rooted faith.

But being a miserable scold pays better.

307
Eclectic Cyborg  May 12, 2019 • 10:44:52am

re: #306 Teddy’s Person

But being a miserable scold pays better.

It certainly seems to, doesn’t it?

308
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 10:45:23am

re: #305 HappyWarrior

Plus you would have a kickass bakery. Kickass bakery and turning the town blue and I’m not just talking blueberry desserts too!

PIES!

309
sagehen  May 12, 2019 • 10:47:34am

re: #297 The Vicious Babushka

Just a reminder this Mother’s Day, I have 9 Jewish children & 43 Jewish grandchildren and if Baby Whiplash thinks he is a better Jew than I am he can fight me & all my team members.

How old is the oldest grandchild (and how long until there’s great-grandchildren)?

310
FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀  May 12, 2019 • 10:49:53am
311
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:50:01am

re: #306 Teddy’s Person

But being a miserable scold pays better.

I almost feel kind of bad for him since eventually the people who bankroll his circus show will want to find a younger and fresher model to peddle their crap to the college kids. But man he is just so miserable and so close minded. And even in his “apology” to Neill, he still lied. Neill didn’t say being pro life was barbaric, Neill said that Ben’s view which is that women who get abortions deserve a lengthy prison sentence is and guess what Ben, that is barbaric. We’re talking about a procedure that has been legal in the United States since 1973 and is legal in most of hte Western World, the same world that you argue is culturally superior. So yeah that’s pretty barbaric. All he is frankly is an angry little man who still can’t get over his unresolved issues and I think that’s why he feels the need to constantly challenge people to debates. He gets to control things on his terms but when things aren’t on his terms, he melts down like the asshole he is and that’s exactly what happened on the BBC the other day.

312
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:51:36am

re: #309 sagehen

How old is the oldest grandchild (and how long until there’s great-grandchildren)?

Great Grandchildren are so exciting. My father’s oldest sister is now the great grandmother of four. That just boggles my mind since I don’t even have a photo of one of my great grandmothers and I only have one photo each of two of the others. Only one, I have several photos of and yet my cousin’s grandkids are going to have not just photos of their Great Nana but memories of her too. Was the same thing with my Dad’s mom. She became a Great Nana in her early 70’s.

313
Eclectic Cyborg  May 12, 2019 • 10:51:47am

re: #310 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀

He’s on a retweet storm again.

314
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 10:52:04am
315
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:52:31am

re: #310 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀

[Embedded content]

What does that even mean? Yeah social media is aattackong conservatives and Republicans because well we’re people on social media and we don’t like conservatives and Republicans. There’s plenty of attacks including yours on Democrats and liberals on social media.

316
Eclectic Cyborg  May 12, 2019 • 10:52:49am

And yes, it’s 56 and rainy in D.C.

317
Teddy's Person  May 12, 2019 • 10:53:01am

re: #307 Eclectic Cyborg

It certainly seems to, doesn’t it?

My finances would probably be in better shape if I didn’t have a conscience and could just scream RWNJ talking points on YouTube. You don’t have to come up with much original material, and as long as you can be the loudest and most obnoxious, RW welfare will rain from the skies.

But no, I spend my days trying to teach the young ‘un some history and critical thinking.

318
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:53:01am

re: #314 Anymouse 🌹

[Embedded content]

You’re a disgrace Rudy.

319
PhillyPretzel  May 12, 2019 • 10:53:27am

re: #310 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀

Yes it is raining in the area.
weather.gov

320
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 10:53:55am

re: #312 HappyWarrior

Great Grandchildren are so exciting. My father’s oldest sister is now the great grandmother of four. That just boggles my mind since I don’t even have a photo of one of my great grandmothers and I only have one photo each of two of the others. Only one, I have several photos of and yet my cousin’s grandkids are going to have not just photos of their Great Nana but memories of her too. Was the same thing with my Dad’s mom. She became a Great Nana in her early 70’s.

I went to the funerals of two of my great-grandmothers as an adult in the Navy.

My father’s mother’s mother died in 1984 (a week after her daughter). My mother’s mother’s mother died in 1993.

321
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:54:22am

re: #316 Eclectic Cyborg

And yes, it’s 56 and rainy in D.C.

Yep was cold last night too. Was in the city. I swear. All the pathetic loser does is whine, brag, and talk shit on Twitter. It’s like watching your Uncle when he got on Facebook for the first time except much worse since your Uncle somehow got elected President and this is a really, really bad movie with an absurd premise.

322
Jay C  May 12, 2019 • 10:55:12am

re: #303 Anymouse 🌹

I still think your family should move to my town.

As I noted before when you told me that amazing number of family members, your family would become the largest religious group here, and the town would flip blue.

Of course, they’d have to change the name of the town to Babushkaburg or whatever, but it would be an interesting addition to the map of Nebraska….

323
sagehen  May 12, 2019 • 10:55:26am

re: #304 HappyWarrior

Also allows gays and lesbians to serve openly in their military. If Israel wasn’t heavily Jewish, Ben would hate Israel like he does other countries that have those policies.

More than “allows”… there’s military continents in the gay pride parade. (Sadly no, they don’t costume themselves the way I’d like… wearing nothing but short shorts, combat boots, military hats, and body glitter).

324
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:56:29am

re: #320 Anymouse 🌹

I went to the funerals of two of my great-grandmothers as an adult in the Navy.

My father’s mother’s mother died in 1984 (a week after her daughter). My mother’s mother’s mother died in 1993.

Yeah it just shows you how everyone’s experience is different. My grandmother was telling us a story the other day about how my mom came home from school one day crying because she had no grandparents and a classmate had 8(we believe the boy’s parents had divorced and remarried giving him four additional step grandparents and poor Mom had three of hers die before she was born and the last one when she was just an infant). Her great grandparents? I only know the date of death on one of them. They all died in Europe.

325
Eclectic Cyborg  May 12, 2019 • 10:56:53am

Twitter is apparently on the blink right now.

326
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 10:57:44am

re: #322 Jay C

Of course, they’d have to change the name of the town to Babushkaburg or whatever, but it would be an interesting addition to the map of Nebraska….

LOL.

I suppose we’d need to raise a synagogue right next to the Lutheran Church. There are only two private properties next to the church, the VA nurse and mine. Perhaps if someone made me an offer on my house I could move to another place here… .

327
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 10:59:03am

Yikes. He just retweeted himself … I hadn’t seen that before.

328
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 10:59:12am

re: #323 sagehen

More than “allows”… there’s military continents in the gay pride parade. (Sadly no, they don’t costume themselves the way I’d like… wearing nothing but short shorts, combat boots, military hats, and body glitter).

That’s right. As I said, he’s free to have his views. i won’t deny him the right ot be a bigot but when he attacks the social liberal views that more Jews not just here in the US have as not really being “Judaism” it shows what a condescending prick he is. Just admit it’s your own prejudices that make you hostile to legalized choice, LGBT rights, and other social liberalism. I mean when I identified as Catholic, I never though my Catholic cultural background was why I was pro-choice and pro LGBT rights, I came to that conclusion on my own just as he came ot his conclusions on his own about those same issues. He’s simply not a honest person.

329
Teddy's Person  May 12, 2019 • 11:03:00am

re: #311 HappyWarrior

I almost feel kind of bad for him since eventually the people who bankroll his circus show will want to find a younger and fresher model to peddle their crap to the college kids. But man he is just so miserable and so close minded. And even in his “apology” to Neill, he still lied. Neill didn’t say being pro life was barbaric, Neill said that Ben’s view which is that women who get abortions deserve a lengthy prison sentence is and guess what Ben, that is barbaric. We’re talking about a procedure that has been legal in the United States since 1973 and is legal in most of hte Western World, the same world that you argue is culturally superior. So yeah that’s pretty barbaric. All he is frankly is an angry little man who still can’t get over his unresolved issues and I think that’s why he feels the need to constantly challenge people to debates. He gets to control things on his terms but when things aren’t on his terms, he melts down like the asshole he is and that’s exactly what happened on the BBC the other day.

OMG, not sure the world will be able to contain the level of victimhood on display the day Ben gets kicked to the curb for a newer model. I watched the last couple of minutes of his BBC performance with the sound off, just to get the visual. I wish someone with some mad photoshop skill would add some smoke coming out of ‘lil Ben’s ears as he grows angrier and angrier. He looked like a damn cartoon character.

330
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 11:05:08am

re: #329 Teddy’s Person

OMG, not sure the world will be able to contain the level of victimhood on display the day Ben gets kicked to the curb for a newer model. I watched the last couple of minutes of his BBC performance with the sound off, just to get the visual. I wish someone with some made photoshop skill would add some smoke coming out of ‘lil Ben’s ears as he grows angrier and angrier. He looked like a damn cartoon character.

For all his cracks about liberals and safe spaces, he’s the one that lives in one. How else can you be if you assume that someone who thinks it’s barbaric to imprison women over abortion is a “leftist.” I’m really hoping that little show we saw starts cracking the armor at the image he’s made for himself. It showed me what I’ve known about Ben for a long time. There is literally no room for shades of gray in his world. You’re a leftist if oyu don’t share his worldview.

331
The Vicious Babushka  May 12, 2019 • 11:06:14am

re: #301 Interesting Times

That reminds me of this deeply disturbing thread Sarah Kendzior retweeted - have you personally seen any of the things she’s talking about?

[Embedded content]

Some Israeli papers have published very ugly stereotypes of the Haredi (“Ultra-Orthodox”) population.

Here is a sample from my blog from about 10 years ago

332
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 11:06:43am

re: #302 HappyWarrior

You also know your faith inside and out. He’s entitled to his opinions but he’s not entitled to belittle liberal Jews who are pro choice, pro LGBT, and don’t share his unquestioning faith in Bibi either. He would be a lot more bearable if he were just honest about the fact that his opinions come from his own biases not some deep rooted faith.

it’s been my experience that those who have the loudest ‘opinions’ about religion are the least secure in their own

or conversely, those secure in their faith tend towards humility

333
Charles Johnson  May 12, 2019 • 11:09:37am
334
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 11:10:43am

re: #332 DangerMan

it’s been my experience that those who have the loudest ‘opinions’ about religion are the least secure in their own

or conversely, those secure in their faith tend towards humility

I don’t like to question people’s faith because that’s one of the things that annoys me about him but I do question how much he really knows if so much of his views are at odds with what the majority of Jews not just in the US but abroad practice. As I said, he’s free to be hostile to choice, LGBT rights, but he frames it as THIS IS JUDAISM and it’s like uh no it’s not. It’s your own bias. And as I said, being a less of a prick would be a great start too. The stupid attempt at humor mocking trans people tweet is a great example.

335
Eric The Fruit Bat  May 12, 2019 • 11:10:43am

re: #259 Anymouse 🌹

re: #255 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

you will both be given a chance to repent

Then we’ll be stoned.

Could be worse….

The Spanish Inquisition - Mel Brooks

336
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 11:11:11am

re: #333 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

I’m shocked! Said no one who knows how right wing grifts work.

337
Dr Lizardo  May 12, 2019 • 11:11:53am

re: #333 Charles Johnson

SurprisedPikachu.jpg
338
BigPapa  May 12, 2019 • 11:12:14am

re: #333 Charles Johnson

it’s the Grift-ularity

339
BigPapa  May 12, 2019 • 11:12:49am

Fibbonacci Grift. Fractal Griffage.

OK I shot my wad.

340
FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀  May 12, 2019 • 11:13:00am

re: #313 Eclectic Cyborg

He’s on a retweet storm again.

Can’t golf because of the weather, and going to hang out in the club bar is out of the question since it’s Mother’s Day

He must be miserable

341
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 11:13:58am

re: #340 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀

Can’t golf because of the weather, and going to hang out in the club bar is out of the question since it’s Mother’s Day

He must be miserable

He probably gasp had to do something nice for Melania today like remember that he’s married to her.

342
Anymouse 🌹  May 12, 2019 • 11:14:33am

re: #330 HappyWarrior

For all his cracks about liberals and safe spaces, he’s the one that lives in one. How else can you be if you assume that someone who thinks it’s barbaric to imprison women over abortion is a “leftist.” I’m really hoping that little show we saw starts cracking the armor at the image he’s made for himself. It showed me what I’ve known about Ben for a long time. There is literally no room for shades of gray in his world. You’re a leftist if oyu don’t share his worldview.

Maybe he can team up with Kevin Williamson and start a nutter shortwave broadcast on the horrors of the liberal agenda.

343
HappyWarrior  May 12, 2019 • 11:16:42am

re: #342 Anymouse 🌹

Maybe he can team up with Kevin Williamson and start a nutter shortwave broadcast on the horrors of the liberal agenda.

Oh man, I forgot about Kevin Williamson and his wanting to hang women who got abortions. And then crying mah free speech when he got called out on it. Yeah Kevin you can believe that, I don’t think you should be jailed over it but I have every right to call you a sexist piece of crap that has no understanding at all about why women get abortions.

344
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 11:17:07am

re: #308 Anymouse 🌹

PIES!

YouTube

345
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 11:19:01am

re: #310 FormerDirtDart 🍕🐀

[Embedded content]

“By social media”?
Really
All of it?

346
Eclectic Cyborg  May 12, 2019 • 11:21:30am

re: #333 Charles Johnson

Wow, and who the fuck could possibly have expected this to happen?

///////

347
DangerMan  May 12, 2019 • 11:32:17am

re: #333 Charles Johnson

[Embedded content]

Classic. A grifter grifting on top of a grift. It’s grifting all the way down.

Jon Cooper

@joncoopertweets
BREAKING: A source close to the Florida man who raised over $22 million on GoFundMe in the “We The People Will Build the Wall” campaign just revealed today that the money has been diverted to pay for a ‘million dollar’ yacht and high-flying lifestyle https://

That $22m that won’t be going to any R candidates


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