John Oliver Fixes His Pitiless Gaze on the “Psychic” Con Game [VIDEO]
Psychics may seem harmless and fun on TV, but they can make a lot of money by exploiting vulnerable people.
Psychics may seem harmless and fun on TV, but they can make a lot of money by exploiting vulnerable people.
Trump is Commander of his Space Force. Created with the LGF Meme Machine https://t.co/OxdTOyskyE via @Green_Footballs pic.twitter.com/15fGNnaQOW
— freetoken fights fecking fascists (@freetoken) February 25, 2019
Trump’s Russian handler Lavrov landed in Vietnam yesterday. Could they make this anymore obvious? No.
We already have socialism in America. Bailing out some farmers while making sure that big corporations pay zero taxes at the expense of the middle class. That’s a form of socialism. Socialism for the big corporations and capitalism for the middle class. Cut the BS please.
— Nmondey Boris Miaka (@Nmondey7) February 25, 2019
re: #5 HappyWarrior
They’re literally supporting another socialist against Maduro.
Of course, one socialist or communist can actually be better than another: for example, the murderous tyrant Pol Pot was a communist and it took the Vietnamese communists to dislodge him.
British Airways flight #BA706 from London (LHR) to Vienna (VIE) has declared a general emergency https://t.co/WXxu8u23Ku pic.twitter.com/6AzX7yPDb8
— International Flight Network (@FlightIntl) February 25, 2019
London to Vienna flight had a declared emergency and appears heading back to landing somewhere in UK.
If you live in San Mateo like I do, and you want to ride on something other than suburban streets or multi-use trails, you have to get over to the other side of 280. My favorite way is to take Crystal Springs Rd. up to where it runs into CA 35, then take that to CA 92, to Canada Rd. The alternative is a boring, constantly uphill slog up Polhemus to the Ralston Trail.
Back at the end of 2010, the Powers That Be closed part of Crystal Springs, where it crossed the Crystal Springs Dam, so they could repair and upgrade the dam. At the time, they promised the road would reopen in 2013.
That didn’t happen.
This was followed by a series of promises to reopen in another year, which also didn’t happen.
FINALLY, the newly rebuilt road over the newly rebuilt dam opened, in January 2019! Then it rained pretty much every weekend, till this weekend. FINALLY, I got to ride on the new road, and take my preferred route over to Canada Road. It’s nice! Mostly like I remembered it, though the joints at each end could have been handled better (bit of a bump to hit at 30 mph on 700x25 tires). Mind you, they didn’t bother fixing the surface of 35 from Bunker Hill down to 92, so it’s 8 years more decayed. But I managed to avoid the worst crumbly asphalt bits.
As I was approaching 92, I thought, “Wasn’t there always a hole somewhere along here that I’d hit every goddam time I rode on here?” and immediately it appeared in front of me, too close to avoid…*WUMP!* Oh, yeah. That one.
Anywho, it’s nice to have that alternative again. It’s prettier, and more fun to ride. If only they’d fix the damn road surface!
Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President, who has done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts,etc.) than almost any other Pres!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019
What a vivid imagination.
re: #123 KGxvi
I understand what he’s saying (and agree to a very large extent). However, from an electoral standpoint, you just can’t do that. A lot of Republican voters, even those who might not approve of Trump will see any sort of comments in that vein as an attack on them personally. It will make it nearly impossible to peel away some of those voters because they’ll internalize it as “[candidate] hates Republicans.”
Go after elected Republicans - remind voters of Trump’s many failures; point out McConnell’s utter hypocrisy and cynicism; beat Romney and Rubio and Cruz over the head with the fact that they have sold out every single one of their alleged principles to support the unmitigated disaster that is the Trump Administration.
Quoted from the previous thread. I agree that the media response to (D) candidates calling out the Republican party for being incapable of governance would be fierce opposition. And naturally Republican voters would squeal like stuck pigs at this characterization of their party.
However, there comes a time when truth-telling is required, and the simple truth is that the Republican party as a whole is garbage. Trump is a perfect representative of the party. He is not some strange outlier. Trump is a synthesis of all negative human qualities, and that is precisely why he won the 2016 GOP primary. That is the central fact of 21st century US politics, for now. Elected Republicans are the flaming hot dumpster fires that they are because their GOP constituents like that in their representatives.
IMO, any democrat who can bring back the “give ‘em Hell, Harry” approach to running for office will serve well.
Every hour or so, I remember we have a POTUS who just makes up some bullshit and pulls it out of his ass (even about something as serious as military aid) and everyone’s just like, “La la la, Trump is fibbing again,” and I think, what happened to America? https://t.co/yw4d4V3PaG
— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) February 25, 2019
re: #9 DodgerFan1988
[Embedded content]
What a vivid imagination.
1) Everything is about Trump.
2) Spike Lee is black, so everything he says is racist, unless it’s something nice about Trump.
3) Everything is about Trump.
re: #8 Blind Frog Belly White
700x25?!? How cushy do you need things, whippersnapper?
700x23 or nothing!
re: #13 Jebediah, RBG
700x25?!? How cushy do you need things, whippersnapper?
700x23 or nothing!
Clydesdale, so it’s 700 x 25s for me!
re: #13 Jebediah, RBG
700x25?!? How cushy do you need things, whippersnapper?
700x23 or nothing!
re: #14 Blind Frog Belly White
Clydesdale, so it’s 700 x 25s for me!
You guys are as old fashioned as I am.
Why, back 20 years ago, racers were on 700x18 at 180 psi. 700x25 was for touring. Now there are ‘Gravel Bikes’. For dirt roads. I used to do those on 27x1 1/4. With center pull brakes. Now it’s 700x28-48, with hydraulic disc brakes.
I’m selling my bikeshop, getting out. Oh, wait, I already did. I should still be celebrating.
re: #14 Blind Frog Belly White
Of course, I was just joshing. 23’s or smaller at 110 psi or more are great for racing but not at all that comfortable for anything else, clydesdale or not.
I do my commuting to work on an old Stumpjumper with tires quite a bit bigger than 23mm!
re: #10 EPR-radar
Quoted from the previous thread. I agree that the media response to (D) candidates calling out the Republican party for being incapable of governance would be fierce opposition. And naturally Republican voters would squeal like stuck pigs at this characterization of their party.
However, there comes a time when truth-telling is required, and the simple truth is that the Republican party as a whole is garbage. Trump is a perfect representative of the party. He is not some strange outlier. Trump is a synthesis of all negative human qualities, and that is precisely why he won the 2016 GOP primary. That is the central fact of 21st century US politics, for now. Elected Republicans are the flaming hot dumpster fires that they are because their GOP constituents like that in their representatives.
IMO, any democrat who can bring back the “give ‘em Hell, Harry” approach to running for office will serve well.
That is certainly true — but remember that the one time Hillary actually got real coverage for her comments was when she described half of Trump voters as deplorable. She was right BUT to win an election, you attack the opposition candidate and not their supporters. In red and purplish districts, you have to make voters think that they are innocents (instead of unindicted co-conspirators) who are being harmed personally and misled by the evil liars on the other side. People don’t want to think that they themselves are evil for supporting a candidate — you have to make them think that the candidate has deceived them and harmed them.
re: #2 freetoken
SHOT and CHASER pic.twitter.com/tUVdzNppLp
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) February 25, 2019
re: #15 wrenchwench
Centerpull brakes! This stumpjumper came with them originally. I didn’t really enjoy adjusting them all that much. Eventually I got V brakes, which felt like a huge improvement to me. The stumpy is now on it’s third fork, this one has studs for mounting a disc brake, so I have a disc in front and v brake in the back. 99% of the time the the back brake is unhooked cuz what help is it going to give the front disc? I keep it there for times when I let the pads wear out too much but that’s about it.
A car stopped kind of suddenly in front of me this morning and it didn’t even take a very hard squeeze to do a nice stoppie - water bottle fell out and everything. It was pretty damn close to an instant stop.
re: #19 Jebediah, RBG
Centerpull brakes! This stumpjumper came with them originally. I didn’t really enjoy adjusting them all that much. Eventually I got V brakes, which felt like a huge improvement to me. The stumpy is now on it’s third fork, this one has studs for mounting a disc brake, so I have a disc in front and v brake in the back. 99% of the time the the back brake is unhooked cuz what help is it going to give the front disc? I keep it there for times when I let the pads wear out too much but that’s about it.
A car stopped kind of suddenly in front of me this morning and it didn’t even take a very hard squeeze to do a nice stoppie - water bottle fell out and everything. It was pretty damn close to an instant stop.
You had cantilevers. The cable pulled from the center, but ‘centerpulls’ are old fashioned road brakes.
Disc/V combo is good. Keep the V hooked up for you-never-know-when. Could be the disc pads get contaminated and you don’t know it until you need to stop the way you did. Good job.
I have come to hate suspension forks. They are always the first thing to need replacement. Sometimes also the second and third. And they add too much weight.
re: #7 lawhawk
#BA706 update: Diverting to Stansted due to technical issue. https://t.co/jatPosqaIv
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 25, 2019
It appears the flight has landed. Smoke issue on board.
re: #10 EPR-radar
Quoted from the previous thread. I agree that the media response to (D) candidates calling out the Republican party for being incapable of governance would be fierce opposition. And naturally Republican voters would squeal like stuck pigs at this characterization of their party.
However, there comes a time when truth-telling is required, and the simple truth is that the Republican party as a whole is garbage. Trump is a perfect representative of the party. He is not some strange outlier. Trump is a synthesis of all negative human qualities, and that is precisely why he won the 2016 GOP primary. That is the central fact of 21st century US politics, for now. Elected Republicans are the flaming hot dumpster fires that they are because their GOP constituents like that in their representatives.
IMO, any democrat who can bring back the “give ‘em Hell, Harry” approach to running for office will serve well.
I just think there’s a better way to convince people to vote for you than calling them terrible human beings. In most presidential cycles, the base for each major party nominee is about 40%. Figure about 3-5% going to third party candidates. That leaves somewhere in the neighborhood of 17-20% of the electorate up for grabs. In most elections, that 17-20% is going to break fairly evenly for whatever reason which is why most presidential elections have the winner somewhere between 48% and 53%. If you want to approach the ‘64, ‘72, ‘84 type landslide numbers, you’re going to need to convince an overwhelming majority of that 17-20% that they should vote for you. Telling half of them that they’re terrible people isn’t going to get the job done.
Again, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be said. But it needs to be someone who isn’t running for president, ideally a “liberal dean of the Senate” type would make sense. Someone not necessarily in leadership but who is seen as someone that the party respects. I’m just not sure who that would be today - a few years ago, I could see someone like Ted Kennedy being able to say something like that.
re: #20 wrenchwench
Yeah, I realized my mistake after I posted. And it was the road bike brakes that I don’t enjoy adjusting. Cantilevers aren’t too bad. (at least, its less fussy than repacking cup and cone wheel bearings. Fuddy duddy I may be, but for a road bike I like them much better than the sealed replaceable bearing type. Coasting downhill, my old fashioned wheels out-rolled all the super expensive bikes every time.)
And you are of course right about the back brake. I will hook it up for my ride home tonight. As for suspension forks, I don’t mind the extra weight - I’m not racing and the extra work helps counter act some of the donuts. Also sometimes the LA streets are more pothole than pavement.
You don’t need to be a national security official to see that this is a simply stunning abuse of executive power.
So. Now what? https://t.co/7TKF08a6M7— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) February 25, 2019
re: #22 lawhawk
[Embedded content]
It appears the flight has landed. Smoke issue on board.
Were some Brexiteers trying to figure out which is their ass and which is their elbow?
re: #22 lawhawk
[Embedded content]
It appears the flight has landed. Smoke issue on board.
International Distress Calls:
May Day = Impending emergency
May Day, May Day = Disaster
Theresa May = Total catastrophe— Stansaid Airport (@StansaidAirport) February 17, 2019
re: #4 jaunte
Not to mention the Socialism of giving away $ Billions of taxpayer dollars to lackey private companies to build a phony wall.
re: #23 KGxvi
I just think there’s a better way to convince people to vote for you than calling them terrible human beings…..
Again, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be said. But it needs to be someone who isn’t running for president, ideally a “liberal dean of the Senate” type would make sense. Someone not necessarily in leadership but who is seen as someone that the party respects. I’m just not sure who that would be today - a few years ago, I could see someone like Ted Kennedy being able to say something like that.
There are still many of us older ones who remember Chappaquiddick and perhaps some younger ones who saw the recent film who might not consider Ted Kennedy a moral authority on anything. You need someone with a spotless reputation and name recognition who can demonize the policies of the other side — perhaps without demonizing the opponents (yes — they do deserve to be called out — but I’m not sure how effective that is in persuading them to vote for you.)
That’s not a story. That’s baffling w/bs.
The cost of doing nothing is higher. Namely that the planet will be fine but the people and entire ecosystem will be trashed - a self-imposed extinction event.— lawhawk (@lawhawk) February 25, 2019
re: #31 Hecuba’s daughter
There are still many of us older ones who remember Chappaquiddick and perhaps some younger ones who saw the recent film who might not consider Ted Kennedy a moral authority on anything. You need someone with a spotless reputation and name recognition who can demonize the policies of the other side — perhaps without demonizing the opponents (yes — they do deserve to be called out — but I’m not sure how effective that is in persuading them to vote for you.)
John Lewis.
re: #31 Hecuba’s daughter
That’s fair, and towards the end of his life, the Republicans did like to bring up Chappaquiddick quite a bit.
Trump claims Ivanka created millions of jobs, when her business was essentially running the real estate biz her dad inherited, and her clothing line offshored to China to maximize her profits.
American jobs she created? ~0. https://t.co/kddZeGIapd— lawhawk (@lawhawk) February 25, 2019
My ride yesterday was on my most modern bike, a CF Bianchi 928 from 2006. Only 10 speeds, cable shifting, dual-pivot sidepull brakes. Practically a dinosaur, and at 18 lbs, a boat anchor!
re: #37 Blind Frog Belly White
My ride yesterday was on my most modern bike, a CF Bianchi 928 from 2006. Only 10 speeds, cable shifting, dual-pivot sidepull brakes. Practically a dinosaur, and at 18 lbs, a boat anchor!
I give it 2 onions.
re: #31 Hecuba’s daughter
There are still many of us older ones who remember Chappaquiddick and perhaps some younger ones who saw the recent film who might not consider Ted Kennedy a moral authority on anything. You need someone with a spotless reputation and name recognition who can demonize the policies of the other side — perhaps without demonizing the opponents (yes — they do deserve to be called out — but I’m not sure how effective that is in persuading them to vote for you.)
I’d like to see an institution, not a person, for this. Imagine something like a Fox News of the left, having as its primary mission relentless criticism of Republicans. However, unlike Fox News, this relentless criticism of Republicans would be done by scrupulously sticking to the truth.
That at least would go a long way toward balancing out the media, which is presently either GOP lying propaganda (Fox News) or the only slightly less dishonest both-siderist pablum.
re: #40 Blind Frog Belly White
Would those be Cipollini onions?
Are those the ones that would show up on a blood test?
One of my bikes is a 1996 Ritchey Road Logic, with 7410 Dura Ace kit. 8 speeds. I got it for cheap in 1997 when 9 speed Dura Ace came out. Over the 22 years I’ve owned it, I’ve toyed with upgrading it to 10 or 11 speeds, but I’m afraid it won’t look or work as nice anymore.
re: #41 wrenchwench
Are those the ones that would show up on a blood test?
They’re the ones that grow in the flats, but die in the mountains.
re: #37 Blind Frog Belly White
My ride yesterday was on my most modern bike, a CF Bianchi 928 from 2006. Only 10 speeds, cable shifting, dual-pivot sidepull brakes. Practically a dinosaur, and at 18 lbs, a boat anchor!
Boat anchor! Jeez I guess I will have to weigh my stumpjumper when I get home. Maybe it would approach 18 pounds with the wheels off but probably not.
I don’t trust electric shifters, no sir. You’ll have to pry my cable shifters from my cold, dead ha—wait a minute, I’m not that committed. I won’t literally die to keep them. But I would endure mocking and/or stern words to keep them.
ETA: regarding dinosaurness, this stumpjumper is from 1995.
re: #43 Blind Frog Belly White
They’re the ones that grow in the flats, but die in the mountains.
LLOL! (literal laugh out loud)
what happened to pence’s promise to beat venezuela to death on concrete steps today??
re: #44 Jebediah, RBG
ETA: regarding dinosaurness, this stumpjumper is from 1995.
That’s the year of my Schwinn. Suspension forks were optional on some models. I got one with. Changed it out later.
re: #39 EPR-radar
I’d like to see an institution, not a person, for this. Imagine something like a Fox News of the left, having as its primary mission relentless criticism of Republicans. However, unlike Fox News, this relentless criticism of Republicans would be done by scrupulously sticking to the truth.
We used to have something like that. But then Ted Turner sold out to Time Warner, and the rest is history.
re: #15 wrenchwench
Why, back 20 years ago, racers were on 700x18 at 180 psi. 700x25 was for touring. Now there are ‘Gravel Bikes’. For dirt roads. I used to do those on 27x1 1/4. With center pull brakes. Now it’s 700x28-48, with hydraulic disc brakes.
Up in the upper lower peninsula of Michigan, fat-tire bikes rule for some odd reason.
My bike is a Giant Cypress DX - 21 speeds with disc brakes and 700mm tires.
re: #49 sagehen
We used to have something like that. But then Ted Turner sold out to Time Warner, and the rest is history.
MSNBC somewhat fills this role. Every time the network moguls try to sabotage things by creating a show with a RW talking head, the show fails or you end up with a Nicole Wallace who has essentially switched sides. Liberals are more interested in a left leaning network, not a propaganda channel.
re: #39 EPR-radar
I’d like to see an institution, not a person, for this. Imagine something like a Fox News of the left, having as its primary mission relentless criticism of Republicans. However, unlike Fox News, this relentless criticism of Republicans would be done by scrupulously sticking to the truth.
That at least would go a long way toward balancing out the media, which is presently either GOP lying propaganda (Fox News) or the only slightly less dishonest both-siderist pablum.
Isn’t that what MSNBC has become, especially at night?
They have taken over some of the ratings lead from 6 to 11 PM from Fox.
Their one problem is not everyone gets them unlike FOX News.
Surly they are seen as the liberal media by FOX and others.
Meanwhile in Helsinki, Finland 🇫🇮 pic.twitter.com/BhZw9acoTs
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 25, 2019
Where’s teleskiguy?
So, we’re all probably aware that the big MegaMillions prize ticket in SC has yet to be turned in, leaving the $1.6B annuity in limbo.
But winning tickets go unclaimed all the time. Example:
One week left to claim $1M Mega Millions ticket sold in Ypsilanti
There’s only a week left for the winner of a $1 million Mega Millions prize to claim the big pile of cash!
A lucky player matched the five white balls - 24-28-42-60-64 - drawn March 2, 2018 to win $1 million. The player purchased the winning ticket at the CVS Pharmacy, located at 3090 Carpenter Road in Ypsilanti.
[…]
If the prize isn’t claimed before the ticket expires, the money will go to the state School Aid Fund. It would be the second major prize to go unclaimed in 2019. In January, a $250,000 Powerball prize went unclaimed.
[…]
What a shame.
There will be so many opportunities for President Racist Grandpa to embarrass America on this trip. So we have that to look forward to. https://t.co/xEcODf2QqC
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) February 25, 2019
re: #10 EPR-radar
IMO, any democrat who can bring back the “give ‘em Hell, Harry” approach to running for office will serve well.
I never gave anyone Hell. I just told them the truth and they thought it was Hell. - Harry Truman.
Another one:
UNCLAIMED PRIZE ALERT! There are only a few days left to claim a $10K #MegaMillions prize won during the Sept. 4 drawing. It must be claimed by 5 p.m on March 1. The winning ticket was purchased at More 4 Less in Lake Charles. Check your tickets! DETAILS: https://t.co/agJuQBaeRx pic.twitter.com/G8gAhuoACc
— Louisiana Lottery (@LALottery) February 25, 2019
I wonder how many winning tickets are bought by people who die before they can turn in the ticket, and the survivors just throw away all the dead person’s things without realizing they are throwing away money.
This is a lie: https://t.co/rzophZfjmS
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) February 25, 2019
re: #55 Charles Johnson
look, I can’t give you South Korea, but you want California? They’re a bunch of fucking commies, anyway
Apropos of the earlier mention of the White Savior:
Finally, a movie about a black woman who made history and a white guy who took all the credit. pic.twitter.com/aAcGA9SFLq
— Late Night with Seth Meyers (@LateNightSeth) February 22, 2019
re: #63 Belafon
It’s a skit from Seth Meyers ragging on how movies about blacks overcoming racism and bigotry have a white guy who does something minor to claim the credit for ending racism (like adjusting the microphone, or standing up to a bigot, etc.)
re: #63 Belafon
What’s in the picture?
It is a link to Late Night with Seth Meyers skit, about the absurdity of movies with “White Saviors”. Well worth a watch, look up Seth Meyers White Savior in Youtube.
he is so full of shit
It is my honor today to announce that Danny Burch, a United States citizen who has been held hostage in Yemen for 18 months, has been recovered and reunited with his wife and children. I appreciate the support of the United Arab Emirates in bringing Danny home…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019
…our foreign partners. Recovering American hostages is a priority of my Admin, and with Danny’s release, we have now secured freedom for 20 American captives since my election victory. We will not rest as we continue our work to bring the remaining American hostages back home!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019
and the moron has not got the first clue how things work
China Trade Deal (and more) in advanced stages. Relationship between our two Countries is very strong. I have therefore agreed to delay U.S. tariff hikes. Let’s see what happens?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019
Heading over to Vietnam for my meeting with Kim Jong Un. Looking forward to a very productive Summit!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019
Another unclaimed million dollar ticket with a deadline that is nearing, in Iowa:
I do wonder what happened… don’t people check their tickets? Or maybe they really did die, and nobody who cleaned up after them bothered to look?
re: #67 freetoken
Another unclaimed million dollar ticket with a deadline that is nearing, in Iowa:
I do wonder what happened… don’t people check their tickets? Or maybe they really did die, and nobody who cleaned up after them bothered to look?
Lot of tickets are bought by people on a beer replenishment run. Or so I’ve heard.
We’ve lost a true patriot. Jill was a dear friend and I am in absolute shock over her loss. https://t.co/o4JaK7rHNI
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) February 25, 2019
re: #68 Decatur Deb
Lot of tickets are bought by people on a beer replenishment run. Or so I’ve heard.
And they lose the ticket on their way home?
Illinois has some large unclaimed prizes too:
They’ve got a million dollar ticket which expires in May, and a two million dollar ticket which expires in June.
re: #66 Backwoods_Sleuth
I want the Twilight Zone where as soon as Trump touches Vietnamese soil it’s 1968 and he’s a buck private.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 25, 2019
Voila! The ingredients for life on Earth. 🌎Astrobiologists have recreated their own mini seafloor vents: where life started in the ocean 4 billion years ago. This new study offers clues to how life started on Earth & where else we might find it. Dive in: https://t.co/Ed33In4aN1 pic.twitter.com/k0aH2FELLj
— NASA (@NASA) February 25, 2019
re: #60 Backwoods_Sleuth
[Embedded content]
He didn’t even mention Trump by name but President Ragebaby & his cult are upset.
re: #55 Charles Johnson
[Embedded content]
He’s going to say we would have won in Vietnam if he had been President or something that disrespects Vietnam vets.
re: #74 HappyWarrior
He’ll be sure to insult veterans on both sides.
re: #70 freetoken
And they lose the ticket on their way home?
Illinois has some large unclaimed prizes too:
They’ve got a million dollar ticket which expires in May, and a two million dollar ticket which expires in June.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these lost tickets are people seeing they didn’t hit the “mega/power” number and figuring “oh well, guess I didn’t win the jackpot” and not realizing there are other significant prizes available.
re: #75 jaunte
He’ll be sure to insult veterans on both sides.
He’s deporting Vietnam vets, as a matter of fact.
I never realized before how much money is left on the table, in regards to US lotteries.
This story is a couple of years old, but the numbers are staggering:
Have a Powerball ticket? You’d better check it carefully
Odds are that there will be a million-dollar winner in this week’s Powerball lottery who will never know they won.
About $2 billion in lottery prizes go unclaimed every year. Many of those tickets are worth between $1 and $5, but some folks never realize that they have a life-changing prize in their pocket.
Roughly 114 prizes worth $1 million or more went unclaimed in 2015, according to Brett Jacobson. He developed an app called Lotto Lotto that alerts lottery players if they have a winning ticket. The app will soon work with retailers in every state that participates in the lottery to make claiming rewards easier for winners.
[…]
re: #71 jaunte
I want the Twilight Zone where as soon as Trump touches Vietnamese soil it’s 1968 and he’s a buck private.
Went to the doc for a cortisone shot today. He had a hard time getting it into the ankle:
“Sorry, a lot of bone spurs in there”
“Didn’t keep me from getting drafted.”
re: #71 jaunte
Nah, give me the version where he’s Viet Cong.
re: #76 KGxvi
From the story I linked:
There actually tend to be more unclaimed prizes associated with a massive drawing like the current estimated $1.5 billion prize, he says. That’s because when people hear that they didn’t hit the big jackpot, they often neglect to check whether they won any smaller prizes, according to Jacobson.
“People don’t even realize there are secondary prizes,” he said.
re: #47 wrenchwench
That’s the year of my Schwinn. Suspension forks were optional on some models. I got one with. Changed it out later.
Hello, fellow dinosaur rider!
(I apologize for asking, I know you have discussed it, but my memory is terrible and I can’t remember - have you been able to ride lately?)
re: #82 KGxvi
I don’t think they have pajamas in his size.
CNN ran a similar story a couple of years later (last year) with same expert Jacobson, with updated numbers:
Why billions of dollars in lottery prizes go unclaimed
There are literally billions of dollars in unclaimed lottery prizes each year, according to research from lottery expert Brett Jacobson. He collects data from every state lottery commission for a lottery app he runs, and his data shows there were $2.89 billion in unclaimed lottery prizes in the 12 months ending June 2017.
Eric Trump says the Trump Org goes to “great lengths to discourage foreign govt patronage at our properties.” But the company saw foreign govt profits rise nearly 30% over 2017, with visits at its DC hotel from the Malaysian PM, Saudi-linked firms & more. https://t.co/Pwpf1c1GoT
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) February 25, 2019
re: #71 jaunte
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I wonder what would make a great Trump Twilight Zone episode.
The one where the old man makes a deal with the (she)Devil to be young again and then ends up poor because he couldn’t wait to make the “great” deals; that’d be a bit too much on point.
There’s plenty of “he wakes up and is suddenly [insert group he’s demonized here]” options.
I think this deserves some real thought.
re: #86 freetoken
CNN ran a similar story a couple of years later (last year) with same expert Jacobson, with updated numbers:
I am certainly one of these people — I probably lost over 5 dollars over the past 10 years!
re: #88 KGxvi
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I wonder what would make a great Trump Twilight Zone episode.
The one where the old man makes a deal with the (she)Devil to be young again and then ends up poor because he couldn’t wait to make the “great” deals; that’d be a bit too much on point.
There’s plenty of “he wakes up and is suddenly [insert group he’s demonized here]” options.
I think this deserves some real thought.
How about one where he wakes up and no one knows who he is?
re: #84 Jebediah, RBG
I have a Trek 820. Can I join the club?
re: #90 HappyWarrior
How about one where he wakes up and no one knows who he is?
Wish I lived in that world.
Nothing about this man is entertaining or interesting. I am in full agreement with the idea of the Democratic nominee just running against Pence, assuming that Individual-1 won’t be there.
I’m also in agreement with them simply calling a spade a spade and referring to Trumpers as what they are. None of them will vote Democrat anyway. And if calling them what they are inspires more to turn out and vote for them, it’s a positive.
Trump suddenly loses his ability to speak or tweet.
re: #93 Renaissance_Man
Wish I lived in that world.
Nothing about this man is entertaining or interesting. I am in full agreement with the idea of the Democratic nominee just running against Pence, assuming that Individual-1 won’t be there.
I’m also in agreement with them simply calling a spade a spade and referring to Trumpers as what they are. None of them will vote Democrat anyway. And if calling them what they are inspires more to turn out and vote for them, it’s a positive.
Seriously he’s one of the most repugnant people I’ve ever seen.
re: #94 HappyWarrior
Trump suddenly loses his ability to speak or tweet.
Isn’t he most of the way there already?
re: #94 HappyWarrior
We should be that lucky.
re: #92 HappyWarrior
How about one where he wakes up and no one knows who he is?
everyone knows who he is, they just don’t care
re: #91 plansbandc
I have a Trek 820. Can I join the club?
I don’t know how old that bike is, so it might not be a dinosaur. But of course you can join! Membership requirements are just a) ride a bike and b) don’t be a jerk so you’re in!
Happens every fuckin mornin pic.twitter.com/cOgmrP19Ai
— Nathan (@nkg_67) February 24, 2019
i’ve been busy today. still i couldnt pass this up from cnn via politicalwire.com
President Trump said in a speech this morning discussed the need for training programs and claimed that his daughter, Ivanka, has created millions of jobs in her business.
Said Trump: “I don’t know if anyone knows that, but she’s created millions of jobs.”
CNN: “No matter how you spin it, that’s not true.”
once again, sooooo close, cause ‘spin’ don’t enter into it:
CNN: “That is a lie.”
oh, and in other news, Janet Yellen said that Trump doesn’t have a good grasp of:
- economic policy
- what The Fed does
- and that there is ‘no real meaning’ to ‘bilateral trade deficits’
(she could have used moronic or asinine for my taste)
re: #100 Jebediah, RBG
It was born in ‘92, so it’s still pretty young. :D
re: #88 KGxvi
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I wonder what would make a great Trump Twilight Zone episode.
The one where the old man makes a deal with the (she)Devil to be young again and then ends up poor because he couldn’t wait to make the “great” deals; that’d be a bit too much on point.
There’s plenty of “he wakes up and is suddenly [insert group he’s demonized here]” options.
I think this deserves some real thought.
Trump admits on tape that he’s a fraud, ripping off the rubes, a la Lonesome Rhodes.
Another theory re: Lottery tickets
People probably misread the numbers a lot of the time and don’t even realize they won.
re: #88 KGxvi
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I wonder what would make a great Trump Twilight Zone episode.
The one where the old man makes a deal with the (she)Devil to be young again and then ends up poor because he couldn’t wait to make the “great” deals; that’d be a bit too much on point.
There’s plenty of “he wakes up and is suddenly [insert group he’s demonized here]” options.
I think this deserves some real thought.
Or he wakes up, realizes it was just a dream and he’s still an old, rich narcissistic asshole and is happier then ever…until he notices that he woke up inside of a prison cell.
re: #102 dangerman-call me sandy, not a drink named Steve
i’ve been busy today. still i couldnt pass this up from cnn via politicalwire.com
once again, sooooo close, cause ‘spin’ don’t enter into it:
CNN: “That is a lie.”
The ridiculous part about that whole episode is just the collective “eye roll, move on” because he’s so thoroughly normalized a certain level of lying.
“But it is uncertain how much progress toward denuclearization Mr. Trump is prepared to demand from Mr. Kim in exchange for a declaration of peace that would stop short of replacing the 1953 armistice.” Via @shearm https://t.co/TNTHpk6JPe
— Michael Tackett (@tackettdc) February 25, 2019
Sources who have seen the surveillance video say it is unquestionably Kraft and they don’t expect him to dispute the charges (although he could plead down). Again, Kraft’s attorneys deny he broke any laws.
— T.J. Quinn (@TJQuinnESPN) February 25, 2019
re: #92 HappyWarrior
How about one where he wakes up and no one knows who he is?
Doc and Marty find the sports almanac and take it away from Biff.
— Racism WatchDog (@RacismDog) February 25, 2019
re: #109 Mike Lamb
The ridiculous part about that whole episode is just the collective “eye roll, move on” because he’s so thoroughly normalized a certain level of lying.
The question is has he normalized it or have we all just collectively recognized it doesn’t matter because he lacks any sense of shame. Calling someone a liar only matters if they understand on some basic level that lying is not acceptable or is otherwise shameful.
Trump, however, is a sociopathic, narcissistic, pathological liar. Calling him a liar won’t change is behavior.
re: #84 Jebediah, RBG
Hello, fellow dinosaur rider!
(I apologize for asking, I know you have discussed it, but my memory is terrible and I can’t remember - have you been able to ride lately?)
No ‘pology nec. I have had permission to ride for a long while. I did ride some, back when I had a bike shop. Only the weather has been impeding my riding now. (Also, my running.) My bike is covered, then covered again when the cold wind removes the cover. The weather has to be extremely tempting before I will ride. I might make myself run today or tomorrow….
Rasmussen doing some heavy lifting on the RCP polling average. Rasmussen’s latest has his approval at 49-49, none of the other listed polls have him above 46% approval or below 51% disapproval. All by itself, that Rasmussen poll takes the average approval rating from 43.5 to 44.1% and the spread from -9.5 to -8.5%.
A migrant woman miscarried her baby boy in ICE custody https://t.co/DYUN3tkwpV
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 25, 2019
Where’s the outrage from the so-called Pro-Lifers?
re: #114 KGxvi
The question is has he normalized it or have we all just collectively recognized it doesn’t matter because he lacks any sense of shame. Calling someone a liar only matters if they understand on some basic level that lying is not acceptable or is otherwise shameful.
Trump, however, is a sociopathic, narcissistic, pathological liar. Calling him a liar won’t change is behavior.
Well, the media hasn’t ever really called him a liar, so I don’t think it is related to whether he possesses a sense of shame.
re: #118 DodgerFan1988
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Where’s the outrage from the so-called Pro-Lifers?
“It was God’s will for the baby to die.”
re: #118 DodgerFan1988
[Embedded content]
Where’s the outrage from the so-called Pro-Lifers?
They only care about the life of white American fetuses. Nothing else. Exception: Many Roman Catholics do care about the babies and those of other races, except for Roman Catholics who support Trump.
According to reports, Dan Scavino, who now serves as Trump’s social media director, knew Trump’s clubs were hiring undocumented workers while he was the club’s general manager of Westchester County golf club.@highbrow_nobrow https://t.co/J801OeY1OL
— Cheri Jacobus (@CheriJacobus) February 25, 2019
Trump campaign staffer says he gave her unwanted kiss on her mouth before Florida rally in 2016. “I can still see his lips coming straight for my face,” Alva Johnson told the Post. White House denies it happened. With @Alice_Crites https://t.co/buYmiY9rKb
— Beth Reinhard (@bethreinhard) February 25, 2019
re: #124 MsJ
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Oh God, the comments. So many people in this country are deplorable assholes.
re: #58 freetoken
I wonder how many winning tickets are bought by people who die before they can turn in the ticket, and the survivors just throw away all the dead person’s things without realizing they are throwing away money.
The first half of that scenario is the premise of “Waking Ned Devine”. The second half isn’t.
re: #118 DodgerFan1988
[Embedded content]
Where’s the outrage from the so-called Pro-Lifers?
re: #118 DodgerFan1988
[Embedded content]
Where’s the outrage from the so-called Pro-Lifers?
In a statement, ICE explained that the incident was not revealed to the public for three days because, for investigative and reporting purposes, “a stillbirth is not considered an in-custody death.” If it were, this would be the first such death of a person in ICE custody in 2019, and the third minor to die in an immigration agency’s custody since December.
So by their definition, a 27-week fetus IS NOT A PERSON. They said so. Right there.
re: #124 MsJ
Man, it’s hard to keep track of all these assholes and their denials lately.
One reason House Republicans are citing to oppose the resolution to overturn President Trump’s national emergency declaration is they haven’t had time to review the bill. It is one page and about 70-80 words: https://t.co/1BkbT1meKu
— Susan Davis (@DaviSusan) February 25, 2019
re: #122 Dread Pirate Whitebeard
That’s a pattern of hiring that would open him, and Trump, up to criminal charges and huge fines. You can be fined up to $3,000 per employee and/or imprisoned for up to six months.
I’m not American, so please answer this. What do poor rural Republican voters actually really want?
They turn up to MAGA rallies in their hordes, then celebrate losing health insurance, and cheer rich people getting tax breaks.
The Dems will never take their guns and bibles…— Stu Cameron (@stucam7771) February 24, 2019
They want a genocide of undocumented immigrants. I’ve seen their “One Bullet, One Illegal” comments all over Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
re: #131 DodgerFan1988
[Embedded content]
They want a genocide of undocumented immigrants. I’ve seen their “One Bullet, One Illegal” comments all over Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
They want to see the people they’ve been trained to hate suffer.
This includes other races, foreigners, LGBT, liberals, and Democrats. Mostly it’s anyone their media sources tell them to hate.
This is why they will always support Trumpism. Because it always gives them exactly what they want.
re: #131 DodgerFan1988
[Embedded content]
They want a genocide of undocumented immigrants. I’ve seen their “One Bullet, One Illegal” comments all over Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
What do they actually want? The world to turn backwards on its axis until it’s 1955 again and they’re either leading the lynch mob or too young to know what the mob is doing.
re: #131 DodgerFan1988
They want to feel superior to other people without actually BEING superior.
re: #135 The Vicious Babushka
The Trump Foundation was shut down, not the Trump Organization. The Foundation was the “charity” that they “ran.” The Organization is the business that’s still running.
re: #136 KGxvi
The Trump Foundation was shut down, not the Trump Organization. The Foundation was the “charity” that they “ran.” The Organization is the business that’s still running.
Yeah I realized that and deleted the Tweet.
re: #134 Eclectic Cyborg
They want to feel superior to other people without actually BEING superior.
That’s actually fairly accurate. I remember a few years ago having an online discussion with someone from the rural areas and said something along the lines of “you guys say you have these problems, we in the urban areas are offering help/solutions to your problems” and her response was “we don’t want your help.” Which pretty much left me dumbfounded, because what the fuck are you supposed to do with that?
re: #138 The Vicious Babushka
However I am sure they owe much more than $191K.
Oh, without a doubt… I’m guessing the cut (at least) a zero off the back end of that number.
re: #131 DodgerFan1988
They want a system that constantly informs them that only they matter, that their feelings are important and those of others are not, that their sense of safety matters so much that others can suffer and die arbitrarily to achieve it, that their ideas are valid simply because they believe them.
In short, they want a cosmos in which their in-group (us) defines the value of everything and other standards of what are right, true, valuable, divine are the tools of out-group conspirators (them) to drag the in-group down.
And make no mistake…that they don’t make sense and that their goals don’t really translate to meaningful ends is part of the point. This whole culture elevates aesthetics and sentimentality…as long as it is their versions of those things…as a source of profound Truth.
Also make no mistake that their definition of “us”—the in-group—does not have static borders, and will contract when opportunity presents itself, because whether they consciously realize or not, they need an out-group.
re: #119 Mike Lamb
Well, the media hasn’t ever really called him a liar, so I don’t think it is related to whether he possesses a sense of shame.
There is one guy in the media that calls Trump a liar often. So much so he takes pride in it.
And he has been so good at it Trump doesn’t even call him names or fake or anything.
Lawrence O’Donnell.
I comment because I like the idea that Lawrence calls ‘em out.
Example.
re: #139 KGxvi
That’s actually fairly accurate. I remember a few years ago having an online discussion with someone from the rural areas and said something along the lines of “you guys say you have these problems, we in the urban areas are offering help/solutions to your problems” and her response was “we don’t want your help.” Which pretty much left me dumbfounded, because what the fuck are you supposed to do with that?
They think they are bootstrappers while they get subsidized phone, schools, roads, even property tax. Seriously they have cognitive disabilities.
re: #139 KGxvi
That’s actually fairly accurate. I remember a few years ago having an online discussion with someone from the rural areas and said something along the lines of “you guys say you have these problems, we in the urban areas are offering help/solutions to your problems” and her response was “we don’t want your help.” Which pretty much left me dumbfounded, because what the fuck are you supposed to do with that?
They want our tax dollars though. Rural America operates on a myth of self reliance when in fact they take far more than they give.
re: #143 Old Liberal
There’s the both sides factor as well. Pleanty of people get that the Republicans are shit, but also believe that the Democratic are just as bad. So they don’t vote or they do vote, but the choice is essentially a coin flip.
re: #144 goddamnedfrank
They also rely on a myth in which they fail financially because everyone else is stealing.*
You know, standard Dolchstoßlegende.
*stealing more, and first, thus justifying their own stealing.
re: #145 Weaselone
There’s the both sides factor as well. Pleanty of people get that the Republicans are shit, but also believe that the Democratic are just as bad. So they don’t vote or they do vote, but the choice is essentially a coin flip.
I have not been impressed with the intellectual strength of non-voters while I was canvassing. Gonna have to find something they get if they go vote.
re: #141 The Ghost of Quesos Past
Speaking of Fascism, I realize we’re long past the pretending phase, but surely this takes it to a whole new level:
“We were the first to assert that the more complicated the forms assumed by civilization, the more restricted the freedom of the individual must become.” Benito Mussolini
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) February 24, 2019
OK, I can take all this ragging on the rural people. I just have to keep reminding myself,
we’re too rural for ‘rural’. We’re ‘frontier’.
and
…they never mean New Mexico. We aren’t ‘rural Americans’.
re: #144 goddamnedfrank
They want our tax dollars though. Rural America operates on a myth of self reliance when in fact they take far more than they give.
Which their elected officials happily oblige them on and give them reason after reason to be assholes to people who live in cities. I hear a lot of crap about urban and coastal elites from pundits but never the bs superiority complex rural and homozygous communities have.
There’s s a guy here at the school where my son is taking piano lessons with a shirt that says “The second amendment because the founding fathers didn’t use the first amendment to defeat the British.” Um, they didn’t use the second amendment either
re: #148 Interesting Times
I don’t even know how to react, but on multiple levels. I mean, I don’t even understand what Benito’s trying to say; it’s just a Barnum statement. Pseudoprofound.
Twitter is such a terrible medium. Is Cornyn agreeing with the assertion, or assigning the words of Mussolini to some position that he opposes?
re: #148 Interesting Times
Speaking of Fascism, I realize we’re long past the pretending phase, but surely this takes it to a whole new level:
[Embedded content]
This was discussed yesterday, he followed it with this:
You nailed it, Bud. Since so-called Democratic Socialists have forgotten or never learned the lessons of history, and how their ideology is incompatible with freedom, I guess we have to remind or teach them. https://t.co/ftzal1DMED
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) February 24, 2019
He is still a dick though
re: #149 wrenchwench
OK, I can take all this ragging on the rural people. I just have to keep reminding myself,
and
They mean rural white people just like Bernie only means sviyr people when claiming the working class left the Dems. If white working class people want to vote Dem, great but acknowledge that we value choice, lgbt, minorities, etc too and wanting reasonable gun control isn’t going to cause you to lose your 2A rights.
re: #149 wrenchwench
OK, I can take all this ragging on the rural people. I just have to keep reminding myself,
and
I lived out in trumpland and saw it first hand. 65% voted trump, 2 out of 3. Of course the 1 out of three aren’t deluded but jeebus 2 out of 3 are.
re: #152 The Ghost of Quesos Past
I don’t even know how to react, but on multiple levels. I mean, I don’t even understand what Benito’s trying to say; it’s just a Barnum statement. Pseudoprofound.
Twitter is such a terrible medium. Is Cornyn agreeing with the assertion, or assigning the words of Mussolini to some position that he opposes?
The only free man is the hunter-gatherer. It’s all fetters and increasing life expectancy from there.
re: #149 wrenchwench
OK, I can take all this ragging on the rural people. I just have to keep reminding myself,
and
Are you in fly-over country?
You just may be completely out of ordinary political cliche range.
re: #153 danarchy
This was discussed yesterday, he followed it with this:
[Embedded content]
He is still a dick though
Which is idiotic since Mussolini was neither democratic or a socialist when he ruled Italy. Corny should read on Clement Attlee, Willy Brandt. etc among others.
re: #156 Decatur Deb
You have an anthro background…I have less of one, but do you find statements like that hard to process?
Like, you scan your brain contents because the words sound kind of like an argument, but when you dig into the thought you realize it’s comparing apples and Minecraft sprites that depict “oranges”?
re: #144 goddamnedfrank
They want our tax dollars though. Rural America operates on a myth of self reliance when in fact they take far more than they give.
They want our tax dollars because their way of life is no longer sustainable. The days of the factory town and the mining town are being left behind. They really started dying after WWII, when the centralization of manufacturing began to wipe out the small family-owned factories, then accelerated when later presidencies saw the US opened up to a larger world market full of countries looking to industrialize on the cheap. The days when you could get by on a basic education ended the moment companies began incorporating computers and robots into the factory line, replacing task after task until now the only guy who can get by is the delivery driver and even his days are quickly being numbered.
The old ways of life are over and they’re not coming back. The people who live in small towns may do so because they like being away from the “rat race,” but they’re delusional if they believe their “way of life” is in any way supported by more than the folks living in those big cities they despise and deride.
re: #158 HappyWarrior
Which is idiotic since Mussolini was neither democratic or a socialist when he ruled Italy. Corny should read on Clement Attlee, Willy Brandt. etc among others.
It’s all a game. Hitler was a socialist Mussolini too as was Genghis Khan. Oh and Khan was a Democrat too. Modern Democrats are the slavery and KKK party because they were 150 years ago. It’s all a game to those assholes.
re: #144 goddamnedfrank
They want our tax dollars though. Rural America operates on a myth of self reliance when in fact they take far more than they give.
Having grown up in rural PA, I can tell you that they really resent folks in metro areas for looking down on them, even if nobody does. They suffer from massive inferiority complexes, and the need to keep telling us how they are the REAL Americans, and how much more important they are.
You hate Democratic Socialists so bad that you quoted Mussolini’s warning about socialism?
I can’t decide if you’re too dumb to understand the quote or just a terrible American.— Respectable Lawyer (@RespectableLaw) February 24, 2019
The lesson of history is that Mussolini was an enormous liar, and that he slandered progressive forms of government with fear mongering so that he could promote a far-right agenda built on patriotic distraction to enact the most dreadful anti-liberty policies possible. Like you.
— Respectable Lawyer (@RespectableLaw) February 24, 2019
re: #159 The Ghost of Quesos Past
You have an anthro background…I have less of one, but do you find statements like that hard to process?
Like, you scan your brain contents because the words sound kind of like an argument, but when you dig into the thought you realize it’s comparing apples and Minecraft sprites that depict “oranges”?
It actually kind of made sense to me. The price of civilization is internal or external brakes on what Duce and Doofus see as our inborn berserker proclivities. The only real question is where to draw the line between a short happy life as a pirate, and home-owner’s insurance.
re: #162 Blind Frog Belly White
Having grown up in rural PA, I can tell you that they really resent folks in metro areas for looking down on them, even if nobody does. They suffer from massive inferiority complexes, and the need to keep telling us how they are the REAL Americans, and how much more important they are.
Yes and you know what? City people don’t look down on them because they have no reason to think about them period. It’s all in their own minds.
re: #163 The Ghost of Quesos Past
[Embedded content]
Cornyn likes the Mussolini quote because Benito and his buddy Adolf followed an ideology that appeals to him, particularly the worship of a fictitious “past” and the belief it can be returned to if we just suppress all the “progress” that “socialism” promotes.
re: #164 Decatur Deb
It actually kind of made sense to me. The price of civilization is internal or external brakes on what Duce and Doofus see as our inborn berserker proclivities. The only real question is where to draw the line between a short happy life as a pirate, and home-owner’s insurance.
I would like to sign up for your class.
Evening Lizards:
The Trump dilemma:
Jorge Ramos and a Univision crew are being detained in Venezuela’s presidential palace right now https://t.co/wD8GZsai1x
— Dylan Baddour (@DylanBaddour) February 26, 2019
Stick up for Univision, Ramos and the press to hate on Maduro?
Even Trump can’t be that big of a opportunistic hypocrite, can he?
re: #167 wrenchwench
I would like to sign up for your class.
I have homeowner’s insurance.
But some yachts really need a Mark 48.
re: #168 bd (Emergency!)
Evening Lizards:
The Trump dilemma:
[Embedded content]
Stick up for Univision, Ramos and the press to hate on Maduro?
Even Trump can’t be that big of a opportunistic hypocrite, can he?
.@StateDept has received word the journalist @jorgeramosnews and his team are being held against their will at Miraflores Palace by Nicolas Maduro. We insist on their immediate release; the world is watching. #Venezuela
— Kimberly Breier (@WHAAsstSecty) February 26, 2019
yep
re: #160 Targetpractice
They want our tax dollars because their way of life is no longer sustainable. The days of the factory town and the mining town are being left behind. They really started dying after WWII, when the centralization of manufacturing began to wipe out the small family-owned factories, then accelerated when later presidencies saw the US opened up to a larger world market full of countries looking to industrialize on the cheap. The days when you could get by on a basic education ended the moment companies began incorporating computers and robots into the factory line, replacing task after task until now the only guy who can get by is the delivery driver and even his days are quickly being numbered.
The old ways of life are over and they’re not coming back. The people who live in small towns may do so because they like being away from the “rat race,” but they’re delusional if they believe their “way of life” is in any way supported by more than the folks living in those big cities they despise and deride.
So they’re moving somewhere else now
With their cloths and fabric press. They found themselves another town where they’ll make shirts for less…
The day they closed the factory down they had nothing,
Nothing left to say
So they’re talkin’ of the changes the closing brings about.
Talkin’ of the hard times and the young folks moving out.
Yes, they’re talking as if talking can make everything all right.
—Harry Chapin, The Day They Closed the Factory Down, 1979
Well we’re living here in Allentown
And they’re closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they’re killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line
Billy Joel, Allentown, 1982
Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain’t nobody wants to come down here no more
They’re closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain’t coming back
To your hometown
—Bruce Springsteen, My Hometown, 1984
plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
re: #164 Decatur Deb
I find it weird because foragers have a lot of in-group norms that aren’t “law” but when you’re dependent on fifteen other people to survive, their approval or shunning has punitive force. I mean “Never In Anger” springs to mind first, but even “happy” groups like the BaMbuti you could get your ass beat for line stepping too much. And the freebooting peoples like gypsies…well, they may not care about civil law but they certainly have their own code. That involved knives and the occasional execution by train, in the case of the ones I was around.
I think Duce…and pretty much all people that indulge “I would be a badass” survival fantasy—imagine that to be stripped of civilization is to be more free in a libertine sense because they have no interest in other people as living social beings. Because people are just meat that you’re occasionally want to fuck, the idea that implicit social norms with no formal enforcement could be more constraining that laws and legal systems just don’t occur.
Like they all imagine they’re going to be Lord Humungus, but none of them have the admin chops.
re: #149 wrenchwench
Heavens no. We’re much too brown. And aside from that, we’re called Mexico…so…not sure we’re really a state.
re: #172 The Ghost of Quesos Past
I find it weird because foragers have a lot of in-group norms that aren’t “law” but when you’re dependent on fifteen other people to survive, their approval or shunning has punitive force. I mean “Never In Anger” springs to mind first, but even “happy” groups like the BaMbuti you could get your ass beat for line stepping too much. And the freebooting peoples like gypsies…well, they may not care about civil law but they certainly have their own code. That involved knives and the occasional execution by train, in the case of the ones I was around.
I think Duce…and pretty much all people that indulge “I would be a badass” survival fantasy—imagine that to be stripped of civilization is to be more free in a libertine sense because they have no interest in other people as living social beings. Because people are just meat that you’re occasionally want to fuck, the idea that implicit social norms with no formal enforcement could be more constraining that laws and legal systems just don’t occur.
Like they all imagine they’re going to be Lord Humungus, but none of them have the admin chops.
I watch Naked and Afraid just for the car crashes.
re: #174 Decatur Deb
I watch Naked and Afraid just for the car crashes.
Is that like reading Playboy for the articles?
Trump and everything he represents HAS TO BE to be humiliated into the wilderness of society forever. Indicted, convicted, ruined so badly that people will be afraid to speak his name publicly for fear of being tainted by his filth. Anything short of this outcome is unacceptable.
— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) February 26, 2019
re: #175 Blind Frog Belly White
Is that like reading Playboy for the articles?
NASCAR for the hot chicks.
re: #173 plansbandc
Heavens no. We’re much too brown. And aside from that, we’re called Mexico…so…not sure we’re really a state.
We could get deported. We were born here, but it wasn’t a state yet.
re: #171 BeachDem
So they’re moving somewhere else now
With their cloths and fabric press. They found themselves another town where they’ll make shirts for less…
The day they closed the factory down they had nothing,
Nothing left to say
So they’re talkin’ of the changes the closing brings about.
Talkin’ of the hard times and the young folks moving out.
Yes, they’re talking as if talking can make everything all right.—Harry Chapin, The Day They Closed the Factory Down, 1979
Well we’re living here in Allentown
And they’re closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they’re killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in lineBilly Joel, Allentown, 1982
Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain’t nobody wants to come down here no more
They’re closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain’t coming back
To your hometown—Bruce Springsteen, My Hometown, 1984
plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
My grandparents grew up in a town like that. Left there before the mines and mills closed but their brothers and sisters stayed. Don’t really know where most of my mom’s cousins and their children stand ideologically. I do feel bad that these towns lose jobs but I feel really frustrated that many play this game of we don’t want no government help but also government please do something.
re: #174 Decatur Deb
I had to look that up.
And then I sighed and muttered “…white people…” sotto voce.
Maduro is really fucking horrible at managing optics. Given multiple options he will consistently pick the absolute worst one.
Just In: Univision says in a tweet that journalist Jorge Ramos and his team are “being arbitrarily detained at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas.“ They were interviewing President Nicolas Maduro “but he didn’t like their questions.”
— NPR (@NPR) February 26, 2019
re: #168 bd (Emergency!)
Evening Lizards:
The Trump dilemma:
[Embedded content]
Stick up for Univision, Ramos and the press to hate on Maduro?
Even Trump can’t be that big of a opportunistic hypocrite, can he?
I wonder if Maduro has put them in a cage surrounded by thousands of screaming lunatics and declared them “the enemy of the people” because that would be really bad
re: #181 goddamnedfrank
Maduro is really fucking horrible at managing optics. Given multiple options he will consistently pick the absolute worst one.
[Embedded content]
So you’re saying he’s the Venezuelan Trump?
/
re: #181 goddamnedfrank
Maduro is really fucking horrible at managing optics. Given multiple options he will consistently pick the absolute worst one.
[Embedded content]
OFFS
re: #180 The Ghost of Quesos Past
I had to look that up.
And then I sighed and muttered “…white people..” sotto voce.
They have a spin-off where they put a couple groups of 4 out in the same range for a longer walkabout. Most don’t make it, and mostly because of social psych issues.
re: #184 Targetpractice
So you’re saying he’s the Venezuelan Trump?
/
Seems that way. Surprised Trump and him don’t get along. Maybe Kim can arrange a truce.//
re: #187 HappyWarrior
Seems that way. Surprised Trump and him don’t get along. Maybe Kim can arrange a truce.//
Three paranoids walk into a hooch.
re: #184 Targetpractice
So you’re saying he’s the Venezuelan Trump?
/
Maduro is Trump if Trump had actually inherited decades of gross mismanagement instead of just lying about it.
re: #187 HappyWarrior
Seems that way. Surprised Trump and him don’t get along. Maybe Kim can arrange a truce.//
It could be said to be the same dynamic as Hitler and Stalin: Both were authoritarian dictators who ruled their people through fear and strong-man tactics, but they also hated each other ideologically and only found common ground in one aspect: Wanting to delay confrontation long enough to have a decisive advantage when the shooting started.
re: #190 Targetpractice
It could be said to be the same dynamic as Hitler and Stalin: Both were authoritarian dictators who ruled their people through fear and strong-man tactics, but they also hated each other ideologically and only found common ground in one aspect: Wanting to delay confrontation long enough to have a decisive advantage when the shooting started.
Reminder tho, Joe and Dolph were allies from September ‘39 to June ‘41 and carved up Poland together before they broke up. But yeah true.
re: #187 HappyWarrior
Seems that way. Surprised Trump and him don’t get along. Maybe Kim can arrange a truce.//
He hasn’t even given him a decent nickname.
:(
re: #149 wrenchwench
OK, I can take all this ragging on the rural people. I just have to keep reminding myself,
and
Hell, to much of the country, we aren’t even Americans , as evidenced by NEW MEXICO magazine’s popular feature, “One of Our Fifty is Missing.”
re: #188 Decatur Deb
Three paranoids walk into a hooch.
And the bartender quits, “I didn’t go to bar tending school for this!”
re: #192 bd (Emergency!)
He hasn’t even given him a decent nickname.
:(
Mad Maduro? Can’t think of any third grade insulting adjectives that begin with N tho.
re: #193 A Three Hour Tour
Hell, to much of the country, we aren’t even Americans , as evidenced by NEW MEXICO magazine’s popular feature, “One of Our Fifty is Missing.”
Hold on there maestro, there’s a New Mexico?
re: #189 goddamnedfrank
Maduro is Trump if Trump had actually inherited decades of gross mismanagement instead of just lying about it.
They have more in common then they don’t. Definitely contempt for a free press.
re: #71 jaunte
I want the Twilight Zone where as soon as Trump touches Vietnamese soil it’s 1968 and he’s a buck private.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 25, 2019
I can see it now: Thanks to his father’s influence, Pvt. Trump is assigned to a relatively quiet area. Quiet does not mean silent though. Seeing an opportunity to make some much needed cash, the local VC cadre arranges to have Trump abducted.
A demand for $250,000 ransom is then transmitted through the usual stooges who always manage to find a way to make themselves useful to both sides. Trump’s CO, Lt. Romney, dislikes Trump personally but considers it his duty to a fellow elitist to try to retrieve him. Romney contacts Fred Trump and the necessary cash arrives in short order.
Romney sets up the exchange. Unfortunately, he entrusts the job to a certain Pvt. Nugent, on the grounds that Nugent is useless for any other purpose and won’t be missed if things go wrong. On the way to the exchange, however, Nugent unwisely decides to make a stop at a kiddie house of ill repute that had been recommended to him by the last MP who had arrested him, a Captain Roy Moore. While there, Nugent is robbed of the money, his weapons, and his uniform. He is sent back in naked disgrace but otherwise unharmed, while the robbers display his feces-stained trousers as a trophy.
At this point, newly arrived theater commander Creighton Abrams learns of the affair and decides to intervene. He arranges to give the VC $250,000 worth of medical supplies on the sole condition that they keep Trump until the end of the war. Trump is finally released after 5 long years of captivity. He is feted as a national hero, and uses this status as a springboard to a television career.
re: #198 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel
I can see it now: Thanks to his father’s influence, Pvt. Trump is assigned to a relatively quiet area. Quiet does not mean silent though. Seeing an opportunity to make some much needed cash, the local VC cadre arranges to have Trump abducted.
A demand for $250,000 ransom is then transmitted through the usual stooges who always manage to find a way to make themselves useful to both sides. Trump’s CO, Lt. Romney, dislikes Trump personally but considers it his duty to a fellow elitist to try to retrieve him. Romney contacts Fred Trump and the necessary cash arrives in short order.
Romney sets up the exchange. Unfortunately, he entrusts the job to a certain Pvt. Nugent, on the grounds that Nugent is useless for any other purpose and won’t be missed if things go wrong. On the way to the exchange, however, Nugent unwisely decides to make a stop at a kiddie house of ill repute that had been recommended to him by the last MP who had arrested him, a Captain Roy Moore. While there, Nugent is robbed of the money, his weapons, and his uniform. He is sent back in naked disgrace but otherwise unharmed, while the robbers display his feces-stained trousers as a trophy.
At this point, newly arrived theater commander Creighton Abrams learns of the affair and decides to intervene. He arranges to give the VC $250,000 worth of medical supplies on the sole condition that they keep Trump until the end of the war. Trump is finally released after 5 long years of captivity. He is feted as a national hero, and uses this status as a springboard to a television career.
Heh. Sounds good. But I like it where he wakes up in the Tet Offensive with his current memories and thinking he’s POTUS but no one believes Pfc Trump, the portly draftee from Queens whose Dad is the neighborhood drunk.
re: #198 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel
Too late. Oscars were last night.
re: #191 HappyWarrior
Reminder tho, Joe and Dolph were allies from September ‘39 to June ‘41 and carved up Poland together before they broke up. But yeah true.
That’s what I got at with their “common ground.” The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was more about both sides delaying direct confrontation until they were prepared for war. Hell, the agreement to carve up Poland wasn’t even publicly known until it was revealed at the Nuremberg Trials.
re: #201 Targetpractice
That’s what I got at with their “common ground.” The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was more about both sides delaying direct confrontation until they were prepared for war. Hell, the agreement to carve up Poland wasn’t even publicly known until it was revealed at the Nuremberg Trials.
Lot of good people got caught up in the middle of that. My grandmother’s parents were born like 10 miles tops from the Slovak-Polish border.
re: #198 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel
As his TV career starts to fizzle, former POW Trump runs for the presidency. His opponent says she has more respect for servicemen who didn’t get captured.
re: #11 jaunte
It’s the normalization of Trumpism: lies, bigotry and ignorance while bullying and intimidating your political enemies. And everyone just shrugs and keeps it moving.
re: #198 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel
I can see it now: Thanks to his father’s influence, Pvt. Trump is assigned to a relatively quiet area. Quiet does not mean silent though. Seeing an opportunity to make some much needed cash, the local VC cadre arranges to have Trump abducted.
A demand for $250,000 ransom is then transmitted through the usual stooges who always manage to find a way to make themselves useful to both sides. Trump’s CO, Lt. Romney, dislikes Trump personally but considers it his duty to a fellow elitist to try to retrieve him. Romney contacts Fred Trump and the necessary cash arrives in short order.
Romney sets up the exchange. Unfortunately, he entrusts the job to a certain Pvt. Nugent, on the grounds that Nugent is useless for any other purpose and won’t be missed if things go wrong. On the way to the exchange, however, Nugent unwisely decides to make a stop at a kiddie house of ill repute that had been recommended to him by the last MP who had arrested him, a Captain Roy Moore. While there, Nugent is robbed of the money, his weapons, and his uniform. He is sent back in naked disgrace but otherwise unharmed, while the robbers display his feces-stained trousers as a trophy.
At this point, newly arrived theater commander Creighton Abrams learns of the affair and decides to intervene. He arranges to give the VC $250,000 worth of medical supplies on the sole condition that they keep Trump until the end of the war. Trump is finally released after 5 long years of captivity. He is feted as a national hero, and uses this status as a springboard to a television career.
Call this “The Ransom of Red Hat”
I see Trump’s hell as not being an ordinary guy per se but more so having knowledge that he was powerful and is now powerless and worse a nobody outside the dive he frequents where he has a few admirers but most everyone thinks he’s a loser.
re: #205 Shiplord Kirel, Friend of Moose and Squirrel
Call this “The Ransom of Red Hat”
Full Mental Jagoff.
re: #206 HappyWarrior
I see Trump’s hell as not being an ordinary guy per se but more so having knowledge that he was powerful and is now powerless and worse a nobody outside the dive he frequents where he has a few admirers but most everyone thinks he’s a loser.
Not unlike his situation now irl
re: #176 The Vicious Babushka
Sadly that will never happen. I truly thought that after Bush the 43rd, we would not see another Republican President for decades but here we are.
re: #208 wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam
Not unlike his situation now irl
Well we all unfortunately know who he is. But make him Don from Astoria who constantly is calling Rush.
Time to teach young minds. BBIAB
re: #196 HappyWarrior
Hold on there maestro, there’s a New Mexico?
While I was born and raised in Virginia, I’ve lived the last 14 and a half years a little south of Albuquerque, after nine years of hell in Beckley, West Virginia. My wife grew up in Irving, Texas, between Dallas and Fort Worth, and her mother’s side of the family grew up and reside in New Mexico.
For some reason, my grandmother could not wrap her head around the concept that New Mexico’s a state in this union or that it was admitted to statehood three years before she was born. She kept thinking that my mother-in-law was a Mexican national, despite her family’s Germanic surname.
re: #212 A Three Hour Tour
While I was born and raised in Virginia, I’ve lived the last 14 and a half years a little south of Albuquerque, after nine years of hell in Beckley, West Virginia. My wife grew up in Irving, Texas, between Dallas and Fort Worth, and her mother’s side of the family grew up and reside in New Mexico.
For some reason, my grandmother could not wrap her head around the concept that New Mexico’s a state in this union of that it was admitted to statehood three years before she was born. She kept thinking that my mother-in-law was a Mexican national, despite her family’s Germanic surname.
I know. Simpsons quote. Went to ABQ in the winter of 2012. Really liked it.
re: #184 Targetpractice
So you’re saying he’s the Venezuelan Trump?
/
More like Trump’s the American Maduro.
re: #129 Dread Pirate Whitebeard
[Embedded content]
Republicans are truly the worst. The way they rally around Trump is disgusting but I guess they’re playing up to the deplorable base.
re: #213 HappyWarrior
I know. Simpsons quote. Went to ABQ in the winter of 2012. Really liked it.
Yeah, both Homer and Mr. Burns used the “There’s a NEW Mexico” joke several years apart. But it’s apparently a real phenomenon.
re: #216 HappyWarrior
True. Maduro was there first.
And Jorge Ramos was ‘there’ before either of them.
re: #217 A Three Hour Tour
Yeah, both Homer and Mr. Burns used the “There’s a NEW Mexico” joke several years apart. But it’s apparently a real phenomenon.
Simpson’s Law. You can always use a Simpsons quote in any situation. But I actually was unaware Homer said it before Burns until one of the Lizards pointed it out.
And now a Very Special Announcement!
I Joined The Utah Outcasts in their latest podcast.
AND I gave props to Little Green Footballs for introducing me to X and The Gang.
Check them out on Patreon!
This made me laugh.
i made a music video of my cat for u pic.twitter.com/geTAtSINbB
— dream ghoul (@TheDreamGhoul) February 26, 2019
Amy’s a friend of mine, and it really is true that her parents basically cut her off when she turned in a former youth minister (John Langworthy) at the ginormous Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas. In light of all the hooraw around the SBC coverups of pastoral child abuse, this happened today.
The officer asked him if he’s affiliated w/@Prestonwood. He said no. When asked if he knew me, he said he’s talked to me before but didn’t mention he’s my dad. When asked why he was calling, my dad said that activists are trying to run @Prestonwood @morrisonheights names thru mud
— Amy Smith (@watchkeep) February 26, 2019
Per Amy in a response later down the thread, the police didn’t give her father any information about victims and said there was a “100% chance” that the abuser, Langworthy, has more victims.
Ugh, the Baptists are circling wagons and it truly is pitiable.