This is the book I am following.
Another good read.
I like this one also.
Working on this book currently.
Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.
Feb 12
“Keep constant guard over your perceptions, for it is no small thing you are protecting, but your respect, trustworthiness and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word your freedom. For what would you sell these things?”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.3.6b–8
If I can control my perceptions of things as they happen, I can control my reactions to them. As long as I do this I will not get upset and lose my peace of mind. It sounds so simple, but I need to get better at it.
Feb 13
“Whenever you get an impression of some pleasure, as with any impression, guard yourself from being
carried away by it, let it await your action, give yourself a pause. After that, bring to mind both times, first when you have enjoyed the pleasure and later when you will regret it and hate yourself. Then compare to those the joy and satisfaction you’d feel for abstaining altogether. However, if a seemingly appropriate time arises to act on it, don’t be overcome by its comfort, pleasantness, and allure— but against all of this, how much better the consciousness of conquering it.”
—EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION, 34
This is not saying do nothing that you enjoy, it’s a reminder to be sure that what you indulge in is worth it. If I eat pie everyday, would I enjoy it? Yes. Would I hate myself by the end of the week? Undoubtedly. If I go out to eat and have pie for dessert when I’m already full, will I hate myself? Maybe a little. If I decide to have pie for breakfast on a Sunday, will I hate myself? Not even a little. I find thinking of future me is an excellent way to prevent overindulgence and help to push me to work out so I don’t hate myself at the end of the day when I go over my actions.
Feb 14
“For to be wise is only one thing—to fix our attention on our intelligence, which guides all things everywhere.”
—HERACLITUS, QUOTED IN DIOGENES LAERTIUS, LIVES OF THE EMINENT
PHILOSOPHERS, 9.1
Think, don’t be mindless. I know enough about myself to control myself. As long as I stop and think before I act or make a decision, I usually make correct choices. I still get mad and say things that I don’t mean, or break something trying to force it because I lost my temper. I keep trying to stop doing that and am improving, but still have a ways to go.
Feb 15
“Clear your mind and get a hold on yourself and, as when awakened from sleep and realizing it was only
a bad dream upsetting you, wake up and see that what’s there is just like those dreams.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.31
I am getting upset about things that haven’t happened yet. If I can see it as a bad dream that I woke up from, maybe I can calm myself down and not have high blood pressure because I am envisioning getting kicked out for not covering my nose. Why does this upset me so much? I can feel the physical reaction as I type this. Need to do better on this one.
Feb 16
“If someone asks you how to write your name, would you bark out each letter? And if they get angry, would you then return the anger? Wouldn’t you rather gently spell out each letter for them? So then,
remember in life that your duties are the sum of individual acts. Pay attention to each of these as you do your duty . . . just methodically complete your task.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.26
If I am having a bad day, that does not give me an excuse to yell at my wife. If I yell at her about nothing and she gets angry, I have to realize it was my fault and defuse the situation by telling her to calm down.(This is a joke) Same thing at work, if I have a stupid task to do, getting angry won’t help. I was able to calmly articulate why I didn’t want to send in my vaccine information and the situation never escalated.
Feb 17
“It is quite impossible to unite happiness with a yearning for what we don’t have. Happiness has all
that it wants, and resembling the well-fed, there shouldn’t be hunger or thirst.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.24.17
I have always tried to remember to be grateful for what I have. Even when I was younger and poor with 3 kids, my wife and I were very conscious of how lucky we were to have healthy kids and a happy marriage. At 50 and making more money and having a nicer house than I ever thought possible, it has somehow become harder to appreciate things. I see everyone at work with newer cars while I am driving a 2005 Saab with 180,000 miles on it. I remind myself that I really like my car and I don’t have a car payment. I definitely prefer happiness to envy, and they do not work together.
Feb 18
“This is the true athlete—the person in rigorous training against false impressions. Remain firm, you who suffer, don’t be kidnapped by your impressions! The struggle is great, the task divine—to gain mastery, freedom, happiness, and tranquility.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.18.27–28
Mental strength is like physical strength, exercise makes it stronger. As I practice stoic concepts in my daily life, it is getting easier to weed out false impressions and not get stressed out about things totally outside of my control. My mind is getting better at identifying what I control and what I don’t. I just have to stop allowing myself to yield to anger. That will also get better with practice.
One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands.
“This is the true athlete—the person in rigorous training against false impressions. Remain firm, you who suffer, don’t be kidnapped by your impressions! The struggle is great, the task divine—to gain mastery, freedom, happiness, and tranquility.”
Oh, that’s a good one. Mental training is so much more difficult than physical. But the payoff is spectacular.
I gotta work on this.
Thanks, ron!
It’s also easier to not do, since the results aren’t obvious.
Although my wife has noticed I am calmer about most things than I used to be.
EPICTETUS sounds like he never got kicked in the nuts real hard tbh
Why do you say that?
He was born a slave, had some form of a lifelong disability and was banished from Rome by Nero.
I’d say he’d been kicked in the nuts quite q few times.
that was a joke damnit… stoics got no sense of humor
I laughed, but I’m a shitty stoic.
That was my joke.
I’m not vey good at this.
I laughed stoicly.
The 17th is the one I really need to work on.
I need to work on that by winning the lottery and having money to buy what i want, not by reducing my wants
Sounds like a good plan to never be happy.
I know it is working splendidly so far
I think it was easier when I was poorer.
Are you a Yorkshire man?
I was lucky enough to have a cardboard box.
So you were living in a box?
Was waiting for Ted’S to do the honors.
I don’t get off work until 2:30 ET.
Envy is such a thief of all good feelings.
So is the core of stoicism similar to the Christian directive “God grant me the serenity; To accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can;” Perhaps the Christian admonishment derives from stoicism. Some times hard to sort out cause and effect human cultures.
One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands.
My favorite karaoke song! Actually the only karaoke song I’ve ever done. I’ve only kraoke’d once. Great tune though. Some of the riff sections would have benefited from a bit fewer repeats perhaps, but it’s hard to find fault with it.
Christians probably stole that from stoics. Although I have a feeling such sentiments were in many a philosophy, Asia must have had them as well
Universal truths are universal, apparently.
They are just repackaged and marketed differently.
like the one about how a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife?
Truth is truth.
It’s kind of difficult to take seriously an enemy with as thick of a brogue as the Dracs do.
And if truth is truth, Live is life.
Christians probably stole that from stoics
I hear this a lot about Plato, too. Generally, it’s not stealing as much as reframing existing Jewish teachings in a Greco-Roman lens. David was talking about setting aside anxieties and worries of the world and embracing the consolation of God (e.g. Psalm 94) hundreds of years before the stoics.
It is very similar.
To me it boils down to not getting stressed about things you can not control.
In order to do this you have to be able to identify that which you control and that which you do not.
Live it’s unreal.
Speaking of live, I purchased the Helloween United Alive! triple CD set.
It’s phenomenal. All three singers do an excellent job of switching it up and the production is crystal clear.
I wasn’t a huge fan back in the day and I don’t know why now.
Thanks for providing my favorite part of Fridays.
“If someone asks you how to write your name, would you bark out each letter? And if they get angry, would you then return the anger?”
I always thought this was a daily one, but then I started to wonder if someone trolled the emperor. … And how do you spell that sir? ?
Silly one, not daily one…
Were there ever any drunk stoics? Can one be a stoic when one likes one’s scotch?
Speaking of which I just invented a new cocktail: equal parts gin campari and punt e mes over ice
I could try Drunk Stoicism!
As for the cocktail…*paging Nephilium, Nephilium to the red courtesy phone please*
Looks like a Negroni.
you people always undermine my inventions. Like the time I invented my rye peychaud’s bitters and absinthe cocktail.
Dude, you added gin to a Milano Torino, you didn’t split the atom.
It’s a Piegroni!
A Negroni? I’ll join Mojeaux in fatalism.
Campari? ?
I’ve tried to make multiple crafted drinks with it. I give up.
Acquired taste, my ass.
Seneca was not a fan
Let’s see if I can make a link work this time
Zeno, that greatest of men, the revered founder of our brave and holy school of philosophy, wishes to discourage us from drunkenness.
The bar I mentioned in my comment below.
Awesome.
A bar I liked when I lived in central PA used to be known as a Stoic’s paradise.
It is an excellent bar. I’ve been drunk there a few times.
I learned about many things in Zenos.
1) Good beer wasn’t just limited to Michelob or Yuengling Black and Tan
2) A blues guitarist plays better when he has drank too much whiskey
3) The Bands The Reverend Horton Heat, Morphine, and Soul Coughing
4) Some times your friend that is a girl can get you laid
5) Day drinking after an Optics final should result in you loosing your vision
Good beer wasn’t just limited to Michelob or Yuengling Black and Tan
I knew good beer wasn’t limited in that way, but Zeno’s really helped.
A blues guitarist plays better when he has drank too much whiskey
AAA Blues Band? They’re still around. Andy Tollins, the lead guitarist, dabbled in bluegrass for a while. I went down to central PA for the Arts Fest, and I got into town a bit early. I went into Zeno’s on a Wednesday night. I discovered that Wednesday was now a regularly scheduled bluegrass night. And Andy Tollins had started dabbling in bluegrass. It was a good night.
The Bands The Reverend Horton Heat, Morphine, and Soul Coughing
I discovered the Reverend through a former roommate whom I thought had shitty taste in music… except for the Reverend. I couldn’t tell him that though. The other two bands I don’t know.
Some times your friend that is a girl can get you laid
That’s a good thing to learn. You have better female friends than me.
Day drinking after an Optics final should result in you loosing your vision
The only time I day-drunk at Zeno’s was one time I was in town for Arts Fest. I met up with a cousin of mine and his then-wife-now-ex-wife. We wanted to get away from the crowds. We wanted to drink. She wanted to go to Zeno’s. I thought it was a bad idea because I expected it would be packed with people because of the festival. She talked us into going in anyways. “Let’s just take a look.” Damn. She was right, I was wrong. It was empty. So we day drank there for a bit.
I never spent too much time at Zeno’s. The ChemE bar of choice was Cafe 210 West, and I also spent a ton of time fighting Table Wars at The Phyrst
I was in Cafe 210 West a few times. I had a job on the west end of campus, and we went there for lunch a couple of times. It was OK.
I have actually never been in the Phyrst. A friend of mine loved that place.
It was amazing, back in the ’90s, with the Phyrst Phamily Band
You know the Phyrst Phamily band leader died a few years ago?
I remember reading about it, and reading about the guy. I said, “Damn, I should have stopped in there. He sounds like a good guy.”
That’s a good thing to learn. You have better female friends than me.
And after I post, I remembered kicking myself after graduation for not picking up on a female friend talking up her roommate (a cute Latina) to me.
That’s a good mental exercise to go through when the waitress asks “Would you like to see the dessert menu?”
And there are times to treat yourself a little.
Ayup.
One of the things I’ve learned from this series is that I’m not a stoic, and do not wish to become one. There are situations that call for stoicism, situations that call for self-deprivation and caution, but there are also “Damn the torpedoes—full steam ahead!” moments and situations where indulgence is a wonderful thing.
After being pretty darned self disciplined and “stoic” for the first few decades of my life, I’ve learned through health scares and other harsh realities that life is too short not to be enjoyed.
There IS a middle road, if you can intellectually and emotionally handle variety, inconsistency, and discernment in living through specific situations.
Discernment of when to apply which approach is the key.
Do you get stressed about things you can’t control?
If yes, do you enjoy it? Does it help?
Stoicism can help you not to do that.
If no, you might be more stoic than you realize.
Can’t I just be nice to people… until it’s time to not be nice?
Do you get stressed about things you can’t control?—No.
If yes, do you enjoy it?— Not applicable
Does it help?—Not applicable.
That doesn’t make me “stoic”, it indicates that I readily adapt to constantly changing reality. Sometimes I carefully plan out a strategy that might require sacrifice now for reward later. Sometimes I seize the moment, knowing it won’t necessarily come again. Sometimes I just float out there and see what happens.
In leadership roles, I survey the facts quickly, remorselessly, and then tend to make snap decisions based on intuition and an acceptance that I will bear any adverse consequences of said decisions.
While I enjoy this series on stoicism and have pasted and saved a few quotes from it that I like, I cannot say I could recommend it as a mindframe to which everyone should aspire.
I should probably add that I have an extremely high tolerance for pain, so much so that many medical professionals have remarked on it. It seems relevant to this discussion.
I’m not sure what the decision making has to do with stoicism, maybe I’m missing something?
I don’t claim to be an expert, nor do I think stoicism works for everyone.
It is working for me so far and I haven’t found any better philosophy, nor have I found any rebuttals of it that are convincing.
Life is an endless series of decisions. Which action to take, which thoughts to banish and which to dwell on, when inaction is good, when it’s bad.
I suppose from my point of view, it goes without saying that stoicism is about decision making, since to me that is one definition of life.
Even my cat makes decisions, whether he knows it or not.
I learned in the Marine Corps, the worst thing to be is indecisive.
Well sheeeeeeiiiiit! I was looking forward to a weekend of gluttony and hedonistic debauchery.
I’ll drink to that!
Ron, serious question: what do you think are the differences between stoicism and fatalism?
fatalism is what you did in Mortal Combat.
Inquiring minds want to know because I already trend to fatalistic (where trend == very much) and it makes my life joyless.
I don’t know that fatalism is necessarily negative. A fatalist just believes that outcomes are predetermined. I can certainly see a fatalist have a hell of a good time.
I think what you are describing is just pessimism.
So then, a fatalist is someone that believes in Fate — that the story is already written and there are no true choices to be made.
Right. Choice is an illusion.
Kind of a shitty mindset if you ask me, but certainly requires a lot less effort than stoicism.
This is why I’m not a Calvinist.
Ditto. The idea that we’re deterministic automatons seems to undercut core scriptural principles (e.g. moral agency) as well as observed reality.
Also, I’m sure my overgeneralization of Calvinism as “deterministic automatons” has triggered evefy Calvinist throughout the world.
“ Also, I’m sure my overgeneralization of Calvinism as “deterministic automatons” has triggered every Calvinist throughout the world.”
Well, it was meant to be.
I think I am using fatalism wrongly. My fatalism is that it all ends in death.
I am trying to rock’n’roll through situations, but worry about the next shoe to drop keeps me joyless. I can’t relax through the peaceful moments.
Example: we have a decent nest egg, but ebook formatting is getting slow, so I am panicking about future earnings because what I am earning now isn’t enough to cover monthly expenses. Therefore I will be taking a course to improve my employability (no question I will ace it because I ace everything I set out to do). I have a solid game plan and savings, yet my worry about next month taints everything.
Not worrying about things you can’t control is definitely easier said than done, especially when you feel it should be under your control.
Good luck with your medical coding, hope it helps your situation.
My fatalism is that it all ends in death.
I think that’s fatalityism.
worry about the next shoe to drop keeps me joyless
I think that’s the opposite of fatalism ‘ “What will happen, will happen, so there’s no need to worry about it.” I would call that chronic anxiety.
Chronic anxiety is not something I had considered. I take meds for anxiety and they have helped markedly. Maybe I should up the dosage.
One additional thought – what you do for money is something you can control. So your plan and efforts strike me as being not inconsistent with Stoicism. Whether your anxiety is within your control is a very good question. Mrs. Dean also has some anxiety, despite many attempts at dialing it down, although she has had some success.
Fatalism = “You’re doomed no matter what you try.”
Stoicism = “You can’t fix everything but you can fix somethings so you should try.”
The expectation of a bad outcome rather than acceptance of whatever happens.
I don’t know that much about fatalism, but if you expect a bad outcome, it sounds depressing.
Stoicism is the understanding you can’t change everything, so use your mental capabilities to change what you can and understand if your attempts don’t work, don’t get upset if you have done all you can.
Could be wrong, but that’s my understanding.
I think of it as a discipline that helps you better interface with a world where so many things are beyond your control. You can be free, even in a prison.
^this 100%
Die Gedanken sind frei.
I try to remember that everything in your life – including your life – is on loan. And God, or Fate, or Destiny, or the Universe (pick one or more) can take it away from you in a moment. Sounds awful, doesn’t it?
Well, no. it’s a reminder to hold your life and the things and people in it lightly but seriously. Enjoy them while you can and when the time comes, let them go. Value the people and things that are worthwhile and deal with the rest for the trivia that it is.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attempted to justify COVID-19 mandates by saying the restrictions were a way of preventing future restrictions.
Hard to argue with that kind of logic.
the beatings will continue …
I put this at the tail end of the last thread:
https://twitter.com/ThevoiceAlexa/status/1491875712831311873
Is that real?
If so, what a twit.
Or should I say twink?
It’s believable as it follows the same arrogance he seems to always exhibit.
“We have to enslave you to keep you free.”
Who’d have guessed that Soviet thinking would become fashionable again? On the scale of absurd ideas we’re expected to accept, this is actually pretty tame.
It either is or it ain’t.
it ain’t
A cow don’t make ham.
Is you is, or is you ain’t?
I was hoping for that.
Late but relevant
OT but gotta run and I’ll miss the Afternoon links.
It seems there is a situation building up here in the stinking desert part of flyover country.
The NM junior Senator, Ben Lujan (NM-Dipshit), has been hospitalized with a stroke.
According to the article he is going to be unable to do his job for 6 months or more, which would include the new Supreme Court justice and bump into the midterms. Apparently there is no 25th Amendment to remove a Senator so the Senate is going to be short one reliably D vote for a while.
If he dies then our D governor and our D House will elect another D Senator so the best solution is for him to veg out in the hospital until after the midterms when, hopefully, we can get rid of the swine that rules the state.
Incidentally, Lujan the Senator and Lujan the governor are all part of the Lujan
crime syndicateruling class that has dominated the state for decades.BTW, I had to find out about this from a national news org (Breitbart). Not a single peep in any news organization in the entire state.
The stroke was a week or so ago right. The press at the time said he was expected to recover quickly.
Don’t know the man. Won’t wish ill of him. But, I have to say I am delighted the Dems are thwarted until after the mid-term elections.
There are a thousand Dems ready to pull the cord on him if it means they get another supreme court justice in.
Yep.
This is going to be interesting!
(Thanks for the article too Ron!)
I’m sure there is zero chance he will resign, just because he is unable to discharge his duties.
Ewww. I didn’t need that image.
Yeah, when the goodthinkful people in the Beltway were talking about using the 25A against Trump, it was the time when John McCain was suffering from the brain tumor that would eventually be his one-way ticket to Hell, and he was unable to fulfill his senatorial duties. Nobody suggested removing him, and if a crank like me pointed it out in other fora, such a crank would be looked upon as crazy.
Great series and an even greater band selection.
I just purchased my Tix for their 2022 tour when it passes through Newark in October.
I haven’t seen them in a long time, the last time was 2004 and Dio was the opening act.
It was outdoors with perfect weather.
That was a good day.
They have gotten better over time if that is possible. The last show in 2020 had a near life size Spitfire fly across the Barkley center.
https://www.blogbeforeflight.net/2018/07/iron-maiden-fly-spitfire-during-legacy-beast-tour.html
This is not saying do nothing that you enjoy, it’s a reminder to be sure that what you indulge in is worth it.
I fucked this one up this week. Weight is up again.
“If someone asks you how to write your name, would you bark out each letter? And if they get angry, would you then return the anger? Wouldn’t you rather gently spell out each letter for them? So then,
remember in life that your duties are the sum of individual acts. Pay attention to each of these as you do your duty . . . just methodically complete your task.”
This sounds related to not being rude to waitstaff and similar workers.
I definitely prefer happiness to envy, and they do not work together.
Yes. Envy is caustic and poisonous.
Thanks Ron!
Something I learned real quick in my dating days, if the girl you are with is rude to the staff, she is not a nice person.
Yes it is.
I think I’m lucky to have never really suffered from envy.
Tangentially related: I was talking to an employee who was carping about her job and title. She thinks she should be a VP and in the C Suite (and in many organizations, her position would be). I told her “Keep two things in mind. Turnover in the C Suite often exceeds turnover elsewhere in the organization.* And, the only thing about a big paycheck is, sooner or later you have to earn it.”
*When I step down later this year, that will mean 40% turnover in our C Suite in a year. We’ve also turned over two of our C Suite positions every other year for almost the whole time I’ve been there.
My stoicism was tested today trying to find someone in the Travis county government who could answer whether I could ignore a jury summons from the Travis county sheriff’s department, even though I don’t live in Travis county.
Five phone transfers later, I got someone on the line who could understand that I don’t live in Travis county, or Austin, or even the Austin Extraterritorial district, and who said I could ignore the summons without getting into trouble.
Austin might have annexed your town from the time you first received the summons.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/2asmct/austin_annexations_by_decade_map/
I remember when Onion Creek wasn’t just a neighborhood.
Not unless they’ve seized the Dripping Springs extraterritorial district in the last week or so. The guy I finally talked to said any mailing address with the word “Austin” on it means they’ll periodically send you jury summons, even though that post office for my zip code is a long ways away. Their process for conscripting people is that mindless.
Sorry Pro,
I was trying and failing to make a regional joke about Austin and its propensity to annex towns.
Talking with any government agent on the phone can get my blood boiling.
“That’s our policy” seems to be as deep as their thoughts can go.
People who work the phones for any length of time without moving on to better posts tend not to be too curious. Answering your calls is just a job, and they don’t care about the why of anything not in the script.
At least, this has been my experience both as a helpdesk employee, and as someone who’s had to work with helpdesks from both sides (contacting them and getting tickets from them).
Dealing with a state agency right now. The one person who supposedly handles the area has been working from home four days a week for the pas two years and doesn’t answer her phone on Monday, her stated office day. Also does t respond to emails or voicemails.
https://www.texaspolicy.com/etjreform/
Extra Territorial Jurisdictions? What kind of horseshit is that?
It’s how they handle unincorporated areas. The rules for building houses and whatnot are much looser in the ETJ. Some jackass periodically bitches in an article about how all those houses are getting built without all the costs associated with complying with the blizzard of regs in city limits, like that is a bad thing.
Insurrection spreading like a virus.
The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement and public safety officials in the United States that a prolonged trucker convoy protesting vaccine mandates could begin on Feb. 13, when the Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles.
The warning of a trucker protest similar to the one that has brought Ottawa, Canada, to a virtual halt, states that “the convoy could severely disrupt transportation, federal government, and law enforcement operations through gridlock and potential counterprotests.”
According to senior law enforcement officials and documents obtained by Yahoo News, the warning circulated to law enforcement nationwide on Tuesday by DHS states that the agency “has received reports of a convoy of truckers planning to potentially block roads in major metropolitan cities in the United States in protest of, among other things, vaccine mandates for truck drivers.”
Drop the mandates and this ends in an hour.
They need Lord Humungus as a spokesman.
So, go clear out the stores tomorrow. Got it.
Yeah I’m going to Costco today
could begin on Feb. 13
That’s when it should start, but from what I see on the trucker convoy groups I’m in, it won’t start until March.
And I’d really like to find out the groups I’m in are misleading folks (i.e. the Glowies)…. but I don’t know. They seem legit and seem to be taking their time.
So we should stock up on canned goods and toilet paper now before the truckers strike?
I wonder how much of the very recent mask mandate cancellations are due to upcoming midterm elections and how much are due to the Canuck Convoy?
We have been building up a stockpile slowly over the months. Time to go crazy.
I do have a couple of months worth of dehydrated meals in my “survivalist” container, so as long as we have water, we will be ok for a while.
Worst case, the swimming pool becomes our backup water source. But I really don’t expect it to come to that—yet.
I have shelf in the pantry dedicated to canned food. Maybe I should get more. But I also have long term storage (Ready Hour and something else) food for emergencies and a closet full of tp.
I have plenty of tp, kleenex, paper towels. Lots of canned goods and pet food. I won’t be going crazy, but will still pick up a few things.
I think it’s a mix of all of it. People are rising and to placate a small gesture is given
Yes.
The anti-lockdown protests in 2020 could be ignored. Too small and lockdowns seemed too popular. Except… many of the groups did the smart thing and organized. They started having electoral success (example: Reopen NH and the NHLA getting somewhere between 90-100 state representatives elected, about a quarter of the NH House) but had several failures (example: Dan Forest losing to Roy Cooper in NC). The successes were small and easily ignored; however, some Republican governors had the audacity to start rolling back lockdowns.
The media kept up its playbook of either ignoring what was going on or demonizing the anti-lockdowners. Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio legislatures slapped their governors around with changes to their emergency powers laws. PA voters slapped the PA governor around with two constitutional amendments reining him in.
But people can see the narrative was wrong. Doom didn’t happen.
And then the lockdowners started coming after kids and pushing vaccine mandates. CRT making news didn’t help.
I think these small gestures won’t placate people. The Dems are in trouble in November.
They should be, but I’ve been around long enough to see political parties throw away golden opportunities like this with stupid messaging. For once the Rs need to go on the constant non-stop offensive with one simple message:
They kidnapped you, took your wealth, health and your children’s best years and made themselves richer and more powerful the entire time. Nothing they made you do actually helped. They were wrong about everything. They are too dangerous to be trusted with power.
I know.
I can predict that none of that will be allowed in NH. The Sununus control the state Republican party leadership, and he was a lockdown governor.
If I were running for office right now I wouldn’t give two shits about getting party leadership approval on messaging. Here’s my advice to anyone running for an office in a year where there is peak disgust with the existing parties and incumbents:
There’s a million ways to make noise, bring attention to yourself and get a message out in the modern era without their money or connections. I’m expecting this election cycle to be the one that goes to the people that realized the same things as the journalists and media personalities that have gone to Substack and Youtube have. The legacy structures for elections are not just irrelevant, they’re counter productive. Don’t get invited to a debate? Go give a charismatic, firebrand rebuttal on your very own Youtube channel after it airs. Take as long as you want to explain yourself. Say the things they wouldn’t let you. Don’t dress like them, don’t use their channels, connections, or stupid robotic way of speaking. Don’t just be yourself, be everything they’re not, because that’s what people actually want to vote for and you don’t need them to let everyone know that.
Our President has things to say.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=278&v=D94yt3ditog&feature=emb_logo
Softball questions from a friendly journo, and probably favorable editing. He looks like death and sounds completely out of it.
I usually advise against it, but you should read the comments.
How long before the comments are turned off?
These comments are on NBC’s own channel. There’s almost none actually defending Biden. Unreal. They really can’t control the message anymore. Censorship is becoming their only option. Well, censorship and violence. What happens when you corner the people that are willing to bomb children and not lose any sleep over it?
Huge Alternate Universe Mr. Gower vibes going there.
Protest I disagree with is illegitimate and dangerous.
“Obviously, we cannot incite and encourage people to break the law, especially when it means they are throwing other Americans out of work and creating an economic crisis that we were just recovering from,” Whitmer emphasized.
“[I] t’s dangerous,” she added. “They’re inciting and encouraging people to break the law. And to do so in a way that devastates so many hard-working people — this is families, this is businesses in America that rely on this commerce free-flowing. This is five days, and it has already taken a toll of tens of millions of dollars. That number compounds over time. And any encouragement for people to replicate this and break the law and devastate our economy is not just devastating to our national bottom line but to individual households, to businesses, to agriculture. So, it’s incredibly, I think, you know, unhelpful and downright dangerous.”
But the gov’t not allowing people to work had no negative effects.
This from the same woman who wouldn’t let people buy seeds and garden equipment.
CWAA
The convoy gets to highlight exactly how they operated for two years. Because of social media people see what is happening on the ground. I hate social media, but in this one time, it has acted as a backstop to MSM either lying or ignoring altogether.
“They’re inciting and encouraging people to break the law”
You mean like Gandhi and MLK jr. ?
Heck, it wasn’t that long ago that the Dems were raising bail money for BLM protesters.
Some enterprising Republican should get a hold the statements to the accounts that Kamala was giving to that was bailing out Antifa and BLM protesters, post them and say they’re doing a charity matching drive and tag her.
Governor Sisolak of Nevada lifted all mask mandates late afternoon yesterday, effective immediately!
It happened just as I was heading out for Happy Hour with some coworkers. The waitstaff and bartenders were all maskless for the first time in two years, and man, were they happy!
Seeing smiling faces, being able to clearly communicate, including a little lip reading when it was loud, was fantastic!! Of course, my employer immediately sent an email that we are still in N95 territory until the Federal mask “law” is ended.
Yep! We are going out tonight to see our favorite bartenders. I should be enforcing masks at work but I just look the other way.
Yeah, people at work yesterday were flagrantly defying the new instructions to wear N95 or surgical masks only.
The peaceful, passive resistance is working. We’ve managed to signal to one another subtly that we are all done with the masking.
Us too and me too.
I’m lucky I work in a small office and once I explained my headache induced insomnia* from masks and told him if he wanted me to wear a mask, he would have to fire me, everyone leaves me alone about it.
*Wearing a mask really does give me headaches that keep me awake from the pain.
The state health department is holding a press conference in 11 minutes. Let’s see if they do something sensible (they haven’t all along).
And nope.
This is probably correct and incorrect at the same time.
IPAs are the Hot Pockets of beer. It seems like a god idea but then you feel like hell after.
That is hilariously true.
The unofficial motto for IPA makers must be, “anything, like hop levels, worth doing right, is worth doing in wretched excess.” At least high hop levels in IPAs means you can increase the alcohol content.
Sour beer makers are just trolling us. “Let’s tell them right in the name we fucked it up and made it sour – and then charge those hipsters way more money for it.” There’s no upside to making it sour at all.
I tried Victory’s Sour Monkey once.
It was my first experience with a sour and I gave it a shot because their Hop Devil is one of my all time favorite beers.
I couldn’t finish it and sent it back (I still paid for it) and got a normal beer.
Agreed sours are gross.
Back when I really enjoyed drinking too much, that was the only form of alcohol I ever had poured out on purpose.
Agreed sours are gross.
Once again, drink what you like. Don’t bitch about what other people like.
I hate hops, but others can and do enjoy their IPAs.
I don’t care much for Whiskey-barrel stouts with the mouth feel of motor oil, but others can and do enjoy their Russian Imperial Stouts.
Sour ales use lactic acid and funk to balance the sweetness of the malt. It serves the same purpose as bittering hops. It’s just a different way of producing a balanced flavor profile.
Oh, don’t get me started on IPAs. Haha.
Those are the only beers I’ve bitched about others liking and only because they were so prevalent for a time it was hard to find something that had a flavor besides hops.
No one is trying to take your rotten beer away, de gustibus and all, but that doesn’t mean I can’t post that I am not a fan either. 😛
I went to a microbrewery that only did sours, and they gave me small samples. Around the third or fourth time I spat out the cautious sip I’d taken, I said I admired their persistence, but all their samples so far blew donkey dicks, arguably the worst beer I’d ever tasted, except for maybe Rainier. Maybe.
Sour beer makers are just trolling us.
I hate hops. I only drink sour ales.
I explain to people that sour ales are “spoiled beer” in the same way that yogurt is “spoiled milk”. If you do it on purpose, it’s not actually spoiled.
I remember when we were doing “Beer it foward” your list was a little difficult because we had very little overlap.
When I sent Neph beers, it was mostly beers I liked.
I did enjoy everything I received.
There are beer styles where malt takes the primary role and hops is in the support role (scottish ales, some belgian ales) that I can enjoy on occasion.
The complicating factor with sour ales is that they tend to be expensive to make. So there really aren’t any bargain sour ales to be had.
The unofficial motto for IPA makers must be, “anything, like hop levels, worth doing right, is worth doing in wretched excess.”
Sadly, too many of them take this approach. That said, a proper IPA, one that is hopped like they were before the microbrewers decided to get into an escalation contest, can be a fine beer, especially with food.
/looks at IPA’s in the fridge
Nope. Still a good idea.
I like IPA’s, but the ones that taste like grapefruit juice, I can’t do.
I get fruit flavored hard cider from Austin Eastcider, and then add a lot of similar fruit juice. It’s surprisingly good.
The grapefruity ones are okay, but I prefer English IPA.
LEAVE SCULPIN ALONE!
I love Grapefruit Sculpin. And their regular IPA. The Pineapple, not so much. Give me your hate, I can take it.
Nah, the pineapple is the worst of the bunch. The grapefruit and regular are dandy.
I’ll gladly drink those and the Elvis Juice. I’m just over the hazy ones at this point. Too many of them are poorly made and attempting to hop onto a trend that was already tired.
We have to spend our way out of inflation.
“Want to know three things we can do? Making child care more accessible, more affordable. Addressing the housing through programs that already exist, [the] HOME, CDBG and others. And do a comprehensive immigration bill. That would help with inflation,” Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) told Punchbowl.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) expressed her desire to subsidize the supply chain. “Well, the focus that we must have now is on everything from supply chains. Sen. [John] Thune and I have put out a bill on finally taking on the shipping industry.”
Seems legit.
They’re going to repeal cabotage laws?
Why do you want to mess with longstanding tradition?
Heh, let in more migrants to drive wages down, just what the working man needs to improve the inflation, at least in wages. Christ.
Also, regulate shipping more stringently, no possible negative effects there.
Increase competition for jobs and housing at the low end is a real winning combination, because it allows the Dems to complain about inequality.
Thank you for this week’s installment, sentient Ram truck.
Random thought:
Why hasn’t the GOP made TV ads showing actual footage of all the Dem speak about “lowering your expectations” and “new normal” etc? Maybe even throw in some “best of” Joe and Psaki.
They wouldn’t have to do any original writing until the final tag asking whether we want to vote for 2 years of the same encroachment on our liberty.
Why indeed. Controlled opposition.
Because stupid party.
I’m thinking it doesn’t poll well. It seems like such an obvious thing to do to win swing districts, just do a quick clip montage of Democrat politicians saying the quiet part out loud.
I have seen some ads on the TVs in the gym blaming Biden for inflation. I’m not sure who paid for them. I think they did show Biden and Psaki. I’ll have to pay more attention next time they come on.
Chris Pappas (one of NH’s US Reps) and Maggie Hassan (one of NH’s US Senators), who are both up for releection in 2022 and are seen as vulnerable, started running thinly disguised campaign ads in the Fall of 2019.
I mean the administration first tried to claim it was temporary and then tried to claim it as “Big Meat” and other corporate collision.
These are some pretty hilarious lies.
collusion.
“Big Meat caused gasoline prices to go up by 50 percent!”
Sounds legit to me.
Big Meat = Beef
Beef = CO2
CO2 = Climate Change
Climate Change = CO2
CO2 = Fossil Fuels
Fossil Fuels = Big Oil
Therefore,
Big Meat = Big Oil
Shouldn’t that first CO2 be a CH4 so you don’t loop back on yourself?
one mole of CH4 combusts to 1 mole of CO2 so it’s fairly moooo-t
C2H5OH is always the right choice
I saw that db!
*narrows gaze*
Biden did say he was going to go after methane emissions, so higher beef prices isn’t exactly an accident.
I absolutely would not be surprised if this were in some way causative.
Because doing so would highlight the fact they’re not much better?
This is probably true.
The “GOP” political leaders are not particularly in tune with the citizenry.
They’re probably thinking that a similar ad could be run about them.
If they win big, their voters will expect real results. Just flying under the radar and grifting through life is a lot easier.
When do you think first reports of a baker refusing to bake an unmasked cake?
By the way here is the local concert I was talking about coming up on Memorial day weekend.
https://nepascene.com/2022/02/psychobilly-pioneer-reverend-horton-heat-plays-solo-river-street-jazz-cafe-plains-may-28/
I remember that. I think I should come down for that.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/sosgut/koala_so_cute/
My ears do that if you rub my belly, too, but I won’t give you chlamydia.
Holy crap, that’s quite a rant in the comments.
That commenter probably was attacked by a drop bear.
‘ I won’t give you chlamydia.’
Sounds like what someone who would give me Chlamydia would say.
Now THERE is that good old entrepreneurial spirit:
https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1491615541920174080
Unprecedented! Corruption!
Democrats are calling an investigation into how Loudoun County Public Schools handled two sexual assault cases “rigged” and “politicized.” They say a public records request raised ethical concerns about Attorney General Jason Miyares’ office. …
Carlton Davis, special assistant to the attorney general for investigations, wrote on Jan. 23, “when the Loudoun County investigation wraps up in a few months, assuming it is done well and the AG looks good (as is the hope/expectation on my end), as mentioned a couple of times, I’d be very interested in working the University’s Counsel’s office.”
Davis’ email came the same day the chief counsel at the University of Virginia, Tim Heaphy, was reportedly fired. At the time of his dismissal, Heaphy was investigating the circumstances surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Davis also praised the decision to fire Heaphy. He wrote, “It’s pretty clear where his loyalties lie.” …
“This is a gross abuse of power and a breach of trust, and every Virginian, especially in Loudoun County, should wonder whether they can trust this Attorney General’s Office with this or any other investigation,” Del. Subramanyam said. “The Attorney General should apologize, and he should reverse course on his plans to use the tragic events in Loudoun County for pure political gain.”
*faints*
Wtf is an university counsel doing “investigating” something unrelated to the actual university?
Punching his meal ticket?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ATBGE/comments/soffev/this_rug_found_in_rpunchneedle_no_offense_op/
Heh.
Sometimes Yutoob makes good suggestions. Betty and Johnny in the the Garden of Eden.
DB and DEG,
My favorite State College local act.
Queen Bee and the Blue Hornet Band. They played the Cafe on Saturdays along with Side Show Bob
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfFAINh7Y1w
I remember Queen Bee. I’m not sure I ever saw Side Show Bob.
I’ve never heard of Queen Bee and the Blue Hornet Band.
I remember Side Show Bob, but I think I’ve never seen him play.
That’s an excellent clip.
Costco only cost me 400….whew
So they baked the cake?