Oh sure. Throw a party and don’t invite me. Sure I might have cleaned house but let’s be real, I’d be finished working within the hour.
Then you ask me to take care of the links? What chutzpah.
Of course he is. Of course he is.
Wait…zero deaths from Commie Cough? I actually believe that.
If they shoot down Pelosi’s plane, will anyone care?
Who you gonna believe, Facebook or somebody that might know what they are talking about?
Flip through Krugabe’s Twitter at your peril today. I have work to do.
Biden economy? Booming? HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
“We have changed the definition of ‘booming’.”
Boom-boom, you know that definition.
I’m in a regression, going backwards financially
*obligatory Snow link*
Shouldn’t you be linking snow for Scruffy, who’s out of his supply?
fair question…
Hootch maid?
It depends on what the definition of “definition” is.
I’m going to definition people who think that they can change the meaning of words.
Definition
Booming
When the 401K of everyone tanks so badly that the Boomers have to come out of retirement to make ends meet.
LOL. Gene Epstein just upvoted me for calling Krugman a “lying sack of shit.”
I’m in the big time now baby.
👍
Unfair to sacks of shit.
“Say what you will about sacks of shit — at least they’re honest!”
↑ Twitter member!!! ↑
Nah, MeWe
I don’t twitter.
“MeWe member” doesn’t have the same impact.
Look at you. You may get invited to a Reason debate.
Tire changing, is it a necessary skill in the modern world?
Your cocktail party ideas are strange and fascinate me.
I’d add that to my resume.
It is easy to boom after you forcibly closed the economy. It’s like jacking the deficit and then dropping it to a level higher than before.
I quit snorting cocaine today because I ran out yesterday due to my nasally prodigious consumption rate.
Congratulate me on my lifechange.
I’m on a diet, for the reason you mentioned.
Congrats on step 1, Nerf.
I’m not a big fan of cocaine, but I do like the way it smells.
Booms often precede sinking ships.
Exactly. Peterson talks about this a lot. The vast majority of people would have been a Nazi or gone right along with it. Otherwise normal people are capable of monstrous things, sometimes just by being indifferent, although that is not something that could have been said of Eichmann.
Growing up, learning history in school, I always wondered how normal people could be ok with acts of evil, oppressing their neighbors, snitching on family. Clearly these people weren’t like us.
The last two years of the covid regime have really put all of that into perspective.
Worth a read.
https://www.amazon.com/Nazi-Seizure-Power-Experience-1922-1945/dp/1626548722
The Nazis were a grassroots organization. They had popular support. That they forcefully took over and “subverted democracy” was largely a myth until they had legitimately obtained that power using the existing systems.
I’d argue that our current voting systems are more corrupt than theirs were until after they had power.
Now do politicians…
They weren’t above street brawls and intimidation tactics either.
And neither were the commies, a lot of whom switched right over to brownshirts when the communist party failed in Germany.
Some people just want to have an excuse to curbstomp the outgroup.
I have visited the city examined in “The Nazi Seizure of Power”, Northheim, multiple times because my ex-in-laws came from there. It is very typically German. After reading NSP I could recognize exactly how it worked in that small city.
Hitler got the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act before he started using his pen and phone.
Thanks for the recommendation/reminder, Scruffy.
Closely related so I wouldn’t even wait 30 minutes.
They Thought They Were Free
We knew the real threat of covid was not our neighbors and friends but they bought in and even today just won’t let go. They are much like the people Mayer lived with, normal, government school educated neighbors. I saw masks today at the grocery, not many but still. If it saves one live…mine…it’ll be worth it…
This is excellent. Only a third of the way through, and already see a ton of insight. Thanks for posting this.
+1
I loaned out my copy of They Thought They Were Free a few years ago and never got it back. I hope it has been re-loaned around. I might have to get another copy.
Borrow a copy, you might get your original back.
Not just personally capable, but unconcerned with being a cog in a machine that does. I was thinking about this today when my soda was missing its straw. What sort of person would actually take a report and fine a business for giving a straw to a customer? Or a plastic bag? And all of them sleep soundly knowing they are just doing their jobs and enforcing THE LAW.
It’s all for the greater good. Sometimes the few have to suffer to benefit the many.
People also believe Solzhenitsyn isn’t talking about them with the divide between good and evil running through their heart(s).
E.g. having watched that video from the previous thread – I could do horrific violence to the brave officer Maurice Taylor, and enjoy it.
Some of the jobs returning after they were arbitrarily destroyed during Covid are not “jobs added”. Let’s just compare total jobs now to total just prior to Covid shutdown for an honest baseline.
“I am altering the economy. Pray I do not alter it further.”
lol
That font still make it look like some poor drowning person.
U3 / U6, yada.
Labor force participation rates
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART
Related and more depressing
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS11300012
Or the non participation chart
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNU05000000
So in a sense those who predicted that the number of hours worked would decrease due to automation were correct. It just that some people work 8 hrs a day or more and some people work 0 hours a day.
Still others are still receiving a paycheck but producing non productive work like yet another slide deck or round of emails.
Damn it!
I’M A PEOPLE PERSON!
Speaking of labor force participation:
I just read an essay by a [blank] studies activist/scholar decrying the disparate labor force participation rates for disabled vs. non-disabled people. Of course, the US is worse than most other places. There are, of course, institutional barriers to full participation by disabled people, including “the failure of the [federal] government to fund personal attendant services.”
Not discussed (and I don’t know if this is a factor or not, it’s just not discussed), levels of public assistance in the US for disabled people; other than “people with disabilities can lose important Medicaid coverage if they take remunerative jobs.”
The same author reports favorably on criticisms of “neoliberalism” which cite its “liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets, and free trade.”
I think I stopped processing the text at “the failure of the [federal] government to fund personal attendant services.”
Jay-sus, that graph is some dishonest bullshit.
Destroy a bunch of jobs for a couple years, then as people come trickling back, *presto* “job creation!”.
Or what WTF just wrote.
“While I may have indeed been choking the guy for two minutes, Your Honor, what really killed him was the sudden rush of oxygen when I let go of his throat.”
“Nicholas Roske traveled to Kavanaugh’s home after the address was leaked by leftists on social media armed with a gun and a knife.”
But what was Nicholas/Sophie armed with? Modifier order matters!
Nice
If they shoot down Pelosi’s plane, will anyone care?
The other people on the plane. Taxpayers may be willing to write off the cost of the plane.
So, autopilot?
we have drone technology
Strap her down to a board, load her into a drone, drop her from 30,000 feet to the streets of Taiwan.
Speaker Strangelove.
obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6WD7B_I_9c
Unfair to autopilots.
Give the autopilot the trolley problem.
I should care as a functioning human — not wanting to see people killed and all.
On a more selfish level, I do care if it spirals us into a shooting war with China, regional or otherwise. Especially since the Navy seems to have problems even steering their ships these days, much less fighting a war.
Taiwan makes a lot of computer chips right? And she just made a massive purchase of Nvidia stock right? And the CHIPS act to subsidize domestic production of computer chips is going through (went through?) Congress right?
I wonder what’s going on.
She’s going to complain she doesn’t think she can run a 4090ti and her ice cream freezer at the same time given the California power grid..
Bitch is moving to Florida.
I wonder what’s going on.
Same shit, different day
No, no, you got that all wrong. Her HUSBAND bought all the shares, and she never talks to him about such matters. He’s only outperforming all the hedge funds in the country because he’s really smart at investing.
To qualify for the subsidies in the CHIPS act, only 5% of the company’s workforce has to be in the US. A lot of money is going to be going to Taiwan.
That 5% is easily made up of executives and HR hags.
Yeah same observation I had…but nah…can’t be it. She doesn’t have pillow talk with her hubby.
That took me to a place as dark as anything SugarFree writes.
Gimpsuit, or worse?
I wouldn’t have pillow talk with her either. He keeps some things closely guarded, so his wife doesn’t find out out.
Nancy, look at this wonderful pillow that guy on TV sent to me – free. No, don’t talk, don’t move, just lay there.
Moving as much production as possible to the U.S. before the Chinese invasion?
Americans’ reaction if Pelosi’s plane shot down.
Roske, who was captured after calling the police on himself
Stupidest criminal award?
Question is did Sophie call the cops on Nicholas or the other way around?
“The bitch set me up!” /Nicholas
Bitch sold him out.
“Oh no mother, what have you done!”
Maybe or he may be genuinely, mentally ill. I guess we will find out.
I think coming out as a trannie proves he is mentally competent. If you were about to do a long stint in prison, wouldn’t any sane man “come out” and get to go to a prison stuffed with women? Only a crazy person wouldn’t utter those magic words (“I am woman hear me roar”) and instead get sent to a prison full of violent men.
Just keep it in your pants.
The discrimination against trans-lesbians is so bad!
Thanks for the Hannah Arendt piece.
Talk about appropriate for today.
On a lighter note, the Babylon Bee has help for libertarian men in case they meet a libertarian woman.
I carry copies of my podcast around for just such an emergency.
In the old punk rock days – there were maybe 3 or 4 of us who were libertarian-ish and remain so. The rest love them some government – now.
One of them is still single – best local drummer around – while his younger brother runs his own business.
One is an artist and his daughters make their own art to sell. He lives near poverty but still is raising kids with good values.
Same thing with my local scene.
If the Bee releases a guide for drugs falling out of posteriors, then I’ll know they have an inside source.
You’re telling me folks have been posting this already?
Not surprising. I’ve been gone for a month.
LOL…I was going to say “are those drugs falling out of your ass, or are you just happy to see me?”
“I was only following orders,” he claimed in the colorless, matter-of-fact fashion of a typical bureaucrat. The world thought his performance a fiendishly deceptive show, but Hannah Arendt concluded that Eichmann was indeed a rather “ordinary” and “unthinking” functionary.
The deflection of responsibility has been raised to a high art in the intervening years.
What I wrote in the deadthread:
The *Meijer vs Gibbs House of Rep primary here must be close. I’ve had three visits from people canvassing for Meijer. And a whole slew of mailers telling me that Gibbs is part of the liberal establishment.
I forgot – until just today – that Meijer voted to impeach Trump back in the waning days of his presidency. How dumb can you get?
*Weird thing – my family (in the larger last name sense) has a connection with the Meijer family. I’ve met the now deceased Fred through my dad. After college I even tried to work for the company in their IT department. Thankfully – given what I later heard about their company – I didn’t get the job.
The Wyoming primary is in a couple weeks.
That will be some delicious tears – CNN went to Wyoming and yeah, Cheney isn’t exactly beloved there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL4_NjcSYIQ
From what I hear, the DCCC is running a lot of the ads attacking Gibbs. Make of that what you will.
I read that as Glibs, I thought WTF is up with that? They’re on to us and will pay good money for those votes
If they can turn us …
Pretty funny – he buries his ex-wife at his golf course for a tax-break.
Troll level: god.
Now that’s how you fucking do it.
It will be even funnier when Marla is buried on Hole 2 and Melania on Hole 3.
Stormy only had anal sex with Trump out of wedlock, so she will be buried on the back 9.
Libertarian savior.
I recently bought a new – okay, factory refurbished – Denon CD player.
I was more shocked that new CD players are still available – it certainly is a cheap way to listen to music if you want physical media. Waay cheaper than vinyl. Who would have thought, especially in the late 1980s/early 1990s when LPs sales slid into the abyss.
I do, however, think that the “vinyl resurgence” is going to die on the rocks of inflation.
Good. Put it out its misery already.
The collectors will realize one day that no one knows or wants those Elvis vinyl at the price the collector paid.
We sold old Playboy magazines, priced high at the time, to 40 year old guys to collect, those still living are now 80 and I doubt if there is much interest anymore. I’m guessing vinyl will fade away again as that generation fades away.
STEVE SMITH SAY PLAYBOY HAVE GREAT ARTICLES TOO!
BY GREAT ARTICLES MEAN…,
Vinyl will never die, as it is the apex of the douche/sound ratio.
Is that a sine of the times?
Douchiness is exponential.
Now, vinyl may be a necessary compromise for the mass market, but if you want true performance experience, nothing compares to a skillfully engraved Edison cylinder.
Mmm… Edison cylinders; where audiophiles intersect with watch nerds.
Obligatory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnsizkVjGm8
I still have vinyl I acquired through various means in the 80s but no player.
Pro tip: look for turntables at pawn shops, sold by guys who figured out they didn’t even have enough talent to be party DJs.
I have a turntable that will also make digital copies. Pretty handy for old long out of print albums.
Before the health care “experts” managed to monetize their incompetence, the public infrastructure “experts” were hard at it. 15 year anniversary of the 35W bridge collapsing in Minneapolis
A measely $300M? I can’t even believe these poor public servants have to toil in such horrible conditions.
Worse than slavery.
Sheesh that’s probably only enough to send every union hack to the Caribbean just once a year.
“Bridges alone?” Didn’t we just hear about L.A. spending nearly twice that for just one bridge which is already being taken over by “the people.”
“bridges in poor condition get an assessment every year.”
They will be replaced after they fall down.
Agony aunt hen party
The United Nations chief warned the world Monday that “humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation,” citing the war in Ukraine, nuclear threats in Asia and the Middle East and many other factors.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres gave the dire warning at the opening of the long-delayed high-level meeting to review the landmark 50-year-old treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and eventually achieving a nuclear-free world.
The danger of increasing nuclear threats and a nuclear catastrophe was also raised by the United States, Japan, Germany, the U.N. nuclear chief and many other opening speakers at the meeting to review progress and agree to future steps to implement the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, known as the NPT.
Concern trolls, assemble!
That’s funny.
“review progress and agree to future steps”
Yet another meaningless chance to get together for 26 days in NYC and hobnob with your fellow Top Men. I bet they aren’t working 12 hour days to stop the danger of “nuclear annihilation” while subsisting on Coney Island hot dogs, canned tuna, iceberg lettuce, and bottled water.
Speaking of deflection of responsibility
Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc. and Apple Inc. are among nearly 70 companies filing a brief with the US Supreme Court in support of affirmative action programs being challenged at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.
The brief filed Monday argues corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts “depend on university admissions programs that lead to graduates educated in racially and ethnically diverse environments.”
“Only in this way can America produce a pipeline of highly qualified future workers and business leaders prepared to meet the needs of the modern economy and workforce,” the brief said. The cases are the first on affirmative action to come before the justices since conservatives gained a 6-3 majority.
Wouldn’t it be awful if corporations had to select and train their employees on their own?
These cases are going to be an endless source of delightfully opaque gibberish.
Racists.
I wonder what line managers would say about the desperate need for employees properly indoctrinated in the intricacies of inclusivity.
Ask how they can be an ally, if they know what’s good for their continued employment prospects.
In an effort to boost his crappy poll numbers, Biden flushes another #2. https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/08/01/sources-us-strike-kills-al-qaida-leader-al-zawahri/
Are we sure it wasn’t a large family traveling in a van?
We took out a 71 year old irrelevant person….
$20 says he speaks barely coherently and/or utterly unintelligibly from behind a mask so that the WH can walk back whatever crazy things he says, claiming “Oh, that’s not what he said. What he REALLY said was…”
And ponder on the fact that that’s with him pumped to the gills with whatever drugs they’re feeding him.
Uffda.
I just spent a couple of hours cancelling all kinds of subscriptions I’m no longer using. It wasn’t easy to track some of them down, but like most Americans, I’m feeling the financial pinch. In one case they company made itself so difficult to cancel that I said “Fuck it” and turned off the payments right at PayPal.
I even had to downgrade my CPRM tier. Sorry, CPRM!! Next up, I’m going to try to get cheaper cell service because Verizon is RIDICULOUS.
I feel your pain. You’re making the banksters happy though. Us middle classers have gotten way too uppity in their eyes.
Fuck you, BOA.
Whoever leaked that email is in trouble…
Sometimes I have this thought that most everyone wants other people to be happy, healthy, and reasonably prosperous. And then something like that memo reminds me that there are a lot of sociopaths out there.
Next up, I’m going to try to get cheaper cell service because Verizon is RIDICULOUS
If you have Xfinity/Comcast internet, their cell plan can’t be beat. I pay $12/month total for 2 lines and no charge for additional lines. Runs off Verizon’s network.
It only includes 1 GB of data ( or $10 per additional GB), so it doesn’t work for heavy data users. But I’m pretty much always on wifi so rarely go over even a tenth of that in a month. The flipside of that is we’re using something like 1.5 TB/month on home internet.
I don’t use much data and I don’t like phone chatting in general. I found a cheap outfit called “Ting” that suits me. I pay $15 to $18 a month. Runs on Sprint’s network or whatever they are now. T-Mobile?
I run a Virgin Mobile phone still. No idea what it costs, but it is much cheaper than the wife’s AT&Trocity.
Looks like I am making installment payments for our 1.5 year old iphones at Verizon. I can pay them off now, or let the installment payments go on for 5 more months.
Then I think I’ll try Tmoble. Looks like decent coverage out here. And I have my work cell phone (AT&T) in case of roadside emergencies on my lengthy commutes.
I finally replaced my 7-year-old phone back in June, and bought a ~$200 phone. It does what I want, and I should be good to go until Verizon shuts down 5G, which shouldn’t be for several years.
I spend more than I’d like on data, but I use most of it since I’ve got shitty home internet.
There’s some app that’ll do that for you; I see the commercial a few dozen times a day.
Been meaning to check it out even if I am 99% sure it won’t find anything. I know what I need to cut – cable bill, for starters.
Ive seen it..but I am not sure I want some app to have access to my banking data
Yeah, there is that.
Time to laugh
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wgC8dFmhyJQ
LOL
The pilot?
He should have called in sick. Let a suck up take the dive.
My apologies, SHE should have called in sick.
So, you are saying that Kamala is a pilot, also?
Well she wears a blue suit… pilots wear blue suits.
Va. House elections appear set for next year; judge dismisses second suit