Day Two of FreedomFest 2022 was Thursday, July 14th. I skipped the early morning sessions. The first talks I attended were short format – 10 to 15 minutes. In the afternoon, there was one longer session and two movies at the Anthem Film Festival. In the early evening, I attended the mock trial on drug legalization. The day ended with some talks on the main stage.
Steve Perry
The first talk I attended was a twenty minute talk by Dr. Steve Perry on education choice. Near the beginning of his talk, he mentioned he is a father and said, “I am the person that decides how to educate my children.”
Perry stated government is very bad at providing goods and services. He gave several examples. Housing projects. The VA. Public Defenders. As a hypothetical, he asked the women in the audience if they’d see a government gynecologist. None of the women in the audience were interested in a government gynecologist.
Perry thinks that parents make better decisions about their children’s education than neighborhoods.
For solutions to the problem, Perry thinks vouchers are good. He likens them to the GI Bill. He also likes charter schools. Catholic schools are also a good choice.
One of the problems with making change is teachers’ unions oppose everything except throwing more money at the problem. Often, in many areas, education systems are the largest or one of the largest employers.
Aubrey De Gray
Aubrey De Gray gave a talk on anti-aging advancements.
Hygiene has eliminated many causes of death. Now, that we are living longer, we see more chronic conditions. De Gray thinks longevity is a side effect of being healthy. The goal is to live healthy, longer.
De Gray talked about aging and its effects on the body. He talked about the different approaches to problems with aging. Geriatrics is, in his opinion, too late. Gerontology is a good idea, but in his mind has a problem with complexity. De Gray’s preferred solution is to repair damage. De Gray made several analogies to keeping a classic car on the road. You perform preventative maintenance and repair damage when it occurs.
De Gray pointed attendees to two websites with more information:
Richard Mack
I arrived in the room Richard Mack of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officer Association was giving his talk. It was about halfway through his talk. I think he ran over his allotted time.
He was in the middle of talking about how sheriffs, being elected and the chief law enforcement officer in a county, will protect us if the sheriff enforces the Constitution. I’ve always thought this was similar to Sovereign Citizens. In other words, oversold bullshit. Sheriffs vary by state.
Alaska never had sheriffs. Connecticut abolished the office. Rhode Island, when the state abolished county government, kept the office of sheriff around but the sheriff only provides courtroom security. Rhode Island sheriffs are state government employees. The sheriff in some states is the chief law enforcement office of the county, and in others the sheriff is not. Some sheriffs departments, like the one for the county in Pennsylvania that I grew up and the one for the county in New Hampshire that I live in, don’t make use of their law enforcement powers. Some, like in Delaware, have no law enforcement powers.
Mack finished by switching to election security and speaking against voting machines. I tuned him out at this point.
Arthur Laffer
Arthur Laffer, of the Laffer Curve fame, talked about the effect of taxes. “Taxes have consequences” was how he described taxes.
Since 1960, 11 states introduced an income tax: Nebraska, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, and Maine.
Laffer had spent time analyzing economic metrics from each of these states and the other 39 states. He presented a summary of his analysis. In every one of these states, those metrics, after introduction of the income tax, declined relative to the rest of the country.
He went into detail for a few of the states. One of them was New Jersey, which was the boom state of the country until its government introduced an income tax. Laffer also commented about Jon Corzine, a former governor of New Jersey. According to Laffer, Corzine was a student of Laffer’s, and was a C student.
Laffer finished talking about these 11 states with one other analysis he did. He analyzed public services, specifically education. Two of those states outperformed the other 39 states, and the other nine underperformed by a lot.
Finally, Laffer said that if we have an income tax, it should have a low rate and a broad base.
Ben Stein
Ben Stein did not look well. His talk had nothing to do with the title in the program. The title in the program was “America Is Better Than Ever”.
He talked about joking not being allowed because it might offend people.
He digressed with a talk about a movie on evolution.
Then he went back to talking about people being offended. Stein talked about how he was once often called anti-Semitic slurs when he was younger. He concluded with saying he’d prefer “being called a kike than not having the First Amendment”.
He started talking about inflation. He compared the United States to Weimar Germany.
Stein ran over his allotted time. He thought he had an hour to speak. I think he confused this short talk with a lunch time talk he was giving later.
“The Hong Konger” Documentary
The Anthem Film Festival included a screening of “The Hong Konger” documentary. The documentary is about Jimmy Lai, who is in prison for speaking out against what the Chinese Communists are doing to Hong Kong. After the screening, there was a brief Q&A session with an associate of Jimmy Lai from Apple Daily. I cannot remember the name of the associate. I don’t remember if he appeared in the documentary. I did not write his name down.
The movie covers Jimmy Lai’s life from his time in Communist China through his life in Hong Kong to his activism which got him thrown in jail. One highlight that stood out to me is that he credits reading “The Road to Serfdom” by Friedrich Hayek as a pivotal moment in his life.
During the Q&A period, the only questions that I remember were on Jimmy Lai’s treatment in prison and Apple Daily.
Jimmy Lai is being held in solitary confinement. He gets to see his lawyer periodically, though I don’t remember how often. He gets to see his wife once a year. Otherwise, he has no contact with the outside world.
The question about Apply Daily was, “Why didn’t the people at Apply Daily move money into cryptocurrency and off-shore operations?”. Jimmy Lai’s associate said that there was an attempt to move assets offshore. The problem was some managers broke with Jimmy Lai to cooperate with the Hong Kong/Beijing authorities. They intended to shut everything down. The associate said that he worked with hackers to get some of Apple Daily’s articles and videos archived on servers outside of Hong Kong. He did not say where to access them. I searched, and I found this reddit post whose comments have links to various sites that appear to have information from Apple Daily. It’s possible some of these sites are the archives the associate was talking about.
Pandemics and Liberty
I attended a panel discussion called “Pandemics and Liberty”. The panelists were Phil Magness, Matt Kibbe, and James Herrigan. Ryan Yonk was the moderator. AIER sponsored the panel discussion.
Each panelist had a chance to talk about his own thoughts on governments’ response handling of Covid-19. Magness and Kibbe both talked about failures of central planning. Magness about how “two weeks to flatten the curve” wasn’t and how the Imperial College model was completely wrong. Kibbe talked about damage to supply chains and how central planners don’t know as much as they think they do. Herrigan talked about something different: presidential communication. Herrigan compared Woodrow Wilson during the Spanish Flu pandemic and Donald Trump during the Covid-19 insanity. Herrigan claims Wilson never said “flu” or “influenza” during the Spanish Flu outbreak. Herrigan was critical of Trump and others, including Anthony Fauci, for flip-flopping.
All panelists think something similar to the government’s reaction to Covid-19 will happen again. They were also critical of Libertarian groups for their lack of response to the government’s actions. None of the panelists named names.
Yonk started asking the panelists questions. I wrote down the questions and the answers. I did not write down who answered the questions, so I’ll simply say “the panel” answered the questions.
Yonk asked the panel if there is a best public policy response for pandemics, and if so, what is it. The panel said the government spread disinformation and the solution to disinformation is more transparency. The panel pointed out that the government suspended many rules and regulations. This shows we don’t need these rules and regulations. Those rules and regulations should be repealed.
The next question was “Is there anything that can justify draconian measures?” Then panel said whatever the government does has to work, and lockdowns did not.
Yonk next asked about statistics and comparisons between countries such as between Sweden and other countries. The only thing I have in my notes is that the panel talked about the Imperial College model being completely wrong.
Life Behind The Berlin Wall
I attended a viewing of “Life Behind the Berlin Wall” which is a short educational video about East Berlin. Jim Taylor and Barb Potter were the producers. The film features Dr. Rainer Zitelmann. After the film, there was a Q&A session with Zitelmann.
The movie ran about twenty minutes. It was concise, and to the point. It gave a brief background on why Germany and Berlin were divided. Why the East German government built the Wall. It included interviews with people that grew up in East Berlin. It showed pictures of East Berlin under Communism compared with the same parts of East Berlin after Reunification. It includes period videos of East Berlin.
I did not take notes during the Q&A. I only remember one question. The question had nothing to do with the movie. It was a question about Zitelmann’s research into Adolf Hitler and his politics. Zitelmann had spent time reading every existing copy of Hitler’s speeches, letters, books, and other writings. Zitelmann came to the conclusion that Hitler was a man of the Left. You can only consider Hitler right-wing if you selectively quote from Hitler and ignore the vast body of Hitler’s thought.
Drug Legalization Mock Trial
Every year FreedomFest has a mock trial on some issue. It is a semi-serious debate with a trial format. This year’s mock trial was on drug legalization. The judge was Wayne Allyn Root. The prosecutor was arguing that drugs should be prohibited. Alex Datig played this role. The defense argued for drug legalization. Catherine Bernard argued for the defense. There were four witnesses, two for each side. Luke Niforatos and Marc Eliot for the prosecution, and Jim Gray and Avens O’Brien for the defense.
I arrived at the main stage about halfway through the trial. The prosecution was wrapping up its case.
I have no notes on the trial. I remember not being as impressed with this trial as I was with last year’s on the lockdowns.
The end of the prosecution’s case involved grilling whichever of their witnesses was on the stand about drug use among musicians. I’m not expecting a serious debate, but I was wondering how musician’s drug use and effect on the musician’s music matters to whether or not drug legalization is justified. This seemed frivolous to me.
When the defense started, Jim Gray’s testimony was quite interesting. He talked about seeing the negative effects of jail time on people convicted of drug crimes. I don’t remember Avens O’Brien’s testimony.
When all testimony was finish, the jury deliberated. The jury was made up of FreedomFest attendees who were willing to be open minded in judging both side’s arguments.
Drug Legalization, the defense, won.
Is Atheism Dead?
After the mock trial, there were more talks at the event’s main stage. I only have notes on two of them. The first of those two is a debate between Michael Shermer and Eric Metaxas moderated by Alex Green on whether or not the future of the liberty movement is secular. There were some introductory remarks from Thomas Sheedy. The introduction and debate lasted about 25 minutes. Shermer took the affirmative. Metaxas took the negative. This was not a debate with Oxford Rules. In other words, there was no scoring from the audience.
Metaxas went first. He opened with defending the notion that there is a god. He claims that science supports a god because things are far too fine tuned. How could life emerge from non-life?
Shermer’s rebuttal pointed out that much cannot be empirically knowable. Religion is just a placeholder for things we don’t currently know. He pivoted to say there really isn’t an “atheist movement”, so how can you say it is dead?
Metaxas responded by pointing out that Shermer’s rebuttal was just Shermer repeating himself.
Shermer got the final word. Which was that Metaxas is relying on an argument from authority with his referencing scientists that believe there is a god. Though I think Shermer shot himself in the foot with an argument ad popularum by talking about polls and then polling the audience.
There wasn’t much talk about the liberty movement throughout the debate.
School Choice
The final talk I attended on Thursday was Corey DeAngelis giving a brief interview with Betsy DeVos. DeAngelis initially called DeVos “Madame Secretary.” DeVos cut him off and said, “I am no longer Secretary of Education. Please don’t call me ‘Madame Secretary’. Call me ‘Betsy’.”
One of the topics was the government shutdown of schools in response to Covid-19. DeVos pointed out that it was the teachers’ unions that wanted to keep the schools closed. Many teachers’ unions did nothing about figuring out how to make distance learning work. Even with the problems with distance learning, parents got to see what their kids were actually learning. This, according to DeVos, is what helped Glen Youngkin win the Virginia gubernatorial election.
DeVos stated the Federal Department of Education should not exist. Every year she was Secretary of Education, she submitted budgets which turned Federal education spending into block grants to states, which would effectively end the Department of Education.
The talk moved towards education freedom accounts. These are spreading through the country. In 2021, 26 states expanded or created such programs. These programs encourage parents to buy education services. In other words, be a consumer that wants value from what he/she is purchasing.
DeAngelis and DeVos discussed recent and future elections. DeVos noted that anti-education freedom candidates are losing.
DeVos talked a bit about the Supreme Court and the huge win in the Maine case. She discussed the case. She said it is not a state religion issue because parents make the decision about where to send their kids. She talked about the Blaine Amendments and how they need to go away.
DeAngelis asked if teachers’ unions have done anything good? DeVos’ response is that teachers’ unions simply protect their power and resources.
The talk ended with DeVos’ advice on how to fight back. People need to pay attention to their local school board and state legislative elections. These are easier to influence than many think. DeVos also talked about education innovation, specifically learning pods.
Conclusion
This was a good day. The high points were the two films. I strongly suggest you watch both.
I’ll cover Friday in the next part. Friday was another big day. Maj Toure, John Cleese, Rand Paul, and Zuby were among the speakers I watched on Day Three.
I will write more soon.
“Taxes have consequences” was how he described taxes.
Also the name of his book.
This is a cool series, thanks! I think I might get a bit excited if I saw Rand Paul in person.
You’re welcome!
The line for his book signing was the longest one I saw at the event.
Someone who was at the Zitelmann talk reminded me of something else from the Q&A: The Hitler as frothing madman videos were tiny snippets of his speeches. Hitler was a very canny politician, and most of his speeches were quite ordinary.
Great writeup again.
I was unaware of this.
I am surprised the corporate media did not do stories on this as proof she was a nazi or something.
Maybe they thought it would make her popular?
One does search in vain for the enumerated power that authorizes the Dept. of Education.
Enumerated. Is that one of words in that dead language that the Constitution was written in?
When she was in office, my teacher friends on FB always posted how terrible she was, without giving any specific reasons.
It is known.
Like Trump her mere existence is an abomination. No other reasons need to be given.
I’ve never heard a public school teacher give any reason for hating DeVos beyond, “She’s destroying public schools!”. That’s assuming they’ll go that far.
I wish.
She may have wanted to destroy them, but she didn’t get very far.
If only the Republicans were doing everything they were accused of to shut down government agencies.
She wanted there to be no Federal Government agency looming over them. Is that the only thing keeping them from doing a terrible job teaching?
“She’s destroying public schools!”
“You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”
Thanks!
I didn’t know DeVos had done that either. I did a quick Google search. Note the date on the article. Bringing it up probably got dumped in favor of other things.
Members on both sides of the aisle expressed concern that some programs, such as the TRIO program and the Charter Schools Program, would be jeopardized.
Example #964,239 why this mess won’t get fixed by voting.
That was supposed to be a quote, but I suck at life.
The idea that the concentration of federal power will be dispersed by the people benefitting from that concentration seems . . . unlikely.
This is why I’m against any type of campaign finance reform. Why would those people vote to limit their own power or make their lives more difficult?
Public campaign financing only with bureaucrats determining who is eligible.
The real action right now is at the state level.
I expect the Feds won’t change until the collapse.
DeAngelis initially called DeVos “Madame Secretary.” DeVos cut him off and said, “I am no longer Secretary of Education. Please don’t call me ‘Madame Secretary’. Call me ‘Betsy’.”
YES. I never cared for that tradition of calling a government official by their previous title. It’s a job title. Not a patent of nobility.
Just go to any school district meeting where the chief administrative officer has an Ed.D. and try calling them something other than “Doctor.”
“When’s the last time you’ve treated a patient?”
“I’ve got this weird rash, could you look at it for me?”
I have never had that happen to me in real life, but I can’t imagine any other reaction than laughter.
But, I remember Dr. Jill became a “doctor” because she didn’t like getting letters at the house addressed to “Senator and Mrs. Biden”, so those kind of people do exist..
I might rephrase to “Frau/Herr Doktor” or “Most Learned Doctor” just to be an asshole.
I did have one woman insist on calling her husband “Doctor” when I was negotiating with her over an excavator her contractor had rented and left in her yard. He was a prof at the local business school. I tried very hard not to be snarky to her but desperately wanted to do so.
I find the more a person’s ego revolves around their credentials, the less I respect their credentials.
Then you must love dealing with Germans.
They wanted remote root access to our servers from Germany.
That demand ended decades of them getting money for nothing.
Remote root? What could possibly go wrong?
I work with a bunch of people with Ph.D.s in chemistry, and several family members with Ph.D.s in hard sciences and mathematics. All of them consider it gauche to insist on being called “Doctor,” and frequently tell people not to call them by their titles. Usually they say something like “I’m not that kind of Doctor that you call ‘Doctor’.”
Even that kind of doctor doesn’t need to be called doctor outside of a professional medical setting.
Honorifics aren’t needed. They can use common terms but that doesn’t stroke the ego.
Yep, had a sales engineer for a tech company acknowledge that yes, he has a PhD but he’s a not a doctor and related how at his department you got to be addressed as Dr for one day after getting your degree. Super nice guy and completely unpretentious. His company sold into a smaller market segment and he was universally known as Dr. Firstname within that segment.
She says that, but I think the real reason was Mrs Biden (OG) also held a masters degree and Jill wanted to one up the dead wife.
It’s probably both.
What makes me laugh is the way Joe tells the letter story like it’s endearing, but to me it sounds like she’s an asshole.
They’re both assholes.
Jill Biden Denies Ex-Husband’s Claim She Had Affair With Joe Biden Before They Split
Trivia – Saw John Valby play at the Stone Ballon among other bands.
My brother has a PhD in engineering. When we want to give him crap we call him doctor, especially when he does something stupid.
He did call himself Doctor when he went to the oncologist with my father as a second set of ears. He figured it was a way to get the oncologist to be more open and detailed. After the appointment the oncologist asked my brother what his specialty was, and my brother said “Finite element analysis of composite structures”.
LOL.
In my first job after getting a PhD (a postdoc), I was being introduced to people as “Dr.” Whiz. I had to repress an urge to look around for whom that might be.
@ Mr. Nerfherder: just bringing up my question about research on delayed/extended vaccine scheduling…
Here’s my summary version of things to think about.
The CDC et al vastly undercount adverse reactions to vaccines. There’s multiple reasons for this; poor sampling, disbelief on the part of doctors, non-mandatory reporting, a CDC that doesn’t want to acknowledge problems, etc…, but suffice it to say that all vaccines are more treacherous than advertised. The COVID vaccine debacle is just an exaggerated example of the issue, The liability shield for the childhood vaccine schedule makes it an almost impenetrable system.
I’ll pull a paragraph from Vaccines: A Reappraisal, by Richard Moskovitz:
My family’s own experience with vaccines has been horrible, specifically because of a fairly common genetic mutation which makes it difficult to remove toxins from the system, specifically heavy metals like aluminum. All childhood vaccines (and most vaccines in general) use an adjuvant to accentuate the immune response to the injected material. It used to be thimerosal, which took up residence in the brain, but in 2002 it was switched to aluminum. By the time my son was ten and received his full vaccine schedule, his aluminum load was well into the toxic range, causing neurological inflammation and immune system suppression. I suspect that he is fully two inches shorter than he otherwise would have been because of lost growth during those years. Of my three children, the one that was vaccinated the least is the healthiest, take that for what you will, it’s purely anecdotal.
Therefore, I only recommend vaccination for those diseases which pose a mortal threat like tetanus or meningitis. No flu shots, no HPV, no Hep B (that’s usually at birth), no varicella, etc…
And any disease your child has already had (like RTV), do not vaccinate for it. Titers can be checked for almost all diseases. I will check my tetanus titers before boosting. If the titer is positive, I don’t need the shot and it is only downside risk.
A little known fact about mumps is that the disease is inconsequential for children but exceedingly dangerous for adults, particularly men. But the vaccine for mumps does not confer lifelong immunity. By vaccinating for mumps, we are actually increasing lifelong risk from the disease. The same applies to chickenpox although to a lesser degree.
You will find that 90% of pediatricians will treat you like a monster if you don’t vaccinate for everything. Ignore them, they take no responsibility for your child’s well-being and in the end, that burden falls to you. Educate yourself, the book I mentioned above is excellent and a good primer on data that most doctors are painfully unaware or in denial of.
I’m deaf in one ear due to mumps at age four. Not life-threatening, but a PITA.
As with everything else, generalizations get you in trouble.
My particular frustration with the medical system is that they tend to treat everyone like herd cattle. Different people have different reactions to treatments. Something that works for one person, might kill another.
For example, the MTHFR mutation, specifically the 677+ version, turns out to be a very high risk indicator for the COVID mRNA vaccines and clotting. I carry at least one copy of that mutation, my son and middle daughter have double copies, and probably my wife as well. Had any of us taken that shot, it could have easily killed one or more of us.
MTHFR
Motherfucker? Because that’s what it sounds like.
Saving this. Too late for my kids, unfortunately.
I sure do wish I wouldn’t have been so dismissive of the anti-vaxxers 20 years ago.
Thanks, Scruff.
I sure do wish I wouldn’t have been so dismissive of the anti-vaxxers 20 years ago.
As do I. My kids paid a steep price for it.
Somewhat related.
For all of our technological advancements, we sure seem to be fucking up the fundamentals.
Denying billions of years of evolution doesn’t seem to work that well.
Holy shit, this is a real article, written by a real person:
https://www.rover.com/blog/what-consent-means-in-relationships-with-pets/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_5036536&utm_content=2022.09.07_O_M_USCA%20Newsletters_V2&utm_term=2022-09-07
I got this in my email from rover.com.
I use them for dog sitting when my wife and I travel, and they work great for that, but this is something else.
This hurt my brain, or am I reading too much into it?
Bark means bark, Ron!
Yeah, this is dumb. If pets don’t want to be petted, they’ll let you know.
Can I teach it the other direction?
I have a 60lb Australian Shepherd that climbs into my lap, rolls over and paws at my hand to get her belly rubbed.
I have a 50 pound pit bull who will grab your hand in his bone-crushing jaws when he wants attention. Very gently, but it can be a little disconcerting if you aren’t used to him.
My avatar would do that same thing. He’d hold my hand when he wanted my attention or to show me something.
Cats do so in no uncertain terms.
Correct. Pet, purr, pet, purr, BITE.
Pleasure-rage can be a bitch. Some cats turn quite quickly, others are affection whores.
If my cat doesn’t want any more attention, she’ll walk away.
Gaaaaaay
Gah, can this week end yet? Sent an email to someone confirming their delivery address? They respond with “sure, that works or you can send it to [different address]”. Make up your mind! It can one be shipped to one address. Choose!
Second was emailed a spreadsheet with conflicting data on it due to two requests being input for the same thing by mistake. Spreadsheet owner says “oh, just use the original ones and I’ll update my spreadsheet”. Which ones are the originals? How about you update it first and send the corrected version out? Her spreadsheet supposed to be the golden master record.
One of our tier 1 guys asked someone for a device to use to clone a new one. The requestor said “Just use any!”. Yeah… it doesn’t work that way.
I ended up shipping it to their alternate address and cc’d their manager and the project coordinator with this is where it’s being shipped to along with the tracking number. If they’re giving it to me, it must be their preferred address and they can make sure to receive it.
“DeAngelis initially called DeVos “Madame Secretary.” DeVos cut him off and said, “I am no longer Secretary of Education. Please don’t call me ‘Madame Secretary’. Call me ‘Betsy’.”
Assuming that wasn’t staged, sounds like she had her head in straight. Dr. Biden could not be reached for comment.
That’s Dr. Jill to you, buddy!
Re: Laffer’s tax talk – I wonder if he went into any detail about Ohio, where, in addition to state and municipality income tax, 210 school districts currently have an income tax.
So….how’s that working out for the kids?
I don’t remember him talking about local income taxes.
PA also uses local income taxes to fund government schools.
To be fair, it’s not as evil as property taxes.
Hey, at least there’s talk about cutting the state income tax to 0% for individuals here in Ohio. Local school board where I live has had their past several requests for more money get voted down. I mean, they just lost several million through “accounting errors”, but they’ll take better care of this money.
Only $9 million? What a bunch of pikers.
Is ‘accounting errors’ the new term for ‘kickbacks’?
If my wife ever makes a big deal about how much I’ve spent on truck parts, I’ll have accounting errors.
If it works for them, it should work for me.
You wouldn’t happen to know anything about truck frame repairs, would you?
No, I am strictly a part replacer.
I read that you got rear ended, did the adjuster come back with any answers yet?
I talked to the adjuster this morning – it’s all gonna come down to the frame condition. If it’s only mildly bent, everything else is repairable. If the frame is buckled, it’ll be totaled.
I’m worried. While the insurance payout should be a nice chunk, it won’t be enough to swing a new truck, and I would really rather not finance again.
*Taps plays mournfully in the distance for ron73440*
She got on me a little bit last week, her friends were telling her that she needs a new car and It’s not right that I spend so much.
Is it too much to ask for them to mind their own business?
Yeah, stay out of my marriage. That’s non-negotiable for anyone and everyone.
I can’t imagine Mrs. Dean ever telling me that. My reaction would be . . . less than constructive.
She didn’t say her friends were saying it, but after a day out with them, she started asking about it.
I’m not keeping secrets, but it’s odd how it never bothers her except after a day with her friends.
Get a straight truck frame from a junkyard. Don’t attempt to straighten it, you’ll never get it right.
Used frames for 2018 Tacoma 4x4s are basically unavailable. I know this because my poor Taco is on her second frame, also from being rear-ended, back in 2020. They had to ship a brand new frame directly from Tijuana.
Maybe you should not drive backwards so much.
There is a nice used 2018 down the road here that they “only” want $37K for.
A 0% state tax rate would be great! I live in a township, so no income tax there, and Dayton schools don’t do income tax (at least not yet. ::crosses fingers::) Now if I could just get back the tax that’s withheld based on the ‘burb where I work. 😒
Some more details about the state individual tax legislation here.
The city you work in getting a cut of taxes always ticked me off, especially since school taught us that one of the reasons for the American Revolution was no taxation without representation.
DC complains about all the people that work in DC but don’t live there aren’t paying income taxes. Yea, and what services are you providing them?
Easy fix – get rid of all those useless federal offices.
Trump tried to move agencies outside DC to be closer to the people. One of his many fascist moves.
Yeah, that’s a load.
I had no idea income taxes in Ohio were so complicated.
For those saying income tax isn’t as bad as property tax, I’m not so sure. Income taxes are incredibly destructive of your privacy.
I’m sure I’m going to miss some, but you have:
State income tax
Property tax
City you work in income tax
City you live in income tax (you may get a discount on this based on reciprocity depending on agreements between the city you live in and work in)
Sales tax (on anything other then food and unsweetened beverages)
That’s not counting fees on car registration and the like. In fairness, most of the cities tax rates are sub 3%, but they all add up.
Our timesheet system includes a code for your work location for tax purposes. I use the same code when I work from home or go to NoVA. Maryland has a code for each county. I can’t image how bad Ohio would be.
In Iowa we have a school district surtax. The % depends on the district; it’s 4% for ours.
That’s 4% of our income tax, not of our income.
I don’t see any mention of how Perry’s singing went.
Journey’s better off without him.
OT, but of some import:
Queen Elizabeth II has passed away.
Today is a shitshow of a day from all fronts. This makes me very (very unexpectedly) sad.
I had an unexpected emotional reaction too
NARL.
I don’t follow rugby…per se
Me too. I can’t say exactly why other than she was always there – the Queen on England – my entire life.
😢
Charles is king now. Yay.
If I remember UK succession law correctly, he’s king immediately upon her death. Coronation is just a ceremonial formality.
He should reconquer the US as king
Nah, no need. The WEF already has all the stooges they need here.
Is Monarchy preferable to democracy? – article idea (not me though)
*summons Mencius Moldbug*
Am I the Monarch? If Yes, then Yes.
Yeah, but Jon Anderson Yes or Trevor Rabin Yes?
I see all good people.
Are they dead too?
He is a proprietor of a desolate vascular organ.
The Engineering answer to most things: “It depends.”
Wrong answer. This is our opportunity to conquer the UK while they are in disarray.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz,_Duke_of_Bavaria#Link_to_the_Stuarts
Prime Minister, good news the Americans have repealed the Declaration of Independence. They’ve seen their error and are returning to Mother England.
No they aren’t. They’re annexing us.
Signage and business cards for barristers will need updating, pdq.
I bet they’re already printed and have just been waiting in drawers and closets for years.
“Why do these say ‘Harold Hardrada’?”
“I suppose we kept expecting the Vikings to come back.”
Is there a warehouse of mailboxes stamped with the new cypher?
Just to be clear, Chuckles is free to pick any regnal name he wants, correct? So he could pick Edward or Edgar or Emmit just to save his kingdom money.
I don’t think he’s humble enough to do that.
Pity. I can totally see Camilla calling him “Eddie.”
I imagine he would choose a different regal name. Charles the I was beheaded and Charles the II died at 54. Not exactly a lucky name.
Ironically his son William would be the first British monarch descended from Charles II through Diana’s bloodline.
But do any of them have legitimate blood from either Alfred the Great or Harold Godwinson?
Apparently it’s Charles III, per Truss.
From Quora:
Our present Queen Elizabeth II is a direct descendant of Harold Godwinson (his great(x31)-granddaughter). Every English Monarch since Edward III has been so, in fact. After the Battle of Hastings, Harold’s daughter Gytha fled England and married into the royal family of the Kievan Rus’, and, due to European royal intermarriage, her (& Harold’s) bloodline found its way back to England’s royalty via Hungary, Aragon and France. Hopefully this can serve as some consolation to those who mourn the demise of Anglo-Saxon England.
When I watched the show Vikings, I went down a fascinating Wiki rabbit hole about Eckbert, Rollo, and Lothbrok. Rollo’s history was the one I was most familiar with.
I have doubts about Henry VII
Charles II packed a lot of good times and fun into his 54 years, though.
Charles should go woke and use Their Royal Majesty or such.
We are not amused.
The principality of Wales is not automatic, so is now vacant.
Now’s my opportunity to RULE over sheep and sheepfuckers!
I believe that’s the Scottish crown. The Welsh crown is over pigs and pigfuckers. And welchers.
*sigh*
My dreams are put on hold again.
Jacobite Nerfherder?
Charles Edward Nerfherder
Charles Edward Nerfherder
Or just “Chuckie Eddie” to his friends.
Ineed, New Zealand could use some liberation.
It’s interesting that in Russian Prince Charles was always принц Чарльз but now he will be called король Карл III.
Not князь instead of принц?
Князь is used only for Russian princes.
Karl Karl the Third
I was rooting for her to be the longest reigning monarch. But it was tough to compete with the sun king becoming king at like 5
Vivat rex!
Aw crap. Now my wife is going to watch a bunch of royal family videos about those inbred Germans.
WP: NOTNEWS? Faugh!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles,_King_of_the_United_Kingdom
Relevant
And then there’s this, written for the coronation of George II, but repurposed in more recent years.
Truss murdered the Queen, now she’ll declare the republic.
Apparently a while ago Charles was considering being called George VII instead of Charles III. His full name is Charles Philip Arthur George, so maybe he had choices. King Arthur II would have been a neat way to go.
DeVos/DeAngelis sounded interesting.
Where’s that dude’s chest hair, though?
Where’s that dude’s chest hair, though?
This clueless straight guy figured you would notice that.
Otherwise, pretty decent choice.
>clueless straight guy
That’s twice now. Methinks you protest too much…
Geez, he’s got more than me.
Does a single, three-foot strand count?
Asking for a friend.
He’s waxed for frictionless performance.
I need Tonio to back me up on this
My chest hair story (I have the basic standard amount for a 51-yo Anglo-Saxon):
So when you’re like 11 or 12, most of your chest-hair observation is stuff like family members at the beach. And my dad had a pretty good bit – not extreme, but definitely prominent, and black hair. So that was my “normal”. One day for some reason, Mick Jagger (shirtless) is on the TV for a few seconds as part of a news story or something, and I notice he doesn’t have any. Mom was sitting there and I asked why, and she said, quick as a wink “because he did drugs”.
So I got programmed that way. And boy did it stick. I was like 40 before it clicked that she just totally made that up, and I really should have thought about it before that. I don’t have the sort of personality that was ever interested in trying drugs for any reason, but the whole time I was growing up, THAT was my main deep-seated reason why I just wouldn’t, no matter what.
I was told eating onions and liver would put hair on your chest. I hated both as a kid but got the hair in spades anyway.
Also thing I was told would put hair on my chest over the years:
Spinach – Popeye cartons
Shots of various brown liquors – friends and family members
Chopping and stacking wood every Saturday in the fall for the wood stove – Dam youse Dad
As a kid, I never got the assumption that being hairier was regarded as a good thing. I could speculate now, but I’m ambivalent towards the issue.
My dad always told me such & such food would put hair on my chest. I’m sure he was silently LOLing
Luckily his old wives’ tales never came to fruition
I was told it was coffee.
That’s funny.
I am trying to imagine the look of befuddlement when you figured it out.
“She lied to me!”
I think at the beach it’s easy to see men with and without chest hair.
Yeah, and the ones without are prolly that way ’cause drugs.
My dad had a hairy chest but his dad, my grandpa, didn’t. I always thought it was normal either way. Both can be attractive.
I get what you mean about “normal”, but am frankly unable to process the concept of “attractive” when applied to a male. I get that it may theoretically exist, but that’s about it.
The other day I was called incredibly handsome. So, other men can.
ELAINE: Do one of you guys know that that blond guy who’s always on the exercycle at the health club. You know he’s
just really handsome?
GEORGE: I, uh, I wouldn’t know.
ELAINE: You know, just admitting that a man is handsome doesn’t necessarily make *you* a homosexual.
GEORGE: It doesn’t help!
Except dudes aren’t attractive. Not a one. I don’t understand how women and gay guys can say otherwise.
It’s easy for me to process what it means — after watching what (most) women find attractive, when I look at a man I compare with that. As a corollary, I then wish I looked more like that.
The excuse for New Jersey enacting an income tax – public education. 45 years later – a bloated and corrupt bureaucracy, the highest property taxes in the country, and absolutely terrible school systems.
From my contact with several public school teachers:
“DeVos was terrible because she was never a teacher and didn’t have a degree in education, so was un qualified to decide on how to run public schools in the US”.
Because I like to remain married and keep my friends, I simply responded with the following: “The past secretaries of Education all had degrees in education and policy. Under previous Secretaries of Education there was little to no improvement in achievement by any metrics vs the rest of the world, while the costs/student increased dramatically year after year. As you keep telling me, there has been little increase in teachers salaries or staffing since you have become teachers, so the “Teacher” Secretaries of Education from previous administrations have if anything, made things worse not better.”
I then listened to excuses and justifications why things got worse, but didn’t respond further. I got up and asked, “well who wants another drink”, then changed the subject.
They must be against Sec Pete and his lack of Transportation knowledge…
THAT’S DIFFERENT!!11111!!11!1!1
No one could have an opinion on policy better than someone who once practiced in the field 10 – 30 years ago for at the most 5 years.
At least he’s ridden some trains.
Ridden or pulled?
Hey Swiss – I’ve got an article ready to go in case it got lost in the shuffle last week.
Thanks!
You are up on the 15th at 1100.
1000
Thanks!
No, thank you! It is a good piece.
Just jumped over – are you mixing it up with Seguin?
Yes, I did.
Yours is in Draft mode – is it ready for me to put into “scheduled”?
I have it set for the 16th at 1900.
Let me know if it needs any more work.
Will do! Thanks
He hasn’t had anybody ride train on him?
“Parents are bad, kids are bad, not enough money”, repeat ad infinitum.
“You’re not one of those fucking teachers are you?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAg9M-O9wGo
DeVos cut him off and said, “I am no longer Secretary of Education. Please don’t call me ‘Madame Secretary’. Call me ‘Betsy’.”
Boom.
Thanks, DEG! Looking forward to Day 3!
You’re welcome!
Boy, Malice truly is King of the Trolls.
This will be fact-checked.
She got the information from Prince Andrew?
“A source close to the Queen”
Thats how you catch monkeypox.
Big, if true.
He did the same thing when Shinzo Abe died. Hilariously, the media clowns lost their shit and made sure to tell everyone that it was fake.
Morons.
That’s great!
Re: King Charles
An old joke: A man who went into a coma in 1958 awakens in 1970. A friend is trying to catch him up with world events.
The man asks, “How is my good friend Dwight Eisenhower doing?”
The friend says, “I’m sorry but Mr. Eisenhower has died.”
The man says, “Oh, my God. You mean that asshole Nixon is President!?”
Works with Obama/Biden, too.
I came here to post this link and chew bubble gum. And I am all out of bubble gum.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SIjjh_PRmU8
#OtherStevePerry
You should’ve been gone.
Ted S. left me a music link opening. I took it.
But of course.
New York’s subway now has a ‘you do you’ mask policy. It’s getting a Bronx cheer
“Dire threat”?
“Saves lives”?
I’m tired of this movie. Is there anything else on?
As I’ve said before I’m far more worried about being hospitalized because of the violence and mayhem in NYC than I am being hospitalized from COVID.
That’s just what a racist would say.
I said already back in March 2020 that I was less worried about getting covid than I was about the possibility of losing my job by lockdown.
Covid
Crime
inflation
Climate change
Monkeypox
Ukraine
You’re right we’re due for another movie.
…All this and more in tonight’s movie, the most triggering I have ever shown.
I zoomed in on the same sentence, thinking “Well, bless their hearts if they want to think that. Just don’t foist their delusions on me.”
But of course they foist. They foist harder than Brochetta.
*squints suspiciously*
I’ve actually stopped saying the word “Covid”. Deliberately using “a/the cold”.
I think reading that gave me a stroke.
As a confirmed non masker, them clinging to this religious symbology is nauseating.
In 2021 It was so nice to to go to PA where my son was at school and not see a mask on every face.
Feigl-Ding was a candidate in the 2018 Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district.[37][38] On February 27, 2018, Feigl-Ding announced his candidacy in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district.[17] He campaigned on a progressive platform advocating for science, universal healthcare, and public health.
Eric Feigl-Ding
I fixed one of the meme versions: https://i.imgflip.com/6spl85.jpg
Perfect. Just needs a hoodie.
Christ on a cracker, how many times does Eric Ding have to be discredited before news organizations stop quoting him as some kind of authority? He’s a fucking nutritionist, not a medical doctor.
Every morning Ive been finding random legos that someone has been leaving on my porch.
I dont know what to make of it.
A castle! Or a boat!
Why not both?
A hat…or a brooooch…..or a pterodactyl!
There’s a sale at Penney’s !
Me John, big tree!
That’s a telltale sign of a child infestation. Better nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand.
Just don’t step on them with bare feet.
Ominous. I recommend a ghillie suit, adequate firepower, night vision, a stakeout, and a willingness to do what’s necessary.
Ray of hope.
Custom prosthetic arms made of Legos.
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2021/9/inventor-hand-solo-builds-lego-arm-for-eight-year-old-674574
I knew she was cool.
The panel pointed out that the government suspended many rules and regulations. This shows we don’t need these rules and regulations. Those rules and regulations should be repealed.
No, no, no! Next thing you know, we will have voting by email.