This is a strange post for me, which I avoided trying to post for a long time. It did not start as a potential Glibs post, but as my attempt to organize my ideas and make a little sense of how well… completely illogical some otherwise competent people can be on certain topics. In my estimation, off course. As I work in a company full of engineers, I am always amazed on how limited they are outside their narrow specialty and how much they lack intellectual curiosity… and not only about politics related topics.
The very basic issue is, sadly, clear – politics plays a significant role in our society. The more the government grows, so does the importance of politics. What is the problem with politics? People have been debating politics and philosophy for what is, for practical purposes, forever. Times immemorial and such. And no consensus is in sight. Public choice theory has covered this at length, but ain’t nobody got time to read all that. I will give my $0.52 (can never keep up with inflation) and summarize my thoughts.
One of the first things I notice is the amount of ignorance for most people debating things on utilitarian basis is astounding. They have no idea how what they advocate for would work in practice, if the numbers add up, if it has been tried before and what were the results. They have no understanding of how things work in other countries or how they did in the past. And I am talking about people with advanced degrees in engineering or medicine, which are a category the world at large generally considers “educated.” It does not improve things that most of the information out there is often wrong and quite manipulated – how many believe Hoover lowered taxes and had a laissez-faire approach? At this point you simply cannot trust much of what you read without a huge grain of sodium chloride, you need to put in work yourself to find nuggets of truth.
Some say that people should know they are uninformed and somehow defer to “experts”. But if you are uninformed, how can you tell who these people are? And the “experts” have their own agenda and are certainly not disinterested. It’s a catch-22, something that happens a lot when it comes to politics.
Some people, I noticed, suffer from what I call the “Hey, I’m doing my job!” misconception. First they assume that if they do their job honestly and to the best of their ability, everyone else does as well and, and if everyone else did theirs, especially bureaucrats and politicians, things will go great. It is also a sort of comparative advantage thinking: it is a better use of my time doing say… engineering then worrying to much about day to day aspects of poverty relief, and other people are better suited for dealing with those. I can just outsource good deeds to the government, in a way.
The sad truth is that many people won’t just do their job right, quite the opposite. In fact the exact people who don’t to a good job in a useful field are the ones who use the time not spent doing something productive in order to climb through the ranks of organizations, both private and public. That is how a country ends up led by a bunch of politicians no one would trust with running a news stand. It is how good engineers in corporations end up with incompetent middle managers – because the good engineers spend their time working, while the bad ones spend their time becoming managers. Not to generalize, off course, there are fine managers out there.
People use completely different methods in politics than in their job. If you take a group of really good … let’s say plumbers, you notice they generally reach similar conclusions in their job and how to do most things. These same people can have wildly different views on politics. You will find a socialist, a centrist and a libertarian among this group. Each one believes they are rational and knowledgeable in their politics, but clearly this is not possible for all. And usually it is untrue for most, irrespective of their politics.
For many people some things simply feel right or wrong and they have no intellectual need to go any deeper. Many strong feelings influence things – fear of chaos – without government controlling the economy/morality there is chaos; compassion – think of the children; envy – why are others more successful than me; self-interest; generally dislike of change, feeling of disgust at things and much more. The issue is that feelings are so strong many do not need something else. I am not advocating for a cold rationality in everything, feelings have their place, but must be constraint by reason. Frankly, I sometimes am surprised at the sufficiency of deep down belief I see in some libertarians as well, due to my completely different approach, as I have mentioned in a previous post. Even if the conclusions align with mine.
I had a friend say, during a discussion with other people over beers, “the problem with debating Pie is that he knows all sorts of facts and arguments I cannot counter, but I feel I am right”. He had made no effort to learn new facts or develop new arguments on his own. There was no need, he felt he was right. Two weeks later it was the same – if I am stuck for arguments in a discussion, I spend some time to clarify things. Most don’t. This stops any discussion in its tracks. The modern left embraces this and started seriously pushing feelings and “lived experiences” as having superior worth to logical arguments. My issue with this is that there is no way to come to an agreement. I feel this way, you feel that way, what now? Why is your lived experience more relevant than mine?
The conclusion here is murky. So I leave it with a quote: “Reasoning will never make a man correct an ill opinion, which by reasoning he never acquired.”- Johnathan Swift
Ok, Pie, tell us what you really think…
I will note that the origin of the thought behind this post was to avoid demonizing opposing opinions, something along the lines of “good people have bad politics”. But as I aged and saw the world around me, it became harder and harder for me to see many people as just misguided… And oh boy this the last couple of years not improve things. It is facile to demonize the other sides – especially when they aggressively advocate for all things one despises – and this should be avoided, but having become a cynical misanthropic bastard I find it more and more difficult.
This causes some sadness in me because there is so much cool stuff in the world, even on a platform like YouTube. Engineering, architecture, art of all types, food, drink and so on. And so much potential. As most, I don’t want to dislike or even hate other people, but sometimes people make this difficult.
Humans are assholes, mostly. Present company included, of course. Well that is a bad word, but people have all sorts of innate issues. They can be narrow minded, tribal, petty, aggressive, violent, unconcerned by others, power hungry, corrupt and all that. There is not point of an exhaustive list, the point is these things exist. Off course people can be kind, generous, selfless, industrious and all that as well. The point is, there is light and there is darkness, and no amount of “education” will create “the new man” in which these things are profoundly altered.
The big question at this point is why are we no closer to consensus? Simply put, it is because there is no way to reach it. If there was, we would be there after the odd 5000 years. If we are not there yet, we are not getting there anytime soon. Values play the significant role here, and these are acquired in various ways and, as some research shows, some may be innate or genetic if you will.
For a typical example, a libertarian with a deontological belief in maximizing liberty will not be swayed by arguments that reducing liberty is better for say some statistical indicator of social well being – even if that were true. If the main desired outcome, the end in itself, is liberty, other outcomes are secondary and as such should not come at the expense of the primary. Similarly, a socialist that wants equality of outcome above all, and is honest about it, will not care whether this will come at the cost of liberty or prosperity, as long as that poverty is equally distributed. For someone on the right who thinks vice is bad, arguments about the ills of prohibition hold little sway.
Further complicating things is that values can be foundational, deep and personal. So deep that people do not even try to analyze them by. This is one reason debates get so heated. One thing to have an argument attacked, another a deep personal belief, which is like having a part of yourself attacked. Overall most people are not strictly utilitarian or deontologist, but a combination of the two. The thing is that maybe outcomes may be debated somewhat more, but basic values not so much.
I worked all my life with the high tech crowd. And it was a constant disappointment. People tend to be painfully ignorant. I noticed that in friends, family, coworkers. This is, sadly, an objective fact. They know little of things that are not their direct day to day interest and have little curiosity outside a few narrow concerns. And while politics seem to be of great concern to many, this is addressed superficially. Most do not spend time looking for knowledge. For some reason, politics is seen as that area of human life where everyone knows by default.
When I say knowledge, I don’t mean just finding material that confirms what you already believe. That is easy. I mean the actual intellectual effort to engage things outside the ideological comfort zone. Beyond acquiring information, one needs to do additional work to filter, understand, and process it. Spend a few hours once in a while alone, quietly thinking. Most get in hot debates online or in person, they repeat their side’s argument over and over. Few take the time to see if they can debunk their own arguments. Few think of the basics. Why do I believe what I do on issue X and does it make sense? There is little insight beyond the surface. They do not think of second order effects at all. Of how everything influences everything else. Bastiat’s what is seen and unseen always comes to mind…
These are things I thought about for a while. Do not demonize, find a good explanation. But in the end, true as some of the above may be, is just part of the problem. The essence of it is not in not thinking. At all. About anything. But even this is not enough. Heterodox lefties like Jonathan Haidt also say it is about values, and the origins of human moral reasoning on the basis of innate, gut feelings rather than logical reason. His book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion is all about this. But he is excessively charitable, in my view. He speaks of standard values like compassion vs order/hierarchy, fairness and so on.
This sounds good but is mostly nonsense. Left leaning sociologists more correctly asses conservative wish for hierarchy – especially one where they are on top – and a world perfectly ordered to their liking – without care of who gets wrecked in the process. But they most charitably asses the left saying it is about compassion. More serious studies show the main driving force on the left are envy and self-interest, with compassion – while it exists – coming in third.
Most people are driven by tribalism and self-interest and feelings of superiority much more than by compassion or fairness. For many opinions are just fashion statements, they hold whatever is fashionable in their in group. And this makes them feel better, smarter, and morally superior. And this makes them petty tyrants and revel in imposing their will on unwilling others. A cursory reading of left twitter and comments on papers like the Guardian proves this. Envy, self-interest rule and superiority to the “others” rule supreme. Compassion is barely noticeable and even with that NIMBY sometimes rules supreme… Help the poor sure, not with my money and not in my neighborhood and not with any effort from me, but yes help the poor, tax the rich or something, richer than me anyways. And going on the right, it is not much different.
Here I should have some sort of conclusion or other, but I do not as I am not optimistic. Articles like this have been written thousands of times, probably, with little to show, other than maybe make the author feel good about themselves (similar to my previous post on keeping an open mind). So why write it? Well why does anyone do anything? Boredom I suppose. And whisky.
I’ve found that the first postulate does not hold true. There’s no surer way to spark a debate than to get two professionals in the same profession in the same place and ask about the same task.
I find it rare to be fundamental difference at least in my experience in uncontroversial domains. And this does not cover scientists for example…
to be fair the company I work with people are generally not confrontational
I think Pie is correct. The plumbers may violently disagree with each other about esoteric plumbing issues, but in discussions with non-plumbers they will end up taking the same position, because the non-plumbers will just be wrong about plumbing.
I heard a left and right wing economist say the same thing, at a party they would end up siding against everyone else, because non-economists just dont understand the basics.
Or for example you might understand, consider the vi vs emacs war. The will immediately team up against the Notepad users.
Who said anything about including non-professionals in the discussion?
Within their job, they are going to agree on 98% of things, it will be a tiny fraction they disagree about. But they won’t ever discuss those things, because they don’t need to be discussed, except maybe to explain to an apprentice plumber.
But there would be a lot of things within that 98% that outsiders wouldn’t understand, so when talking about the grand scheme of things, they are in near universal agreement, but you have to bring in the outsiders to even realize those concepts exist.
While I can’t speak to plumbers per se, it has been the routine questions that raise the greatest dissent within the professional circles I am privvy to.
Maybe computers are just too broken.
you do work for the government
Most middle-class Americans do also until around May.
Computer software is overly complex and honestly it would appear many tech companies entire end game is to make unsecure, glitchy, and non-user useful products.
Example is Windows tries to update every day even though they have a pause update option. They are literally lying that you can pause updates.
Another example are websites that auto start videos and companies have jump pages that requires high Bandwith. What about people with slower internet speeds or use limited phone data plans? Not to mention most jump page information is not useful anyway.
And the one true editor is ed
I use Kate on linux
Real programmers use butterflies.
The biggest problem with politics is its’ ubiquity. It has infiltrated every aspect of our lives. It should be an afterthought.
The irony with saying that is, as Americans we are the most political people in the world. Our country was founded as a giant fuck you to the then extant political order. Our national identity is bound up with our renunciation of the political ties to England, and the establishment of a very questionable political scheme. That KDW piece I linked this morning was on point.
The bit about how we worry so much (overmuch?) about who is president etc. is a completely rational response to how much power they have assumed over our lives.
^^^ exactly this.
Whenever people lament about how politics has become such a big deal and breaks up friendships and families, wondering why/how it has come to this, I point out how much politics has taken control of their daily lives to the point that they cannot ignore politics and especially the state enforcers of laws/edicts created by politics.
“I don’t care about politics.”
“Yeah? Well, politics sure as shit cares about you.”
Yep.
Ask a normal, educated, office working, non-political person about the steps they’ll need to go through to do something simple, like open a deli, restaurant, gas station, or a convenient store. I’d be willing to bet they’ll miss a good half dozen steps.
“Start with bribe money for the first round of permits…”
Yes.
For instance our new President immediately got gas prices to jump $1 a gallon then moved on to firing random citizens for not taking experimental medicine.
Rational in the sense that the government holds a lot of power over our lives. Maybe not so rational, in the sense of who really has their hands on the levers of that power.
Politics is the cheap melodrama that keeps our attention occupied, while in the background, the bureaucracy continues to pour sand in the gears of human achievement…
Politics is the cheap melodrama that keeps our attention occupied
Yup. About 90% of the news is about DC goings-on, and about 90% of that is pure inside-baseball palace intrigue – horrible people being horrible to each other as they slap-fight each other in the crab bucket of DC.
Ignoring that is rational, IMO. I know I strive to.
Let me offer up this insight, which I believe to be true, by Solzhenitsyn:
“(T)he line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years…. If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”
But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being – some more than others. people who do not aggress ther people cannot be that evil in practice
As a socialist if it’s evil that Elon Musk doesn’t pay his fair share in taxes.
Ask a socialist, that is…
It’s evil how much taxpayer money goes to his companies.
Politics is about the distribution of power and resources. Since the State creates neither, it must first seize them from people. Thus politics is the divvying up of plunder. It’s theft and murder and is inherently evil.
Which is why it should never be mixed with anything good. It’s universally polluting.
Well said, Lily’s dad.
And it’s why even minarchism is a pipe dream.
Woot! Maybe the dam is starting to break?
https://cbs6albany.com/news/coronavirus/saratoga-county-declines-to-enforce-misguided-new-mask-mandate
Yay.
Any others?
Well, at least that one is close.
I see that Rensselaer county exec spoke out about it, but no sign that they opted not to enforce.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10307287/NY-governor-brushes-rebellion-multiple-counties-refusing-enforce-vaccine-mandate.html
Livingston, Madison, Rensselear, Dutchess and Rockland.
WooHoo!
I just have to cross the river. Either river.
On the stupid side of things, however, the HR department just sent out a email notice that in the office masking will be required even when seated in your cube.
No thanks.
Buh? Even at our strictest, we’ve never required masks at you cube.
During Andy’s administration, neither did we.
I didn’t think I’d miss the granny killer.
Yeah; I was going to mention Dutchess.
I was shocked to see this yesterday.
Polling numbers must be shitty.
Is 1 in 6 rare?
?
New Yorker cartoon*: guy at doctor’s office. Caption: “It says in your chart you’re 58 years old. We’d like to get that down a bit.”
*The rag’s chief utility at this point, IMO
Note the goalpost shift – “get the virus” to “be hospitalized”.
Sort of changed context in the middle too, right? From it’s very rare to get it if you’re vaccinated (bullshit), to only 16% of the *hospitalized* are vaccinated. Two different bushels of people.
Fully vaccinated has changed definition too.
I note also that the media rarely reports on the J&J vaccine and its efficacy vs. serious Covid illness. It just so happens to be cheaper than the mRNA vaccines, doesn’t need refrigeration, and needs only one dose.
For those reasons, it’s deployed to third world (shithole) countries. Coincidentally, people in those countries aren’t experiencing serious illness with Omicron.
Pfizer and Moderna can go suck it.
Unless a politically-favored minority group is disproportionately unvaxed, then it’s Whitey’s fault
Translation: “Fine, I’ll do it your way! But I’m still right.”
“And its also your fault when someone who is vaccinated is in the hospital. ITS ALL YOUR FAULT. ALL OF IT!!!”
The state giveth and the state taketh…
New York takes aim at apartment bans
State bill would allow up to four units on lots, ban exclusionary policies
The perfect I hate everyone involved story.
Buh?
I don’t even think The Hyperbole’s house would fit on that.
Though to be fair, “city” and “village” are fixed here. They do not expand like in the west or south. And I’m sure every lot is already taken anyway.
Articles like this have been written thousands of times, probably, with little to show, other than maybe make the author feel good about themselves
I thought of this Heinlein quote.
Boredom I suppose. And whisky.
Apropos.
that is not a bad commercial. this is the stuff gun jesus was drinking
That’s an awesome ad. I’ll have to try the rye.
Second on both of those.
Well, that’s pricey as fuck. Scotch prices for rye?
My siblings and I are more often than not ‘the smartest people’ in a room at any given time, but they still fall prey to ‘experts’ being smarter, even though I don’t think they’ve ever encountered that situation, I know I have not. Sure, someone might have more training in a specific task, but within a few minutes I can catch on. Except card counting, I don’t get that at all.
“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they know about what they imagine they can design.” Is also something people need to consider. Complex systems are difficult to model, and assumptions that we have answers to these things is weakness few are willing to admit to.
Hey….I recognize that quote! 🙂
Same thing afflicts “combatting climate change” or “stoping the Covid spread.” They really think they can pass enough rules to control individual human behavior and whole planets.
Card counting is just applied probability.
Somewhat on yjr point here.
One of the token conservatives at The Atlantic writes a COVID piece that sums up that COVID does not dominate thinking in most of the wrong thinking parts of the US. Naturally the WP jumps in to take up the cause.
Where I Live, No One Cares About COVID
The partisan divide on covid spawns a new reaction: Shrugs
Why is your lived experience more relevant than mine?
intersectionality points?
Regarding the wallet thread earlier:
Here is my go to for new leather goods. I have one of their wallets, belts, and bags. Great hand made stuff that is beautify and high quality.
https://www.duvallleatherwork.com/product-category/mens-leather-wallets/
https://www.duvallleatherwork.com/shop/
wallets are so last century. you need a microchip in your arm
Nice!
Thanks to all who have weighed in. I’ve been researching and hadn’t seen any of the brands y’all recommended.
I know you specified wallets, but I’ve been a big fan of my Tightwad money clip. They do have some card holders as well. Looking over their etched variants, I think it’s safe to say they are not on the woke train.
Neat-o!
Yeah, I prefer a wallet, although yours and the ones Scruffy recommended are cool as hell.
also those seem small
My bi fold holds the large funny looking monies I have to use when on the Continent.
I was able to get a nice green leather he had during the week I purchased it. He occasionally gets short runs of interesting leather colors and textures.
you never had romanian 100 lei bills which are like 85 millimeters wide
That sounds like a flawed design.
oh that it is
The wallet can hold a 85mm wide bill.
Front pocket?
The goatskin is really cool looking.
The small wallets and money clips are front pocket sized.
Small is good. I went smaller and it reduced the amount of unnecessary trash I carried around. That was life-changing. Also I went heavy on RFID protection. Probably overkill, but that was a definite requirement.
“Small is good.”
I’m decidedly the other (George Costanza) direction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoPf98i8A0g
I totally was mr. huge wallet until I started having leg problems. No bueno. Everything cleared up with a stand up desk and a front pocket tiny wallet.
I’ve been carrying a minimalist wallet for the past 2 years – something that fits easily in my front pocket. I went with a Ridge wallet with a money clip. Works perfectly for my needs.
https://ridge.com/collections/wallets/products/aluminum-gunmetal?variant=41321880078
Yeah, those are super cool. How easy is it to get the cards out?
For Tundra:
https://www.amazon.com/Kangaroo-Scrotum-Pouch-Coin-Purse/dp/B01KGZGP48
The search has ended!
Thanks nick!
I’ve seen those. Now I’m reminiscing about the zippered sneakers.
I ordered one from them.
My current wallet is falling apart.
Thanks!
I can think of one problem with the stock photo on the main page.
Eight scabble tiles?
Precisely.
OTOH, there’s nothing that says you have to play with just 7, if you want to try something different.
House Rules FTW
Occurred to me, then I decided it was cats and dogs living together.
We do that all the time (the cats and dogs living together). Well, it’s really more of an uneasy truce than living together.
The more I think about it, why not? In pool you have 8-ball, 9-ball, and more recently 10-ball, so why not 8-tile (or maybe 6-tile) Scrabble?
True, ditto poker hands.
Big-O (Omaha with 5 cards) FTW!
German Scrabble played with eight tiles before 1987.
Thank you Pie – for a Vampiric Pastry you write purty.
“As I work in a company full of engineers, I am always amazed on how limited they are outside their narrow specialty and how much they lack intellectual curiosity… and not only about politics related topics.”
As an engineer, I was about to take umbrage. Then I recalled some of the devastatingly dumb engineers I have worked with…
A guy I graduated college with, who didn’t know how to change his own brake pads, got a job with Ferrari racing.
Recently, a Chinese engineer wanted to know the range and accuracy of my plumb bob.
Recently, a Chinese engineer wanted to know the range and accuracy of my plumb bob.
Excellent euphemism.
“That’s an awfully personal question.”
Oh, I got one for ya:
I watched an electrical engineer (20 yrs experience?) measure the distance between terminals on a lead acid battery (Optima Red Top) with a caliper.
A metal caliper.
I happened to glance over as he brought the caliper toward the battery terminals and thought, “Surely he’s not gonna…”
ZAP!! Much arcky-sparky.
It’s only 12V.
Oh, yeah, current…
He’s lucky the battery didn’t explode and spray him with acid, which can happen when you short out a car battery.
Ask me how I know.
The jet of flame that shot out of a PC power supply when set to 115 volt and plugged into a 220v circuit was impressive.
Pop!
/mistakes I’ve made in a datacenter
One of the places I worked, there was a… mix-up ordering battery backups for remote offices. They were shipped out configured for European standard voltage instead of US voltage. There was much magic smoke that was let out of the computers that were supposed to be getting backup power. Once we realized the issue, there were very detailed instructions sent out to the remote offices.
More magic smoke was still released.
There were many new computers imaged and sent out with UPS’s that were already set up for the correct voltage.
When I was a stage electrician, a common practical joke played on the FNG was to hand them a plug with one prong shortened.
Ours was to charge up a capacitor and toss them at sleeping students.
I caught one of those. Once…
800 cold cranking amps, baby!!
I’ve partially welded a wrench to a car battery in my younger days.
For some reason, I am very circumspect when I do any battery work now.
I work around electricity daily…and I still approach it as if it is FM.
Ever used a bunch or twisted-together coat hangers for jumper cables?
Boy, do they get hot. You kinda get 1 shot and thats it.
I once saw an aircraft mechanic put a crescent wrench across the terminals of an electric forklift battery pack. Intentionally. To test the battery. Yep.
I’m guessing an available short circuit current in the range of 200 to 250 kA.
Fortunately, the ring end of the crescent wrench exploded because it was thinner than the wrench body. Otherwise it would have inductively locked to the terminals for the second it would have taken to blow the battery terminals off and whatever acid came with them.
Just a true patriot upholding the Constitution and our democracy.
Thread for those interested in the @January6thCmte’s progress: The Committee has already met with nearly 300 witnesses; we hear from four more key figures in the investigation today. We are conducting multiple depositions and interviews every week. (1/4)
We have received exceptionally interesting and important documents from a number of witnesses, including Mark Meadows. He has turned over many texts from his private cell phone from January 6th. (2/4)
We have litigated and won Trump’s executive privilege case in Federal District Court. The Federal Appellate Court has expedited the appeal, and we anticipate a ruling regarding many more Trump White House documents soon.
The investigation is firing on all cylinders. (3/4)
Do not be misled: President Trump is trying to hide what happened on January 6th and to delay and obstruct. We will not let that happen.
The responses are pure aids.
They are just trying to dirty him up for 2024. They desperately want to get him in front of the committee pleading the 5th.
Like the Bourbons, the Democrats learned nothing and forgotten nothing. They are still steaming mad that Donald Trump was elected by deplorables over their preferred choice and the way to prevent this from happening again is extract revenge on those who supported or worked for Donald Trump.
The Problem with Politics
Is that everyone won’t just go along with what I want to do.
Astralcodexten has a three part series on Georgism.
How long does it take to say “eat the rich”?
Neph pointed it out the other day.
The book review (which is from April by the same author) is really good, even if I disagreed at a few points.
The author isn’t a single land taxer. While an LVT has its uses, it true power is as a SLT.
Pie –
Nice article. I would add that the great success of the early American experiment was because of how well a big chunk of the colonials understood the problems associated with power.
And they hadn’t been dumbed down by the education system that they themselves insisted upon. That was giant fuck up #1.
They didn’t quite understand the requisite elements of their own culture that are precursors to producing Liberty lovers who are willing to say “fuck you” to even slight encroachments on their Freedom.
But maybe it was always doomed – maybe it’s simply not possible to continue to produce and raise liberty-protecting children generation after generation after generation who haven’t had British soldiers quartering themselves in your home, ogling and man-handling your women-folk, and plundering your work. It may just be that the only people who truly appreciate Freedom are people who’ve been so stepped on that they finally turn and bite.
“No step on snek” indeed.
Ozyyy! Finally heard your interview. You were very polite to WAR*, who seems to be not nearly as bright** as you.
*whose name I know for one chief reason
** yet somehow has a Maserati***
*** GOTO 20 ?
And they hadn’t been dumbed down by the education system that they themselves insisted upon. That was giant fuck up #1.
A nit: Public schooling was uncommon in Pennsylvania until after the Civil War. I think there were public schools in PA before the Civil War (1830s for the first one comes to mind), but almost all schooling in PA was private or at home until the Civil War.
Massachusetts had public schools long before we were even a Republic.
I wrote about this here. The persecutors in the Salem Witch Trials were almost assuredly among the first to be educated under the Old Deluder Satan law.
https://www.glibertarians.com/2020/08/statism-in-america-a-two-branch-tree-of-woe/
That was the model for much of the rest of the country, long before the “public school” movement of Mann et al.
I’m not saying we had then anything like what would come later, but we had it in many places.
“Politics” from two root words:
Poly meaning many
Ticks meaning blood-sucking parasites.
That’s good, I will use that.
I hold congress in contempt.
Full@RepLizCheney statement on holding Mark Meadows in contempt, including texts from Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Brian Kilmeade and others:
“These text messages leave no doubt…multiple Fox News hosts knew the president needed to act immediately. They texted Mr. Meadows.”
“But he failed to act to to our liking!”
More breaking news >>
Rep. Cheney hints at where this is going: federal criminal charges for President Trump.
“Did Donald Trump, through action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress’s proceedings?”
Um, she’s reading 18 U.S.C. 1505
https://law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1505
I’m from the government and I’m here to help.
Feed the Hungry? You’ll Need a Permit for That.
Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, is working on an ordinance that would restrict the practice of feeding homeless people who live on the street.
If your food donation is not properly labelled, how will the homeless be able to keep their nutrition in line with USDA guidelines?
db we need to get together for that idea of a Glib Chat channel. I got something in the lineup that would be an explosive opening
Nice article, not sure if anything can be done. When I talk to my mom about anything she more confident than I am.
I have read a lot about a great many things, and I’ve asked her to convince me, or at least share where she got her Info, and she never tells me, but somehow it aligns with DNC talking points.
I’ve even offered to send her some of the stuff I’ve read and the answer was, and I’m quoting”No thanks, I’m pretty happy the way I am.”
What can you do with that?
Nod and smile? develop bruxism?
Nothing at all.
I remember seeing this ultra liberal girl in college and I offered to read Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire and I told her that she ought to read The Road to Serfdom by Hayek. I read Freire’s book because I generally interested in what she believed in along with understanding the Left’s mind frame about oppression. When I asked her how she’s progressing on Hayek’s book, she straight up told me that she has no interest in reading it because she doesn’t need to read right winged literature. She was good looking and at times great to hang out with but that type of confidence without any knowledge and a lack of curiosity for other worldview’s outside of her own made the relationship untenable.
I’ve asked the dyed in the wool gf to read “rightwing” literature (The Law). So far she hasn’t done so. But I never shy from offering my opinion* on something so I like to think that she is at least getting exposure outside the bubble.
*I also view material that contradicts her worldview while she is in earshot. The daily dose of Crowder has to have some effect.
My wife is a liberal but she’s at least curious about my belief system and try to understand why I have them in the first place. I think a lot of people on the Left have been taught to believe that anyone who doesn’t walk lockstep with their worldviews are at best stupid and at worst evil. That’s why we have the so called cancel culture because anything outside of the norm needs to be stamped out immediately because it’s an evil that we can’t abide having in our world.
They absolutely believe that their purity can be destroyed through exposure to badthink.
In fact, they are explicit about this point.
It’s like a super duper religious person who refuses to hear any sort of rebuttal about their belief system. As a society we’ve replaced religion with a worship of the state and their high priests.
“Reality has a left-wing bias.”
Most if not all of us have been steeped in this crap since birth, to the point where IMHO there is no need to read where they are coming from any more because we are surrounded by it on all sides still.
When I first stepped off the plantation a couple decades ago, it was exotic and slightly thrilling because it was everything I was taught was “evil” all my life. I was never a true believer in their reality, so it was easy for me to make the leap.
That claim is patently false on its face.
Jugsy is good for holding her hand out for free shit that she didnt invest any effort into, and I suspect if her life turned out differently, she’d be a screeching liberal. However, a career of working with HUD and Section 8 properties and seeing the endless entitlements handed out has made her absolutely jaded.
On her own she picked-up a copy of Ben Shapiro’s “The Authoritarian Moment”.
Parents and spouses ( / BFs / GFs ) are different dynamics.
Ugh. Political theory as fashion accessory.
Politics as religion.
Sadly this describes the majority of people across the political spectrum.
I generally interested in what she believed
And you just got Playboy for the articles, right?
Nothing. My mom is exactly the same. Tell her you love her and live your life.
That’s where we are, I used to think she was smart, but the last 18 mo ths or so have disabused me of that notion.
I don’t care how intelligent you might be if you can’t look at things from another viewpoint or examine what you believe, you’re not smart.
Sad thing, I might never see her again, because my wife isn’t vaccinated.
The unfortunate part of being open to new ideas is that you also have to be willing to admit you were wrong.
Most people are highly uncomfortable with that idea and it is certainly not modelled by our illustrious leaders.
?
Oh, wait:
?♂️
(That is, re apostasy or at least revision.)
Ignorance is bliss…
I’ve lost my poker buddies (or, more correctly, they’ve lost me) because of the attitude of “you aren’t one of us so you must be one of them.” The fact that I’m not “us or them” doesn’t fit into their worldview.
False dichotomies are wild?
Never knew how big of a pain background checking companies could be. I just landed a new job. Submitted my info for the background check they came back to me saying they couldn’t verify employment with my prior company. My prior company merged with my current. Called up our HR who gave me a number to forward on. Background company responded oh we already called that number and they verified your employment dates we need your W2s going back 7 years. Why?
Meanwhile, everyone at my company complains about how long it takes to get hired people in place…
Wut?
“You clowns know there is a major labor shortage going on right now, right? And that if I decide this company is too much of a hassle, I can run down another job in a couple weeks, tops, right?”
Scanned, shredded, then lost in a drive failure?
Is that the background company being ridiculous or the hiring company?
Either way, that’s a “no” from me, dawg.
I’m going through the process of a background check for employment – in my current job that I’ve helf for years.
I built half the civil service infrastructure, and I’m no longer eligable to request administrative rights to anything because they somehow don’t have any paperwork. For the entire span of their required history I have the same address and employer.
I need a new job.
from the local-ish news:
Kroger ending some COVID-19 benefits for unvaccinated staff
Here’s what I don’t get- if companies currently cant mandate vaccinations, how can the employer single out 1 illness over the others?
If their employees don’t get a flu shot, but get the flu, are they out of luck too? Or pneumonia? Or shingles?
What about tetanus ?
Yeah, screw Kroger. They still play a message over the loudspeaker saying masks are required, here in my little bubble in TN that has never had one fuck to give for the ‘vid.
Our grocery store here is Kroger owned (Fred Meyer), and there are no mask announcements. Like most of Alaska, they hit “fuck it” months ago.
Another reason I want off the standard health insurance model.
Virtue, signaled.
Too bad they don’t exist here so I can not shop there.
Sod them.
SoCal has many faults, but it’s small-grocery heaven.
Other corporate New Cruelty (see sidebar): https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10308507/Kroger-ban-unvaccinated-staff-getting-paid-sick-leave-catch-Covid.html
Military peeps, is Jesse correct?
Women should not be in combat. There, I said it.
Women and seamen don’t mix?
Agreed, FWIW.
Seamen arent interested anyhow. In the Navy, 300 guys ship out and 150 couples come home.
I’m sure *you* got the reference, but I should have Frinked. https://frinkiac.com/caption/S04E05/540372
Word.
There are two problems
One is the physical, the strength and size of women
Two is the physical, it’s the reason we love them. They have attributes that men don’t have.
I’ve worked with women in the army, the problem wasn’t their capabilities, the problem was they somehow looked different playing volleyball in T-shirts. That can be (is) a real problem. They are women first, undeniably. Some things they were great at but so many things require physical strength.
I had a female clerk that was quite attractive, she danced topless at a local club, she invited us men to come down and see her performance. I didn’t but not because I didn’t want to, AFAIK none of the guys took her up on her offer, most were married and not able to have the opportunity.
The secondary MOS of every soldier is to fight as an infantryman.
Once they lowered the physical standards for women to qualify, it was over. Even some men cant pass basic physical standards. Believe it or not, there are reasons why color blind people are denied military service. If you cant lift 50lbs, men or women, you are not physically fit enough for military service.
Called my neurologist to find out how pricing works when I’m paying cash as I’m very seriously considering dropping the BarryCare BS and switching to Crowdhealth.
Utter confusion from the office staff. They seem unable to process the idea.
I joined Medi-Share this month. I’m navigating the process now, but they appear to have a pretty decent stable of cash-accepting docs.
Any particular reason you picked them versus other options?
My best friend has used them for years. He’s a fan. Last year he had a hip replaced and it was easy-peasy.
You are responsible for a lot of routine stuff, of course, but it’s the closest thing I have found to the old ‘catastrophic insurance’ thing.
Crowdhealth looks great, but they are pretty new. I heard the founder on Tom Woods and they are advertising on Malice’s show.
I love that there are options. I’m currently on the hunt for a functional doc who hates the Medical Industrial Complex as much as I do.
Good old OKC Surgery Center, should it come to it?
Its not entirely their fault. Im sure they’ve never heard of such a thing.
When I was w/o Anthem, or I went to see my non-VA doc, Id open with “go easy on me Doc- Im self pay”.
He was good about paring costs to a minimum. Now, Ive never tried that with a specialist before.
I moved recently and set up an appointment for a nearby doctor. After showing up they tell me they don’t take self pay, WTF is that about? They made a one-time exception for me. How nice of them to take my money.
I imagine the insurance companies are putting pressure on the docs.
I want off the classic system because I’m tired of putting up with the tax headaches and I don’t trust them to not try to fuck with me using the O’Care subsidies over the vaccines.
Did you see this shit?
I’m with you. I want out of the system completely.
I imagine a lot of that is subsidizing the free checkups in the ER.
I hate insurance pricing and variable medical pricing too.
But that LA Times hit piece is like saying that it only cost $0.25 a pill to make some drug that it took a company $5bn and 20 years to develop and get approved.
SH, have you seen these DHHS TV ads? (30ish woman: “I pay only $57 per month for my family!” Single 20s dude: “I pay nothing!”) Standard letter score for “bruxism”: 18 points.
Look up an obstetrician’s bill from 60 years ago.
Sorry: SN. See also The Dick Van Dyke Show birth flashback episode.
Laura: Did you pay the bill?
Rob: I paid the bill. All right, that’s just about everything.
(It was much funnier with his hands full of bouquets and gifts, and a toy giraffe under his chin)
After showing up they tell me they don’t take self pay
Self-pay is usually a euphemism for no-pay, is probably why.
The house I’m working in is filthy and reeks of old dog piss.
That is all.
I dont remember letting you in.
That’s just hurtful.
Reliable source.
In case you’re wondering if Fox News is the 1/6 committee hearing tonight, the answer is no. Neither is Newsmax. Neither is One America News.
And?
They’re probably still busy covering that Kenosha thing.
Thanks for the Pie-post, Pie.
The biggest problem with politics is it’s full of politicians. If we could keep them out, we’d all be better off.
Politicians per se are not bad. Most politicians being lawyers just sets America up to fail. That and career politicians.
Go to you local political entity and observe a city or county meeting. Its a whole different ball game than DC theft of taxpayer money.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/ancient-greek-drug-could-cut-covid-19-deaths-israeli-scientist/ar-AAROczA
Ban it!
Before I clicked on the link I thought it would be “chicken noodle soup.”
That would be an ancient Jewish drug.
+ This one weird trick!
Pi, this is a good observation but I don’t know how much it matters when the goals are so different. NG pipelines are shutdown in the US in order to raise prices. The price increase at the gas pumps is not a misunderstanding of second order effects… it’s the goal itself.
However much we like to think they are, the politicians and NGOs aren’t stupid and every action they take is to work towards their goals. That’s why calling the GOP the “Stupid Party” is a misnomer. The GOP is merely a different aspect of the Cathedral and none of McConnell’s or any other GOP leaders are stupid when considered in light of their purpose to provide the perception of being a foil to the Dems while actually growing the power of the State.
The default state of man for millennia has been barbarism. Dan Carlin has illustrated just how vicious humans can be over the past few centuries. Even within the past 100 years, we’ve seen that the populations of entire countries across the globe will fall in line to exterminate their fellow man for a multitude of reasons. The Covid experience has opened my eyes, and I longer hold the belief that people genuinely mean well but are just misguided and don’t understand the effects of their position. The hard truth is that they want to control your children, where you live, how you travel, if you get healthcare, and what you’re allowed to eat. That’s what it comes down to.
Left leaning sociologists more correctly asses conservative wish for hierarchy – especially one where they are on top – and a world perfectly ordered to their liking – without care of who gets wrecked in the process.
I hear this quite often, including from people I respect. But, I have trouble tying it to empirical reality. It seems to me like the “conservative wish for hierarchy” isn’t particularly unique to conservatives. The left, from what I’ve seen loves hierarchy. They just don’t love the existing hierarchy. Because when you look at the left, they seem perfectly okay with designating some people as okay to speak, but not others. Or an offense when some people do something, but not others. I mean, didn’t Occupy Wall Street employ a “progressive stack” that was nothing but a system of hierarchy?
1984 is being reissued from a feminists POV:
“She really loved Big Sister”
In this version, Julia is a true adherent of the Junior Anti-Sex League.
I really wouldn’t be surprised if the take is that the fault with the totalitarian state is the patriarchical nature of it.
If it’s done right, it could be interesting, but like live action Cowboy Bebop, it will probably be done in the worst way, and if you don’t like it, you’re a misogynist who “hates strong women”.
LOL!
One for Tres!
Oh hell yeah! If I wasnt still mildly feverish that may even conjure up a soft-on.
Still needs more FUPA.
Remember- thicc thighs save lives
Oh my.
Pretty sure I saw Fruity Pain open for Fun Boy Three.
I legit thought this was an ad for pepper spray.
LOL
This is why victimhood is so “important.”
Lived experiences + the most victimhood points = Winner
COVID was a blessing to millions of white people who suddenly realized they could be victims again.
One of the best takes on the left-right interaction I’d ever heard was from Peterson. My spin on it is as follows:
About 80% of political moves or initiatives are garbage (I’d say more, but that’s just calibration). They generally make people worse off and entail misery, suffering, pain and, sometimes, death. That isn’t unique to political initiatives. About 80% of every new thing is garbage. It’s a Pareto distribution. The bulk of new businesses fail. The overwhelming majority of academic papers are never published. And of those that are, only a tiny fraction are ever cited by other researchers. Only a small portion of employees do the bulk of the work in most companies. Only a tiny portion of bands ever get a recording contract. And of those, only a tiny portion ever get any airtime. Given that, you’re almost certainly better off assuming Chesterton’s Fence. If you don’t know exactly why things are the way they are and not the way you’re thinking of re-ordering them, don’t. The problem is, sometimes those changes and reforms aren’t just not harmful, they produce tremendous gains. And we live in an evolving world that sometimes desperately needs to change approaches and features that may have once served a purpose.
I was thinking about the Bass Pro Shops hats from the previous thread.
Lookit Mick Jones rocking a Garcia hat c. 1983
/bonus footage of young Neneh Cherry bouncing around
I had that on vinyl. Played the shit out of that album.
But it’s always Megatop Phoenix that springs to mind.
“Ladies and gentlemen, B.A.D!”
CA has decided that subsidizing solar actually has costs that are not offset by the energy produced. Shocking…
Elon Musk slams California’s $8 per kW monthly utility charge plan for solar owners
Now, Musk is all for ending EV subsidies now since he can sell every car he can produce in the US. OTH, Solar City ain’t exactly contributing to earnings…
Did Ivanpah ever managed to come close to capacity, or break even ?
I know its made money….for the people that got the contracts
They need that money for high speed rail!
https://www.industrytap.com/say-goodbye-to-reading-glasses-fda-approves-eye-drops-to-replace-the-reading-glasses/61111
Old Glibs, opinions?
Id try it but I prefer the WowMART $4.99 “cheaters”.
Oddly, I can read better with my contacts in and cheap reading glasses than I can with my VA-issue bifocals.
I had one of my monocles made with a +0.5 lens so when the day comes I’ll be ready.
This is not a joke.
You mean I wouldn’t need a pair in most rooms in the house, a pair in every vehicle, and special shooting glasses?
Sign me up!
They make me a little nervous though, I definitely want to see long term results that don’t screw up the eye muscles or anything.
https://health.theinfallible.com/new-eye-drops-offer-an-alternative-to-reading-glasses/
Better article with more details.
Downside:
I hear the new thing is to develop cataracts and get lens replacements, obviating the need for either.
My FIL had that done and went from coke bottles to no glasses needed for anything.
I’m currently running what my doc calls monovision. One contact for distance and one for reading. Tricks the brain and works great for me.
Oh yeah. I will certainly be asking my Eye Doc about these next month. Eye can’t wait to see what she says!
Thanks, Sean!
This discussion reminded me of something a pal of mine posted on Usenet, on talk.politics.animals, many moons ago:
Of course stupid and evil are not mutually exclusive, and my empirical experience tells me there is a lot more crossover on the left. Empirically speaking, I’ve found righties to be able to debate a topic they disagree with me about, whereas a lefty will first attempt to shut me down with ad hominem or some such, then the conversation, usually pretending I’m the one who doesn’t understand the details or the nuance of the topic. I’ll admit I don’t associate with a lot of (Re)(pro)gressives, but the attempted conversations with the ones I do know never go anywhere because they are trying to defend a made up version of reality and I’m looking at the actual reality scratching my head wondering how you could be so oblivious to some really obvious facts.
Standard caveat of not everyone on the left, yada, yada, yada…
Quod eratdemonstrandum ad finitum.
Oops, infinitum. (ad repetitium?)
ah hecks
https://www.nj.com/politics/2021/12/sweeney-tells-union-members-he-plans-to-run-for-nj-governor-in-2025.html
Lulz. Dude, you just lost a race against a truck driver.
Good points.
I would say that America is very charitable and that is mostly voluntary. The charity might be for tax reasons and/or to make one feel superior. Or just some other reason. Who really knows.
The other point about Commie assholes in America is that they dont want to move to a Commie country or leave America to transform some Socialist nation into communism. They want to undermine the things that still make America great by staying here in America. Why is that?
My last addition would be that some Americans equate a wish list of things “if they were king/queen” with what America SHOULD do. Free such and such are a common example. Free really means taxpayers pay for it and “free” creates endless consequences that Lefties continue to say are unforeseen consequences. When in reality they are completely forseeable.
Forcing government to remain small and limited mitigates much of the oppression of government on The People.