Well that was a disappointing mish-mash of mostly unimportant stuff.
Some alternatives could have been the stunning revelation that the FBI bribed Steele for evidence to support the Russia hoax, and when he didn’t, they went with the lie anyway. The emancipation declaration of Tulsi Gabbard was delicious, and then there was the Saudis once again humiliating Biden by revealing he tried to talk them into postponing their announcement of drilling reductions until after the election.
Looking forward to more substance from Nellie next week.
I've noticed that the writers here have recently shifted tactics from "yeah, but Republicans too" to lightly bashing Biden for age-related gaffes and just general bafoonish-ness, while continuing to ignore the truly damning stories. This is happening in mainstream media as well, which have started to acknowledge Biden and Harris' monumental unpopularity while ignoring all the real reasons why.
See, I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, and tell myself that if they're going to ever succesfully get Democrats to actually read this site - imagine reading something that actually challenges your world view! - then they have to balance their stories a bit and not just constantly bash Biden. But then there's TGIFs like this one, which make a huge show of lampooning Biden for pretty innocuous things while ignoring stories of substance. It's almost like the writers are either ignorant themselves or think we're all idiots.
I have a good friend - a committed life long Dem - who argues that Biden isn't a senile imbecile but concedes "he's slowing down."
"Slowing down??????" Are we talking about some old duffer who's retired and plays golf all day? Or the freaking PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES????? Good grief. How stupid are people. This should not even be a discussion point. Invoke the 25th Amendment and rid us of this demented, corrupt tyrant.
Bruce you don't get it. he's a doddering imbecile but he's such a NICE one... no mean tweets and look! he tried to help his drug addicted son! This surely forces us to forgive him for doing more to ruin our country in 2 years than anyone imagined was possible, and for bringing the world to the brink of war while the four monsters of the apocalypse wait to gobble up their neighbors (Russia, China, N Korea and Iran), now more empowered than ever. I'm sure he means well!
As, of course he means well when he threatens an ally with quid pro quo unless they act to support his political goals, as he did this week with Saudi Arabia, and many years ago when he threatened to withhold aid from Ukraine unless they fired the prosecutor who was going after his son's employer, Burisma, for corruption. Wait - isn't that an impeachable offense?
God Bruce how stupid are people! It beggars belief at times. The old duffer never ceases to amaze me, he has more energy than the average teenager. I have manage to attend a rally and watch most on C-Span the crowds, and the vibe is just fantastic. Some of my mates are driving me to drink with their take on America, Donald Trump and his family. They have now moved off onto Elon Musk it never ends! Have a good shabbes
They think we idiots Pem, I think they arrogant and ignorant. When the results of the midterms are out they will all be screaming OMG it’s the end of our democracy and HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT.
I'm not sure if they think we're all idiots, or if they think themselves as so MUCH smarter than us....half a dozen of one, six of the other I suppose....
But Nick Gillespie is a libertarian. He was a founder of Reason magazine. He has no dog in this fight, and his last TGIF was really good. I flat out don't get this. It's like he's just phoning it in or having one of his unpaid interns write it.
Starting with not being concerned with children having trans surgeries. Anyone who is fine with minors having their bodies mutilated is absolutely insane! INSANE!
There is a lot of crossover between libertarians and the so-called progressives in policy, though the philosophies are different. So I don't necessarily fault Gillespie for that. But given that he's a libertarian, he should have had some comment about the whole FBI paying Dochenko thing.
If you spend any time at Reason and read any of the comments, most of them consist of the readers stating that the supposed libertarian writers are nothing of the sort
Nick did not cofound Reason magazine. He was hired by Virginia Postrel and later became editor and then lots of other stuff. I think he’s great. Would love to meet, have a beer with him. But he epitomizes what I see as the problem with successful libertarians: They like to rev the engine but never get out of neutral.
I really liked Reason when Virginia Postrel was in charge. I cancelled my subscription when Nick Gillespie took over and promptly wrote a lengthy article whining that Boomers just need to get over the Beatles.
Reason wrote virtually nothing about the shooting death by cop of Ashli Babbitt, only that she didn’t deserve to be killed (uh, duh). No coverage of the barbed-wired militarization of DC for months on end due to phantom fears on the part of the ruling elite. Reason writers split on vaccine mandates. To me, libertarianism in Reason has come to mean more focus on libertine rights (which I wholeheartedly support not being criminalized) with very little emphasis on government overreach, except in the case of cops (except in the case of Ashli Babbitt). And it’s everywhere getting worse and worse for the individual. So many stories left undeveloped.
This piece from today is a fine example of how far Reason has declined. Their rabid quest for open borders completely clouds their objectivity to its destructiveness.
Here, they try raise alarm that DiSantis' Vineyard "stunt" will certify those migrants as victims and thereby qualify for a U Nonimmigrant Status visa. Oh Noes! Then halfway down the page they fess up that there is currently a 17 year backlog for obtaining one of these visas. Still, they continue to wag a finger at Florida and Texas for not simply rolling over and accepting invasion.
Thanks for this. I’ve noted Reason’s dissatisfaction with DeSantis, which I find comical since it’s based on the views of his critics without recognizing the other side, basically because they like to argue from cloud theory rather than issues on the ground.
I discovered it around two decades ago and I found it interesting because it seemed like a mish-mash of right and left and I didn't know much about libertarianism. What it is today today, I don't know. So many publications that I used to like seemed to become corrupted, like "The Week" magazine. I used to really like that one.
The difference here. The original poster's complaints were worded in legible, respectful language. You sound like you got pissing drunk at a bar and someone insulted your mother.
Biden really is rapidly declining. The gaffes are becoming increasingly obvious. Impossible to ignore. The cumulative effect suggests that it’s not so much a knack for foot-in-mouth incidents as an overall decline in mental acuity. The best that can be said for Biden’s oratory at this point is that it gives you the sensation of a coma without the worry and inconvenience. It’s not ageist to say as much.
The problem is that the Left has declared that so much as suggesting these episodes are concerning is taboo. It’s always dismissed as a “right-wing” talking point, a “caricature” that Republicans have long been painting of Biden. Meanwhile, we haven't been closer to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Greg Gutfeld did a really funny montage the other night of a bunch of incidents where he couldn't figure out how to exit a stage or room. You could see Jill Biden's annoyance with him in a few.
Well, Biden insisted for years that his wife was killed by a drunk driver, even though he knew that was not the case. Lies have been his stock in trade since long before he developed senility problems.
Meh, I won't criticize him for that. Bad optics. I reserve my criticism for things like that ridiculous speech a few weeks ago, where he stated that anyone who votes for the opposition party is an enemy of the State.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Nobel...oh wait...nevermind that...with 10 being Ivy Lea...oh wait, never mind that, with 10 being really really really smart...
Biden entered the Presidency at about a 2, and has declined to about a -2.
It's almost like an email signature template. Whenever you criticize the Democrats, you must also include the "but the Republicans are bad too," phrase in the paragraph. It's not just this writer - anyone left of Tucker Carlson does it, like a nervous tic spread by social contagion.
How about Kamala Harris going to Austin to fund raise but NOT visiting the border? That was one great big middle finger move right there. Absolutely audacious.
She's the border czar right? Instead she headed to NYC to go on a Dem late night talk show to complain about DeSantis and Abbott shipping migrants. She needs to go the f%#! down there herself.
I live on the border, and to be honest, don't really want her here.
Last year during the Haitian invasion Rev Al Sharpton came down to stir the pot and got shouted down within about two minutes...in a community that is prolly around 85% Latino (Latinx? can't be offending nobody)
Fascism is a left wing concept, the only difference with communism is that it allows private business as long as it goes the government line in all things. The fascists co-opt media and business, that is not the republicans
The problem the Dems are facing is that they don't have a single electable potential candidate outside the figureheads. (I discount Gavin Newsom because I have strong reservations about his appeal at the national level.)
In contrast, the GOP has several strong potential candidates if they don't make the colossal mistake of nominating Trump.
Every time Biden talks about "gun control" I think of Hunter getting a pass on lying on his federal application. Why doesn't any member of the press refresh his memory about that?
I don’t think Nick ever had issues of co-dependency. Of course Joe loves Hunter. He’s made him rich, and their corruption is intertwined. Joe Biden is a very bad man and a terrible father. I’m not impressed by his crocodile love.
Are you feeling better R T? Perhaps this is the wrong forum for you although it’s your choice to be on however, all the info you have sprouted about President45 you can simply switch to Main Stream Media. There is a wealth of that crap there. Don’t stay here not all of us feel the same way about the man as you do, some of us genuinely appreciate what he did for America. I’m sure you appreciate what Biden has and is doing for us here at home. Regarding his son, I cannot understand why the media continue to slap a story nobody is interested in. It doesn’t improve his ratings but then again I think they to stupid to realize.
It’s the iphone R T it took out the 2nd O, Bruce is always there if and when I need him!! You sounded for a second a bit jealous there but then I saw you lol and realized nawww he can’t be 🤣 but thanks for the correction I will double check my post before I push post!
The FBI story is the biggest story of many years. That was the smoking gun, and I doubt anyone but the WSJ, Fox and Breitbart covered it. Our nation has become further and further disconnected from the events of the day. Back in my day you had Cronkite, Huntly-Brinkley, Jennings and they were going to tell you the news from both sides, with a slight spin to the left. Now you can live your life blissfully ignorant of half the events (or more sadly) and cast your ballot for someone who's governing for half or less of the country.
This is a historic scandal. If people don't go to jail for a full-fledged, three year assault of lies on the president by the FBI and minority party, this is a lawless country in a cold civil war. This cannot be tolerated. The FBI declared war on democracy years ago.
Madjack the people who will be going to jail will be us, you only needed to watch the Jan 6 hearing to see who the fascists and racists are in this country
No one has gone to jail. No one will go to jail. Lying and insider trading along with federal LE agencies paying foreign nationals for dirt to overthrow a sitting president and the jack booted, early morning arrest of PP protesters are all accepted if you are part of the ruling elite. They can/may not be challenged. They have to silence and arrest their political opponents. Cancelling is for duffers. Debate is out. Detention is in. I used to wonder how Henry VIII got away with executing wives and other enemies for minor and personal offenses. But now I know that there's a noose at the bottom of the slippery slope we're on.
That's true. We're in a post-representative phase, in which the government no longer recognizes any Constitutional limits on its authority. Policy decisions are made and executed by unelected bureaucrats and staffers; they regard elected officials as either useful idiots, or obstacles to be blown up. The Left has succeeded in capturing the civil service, and all of the major oligarch corporations do the Left's bidding. Elections make almost no difference. We truly have, in the dictionary sense of the word, a Fascist government, immune and unchallengeable.
But what about our democracy Spicey is it dead? According to Brandon, DT and the MAGA people are semi fascists and a danger to democracy. What do you think? True or Fake
I think the story about Mayorkas knowing the "split reins" story was BS (Haitians last year being chased by CBP), but continuing to castigate the agents...and getting Uncle Joe wound up to threaten the agents over a bogus story rates pretty high also.
Of course they do. CS is a curated, politicized and partisan outlet like any other. They know how corrupt Mayorkas is. They won't say a word about it, because of bigotry and partisanship and moral bankruptcy.
Or rather, "moral bankruptcy" is simply the newspeak for "evil"
I gather from your comment about Stelter, least of which is referring to him by only his first name, that you thought his show provided News. This explains your slant on every comment I’ve read from you.
Yes! Wasn’t Tulsi Gabbard’s eviscerating exit from the Democrats the most important political story of the week, despite being mostly buried by the media? Remember, this woman was at one point the Vice-chair of the DNC. No way Nellie would have failed to comment on this.
I’m not sure Mark, I find at times news and stories that they skim over which in my opinion should be the first item of the day. Perhaps things are about to change. My friend who lives in Aus sent me a link to Geoff Beck’s podcast. It was very interesting his commentators are predicting a red wave. He sited Trafalgar Polls and gave some points on the crucial senate seats in Penn, Georgia and Arizona. Watch November!
I live in the town in question, and am acquainted with a number of CBP agents. They were plumb swoll at getting throwed under the bus by Mayorkas, and then Uncle Joe...and are still swoll about it a year later
Oh, I loved that! Other than agreeing with her "hecklers" 100%, I enjoyed seeing her get a taste of her own medicine and being exposed for the fraud she is.
Exactly Vernon the dude missed it. You have summed up CS in one post they seem to miss all the stuff their readers need to see, that’s of importance. I loved the AOC video and agreed 100% with the hecklers. She doesn’t fare well in a crowd but does very well when she is locked in her apartment, think she has forgotten that Covid is over, we all sick of the Democrat’s basements.
Remember, she was never groomed to be a politician. She was an aspiring actress who answered an ad to audition to run for her seat. How low has our federal election process gotten that we're finding our future candidates that way?
The FBI really is beyond corrupt. They twice interfered in the 2020 election. There was the fabricated conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, which was announced on October 7, 2020 within a month of the U.S. presidential election. Both Whitmer and Biden made the most of the FBI’s announcement, blaming Trump for inspiring the alleged kidnappers, elevating rhetoric focused on convincing the American people that the president was encouraging the much talked about but rarely seen gun-toting far-Right white supremacist domestic terrorists.
Then there was the FBI malfeasance that included the deliberate suppression of any investigation into Hunter Biden’s financial activities, including his ties to Burisma. According to whistleblowers, Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault and Director of Election Crimes Branch Richard Pilger coordinated to amplify defamatory information against Trump while giving cover to Hunter Biden, dismissing Biden intelligence as disinformation.
The thing to remember about the FBI is that it has been corrupt for most of its existence. There was that period of about two decades, after J. Edgar Hoover died, where the agency did clean up its act, and that seems to be what has formed most people's opinions. But historically, that period was an anomaly.
I agree. The Tulsi Gabbard thing, which is muted mainstream, is the kind of thing I hope to see on platforms like this. And the Saudi slap. I dropped my decades long subscription to Reason mag when it drifted off into the absurd weeds too often. So with Gillespie driving today, I guess it's not surprising we are doing the scenic tour of "look the other direction" from the most interesting stories of the week.
Another disabused Reason subscriber here. While my views tend towards libertarian their increasingly rigid ideology just became too much bear. I've read lots of Gillespie's pieces over the years and usually find myself more or less in agreement (or at least get a good laugh), but this piece is pure dreck. Perhaps he's just having a bad day?
Yes, TGIF is often interesting for what is left out. And, it's like Tulsi Gabbard never existed.
Is it because she said things like this?
""I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism," "
""I believe in a government that is of the people, by the people and for the people. Unfortunately, today's Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government that is of, by and for the powerful elite," "I'm calling on my fellow common sense, independent-minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party.""
She called out Health and Human Services Secretary "Rachael" Levine for saying young children should be "empowered to get gender affirmation surgeries". She says the party now undermines families, erases women, and denies objective truth. She says the WH wants to make a backdoor rule change to Title 9 to remove women and sex from the statute, that they want to categorize calling someone by the wrong pronouns "sexual harassment", replace "mother" with "birthing person"... She discusses keeping secrets from parents, irreversible surgeries and how if parents do not comply the government threatens to bring in Child Protective Services to take your children away and force you to comply. (See PITT substack for these stories.) She says that if you can erase objective truth there is no limit to what those in power can do. "Families are the foundation of civilization and our society." Uh, huh.
It is a fabulous piece of oratory. The fact that she is speaking out to prevent the erasure of women, the sexualization of young children, and the elimination of a parent's right to raise their own children, is so heartening to me!
Yes, the FBI's offering Steele up to $1M to dig up dirt on Trump during the run-up to the election is, somehow, not worth mentioning? Huh? In a sane country, that would produce screaming headlines and massive sackings. But here and now? Nuthin'. And this from a Reason editor, i.e., supposedly a libertarian?
I think they need to lean a tad to the middle ( the other left) perhaps after the midterms otherwise if they don’t think CS will go belly up, it’s becoming a bit boring slapping the same story line over and over again
Bari and Nellie give great column, and I've subscribed to a few of their guests. I don't know if this is where I was introduced to Sasha Stone, but she's on fire. Shorter content on average, but frequent. She's got the passion of a born again fanatic.
Yep, I’ve been reading Sasha Stone ever since she commented on TGIF-and several others. The commenters are a wealth of information and help to make me feel like I’m not the only one who sees an upside down world.
Long ago I copied and pasted one of Sasha comments in a post either on Greenwald or Taibbi. It was such an eloquently stated position. I had no idea she had/has a Substack. Thanks for the info.
This is fairly stock product from my previous home base at Reason. They follow rigid, logically consistent principles to absurd conclusions. A fun thought experiment but not necessarily pragmatic.
Nick is not the worst (try wading through Katherine Mangu-Ward to slaughter some brain sells sometime, or the idiotic contrarian Elizabeth Nolan Brown).
Nick occasionally strays from the usual post-Randian minarchism and weed advocacy which makes his stuff usually interesting.
If any of you dared wade into the cesspool that is the main political page on reddit, r/politics (8.2 million subscribers), this week you'd see that the recent decision by Saudi Arabia to cut oil production is part of a grand conspiracy theory to re-elect Trump, who remains the gravest threat to democracy and that the midterms really boil down to whether or not you think Jan. 6 was a bad thing. It's crap like that that make it so Biden can have a higher approval rating than Trump while far fewer people approve of the country's general direction.
I live abroad (it's why I can usually comment soon after stories are published around 4 am EST) so I often video chat with my sister in Wisconsin. This week, I called her in the evening her time. Her son was out in the front yard playing football with neighborhood friends as the sun set. She kept the video on them as we talked for awhile. It was the most at peace I've felt in a long time. I don't have any answers to the issue I raised last week - how do we get the people who need it the most to read fact-based reporting like what is found here at CS - and every time I go on mainstream or popular social media news sites my anxiety goes through the roof. I don't think there is an answer, though I really appreciated the hundreds of comments I received last week, and I'm no longer going to look for one. I bought a ring this week and will soon propose to my girlfriend. I'm driven to this decision by my love for her, but the article from this week about having a large family helped motivate me to step up and make it happen. It's time I started a family. I hope you all have a great weekend!
Congrats! As a new mom I can say first hand having kids is the most joyful thing in this whole world. It also puts a new perspective on all the outside craziness. My priorities are keeping my corner of the world safe, sane and happy for my family and raising thoughtful, kind children. If everyone just focused on making their little household the best it could be we would see 90% of these political debates just vanish, in my opinion. I too read the article about having a large family and started thinking, maybe a minivan is just what we need for our future brood! Good luck with the proposal!
Thanks! I have a feeling she's gonna say yes :) Kids are still more than 9 months away, probably a couple years due to us both moving quite a bit. It's something I for a long time felt was not for me but that's changed over the past year. I can't change the world but I think I can be a good husband and father, and I'm realizing that's all I really need.
As a wife of 35 years, a mother to 5 and Gigi (grandmother) to 2, I love to read this! I am cheering your shift in perspective and fully believe you will find genuine fulfillment and purpose through dedicating yourself to being a good husband and father. Congratulations and best wishes!
This is beautiful, congrats! May you enjoy the journey of beginning your family! You get to make the little difference is raising them to think and seek like yourself.
I enjoyed your comments last week and said so in a reply.
Judging from your thoughtful, and thought provoking, posts you are made of fine stuff, and your girlfriend should accept your proposal because she’s getting a sterling man.
You, like Bethany, are moving forward with life regardless of the turmoil around you. It’s all we can do and it’s all we should do. Because moving forward by marrying and starting a family, or any new beginning, shows those around you you have confidence in the future. It’s important we do that, it’s sets a stake in the ground for hope, and it has a universal ripple effect for the world.
So CONGRATULATIONS! on your decision! Marriage is a wonderful institution, don’t let any naysayer tell you otherwise. Wonderful advice I got for making it work for 36 years thus far is, love is important, but commitment to that love is more important. Therefore commit yourselves one to the other so that when you’re not feeling the love, it will carry you through.
Thanks, JAE, really. I’m blessed with some really good role models like my sister when it comes to healthy, committed relationships that I hope to emulate with my partner. The future might be uncertain but I can create certainty for the person most important to me by being a committed partner, which keeps me going.
The issue I tried to speak to last week is that unlike-minded people no longer congregate anywhere. We are all getting news tailored to our perspectives, and while CS tried to break this cycle, it ended up being unique only in that writers and readers are not quite ideologically aligned, but the readers are not the intended audience - that being democrat-leaning voters who haven't yet totally drank the koolaid of modern progressivism.
In fact, I say with all modesty that _I_ am probably the intended audience of CS as someone who skews left but is utterly turned off by identity politics and so is looking for alternatives.
I don't feel particularly welcome on this board. Although, of course, this board is but a shallow puddle compared to the quicksand-bottomed swamp that is r/politics. (You ARE a brave man, Pemulis_DMZ! 😀 )
Agree with you Patrizia. I also really want to be exposed to a variety of viewpoints which is why I like the columns and the comments. As for the people complaining about what wasn't covered, well, it's a newsletter not War and Peace and it's their newsletter. if you're using just 1 source for any of your info at this point, it's probably a mistake. I like to follow up on the info that the right leaning commenters post and reach my own conclusions. If only the Repubs would stay out of my lady bits and the Dems would stop calling everybody one of the "ists/isms". It almost like we need a sane, moderate, 3rd party. Hmmm....
for a left ( sort of) but sane person to read. try Shellenberger ( Michael) and to get the message out share share share. I have a friend who shares all of Heather Cox Richardson on her page so I try to balance out her Bidentoadism with CS and Shellenberger. so far I have a few people who read my posts all of the way through and a few who "like" it even when I know they only read the headline.. brick by brick my citizens. brick by brick
Haha, you're welcome here in my opinion, Patrizia! I'm not brave enough to go to r/politics often, just once a month or so. I'm like the kid who walks up to the porch of the haunted house and then runs away :)
I have a little nugget on the way as well, and it took a sea change to get there too. My wife wanted to be a mother but I had never considered myself too strongly as a father. But when I examined the reasons why, none of them really made that much sense. There is this fatalism that comes with being on the left, where having a family is seen as not a goal in itself but one you reluctantly accede to, or never allow while holding it up as doing your part for the climate.
I have a collage of family from my wedding day hanging at my work desk now and its striking to see the choices made by the generation before me, and the one before them, and how it led to the community that im a part of. Choosing to continue that is choosing hope for the future, and getting to make that future, rather than just staring at a screen and doomscrolling
Your comment gives me hope and maybe that’s the answer. I’m excited for your future; congrats on your upcoming engagement and hopefully family! Side note: I had to get off Reddit. It was making me a not nice person.
Common sense is fact-based. It's MSNBC with some extra window dressing. Think about every TGIF since Nellie left. More of the same slanted reporting as everywhere else. The Wall Street Journal stands on an island by itself. Fox News has an easier time telling the truth these days since the other side is currently acting like maniacs. But that changes with time in 2004 it was the opposite.
The WSJ news side is pretty much as woke as the rest of them. The editorial side is center-right, generally speaking, but the comment section's censor bots are relentless. I'm dropping my subscription after many years.
Love Tucker....he's uncovers stuff no one else will touch. He was on the opioid epidemic 4 years ago.
I listened to his interview on Megyn Kelly's podcast. His mother abandoned the family. I think that plays a large part in his work and certainly in his desire to protect his family.
hey I like Tucker. but he does support Peta. even though he owns a pure bred dog ( thank you Tucker for supporting careful dog breeders. but boo on supporting PETA
Every year Nobel Prize becomes more and more irrelevant. First it was Nobel Prize for Peace, when you see list of laurates, it looks like every second is in reality war criminal (Kissinger, Barack Obama, European Union, Abiy Ahmed just to name a few). Lets wait several years to find out more about this Ukrainian "peace organization" and what they actually do.
Now Nobel Prize in Economic is also joining decay, Ben Bernanke was architect of balling out the banks, while letting homeowners be thrown under the bus. This prize is slap in the face to every person in US that had to suffer during 2008 financial meltdown, while bankers on Wall Street were saved by US Tax dollars.
At this point, Nobel Prize is more indication that you are crook, than that you are decent human being.
Irony is, that in next several years Bill Gates will get one, man it will be such slap in the face when it happens.
Please don't forget about 2007 winner Al Gore's indespensable work to stop climate change by jet-setting around the world while occasionally stopping by his mansion to oversee installation of more solar panels :)
At this point all of the above. As for who got Gore rolling I think it lies in the faux fact that he invented the internet. And of course he was a Clinton affiliate.
I fully agree. There were MANY small banks that didn't take the risks the big ones did. It's a sad state when businesses keep any profits they make but then turn to the government to cover their losses.
The worst of it is that they're *still* too big to fail. Basically operating with a gubmint blank check backing them. Not that they'd ever run into any trouble. Right?
It’s incredible how disconnected our rule making class is from how basic economics work. Everything you hear today on inflation is still basically incorrect.
Massive cash infusions can help reduce inflation (if the cash is directly invested in the production of more goods and services - education, reskilling, manufacturing, actual infrastructure, etc…) or they can cause transitory inflation by being used as as purchasing agent rather than an investment agent (exactly what happened here).
But the cash infusion is a VERY small part of our current inflation and why increasing lending rates and performing quantitative tightening are ABSOLUTELY necessary but also won’t fix the problem alone.
The core of our inflation problem is increasing energy prices - and until we get energy prices under control by massively fixing domestic production (like we did in the 70’s to finally stop that inflationary run) inflation isn’t going anywhere.
The other issue is reduced labor participation and, more importantly, the massive decline in labor productivity (at its lowest level recorded). If there are a lot of people in the workforce, and therefore collecting paychecks, who are producing very little (which there are - think everyone with any sort of DEI role - they create zero economic value but are very well compensated) tangible good - then inflation will persist because there is more demand (more cash) than there is supply (actual goods being created and services being delivered). No one wants to see people lose jobs but people not creating economic value losing their jobs is critical to reducing inflation
Most economists and basically all talking heads anywhere in the press don’t understand these basic principles. Thankfully it seems that the current FED board, may…. While the fed shouldn’t exist (it means our entire banking system is socialist in construct) they do appear to at least partially understand the monster they’ve created. We’re looking at long sustained periods of inflation if we don’t get interest rates above inflation as significantly reduce the monetary supply AND significantly decrease energy costs. We aren’t even close to price equilibrium yet and we’re already way north of 10% inflation in real terms…
Labor force participation is going to drop soon regardless of what we do simply because huge numbers of baby boomer are retiring and there aren't as many people behind them to take their place.
Also, most manufacturing and other jobs that actually PRODUCE something have been outsourced. I'd say most white collar jobs now are busy work that produce almost no value at all. Companies with hundreds of VPs and middle managers who attend meetings all day.
Labor force participation has already declined and I think you're right that that is a large part of it (early retirement and that trend will continue). The millenial generation is very large, but outside of that we do have some serious demographic concerns to face. But you're right the much larger issue is the second issue - a small fraction of US workers actually produce a good. There are more than we realize in all sorts of weird sectors (a very good friend is the CFO of a relatively small but very well known beer company - they produce a good we all very much demand) but it is small and declining, and that impacts labor productivity more than we realize.
The biggest issue we face with millenials is that it's an entire generation that has only ever worked in the free money era, so they think you just write some bad software code and take zoom meetings and call that work (and I fall into this generation, so I speak from experience). We have an entire generation who only knows how to take cheap debt and use it to produce underpriced products with no path to profitability (see Uber, et al). That is the real rooster coming home to roost and that is what will REALLY drive inflation (we have no idea how many products we currently BADLY under pay for because the company exists entirely on printed money) over the next half decade. Until ALL of that washes out of the market, there's much more pain ahead, but the silver lining is once it's all gone we'll have jobs that once again create real economic value and all the societal positives (more marriage, more children, more self-worth, more religion) that go along with well earned self-esteem through actually producing a usable good.
Many of us remember Reagan and Volcker and how they tamed inflation and interest rates and ushered in a new era of prosperity - when all the chattering clowns said it was the new normal and we'd have to live with it.
The core cause of this inflation is the five trillion dollars of stimulus spending that's still in the process of being paid out, combined with the additional roughly five trillion dollars worth of lost productivity during lockdowns and restrictions. When real goods stop and fiat flows, you get inflation.
You're totally right, as long as you include both sides. Cash infusion drives transitory inflation. Reduction in productivity drives medium term inflation. Increases in the cost of required inputs, like energy, drive long term inflation. We're at this beautiful intersection of all three of those things thanks to the worst domestic economic policy since the 60's... Or the 20's, it's hard to tell...
Oh, yes. We were one of the many homeowners who got screwed by housing crisis. A house we paid $205k for in 2006, we had to short sell for $150k in 2009 after my husband lost his job. Wells Fargo was allowed to come after us for the $50k and my husband ended up declaring bankruptcy.
Nobel should scrap Peace and Economics and stick to Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and any other stem related field we all hated studying in school. Peace is often a joke, and Economics is so subjective that it just leads to arguments. Black holes and sub atomic particles...that is Nobel worthy.
Whatever you think of Bill Gates, he got the ball rolling in making computers ubiquitous in all corners of society. These comments wouldn't even exist without him. I've always been a Mac guy but appreciate that MS-DOS and then Windows made computing more available to everyone acoss-the-board.
Gate accomplished this, in no small part, by monopolistic practices. Microsoft stifled competition by forcing (through predatory pricing) computer manufacturers and retailers to not offer any non-Microsoft operating systems on any of their computers, and they bundled Microsoft products in order to prevent any other software manufacturer from competing against Microsoft's core products.
Gates wasn't the only person who was working on computer OS, and many in the tech world think his anti-competitive practices did severe damage to technological progress over the last 30 years.
I would know, as a web developer I personally lost tens of thousands of dollars in productivity just in debugging all of the problems with Internet Explorer.
My feeling about the bank bailouts is that nobody here actually wants to see what happens if we don’t bail them out.
You can’t feel sympathy for the people who borrowed too much money to buy a house they couldn’t afford, while also being mad at the people who created the financial instruments that allowed it.
Both parties made reckless decisions and both parties should have gone bankrupt………but if the banking system goes bankrupt then the rest of us suffer needlessly so unfortunately they need to get a pass. Shoulda clawed back the bonuses and all that but still.
This statement is half correct. The financially insured assets of the bank you are correct, the "bank" itself, and the people responsible for running it, absolutely should have been removed. We need to be smart enough to separate these two things. It is true that banks can't actually be allowed to fail, but there are MANY ways to deal with the problem and our government picked by far the most callous of those options. They literally just gave them money to continue business as usual, while letting all the small regional banks go bankrupt (I know, I worked on closing them while I was at Deloitte).
We HAVE to be better than this as society and demand more. Some functions of the NIH and CDC should remain after this COVID disaster, but every single person involved should be replaced. Your government gets you into war in Iraq for no reason? Every single person involved should be removed from office - this doesn't mean we don't have a government any longer, it means we continue with the positives of the structure but completely remove the people responsible for misusing that structure.
The same should have been true at the Banks. That CEO's kept their jobs is the issue. You could still pretend this was a free market economy if their were consequences for bad decisions - instead, the bad decisions were literally rewarded and they continue to make those bad decisions under the guidance of the same morons at the FED. We can't just accept this level of ineptitude and assume its' the cost of doing business.
Yeah we are on the exact same page. If we are going to start replacing people we need to start with the people in DC. And I do NOT mean elected officials.
DC is documented 95% hardcore leftist Democrat and 5% collaborator. Keeping agencies like the Department of Education at this point, even if you assume they are needed, is like keeping the Luftwaffe because aviation expertise is still necessary.
You may still need aviation expertise but you are going to have to replace everyone in the Luftwaffe.
The reason you can’t replace the guys in the banks when you bail them out is because they are friends with the people in DC, ALL Democrats, who can’t be replaced.
We need to clean house. DC needs to look like Enron with people walking out crying carrying cardboard boxes. If we can collapse property values in DC by 50% we will be moving in the right direction.
From the Declaration of Independence
“He has created a multitude of new offices and has sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.”
87,000 new IRS rodents is obviously the crescendo of this phenomenon.
Cost savings to reduce the 15 Cabinet level Departments back down to Treasury, War, State, AG (maybe)
Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security would all be gone.
No you don’t eliminate healthcare for veterans because the military is the only thing the federal government is supposed to do. You could eliminate healthcare and pensions for everyone who sits at a desk at the pentagon though. Big money being wasted there.
You could maybe talk me into the National Weather Service because it’s cheap and has limited ability to metastasize but I guarantee half of the people who work there are useless Marxist scumbags pushing a climate agenda who we can fire immediately.
You look at something like the CDC and whatever they do that’s worthwhile (and ‘controlling disease’ is clearly something they can’t do) is cancelled out by the fact that they tried to eliminate property rights.
I completely agree with a BADLY needed reduction in the bureaucratic state, but I don't agree on their political leaning. Left and right is a giant mirage used to paint the public into corners while those in power continue to accumulate more and more power. No one in DC is a "leftist" as the public uses the term. There's "the powerful" and "the people." That's it. And the powerful will do whatever it takes (right, left, forward, backward or otherwise) to entrench as much power and wealth as possible. That's what people do. The fact that we think they're some form of principled leftists shows they're winning. They aren't anything. They are whatever the current situation calls for them to be. The answer isn't swinging further right, it's eliminating the wasteful bureaucracy all together, not trying to make it more conservative...
Bureaucrats are the human equivalent of cockroaches.......they just keep multiplying. The main difference......cockroaches feed on scrapes whereas bureaucrats feed off taxpayer $$$$.
There is an incredibly dishonest faux-liberty argument designed to play defense for the left that goes something like this
“We can’t replace these people because it will be just as bad with the other people. What we need is a utopian solution which will never happen where we totally eliminate everything.”
I think we’re mixing arguments here. My point is that there are no “other” people. Isn’t this what we learned from Trump? All the “outsiders” and “conservatives” he hired were insiders who don’t give a sh*t about sides of the aisle, they care about power. It is not a utopian dream to eliminate the department of education. Something like 20 states have already decided it’s irrelevant with funding following students rather than schools. The only faux-liberty argument is giving up on how relatively simple restructuring away the overreaches of our bureaucracy would be…. You give ANYONE this much control, and more important it, by definition, goes to someone who WANTS that much control, the people will always lose
I disagree. Plus by your logic everyone who participated (and who doesn't?) was complicit. The powers that be just weren't willing to sacrifice their cushy lives. The lower echelons of society would likely not be much worse off then than they are now. Right is right. Not doing right because it causes discomfort is not justified. We are all in it together after all.
I am not a fan of the lesser of two evils strategy. I think it is just kicking the can down the road. Of course I was taught as a child that if you cannot pay for it you do not need it. As a result I have always lived below my means. I know that is rare but now my rewards are being siphoned off by inflation.
Edited to clarify I am not a supporter of US efforts in Ukraine.
Agreed, that was ridiculous, and I voted for him. Hindsight, that might have been the first time I really saw the tendrils of what we now know as virtue signaling sprouting from the earth.
What is going on in China? Teetering economy, housing collapse, loss of middle class wealth, drought, lockdowns, social monitoring. Are the lockdowns for Covid, or are they to keep the lid on some very angry people?
Also—-erosion of the dogma on vaccines. Just what safety data existed before we all lined to for the jab, and what are we learning now?
Another tidbit this week Pfizer exec admitted No data on transmissability inhibition by the vaccine therefore the whole BS line about “doing it for others” was a lie from the start.
I did a VERY deep dive (apologize for the length) on the safety data included directly in the Pfizer vaccine trial. Absolutely nothing is coming out now that wasn't available for anyone actually willing to read the trial data (and I link to it in the stack): https://butthedatasays.substack.com/p/why-the-public-always-loses-in-public
The trial itself showed they didn't test or trace and had no intention of understanding spread, the total hospitalizations and deaths were higher on the test arm than the control arm, and they had already cited waning "efficacy" as relates to "symptomatic COVID" 4 months into the trial as a primer for why boosters would be required (literally their own test for the first two shots showed they didn't work and everyone's thought was "well, if two don't work maybe three will..." because, well, greed and power.
It actually REALLY bothers me how much we're pretending like we're "just now finding out" that has been readily available to any and everyone since Pfizer released the trial data more than a year ago...
I follow the two actual, real scientists on Dark Horse podcast. They have been all over the problems with the vaccines from the beginning and have exposed how shoddy some of the studies are. Just recently a study was reported that addressed the observation that some women who were vaccinated had disturbed menstrual cycles. Now, the first question ought to be, why would a vaccine do that? Biological mechanism? Implication? But no, the study just looked at the occurrence of an irregular menstrual cycle for one month (?!) after vaccination and concluded that while some irregularities were observed, there were no significant consequences. Dr Heather Heying just about had smoke coming out of her ears as she described this.
This podcast has and will continue to be a shining light in the dark. I can’t believe they can stick around in Portland though! Dr Jessica Rose has also been doing some bang up work related to the Covid injections (they are not vaccines) and doing amazing deep dives on the VAERS data and all the studies. Check out her substack. But honestly, I don’t need studies or the medical literature (much less the dishonest media) to confirm what I see first hand. My husband is active duty and I’m a civilian in a tier one unit and it is astonishing the number of heart problems now affecting some of the fittest men on the planet, issues that happened within hours or days of getting the forced injections. My husband suddenly is deathly allergic to bees and has to carry around an epipen, even though he got stung several times before he got injected and has zero reaction. We know CACOs having the deal with insanely elevated numbers of non-combat/training sudden deaths and late stage miscarriages (~22 weeks) for active duty personnel. Dark Horse just did a great podcast with some active duty whistleblowers and a lawyer representing those seeking waivers. For some reason the military still has the Covid shot mandate in place and it’s fucking criminal.
I listened to the podcast with the military folks who are discriminated against for refusing the vaccine.
Bret posited two scary things—-first, that the military was purposely culling the non-compliant, so they are just left with compliant sheep, and second, that the military command was OK with the dangerously reduced force due to so many experienced military refusing the jab and walking away.
Re vaccines, I know it's pure anecdotal but myself and my family are all fully vaccinated with four shots each and none of us has gotten sick from COVID despite taking no precautions anymore except for masking on the subway.
Also pure anecdote but my entire family is not vaccinated, moved across the country to ensure we could attend full in person school last year, have never taken a precaution and have had nothing worse than a slight cold in August of 2020... please, please read this even if you decide to ignore all of it: https://butthedatasays.substack.com/p/why-the-public-always-loses-in-public
Yeah. Not vaccinated and have never had it, nor have my most of my unvaccinated friends. Meanwhile almost everyone I know who took a vax has had it. Some twice. Surely you know vaccinated people who’ve had it?
Meanwhile, my fully vaccinated and boosted family have all had Omicron, and so have all of our fully vaccinated and boosted friends, including a family that currently has it. I wish the vaccines had worked because I did not fully recover (yet, I hope), and I know a number of people who got it that had/have lingering issues from it. The main issue for everyone seems to be cardio-related, where any amount of exertion results in getting quickly out of breath and having a ridiculously high heart rate that takes a long time to drop back down. This is much more than just the loss of conditioning that would have happened from being on the couch for two weeks. Three months after “recovery”, my issues have gradually decreased in severity from alarming to annoying. I might not be able to ski this winter, but I’m pretty sure I won’t die. A couple months ago, I wasn’t so sure. I’m overweight, and so this is what I get. Anyway, COVID is definitely not just like the flu. It’s too bad the vaccines didn’t work.
Maybe it was the vaccine that has caused your heart problems, not Covid? We know myocarditis is a side effect of the vaccines. Maybe what you've got is a milder case. Just posing the question, not questioning you per se, so I hope you don't take it that way.
I got the booster last November and got COVID in July. I was fine during that period. After July, I have not been the same. If the spike protein causes heart inflammation to the point where the vaccines cause it, which I believe is the case, then imagine the risk when you have 1,000x the amount of spike protein from an actual infection. COVID did this to me, not the vaccine. Anyway, as I said, I'm overweight and in a high-risk group based on age, weight, and blood pressure. So, I'm not surprised this happened, and I only have myself to blame.
Let's not forget all the brave Chinese doctors who tried to warn the world of the impending pandemic and who were silenced and liquidated by the butchers and ghouls who run that sad land.
You side stepped several stories....Paypal, Tulsa Gabbard, FBI bribe for "the hoax" ... what gives? ...you mention bidens phone call to his son which was sweet and loving, but you don't mention him stating his son Beau died in Iraq which shows dementia or lying....
That's not dementia. That's political grandstanding. He's been saying that since the day his son very sadly passed away. There is literally no tragedy these people won't use for political gain.
I don't believe for a moment that their policy notice was a mistake. After seeing what happened to the people who donated to the Canadian Truckers, it's very plausible to think that Paypal really wanted to do this.
Thanks. I subscribe here to learn about bad actions taken by the establishment that the mainstream media won’t discuss. Seems we aren’t consistently getting that info here either.
“Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $965 million to 15 plaintiffs after losing a defamation suit”
———————————————————-
Meanwhile conspiracy theorists Rachel Maddow and Bernie Sanders will be ordered to pay $0 for directly causing the congressional baseball shooting with knowing lies about Russia and healthcare.
Rachel Maddow doesn’t get enough credit for being an even bigger bag of shit than Alex Jones is.
Meanwhile conspiracy theorist Adam Schiff sits on the "truth" committee, and the professional meddlers in the FBI have been lying publicly about Republicans for at least 5 years now. It's not theory anymore, it's proven.
Now it's question of whether we still have working checks and balances, or whether the FBI now owns our elections.
One of the big trans loudmouths is a noted conspiracy theorists too. Don’t remember her name off the top of my head, but she was a mover and a shaker in the Satanic Panic craze in the ‘90s.
The damages can’t be calculated. Loss of midterms. 2020 loss. Border remains open. Biden gets elected and Ukraine gets invaded. It’s literally in the trillions.
Oh really? And then she lost and was ordered to pay $1 billion because she caused the largest assassination plot in history? Is that what happened? Or did something else happen?
Remember, Alex Jones allegedly caused some people to leave rude voicemails. Maddow caused 2 dozen congressmen to be shot at with a rifle.
We live in a fascist state. We do not have a justice system.
That was Clucker who admitted in court to being 100% full of shit to beat a libel suit you stupid ditz. Off Air Network had to pay Maddow's legal fees for their frivolous horseshit lawsuit.
When did she make life a living hell for people whose CHILDREN were SLAUGHTERED in school? How many millions of dollars did she make off of dead kids and causing other people suffering?
I’d be happy to see Maddow and some others tried for their nonsense, but that doesn’t make me any less happy to see Alex Jones tried for his. I don’t think he has enough money to pay out a billion dollars, but I hope he’s made to pay out every penny he does have or ever has. I hope he ends up living on his social security check (like my mother-in-law and many other stellar people do) for the rest of his wretched life.
Yeah I don’t think anyone has a problem with him being punished. It’s the disproportionate nature that is a problem. It is just further indication that we do not have a real justice system.
Remember Alex Jones didn’t get those kids killed. If his conspiracies had caused the shooting that’s different. But that’s not what happened.
He just came in after the fact with conspiracy theories. I personally have trouble believing that people who have suffered that kind of tragedy actually feel additionally harmed because they were approached by trolls and weirdos afterwards.
I get that they want to sue and they have attorneys but the damages they experienced came solely from the shooter so we can be honest about that and also happy that they got some money.
I’m admittedly more tender than most regarding this subject. I lost my son almost three years ago. He was an adult (33 years old) and not lost to violence, but still - I know from my heart, in a way I didn’t know prior to November 23, 2019, what they feel.
I put myself in their place and can easily imagine how I would feel if I had a bunch of picketers and harassers saying my son’s death was a hoax, perpetrated by the government to prop up some military or anti-military conspiracy theory (my son was a veteran), shouting horrible lies about him and about us, ON OUR FRONT YARD, and on our phones, and on the freaking TV, in the days immediately after the death of our precious boy.
I would feel additional harmed for sure and I would want to kill them all, AND the fucking monster that put the ideas in their empty heads in the first place. And failing that, I’d be easily convinced to sue, and easily convinced that, since Jones is the one with the money, he’s the one to sue. Especially since the picketers and harassers showed up because they are sociopathic morons while Jones did it to prop up his multi million dollar empire which is built on lies and libel. I hope he dies homeless under a bridge without a red cent to his name - he would deserve that.
But he won’t, because I believe at least his social security will be protected. So, I hope he died with no income but his SS, living in a tiny apartment with a 15 year old car, buying clothes from and Goodwill, and managing a tiny budget for Dollar Tree groceries and the occasional low-rent luxury when he’s lucky.
Well I think you might admit that having a guy like Alex Jones there does not make the tragedy worse but really just gives you a person who you can blame for the preexisting tragedy when you are actually mad at God for creating an unjust world. No?
I watch the video of cops in Uvalde using the hand sanitizer as they wait outside while kids are being executed in the classroom and I don’t have conspiracy theories myself but I have more sympathy with people who have conspiracy theories.
I think it’s less (or more?) complicated than your first point. I wouldn’t blame Jones for my son’s death, but would blame him for the dummies on the lawn making me feel even worse about Nick’s death (and possibly making me feel I needed to change my phone or sell my house and move).
Nick was a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy, working as a field medic with the Marines (who don’t have their own medical corps). He did 5 deployments, 2 to Africa, 2 to Iraq, 1 to Afghanistan. After he left the service he maintained contact with lots of friends who spread the word about his death. We heard from 3 different strangers that he had saved their lives (well, two their lives and one their spine). And, we heard from a bunch of other people that he was a wonderful guy (one said he was a ‘great hearted human being.’). These communications made us feel better during a time when literally NOTHING made us feel better. So it’s not hard to believe that lies, harassment and defamation in a national scale - even if we knew it wasn’t true - would have made us feel exponentially worse at a time when we were already sinking into the very bottom of a well of grief.
I’m with you on those Uvalde cops, btw. That footage was agonizing.
Thank you for the interesting round up. How lovely that Nellie will be back next week!
I will agree to disagree with you on whether or not children with gender dysphoria should be allowed to undertake life altering medication when the long term outcomes are not fully known, even if their parents or guardians agree (adults over 25 -- the age when the brain stops growing are different matter). Correct me if I am wrong but as far as I am aware, there is no reliable test for those children who will make peace with their bodies and those who will suffer from the mentally crippling gender dysphoria for the rest of their lives. Until such a test is developed, then watchful waiting must be the gold standard, not unconditional affirmation, complete with irreversible medication and surgery.
Here is my offering for the week on things happening in the UK:
This is Northumberland Calling 14.10.22
Because it is interesting to see the slow motion car crash of a formerly untouchable charity. It is a bit like pulling one thread and a complicated edifice starts tumbling showing the rottenness behind.
Mermaids safeguarding failure (again) Digital manager liked to dress as a schoolgirl and posted explicit artwork including photos of himself. He apparently participated the residential programme where there were vulnerable children. Mermaids says that the person no longer works for them. It would appear the position is now being advertised, but it still does not answer the question of why he was employed in the first place. According to the former digital manager’s Linked-In page, the person in question worked at Mermaids until October 2022. The Times article archived: https://archive.ph/IMZKc
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Liz Truss appears to agree with Miriam Cates, MP that Mermaids should be investigated by the police. Archived Telegraph version: https://archive.ph/YY7vl
Equally the police force which would be tasked in investigating Mermaids has received training from Mermaids and thus may not be impartial. Archived from the Telegraph: https://archive.ph/mkeWR
King Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation will be on 6 May 2023. It is supposed to be a slimmed down version. A slight row has developed with India over the Koh-I-Noor diamond – the ultra Nationalist government don’t want it worn. It never belonged to them btw. Camilla has the choice of several other crowns and may go with one of them. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/camilla-set-to-shun-koh-i-noor-crown-m359bl3q7
One of the government’s problems is that the people running the blood banks are incompetent. Thus the NHS stands close to running out of blood – no due to lack of donors but lack of slots and an incompetent booking system which sends people many miles away. When they did away with the drop in donations several years ago, this sort of chaos was forecasted. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/13/blood-donors-having-wait-months-appointments-despite-stocks/
If a doctor is seen by a 5’6”, 80 lb woman who insists she is obese and needs to diet, does the doctor agree with her? Does the doctor offer to remove her small intestine to aid her weight loss?
Dang it you stole my argument. I was trying to popularize the terms manorexia and tranorexia, but yes. It’s body dysmorphia and affirming it is genuinely psychotic.
Michelle, I love your TGIF - UK Edition posts. Thanks for the updates on the collapse of Mermaids and their fellow travellers. This unravelling can't come soon enough to the US and Canada.
And this just in -- 2 Just Stop Oil protestors decided to throw tomato soup at the Van Gogh's painting of the Sunflowers which hangs in the National Gallery in London. They then glued themselves to the wall. The National Gallery said that the painting was protected by glass and only the frame was slightly damaged.
What the heck is wrong with these museums? Why aren't museum visitors asked to hand over their bottles of glue, soup, etc. as they enter the museums? Really, how much more is going to be loss before museums require visitors to check in their bags and coats? It needs to be acknowledged that the UK is blessed with very useful idiots in the extinction rebellion that are willing to destroy objects and take lives (blocking ambulances). Rather than serving these vile destroyers a scold and a cuppa, maybe when blocking an ambulance extinction rebellion participants' glued hands need to be ripped off the pavement for the sake of others lives.
I had missed this. So the group’s mission statement is ‘Society: if you don’t support all of our personal world goals in the exact same way and at the exact volume as we prefer, we’re gonna wreck all of your shit.’?!
The accents of the two protestors were v plummy. I suspect they participate in luxury beliefs.
But basically that seems to be Just Stop Oil's motto. They specialise in gluing themselves to various inanimate objects like roads. Of course the glue is probably made from a petroleum product...
It is (well, used to be) well known that 85% of children (prior to the recent explosion in teen girls) who experience gender dysphoria will revert to their birth gender eventually, and usually prior to adulthood. Compassionate counseling should be the gold standard, not irreversible medical or surgical alteration of vulnerable children.
So, TGIF is going to ignore Biden's "she was twelve I was thirty" and the whole bit about taking showers with his daughter, but he's such a nice guy to his criminal son! Like, a really nice guy. Just too bad he is also the source of his family's trauma and dysfunction. Kind of like the broader nation as a whole, or the Ukraine war he's been helping to start since 2014.
But the real meat today is the FBI. They peddled conspiracy theories against a sitting president for years with full knowledge that they were spreading misinformation, and then they followed it up with a censorship campaign aimed at ending "misinformation" which involved disinformation that swung the election. We now have the smoking gun evidence, and it looks like the people involved will get away will tiny wrist-slaps.
The FBI has declared war on democracy, and that's exactly why the Democrats are shouting that Trump is the threat as loudly as possible, while directly sending payments to Trump's candidates. These people are simply evil. This abuse of our democracy can not be ignored or tolerated.
It's always been surprising how crazy some things look once one gets a little perspective - usually from the passage of time. If it still exists, what will the world say forty years from now about America's sanguine acceptance of a man whose index finger could sterilize the surface of the planet, yet who doesn't remember that his own son died from cancer instead of in battle? Who thinks that three words are really two? Who shakes hands with unseen people? Who is constantly poking the bear which could also sterilize the planet? Yes, I'm quite familiar with the heartbreak of drug-addicted relatives, but a nation being dragged to the abyss by a senile, aggressive nincompoop cannot afford the luxury of sympathy. Save your sympathy for my older friend who just told me that he thought his tank of propane would last until about Christmas; after that he would have to decide whether to stay warm, buy his medicines, or eat.
You forgot to mention how the president loves to give little girls in the audience sexualized comments. "Look, she looks like she is 19 with those pigtails and her legs crossed like that."
He is so sick. And people keep supporting him and his damn war.
'The story behind this story is not about racism. It’s about the cold calculus of power. It’s about Latinos in Los Angeles acquiring more of it, black people losing it, and Democrats trying to Scotch Tape together their coalition in advance of the 2022 midterms.'
This is it, and what it's always been since the Democrat party started slicing and dicing it's voter block by race and gender in the early 60s. You'd be a fool to think that these discussions aren't routine in DNC and other party meetings. How can they be avoided when the majority of your campaign strategy is about how to appeal to a specific constituency versus the country as a whole? And inevitably, you're going to refer to one of those blocks in in a term that, while not intended to be hateful, is considered not appropriate in todays definition? In the past, it was only white people who got called out for using 'racist' terms, but did you really think it wasn't common practice by all races?
I guess the only satisfaction I took in this event was that we're holding all races and genders to the same standard.
BS!! This was overt repugnant racism and should not be tolerated anywhere for any reason. What’s ironic is that these same disgusting people have the unmitigated GALL to call me a white supremacist and a NAZI because I support Trump and the MAGA movement, a movement meant to help ALL AMERICANS.
Name ANYTHING Trump did that made things better for all Americans. He made things better for red state Americans and worse for everyone else. Every speech he gave was aimed at boosting his base and putting down those who didn't agree with him.
His tax plan made it so that almost all of those who voted for him no longer pay any Federal income tax while further shifting the tax burden to those of us in blue states who already pay the bulk of Federal Income taxes while getting the least back. 57% of people paid ZERO Federal Income tax in 2021--that means they have NO skin in the game. EVERYONE should be required to contribute SOMETHING. 40% of us shouldn't be required to carry the other 60%.
Scott is right about the tax plan. I’m divorced, middle class, and living in CA. Thanks to the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”, I cannot deduct my state taxes, property taxes, or alimony from my federal taxes anymore, and it has seriously affected my quality of life. I’m pretty sure the intent was to stick it to blue state sinners, and I was standing on the bullseye. Because of this crap, I will probably need to sell my house and move to a lower tax state to put my son through college, and that is my tentative plan.
Before you start in with “CA needs to lower its taxes. You are just unhappy with having to pay the real cost,” I agree with you about that. CA wastes a massive amount of money on things like homelessness and education that seem to be getting worse. However, I will point out that at least for now, CA is actually subsidizing a lot of low-tax states.
Anyway, my point is that the tax bill that was passed under Trump was, in my opinion, bad policy. It punishes middle class people who haven’t yet been demoted to working poor. Since there are fewer and fewer of us, I guess I should continue to expect to not have my interests be represented much going forward.
Same here except no alimony. Saw my income taxes go up by about $5K. What most people don't realize, though, is that the people who saw cuts won't see them for long--they expire in 2025 except for corporations.
Trump got gas prices down, historic low unemployment rates for minorities, funded Historically black universities, tax reform, low inflation, high employment across the board, got NATO to pay their share, helped America to exceed their carbon emissions goals...that's off the top of my head.
Two stories about discrimination in todays TGIF. Both very sad and interestingly, neither one is about a racist Caucasian. According to the left’s anti racist dogma, racial and gender minorities cannot be racist because they are not in positions of power (discrimination plus power = racism). I guess those grifters sitting on the LA city council earning salaries over $200K must be the exception to this rule. And Kanye? I’m truly ready to put this anti racism nonsense behind us.
Ol' Nick trying to fit in with lefties who will never accept him.
Since I have two parents who passed having dementia and a brother who has had drug problems I am a little sympathetic with any family having similar issues. However, the Biden family - sans Ashley - can suffer like no other as far as I am concerned. Joe Biden has lied, cheated, and stolen his whole life never creating a product or service to earn anything - the family only takes. From YOU taxpayers. He endorsed KKK members(Byrd) and his family used the influence of the United States to benefit themselves only; millions of dollars have flowed from the CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY and also from the corrupt country of Ukraine. We have homeless veterans on our streets that Joe sent to war while we send BILLIONS to Ukraine. Oh, and innocent women are being raped while trafficked across our border that is controlled by cartels who are making billions nowadays. Hunter? He made his privileged, illegal choices and will never be held accountable. Contrast that with the Trump children who are vilified by the government and it's praetorian guard, the media.
Most importantly, Joe Biden purposely shut down oil and gas production in service to the wealthiest in this country. That is the sole reason for inflation as ONG are the basis for our lives. Printing trillions contributes a little, but erasing cheap energy is the basis for our economic destruction. By design, do not forget that.
Oh, and we also forgot Pfizer executives admitting they never tested their expensive jabs regarding transmission...
Oh, and the American Medical Association is now asking the AG to now imprison people who question gender mutilation...
And the only way Hunter was able to "establish a new life" was by trading on his father's name and political power - to the detriment of the nation. Success and redemption? Hardly.
I looked this one up and it isn't fair. Byrd left the KKK shortly after getting into politics and was outspoken in his opposition to it from that point onward. Branding him as KKK forever is misleading and a disgrace to his memory. He should be honored for seeing the error of his ways.
I understand your point and want to sympathize, but we still have things like when he recently told Charlemagne "If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black!"? How about "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,"
He also led the charge trying to - through lies - take down black Justice Clarence Thomas who is one of my heroes.
Joe has made his bed and never changed the sheets.
I agree, but it's important to me to remain committed to the truth first.
I'm not defending Biden, he is indefensible. I'm only defending the truth, and the memory of a man who had the character to admit he was wrong and change for the better.
Nick Gillespie bemoans dirty politics but then takes a dumb and gratuitous shot at J. D. Vance for accepting support from Donald Trump. Gillespie naively believes polls which show Democrats winning Senate seats and at the same time criticizes cognitively impaired Biden for not being able to count. Gillespie does not tell us who does the shopping in his family.
Joe Biden loves his son, the same one he claimed he never talked with regarding their family business of Influence Peddling. Don’t let Biden’s inveterate lying affect your opinion of him. It’s important to note that If the Republicans win the Libertarians will be even less relevant than they are now.
Gillespie claims no Republican is concerned with deficit financing. Gillespie has apparently never heard of Ron DeSantis.
I found this article next to useless, but it’s what I expect from an ideologue who doesn’t understand that 10-20% of people need financial help from the government in order to have any shot at a decent life.
There’s no point in talking about what’s wrong with America today while avoiding the inevitable results of Climate Alarmism and Wokeism.
And what’s up with the ‘debt relief’ ramble ? I live in Ohio. Whatever poll shows 63% favor some form of debt reduction was probably not focusing on student debt. Or, if it was, extreme leading questions were asked.
“You’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by Biden’s message.”
————————————————————-
No you actually have to be both a sack of shit and an imbecile to be moved by Biden’s message.
That voicemail was extraordinarily creepy. Why do you think his daughter and his son are drug addicts? Because he molested his daughter and is exploiting his son to launder money and probably molested him too.
That’s like hearing sweet messages from a guy who beats the shit out of his wife when he’s trying to win her back and manipulate her once again and thinking
Indeed. This was not a distraught father trying to reel in their wayward teenager. This was a politically prominent person aware that his off the rails son (the son he has bailed out for 20 years) was potentially going to damage his career and he needed to do damage control.
My apologies for being unclear. I was adding to your statement: "No you actually have to be both a sack of shit and an imbecile to be moved by Biden’s message. "
The way everyone is awwing and gushing over Biden's loving father voicemail you'd think that Hunter was a tender young man of 17. My point is that Hunter was a fully grown adult in 2018, and that "Get your shit together" would have been a better and more appropriate voicemail message between a 76 year old father and a wayward 48 year old son.
But of course that would never had seen the light of day... ever. Dems can't be caught on tape using Tough Love. They prefer the Doormat variety.
“It's Dad,” says the president, “I’m calling to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world, pal. You gotta get some help. I don't know what to do. I know you don't either." I’ve spent a good time knocking Biden thus far (didn’t even get to his awful attempt to shut down the gig economy!) but in that message, he shows a deep humanity and personal vulnerability and humility that seems to have disappeared from politics altogether."
Yeah, sorry Nick, but I call bs. If Biden really cared about Hunter, he would have gotten him help and not used him as his personal bagman to collect cash from our enemies. Biden is despicable. Irredeemable. A cancer on America. Of all of his depredations (open borders, inflation, political Stasi raids, killing our energy independence) they all pale next to his declaring half of Americans to be "domestic terrorists" and "threats to democracy." Biden is a malign growth needs to be removed.
Well that was a disappointing mish-mash of mostly unimportant stuff.
Some alternatives could have been the stunning revelation that the FBI bribed Steele for evidence to support the Russia hoax, and when he didn’t, they went with the lie anyway. The emancipation declaration of Tulsi Gabbard was delicious, and then there was the Saudis once again humiliating Biden by revealing he tried to talk them into postponing their announcement of drilling reductions until after the election.
Looking forward to more substance from Nellie next week.
I've noticed that the writers here have recently shifted tactics from "yeah, but Republicans too" to lightly bashing Biden for age-related gaffes and just general bafoonish-ness, while continuing to ignore the truly damning stories. This is happening in mainstream media as well, which have started to acknowledge Biden and Harris' monumental unpopularity while ignoring all the real reasons why.
To much TDS on this TGIF and why would they give you the truth about Russia, if it’s slightly positive in President Trump’s favor CS melts down.
See, I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, and tell myself that if they're going to ever succesfully get Democrats to actually read this site - imagine reading something that actually challenges your world view! - then they have to balance their stories a bit and not just constantly bash Biden. But then there's TGIFs like this one, which make a huge show of lampooning Biden for pretty innocuous things while ignoring stories of substance. It's almost like the writers are either ignorant themselves or think we're all idiots.
I have a good friend - a committed life long Dem - who argues that Biden isn't a senile imbecile but concedes "he's slowing down."
"Slowing down??????" Are we talking about some old duffer who's retired and plays golf all day? Or the freaking PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES????? Good grief. How stupid are people. This should not even be a discussion point. Invoke the 25th Amendment and rid us of this demented, corrupt tyrant.
Bruce you don't get it. he's a doddering imbecile but he's such a NICE one... no mean tweets and look! he tried to help his drug addicted son! This surely forces us to forgive him for doing more to ruin our country in 2 years than anyone imagined was possible, and for bringing the world to the brink of war while the four monsters of the apocalypse wait to gobble up their neighbors (Russia, China, N Korea and Iran), now more empowered than ever. I'm sure he means well!
As, of course he means well when he threatens an ally with quid pro quo unless they act to support his political goals, as he did this week with Saudi Arabia, and many years ago when he threatened to withhold aid from Ukraine unless they fired the prosecutor who was going after his son's employer, Burisma, for corruption. Wait - isn't that an impeachable offense?
Let me guess, your friend thought the 25th should have been invoked for Trump, right?
I actually thought Bruce meant FJB on the 25th but you right the 25th only applies to President Trump!
God Bruce how stupid are people! It beggars belief at times. The old duffer never ceases to amaze me, he has more energy than the average teenager. I have manage to attend a rally and watch most on C-Span the crowds, and the vibe is just fantastic. Some of my mates are driving me to drink with their take on America, Donald Trump and his family. They have now moved off onto Elon Musk it never ends! Have a good shabbes
Do you really want President Harris?
The Democrats know how to do it. They got rid of Agnew first, then Nixon.
Harris will appoint HRC at the new VP....and then the suicide watch begins for Que Mala...
God forbid we will have to keep Brandon the alternative is just not an option nobody on this planet will respect Kamala.
They think we idiots Pem, I think they arrogant and ignorant. When the results of the midterms are out they will all be screaming OMG it’s the end of our democracy and HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT.
The later. I keep reading this site and every time tell myself it's the last time. This time it's the last time
i'm with you don't read this site much these days
I'm not sure if they think we're all idiots, or if they think themselves as so MUCH smarter than us....half a dozen of one, six of the other I suppose....
Gender NAZIs:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dem-candidate-says-defining-a-woman-is-tough-defends-policy-hiding-students-gender-identity-from-parents/ar-AA12Tjdh?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=f329f3863e854a63a960cd648e95f66f
How does the left justify this? If a leftist answers my post most likely they will change the subject and insult me. It's what they do.
We need more people like this in our government:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-leaves-democratic-party-denounces-control-of-an-elitist-cabal-of-warmongers
Amen.
Tulsi Gabbard's speech is amazing - just under a half hour and worth every min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Z1x8Ou8VU&t=0s
But Nick Gillespie is a libertarian. He was a founder of Reason magazine. He has no dog in this fight, and his last TGIF was really good. I flat out don't get this. It's like he's just phoning it in or having one of his unpaid interns write it.
If he is a libertarian, he sure wears some progressive clothes with enthusiasm.
Starting with not being concerned with children having trans surgeries. Anyone who is fine with minors having their bodies mutilated is absolutely insane! INSANE!
Agreed - that turned me off. They are children for goodness sakes.
There is a lot of crossover between libertarians and the so-called progressives in policy, though the philosophies are different. So I don't necessarily fault Gillespie for that. But given that he's a libertarian, he should have had some comment about the whole FBI paying Dochenko thing.
If you spend any time at Reason and read any of the comments, most of them consist of the readers stating that the supposed libertarian writers are nothing of the sort
I wonder if they asked him to do it last night at midnight or something.
I was going to say : at 3pm on Thursday, Nick said "oh shit...I forgot about..."
Nick did not cofound Reason magazine. He was hired by Virginia Postrel and later became editor and then lots of other stuff. I think he’s great. Would love to meet, have a beer with him. But he epitomizes what I see as the problem with successful libertarians: They like to rev the engine but never get out of neutral.
I really liked Reason when Virginia Postrel was in charge. I cancelled my subscription when Nick Gillespie took over and promptly wrote a lengthy article whining that Boomers just need to get over the Beatles.
Yes. I did same. Postrel was terrific and made REASON what it once was. Her book “The Future and It’s Enemies” was superb.
Sorry. I thought he did.
This one is certainly of poorer quality than his prior effort.
The lack of risk-taking Nick took in writing this opinion piece is very meh.
Reason is not libertarian, but purports to be. It loves drugs and abortion and hates police, but cares little for free speech or gun rights.
Reason wrote virtually nothing about the shooting death by cop of Ashli Babbitt, only that she didn’t deserve to be killed (uh, duh). No coverage of the barbed-wired militarization of DC for months on end due to phantom fears on the part of the ruling elite. Reason writers split on vaccine mandates. To me, libertarianism in Reason has come to mean more focus on libertine rights (which I wholeheartedly support not being criminalized) with very little emphasis on government overreach, except in the case of cops (except in the case of Ashli Babbitt). And it’s everywhere getting worse and worse for the individual. So many stories left undeveloped.
This piece from today is a fine example of how far Reason has declined. Their rabid quest for open borders completely clouds their objectivity to its destructiveness.
Here, they try raise alarm that DiSantis' Vineyard "stunt" will certify those migrants as victims and thereby qualify for a U Nonimmigrant Status visa. Oh Noes! Then halfway down the page they fess up that there is currently a 17 year backlog for obtaining one of these visas. Still, they continue to wag a finger at Florida and Texas for not simply rolling over and accepting invasion.
https://reason.com/2022/10/14/ron-desantis-marthas-vineyard-stunt-might-help-migrants-stay-in-the-u-s-on-special-visas
Thanks for this. I’ve noted Reason’s dissatisfaction with DeSantis, which I find comical since it’s based on the views of his critics without recognizing the other side, basically because they like to argue from cloud theory rather than issues on the ground.
I discovered it around two decades ago and I found it interesting because it seemed like a mish-mash of right and left and I didn't know much about libertarianism. What it is today today, I don't know. So many publications that I used to like seemed to become corrupted, like "The Week" magazine. I used to really like that one.
Gillespie says he’s a libertarian. He doesn’t write like one.
maybe he means libtardarian ?
The difference here. The original poster's complaints were worded in legible, respectful language. You sound like you got pissing drunk at a bar and someone insulted your mother.
But ... he's a funny drunk!
Most drunks are, in one way or another.
Well, I suppose my point is, am I supposed to take you seriously as a person?
Upvoted because that was funny!
Biden really is rapidly declining. The gaffes are becoming increasingly obvious. Impossible to ignore. The cumulative effect suggests that it’s not so much a knack for foot-in-mouth incidents as an overall decline in mental acuity. The best that can be said for Biden’s oratory at this point is that it gives you the sensation of a coma without the worry and inconvenience. It’s not ageist to say as much.
The problem is that the Left has declared that so much as suggesting these episodes are concerning is taboo. It’s always dismissed as a “right-wing” talking point, a “caricature” that Republicans have long been painting of Biden. Meanwhile, we haven't been closer to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
https://euphoricrecall.substack.com/p/a-declining-joe-biden
The fact that they're still willing to go to bat for Biden tells you what they privately think of the idea of Harris as President.
Is there any solution to this crisis we find ourselves in. We have two years to go till 2024, how much further can we fall?
Bread lines.
Greg Gutfeld did a really funny montage the other night of a bunch of incidents where he couldn't figure out how to exit a stage or room. You could see Jill Biden's annoyance with him in a few.
I mean he said his son died fighting in Iraq FFS. How in the world do you NOT remember how your flesh and blood died?
Well, Biden insisted for years that his wife was killed by a drunk driver, even though he knew that was not the case. Lies have been his stock in trade since long before he developed senility problems.
Meh, I won't criticize him for that. Bad optics. I reserve my criticism for things like that ridiculous speech a few weeks ago, where he stated that anyone who votes for the opposition party is an enemy of the State.
I get it, but it's his son! Egads!
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Nobel...oh wait...nevermind that...with 10 being Ivy Lea...oh wait, never mind that, with 10 being really really really smart...
Biden entered the Presidency at about a 2, and has declined to about a -2.
There’s nothing I love more than the David French libertarian
“Yeah but Republicans too.”
argument.
It’s like if your HS team plays the Lakers and the score is 188-2 and you claim it’s a tie because both teams scored points. Scumbags.
It's almost like an email signature template. Whenever you criticize the Democrats, you must also include the "but the Republicans are bad too," phrase in the paragraph. It's not just this writer - anyone left of Tucker Carlson does it, like a nervous tic spread by social contagion.
How about Kamala Harris going to Austin to fund raise but NOT visiting the border? That was one great big middle finger move right there. Absolutely audacious.
To be fair, the border is almost three hundred miles from Austin...
But my daddy used to tell me that "fair" is where momma takes cakes and pies ever year....don't get used to any other use of the word
She's the border czar right? Instead she headed to NYC to go on a Dem late night talk show to complain about DeSantis and Abbott shipping migrants. She needs to go the f%#! down there herself.
I live on the border, and to be honest, don't really want her here.
Last year during the Haitian invasion Rev Al Sharpton came down to stir the pot and got shouted down within about two minutes...in a community that is prolly around 85% Latino (Latinx? can't be offending nobody)
Obama - Biden.......HOPE & CHANGE.
Biden - Harris........DUMB & DUMBER.
ooooohhhhh the "F" word again.
CompProf attempting to rebrand...
LOL
mada I laughed out loud because I read your comment in spooky Halloween style.
Get over yourself
Fascism is a left wing concept, the only difference with communism is that it allows private business as long as it goes the government line in all things. The fascists co-opt media and business, that is not the republicans
Its definitely not but does she realize it yet?
Oh, I suspect she does.
But she won't go down without a fight.
The problem the Dems are facing is that they don't have a single electable potential candidate outside the figureheads. (I discount Gavin Newsom because I have strong reservations about his appeal at the national level.)
In contrast, the GOP has several strong potential candidates if they don't make the colossal mistake of nominating Trump.
Tim Scott for my first choice. Mike Pompeo number 2, and DeSantis if we absolutely have to.
Yeah.
Tulsi Gabbard is a bona fide hero.
Everything ok, RT?
He is over the edge Pem! That will be the Democrats come 9th November
sure. poor Hunter. addicted to drugs.. if it were your son or your father. he would be in jail. which might be good for Hunter
Every time Biden talks about "gun control" I think of Hunter getting a pass on lying on his federal application. Why doesn't any member of the press refresh his memory about that?
He should be in jail not for his addiction but for his corruption. Instead they all still hunting President 45, hoping for the big break!
“I love you” and “I don’t know what to do” somehow makes him a paragon of compassion?
I don’t think Nick ever had issues of co-dependency. Of course Joe loves Hunter. He’s made him rich, and their corruption is intertwined. Joe Biden is a very bad man and a terrible father. I’m not impressed by his crocodile love.
Anyone who has ever dealt with addiction in an adult child will be appalled at the suggestion that the pathetic voice mail shows so much compassion.
Are you feeling better R T? Perhaps this is the wrong forum for you although it’s your choice to be on however, all the info you have sprouted about President45 you can simply switch to Main Stream Media. There is a wealth of that crap there. Don’t stay here not all of us feel the same way about the man as you do, some of us genuinely appreciate what he did for America. I’m sure you appreciate what Biden has and is doing for us here at home. Regarding his son, I cannot understand why the media continue to slap a story nobody is interested in. It doesn’t improve his ratings but then again I think they to stupid to realize.
It’s the iphone R T it took out the 2nd O, Bruce is always there if and when I need him!! You sounded for a second a bit jealous there but then I saw you lol and realized nawww he can’t be 🤣 but thanks for the correction I will double check my post before I push post!
He's a commenter, not the author. You need a massage.
Wow, maybe go back to bed and get out on the other side.
Charming.
The FBI story is the biggest story of many years. That was the smoking gun, and I doubt anyone but the WSJ, Fox and Breitbart covered it. Our nation has become further and further disconnected from the events of the day. Back in my day you had Cronkite, Huntly-Brinkley, Jennings and they were going to tell you the news from both sides, with a slight spin to the left. Now you can live your life blissfully ignorant of half the events (or more sadly) and cast your ballot for someone who's governing for half or less of the country.
This is a historic scandal. If people don't go to jail for a full-fledged, three year assault of lies on the president by the FBI and minority party, this is a lawless country in a cold civil war. This cannot be tolerated. The FBI declared war on democracy years ago.
No one will go to jail. We are in trouble.
Madjack the people who will be going to jail will be us, you only needed to watch the Jan 6 hearing to see who the fascists and racists are in this country
No one has gone to jail. No one will go to jail. Lying and insider trading along with federal LE agencies paying foreign nationals for dirt to overthrow a sitting president and the jack booted, early morning arrest of PP protesters are all accepted if you are part of the ruling elite. They can/may not be challenged. They have to silence and arrest their political opponents. Cancelling is for duffers. Debate is out. Detention is in. I used to wonder how Henry VIII got away with executing wives and other enemies for minor and personal offenses. But now I know that there's a noose at the bottom of the slippery slope we're on.
That's true. We're in a post-representative phase, in which the government no longer recognizes any Constitutional limits on its authority. Policy decisions are made and executed by unelected bureaucrats and staffers; they regard elected officials as either useful idiots, or obstacles to be blown up. The Left has succeeded in capturing the civil service, and all of the major oligarch corporations do the Left's bidding. Elections make almost no difference. We truly have, in the dictionary sense of the word, a Fascist government, immune and unchallengeable.
But what about our democracy Spicey is it dead? According to Brandon, DT and the MAGA people are semi fascists and a danger to democracy. What do you think? True or Fake
Can you now understand why the 2020 elections were question!
Cold civil war in some places. Low-intensity armed conflict in others. (Portland, OR, for instance.)
I haven't checked, but is there video of Durham examining the witness? It must have been legendary.
It's not video but Technofog https://technofog.substack.com/ is providing daily summaries of the Danchenko trial.
That column is excellent, but It work to wade through it sometimes. No doubt that person does his/her research.
I think the story about Mayorkas knowing the "split reins" story was BS (Haitians last year being chased by CBP), but continuing to castigate the agents...and getting Uncle Joe wound up to threaten the agents over a bogus story rates pretty high also.
THAT is a huge story he could have mentioned. Do you think these guys just don't know this stuff happened?
Of course they do. CS is a curated, politicized and partisan outlet like any other. They know how corrupt Mayorkas is. They won't say a word about it, because of bigotry and partisanship and moral bankruptcy.
Or rather, "moral bankruptcy" is simply the newspeak for "evil"
Cronkite, Huntly-Brinkley, Jennings....pffffft.
We have ......Savannah Guthrie. Brian Stelter.]
.Katie Tur????????
Crap. Spit my coffee all over the place on that one!
oh...don't forget Nicole Wallace!
I gather from your comment about Stelter, least of which is referring to him by only his first name, that you thought his show provided News. This explains your slant on every comment I’ve read from you.
Try to get out more.
Great comeback. Well done. You got me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7NpfoBbMyk
It's not Durham, but at least decent coverage. I did see a short clip on TV yesterday that actually showed Durham.
Miss those days.
Yes! Wasn’t Tulsi Gabbard’s eviscerating exit from the Democrats the most important political story of the week, despite being mostly buried by the media? Remember, this woman was at one point the Vice-chair of the DNC. No way Nellie would have failed to comment on this.
I’m not sure Mark, I find at times news and stories that they skim over which in my opinion should be the first item of the day. Perhaps things are about to change. My friend who lives in Aus sent me a link to Geoff Beck’s podcast. It was very interesting his commentators are predicting a red wave. He sited Trafalgar Polls and gave some points on the crucial senate seats in Penn, Georgia and Arizona. Watch November!
I guess Tulsi Gabbard has been Memory Holed for the things she said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Z1x8Ou8VU&t=0s
Tussi Grabhard sounds like something Trump thought up
"Well that was a disappointing mish-mash of mostly unimportant stuff."
Exactly.
I live in the town in question, and am acquainted with a number of CBP agents. They were plumb swoll at getting throwed under the bus by Mayorkas, and then Uncle Joe...and are still swoll about it a year later
https://cis.org/Arthur/Reports-Mayorkas-Knew-Border-Patrol-Agents-Didnt-Whip-Migrants
Couldn't find any MSM reports (shocking), but the attached backs up stories I had heard directly from CBP acquaintances.
Right? It was a great week for TGIF and this dude missed it. What about the AOC video??!!
Oh, I loved that! Other than agreeing with her "hecklers" 100%, I enjoyed seeing her get a taste of her own medicine and being exposed for the fraud she is.
Exactly Vernon the dude missed it. You have summed up CS in one post they seem to miss all the stuff their readers need to see, that’s of importance. I loved the AOC video and agreed 100% with the hecklers. She doesn’t fare well in a crowd but does very well when she is locked in her apartment, think she has forgotten that Covid is over, we all sick of the Democrat’s basements.
Or glamming it up on a magazine cover.
Remember, she was never groomed to be a politician. She was an aspiring actress who answered an ad to audition to run for her seat. How low has our federal election process gotten that we're finding our future candidates that way?
Oh, they were RUUUUUDE. Bless her heart.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/aoc-tulsi-gabbard-russia-ukraine-b2202298.html
Paywall.
Sorry about that.
I just did a Google search and this came up.
I did not get blocked by the paywall.
I only saw a 5-19bsecind clip. Is there a longer version somewhere?
Also, I'd love to see the full examination by John Durham of the FBI agent who admitted to bribing Steele.
*attempted bribing
Steele couldn't deliver to make it a more serious offense.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/aoc-tulsi-gabbard-russia-ukraine-b2202298.html
The FBI really is beyond corrupt. They twice interfered in the 2020 election. There was the fabricated conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, which was announced on October 7, 2020 within a month of the U.S. presidential election. Both Whitmer and Biden made the most of the FBI’s announcement, blaming Trump for inspiring the alleged kidnappers, elevating rhetoric focused on convincing the American people that the president was encouraging the much talked about but rarely seen gun-toting far-Right white supremacist domestic terrorists.
Then there was the FBI malfeasance that included the deliberate suppression of any investigation into Hunter Biden’s financial activities, including his ties to Burisma. According to whistleblowers, Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault and Director of Election Crimes Branch Richard Pilger coordinated to amplify defamatory information against Trump while giving cover to Hunter Biden, dismissing Biden intelligence as disinformation.
https://euphoricrecall.substack.com/p/a-deeply-rooted-political-infection
The thing to remember about the FBI is that it has been corrupt for most of its existence. There was that period of about two decades, after J. Edgar Hoover died, where the agency did clean up its act, and that seems to be what has formed most people's opinions. But historically, that period was an anomaly.
*Sarc alert* I wonder if there will be House Oversight Committee hearings next year*conclusion of Sarc Alert*
I agree. The Tulsi Gabbard thing, which is muted mainstream, is the kind of thing I hope to see on platforms like this. And the Saudi slap. I dropped my decades long subscription to Reason mag when it drifted off into the absurd weeds too often. So with Gillespie driving today, I guess it's not surprising we are doing the scenic tour of "look the other direction" from the most interesting stories of the week.
AGREE!
Another disabused Reason subscriber here. While my views tend towards libertarian their increasingly rigid ideology just became too much bear. I've read lots of Gillespie's pieces over the years and usually find myself more or less in agreement (or at least get a good laugh), but this piece is pure dreck. Perhaps he's just having a bad day?
Shoot-- I just started getting Reason. Just out of curiosity, why do you think it drifted into the weeds?
Yes, TGIF is often interesting for what is left out. And, it's like Tulsi Gabbard never existed.
Is it because she said things like this?
""I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism," "
""I believe in a government that is of the people, by the people and for the people. Unfortunately, today's Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government that is of, by and for the powerful elite," "I'm calling on my fellow common sense, independent-minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party.""
She called out Health and Human Services Secretary "Rachael" Levine for saying young children should be "empowered to get gender affirmation surgeries". She says the party now undermines families, erases women, and denies objective truth. She says the WH wants to make a backdoor rule change to Title 9 to remove women and sex from the statute, that they want to categorize calling someone by the wrong pronouns "sexual harassment", replace "mother" with "birthing person"... She discusses keeping secrets from parents, irreversible surgeries and how if parents do not comply the government threatens to bring in Child Protective Services to take your children away and force you to comply. (See PITT substack for these stories.) She says that if you can erase objective truth there is no limit to what those in power can do. "Families are the foundation of civilization and our society." Uh, huh.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Z1x8Ou8VU
For all this I suppose she had to be Memory Holed?
It is a fabulous piece of oratory. The fact that she is speaking out to prevent the erasure of women, the sexualization of young children, and the elimination of a parent's right to raise their own children, is so heartening to me!
Yes.
Thanks for sharing. Just Wow !
My pleasure. I agree: Just WOW! I encourage everyone to listen to her full speech. It's just under a half hour.
I hope that she will be our president one day.
Oh - dream team - Gabbard/DeSantis! But I do live in Florida, so I'm biased.
My wish would be for two terms of DeSantis followed by Gabbard.
Very blessed De Santis is great, not sure if Tulsi is ready for the Presidency though
She could be ready in 10 years though, after we suffer through another 2 of Brandon and - cross fingers - get 2 terms of DeSantis.
I agree.
Look, I’ll babysit for Nellie for free if we can get her back on that laptop for a few hours.
I'll take a shift or two as well.
Bari and Nellie, please know I'll probably go through your drawers and stuff though. Maybe the fridge as well,
I am in as well!
Perfect.
Thank you.
This is why so many people in the US are so ignorant.
The media they watch curates only what the elites want them to read.
Yes, the FBI's offering Steele up to $1M to dig up dirt on Trump during the run-up to the election is, somehow, not worth mentioning? Huh? In a sane country, that would produce screaming headlines and massive sackings. But here and now? Nuthin'. And this from a Reason editor, i.e., supposedly a libertarian?
I’m with you. Ho hum. Plus, Your list is much better.
Love that phrase – Tulsi's "emancipation proclamation!"
Very disappointing but the TGIF mostly are
Well, in the post Nellie period at least. Bari and Nellie need some new sources that perhaps lean a tad lefter.
Actually, I mean the other lefter.
Those of you who golf know what 'the other left' means
I think they need to lean a tad to the middle ( the other left) perhaps after the midterms otherwise if they don’t think CS will go belly up, it’s becoming a bit boring slapping the same story line over and over again
It's the comments I pay for.
Bari and Nellie give great column, and I've subscribed to a few of their guests. I don't know if this is where I was introduced to Sasha Stone, but she's on fire. Shorter content on average, but frequent. She's got the passion of a born again fanatic.
Yep, I’ve been reading Sasha Stone ever since she commented on TGIF-and several others. The commenters are a wealth of information and help to make me feel like I’m not the only one who sees an upside down world.
Sasha stone should be writing these things.
Agree. She's a firecracker, and she writes with a chip on her should after being a true blue leftist until 2020 when she realized she'd been duped.
Long ago I copied and pasted one of Sasha comments in a post either on Greenwald or Taibbi. It was such an eloquently stated position. I had no idea she had/has a Substack. Thanks for the info.
You've got some fun catching up to do.
Thank you for info Jon will definitely look into Sasha a change is as good as a holiday
They might "draw" more in that way.
hookers?
This is fairly stock product from my previous home base at Reason. They follow rigid, logically consistent principles to absurd conclusions. A fun thought experiment but not necessarily pragmatic.
Nick is not the worst (try wading through Katherine Mangu-Ward to slaughter some brain sells sometime, or the idiotic contrarian Elizabeth Nolan Brown).
Nick occasionally strays from the usual post-Randian minarchism and weed advocacy which makes his stuff usually interesting.
Agreed. When writing for Reason Nick is much more focused and clear.
Yeah really weird read today. I liked Nick’s last TGIF. This week’s was the first dud I’ve read since subscribing to CS.
If any of you dared wade into the cesspool that is the main political page on reddit, r/politics (8.2 million subscribers), this week you'd see that the recent decision by Saudi Arabia to cut oil production is part of a grand conspiracy theory to re-elect Trump, who remains the gravest threat to democracy and that the midterms really boil down to whether or not you think Jan. 6 was a bad thing. It's crap like that that make it so Biden can have a higher approval rating than Trump while far fewer people approve of the country's general direction.
I live abroad (it's why I can usually comment soon after stories are published around 4 am EST) so I often video chat with my sister in Wisconsin. This week, I called her in the evening her time. Her son was out in the front yard playing football with neighborhood friends as the sun set. She kept the video on them as we talked for awhile. It was the most at peace I've felt in a long time. I don't have any answers to the issue I raised last week - how do we get the people who need it the most to read fact-based reporting like what is found here at CS - and every time I go on mainstream or popular social media news sites my anxiety goes through the roof. I don't think there is an answer, though I really appreciated the hundreds of comments I received last week, and I'm no longer going to look for one. I bought a ring this week and will soon propose to my girlfriend. I'm driven to this decision by my love for her, but the article from this week about having a large family helped motivate me to step up and make it happen. It's time I started a family. I hope you all have a great weekend!
Congrats! As a new mom I can say first hand having kids is the most joyful thing in this whole world. It also puts a new perspective on all the outside craziness. My priorities are keeping my corner of the world safe, sane and happy for my family and raising thoughtful, kind children. If everyone just focused on making their little household the best it could be we would see 90% of these political debates just vanish, in my opinion. I too read the article about having a large family and started thinking, maybe a minivan is just what we need for our future brood! Good luck with the proposal!
Thanks! I have a feeling she's gonna say yes :) Kids are still more than 9 months away, probably a couple years due to us both moving quite a bit. It's something I for a long time felt was not for me but that's changed over the past year. I can't change the world but I think I can be a good husband and father, and I'm realizing that's all I really need.
As a wife of 35 years, a mother to 5 and Gigi (grandmother) to 2, I love to read this! I am cheering your shift in perspective and fully believe you will find genuine fulfillment and purpose through dedicating yourself to being a good husband and father. Congratulations and best wishes!
congrats to the GIgis
It’s the greatest gig.💕☺️💝
😍5 months👶🏻 old & 5 years old👧🏻😍
This is beautiful, congrats! May you enjoy the journey of beginning your family! You get to make the little difference is raising them to think and seek like yourself.
I enjoyed your comments last week and said so in a reply.
Judging from your thoughtful, and thought provoking, posts you are made of fine stuff, and your girlfriend should accept your proposal because she’s getting a sterling man.
You, like Bethany, are moving forward with life regardless of the turmoil around you. It’s all we can do and it’s all we should do. Because moving forward by marrying and starting a family, or any new beginning, shows those around you you have confidence in the future. It’s important we do that, it’s sets a stake in the ground for hope, and it has a universal ripple effect for the world.
So CONGRATULATIONS! on your decision! Marriage is a wonderful institution, don’t let any naysayer tell you otherwise. Wonderful advice I got for making it work for 36 years thus far is, love is important, but commitment to that love is more important. Therefore commit yourselves one to the other so that when you’re not feeling the love, it will carry you through.
Yes! As others before me have said, love is an action verb, not a noun alone.
There’s a good book by Rabbi Cooper titled Love is a Verb, very worthwhile
Thanks, JAE, really. I’m blessed with some really good role models like my sister when it comes to healthy, committed relationships that I hope to emulate with my partner. The future might be uncertain but I can create certainty for the person most important to me by being a committed partner, which keeps me going.
We need think tanks for solutions minded people to congregate
The issue I tried to speak to last week is that unlike-minded people no longer congregate anywhere. We are all getting news tailored to our perspectives, and while CS tried to break this cycle, it ended up being unique only in that writers and readers are not quite ideologically aligned, but the readers are not the intended audience - that being democrat-leaning voters who haven't yet totally drank the koolaid of modern progressivism.
>>the readers are not the intended audience <<
Yep. _Strong_ agreement with that one.
In fact, I say with all modesty that _I_ am probably the intended audience of CS as someone who skews left but is utterly turned off by identity politics and so is looking for alternatives.
I don't feel particularly welcome on this board. Although, of course, this board is but a shallow puddle compared to the quicksand-bottomed swamp that is r/politics. (You ARE a brave man, Pemulis_DMZ! 😀 )
Agree with you Patrizia. I also really want to be exposed to a variety of viewpoints which is why I like the columns and the comments. As for the people complaining about what wasn't covered, well, it's a newsletter not War and Peace and it's their newsletter. if you're using just 1 source for any of your info at this point, it's probably a mistake. I like to follow up on the info that the right leaning commenters post and reach my own conclusions. If only the Repubs would stay out of my lady bits and the Dems would stop calling everybody one of the "ists/isms". It almost like we need a sane, moderate, 3rd party. Hmmm....
for a left ( sort of) but sane person to read. try Shellenberger ( Michael) and to get the message out share share share. I have a friend who shares all of Heather Cox Richardson on her page so I try to balance out her Bidentoadism with CS and Shellenberger. so far I have a few people who read my posts all of the way through and a few who "like" it even when I know they only read the headline.. brick by brick my citizens. brick by brick
>>a sane, moderate, 3rd party<<
You are singing my song, Jane. 😀
Yup. TY both.
Haha, you're welcome here in my opinion, Patrizia! I'm not brave enough to go to r/politics often, just once a month or so. I'm like the kid who walks up to the porch of the haunted house and then runs away :)
If we have the same goals but differ on how to get there - this is essential for people to gather, think, and discuss. We need digital think tanks
One cannot converse with people whose ideology regards discussion as evil. That has to change before anything else.
I have a little nugget on the way as well, and it took a sea change to get there too. My wife wanted to be a mother but I had never considered myself too strongly as a father. But when I examined the reasons why, none of them really made that much sense. There is this fatalism that comes with being on the left, where having a family is seen as not a goal in itself but one you reluctantly accede to, or never allow while holding it up as doing your part for the climate.
I have a collage of family from my wedding day hanging at my work desk now and its striking to see the choices made by the generation before me, and the one before them, and how it led to the community that im a part of. Choosing to continue that is choosing hope for the future, and getting to make that future, rather than just staring at a screen and doomscrolling
Your comment gives me hope and maybe that’s the answer. I’m excited for your future; congrats on your upcoming engagement and hopefully family! Side note: I had to get off Reddit. It was making me a not nice person.
Common sense is fact-based. It's MSNBC with some extra window dressing. Think about every TGIF since Nellie left. More of the same slanted reporting as everywhere else. The Wall Street Journal stands on an island by itself. Fox News has an easier time telling the truth these days since the other side is currently acting like maniacs. But that changes with time in 2004 it was the opposite.
The problem is, Fox News wasn't different in 2004; you just liked the Left better at that time.
The WSJ news side is pretty much as woke as the rest of them. The editorial side is center-right, generally speaking, but the comment section's censor bots are relentless. I'm dropping my subscription after many years.
There is nothing better than being Dad, well possibly Grandad, I hope to find out one day.
if only he would stop supporting Peta..
Who/what is Peta?
Love Tucker....he's uncovers stuff no one else will touch. He was on the opioid epidemic 4 years ago.
I listened to his interview on Megyn Kelly's podcast. His mother abandoned the family. I think that plays a large part in his work and certainly in his desire to protect his family.
hey I like Tucker. but he does support Peta. even though he owns a pure bred dog ( thank you Tucker for supporting careful dog breeders. but boo on supporting PETA
Every year Nobel Prize becomes more and more irrelevant. First it was Nobel Prize for Peace, when you see list of laurates, it looks like every second is in reality war criminal (Kissinger, Barack Obama, European Union, Abiy Ahmed just to name a few). Lets wait several years to find out more about this Ukrainian "peace organization" and what they actually do.
Now Nobel Prize in Economic is also joining decay, Ben Bernanke was architect of balling out the banks, while letting homeowners be thrown under the bus. This prize is slap in the face to every person in US that had to suffer during 2008 financial meltdown, while bankers on Wall Street were saved by US Tax dollars.
At this point, Nobel Prize is more indication that you are crook, than that you are decent human being.
Irony is, that in next several years Bill Gates will get one, man it will be such slap in the face when it happens.
Please don't forget about 2007 winner Al Gore's indespensable work to stop climate change by jet-setting around the world while occasionally stopping by his mansion to oversee installation of more solar panels :)
Or nominating a snarling and demented Swedish teenager for it?
haha, yeah that was a good one!
I'd love to know who AlGore's being bankrolled by. Who ultimately is benefiting by the Church of Climate Scare?
Who benefits?
China?
Russia?
UN?
The various manufacturers of Wind. Solar, EV
Soros (or other globalists) as its disruptive of world currency?
Politicians of the left, internationally?
At this point all of the above. As for who got Gore rolling I think it lies in the faux fact that he invented the internet. And of course he was a Clinton affiliate.
And God forbid anyone not rich or born there invade their sacrosanct island.
"Too big to fail" was my personal wake-up call. We should have let them fail.
I fully agree. There were MANY small banks that didn't take the risks the big ones did. It's a sad state when businesses keep any profits they make but then turn to the government to cover their losses.
The worst of it is that they're *still* too big to fail. Basically operating with a gubmint blank check backing them. Not that they'd ever run into any trouble. Right?
Yes. But the debt service on all the blank checks may become insupportable.
True that.
It’s incredible how disconnected our rule making class is from how basic economics work. Everything you hear today on inflation is still basically incorrect.
Massive cash infusions can help reduce inflation (if the cash is directly invested in the production of more goods and services - education, reskilling, manufacturing, actual infrastructure, etc…) or they can cause transitory inflation by being used as as purchasing agent rather than an investment agent (exactly what happened here).
But the cash infusion is a VERY small part of our current inflation and why increasing lending rates and performing quantitative tightening are ABSOLUTELY necessary but also won’t fix the problem alone.
The core of our inflation problem is increasing energy prices - and until we get energy prices under control by massively fixing domestic production (like we did in the 70’s to finally stop that inflationary run) inflation isn’t going anywhere.
The other issue is reduced labor participation and, more importantly, the massive decline in labor productivity (at its lowest level recorded). If there are a lot of people in the workforce, and therefore collecting paychecks, who are producing very little (which there are - think everyone with any sort of DEI role - they create zero economic value but are very well compensated) tangible good - then inflation will persist because there is more demand (more cash) than there is supply (actual goods being created and services being delivered). No one wants to see people lose jobs but people not creating economic value losing their jobs is critical to reducing inflation
Most economists and basically all talking heads anywhere in the press don’t understand these basic principles. Thankfully it seems that the current FED board, may…. While the fed shouldn’t exist (it means our entire banking system is socialist in construct) they do appear to at least partially understand the monster they’ve created. We’re looking at long sustained periods of inflation if we don’t get interest rates above inflation as significantly reduce the monetary supply AND significantly decrease energy costs. We aren’t even close to price equilibrium yet and we’re already way north of 10% inflation in real terms…
Labor force participation is going to drop soon regardless of what we do simply because huge numbers of baby boomer are retiring and there aren't as many people behind them to take their place.
Also, most manufacturing and other jobs that actually PRODUCE something have been outsourced. I'd say most white collar jobs now are busy work that produce almost no value at all. Companies with hundreds of VPs and middle managers who attend meetings all day.
Labor force participation has already declined and I think you're right that that is a large part of it (early retirement and that trend will continue). The millenial generation is very large, but outside of that we do have some serious demographic concerns to face. But you're right the much larger issue is the second issue - a small fraction of US workers actually produce a good. There are more than we realize in all sorts of weird sectors (a very good friend is the CFO of a relatively small but very well known beer company - they produce a good we all very much demand) but it is small and declining, and that impacts labor productivity more than we realize.
The biggest issue we face with millenials is that it's an entire generation that has only ever worked in the free money era, so they think you just write some bad software code and take zoom meetings and call that work (and I fall into this generation, so I speak from experience). We have an entire generation who only knows how to take cheap debt and use it to produce underpriced products with no path to profitability (see Uber, et al). That is the real rooster coming home to roost and that is what will REALLY drive inflation (we have no idea how many products we currently BADLY under pay for because the company exists entirely on printed money) over the next half decade. Until ALL of that washes out of the market, there's much more pain ahead, but the silver lining is once it's all gone we'll have jobs that once again create real economic value and all the societal positives (more marriage, more children, more self-worth, more religion) that go along with well earned self-esteem through actually producing a usable good.
Don't forget the "participation trophy" mindset. This is a generation who have been raised to believe showing up is sufficient for reward.
the U.S. has transitioned from being a manufacturing driven economy to being a service based economy...
that's why we need more coders and less miners
Many of us remember Reagan and Volcker and how they tamed inflation and interest rates and ushered in a new era of prosperity - when all the chattering clowns said it was the new normal and we'd have to live with it.
The core cause of this inflation is the five trillion dollars of stimulus spending that's still in the process of being paid out, combined with the additional roughly five trillion dollars worth of lost productivity during lockdowns and restrictions. When real goods stop and fiat flows, you get inflation.
You're totally right, as long as you include both sides. Cash infusion drives transitory inflation. Reduction in productivity drives medium term inflation. Increases in the cost of required inputs, like energy, drive long term inflation. We're at this beautiful intersection of all three of those things thanks to the worst domestic economic policy since the 60's... Or the 20's, it's hard to tell...
I was just reminded that Theodore Roosevelt received a Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War. I guess it really meant something then.
Now we have a demented president pouring gasoline on a dangerous conflagration in Eastern Europe, instead of desperately finding a way to stop it.
Oh, yes. We were one of the many homeowners who got screwed by housing crisis. A house we paid $205k for in 2006, we had to short sell for $150k in 2009 after my husband lost his job. Wells Fargo was allowed to come after us for the $50k and my husband ended up declaring bankruptcy.
Sadly, the same is about to happen again.
All you need to know about the validity of Nobel Prize in Economics is that Paul Krugmand won one in 2008 (?)
Nobel should scrap Peace and Economics and stick to Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and any other stem related field we all hated studying in school. Peace is often a joke, and Economics is so subjective that it just leads to arguments. Black holes and sub atomic particles...that is Nobel worthy.
Don’t forget Al Gore’s Nobel Prize…..Wouldn’t be too surprised if Kamala Harris was named.
For achieving security at our southern border. Just ask her!
Whatever you think of Bill Gates, he got the ball rolling in making computers ubiquitous in all corners of society. These comments wouldn't even exist without him. I've always been a Mac guy but appreciate that MS-DOS and then Windows made computing more available to everyone acoss-the-board.
Gate accomplished this, in no small part, by monopolistic practices. Microsoft stifled competition by forcing (through predatory pricing) computer manufacturers and retailers to not offer any non-Microsoft operating systems on any of their computers, and they bundled Microsoft products in order to prevent any other software manufacturer from competing against Microsoft's core products.
That is true but in no way means he is not the stereo-typical mad scientist now.
Gates wasn't the only person who was working on computer OS, and many in the tech world think his anti-competitive practices did severe damage to technological progress over the last 30 years.
I would know, as a web developer I personally lost tens of thousands of dollars in productivity just in debugging all of the problems with Internet Explorer.
I was shocked by the Bernanke win. What a joke.
My feeling about the bank bailouts is that nobody here actually wants to see what happens if we don’t bail them out.
You can’t feel sympathy for the people who borrowed too much money to buy a house they couldn’t afford, while also being mad at the people who created the financial instruments that allowed it.
Both parties made reckless decisions and both parties should have gone bankrupt………but if the banking system goes bankrupt then the rest of us suffer needlessly so unfortunately they need to get a pass. Shoulda clawed back the bonuses and all that but still.
This statement is half correct. The financially insured assets of the bank you are correct, the "bank" itself, and the people responsible for running it, absolutely should have been removed. We need to be smart enough to separate these two things. It is true that banks can't actually be allowed to fail, but there are MANY ways to deal with the problem and our government picked by far the most callous of those options. They literally just gave them money to continue business as usual, while letting all the small regional banks go bankrupt (I know, I worked on closing them while I was at Deloitte).
We HAVE to be better than this as society and demand more. Some functions of the NIH and CDC should remain after this COVID disaster, but every single person involved should be replaced. Your government gets you into war in Iraq for no reason? Every single person involved should be removed from office - this doesn't mean we don't have a government any longer, it means we continue with the positives of the structure but completely remove the people responsible for misusing that structure.
The same should have been true at the Banks. That CEO's kept their jobs is the issue. You could still pretend this was a free market economy if their were consequences for bad decisions - instead, the bad decisions were literally rewarded and they continue to make those bad decisions under the guidance of the same morons at the FED. We can't just accept this level of ineptitude and assume its' the cost of doing business.
Yeah we are on the exact same page. If we are going to start replacing people we need to start with the people in DC. And I do NOT mean elected officials.
DC is documented 95% hardcore leftist Democrat and 5% collaborator. Keeping agencies like the Department of Education at this point, even if you assume they are needed, is like keeping the Luftwaffe because aviation expertise is still necessary.
You may still need aviation expertise but you are going to have to replace everyone in the Luftwaffe.
The reason you can’t replace the guys in the banks when you bail them out is because they are friends with the people in DC, ALL Democrats, who can’t be replaced.
We need to clean house. DC needs to look like Enron with people walking out crying carrying cardboard boxes. If we can collapse property values in DC by 50% we will be moving in the right direction.
From the Declaration of Independence
“He has created a multitude of new offices and has sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.”
87,000 new IRS rodents is obviously the crescendo of this phenomenon.
Cost savings to reduce the 15 Cabinet level Departments back down to Treasury, War, State, AG (maybe)
Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security would all be gone.
So you would eliminate health care for veterans? Medicare? The national weather service?
Sorry, this is nuts.
No you don’t eliminate healthcare for veterans because the military is the only thing the federal government is supposed to do. You could eliminate healthcare and pensions for everyone who sits at a desk at the pentagon though. Big money being wasted there.
You could maybe talk me into the National Weather Service because it’s cheap and has limited ability to metastasize but I guarantee half of the people who work there are useless Marxist scumbags pushing a climate agenda who we can fire immediately.
You look at something like the CDC and whatever they do that’s worthwhile (and ‘controlling disease’ is clearly something they can’t do) is cancelled out by the fact that they tried to eliminate property rights.
Yep
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
I completely agree with a BADLY needed reduction in the bureaucratic state, but I don't agree on their political leaning. Left and right is a giant mirage used to paint the public into corners while those in power continue to accumulate more and more power. No one in DC is a "leftist" as the public uses the term. There's "the powerful" and "the people." That's it. And the powerful will do whatever it takes (right, left, forward, backward or otherwise) to entrench as much power and wealth as possible. That's what people do. The fact that we think they're some form of principled leftists shows they're winning. They aren't anything. They are whatever the current situation calls for them to be. The answer isn't swinging further right, it's eliminating the wasteful bureaucracy all together, not trying to make it more conservative...
Bureaucrats are the human equivalent of cockroaches.......they just keep multiplying. The main difference......cockroaches feed on scrapes whereas bureaucrats feed off taxpayer $$$$.
There is an incredibly dishonest faux-liberty argument designed to play defense for the left that goes something like this
“We can’t replace these people because it will be just as bad with the other people. What we need is a utopian solution which will never happen where we totally eliminate everything.”
I think we’re mixing arguments here. My point is that there are no “other” people. Isn’t this what we learned from Trump? All the “outsiders” and “conservatives” he hired were insiders who don’t give a sh*t about sides of the aisle, they care about power. It is not a utopian dream to eliminate the department of education. Something like 20 states have already decided it’s irrelevant with funding following students rather than schools. The only faux-liberty argument is giving up on how relatively simple restructuring away the overreaches of our bureaucracy would be…. You give ANYONE this much control, and more important it, by definition, goes to someone who WANTS that much control, the people will always lose
I disagree. Plus by your logic everyone who participated (and who doesn't?) was complicit. The powers that be just weren't willing to sacrifice their cushy lives. The lower echelons of society would likely not be much worse off then than they are now. Right is right. Not doing right because it causes discomfort is not justified. We are all in it together after all.
Right is right but there is nothing right about what happens when the banking system collapses. Hundreds of millions of people would die.
This is the same reason I’m opposed to having a nuclear war over the Donbas region. Obviously Putin is wrong but a nuclear holocaust is a tad worse.
I am not a fan of the lesser of two evils strategy. I think it is just kicking the can down the road. Of course I was taught as a child that if you cannot pay for it you do not need it. As a result I have always lived below my means. I know that is rare but now my rewards are being siphoned off by inflation.
Edited to clarify I am not a supporter of US efforts in Ukraine.
As things stand today, I see the lesser of two evils strategy not as kicking the can down the road but as urgently needed political triage.
Still kicking the can down the road. But to not vote makes it easier for the opposition.
And Yassar Arafat
Agreed, that was ridiculous, and I voted for him. Hindsight, that might have been the first time I really saw the tendrils of what we now know as virtue signaling sprouting from the earth.
Yes, that one is at the top of the list.
I. . .don't need to see Obama in a bathing suit.
Maybe a tankini
I vote for a Borat one piece. Maybe in red and white stripes.
🤣
Brain bleach!! 🤣🤣
That made coffee come out of my nose.
Two topics I would like to see covered—-
What is going on in China? Teetering economy, housing collapse, loss of middle class wealth, drought, lockdowns, social monitoring. Are the lockdowns for Covid, or are they to keep the lid on some very angry people?
Also—-erosion of the dogma on vaccines. Just what safety data existed before we all lined to for the jab, and what are we learning now?
Another tidbit this week Pfizer exec admitted No data on transmissability inhibition by the vaccine therefore the whole BS line about “doing it for others” was a lie from the start.
Wil heads roll? Will anyone go to jail?
You know the answer to that, too.
hahahahahaaha...I get jokes
I see promotions coming
I did a VERY deep dive (apologize for the length) on the safety data included directly in the Pfizer vaccine trial. Absolutely nothing is coming out now that wasn't available for anyone actually willing to read the trial data (and I link to it in the stack): https://butthedatasays.substack.com/p/why-the-public-always-loses-in-public
The trial itself showed they didn't test or trace and had no intention of understanding spread, the total hospitalizations and deaths were higher on the test arm than the control arm, and they had already cited waning "efficacy" as relates to "symptomatic COVID" 4 months into the trial as a primer for why boosters would be required (literally their own test for the first two shots showed they didn't work and everyone's thought was "well, if two don't work maybe three will..." because, well, greed and power.
It actually REALLY bothers me how much we're pretending like we're "just now finding out" that has been readily available to any and everyone since Pfizer released the trial data more than a year ago...
I follow the two actual, real scientists on Dark Horse podcast. They have been all over the problems with the vaccines from the beginning and have exposed how shoddy some of the studies are. Just recently a study was reported that addressed the observation that some women who were vaccinated had disturbed menstrual cycles. Now, the first question ought to be, why would a vaccine do that? Biological mechanism? Implication? But no, the study just looked at the occurrence of an irregular menstrual cycle for one month (?!) after vaccination and concluded that while some irregularities were observed, there were no significant consequences. Dr Heather Heying just about had smoke coming out of her ears as she described this.
This podcast has and will continue to be a shining light in the dark. I can’t believe they can stick around in Portland though! Dr Jessica Rose has also been doing some bang up work related to the Covid injections (they are not vaccines) and doing amazing deep dives on the VAERS data and all the studies. Check out her substack. But honestly, I don’t need studies or the medical literature (much less the dishonest media) to confirm what I see first hand. My husband is active duty and I’m a civilian in a tier one unit and it is astonishing the number of heart problems now affecting some of the fittest men on the planet, issues that happened within hours or days of getting the forced injections. My husband suddenly is deathly allergic to bees and has to carry around an epipen, even though he got stung several times before he got injected and has zero reaction. We know CACOs having the deal with insanely elevated numbers of non-combat/training sudden deaths and late stage miscarriages (~22 weeks) for active duty personnel. Dark Horse just did a great podcast with some active duty whistleblowers and a lawyer representing those seeking waivers. For some reason the military still has the Covid shot mandate in place and it’s fucking criminal.
I listened to the podcast with the military folks who are discriminated against for refusing the vaccine.
Bret posited two scary things—-first, that the military was purposely culling the non-compliant, so they are just left with compliant sheep, and second, that the military command was OK with the dangerously reduced force due to so many experienced military refusing the jab and walking away.
Besides, if women didn't have menstrual irregularity, they wouldn't need birth control pills. So it isn't important. Right?
blocked
Why would people who view China as an exemplary model want to expose its failures and dark sides?
Why would people who profited from the vaccine madness concede it was just that?
Saudi Arabia is a huge story. That letter!
Re vaccines, I know it's pure anecdotal but myself and my family are all fully vaccinated with four shots each and none of us has gotten sick from COVID despite taking no precautions anymore except for masking on the subway.
Also pure anecdote but my entire family is not vaccinated, moved across the country to ensure we could attend full in person school last year, have never taken a precaution and have had nothing worse than a slight cold in August of 2020... please, please read this even if you decide to ignore all of it: https://butthedatasays.substack.com/p/why-the-public-always-loses-in-public
Yeah. Not vaccinated and have never had it, nor have my most of my unvaccinated friends. Meanwhile almost everyone I know who took a vax has had it. Some twice. Surely you know vaccinated people who’ve had it?
Meanwhile, my fully vaccinated and boosted family have all had Omicron, and so have all of our fully vaccinated and boosted friends, including a family that currently has it. I wish the vaccines had worked because I did not fully recover (yet, I hope), and I know a number of people who got it that had/have lingering issues from it. The main issue for everyone seems to be cardio-related, where any amount of exertion results in getting quickly out of breath and having a ridiculously high heart rate that takes a long time to drop back down. This is much more than just the loss of conditioning that would have happened from being on the couch for two weeks. Three months after “recovery”, my issues have gradually decreased in severity from alarming to annoying. I might not be able to ski this winter, but I’m pretty sure I won’t die. A couple months ago, I wasn’t so sure. I’m overweight, and so this is what I get. Anyway, COVID is definitely not just like the flu. It’s too bad the vaccines didn’t work.
Maybe it was the vaccine that has caused your heart problems, not Covid? We know myocarditis is a side effect of the vaccines. Maybe what you've got is a milder case. Just posing the question, not questioning you per se, so I hope you don't take it that way.
I got the booster last November and got COVID in July. I was fine during that period. After July, I have not been the same. If the spike protein causes heart inflammation to the point where the vaccines cause it, which I believe is the case, then imagine the risk when you have 1,000x the amount of spike protein from an actual infection. COVID did this to me, not the vaccine. Anyway, as I said, I'm overweight and in a high-risk group based on age, weight, and blood pressure. So, I'm not surprised this happened, and I only have myself to blame.
Let's not forget all the brave Chinese doctors who tried to warn the world of the impending pandemic and who were silenced and liquidated by the butchers and ghouls who run that sad land.
You side stepped several stories....Paypal, Tulsa Gabbard, FBI bribe for "the hoax" ... what gives? ...you mention bidens phone call to his son which was sweet and loving, but you don't mention him stating his son Beau died in Iraq which shows dementia or lying....
FBI bribe for hoax takes the cake.
They knew it was a lie and stayed silent for three years while the media had a party with it.
That's not dementia. That's political grandstanding. He's been saying that since the day his son very sadly passed away. There is literally no tragedy these people won't use for political gain.
And Biden has never been afraid to make his story fit his current narrative, true or (mostly) not true.
That Saudi letter! The AOC town hall showdown! So many good stories this week. This guy is a dud.
What about the PayPal story? That step towards real fascism deserves a highlight, no?
Or Chase Bank's severing its relationship with the former Kanye? If I were a Chase client, I'd become a former one.
Already a former one. I hate Chase!
But Jamie loves the Chinese Communist Party. He has the calluses on his knees to prove it.
Can someone kindly summarize or give a link?
#Onos:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/10/13/paypal-misinformation-policy-sparks-backlash-many-users-delete-app/10486413002/
I don't believe for a moment that their policy notice was a mistake. After seeing what happened to the people who donated to the Canadian Truckers, it's very plausible to think that Paypal really wanted to do this.
Thanks. I subscribe here to learn about bad actions taken by the establishment that the mainstream media won’t discuss. Seems we aren’t consistently getting that info here either.
No.
Lotta impressive rants, though!!! 😀
“Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $965 million to 15 plaintiffs after losing a defamation suit”
———————————————————-
Meanwhile conspiracy theorists Rachel Maddow and Bernie Sanders will be ordered to pay $0 for directly causing the congressional baseball shooting with knowing lies about Russia and healthcare.
Rachel Maddow doesn’t get enough credit for being an even bigger bag of shit than Alex Jones is.
Meanwhile conspiracy theorist Adam Schiff sits on the "truth" committee, and the professional meddlers in the FBI have been lying publicly about Republicans for at least 5 years now. It's not theory anymore, it's proven.
Now it's question of whether we still have working checks and balances, or whether the FBI now owns our elections.
One of the big trans loudmouths is a noted conspiracy theorists too. Don’t remember her name off the top of my head, but she was a mover and a shaker in the Satanic Panic craze in the ‘90s.
How about the “Russia hoax”, can we at least get damages???
The damages can’t be calculated. Loss of midterms. 2020 loss. Border remains open. Biden gets elected and Ukraine gets invaded. It’s literally in the trillions.
I want ten trillion dollars of damages for the lockdowns.
Madcow’s defense when she was sued was that, well, no one actually believes what she says, so no harm done.
Oh really? And then she lost and was ordered to pay $1 billion because she caused the largest assassination plot in history? Is that what happened? Or did something else happen?
Remember, Alex Jones allegedly caused some people to leave rude voicemails. Maddow caused 2 dozen congressmen to be shot at with a rifle.
We live in a fascist state. We do not have a justice system.
When she was sued by OAN I mean. She was charged with slander, buy hey, who takes her seriously? That was her lawyer’s defense, and it worked.
We would be better off with no justice system then the dangerous weaponized system we have.
That was Clucker who admitted in court to being 100% full of shit to beat a libel suit you stupid ditz. Off Air Network had to pay Maddow's legal fees for their frivolous horseshit lawsuit.
Is that you, James Hodgkinson?
When did she make life a living hell for people whose CHILDREN were SLAUGHTERED in school? How many millions of dollars did she make off of dead kids and causing other people suffering?
No in her case she was the one causing the slaughter. So it’s much worse.
I’d be happy to see Maddow and some others tried for their nonsense, but that doesn’t make me any less happy to see Alex Jones tried for his. I don’t think he has enough money to pay out a billion dollars, but I hope he’s made to pay out every penny he does have or ever has. I hope he ends up living on his social security check (like my mother-in-law and many other stellar people do) for the rest of his wretched life.
Yeah I don’t think anyone has a problem with him being punished. It’s the disproportionate nature that is a problem. It is just further indication that we do not have a real justice system.
Remember Alex Jones didn’t get those kids killed. If his conspiracies had caused the shooting that’s different. But that’s not what happened.
He just came in after the fact with conspiracy theories. I personally have trouble believing that people who have suffered that kind of tragedy actually feel additionally harmed because they were approached by trolls and weirdos afterwards.
I get that they want to sue and they have attorneys but the damages they experienced came solely from the shooter so we can be honest about that and also happy that they got some money.
I’m admittedly more tender than most regarding this subject. I lost my son almost three years ago. He was an adult (33 years old) and not lost to violence, but still - I know from my heart, in a way I didn’t know prior to November 23, 2019, what they feel.
I put myself in their place and can easily imagine how I would feel if I had a bunch of picketers and harassers saying my son’s death was a hoax, perpetrated by the government to prop up some military or anti-military conspiracy theory (my son was a veteran), shouting horrible lies about him and about us, ON OUR FRONT YARD, and on our phones, and on the freaking TV, in the days immediately after the death of our precious boy.
I would feel additional harmed for sure and I would want to kill them all, AND the fucking monster that put the ideas in their empty heads in the first place. And failing that, I’d be easily convinced to sue, and easily convinced that, since Jones is the one with the money, he’s the one to sue. Especially since the picketers and harassers showed up because they are sociopathic morons while Jones did it to prop up his multi million dollar empire which is built on lies and libel. I hope he dies homeless under a bridge without a red cent to his name - he would deserve that.
But he won’t, because I believe at least his social security will be protected. So, I hope he died with no income but his SS, living in a tiny apartment with a 15 year old car, buying clothes from and Goodwill, and managing a tiny budget for Dollar Tree groceries and the occasional low-rent luxury when he’s lucky.
Well I think you might admit that having a guy like Alex Jones there does not make the tragedy worse but really just gives you a person who you can blame for the preexisting tragedy when you are actually mad at God for creating an unjust world. No?
I watch the video of cops in Uvalde using the hand sanitizer as they wait outside while kids are being executed in the classroom and I don’t have conspiracy theories myself but I have more sympathy with people who have conspiracy theories.
I think it’s less (or more?) complicated than your first point. I wouldn’t blame Jones for my son’s death, but would blame him for the dummies on the lawn making me feel even worse about Nick’s death (and possibly making me feel I needed to change my phone or sell my house and move).
Nick was a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy, working as a field medic with the Marines (who don’t have their own medical corps). He did 5 deployments, 2 to Africa, 2 to Iraq, 1 to Afghanistan. After he left the service he maintained contact with lots of friends who spread the word about his death. We heard from 3 different strangers that he had saved their lives (well, two their lives and one their spine). And, we heard from a bunch of other people that he was a wonderful guy (one said he was a ‘great hearted human being.’). These communications made us feel better during a time when literally NOTHING made us feel better. So it’s not hard to believe that lies, harassment and defamation in a national scale - even if we knew it wasn’t true - would have made us feel exponentially worse at a time when we were already sinking into the very bottom of a well of grief.
I’m with you on those Uvalde cops, btw. That footage was agonizing.
Please stop citing the NY times!
I am 74 so I will use the vernacular of the back then
" The ny times is such a piece of shit rag I would not wipe my ass with it."
Put the NY times out of business and the first step is stop referencing their articles.
Repeat stop referencing their articles.
Thank you for the interesting round up. How lovely that Nellie will be back next week!
I will agree to disagree with you on whether or not children with gender dysphoria should be allowed to undertake life altering medication when the long term outcomes are not fully known, even if their parents or guardians agree (adults over 25 -- the age when the brain stops growing are different matter). Correct me if I am wrong but as far as I am aware, there is no reliable test for those children who will make peace with their bodies and those who will suffer from the mentally crippling gender dysphoria for the rest of their lives. Until such a test is developed, then watchful waiting must be the gold standard, not unconditional affirmation, complete with irreversible medication and surgery.
Here is my offering for the week on things happening in the UK:
This is Northumberland Calling 14.10.22
Because it is interesting to see the slow motion car crash of a formerly untouchable charity. It is a bit like pulling one thread and a complicated edifice starts tumbling showing the rottenness behind.
Mermaids safeguarding failure (again) Digital manager liked to dress as a schoolgirl and posted explicit artwork including photos of himself. He apparently participated the residential programme where there were vulnerable children. Mermaids says that the person no longer works for them. It would appear the position is now being advertised, but it still does not answer the question of why he was employed in the first place. According to the former digital manager’s Linked-In page, the person in question worked at Mermaids until October 2022. The Times article archived: https://archive.ph/IMZKc
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Liz Truss appears to agree with Miriam Cates, MP that Mermaids should be investigated by the police. Archived Telegraph version: https://archive.ph/YY7vl
Children in Need, the BBC flagship fundraiser for children has suspended all payments to Mermaids, pending the outcome of the Charity Commission. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mermaids-fishy-links-cast-stink-on-scotlands-trans-bill-9qslkwcm7
School Week which serves the education sector reports that the Department of Education has removed the link to Mermaids on its mental health and well being resources. https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-removes-trans-charity-mermaids-from-school-wellbeing-resources/
However, it has been pointed out that the Charity Commission dismissed such complaints about Mermaids before and declined to investigate two years ago (no real reason given). Will they act this time or will they keep sweeping it under the carpet? https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/charity-watchdog-ignored-alert-from-mother-over-trans-service-0jnp8t2p7
Equally the police force which would be tasked in investigating Mermaids has received training from Mermaids and thus may not be impartial. Archived from the Telegraph: https://archive.ph/mkeWR
Trans prisoners with male genitalia or who have been convicted of a sexual offence will no longer be housed in the female prison estate. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11304185/Justice-Secretary-signals-policy-reforms-transgender-prisoners.html
Social Work England are withdrawing their case against a gender critical social worker and have apologized on the eve of the tribunal trial. The trial about unfair dismissal is doe to begin next week. https://www.ebswa.org/post/social-work-england-withdraws-case-against-gender-critical-social-worker
King Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation will be on 6 May 2023. It is supposed to be a slimmed down version. A slight row has developed with India over the Koh-I-Noor diamond – the ultra Nationalist government don’t want it worn. It never belonged to them btw. Camilla has the choice of several other crowns and may go with one of them. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/camilla-set-to-shun-koh-i-noor-crown-m359bl3q7
The haste which Downing Street wanted the trade deal with India caused India to make unacceptable demands and thus Badenoch has delayed the deal. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/no-10-liz-truss-hastiness-blamed-scuppering-india-trade-deal-suella-braverman-tb5nh9bjq?utm_source=POLITICO.EU&utm_campaign=69487d0572-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_10_14_04_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_10959edeb5-69487d0572-189986889
King Charles was caught on a hot mic saying Dear oh Dear to Liz Truss at the start of their latest meeting. People are saying it was a gentle murmur of compassion. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/10/13/king-charles-man-people-pr-blinders-prove/
One of the government’s problems is that the people running the blood banks are incompetent. Thus the NHS stands close to running out of blood – no due to lack of donors but lack of slots and an incompetent booking system which sends people many miles away. When they did away with the drop in donations several years ago, this sort of chaos was forecasted. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/13/blood-donors-having-wait-months-appointments-despite-stocks/
And finally, you never know what you might dig up when you go rummaging through a bargain basement. A Welsh department store discovered it was on a medieval burial site and there were graves of war dead. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/medieval-war-dead-found-under-welsh-department-store-b9ftvshcq
I agree re. gender surgery.
If a doctor is seen by a 5’6”, 80 lb woman who insists she is obese and needs to diet, does the doctor agree with her? Does the doctor offer to remove her small intestine to aid her weight loss?
Dang it you stole my argument. I was trying to popularize the terms manorexia and tranorexia, but yes. It’s body dysmorphia and affirming it is genuinely psychotic.
Genuinely psychotic! It really is.
Gender NAZIs
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dem-candidate-says-defining-a-woman-is-tough-defends-policy-hiding-students-gender-identity-from-parents/ar-AA12Tjdh?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=f329f3863e854a63a960cd648e95f66f
How does the left justify this? If a leftist answers my post most likely they will change the subject and insult me. It's what they do.
We need more people like this in our government:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-leaves-democratic-party-denounces-control-of-an-elitist-cabal-of-warmongers
Michelle, I love your TGIF - UK Edition posts. Thanks for the updates on the collapse of Mermaids and their fellow travellers. This unravelling can't come soon enough to the US and Canada.
Wait, law enforcement agencies should be impartial??
I know a novel concept.
And this just in -- 2 Just Stop Oil protestors decided to throw tomato soup at the Van Gogh's painting of the Sunflowers which hangs in the National Gallery in London. They then glued themselves to the wall. The National Gallery said that the painting was protected by glass and only the frame was slightly damaged.
It was v much the picture of entitlement and how to lose friends and not influence people. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/thousands-to-join-extinction-rebellion-s-long-weekend-of-protest-ftt0kx0wr
What the heck is wrong with these museums? Why aren't museum visitors asked to hand over their bottles of glue, soup, etc. as they enter the museums? Really, how much more is going to be loss before museums require visitors to check in their bags and coats? It needs to be acknowledged that the UK is blessed with very useful idiots in the extinction rebellion that are willing to destroy objects and take lives (blocking ambulances). Rather than serving these vile destroyers a scold and a cuppa, maybe when blocking an ambulance extinction rebellion participants' glued hands need to be ripped off the pavement for the sake of others lives.
I had missed this. So the group’s mission statement is ‘Society: if you don’t support all of our personal world goals in the exact same way and at the exact volume as we prefer, we’re gonna wreck all of your shit.’?!
The accents of the two protestors were v plummy. I suspect they participate in luxury beliefs.
But basically that seems to be Just Stop Oil's motto. They specialise in gluing themselves to various inanimate objects like roads. Of course the glue is probably made from a petroleum product...
seems that if they want to glue themselves to roads a potential solution is readily available.
Of course it would be better with a "Murican vehicle, and not one of those shoeboxes with wheels typically seen over there.
Exactly!
Just crazy.
lol... probly so...
An appalling display of juvenile entitlement. Those girls should have to mop floors in the morgue after that bit of misbehavior.
If they had used Campbell's Soup, it would have at least referenced the work -- but alas they used Heinz.
It is (well, used to be) well known that 85% of children (prior to the recent explosion in teen girls) who experience gender dysphoria will revert to their birth gender eventually, and usually prior to adulthood. Compassionate counseling should be the gold standard, not irreversible medical or surgical alteration of vulnerable children.
So, TGIF is going to ignore Biden's "she was twelve I was thirty" and the whole bit about taking showers with his daughter, but he's such a nice guy to his criminal son! Like, a really nice guy. Just too bad he is also the source of his family's trauma and dysfunction. Kind of like the broader nation as a whole, or the Ukraine war he's been helping to start since 2014.
But the real meat today is the FBI. They peddled conspiracy theories against a sitting president for years with full knowledge that they were spreading misinformation, and then they followed it up with a censorship campaign aimed at ending "misinformation" which involved disinformation that swung the election. We now have the smoking gun evidence, and it looks like the people involved will get away will tiny wrist-slaps.
The FBI has declared war on democracy, and that's exactly why the Democrats are shouting that Trump is the threat as loudly as possible, while directly sending payments to Trump's candidates. These people are simply evil. This abuse of our democracy can not be ignored or tolerated.
FBI must be disbanded. It is a criminal organization
I also want to point out that even here in Common Sense, what they refuse to talk about is sometimes more important than what they're talking about.
Lets go back this "the Ukraine war he's been helping to start since 2014".
When are we going to talk about THAT?
On Common Sense? Absolutely never.
It's always been surprising how crazy some things look once one gets a little perspective - usually from the passage of time. If it still exists, what will the world say forty years from now about America's sanguine acceptance of a man whose index finger could sterilize the surface of the planet, yet who doesn't remember that his own son died from cancer instead of in battle? Who thinks that three words are really two? Who shakes hands with unseen people? Who is constantly poking the bear which could also sterilize the planet? Yes, I'm quite familiar with the heartbreak of drug-addicted relatives, but a nation being dragged to the abyss by a senile, aggressive nincompoop cannot afford the luxury of sympathy. Save your sympathy for my older friend who just told me that he thought his tank of propane would last until about Christmas; after that he would have to decide whether to stay warm, buy his medicines, or eat.
You forgot to mention how the president loves to give little girls in the audience sexualized comments. "Look, she looks like she is 19 with those pigtails and her legs crossed like that."
He is so sick. And people keep supporting him and his damn war.
'The story behind this story is not about racism. It’s about the cold calculus of power. It’s about Latinos in Los Angeles acquiring more of it, black people losing it, and Democrats trying to Scotch Tape together their coalition in advance of the 2022 midterms.'
This is it, and what it's always been since the Democrat party started slicing and dicing it's voter block by race and gender in the early 60s. You'd be a fool to think that these discussions aren't routine in DNC and other party meetings. How can they be avoided when the majority of your campaign strategy is about how to appeal to a specific constituency versus the country as a whole? And inevitably, you're going to refer to one of those blocks in in a term that, while not intended to be hateful, is considered not appropriate in todays definition? In the past, it was only white people who got called out for using 'racist' terms, but did you really think it wasn't common practice by all races?
I guess the only satisfaction I took in this event was that we're holding all races and genders to the same standard.
BS!! This was overt repugnant racism and should not be tolerated anywhere for any reason. What’s ironic is that these same disgusting people have the unmitigated GALL to call me a white supremacist and a NAZI because I support Trump and the MAGA movement, a movement meant to help ALL AMERICANS.
Name ANYTHING Trump did that made things better for all Americans. He made things better for red state Americans and worse for everyone else. Every speech he gave was aimed at boosting his base and putting down those who didn't agree with him.
His tax plan made it so that almost all of those who voted for him no longer pay any Federal income tax while further shifting the tax burden to those of us in blue states who already pay the bulk of Federal Income taxes while getting the least back. 57% of people paid ZERO Federal Income tax in 2021--that means they have NO skin in the game. EVERYONE should be required to contribute SOMETHING. 40% of us shouldn't be required to carry the other 60%.
Scott, the earth is waiting when you come back down.
Scott is right about the tax plan. I’m divorced, middle class, and living in CA. Thanks to the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”, I cannot deduct my state taxes, property taxes, or alimony from my federal taxes anymore, and it has seriously affected my quality of life. I’m pretty sure the intent was to stick it to blue state sinners, and I was standing on the bullseye. Because of this crap, I will probably need to sell my house and move to a lower tax state to put my son through college, and that is my tentative plan.
Before you start in with “CA needs to lower its taxes. You are just unhappy with having to pay the real cost,” I agree with you about that. CA wastes a massive amount of money on things like homelessness and education that seem to be getting worse. However, I will point out that at least for now, CA is actually subsidizing a lot of low-tax states.
Anyway, my point is that the tax bill that was passed under Trump was, in my opinion, bad policy. It punishes middle class people who haven’t yet been demoted to working poor. Since there are fewer and fewer of us, I guess I should continue to expect to not have my interests be represented much going forward.
Same here except no alimony. Saw my income taxes go up by about $5K. What most people don't realize, though, is that the people who saw cuts won't see them for long--they expire in 2025 except for corporations.
Trump got gas prices down, historic low unemployment rates for minorities, funded Historically black universities, tax reform, low inflation, high employment across the board, got NATO to pay their share, helped America to exceed their carbon emissions goals...that's off the top of my head.
Two stories about discrimination in todays TGIF. Both very sad and interestingly, neither one is about a racist Caucasian. According to the left’s anti racist dogma, racial and gender minorities cannot be racist because they are not in positions of power (discrimination plus power = racism). I guess those grifters sitting on the LA city council earning salaries over $200K must be the exception to this rule. And Kanye? I’m truly ready to put this anti racism nonsense behind us.
In my area, the biggest source of conflict is Hispanic vs black. No one even cares about the white folks.
It was a great real life example of what's happening now that people are becoming more tribal.
Ol' Nick trying to fit in with lefties who will never accept him.
Since I have two parents who passed having dementia and a brother who has had drug problems I am a little sympathetic with any family having similar issues. However, the Biden family - sans Ashley - can suffer like no other as far as I am concerned. Joe Biden has lied, cheated, and stolen his whole life never creating a product or service to earn anything - the family only takes. From YOU taxpayers. He endorsed KKK members(Byrd) and his family used the influence of the United States to benefit themselves only; millions of dollars have flowed from the CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY and also from the corrupt country of Ukraine. We have homeless veterans on our streets that Joe sent to war while we send BILLIONS to Ukraine. Oh, and innocent women are being raped while trafficked across our border that is controlled by cartels who are making billions nowadays. Hunter? He made his privileged, illegal choices and will never be held accountable. Contrast that with the Trump children who are vilified by the government and it's praetorian guard, the media.
Most importantly, Joe Biden purposely shut down oil and gas production in service to the wealthiest in this country. That is the sole reason for inflation as ONG are the basis for our lives. Printing trillions contributes a little, but erasing cheap energy is the basis for our economic destruction. By design, do not forget that.
Oh, and we also forgot Pfizer executives admitting they never tested their expensive jabs regarding transmission...
Oh, and the American Medical Association is now asking the AG to now imprison people who question gender mutilation...
Nellie and Kat are missed.
And the only way Hunter was able to "establish a new life" was by trading on his father's name and political power - to the detriment of the nation. Success and redemption? Hardly.
"He endorsed KKK members(Byrd)"
I looked this one up and it isn't fair. Byrd left the KKK shortly after getting into politics and was outspoken in his opposition to it from that point onward. Branding him as KKK forever is misleading and a disgrace to his memory. He should be honored for seeing the error of his ways.
I understand your point and want to sympathize, but we still have things like when he recently told Charlemagne "If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black!"? How about "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,"
He also led the charge trying to - through lies - take down black Justice Clarence Thomas who is one of my heroes.
Joe has made his bed and never changed the sheets.
I agree, but it's important to me to remain committed to the truth first.
I'm not defending Biden, he is indefensible. I'm only defending the truth, and the memory of a man who had the character to admit he was wrong and change for the better.
And yet if something similar happened today, the Cancel crowd would never, ever, ever accept that any change happened.
Nick Gillespie bemoans dirty politics but then takes a dumb and gratuitous shot at J. D. Vance for accepting support from Donald Trump. Gillespie naively believes polls which show Democrats winning Senate seats and at the same time criticizes cognitively impaired Biden for not being able to count. Gillespie does not tell us who does the shopping in his family.
Joe Biden loves his son, the same one he claimed he never talked with regarding their family business of Influence Peddling. Don’t let Biden’s inveterate lying affect your opinion of him. It’s important to note that If the Republicans win the Libertarians will be even less relevant than they are now.
Gillespie claims no Republican is concerned with deficit financing. Gillespie has apparently never heard of Ron DeSantis.
I found this article next to useless, but it’s what I expect from an ideologue who doesn’t understand that 10-20% of people need financial help from the government in order to have any shot at a decent life.
There’s no point in talking about what’s wrong with America today while avoiding the inevitable results of Climate Alarmism and Wokeism.
And what’s up with the ‘debt relief’ ramble ? I live in Ohio. Whatever poll shows 63% favor some form of debt reduction was probably not focusing on student debt. Or, if it was, extreme leading questions were asked.
Libertarians have become 100% useful idiots.
Their only job at this point is to bastardize the principles of liberty in the grossest way possible so that it assists Democrats.
Once you see it you can’t stop seeing it. It’s all they do.
“You’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by Biden’s message.”
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No you actually have to be both a sack of shit and an imbecile to be moved by Biden’s message.
That voicemail was extraordinarily creepy. Why do you think his daughter and his son are drug addicts? Because he molested his daughter and is exploiting his son to launder money and probably molested him too.
That’s like hearing sweet messages from a guy who beats the shit out of his wife when he’s trying to win her back and manipulate her once again and thinking
“Oh how sweet!!”
Totally grotesque.
You are the voice of truth. Biden is despicable; beneath contempt.
I feel like reminding everyone
“No actually Biden is a hardcore scumbag.”
shouldn’t make me an outlier but it does LOL
Or you're sadly incapable of doing simple math. Hunter Biden was 48 years old in 2018.
Indeed. This was not a distraught father trying to reel in their wayward teenager. This was a politically prominent person aware that his off the rails son (the son he has bailed out for 20 years) was potentially going to damage his career and he needed to do damage control.
I’m not following why his age matters. You can’t manipulate and exploit adults? Is that your point?
My apologies for being unclear. I was adding to your statement: "No you actually have to be both a sack of shit and an imbecile to be moved by Biden’s message. "
The way everyone is awwing and gushing over Biden's loving father voicemail you'd think that Hunter was a tender young man of 17. My point is that Hunter was a fully grown adult in 2018, and that "Get your shit together" would have been a better and more appropriate voicemail message between a 76 year old father and a wayward 48 year old son.
But of course that would never had seen the light of day... ever. Dems can't be caught on tape using Tough Love. They prefer the Doormat variety.
“It's Dad,” says the president, “I’m calling to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world, pal. You gotta get some help. I don't know what to do. I know you don't either." I’ve spent a good time knocking Biden thus far (didn’t even get to his awful attempt to shut down the gig economy!) but in that message, he shows a deep humanity and personal vulnerability and humility that seems to have disappeared from politics altogether."
Yeah, sorry Nick, but I call bs. If Biden really cared about Hunter, he would have gotten him help and not used him as his personal bagman to collect cash from our enemies. Biden is despicable. Irredeemable. A cancer on America. Of all of his depredations (open borders, inflation, political Stasi raids, killing our energy independence) they all pale next to his declaring half of Americans to be "domestic terrorists" and "threats to democracy." Biden is a malign growth needs to be removed.