FBI Raid of James O'Keefe's House Is a Blow to Press Freedom
Plus: Consumer prices surge, a Virginia school district talks openly about burning books, and more...
The FBI searched the home of James O'Keefe—a conservative activist who films undercover videos for his organization, Project Veritas—on Saturday, reportedly because law enforcement wants to know how O'Keefe came to possess a diary allegedly stolen from Ashley Biden, President Joe Biden's daughter. The FBI also searched the homes of two O'Keefe associates.
There's still much more to learn about the reasons for the search, but what we do know is troubling and potentially objectionable on the grounds of press freedom. O'Keefe has claimed that he received the diary from a source; Project Veritas did not publish it, though some leaked pages eventually appeared on a right-wing website. According to O'Keefe, he handed the diary over to law enforcement last year. Per The New York Times:
In his video statement on Friday, Mr. O'Keefe offered a lengthy defense of his group's handling of the diary, saying that he and his colleagues had been operating as ethical journalists, had turned the diary over to the law enforcement authorities last year and had sought to return it to a lawyer for Ms. Biden.
"It appears the Southern District of New York now has journalists in their sights for the supposed crime of doing their jobs lawfully and honestly," Mr. O'Keefe said in the video statement. "Our efforts were the stuff of responsible, ethical journalism and we are in no doubt that Project Veritas acted properly at each and every step."
While it would be wrong for an organization to leak materials that it obtained unlawfully, journalistic outlets routinely publish information from sources who themselves might have come by the information improperly. Perhaps additional information will come to light, but for now, the government's handling of this matter is eminently criticizable—and raises the possibility that Project Veritas is being targeted unfairly.
"Don't think journalists should be cheerleading this one," observed New York Times media writer Ben Smith.
The raid threatens to have a chilling effect at a time when the president's other child is under intense scrutiny that is, in part, related to the the leaking of his computer files. https://t.co/qQ8SyZxcqu
— Ben Schreckinger (@SchreckReports) November 9, 2021
FREE MINDS
One Virginia county's school board is conducting an audit to remove books deemed offensive from the library. Two board members went so far as to suggest that books with adult themes be cast into the fire. According to The Free Lance–Star:
The board voted 6–0 to order the removal. Berkeley District representative Erin Grampp was not in attendance for the vote on that issue.
Two board members, Courtland representative Rabih Abuismail and Livingston representative Kirk Twigg, said they would like to see the removed books burned.
"I think we should throw those books in a fire," Abuismail said, and Twigg said he wants to "see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff."
School curriculum—and, specifically, which books should appear in school libraries—is increasingly becoming a winning issue for conservatives. Republican challenger Glenn Youngkin triumphed over former Gov. Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia gubernatorial election in large part because he assailed McAuliffe's callous assertion that parents should play no role in deciding what schools teach. McAuliffe deservedly suffered for taking parents out of the equation—families have every right to object to what is being taught in public schools. They should have more choices in terms of educational services, including the ability to opt out and send their kids to schools that better meet their needs.
But it is also true that giving the most offended parent veto power over what appears in the school library will produce a climate of craven censoriousness, with district officials in this case literally offering to burn books in order to prove their commitment to not bothering anyone. That's an unhealthy dynamic, and it will not improve the quality of education in schools.
FREE MARKETS
U.S. consumer prices surged 6.2 percent since last October, the biggest single-year increase in 30 years. According to CNBC:
Inflation across a broad swath of products that consumers buy every day was even worse than expected in October, hitting its highest point in more than 30 years, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.
The consumer price index, which is a basket of products ranging from gasoline and health care to groceries and rents, rose 6.2% from a year ago, the most since December 1990. That compared with the 5.9% Dow Jones estimate.
On a monthly basis, the CPI increased 0.9% against the 0.6% estimate.
Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, so-called core CPI was up 0.6% against the estimate of 0.4%. Annual core inflation ran at a 4.6% pace, compared with the 4% expectation and the highest since August 1991.
Fuel oil prices soared 12.3% for the month, part of a 59.1% increase over the past year. Energy prices overall rose 4.8% in October and are up 30% for the 12-month period.
Used vehicle prices again were a big contributor, rising 2.5% on the month and 26.4% for the year. New vehicle prices were up 1.4% and 9.8%, respectively.
Food prices also showed a sizeable bounce, up 0.9% and 5.3% respectively. Within the food category, meat, poultry, fish and eggs collectively rose 1.7% for the month and 11.9% year over year.
In a statement, Biden said that the solution was to pass his "Build Back Better" agenda, which will "ease inflationary pressures" by getting Americans back to work and making it easier for them to afford certain services, like child care. Of course, massive increases in government spending can also cause runaway inflation all by themselves, so the bill could actually make the problem much worse.
QUICK HITS
• Jacob Chansley, the "QAnon Shaman" and the central figure most identified with the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, is facing a 51-month prison sentence if convicted. This is the lengthiest sentence prosecutors have sought thus far in a January 6 case.
• Some 76 percent of Americans think Facebook is making society worse off.
• COVID-19 cases are rising in 20 states.
• How it started:
End. Mass. Incarceration.
Defund The Prison Industrial Complex.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeemjeffries) June 29, 2020
• How it's going:
Lock up Kyle Rittenhouse and throw away the key.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeemjeffries) November 10, 2021
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Fuck Joe Biden
Fuck Joe Biden
Fuck Joe Biden
Let’s Go Brandon!
Fuck Brandon, I mean let’s go Brandon but concurrently, Fuck Joe Biden.
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I like Joe Biden. He worked with Republicans and got a really good infrastructure bill passed that even Moscow Mitch called a “Godsend for Kentucky”. If you remember, Pelosi offered T***p a 2T infrastructure deal but T***p had a hissy fit over some unrelated bs and rejected it.
Yeah, I bet you like sucking suck, too.
Could you please write English sentences?
Why? It’s not as though you’ll bother to read them.
To Hell with that senile kiddie-toucher, and to Hell with his apologists like yourself.
What language did you think that was?
They funny thing is you hope those libertarians here that you call conservatives would rush on to defend McConnell. Not one of them has. Because they don’t agree with the spending. They don’t act like you do with democrats.
It’s a neverending battle of who is doing the least damage.
Why these people aren’t in jail for inducing inflation right on schedule, pushing “experts” who said it is temporary, I don’t know.
There be trillions to skim from!
Let’s go, Brandon.
Fuck LOS
Fuck RINO Mitch McConnell. And all his 65%-er RINO pals who think they’ve struck a blow for liberty every time they vote to give the Democrats only 65% of everything they ask for.
This.
Biden won, infrastructure will get him re-elected!
Elections have consequences. Not usually good consequences but consequences nonetheless.
Fuck America. Burn it down.
Start Over.
You first.
“Pelosi offered T***p”
Are we finally at the “he who must not be named” level is discourse when it comes to Trump? Is his name a killing word in your circles?
Saying ‘Trump’ is a microaggression.
Fuck Bitch McConnell, too.
Your endorsement is essentially a condemnation where reasonable people are concerned.
Let’s Go Brandon.
Ashley Babbit was a dumb cvnt that got what she deserved…
Little buddy? Is that you?
Now do Rosenbaum.
Jo Jo Rosebaum, a convicted child molester and registered sex offender.
*yawn*……
That all you got?
This tool isnt a journalist, go fvck yourself.
Fuck the new lefty troll, Zeratul. And fuck Joe Biden.
Gotta drive site traffic by any means necessary.
“Fuck Joe Biden” – Republican Scumbag
I don’t think that biden is into your homosexual advances.
Agreed.
He’s probably the one making them. He does like ducking children. Including his own.
Let’s Go Joe!
I second the motion on Biden.
But on this day in the U.S., Veteran’s Day, I also salute all of our Veterans in tha Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Reserves, and National Guard.
Although every day is Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day for me, this day makes it official.
May we salute all of them by working to keep them away from senseless, no-win wars and by upholding the freedom for which “All Gave Some And Some Gave All.”
U.S. consumer prices surged 6.2 percent since last October, the biggest single-year increase in 30 years. According to CNBC:
There is no HAPERINFLATION!
Those corporate tax cuts sure are paying off. The low prices are everywhere.
HaHaHa your ignorance is showing.
Yeah, what’s causing inflation in 2021? Tax cuts that are 4 years old or three stimulations on the economy done in the last year or so?
Biden’s stimulation early this year was completely unnecessary but he and his people are governing for woke Twitter. Combine an unnecessary stimulation with interest rates that are too low and here we are.
Quit being part of the problem. See things how they actually are and if your side screws up acknowledge it.
The supply chain and energy prices are the primary causes. It’s not because Americans have too much money. Poor are still poor the rich are still unbelievably loaded.
And they’ve become WAY richer under Biden. Weird, ain’t it?
It’s kind of weird: if rich people get their money from poor people, then why are they getting so rich when poor people can’t buy anything?
Or you could just forget the other half of the equation–demand. Sure, injecting trillions of dollars into the economy completely unrelated to increased production wouldn’t cause demand to artificially spike while supply chain issues are simultaneously decreasing supply, right?
Nah, it must be those greedy CEOs who are raising prices just because they can.
Yeah, exactly. Poor are still poor and the rich loaded. And those damn Republicans want to raise the SALT tax deduction limit to $80,000–a monstrous tax cut ONLY for the rich, once again.
Anyone paying $80,000 a year in state & local taxes is obscenely wealthy.
“Less than 1% of the benefit of repealing the SALT cap would go to the bottom 60% of earners.” – Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Oh wait. I mis-typed the name of that political party… It’s “Democrat,” not “Republican.” Hard to remember which is which, though–because it’s really hard to tell the whining a-holes who defend them even when they are being 100% hypocritical.
DEMOCRATS WANT A TAX CUT FOR THE RICH.
TAX CUT FOR THE RICH.
TAX CUT FOR THE RICH…
Now repeat every five minutes on the democrat controlled media news channels.
Oh wait, that will never happen.
TAX CUT FOR THE RICH…
Strazie wrote:
Yeah, the Democrats work to limit energy production at the same time increase the money supply.
Strazie wrote:
Yeah, the Democrats work to limit energy production at the same time increase the money supply.
Your free government cheese is 6.2% freer now.
It’s slowing inflation a little. There really isn’t a good way to offset the massive dilution of our currency by democrat traitors.
“biggest single-year increase in 30 years”
The Great Inflation Year of 1991!
Everyone remembers that one!
And the Republicans want to squeeze the poor people by cutting social spending while the rich people make and spend the vast majority of the money.
Yeah Strazele it’s a good thing that inflation doesn’t hurt the poor. Idiot.
Inflation caused by supply chain problems hurts people, yes. The solution isn’t to stop social spending. That’s the worst thing you could do. Thank God the Democrats are giving families a little extra cash. Just imagine how much worse it would be if there was inflation but no social spending. You antisocial fucks are clueless. If you think taking money out of the economy will help well then tax some rich people and corporations because they make and spend most of the money.
Envy of others will get you nowhere.
The democrats that have largely shut down economies and closed small businesses?
Inflation caused by supply chain problems
That’s not inflation, that’s scarcity. You really think dumping trillions of fake money into the economy has no effect on prices?
Thank God the Democrats are giving families a little extra cash.
Out of roughly $10k per person in spending, they’re “giving families” a couple hundreds buck a piece.
Where’s the rest of that money going?
If you think taking money out of the economy will help
No one’s talking about that. The topic at hand is all this new spending of money we don’t have in an economy that’s already seeing inflation.
Why not discuss the topic at hand rather than criticize points no one is making?
Because he’s a lying ass lefty troll.
Because “criticizing points no one is making” is the best way for him to score points, even though he thinks he’s the one keeping score.
What do you think funds both social and defense spending?
Government either taxes for them or gets the Federal Reserve to print more money for them. (Borrowing is just can-kicking that delays taxing and printing money, which are inevitable as long as spending continue.)
And corporations don’t pay taxes. They take tax the tax out of capital investment, shareholder dividends, worker’s wages, and prices charge to consumers. That means you too.
The simplest solution would be to remove democrats, and kick the hardcore movement leftists out of the country forever. Seizing all assets of traitors like Soros and his allies is also advisable. Then the country can be saved.
Without the deficit social spending, there’d be no or less inflation. The anti-social fucks are people who expect to receive stuff they never earned at society’s expense, and the people who vote for it..
Inflation caused by debauchment of our currency hurts people too, you child rapist piece of shit.
You do realize that the rich got richer because your team shut down the economy right?
Yeah, funny how so many of those who claim to want to help the poor workers and tear down the rich like to ignore that the policies during covid have created the biggest upwards transfer of wealth ever.
TAX CUT FOR THE RICH
Most reports have said 31 years. I think it was the oil spike caused by Saddam invading Kuwait.
Exactly it wasn’t because poor people got a little help. Republicans are trying to use this crisis to squeeze poor and middle class folks.
I bet gas prices skyrocketing hurts far more (and those are primarily Biden’s fault) hurt far more than anything else. I’m sure making heating homes increase by 50% is going to hurt a lot of people.
it wasn’t because poor people got a little help
That’s because at that particular point in history, the memory of the disastrous ‘social spending’ of the ’60s and ’70s was still fresh, and no one was getting elected to anything by promising to go back to the good old days of Ford and Carter.
Of course, now that we have rampant inflation, fuel shortages, social unrest, stupid social-crusader programs taking over schools, rising taxes, and increasingly strangulatory regulations, I think we’ve finally succeeded in reselling the ’70s to people.
Let’s not forget the skyrocketing crime rate, though that’s probably included within the social unrest and stupid social-crusader programs you mentioned.
Everything Is So Terrible And Unfair!(tm)
Haha. And republicans ain’t doing shit, you idiot.
TAX CUT FOR THE RICH.
TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH.
What in the world are you talking about? You really have no clue and don’t care, do you. You just parrot whatever the idiots on CNN and MSNBC tell you. (Which is even worse than the conservative idiots parroting Fox–at least they know their news source is heavily biased and filtered; apparently you do not.)
Hey Lordy, exactly how are Republicans “squeezing” poor and middle class folks? By not raising their taxes? By not giving them free stuff? It’s the Democrats and the Fed squeezing everyone with inflation.
Do you ever, EVER, cite a source, link something or introduce a fact into your little bon mots?
Third time’s the charm. You keep saying the Republicans are variously squeezing and robbing people of lesser means. How, exactly are they doing that?
1990-91 makes no difference because no one remembers it.
I bought my first house soon after at 7% and we thought that was a good rate.
Today people get 3% mortgage loans and don’t know how lucky they are.
Yeah, but you never made any payments, so the rate isn’t important.
So true man.
Yo, that 7% was a goof rate. When I bought my first home in 1994, I thought 9% was amazing. Times have changed.
good rate…not goof rate. sigh.
Our PoS agent at the time assured me “You’ll never see single-digit rates again.” when I bought at 9%. We refinanced at 6 less than a year later. Finally locked into 15-year at under 4%. And lived happily ever after.
You claimed to be an objectivist below. Objectivists don’t break contracts for personal gain.
“Objectivists don’t break contracts for personal gain.”
You mean like when Ayn Rand used medicaid to pay her medical bills.
LOL!
I can’t believe lefties are still recycling this nonsense about Ayn Rand after all these years. One might draw the impression lefties are terrified that more people might discover her work and develop opinions about how their own money should be spent.
She had a contract to not do that?
How is that breaking a contract?
Was that before or after the first time you raped a young child?
If mortgage interest rates went back up to 7% or higher, housing prices would tumble to about half of what they are today to compensate for the higher interest portion of one’s mortgage payment. Those of us who save money would get higher interest and the down payment savers could afford would be about twice the previous percentage since houses would sell for about half. For savers who put down a good down payment, the mortgage payment wouldn’t be much higher than at low interest rates, maybe lower..
turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental. If he included numbers they are either out-right lies or cherry picked such that (his TDS-addled bullshit above) if used by an honest person, they would prove the opposite of what turd is claiming.
turd has now moved from the “no inflation” lie, past the “it’s not bad” lie to the “I’ll trivialize it” lie. Sooner of later, turd will run out of lies regarding the economic fuck ups of Biden, Newsom and other lefty tin-pot-dictator wannabes and have to change the subject and ignore it.
turd lies; it’s what he does and turd never does anything else. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
It was certainly good news for George bush.
“Everyone remembers that one!”
Hey everyone! Remember when SPB2 was insisting that inflation for the last month and this one would “settle down” to a reasonable 2%? I do.
He, like Mike and other lefties, loves nothing better than to throw whatever argument they can to distract from the narrative. And they will be here next week shamelessly acting like they weren’t absurdly wrong (or posting kiddy porn, in SPB’s case). They really think no one notices.
Mortgage rates in 1991 were 9.25%.
Imagine what would happen to housing prices if rates hit that mark again.
They would effectively collapse in real terms. A lot of people would be upside down but would be able to afford their existing mortgages. So people would hang on to houses and the housing market would further collapse because people with existing low rate mortgages wouldn’t want to sell at a loss.
When the prices go down more people will be able to afford homes. Then, the prices would stablize.
I would much rather have a mortgage with a high interest rate and low principal balance versus a mortgage with a low interest rate and a high principal balance.
^This exactly.
The same down payment would be a larger percentage of a lower purchase price. And there would be more wiggle room for the Fed to lower rates in the future for one to refinance at a lower rate. Savers would get higher interest enabling one to save for a larger down payment. Long term, housing prices adjust to the payment the borrower can afford.
Also, larger down payments means lower mortgage payments due to lower principal.
Well, there is no hyperinflation. But regular old high inflation is bad enough.
Only haperinflation.
Well maybe transitory hyperinflation.
Capitalism at it’s best.
“U.S. consumer prices surged 6.2 percent since last October, the biggest single-year increase in 30 years.”
Economic interventionism at its best.
I don’t know who he is, but LOL @ Hakeem Jeffries
Yeah. How’s he going to imprison all the “White Supremacists” after he’s abolished all the prisons. Logic is not a strong suit with this guy.
Just go straight to firing squads. Problem solved.
He’s a rather high-ranking member of the Democrat caucus in the House, so he is a pretty mainstream Democrat.
The Rittenhouse replies are an alternate universe.
The simple fact is that people are tribal primates with no long term memory and no shame.
The internet just puts it all on display.
He killed people for no damn good reason. I’ve been in so many fights in my life. I’ve even been jumped. Killing those people never crossed my mind. I would be a murderer and a coward.
Even the prosecution witness grosskreutz said he was worried about Kyle’s health from being hit with the skateboard dummy.
The coward should have dropped his gun and surrendered. He never should have been there. His mother is a piece of shit. She ruined that kid.
Wait… you think surrendering to the mov is the correct action? Did you believe this when democrats were lynching and burning crosses as the KKK 100 years ago?
The right to self defense is an inherent natural right dummy.
Now you’re being stupid again.
Now?
You are an incredibly stupid person. Rittenhouse did the right thing! And showed restraint doing it. Plus, those rioters shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Surrender and be beaten to death.
“He killed people for no damn good reason.”
Outside of being threatened and assaulted, sure.
“I’ve been in so many fights in my life. I’ve even been jumped.”
Aren’t you the internet badass, Sullum?
“Killing those people never crossed my mind. I would be a murderer and a coward.”
Did they threaten to kill you? And chastising a kid who is far more of a man than you could hope to be is the move of a pussy.
My guess is he is a 5′ 4 pedo so is sympathetic to those who died.
“He killed people for no damn good reason.”
This is horseshit – whether you think he should or should not have been in this situation; whether you think his presence in that specific place that night was foolish; no matter what you think about those circumstances, he still had a right to defend himself.
People like Strudel love nothing more than to throw these vague and unsubstantiated, conclusory statements to distract from those basic facts. They know that no reasonable person would say that Rittenhouse should stand there and let some threatening, violent asshole take his rifle from him- because they know that Rittenhouse would be dead if he let that happen. So instead they constantly distract from the facts of this case.
He’s a little fat pussy. Not only has He shown no remorse he was caught flashing white power signs and hanging out with thugs. I swear to God if this creep killed a family member of mine in this cowardly way nothing on this planet would stop me from setting things right.
So what? The only question is whether in the moment it was a legitimate act of self defense. He could be the worst person in the world, be an actual white supremacists who wants to murder all the black people and none of that would matter one bit legally to whether he acted in legitimate self defense.
“He’s a little fat pussy.”
More of a man than you can hope to be.
“Not only has He shown no remorse”
That is a lie.
“he was caught flashing white power signs”
The OK symbol that is NOT white power when Democrats do it? That one?
“hanging out with thugs.”
OK, so your company determines who you are? Really? OK, you run with that.
“I swear to God if this creep killed a family member of mine in this cowardly way nothing on this planet would stop me from setting things right.”
You’d wet your pants and be the usual cunt you are, Sullum.
I don’t think Strazi is Sullum.
And the 10 year pedophile convict who was bipolar who threatened him and attacked him was just a good person right?
Or the jobless skateboarder who held his own family hostage with a knife and cut his brother? That guy was sure to be reasonable once Kyle turned over his weapon.
I can guarantee you that all of the evidence they have tried to use against Rittenhouse would have been deleted if he had been disarmed and killed because every ‘rioter’ would have been complicit. The prosecutor would have nothing except the IR helicopter footage which wouldn’t prove anything without corresponding video.
And White Mike and Shrike would be telling us that Rittenhouse deserved what he got for being there with a rifle. They have said as much about Babbitt, who was not even armed.
A poster child for the modern democrat.
There were good persons on both sides.
So you would kill for vengeance, but not for self-defense, got it.
If anything illustrates how childish and pathetic that guys is, it would be that stance.
Talk about zero self reflection.
“God if this creep killed a family member of mine in this cowardly way nothing on this planet would stop me from setting things right.”
First of all, nothing warms my cackles more than seeing the mask slip from you government whores. You, who would have the government meddling in every aspect of our lives, are nothing but a petty tyrant. Even better, you are an impotent one- talking tough on a website while slavishly crying to mommy government to be your enforcer.
But second, let’s be clear on what Strudel is saying: If Strudel’s family member lied in wait behind a car, and ambushed someone trying to take their gun, while calling on mob justice, THAT, isn’t the act of a coward. No defending yourself from the attack is an act of cowardice.
If Strudel’s family member lied in wait behind a car, and ambushed someone trying to take their gun, while calling on mob justice, THAT, isn’t the act of a coward.
They had a RIGHT to burn that car. Check the 1st Amendment.
Police shot a black man with a knife earlier that week. They had literally no recourse but to destroy a completely unrelated person’s livelihood. 402 years of American white oppression and counting.
Rittenhouse threatened their lives with the white supremacist ideas of ‘property ownership’ and ‘right to keep and bear arms’.
Strudel’s bro-sister would be the fucking hero in that situation.
LMAO. This exceptional faggot is so ass-blasted about his allies getting owned by a 17-year-old who was on his backside or in retreat mode the entire time, that he honestly fantasizes about one of his relatives getting capped so he can have the chance to prove his vengeance capabilities.
Hey Stroozy-poo, unmask your email and you can have plenty of chances to prove your Punisher bonafides.
Uh huh, sure. You wouldn’t say shit if you had a mouthful of it, you little leftist pussy. Your kind are all gutless punks unless you have a mob backing you up.
He killed people who were attacking him.
Hell, normally the cops would have been shooting the looters so civilians wouldn’t have to step in and do it themselves.
Ok. I really have no problem with you shooting people who jump you though.
Don’t do that and you won’t get shot.
…law enforcement wants to know how O’Keefe came to possess a diary allegedly stolen from Ashley Biden, President Joe Biden’s daughter.
I wonder if she found David Chipman dreamy.
If only Larry Nassar had Don Jr.’s journal maybe the feds would have been interested in him.
” though some leaked pages eventually appeared on a right-wing website.”
Interesting how no reports or articles on this topic are willing to name the website.
None.
Curious.
Which was…?
It’s been named in a couple of stories. I forget what the site was. But obviously it wasn’t a site that got much traffic at all, since nobody ever heard of this until just now.
Jacob Chansley, the “QAnon Shaman” and the central figure most identified with the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, is facing a 51-month prison sentence if convicted.
Crimes of fashion.
Felony Cultural Appropriation
I didn’t know that cosplay and larping were felonies now.
I just wonder what exactly he was role-playing.
He’s a buffalo furry.
I see.
What did that guy even do besides pose for a lot of pictures?
He made the ruling class look foolish and weak.
He was a very effective modern-day Marinus van der Lubbe.
Sicknick was a lousy Horst Wessel though.
Nobody has any idea, but believe me, they are looking for any unpaid parking tickets they can find.
So much for freedom of religion.
“Stripping out volatile food and energy prices,”
Because NO ONE has to buy fuel or food?
Not every day or week, right? Just wait out the “volatility”.
Meat prices haven’t gone up. They’ve just stopped discounting it!
Turkey prices are up near 300%. Happy Thanksgiving.
Because costs for those items are “volatile”, meaning they go up and down. But mostly up lately.
And they also go up when there is inflation.
Two board members, Courtland representative Rabih Abuismail and Livingston representative Kirk Twigg, said they would like to see the removed books burned.
Yeah, lean into it.
Abuismail ran on a platform of school safety. Voters probably thought he meant safety from violence, not safety from finding out about the existence of sex:
https://fredericksburg.com/biobox-rabih-rob-abuismail/article_7adc6c35-620a-5153-8372-801669fd5426.html
I heard that private people and private companies can burn whatever books they want to, but when it comes to public school, politicians decide what books get burned.
And we should ban hate speech.
Stop it. White Mike swears to us that he’s the only real libertarian here, and you’re wrecking his narrative.
Although I believe normal people have an aversion to being perceived by others as a book destroyer.
At my old workplace, we had several completely obsolete programming books that people had put in the break room when they cleaned out their offices in an office move. The books just sat their forever, because nobody wanted to be perceived as the person who got rid of them. Ridiculous: there’s nothing sacred about an out-of-date programming language book.
It was ridiculous, but you went along with it. That’s surprising.
Not really.
What about the safety of students when they covered up sexual assaults?
The lack of self awareness is stunning.
Book burnings.
Now there is something that the left and right can agree on.
The astonishing thing is that in the course of my lifetime, Huckleberry Finn has gone from being offensive to white people to being offensive to black people.
That is how far the left has managed to shift the Overton window.
But the Idiot Window stays fixed.
Inflation across a broad swath of products that consumers buy every day was even worse than expected in October…
If you had bought into the Great Reset earlier this wouldn’t be your problem.
Far Right Racist Disinformation Insurrection Conspiracy Theory.
I, for one, am completely SHOCKED by this development.
“U.S. consumer prices surged 6.2 percent since last October, the biggest single-year increase in 30 years.”
Nooooooooooo! Reason is the last website I would have expected to descend to wingnut.com status. KMW needs to clean house around here.
(“Wingnut.com” is, of course, how Mr. Buttplug taught me to label any website that runs anti-Biden misinformation, such as the myth that inflation is a legitimate issue. Or that his handling of Afghanistan was less than brilliant.)
#DefendBidenAtAllCosts
Other formerly respectable news organizations that have joined wingnut.com: NPR
Also Slate
Why are they doing this???? Is Putin blackmailing all of them?
Wingnut.com is buying up all the other websites.
It’s the only logical explanation.
We cannot rule out Russian involvement.
#LibertariansForGettingToughWithRussia
Who else would be financing it?
I get all of the news and commentary l need at tinfoilhat.com
Buttplug hardest hit.
Fortunately he can imply exploratory drilling numbers indicate a healthy economy somehow. It doesn’t of course, but it’s pretty much all he has.
U.S. consumer prices surged 6.2 percent since last October, the biggest single-year increase in 30 years.
Gasoline went to over $1.00 a gallon!
We almost didn’t survive that crazy ass inflation year!
Why do you disrespect yourself like this?
He used to have respect? He came back after linking to child porn. He has no respect.
turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental. If he included numbers they are either out-right lies or cherry picked such that (his TDS-addled bullshit above) if used by an honest person, they would prove the opposite of what turd is claiming
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
Watch turd continue to lie about inflation until it’s jammed up his ass.
Gas prices are up over 60% since January where I live. The only reason they’ve temporarily leveled off is because of drop in demand going into winter and a seasonal drop in refinery overhead.
But please, keep up your propaganda Kiddie Raper.
Some 76 percent of Americans think Facebook is making society worse off.
The early reviews for the Metaverse are in.
“Facebook, why can’t I quit you?”
What Zuckerburg needs to hear: Sorry Facebook, we’re just not that into you. Adios.
Just tax Facebook users at some ridiculous rate. Worked for cigarettes and machine guns.
I never joined. Facebook is the devil. Fuckbook has some potential trial though.
Meta: not hot.
COVID-19 cases are rising in 20 states.
Must not be red states or that would be in the headlines. Time to start banning seasons.
Christians are actually the only people who have ever banned celebrating Christmas in America.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
In Colonial America, the Pilgrims of New England disapproved of Christmas. The Plymouth Pilgrims put their loathing for the day into practice in 1620 when they spent their first Christmas Day in the New World building their first structure in the New World—thus demonstrating their complete contempt for the day.Non-Puritans in New England deplored the loss of the holidays enjoyed by the laboring classes in England.Christmas observance was outlawed in Boston in 1659. The ban by the Puritans was revoked in 1681 by an English appointed governor, Edmund Andros; however, it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region. Before the Declaration of Independence in 1776, it was not widely celebrated in the U.S.
You seem to be obsessed.
Does everything you see and read somehow morph into something about conservatives?
That’s not a healthy sign, and there are professionals who can help you with that.
You have zero self awareness.
Someone making a joke about the impossibility of banning the wobble of the earth as it spins on its axis triggers your obsession with conservatives, for some reason–and you think that means I lack self-awareness?
“[Psychological projection] is a defense mechanism in which the ego defends itself against disowned and highly negative parts of the self by denying their existence in themselves and attributing them to others”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection
I know. It’s hilarious. All you have to do is substitute “progressives” for “conservatives” in his accusation against you.
It is hilarious. I’m definitely guilty as charged. I don’t like Republicans and I’m here to show you why.
Because of a few idiots in the 1600’s?
In a discussion last night, it seemed that assholes like shitlord and Mike (trud, sarc, tony) are here simply because they are assholes.
Nothing else really explains the warped personality which keeps them coming back to where all their lies are jammed back in their faces and they are universally derided and insulted.
Sort of like Ken’s analysis regarding the constant lying of many of them being a result of a lack of mental ability to even recognize the lies, we seem to have assholes with very low mental capabilities.
Probably best to suggest the lot fuck off and die rather than engage them
I’m a libertarian, and disagree with some of the things you say, but I commend you for being able to communicate rationally and with civility. I end up not saying anything most of the time when I disagree with you, because there are already a dozen of the usual right-wing suspects jumping on your comment, being assholish.
I don’t dislike Republicans in general. I do dislike right-wing extremists and liars like the many who hang out here, ruining what used to be a great place for having discussions.
I’m a libertarian, and disagree with some of the things you say, but I commend you for being able to communicate rationally and with civility.
I find it interesting that you’re saying this to LoS and not Ken, as while it’s true that Ken has a bit of a fixation on Progressives and does spend a lot of time defending Republicans in various contexts, to say that Ken is ever anything but rational and civil is just wrong. Whereas LoS is consistently an asshole who lies and prevaricates constantly.
“I end up not saying anything most of the time when I disagree with you, ”
This, for the benefit of the thread, is a lie. Mike is here to troll. He is a lefty, and that is why he is always giving “Amens” and “+1’s” only to lefties like Strudel and SPB. He lies about being a libertarian, because he thinks that no one will notice that he is a disingenuous, gas lighting, liar.
Here is a perfect example of Mike’s MO: https://reason.com/2021/09/09/california-is-set-to-outlaw-unannounced-condom-removal/?comments=true#comment-9091773
That is Mike insisting that he “would never look to Rolling Stone” for news, after spreading their bogus ivermectin story only days earlier. Consider that: He didn’t apologize. He didn’t even try to ignore his mistake. He brazenly acted like he had never made a mistake, so that anyone coming to the thread would think he was a middle of the road, reasonable guy.
But he is not. Mike portrays himself as a libertarian, because he is a concern troll. He isn’t interested in having good faith discussions, or else he would be honest about his beliefs and what he was saying just 2 days earlier.
Here’s another fun little thread for anyone who wants to laugh at Dee:
https://reason.com/2021/11/06/congress-finally-passed-bidens-inefficient-deficit-hiking-infrastructure-bill/?comments=true#comment-9196345
Ken insults me pretty much every day. Well, attempts to insult me.
I have never done anything to Ken but point out his irrationality, emotionality, and bias. I’ve never called him a name, sworn at him, called him stupid, etc.
Tellingly, Ken tries to insult me by referring to me as “she”, which says more about his troubled feelings about women, than it does about me:
https://reason.com/2021/11/09/the-prosecution-had-a-very-bad-day-in-the-kyle-rittenhouse-trial/?comments=true#comment-9200248
Ken insults me pretty much every day. Well, attempts to insult me.
I don’t get time to comment a lot, but I lurk here pretty much every day, and you’ve been chasing Ken around ‘pointing out his irrationality, emotionality, and bias’ for a long, long time now, and Ken put up with it for a long, long time before he realized you’re not engaging in good faith and he started (gently) mocking you.
Because as others have pointed out, your fixation on Ken is just obnoxious all on its own, but the fact that you feel compelled to attack Ken at every opportunity while you ignore blatantly illogical and counterfactual statements from people like LoS and SPB, even praising them, leads a lot of people to see you as a partisan concern troll, and frankly I’m starting to agree with them.
Tellingly, Ken tries to insult me by referring to me as “she”, which says more about his troubled feelings about women, than it does about me:
Can you really still not be getting this reference? Or are you just pretending so that you can accuse Ken of misogyny even though you know it’s a dishonest accusation?
Why am I starting to think it’s the latter?
That’s just the thing, conservatives here define disagreeing with someone as “attacking” because they want an echo chamber. If you politely disagree with the conservative bubble of thought and echo chamber, you will be lied about and verbally abused.
It’s OK for the usual Trump mean girls to lie, use ad hominem attacks, etc. but disagreeing is “attacking”.
Thank you for explaining the reference. I have never seen Sunny in Philadelphia, so there is no way I would know what “Dee” means.
But, as I said, note that “Dee” is a personal attack that avoided engaging my arguments or adding anything of substance to the commentariat.
Dee’s about to mute you square.
Why would I argue with someone like LoS. There are already five right-wingers arguing with him and insulting him whenever he says anything. I’m not going to pile on — I’m going to argue against people who are part of the smug, right-wing echo chamber here.
That’s just the thing, conservatives here define disagreeing with someone as “attacking” because they want an echo chamber.
What you do goes beyond disagreeing. There are days you spend all day chasing Ken around responding to every post accusing him of torturing logic to propagandize for the Republicans. And not only do you not do this to, for example, LoS here, who comes here and lies and obfuscates day in, day out, but you actually sing his praises as some shining example of moderation, even though he’s actually far more aggressive and rude than Ken is even on his worst day.
I disagree with your “Trump mean girls” on a number of issues, but you don’t them chasing me around, do you?
note that “Dee” is a personal attack that avoided engaging my arguments or adding anything of substance to the commentariat.
Ken didn’t start joining in on the Sweet Dee thing until it became clear that you weren’t engaging in good faith, raising the same points over and over day after day refusing to acknowledge any of his counterpoints. This is what the “Dee is a squawking bird” thing is about. Maybe you’re just not a good listener, but after prolonged exposure you start to come across as disingenuous.
I’m going to argue against people who are part of the smug, right-wing echo chamber here.
Then stop pretending that your target selection is based on a commitment to civility and rationality rather than partisanship.
Ken never makes any counterpoints or arguments to my criticisms of his arguments.
Also, I don’t respond to most of Ken’s comments. It may seem like I do because Ken posts a LOT of comments every day. I typically comment on one or two of his posts.
And, finally, mute me if you don’t like it.
Being anti-Republican partisan is not being pro-Democrat.
If there were some huge, rude gang of left-wingers here I would argue against them more often. But the fact is there is a huge, rude gang of right-wingers.
Being anti-Republican partisan is not being pro-Democrat.
True. But you reliably actively deflect criticism of Democrats by pointing to Republicans, even if you have to make things up in order to support your “bothsidesism”.
You claim to be here to call out people’s bad behavior and partisanship, but you only do so to people you perceive as being Republicans. And the people you perceive as being Republicans are people who criticize Democrats.
Meanwhile you pretend that LoS, Joe Friday, American Socialist, raspberrydinners, Tony, et al. don’t exist? Aren’t routinely assholes? Don’t tell lies and argue in bad faith?
Or just aren’t Republicans?
You know…. actual libertarians don’t have to try to convince other people they are libertarians. They just act and push libertarian thought.
You skip the latter and do the former.
You are in no way a libertarian. You are a big government prog. Case closed.
Here’s Mike on the protesters still being held, while none have been charged with anything much beyond a late library book return:
MachineGunBodine
November.5.2021 at 4:09 pm
}Reason to get on the Jan 6 political prisoners and the Rittenhouse trial in..1..2..3..4..5…6…7………….”
Mike Laursen
November.5.2021 at 9:35 pm
“WTF unreason. Buster Posey retires, and you say nothing?!”
Notice the asshole trivializing long prison terms absent any convictions.
All you need to know about Mike the steaming pile of lefty shit is right there.
Mike is far from a catcher in the wry.
You’re an anti Christian bigot. Among your other vile beliefs.
New England Puritans weren’t really what I’d call “conservative.”
They were revolutionaries in religion (thinking that the Church of England didn’t take the Reformation far enough) and fellow travelers with the political revolutionaries who killed Charles I.
“And so he was forever afterwards known as ‘King of Stdazzle’, for none other in the land could surpass his ability to comment with a non-sequitur of such complete irrelevance.”
Yeah, what you said. 🙂
Even today, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventists do not observe Christmas. The reason given is that The Holy Bible nowhere demands that anyone celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Also, Christmas coincides with the ancient Pagan celebrations during the Winter Solstice, such as Saturnalia, and the birth of Gods like Mythras, Ra, Horus, and many others. Kersey Graves did a book on this subject called The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors, which detailed the parallels between Christianity and other Pagan religions.
“Even today, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventists do not observe Christmas.”
Adventists who don’t eat pork, don’t drink caffeine, won’t serve in the armed forces as anything but conscientious objectors, and won’t work on Saturdays–do, in fact, observe Christmas–with Christmas trees in their churches and everything.
If Christmas happens to fall on a Saturday, they might not open presents until sundown.
Don’t believe your lying eyes when you watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6YJYP6kV-8
I’ll stand corrected on that, but they must have changed their Theology, or they are renegades from the sect because this is what I read:
5 Churches That Don’t Celebrate Christmas and Why
https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/5-churches-that-dont-celebrate-christmas-and-why/jhe39sz
“We join in to be with the Family or friends to celebrate their friendship and love as a family gathering and for the Children. Easter too is a pagan holiday and we do not celebrate the Name but we honour Christ’s Resurrection and keep the day in mind on what He has done for us. We do not make an issue out of it but quietly honour Christ….it’s a gathering also for the Children. It is a personal Choice.”
—-Your link
That isn’t anti-Christmas. Almost all Christian churches make the birth of Jesus the center of the Christmas celebration. Yeah, it’s pagan in origin, but as they’re saying, it’s a personal choice. Celebrate it with your kids if you want!
Incidentally, most Christian churches don’t make Easter about the fertility symbols like bunny rabbits and colored eggs. They make it about the death of Jesus. Bunny rabbits and colored eggs may be pagan in origin, but if that’s not what it’s about to them, Adventists are as likely to give their kids an Easter basket and go on an egg hunt as they are to put a Christmas tree in their homes and pretend there’s such a thing as Santa Claus.
I don’t believe anything changed for them. The religion emerged from the Second Great Awakening in the 1840s, and the Third Great Awakening that followed. Being a Victorian religion, it emerged under Victorian principles, and the statements you see reflected in that quote are reflective of that–as Christmas as we know it today was emerging in the Victorian era. A religion that’s saying the celebration of Christmas is a personal choice certainly isn’t condemning it.
The author seems to have a certain opinion of Adventists generally. The author refers to Adventists celebrating the “Jewish sabbath”, as if they’re heretics. You don’t need to agree with Adventists to describe their beliefs objectively, and the Adventists don’t think of themselves as celebrating the Jewish anything. They worship on the seventh day of the week rather than first because that’s how they read the fourth commandment–and because Jesus kept the sabbath. That makes two points where the author seems to be betraying a hostile view of Adventism.
1) The author quotes a statement saying that Christmas is a personal choice as a condemnation of Christmas. (If Adventists said that about abortion, wouldn’t it be an approval of abortion?).
2) The author refers to Seventh-Day Adventists as if they were Jewish for following the ten commandments rigorously. I know some Baptists and Methodists who don’t think following the ten commandments is being Jewish at all.
It is also important to remember that, to the non-English speaking world it’s not Easter, it’s Pascha. Which is a transliteration of pesach, Hebrew for passover, and has absolutely nothing to do with pagan spring rites or festivals.
The New Testament repeatedly refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God. In one sense His sacrifice is a recapitulation of the story of Passover, where Jews in Egypt painted lambs blood on their door and thus were spared the Plague of the Firstborn.
It is wholly consistent that Easter/Pascha would be celebrated at or near the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Didn’t Jesus die on the Day of Atonement?
Didn’t the lamb to be sacrificed escape the temple that day?
Yeah, Christians see Passover as a foreshadowing of the real thing, and the real thing was when Jesus was sacrificed for our sins.
You could say the same thing about Abraham being told to sacrifice his son and then a lamb being offered as a substitute at the last moment.
All may be true, but according to the article, they still don’t regard Christmas Day as Jesus Christ’s birthday.
“All may be true, but according to the article, they still don’t regard Christmas Day as Jesus Christ’s birthday.”
No major Christian denomination I’m aware of believes that December 25th was Jesus’ actual birthday.
“The Church chose December 25 due to its ancient origin and widespread acceptance. No other date was accepted by more Christians for a longer or older period of time. However, we should note that although the Church chooses this date to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, it is not declaring de fide that it is the literal date he was born.”
—-Catholic Answers
https://www.catholic.com/qa/when-was-jesus-born
So admit you’re wrong but insist youre still right?? Lol!
I admit I may be in error. I was just saying: “One of these things is not like the others…”
Outside of that, most Christians do celebrate the birth of Jesus, and also his first regeneration after he was mortally wounded by his crucifction.
Celebrating the winter solstice is pagan.
*shrug*
It used to be, but not so much anymore.
Before I moved to Mexico, my friend Chuy was trying to explain the difference between authentic Mexican food and what we were eating in an “authentic” Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles. He pointed to his tacos and said, “Real Mexican food doesn’t have cheese all over it”. My response was that anything Chuy was eating, by definition, was real Mexican food.
If real Christians celebrate the winter solstice all over the world, what does it mean to call it “pagan”?
According to Cheech & Chong, Chuy is the name of one of Santa’s reindeers 🙂 :
Santa Claus and His Old Lady–Cheech & Chong
https://youtu.be/FnYXgv7maws
well, there is this…
Deuteronomy 12:29-32
“When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”
They were all celebrating Kwaanza.
And before anybody says: “That’s a made-up holiday,” all holidays are made-up because all religions and all nations and all political/cultural viewpoints are man-made.
Kwaanza is a complete contrivance. Like Mother’s Day, or Valentine’s Day. It’s an equal attention cake of a holiday.
There are holidays literally every day of the year created by one marketing agency or another.
Yeah, and Kwanza isn’t even that. Like many things, it is a race based black equivalent to Christmas invented by college professor Maulana Karenga. Which is what I mean by equal attention cake. As black leftists have to have a blacks only version of everything.
Actually he’s right. The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony did it and evidently, others didn’t always observe it either:
How the Puritans Banned Christmas
In 1659 the Puritans banned Christmas in Massachusetts. But why?
Heather Tourgee • December 21, 2020 • Read
https://newengland.com/today/living/new-england-history/how-the-puritans-banned-christmas/
Whoosh!
Hey, he posted before I could.
A lot of low-info evangelicals in the 1970’s bought into the (historically inaccurate) idea that Christmas was reworked Saturnalia, and didn’t want to celebrate for the supposed pagan roots. By the 90’s that meme largely disappeared.
There is approximately no evidence that Jesus was actually born on December 25.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christmas
Of course not. I didn’t say that there was. The date was based on the old Jewish idea that great prophets died on the day of their conception.
The early church simply counted nine months from Easter.
Not true. The Church chose December 25 as the day to celebrate the birth of Christ because December 24th marked the ending of Saturnalia, celebrated from December 17 to December 24. Scheduling Christmas at December25th was a way of getting the Pagans attracted to Christianity.
Also, there are other reasons December 25 could not have been the time of the birth of Christ told of in The Holy Bible. It was said to have occured when the Romans were conducting their census and people travelled to Jeruselem to be counted.
December 25 was the cold and rainy season in that part of the world and the roads would have been too muddy for travel. The Romans, being master administrators, would never have chosen this time to demand travel for the census. Likewise, it would have been too cold and wet for shepherds to be outdoors sleeping with their flocks, so that part of the story doesn’t jibe with December 25 as the birth of Christ.
All this needs is some narration by Bill Kurtis and you got A Forensics Files Christmas.
It’s also about Mithra.
“The ecclesiastical calendar retains numerous remnants of pre-Christian festivals—notably Christmas, which blends elements including both the feast of the Saturnalia and the birthday of Mithra.”
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-religion/The-imperial-epoch-the-final-forms-of-Roman-paganism
December 25th was the birthday of Mithra, and replacing the holiday to celebrate the birth of a god with the birth of Jesus was a natural.
As I mentioned elsewhere in the thread The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors by Kersey Graves goes into detail on the many parallels between Chtistianity and other previous religions, such as the Greco-Roman, Norse, and Egyptians. Truly, in this respect, “There’s nothing new under the Sun.”
The Mithras cult didn’t take off until 100 years after Christianity began.
The invaluable Religion for Breakfast channel has a great takedown on the erroneous and ahistorical allegation that the Jesus and Mithra stories were similar.
Almost all of the modern claims about Mithra are completely false. The claims that Mithra was also born on December 25, performed miracles, was followed by twelve disciples, rose on the third day, etc. aren’t remotely true.
But Religion for Breakfast explains it better then I do. Give it a watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlF0gVedODE
Mithras as a god predates not only Christianity but Abraham. Mithra was a god before Zoroaster was around–and that was 1500 BCE.
Mithra evolved over the millennia, and the version that was picked up by the Roman military in Persia and migrated to Rome was one of those permutations.
And Mithra’s birthday was celebrated on December 25th before Rome became Christianized. It was a rival syncretic religion to Christianity, and it was subsumed by Christianity–as evidenced by the Christian churches they built right on top of Mithraeum temples. Constantine didn’t convert until 300 years after Christianity, and the Christianization of Europe took place over hundreds of years after that.
A lot of things were influenced by Zoroastrianism through syncretism. Manicheism was heavily influenced by Zoroastrianism, and I’ve even seen it argued (by a professor at UCLA) that just as Christianity was a reform of Judaism, Judaism itself was a syncretic reform of Zoroastrianism. The Judaism that came back from Persia to rebuild the temple was not the Judaism that left in the Babylonian captivity. The Torah was compiled and edited under the Persians, and it was done under the influence of Zoroastrian ideas. See what the controversies between the returning Jews and the Samaritans were all about:
“Samaritans believe that Samaritanism is the true religion of the ancient Israelites, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel during the Babylonian captivity; this belief is held in opposition to Judaism, the ethnic religion of the Jewish people, which Samaritans see as a closely-related but altered and amended religion brought back by those returning from captivity in Babylon under the Neo-Babylonian Empire.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritans
The ways in which the Jews differ from the Samaritans are often the ways in which the Jews are in harmony with Zoroastrianism.
See the Book of Esther, too. The Zoroastrian monarchs took great pride in religious tolerance (with the exception of the followers of Indra), and the Jews flourished under the Persians. What happened to the Jews in Esther is supposed to be interpreted as a punishment for failing to go back to Jerusalem and Israel–because they were flourishing so well in Persia.
They reached the upper echelons of power in Persia–and they were heavily influenced by Persian religion. From seeing God as a sacred fire (burning bushes) to having the same dietary codes and monotheism itself, the Israelites that came back from the Babylonian captivity were different appear to have been greatly influenced by the Zoroastrian intellectuals and priests (the Magi). Mithra predated them!
“Mithras as a god predates not only Christianity but Abraham. Mithra was a god before Zoroaster was around–and that was 1500 BCE.”
But not the Mithras Cult and it’s version of Mithras which was a very different thing than old Persian divinity Mitra.
The Cult and it’s beliefs that you outline have no antecedents in Iranian religion, and it’s adoption of the god only dates as far back as 100 AD.
This is like claiming Christianity is 3600 years old because Jesus was the incarnation of YHWH. Which actually would be more accurate because Christianity shares far more with ancient Judaism, than the Mithras cult with Zoroastrianism or ancient Iranian paganism.
There is no continuity between the worship of Mitra and the Roman Mysteries of Mithras, which is the religion invoked when making comparisons to Jesus.
“And Mithra’s birthday was celebrated on December 25th before Rome became Christianized.”
There are zero writings from Mithras cultists. We have no narratives, mythologies, origin stories or theologies. Anyone who says otherwise is mistakenly referring to the Iranian Mitra who was a very, very different being to Jesus.
All we know about them comes from Porphyry, Strabo and from the polemics of Christian writers like Justin Martyr.
What we do know mostly comes from the cult’s imagery. And what we know from that is wildly different than than popular modern misinformation.
1. Virgin Birth.
Again there are no texts, but all the images show Mithras being born from a rock. Not a virgin.
2. Mithras had 12 disciples.
Mithras only appears with the zodiac symbols. It’s crazy to call them disciples.
3. Mithras was born on Dec. 25
The Emperor Aurelian declared Dec. 25 the holiday for Sol Invictus (not his birthday) in the 260’s. Roughly a century and a half after the Mithraic cult began and two and a half after Christianity. Sol Invictus was not Mithras. The modern confabulation of the two began because of a mural of Sol Invictus and Mithras dining together. That’s it.
4. Died on a cross. Celebrated a last supper. Visited by Magi.
Nope, nope, nope. All of these claims come from non-scholarly writers in the 1800’s. They’ve persisted as received wisdom since then, but there’s zero evidence that any Mithras initiate ever believed them.
The entire basis that Jesus and Mithras are cut from the same cloth comes from 18th and 19th century pseudo-historians with absolutely no written or archeological evidence.
These old rumors continue to persist because nobody bothers to check the historical sources.
Citations:
Sources debunking the “Christ/Mithras” myth can be found at The Tertullian Project: Tertullian Project: https://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/mithras/display.php?page=Mithras_and_Jesus#note124aGVRNGhJNUxVakFjSnR6aktPei1IWkhJaWoxeVFvOEcyRi1FR2xSRWd5VWtpcDVHN1NyVQ&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tertullian.org%2Frpearse%2Fmithras%2Fdisplay.php%3Fpage%3DMithras_and_Jesus%23note12
Incredible resource of every citation about Mithras in Greco-Roman literature: https://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/mithras/literary_sources.htm
There is no continuity between the worship of Mitra and the Roman Mysteries of Mithras,
Didn’t see this before I responded to you below – this is what I was referring to when I lumped Roman Mithra in with the Isis cults – the religious fashion in the Eastern Mediterranean at the time was these little secret cults to various random gods involving convoluted doctrines introduced to initiates in layers of more and more secret rituals.
Agreed that the notion that this Mithra has any meaningful relationship with the Persian god or that the Mithra cult in particular was all that widespread was debunked long ago.
So, apparently, there are atheists out there trying to discredit Christianity as a revision of Mithras worship. That’s wrong. Because they can cite a couple of facts to support the notion doesn’t make it true–but just because the greater argument they’re making isn’t true, doesn’t mean they aren’t citing some legitimate facts.
I’ll give you two examples of people being wrong from other areas.
First Premise: At one point, the best science had it that the origin of HIV was that it jumped species from chimpanzees to humans.
Second Premise: HIV is sexually transmitted and gay men are highly effected.
Ridiculous Conclusion: The origin of HIV was gay men having sex with chimpanzees.
That conclusion is wrong, but it isn’t wrong because the premises are bad. It’s wrong because of the logic. While it’s true that HIV is sexually transmitted, it can also be transmitted in other ways. The most likely way HIV would have been transmitted from chimpanzees was if someone ate an infected chimp. People don’t usually eat chimpanzees, but there were numerous famines in Africa where thousands of people were starving to death. Under those circumstances, they’d eat anything and feed it to their starving children, too. People who hated gay men wanted to believe that they were responsible for a disease that was devastating them, and so they wanted to make this irrational connection–and blame the victims.
Because they were almost certainly wrong, doesn’t mean 1) that HIV didn’t jump species or 2) that HIV isn’t sexually transmitted. It just means that the virus almost certainly did not jump species through sexual activity with chimpanzees. They couldn’t put two and two together–but two and two still equals four.
I suspect you see where I’m going with this.
Premise One: 1 + 1 = 2
Premise Two: 2+ 2 = 4
Conclusion: 2 + 4 = 1,985,643.8
Because the conclusion is irrational, doesn’t mean the premises are wrong.
Premise One: Mithra’s birthday was December 25th
Premise Two: Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.
Conclusion: So Jesus is actually Mithra, and Christians are too stupid to notice.
Because the conclusion is wrong and irrational is not a good reason to argue that the premises are wrong. And if Christians are doing that, arguing that those premises are wrong, the atheists trolls are probably winning. Because a preponderance of the evidence suggests that Mithra’s birthday was celebrated on December 25th is not a good reason for Christians to change their minds about anything.
If you can deal with the story of the flood as a function of the culture and scientific knowledge available thousands of years ago, you should be able to deal with December 25th. Darwin didn’t disprove Genesis. He showed Christians that they might need to revise their interpretation. I once had someone tell me the Bible was wrong because the Israelites couldn’t have been in Egypt when the pyramids were built–but the Bible doesn’t say the children of Israel built the pyramids. Where in Christianity does it say that the day we came to celebrate Christmas couldn’t possibly be the result of syncretism? What are the atheists disproving when they argue that the date of Christmas is Mithras’ birthday?
The correct answer is nothing.
If you’re being trolled by atheists, who are just yanking the cords of Christians over nothing, those Christians would do well not to feed the trolls–throw their pearls before swine. The date of Christmas being Mithra’s birthday simply does nothing to suggest that Jesus is actually the Mithra myth. It’s a red herring wrapped in a non-sequitur. So Christianity is subject to syncretism, too. So what? We already knew that! Christianity has been influenced by other religions–so what?
According to the New Testament, Zoroastrians (the Magi, three wise men) thought it was really important that Jesus was born. So what? That doesn’t mean Jesus was Mithras either. Mithras himself was actually a holdover from before Zoroastrianism. Most Christians believe in a trinity, well the Zoroastrians had seven instead of three–and Mithras (as I recall) was one of them. They amalgamated those seven gods into One God–Ahura Mazda. And the Magi adored Jesus, so they must have thought he was Mithras?!
No. False. Does not follow. That is one possible random assumption one could make. And it does not cast doubt on the Christmas story, as Christians see it, in any way. The early Christians didn’t even see the Magi that way! Why waste your time on those atheist trolls? Their whole argument is off–even if their facts are correct. Don’t fall into the trap of debating them on the facts when the problem is the way they’re organizing them rather than the facts themselves. Because something can be interpreted in a different way, doesn’t mean it should be interpreted differently.
Well yes, largely.
“Because the conclusion is wrong and irrational is not a good reason to argue that the premises are wrong…
Premise One: Mithra’s birthday was December 25th”
But Premise One really is factually wrong. There never was any evidence that followers of the mysteries believed Mithra’s birthday was December 25th. No texts, writing or imagery. No modern scholar believes this.
People who ignorantly confused Sol Invictus with Mithras propagated it. It wasn’t Sol Invictus’s birthday either, but his feast day.
So it’s not so much atheists trolling Christians, as propagating even less accurate myths of their own.
There is evidence that Mithra’s birthday was on December 25, and the consensus is that it was on December 25–and there is no good reason to want to believe that it wasn’t.
Here’s one piece of evidence:
“The cult of Mithras, such as that of the Sol Invictus who was the patron of the soldiers, was very popular in the Roman army. Both Sol Invictus and Mithras, who were often identified in the same god [2], are linked to the winter solstice [3-5]. Actually, the followers of Mithras worshipped the New Year on December 25, to celebrate the birth of Mithras [6]. The Mithraeum at Brocolitia has a remarkable orientation. Using the SunCalc[. . .] software, a software providing on satellite maps the direction of sunrise and sunset on any day of the year, we can easily see that the building is in good alignment along the sunrise on December 25 (Figure 2). In fact, there is a very small difference between the direction of the sunrise on December 25 and that of the sunrise on the winter solstice (December 21). Using . . . we can evaluate the difference in 0.2 degrees. However, we have to consider that the apparent size of the sun is 0.5 degrees and therefore, an observer is be able to distinguish the difference spots on the horizon where the sun is rising, on the days of 21 and 25 December
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326367211_The_Winter_Solstice_and_the_Mithraeum_at_Brocolitia_Carrawburgh
We should avoid painting ourselves into a corner. The fundamental problem of science means that our present state of knowledge can always be questioned. This makes it easy for our enemies to hand us enough rope to hang ourselves. They want us to discredit ourselves and become like the Flat Earth Society.
Because the scientific consensus can change as new evidence becomes available, doesn’t mean the scientific consensus shouldn’t be accepted as the best explanation we have at the moment given the available data we have now. And just because you can concoct an explanation for everything that defies the consensus, doesn’t mean the consensus isn’t what it should be.
The consensus is that they celebrated Mithra’s birthday on December 25th, and I don’t see any good reason to want that not to be the case. If Mithra’s birthday was celebrated on December 25, that certainly does not suggest that Jesus was actually Mithra, and those Christian trolling atheists who are arguing that it does are making atheist fools of themselves. Unfortunately, I am seeing a lot of people who want Mithra’s birthday to be December 25 for bad reasons.
For goodness’ sake, no major denomination I’m aware of–from the Baptists to Catholicism–contends that December 25th was Jesus’ actual birthday. If they did claim that Jesus was actually born on December 25th, that would have been worse. Meanwhile, some denominations celebrate Jesus’ birth on January 6, because of competing calendars, which neither proves that Mithra’s birthday wasn’t on December 25th nor that the Capitol riot was orchestrated by Armenian Christians.
Does it seem crazy to make a connection between the Capitol riot and Armenian Christmas? It should! Because citing the celebration of Christmas on Jesus’ birthday as evidence that Jesus is actually Mithra is just as absurd. Religious syncretism is not a hoax. It’s to be expected.
There are well meaning people out there who deny every scientific fact that supports the global warming hypothesis–because they fear that global warming will be used to justify the institution of socialism. Socialism, however, can’t be justified as a solution to global warming. It is unnecessary to deny scientific facts to discredit socialism, and every time we do so, we play right into the hands of the socialists. They win if we become scientific denialists. Don’t let them win!
“Because citing the celebration of Christmas on
Jesus’[Mithra’s] birthday as evidence that Jesus is actually Mithra is just as absurd.”—-Ken Shultz
Fixed!
Not true. The Church chose December 25 as the day to celebrate the birth of Christ because December 24th marked the ending of Saturnalia, celebrated from December 17 to December 24. Scheduling Christmas at December25th was a way of getting the Pagans attracted to Christianity.
That’s received wisdom. There’s virtually no historical backing for it.
This would take about ten long posts to unpack, so I’m going to cop out and refer both you and Ken to another Religion for Breakfast video. It’s not long and does a great job of outlining why Christmas is celebrated on December 25.
Why is Christmas on December 25th? (8 minutes long)
I like the channel because it’s secular and does a great job examining the popular myths about religion as well as being rigorously historical and archaeologically correct.
That’s received wisdom. There’s virtually no historical backing for it.
The details are received wisdom, for sure – centuries of scholarly speculation based on very little actual evidence.
The closest thing I’ve ever seen to corroboration of the ‘appropriation’ is that Pope Gregory, upon sending missionaries to the Germans, instructed the missionaries not to make any bones about their festivals and to lead with what Christ could do for them rather than with what Christ wanted them not to do.
The idea was the once the leaders were converted with promises of glory and power, that they would then allow churches to be founded, which could then go about converting the general populace.
Local festivals, rather than being banned and suppressed, were encouraged to be repurposed to be about the ‘proper’ things for those seasons.
In northern Europe, and hence our culture, the main things were Yuletide (Odin’s self-immolation on the World Tree, associated with the ‘dead of winter’ in the Germanic year) and Easter (the celebration of the return of the earth goddess Esther).
In the Eastern Empire they had Mithra, Isis cults, Baal-Astarte cults and the like, such that a big part of appropriating winter and spring festivals was the observation that everyone was already celebrating them anyway, but in the names of various and sundry ‘false gods.’ In Christian Neo-Platonic thinking, this was symptomatic of a Divine Ideal that had gotten fragmented among the various peoples of the world, such that consolidating those festivals into ones closer to the Ideal Forms of celebration of the True God made a lot of sense from an early Christian perspective.
But I think it’s a mistake to point to any one pagan festival as being the ancestor of “Christmas,” unless you’re talking very specifically about the northern European cultural phenomenon of Yuletide/Christmas.
Well said.
You’re right on everything except the Mithras cult which is a modern myth as I’ve outlined just above.
I admit to not knowing a ton about the Mithras cult other than reading recently that a lot of stuff that was thought to be “known” about it turned out to be baseless assumption.
I thought there was at least a thing the Romans were calling Mithras and doing ritual celebrations of on the scale of the Isis cults (also not as widespread as once thought), but that that thing has no clear relationship with the Persian thing also called Mithras. But perhaps there’s not even that much?
But for sure the notion of “Mithraism” as a clearly-identifiable widespread thing among Romans that rivalled Christianity is a myth from the early days of comparative mythology.
Christmas is a result of syncretism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_syncretism
Some of it was conscious and political. Christmas is probably on December 25 because that’s when Mithra’s rebirth and death were celebrated. Mithra worship was popular among the military, and getting rid of their religion completely wouldn’t have had the intended effect of unifying the empire behind the emperor. We’re still celebrating the birth of a god into human flesh, and we’re doing it on December 25th! Makes it easier to transition.
Incidentally, a number of mithraeum (temples of Mithra) are still in existence and are well preserved in Rome. This is a picture of one of them under the Basilica of St. Clementine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rom,_San_Clemente,_Mithraeum.jpg
They simply turned the mithraeum into Christian churches.
This kind religious syncretism happens everywhere. The ways in which Mexican Catholicism differs from Catholicism in Spain are the ways in which the beliefs of modern Catholicism in Mexico are similar to the beliefs of the indigenous beliefs of the people of Mexico. Another example is Shia Islam. The ways in which Shia Islam differs from the Sunni has a lot in common with Zoroastrianism. As Islam came to dominate the Zoroastrianism of Persia, the Islam that emerged was different from Sunni Islam in the ways that Shia was similar to Zoroastrianism.
Traditions are especially susceptible. In northern Europe, when everything else in the forest dies, the three things that remain green are pine trees, mistletoe, and holly. They seem to be supernatural because the seem to defy death when everything else dies. The tradition of celebrating the winter solstice with these things predates the introduction of Christianity by a long shot.
But so what?
But so what?
If you believe that Jesus is the Savior of humanity, does it matter what time of year you celebrate his birth? In the agrarian societies that the tradition comes from, it also makes the most sense to observe a festival at time least likely to interfere with planting, harvesting or moving livestock.
If the God of Abraham is really as omnipotent and omniscient as advertised, he’s smart enough to understand that people who believe in him perceive him through the lens of their cultures–with all the cultural artifacts of the past embedded within that. The people who wrote the scriptures did so from the perspective of their own cultures, and if people understand those scriptures from the perspective of their own cultures, too, that shouldn’t be surprising.
Roman Mithraism is slightly younger than Christianity, Ken. If anything it was Mithraism that was influenced by Christianity.
Except that it wasn’t even that because most of the popular beliefs today about Mithraism are received wisdom, and pathological scholarship and simply not true.
Mithraism was actually nothing like Christianity and they had an adversarial relationship with each other.
Plus, Christianity had a habit of popping Churches everywhere pagan temples once stood. Mithraeums were no exception.
Plus, Christianity had a habit of popping Churches everywhere pagan temples once stood. Mithraeums were no exception.
They would even commonly use the same literal stones of the demolished temple to make the church. There’s a Latin poem celebrating the practice, IIRC.
If the God of Abraham is really as omnipotent and omniscient as advertised, he’s smart enough to understand that people who believe in him perceive him through the lens of their cultures
There’s a great tidbit in Francois Bernier’s Travels in the Mughal Empire where he’s talking to some Hindu gurus who are trying to explain this to him in the context of their laws about bathing in the Ganges to remove your sins.
Bernier declares this can’t possibly be a law from the eternal omniscient God because if they did this in Germany in the winter they’d die of hypothermia.
The gurus respond that obviously this is why God did not give this law to the Germans.
“Roman Mithraism is slightly younger than Christianity, Ken.”
Constantine didn’t become Christian until 300 years after Christianity, and the syncretism didn’t really start in earnest until then. The war on paganism went for another hundred years after that. Pointing out that the Roman legionaries’ version of Mithra worship didn’t emerge until after Christianity emerged isn’t really addressing this period at all. As Christianity spread around the empire (and the former empire) in the centuries that followed, it syncretized with all sorts of things–Mithra and Christmas being just one example.
Odin sacrificing himself on a tree to himself is thought to be evidence of Christianity’s influence on the pagan religion of the Vikings in the 9th and 10th centuries, too!
I hope you appreciate that if the God of Abraham really is as omnipotent and omniscient as advertised, he is perfectly capable of accounting for all of that syncretism. As cultural beliefs emerge and predominate, they absorb and subsume the things that came before them–often by mimicking them in certain ways.
If the Mithraism of the Romans showed up after Christianity in the 1st or 2nd century CE, that doesn’t eliminate the possibility that the Christian church in the 5th century CE had already amalgamated Mithra worship 150 years earlier through syncretism–either through conscious action by the Christian authorities or otherwise.
I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?
Okay, the bad news is that we’re building a new Christian church on top of your mithraeum, so you can’t sacrifice your bulls there anymore.
The good news it that we’re holding a special service on December 25th to the god who sacrificed himself for your sins–and you’re invited!
Odin sacrificing himself on a tree to himself
iswas thought to be evidence of Christianity’s influence on the pagan religion of the Vikings in the 9th and 10th centuries, too!This was assumed by the first Christian collectors of those stories in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It is no longer generally thought to be the case.
However, the notion that Baldr’s resurrection after Ragnarok is a post-Christian invention is still held by many.
The general notion of syncretism holds, but the actual details are fuzzy and largely inaccessible to us.
Ken I think you’re a brilliant guy, but you’ve been greatly misinformed on the nature of the Mithraic mysteries, and you’re certainly not alone. Before I took AG&R, I believed similarly.
The modern myth is more prevelant and popular than its source. I think because many atheists think it discredits the Christian narrative. Unfortunately it isn’t true.
I’ve given you a comprehensive reply here: https://reason.com/2021/11/11/james-okeefe-fbi-raid-project-veritas-biden-diary/?comments=true#comment-9205036
An Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnibenevolent God would leave his creations bumfuzzled and mystified with cultural lenses, but could and would reveal himself to everybody in a way all can understand.
“An Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnibenevolent God would leave his creations bumfuzzled and mystified with cultural lenses, but could and would reveal himself to everybody in a way all can understand.”
Are you a Christian now?
Because that’s more or less what we’re looking at.
Christianity has managed to persuade people of some basic truths–in every culture of the world. You understand that, right?
But Newsom and Biden want to ban Thanksgiving.
Chuck, Sullum is badly broken.
I think he’s actually right about that one. Puritans really weren’t very much fun.
Whether he’s right or wrong isn’t the issue.
The question was whether the progressives would ban the change in the seasons–since they love to ban things they have no power to do.
The answer that the Puritans didn’t like Christmas isn’t just bothsideism. It’s completely out of left field. The question wasn’t about banning holidays. It was about banning winter. And, no, there aren’t any conservatives around looking to ban winter–not that I can think of anyway.
I’m just here for the pedantry.
From all the ads I’m getting, looks like Black Friday is now the biggest holiday between Halloween and New Years.
You never heard of ad blocker?
Idiot.
Black Fridays Matter.
So do January White sales.
Racist
No they don’t. You’re never supposed to wear white after Labor Day. And since the people that blather that old superstitious cliche never say when to wear white, you might as wear not wear white. Ergo, whites clothes don’t matter.
And how can they still call it that?
I don’t know. It seems to stretch out over several weeks now, instead of being a day.
Selling products at reduced prices is bad.
Once “cyber Monday” became pretty mainstream, as well as those sweet Thursday deals, I think it was only a matter of time before they took over a whole week (and then some). I don’t think it’s necessarily bad, but you are right in saying it is pretty pervasive nowadays.
Was just browsing Amazon’s early Black Friday deals, just for fun. They have Zippo cigarette lighters listed under the “Health & Personal Care” category.
If you’re cauterizing wounds or sterilizing needles while practicing ditch medicine, yes. 🙂
The link is to ABC News. That’s not mainstream enough?
What were the mainstream news sources in the Soviet Union?
Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin.
15 blue, 5 red. After months of MSM headlines about how red state Governors are killing people, you can’t accept that if it were the opposite, the headline would be completely different.
It must chaff your lefty ass that Florida, Georgia, Idaho and Texas are all not on the list. Joe Friday and jeffy can regale us about the COVID wasteland that is Wyoming. Cases can’t rise when every single unvaccinated person has died. Hospital parking lots full of dead bodies stacked like firewood.
They railed on Idaho over the summer. CDA hospitals overflowing into Spokane was a literal crime against those liberals in WA wearing masks, distancing, and worshipping Inslee.
Funny how they never mention all the WA license plates in Idaho all summer enjoying a little personal freedom in a free state.
It was all overhyped. Spokane was just fine this summer. Aside from the effects of Biden bullshit.
If you have been to New Mexico lately, you would know that they are the most paranoid about “COVID safety “, yet numbers are on the rise.
Yeah, New Mexico has been hilariously neurotic, but their governor is a twat who can’t do anything without consulting Gavin Newsom first.
Plus COVID is racist against the First Nations. They should resurrect the old ads where the Chief is crying over your litter.
Covid must hate fry bread and toasted pinons.
One of the most unintentionally hilarious things I’ve ever seen was a footrace at one of the Pueblos we visited. We were looking to buy pots and jewelry, like good palefaces, and stumbled into the middle of some festival. One of the attractions was evidently a 5k. (Along with a booth selling fry bread, tamales, green or red, and toasted pinon nuts. Nomnomnom.)
I’ve never seen spherical people trying to run before. To their credit, the participants all finished, and looked better afterwards than I did when I ran 5ks cross-country a gazillion years ago.
This is hilarious. That “Chief” is the son of Sicilian immigrants and has no Native blood at all. Natives cite him as an example of racist portrayals since his silhouette was chosen due to the racist images prevalent in the ad world.
So you decry racism against Natives by using a racist image of Natives?
Pretty sure Chuck’s being sarcastic and/or deliberately insulting.
But carry on.
I always thought Iron Eyes Cody was crying because he didn’t have a car to get him the Hell off the Reservation. From the mouths of babes…
Being deliberately obtuse, I see. Per OP, the point was that MSM will call out in the headline that the rise was in Southern/Red states whenever they can. Here they can’t score political points.
Yes, I’m aware that conservatives have a victimhood narrative going and part of that narrative is that the mainstream media is out to get them. Meanwhile, if you look at the actual linked ABC article, the only mention it makes of Southern states is to note things are going better there:
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/live-updates/coronavirus/?id=81030970
“Cases are still falling in most of the South, which was the first region to get hit hard by the delta surge over the summer. In Florida, where high transmission was reported in every county over the summer, now only 1 out of the 67 counties is reporting high transmission, according to federal data.”
that narrative is that the mainstream media is out to get them
Probably because the mainstream media is really out to get them. I don’t think at this point even the mainstream media denies it.
You really just can’t handwave something so blatantly obvious anymore.
Meanwhile, Mike was claiming just a few short weeks ago that cases in his home state of Idaho were so bad, the bodies were piling up outside the emergency rooms.
Yep. That comment was pointed at me. Meanwhile, those of us who live knew/know better.
*live here
Hey guys,
I am sure that if there were ANY news articles to be found about ICUs filling up in blue states, Mike would be the first to bring those up and of course point out that they are in blue states. Just like he did with the Idaho stories. You know, since he is so consistent and middle of the road and all.
Oh wait, according to my quick google search, there have been many news articles discussing ICUs filling up in blue states over the past few months. How could Mike not have brought up all of these? Surely there must be some mistake. He was my go to for a balanced viewpoint.
Feel free to post stories about ICUs filling up in blue states. I happen to be familiar with what is going on with COVID in Idaho.
No thanks. I am not a partisan concern troll.
OK, then don’t. You are the one that brought up what is going on in other states.
I brought it up to highlight that you are a partisan concern troll.
But still no honesty or admittance. Just deflection.
Every time you brought up one of these ICU articles over multiple threads, you were careful to point out that it was a red state. Not because you were concerned about those people, but because you wanted to dunk on them and rile up the cons on this site.
I would have believed that you cared about COVID in Idaho or even specifically vaccination if you had left out the red state stuff. But you couldn’t do that because you are a partisan concern troll.
“ you were careful to point out that it was a red state”
Go back and look. I did not. You’ve added that in your mind.
I have pretty much only talked about Idaho. Go back and check.
I don’t want to rile up the conservatives. They are already riled up (“Fuck Biden!” and “mean tweets” signaling to each other every comment thread.)
I want them to go away. They have invaded what was one of the best places for libertarian discussion on the Internet and turned it into a right-wing b.s. session.
https://reason.com/2021/10/04/covid-19-cases-hospitalizations-and-deaths-fell-significantly-in-september/?comments=true#comment-9138676
That is the first one I came across where you went out of your way to say that Idaho was a red state and clogging up ICUs. It didn’t really add anything to the comment. There was another time where you threw another red state clogging up the ICUs comment at me trying to get me pigeon holed into being some team red troll. It is going to take me too long to track that one down.
“I don’t want to rile up the conservatives. They are already riled up”
They are riled up, but if you want to rattle their cage a little more, that is fine with me. Just be honest about it. However, if you do want to have honest discussions, make sure you aren’t trolling those of us who are legitimately looking for a good conversation. Then arguing (or agreeing) in good faith with those people.
“I want them to go away. They have invaded what was one of the best places for libertarian discussion on the Internet and turned it into a right-wing b.s. session.”
I find that I have to scroll past long stretches of dialog as well. I am even to the point where I will ctrl+F to look for specific people who I know have nuanced positions that I enjoy. I don’t really enjoy getting into confrontations all that much (it tends to drain my batteries), so I choose my battles wisely. I end up ignoring a lot of comments. I know Sarc likes to bait people as well, but I enjoy having discussions with him.
My only recommendation on this is, don’t feed the monster. I am sure there are a lot of people who jump on here looking forward to getting into a fight.
No Mike leftists weasels like YOU come here and shit up every thread. And now you’re trying to ruin Idaho. Trash like you have almost destroyed WA.
Liarson lives in Idaho? Ugh….. too close for comfort. Although Spokane certainly isn’t immune to morons like him. The Spokane City council now has a ‘defund the police’ kook now. Some asshole named Zappone.
Fuck off and die, asshole.
That really is the go to answer for White Mike.
When you were rantinf and raving about Idaho and Florida you continued to dismiss seasonality.. now you embrace it when it hits blue states. Why?
By the way, the OP wrote, “Must not be red states or that would be in the headlines.”
You added quite a bit of your own interpretation about headlines and Southern states. Maybe don’t be so quick with accusations that I’m being deliberately obtuse just because I’m not reading your mind, and seeing the conservative victimhood movie playing there.
Has nothing to do with the fact that measures taken in blue states are not doing any good against the virus.
If this is in response to me, you may need to reread my comment.
Gee, who could have guessed that that would happen as we approach winter?
They’re up in my state (California)
“Jacob Chansley, the ‘QAnon Shaman’ and the central figure most identified with the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, is facing a 51-month prison sentence if convicted. This is the lengthiest sentence prosecutors have sought thus far in a January 6 case.”
51 months is too light. Heck, 51 years is too light. Anybody who participated in the HEAVILY ARMED INSURRECTION should get a mandatory life sentence.
Granted, we Koch / Soros / Reason libertarians usually want to #EmptyThePrisons. But, it’s like, we need to draw the line somewhere. And experts agree that #1/6WasWorseThan9/11.
Hakeem Jeffries approves.
He really did wander through the building saucily, displaying great insouciance.
Maybe if he wanted to escape all that jailtime he should have burned down an historic church or something like the DNC’s Brownshirts.
“It appears the Southern District of New York now has journalists in their sights for the supposed crime of doing their jobs lawfully and honestly,” Mr. O’Keefe said in the video statement.”
Why is the FBI involved in a diary theft?
Can anyone explain this–apart from the diary belonging to a VIP?
Is the FBI acting as Joe Biden’s private investigator now?
Why is the FBI involved?
Same questions I asked a few days ago. The FBI going after the diary just authenticated the contents.
Why is it in the purview of the FBI?
Interstate crime, Okay.
Kidnappings? Yeah, the FBI deals with that.
Domestic terrorism? Okay.
Drunk driving accidents, fist fights, and diary thefts aren’t part of the FBI’s mandate.
Looks to me like some asshole U.S. Attorney out of the Southern District of New York is trying to make a name for himself or herself–like Preet Bahara did when he came after commenters at Reason. If this is just showboating by some ambitious prosecutor, I hope this ruins his career.
Preet Bahara may have thought he would go from the Southern District of New York to being mayor of NYC like Giuliani was, but he made such an ass of himself in so many ways, his “political” career now consists of doing podcasts. If this is just an attention seeking idiot of a U.S. Attorney, let’s hope they end up the same way.
If the FBI can go after people who post mean tweets, they can certainly go after people who steal girl’s diaries.
Federal law enforcement as middle school angst.
“Mean tweets” … dit … dit … dit … signal transmitted.
Looks like White Mike has found himself another CACLAL.
Talk about signaling, he’s literally speaking in code.
Awwwww. He misses jeff.
He forgot the password.
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck a SDNY attorney into a woodchipper?
All give that woodchuck as much as it can handle for doing so. It would be wood well earned.
The FBI is nothing more than a strong arm for this administration. This shit will get worse until the midterms. After that the Dems will not control the house or the Senate.
Brownshirts in Blue Suits?
Antifa are the Brownshirts. These guys are more like the Gestapo.
I have not seen an actual explanation for this.
The free press ain’t gonna chill itself.
Did the current owner of the diary say something at a school board meeting not approved by the central committee?
After the FBI repeatedly went to extraordinary lengths to protect the Big Guy (by preventing corrupt and criminal activities on Hunter’s missing laptop from being made public), nobody should be surprised the FBI is now protecting the Big Guy from his daughter’s writing in her old diary.
And a U.S. Attorney, presumably, who managed to get a warrant, apparently. And what kind of a judge would grant a warrant like that? It makes me wonder if the warrant was obtained by the U.S. Attorney under false pretenses.
So, maybe someone here can answer this: assuming it’s not a warrant from a secret court, are all warrants required to be available for public inspection?
What makes you think there was a warrant? The FBI is no longer accountable.
“It appears the Southern District of New York now has journalists in their sights for the supposed crime of doing their jobs lawfully and honestly,” Mr. O’Keefe said in the video statement.”
The reason the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York was mentioned is presumably because someone from that office, probably whomever is in charge these days, obtained a search warrant.
Is the FBI acting as Joe Biden’s private investigator now?
Why is the FBI involved?
Remember when I said yesterday that the CIA and the FBI have become the KGB?
I wasn’t kidding. They were always bad, even from birth, but they weren’t state instruments of the Party like this before.
Almost immediately after the first raid, speculation about the FBI’s role in peddling the diary began running wild.
For those who did not read the articles: Veritas tried to authenticate the diary and could not, so they returned it to the attorney representing the people who say they found it in a room where it was left behind by Biden’s daughter.
The attorney refused to accept it.
Finding this very suspicious, they turned it in to law enforcement.
All of this happened during the election.
Now, a year later, the FBI comes busting through the door….
And the sieze not just information about the diary or contacts about the diary…. They take his phones, which contain all of his contacts, his donor lists, his stories that he is working on…. All of it.
And considering who they are working for, does anyone seriously believe they will properly safeguard his information?
This is the same prosecutor’s office that has been using grand juries to get donor lists from organizations the left opposed, like the NRA.
And the wall of silence from the left is instructive.
Trump calls CNN fake news because they peddle fake stories about him and everyone loses their mind calling him a dictator. But the Biden administration attempts to shut down a news organization by going after their sources and donors?
Nothing to see here.
Cyto,
Veritas has posted videos that have humiliated several Dem sacred cows. Maybe the FBI is just trying to find out if Veritas has some more of such videos or who Veritas is planning on exposing.
June 5, 2014
Dear Diary ,
All I hear all day long is how wonderful Hunter’s Ukrainian gig is or how great Hunter did the Chinese deal.
Hunter,Hunter, Hunter!
I’m tired of being Hunter’s shadow all the time.
but they weren’t state instruments of the Party like this before
What about Hoover’s FBI during the Roosevelt administration? Is it actually worse than that now?
I think so, because they were tied to Hoover and not a political party, and their power came from blackmail rather than the force of the state.
To clarify it’s like the difference between being run by a closeted Mafia Don and being run by the Soviet Union itself.
The Sword & Shield of the Democratic Party?
Because the diary has the potential to embarrass, and maybe fatally wound, the political chances of a major American politician of the Uniparty. The FBI is the Sword and Shield of The (Uni)Party now, and mores the pity, it looks like they always have been.
It is pretty clear that the FBI has been politicized and weaponized, Ken.
• How it started:
End. Mass. Incarceration.
Defund The Prison Industrial Complex.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeemjeffries) June 29, 2020
• How it’s going:
Lock up Kyle Rittenhouse and throw away the key.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeemjeffries) November 10, 2021
Divisive cultural events like a Rittenhouse trial are tailor made to expose hacks.
The amount of lefty tears on this one are going to be fantastic. So many out there that havent watched the videos and have no idea of the details, but want his scalp.
They are going to be very disappointed. Many sads for them
They’ll convict him of something. The pressure the Democrats have been putting on the jury is nuts.
They will nail him on the weapons misdemeanor charge.
The judge went wild on the ADA yesterday. I could not believe it when I watched it. I have never seen a judge go after a prosecutor like that. ADA Binger deserves the bench-slapping he got yesterday.
The judge has twice now said he will explain the long barrel under 18 carry law in instructions. His discussion of ignorance of the law yesterday seemed to be directed at the DAs interpretation of that law, not Rittenhouse.
We shall see. The current proposed instruction seems to be guaranteed to convict, regardless of what the actual law says. (According to libertarian leaning legal pundits)
The dumbass ADA Binger is still arguing with the judge. The man is a complete stunod. It is almost like he is trying to goad the judge into a mistrial, so he can get another bite at the apple.
CNN says not to worry, the judge is just “old school”.
Not that the ADA was maligning the defendant for daring to pay attention at his public trial, or to exercise his right to remain silent before it, or attempting to bring in evidence that the judge had previously barred.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/10/us/kenosha-judge-bruce-schroeder-kyle-rittenhouse-trial/index.html
Unless the judge gets pissed enough at the prosecutor’s bullshit to dismiss with prejudice or direct a verdict.
Las Vegas Raiders WR Henry Ruggs III was charged with four felonies for his part in a fatal collision that killed somebody in Las Vegas. He is 22 years old, and he was given $9.6 million in signing bonuses.
If you’d given me $9.6 million and sent me to Las Vegas when I was 22 years old, I probably wouldn’t have killed anybody, accidentally or otherwise, but I’m sure it would have ended badly.
It’s possible to get in trouble in places like Green Bay, Wisconsin or Jacksonville, Florida, but Las Vegas is designed by the world’s greatest geniuses to separate young men from good sense.
I almost feel sorry for the guy. This is going to happen over and over and over again in Las Vegas. You can go look for trouble in Kansas City, but in Las Vegas, trouble comes looking for you.
As college players start making money, they’ll be susceptible to the same thing.
“Statistics suggest that up to 78% of NFL players go bankrupt or fall into severe financial stress within just two years of retirement. For basketball players, the figures are only slightly better at 60% of financial ruin within five years of retirement.”
https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-finance/602725/how-nfl-draftees-can-avoid-going-broke
. . . and it’ll be worse for professional players that come to Las Vegas.
Forget CRT. If anything is racist, it’s giving kids without any knowledge of personal finances big checks for millions of dollars. Women fly to Las Vegas from all over the world to prey on men with money. And 22 year old millionaires are practically defenseless.
How ’bout we start teaching kids how to save, invest, and manage their money? The results of their ignorance can be terrible–like failing to teach them about birth control and STDs in sex ed. While we’re at it, maybe we teach them some basic logic and critical thinking.
And not just for the athletes.
I disagree with Ken’s assertion (that paying lots of money to young black athletes is racism).
Two solutions to this perceived problem include breaking up the NFL and NBA monopolies (to allow/encourage the creation of more sports leagues, teams, players and competition) and/or to encourage colleges, professional sports teams and athletes to invest most of their huge salaries and signing bonuses into future earnings (instead of spending most of all of it on expensive mansions, cars, clothes, casinos, etc.
If the NFL was smart, they’d tell the NFLPA, “Look, we know you guys don’t like the salary restrictions on rookies. We’re willing to raise the rookie salaries across the board by 200%, on the condition that 75% of their entire paycheck needs to be put in to investments or savings–Roth IRA, savings account, college Roth, savings bonds, whatever–that can’t be accessed until the standard rookie contract period is up. Each team will hire an accountant specifically for the purpose of handling these rookie accounts. This will better set them up for financial stability and allow them to grow up a bit so they don’t go nuts buying bling their rookie years, and end up broke two months out of the league if they don’t make it.”
It’s no guarantee that every player will end up at least financially stable, because a lot of these guys have no future-time orientation at all, and it will be like getting a lottery ticket for them when the contract period is up. But maybe it will mitigate some of the damage.
Not too racist to assume black men can’t handle finances.
It isn’t about race or gender, it is age.
For a counter example, look at the Disney child stars.
Drug addiction, financial exploitation, ruinous relationships… All are common enough to have become a stereotype.
And that is a mostly white, mostly female cadre.
But that is how it will be spun, Cyto. By the attorneys and agents representing the athlete’s support system coming up, if by nobody else.
Lots of people, in their minds (and it might even be true), had to scrimp, save, and sacrifice so little John could make it out and get paid. And now he owes those people a little somethin’ somethin’.
If they still want to get paid, there’s always endorsement deals. Marshawn Lynch was notable for banking his entire football salary and living off of his endorsement money. No reason these guys can’t do the same thing, especially now with college athletes being able to get paid.
Rather telling comment considering that I didn’t mention race in there at all.
You could steer them to some trust management services–and insist that the balance of their signing bonuses (over $1 million, say) isn’t released directly to the player until the player passes a personal finance education course approved by the NFL PA.
At least they’d have some sense of what they’re doing to themselves when they blow their money on cars, clubs, and shit.
The highest paid soccer stars of the 1960s ended up in bankruptcy court shortly after retiring. A reporter asked him where all the money went. Loosely translated from the Irish slang, his response was, “I spent most of it on fast cars, chasing women, and buying drinks for my friends–and the rest of it I just pissed away”.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4090840.stm
I think that’s pretty typical. They have no chance of keeping their money under those circumstances. Having a gold digger steal it from them in a divorce is just one way to lose it, but these guys are leaking money like sieve. If it weren’t for the gold diggers, they’d lose it to someone else. 78% go bankrupt within two years of retiring! That statistic is insane.
“I disagree with Ken’s assertion (that paying lots of money to young black athletes is racism).”
I didn’t say giving them money is racism. I said that–compared to CRT–failing to educate them about their personal finances, investment, and money management is like racism (or has racist outcomes).
Not teaching them about birth control, condoms, and STDs would also be racist by the measure. Why aren’t we teaching them about their finances? A lot of these kids aren’t getting good financial advice from home either–especially the ones (of any race) who come from poor families. They may not know the differences between S&P 500 index fund and a money market account. With that level of knowledge, giving them millions of dollars is like letting a baby play with a loaded gun.
With luck, there won’t be an NFL in a matter of years. Rendering the discussion moot.
How do the rich get richer?
Not spending money on things that don’t make money.
What about their offspring?
Same.
They need to get Bobby Bonilla’s agent. Mets will still be paying him for years to come. Brilliant!
Ken,
All NFL teams conduct rookie training sessions that cover handling their huge wages, women troubles, scams, family pressures, friends “borrowing” money, etc. The info is there for them, the problem is getting them to use it.
Was the vehicle collision caused by an incomplete pass?
Zing!
In all seriousness, the casinos give people free alcohol while they’re gambling. Just because something should be perfectly legal, doesn’t mean it isn’t wrong. And giving 22 year old millionaires free drinks while they gamble is fucking mean.
Well, they call them free. I once saw a guy lose $60,000 at the blackjack table after a string of “free” drinks. That was the most expensive round of drinks in his life.
Just because something should be perfectly legal, doesn’t mean it isn’t wrong.
This has been the hardest idea for Reason writers to wrap their heads around. Particularly regarding corporate censorship.
I used to run valet parking for the Borgata when it first opened and I loved our whole “If you have a gambling problem, get help nonsense…while we gave people who lost $60,000 in a trip (in 2003, mind you) all kinds of perks for doing so.
The house always wins.
Sometimes you win when you bet the ranch.
The
hHouse always wins.Just ask the Babbitt family.
Putting an NFL team in Vegas was a horrible idea for that very reason.
Maybe they bet it wouldn’t be an issue.
Not for that reason. Pro sports have tried to avoid an association with gambling for over a century. Now they embrace it.
Oh please, lil Baby Jesus: give us an NFL Black Sox scandal for your birthday…
“I think we should throw those books in a fire,” Abuismail said, and Twigg said he wants to “see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff.”
“I sat through every disgusting frame of this film!…Twice!”
https://youtu.be/06jLunu_9fY
“I think we should throw those books in a fire,” Abuismail said
Doesn’t Robby realize that we can’t know how to feel about this if he doesn’t identify the political leanings of the speaker?
Hush. He’s pretending to dislike book-burning on some sort of universal principle.
It’s only okay if it’s a private company.
Speaking of book burnings.
https://scifi.radio/2020/05/31/uncle-hugos-science-fiction-bookstore-attacked-burned-to-the-ground-in-minneapolis-riots/#:~:text=Uncle%20Hugo%E2%80%99s%20Science%20Fiction%20Bookstore%20was%20the%20oldest,following%20the%20murder%20of%20George%20Floyd%20by%20police.
A Sci-Fi bookstore got burned down by the rabble? Did they think that Asimov, Roddenberry, Heinlein, and L. Neil Smith were racists? What’s wrong with these assholes?
• COVID-19 cases are rising in 20 states.
———-
Wow, and at the same time as they started rising last year? It’s almost like there’s some sort of “yearly weather effect” that the experts are somehow missing!
Does anyone even care any more?
Just wait until 2022, aka an election year.
Meanwhile, nobody is saying that seasons don’t affect the spread. In fact, the linked article mentions seasons:
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/live-updates/coronavirus/?id=81030970
So why are multiple commenters here acting like they are uncovering some conspiratorial silence about seasonal effects on COVID-19 spread? Are you trying to imply that seasonal effects on COVID-19 spread somehow cancel out that it is a very good idea to get vaccinated?
Virus is going to virus. Sure, maybe vaccines will help, although there’s some startling evidence (UK / Israel / Finland) to the contrary. Regardless, the point is … FUCK THE OVERLORDS. Government attempts to control the situation have been a complete failure. So just stop already.
Quite emotional, but you completely failed to acknowledge that the linked ABC article exhibited none of the anti-conservative biases you accuse the mainstream media of.
And you completely failed to acknowledge the OP’s point…that they couldn’t frame the store with their anti-conservative bias.
I addressed his point by showing that the actual linked ABC article exhibits none of the biases he, or you, claim the mainstream media exhibit.
BECAUSE THEY CAN’T FRAME THE STORY THAT WAY.
What part of that sentence don’t you understand? They will pounce on any correlation that conforms to their biases. When such a correlation doesn’t exist, they keep all of their biases at bay.
“They” do this. “They” do that. Classic paranoid, victimhood talk.
Or just not a fucking idiot like you.
After MONTHS of “OMG! CONSERVATIVE GOVERNORS ARE KILLING PEOPLE”
The “Well, it’s a seasonal thing” did not seem to get any play this summer. Weird, huh?
Yes, some news sources are like that. Why do you care? Just ignore them and use news sources that you prefer.
Wow, White Mike went from “It’s not propaganda!” to “So what?” so smoothly that I barely noticed.
Always fun to watch the progression from “its not happening” to “happening but no big deal”.
“Happening but its the right thing to do” right around the corner
Next week he’ll say ABC news sources are not to be trusted and he never uses them.
Uh, there’s a lot of reason to care when many people are influenced by news sources like that and convinced to support destructive and immoral policies supposedly to combat the virus.
Quite emotional, but you completely failed to acknowledge…
Mike is a sealion’s sealion.
LOL they sometimes mention it NOW because it’s scary, but clearly the idiots ‘in charge’ weren’t going to mention it during spring when cases were dropping like a rock.
https://nypost.com/2021/04/10/fauci-not-sure-why-texas-doesnt-have-covid-uptick-after-nixing-masks/
It’s been some five weeks since Texas lifted its mask mandate, and there has yet to be an explosion of COVID-19 cases.
It’s something Dr. Anthony Fauci can’t quite explain.
“I’m not really quite sure,” he told MSNBC this week. “It could be they’re doing things outdoors.”
You just chanted the topic to
Fauci and masks.
Fuck off and die, asshole.
If Fauci doesn’t understand why cases are dropping in Texas in March/April, then he clearly doesn’t understand seasonality.
The same is true of the CDC director’s sense of impending doom……at the low point of virus activity around the country.
These are not statements from people who understand seasonality.
He also ignored a year’s worth of data showing mask mandates have had very little effect on case rates.
You dismissed it multiple times claiming Idaho and Florida were evil red states looking to kill people.
Because the media were quick to chastise the governors of Florida and Texas for their lax COVID policies as case rates went up in those states this summer, when everyone was huddled indoors with the AC on to beat the heat.
And now they’re oddly silent about rising case rates in cold weather blue states when people start huddling indoors with the heat on.
“the media”
This is part of the conservative victimhood narrative. There are plenty of conservative news sources that are part of the media, but the victimhood narrative requires ignoring all that and referring to liberal-leaning news sources as if they were the totality of “the media”.
It goes on with social media. Never mind that Trump has launched Truth Social — “social media” are censoring conservatives!!!
Lol. Please keep proving youre a liberal. This and your take on Rittenhouse shows how you only push leftist narratives. Youre a fucking joke.
Seems like it wasn’t that long ago that lefties were all going on about “the media” and how bad and corrupt the corporate mainstream media was.
I wonder what changed?
There are literally a hundred times more blatantly leftist media organizations compared to real news organizations. Your premise is shit.
Just like you.
Because leftists kept carrying on in late summer about how the increased cases in southern (red) states was due to evil Republican policies rather than the seasonal effects as they occur in the south, where respiratory infections increase as people are driven inside to the a/c to escape the heat. It was only a couple of months ago; you must remember.
No, but it shows that who is or isn’t vaccinated isn’t the major driver of when more people get sick.
Some 76 percent of Americans think Facebook is making society worse off.
Liked.
I like how they ask about Facebook and not ALL of social media.
It is ALL shit. Twitter is worse than FB in many ways. Most ways, actually.
+1
I never see facebook posts attached to any new article. It’s always one tweet after another. Youtube vids come in a distant second.
Good thing Reason eschews all that….
“The FBI searched the home of James O’Keefe—a conservative activist who films undercover videos for his organization, Project Veritas—on Saturday, reportedly because law enforcement wants to know how O’Keefe came to possess a diary allegedly stolen from Ashley Biden, President Joe Biden’s daughter. The FBI also searched the homes of two O’Keefe associates.”
Mess with the king, and the king’s men will come for you.
As for the NYT, as long as they love the current king, they will applaud the king’s men.
It doesn’t even sound like the diary was stolen. The story that was given is that she accidentally left it behind in a (hotel?) room, and someone found it there.
Kinda weird how many Biden kids have massive drug problems. No need to question THAT family.
It CERTAINLY isn’t a risk to national security that the president’s family is compromised by drug addiction.
Don’t think it’s just the Biden kids:
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/was-donald-trump-jr-coked-out-of-his-mind-during-rnc-speech/
Has anyone ever seen Hunter Biden and Donald Trump, Jr. in the same room?
Any evidence that Trump Jr was on coke?
We have, you know, definitive proof that Biden’s kids have those issues.
Not conclusive evidence. Just his demeanor and his red, watery eyes.
Yes, I realize Biden’s son, Hunter, has had drug problems. I don’t know much about his other kids. I’m not a Biden supporter, so I have no dog in the hunt as far as trying to defend Hunter or the other kids.
So you dismiss evidence and refuse to condemn the lefts because you made a pure assertion that trump Jr did it too? Such independent thought. So much not a leftist weasel.
I have no dog in the hunt as far as trying to defend Hunter or the other kids.
Then why leap in with the whataboutism based on “Not conclusive evidence. Just his demeanor and his red, watery eyes?”
Because Donald Trump, Jr. is an ass, and I wanted to say something snarky about him.
Why would anyone on a libertarian website take offense at making a snarky comment about Donald Trump, Jr.
Why would anyone on a libertarian website take offense at making a snarky comment about Donald Trump, Jr.
Because you responded to a factually true criticism of the sitting administration with an unsupported accusation against the “other side” in a rather obvious attempt at whataboutism, knowing you could count on a general unwillingness to defend a douchebag like DT, Jr. as cover.
I know it can be hard to distinguish bothsidesism from whataboutism. Often it depends on context.
I was engaging in bothsidesism. You can tell because I acknowledged that the criticism of the Bidens is true, and I didn’t try to make any excuses for them.
Mostly, though, I just wanted to make a snarky remark about Donald Trump, Jr. because he’s a cretin. And he and Hunter are practically twins.
And it’s kinda funny that you are now stalking my comments as you accused me of stalking Ken’s.
Feel free to do so, or mute me. I don’t care.
I don’t “stalk” Ken’s comments. I actually read them all, and respond when he makes a poor argument.
And it’s kinda funny that you are now stalking my comments as you accused me of stalking Ken’s.
I think this is actually the first time I’ve ever engaged you.
Do you wonder why so many people try to tell you that you project?
Must be muted people telling me that. I know I don’t “project” so I don’t care if you think I do.
I know I don’t “project” so I don’t care if you think I do.
::claims conservatives have a victim narrative::
::whines that a commenter who’s never interacted with him before is “stalking” him
If there was a video of Trump Jr lounging in bed with a crack pipe and actively smoking it while watching the news, I can’t imagine the sort of week-long news-blast we would be subject to.
We would indeed.
LOL! Whataboutism rears it’s head.
It was drug rehab you retarded shit. It has been mentioned multiple times here.
“One Virginia county’s school board is conducting an audit to remove books deemed offensive from the library. Two board members went so far as to suggest that books with adult themes be cast into the fire.”
Meh. Woke CRT fans want to cast math, science, logic, individual freedom, markets, etc. (aka the Enlightenment) into the fire.
Meh… moron applies one standard to people who agree with his shitty politics and another to people he disagrees with. If I’ve learned one thing from advocating for limited government on this page I’ve learned that’s pretty much the definition of libertarianism to some people around here. You go, Team Red.
Nice try, fucktard. Now how about getting into the wayback machine set for the Ukraine in 1932 or Cambodia in 1975? (Or just save some money and move to Venezuela.)
Earth Skeptic is not a libertarian. There are only a few libertarians hanging out here, and they are regularly abused by the bulk of the commenters here.
Quite emotional, but you completely failed to acknowledge that the
linked ABC articlecomment exhibited none of the anti-libertarianconservativebiases you accuse themainstream mediacommentators of.There are only a few libertarians hanging out here
Only White Mike, Shrike and sarcasmic are the true libertarians. They know that corporatism, corporatist political censorship and regulation are an integral part of the libertarian ideal.
Everyone else comes here to pick on the poor little martyrs. Hundreds of bullies and not a single libertarian.
Fucking lol.
Please tell us about j6, masks, vaccines, Rittenhouse, blm riots and how they align perfectly with the views of the left for you
If by libertarian you mean on the (political) autism spectrum, then no, I am not.
Earth Skeptic is not a libertarian. There are only a few libertarians hanging out here
White Mike, folks! The ‘middle’ of a Leftertarian human centipede sucking crap from Jeffy as the ‘head’ and excreting for Sarc as the ‘tail’.
/barf
This is one of the prime examples which suggested these assholes are simply that.
Like turd, anything commie shit posts which isn’t a lie is there accidentally, he gets them all smeared back in his face, gets universally insulted and derided and comes back for more.
Is there some sort of personality other than “asshole” which can describe that sort of idiocy?
Not as far as I can see.
Pot, kettle, black. On several levels.
Study: Fox viewers more likely to believe Covid falsehoods
People who trust Fox News Channel and other media outlets that appeal to conservatives are more likely to believe falsehoods about Covid-19 and vaccines than those who primarily go elsewhere for news, a study has found.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/10/study-fox-viewers-covid-falsehoods-520591
Yes, ‘falsehoods’ like the virus came from a lab, and vax shots won’t be available for more than a year!
Or maybe they’ve moved onto the new falsehoods that the vax stops transmission.
There is no evidence the virus came from a lab. The closest thing is that research on a genetically distant strain of bat coronaviruses was being done in the Wuhan lab.
Why is it important to you that it didn’t come from a lab?
“There is no evidence the virus came from a lab. ”
Outside of the lack of evidence it came from an animal in spite of Chinese scientists trying to reverse engineer it to make it look like it did.
Exactly correct. There is lack of evidence of where it came from. Period.
There is plenty of evidence of lab creation. None for animal.
There is not. Please cite any evidence that COVID-19 was created in a lab.
It broke out exactly at the lab, seeming to first strike scientists who worked at the lab, a lab where they were researching that exact sort of thing, for which no other source has been found despite nearly two years of frantic searching, after which the Chinese government still refuses to share the records of what they were working on in that lab?
All “truths” that are only true within conservative bubbles.
You said there was no evidence. I presented you with evidence.
Which of these things is untrue?
“first strike scientists who worked at the lab”
It is not known whether they had COVID. Lab workers take precautions against being infected with the viruses they work with, so if they did catch COVID it is just as likely they caught it outside the lab, on the streets of Wuhan.
“no other source has been found”
Which has no bearing on whether the lab leak theory is true.
The Chinese government has been secretive. Not surprising for a big, authoritarian government, but also not evidence that the lab leak theory is true.
And to be clear, I’m not saying the lab leak is not true. I’m saying we don’t know. We very well likely may never know.
And to be clear, I’m not saying the lab leak is not true.
What you actually said was that there is no evidence for it, which is not true. I just presented you the main pieces of evidence for it, and you declared them to be partisan lies. Yet you then acknowledge that, yes, every bit of what I said is true. Because while
“It is not known whether they had COVID”
What I said was
“seeming to first strike scientists who worked at the lab.”
Which yes, is circumstantial, because that’s exactly where the virus’ epicenter was. Like not just “in that city” but “in that exact location where the lab is.”
“Chinese scientists trying to reverse engineer it to make it look like it did”
Cite for that?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9629563/Chinese-scientists-created-COVID-19-lab-tried-cover-tracks-new-study-claims.html
hilarious. thank you for the in-his-face I mean the cite.
White Mike wanted that cite about as badly as a Clap diagnosis.
Oh, this is the “unique fingerprints” b.s. The premise is flawed.
You were bitch-slapped by damikesc. How ’bout you man up and not be such a fucking weasel.
The premise is flawed.
He wrote without evidence.
Do you have a cite for that, you disingenuous cunt?
Except for all the evidence that Covid came from the Wuhan Coronavirus Research Institute.
Dude, you’re in no position to criticize anyone for partisan idiocy.
Now do exaggerated perceptions of COVID risks held by liberals, as repeatedly revealed in polls.
I read a study that showed that people who watch CNN and MSNBC are more likely to be crazy woke bitches who scream at you about pronouns and color their hair pink, working at Starbucks while they explain to you know the global economy is really supposed to work.
But they are vaxxed, and more likely to go on living… if you can call it that.
“more likely to believe falsehoods about Covid-19 and vaccines”
Is this like the “misinformation” thing? Anyone who agrees with you has a valid opinion, but if you disagree its misinformation? Are these covid “falsehoods” just “stuff my lefty boos dont agree with”?
Kaiser polled people on whether or not they believed seven widely-circulated untruths about the virus, among them that the government is exaggerating the number of deaths attributable to the coronavirus, hiding reports of deaths caused by vaccines or that the vaccines can cause infertility, contain a microchip or can change DNA.
For people who most trusted network or local television news, NPR, CNN or MSNBC, between 11 percent and 16 percent said they believed four or more of those untrue statements, or weren’t sure about what was true.
For Fox News viewers, 36 percent either believed in or were unsure about four or more false statements, Kaiser said. It was 46 percent for Newsmax viewers and 37 percent for those who said they trusted One America Network News.
Yes, because nobody ever responded to a stupid question with a snarky answer. And notice that Politico only identified 5 of the ‘falsehoods’ in question to imply that Fox viewers believe the vaccine is microchipped. Fuck off and die, idiot.
The most widely-believed falsehood is about the government exaggerating Covid deaths.
LOL! hahahahahahaha!
Kaiser polled people on whether or not they believed seven widely-circulated untruths about the virus, among them that the government is exaggerating the number of deaths attributable to the coronavirus, hiding reports of deaths caused by vaccines or that the vaccines can cause infertility, contain a microchip or can change DNA.
———-
We’re 100% exaggerating the number of deaths attributable to the coronavirus, and the experts have admitted it multiple times.
We’re also 100% downplaying adverse effects caused by the jab.
“The most widely-believed falsehood is about the government exaggerating Covid deaths. Kaiser said 60 percent of Americans either believe that or said they didn’t know whether or not it was true.”
That officials have admitted to doctoring the numbers from the get go does impact the trust in those numbers.
And it speaks poorly of the AP…if that is even possible…that they do not link to the study they are reporting on.
There have been 3 audits im aware of that looked into covid death reporting. All stated covid deaths were estimated to be 30% lower than reported.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/colorado-lowers-coronavirus-death-count
https://nypost.com/2021/06/06/ca-county-cuts-death-toll-after-finding-fatalities-not-caused-by-covid/
https://oaklandside.org/2021/06/04/alameda-countys-new-covid-death-toll-is-25-lower-than-thought/
U.S. consumer prices surged 6.2 percent since last October,
HOLY FUCKING GREEK ANARCHISTS POUNDING AT THE GATES!!!Things that used to cost $1.00 last year when we were all huddled at home now cost $1.06 this year. Head for the hills!! SELL!!! SELL!!! SELL!!!
I’m not sure you can see the big picture, or that you understand exactly how this works.
But I am sure AmSoc would storm the Bastille if evil corporations announced universal 6% pay reductions.
MY SPITTIN’ TOBACCY WENT UP TEN CENT A POUCH!
turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental. If he included numbers they are either out-right lies or cherry picked such that (his TDS-addled bullshit above) if used by an honest person, they would prove the opposite of what turd is claiming
turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit.
Never say that Democrats and Progressives aren’t for the little guy! This is the kind of compassion and understanding they need!
I imagine Buttplug wearing a powdered wig and silk breeches when he types that.
I’m not a Dem or a Prog you fucking idiot. Bernie Sanders is the worst possible leader of anything.
I’m an Ayn Rand, Mencken, Twain, Carlin cynical bastard who doesn’t want to be in any club.
Lol. You aren’t an objectivism. Youre a leftist pedophile.
turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does.
“I’m not a Dem or a Prog you fucking idiot”
Remarkable, because you’ve spent the better part of a decade imitating them perfectly.
It’s like a small, fat, black and white bear eating bamboo while insisting he’s not a Panda.
You seem triggered today.
Could it be that America seems to be fully rejecting everything your team stands for?
Socialist beaten by a write in candidate in NY.
Gov races swing heavy toward the R’s with deep blue states barely holding on.
CRT and the push for parents to have no say in education fully rejected
Biden shitting his pants, America screaming fuck joe biden everywhere, his and VP 2-fer-box-checker record low approval, everyone completely upset at them for bungling everything including the economy.
Sorry man, you were handed gold. Trump was not loved outside his base. You got control of everything based only on this, and you somehow pushed every bad policy possible, and you are about to get completely owned by the R’s, and you know it.
Also Rittenhouse is going to walk for killing your brownshirt buddies.
Your tears are delicious
You seem triggered today.
Could it be that America seems to be fully rejecting everything your team stands for?
Note he tends to show up when his team is getting its ass handed to it.
1) It isn’t happening. <- you were here
2) It is happening but it isn’t what you think <- and also here
3) It is happening but it isn’t that bad <- you are now here
4) Restroom at Chuck E Cheese <- you may also be here
Spoken like a rotten cocksucker who hasn’t been in a grocery store in 2 years. Bet you have all your food delivered as well.
It used to be that the shopper was able to buy half of their items at significant discounts because stores continually had sales. Prices were inelastic for bargain shoppers. Now you pay full price for nearly everything except store brands. The real effect on grocery shoppers is probably in the 20-30% range.
You think people only spend 1 dollar a year?
You have to be addle brained to believe a 6% inflation number.
It was over 6% back when they were claiming no inflation.
Among “items Cyto buys” and therefore knows the price:
A 2 liter of soda has been a dollar at the cheap price for decades. A couple of years ago that number moved to $1.25. it stayed there until August. The cheap price for Diet Mountain Dew is now $2.50. if you can find it.
A gallon of gas has doubled.
Toilet paper, already expensive in Covid world, went from about $11 for the giant pack of Walmart branded nice TP to $21 for the same package between August and October. Now? The big package does not exist. Half that size goes for $14 and change.
A new kia telluride is fetching $15k above sticker price.
Those numbers are north of 100% annual inflation.
And that doesn’t include things like Ribeye steaks… Because I don’t buy them any more. Too expensive.
Still think crypto is the risky bet? 😉
Yes.
Just because it might pay off big, doesn’t mean it isn’t risky.
Then again… I played around with Bitcoin within a month or so of it hitting the net. We set up a couple of mining servers and let it run. I got 1 coin. One of my top engineers was really into it. He ended up with 7.
They announced that some pizza place in Argentina or somesuch would accept Bitcoin. Then there was an exchange. A single coin ran up to about seventy cents. Then it dropped to about seven cents.
My buddy held on until it got to a buck and cashed out. Pretty cool. I didn’t care much, so I lost the thumb drive that had my wallet on it.
Oops.
See squid crypto
“While it would be wrong for an organization to leak materials that it obtained unlawfully, journalistic outlets routinely publish information from sources who themselves might have come by the information improperly.”
So…why would it be wrong to publish it?
Can YOU name what law was broken that led to the FBI being involved?
Contradicting the D party doctrine?
Fuck Hakeem Jeffries!
“Jacob Chansley, the “QAnon Shaman” and the central figure most identified with the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, is facing a 51-month prison sentence if convicted. This is the lengthiest sentence prosecutors have sought thus far in a January 6 case.”
Does that not seem laughable for, worst case scenario, trespassing?
Why aren’t libertarians raising hell over this? Where are you, Libertarian Party?
Does that not seem laughable
No, it seems reasonable. Maybe this LARPing fucking Halloween decoration will come out wiser for the wear? For example: . The path charted by Mr. Chansley since January 6 has been a process, one which has involved pain, depression, solitary confinement, introspection, recognition of mental health vulnerabilities, and a coming to grips with the need for more self-work
Good for him. Let’s give him plenty of time for self-work. He needs it
for, worst case scenario, trespassing?
It wasn’t just trespassing, idiot.
Now do all the antifa cosplay idiots who burned government property and assaulted people.
commie shit lies as much as turd.
In breaking news, Joseph Pedobaum and Anthony Tumer were still blasted into oblivion by a 17-year-old who cried on the stand.
Celebrate that violence, fascist. It’s what you guys do.
Violent rioters are not being celebrated by the commentariat here.
Also AmSoc: “I hope Antifa blows some fucking heads off at the next Patriot rally”
Sorry about your brown shirts. Does it upset you that the guys on your team are drugged out, pedo, wanna be murderers and the kid on the stand is an upstanding citizen? Must suck that the guys on your side are disgusting criminals. Maybe you should examine your company
“Celebrate that violence, fascist. It’s what you guys do.”
This from the asshole who supports regimes which caused the deaths of 100 million innocent people.
I guess you can make this stuff up, but you don’t have to; commie shit will do it for you.
Fuck off and die, commie shit.
So, let me guess: the coming communist revolution is totes awesome, but if normal people fight back, no fair?
Only communists are allowed to break the social contract!
LOL, thanks for proving me right, shitlib.
What are the odds that Grosskuntz faces weapons charges for carrying concealed with an expired permit and brandishing?
Zero–the guy is either a glowie informant, or the state offered him immunity for his testimony.
His testimony which exonerated Rittenhouse…
Ol Grossie has also filed a $10 million suit against Kenosha. I don’t know any details, but wouldn’t his admission to taking part in arson and carrying concealed without a permit pretty much screw his suit up?
“Good for him. Let’s give him plenty of time for self-work. He needs it
for, worst case scenario, trespassing?
It wasn’t just trespassing, idiot.”
Torture is grand, of course.
“Obstructing” is no different than trespassing, IMO. What we learned is that the protesters should have burned down the Capitol, then they’d be applauded for their mostly peaceful, but fiery, protest.
damikesc….4+ years is too much. That Chansley should be punished for his actions is not debatable (to me). But 4+ years? Seems excessive.
He should be punished as much as the kids in Seattle trying to burn down that courthouse were punished.
Perhaps. But the way I see it….you cannot fuck with an official congressional proceeding and skate. No way, no how.
My gut tells me two years. Long enough to really make it clear that you do not do this kind of shit, but short enough where he can get on with his life. I hope he gets the help he needs, though.
Theyve never enforced this prior. See Kavanaugh hearings.
XY,
OK. Fair enough. He should be punished as much as the rioters during the demonstrations in Madison over Act 10.
The issue here is about Presidential pardoning and clemency power. Assuming he is more a rube than a ringleader, he is exactly the sort of person who presidents used to regularly pardon or free from prison.
One Virginia county’s school board is conducting an audit to remove books deemed offensive from the library.
Why is the government regulating the books it’s citizens can read?
Two board members went so far as to suggest that books with adult themes be cast into the fire.
Jesus! That’s some real Nazi shit. Take that Lady Chatterley’s Lover. I blame CRT!
commie shit lies almost as much as turd, and that’s a high bar.
Why is the government regulating the books it’s citizens can read?
It’s a school board. A school library isn’t the same thing as a public library, and a minor doesn’t have the self-determination rights of an adult.
That’s also why your victims couldn’t consent, Shrike.
U.S. consumer prices surged 6.2 percent since last October, the biggest single-year increase in 30 years.
ITS LIKE 1991 ALL OVER AGAIN!
turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does.
1976.
Hopefully not 1922, but it’s still early.
Is this act blues talking point today?
CNN Poll: Majority of Americans say Biden isn’t paying attention to nation’s most important issues
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/11/08/politics/cnn-poll-biden-job-approval/index.html
Who cares about inflation, when white boys think they can just go walking around in any riots they want to?
Are you worried about paying a little extra at the gas pump? I did some rough calcs and figured out that I spend <1% of my total income on fuel. I can handle it. Can you?
My portfolio has no problem with inflation.
It’s all the poor people that democrats pretend to care about while giving them the shaft that I’m worried about.
This is one of the reasons I prefer limited government and freedom: big government fucks poor people.
The problem is all the stupid socialists and communists who think the opposite.
Ding ding ding!
Yeah, I don’t think the poor’s investment portfolios are asset-heavy.
It’s heartwarming the way you care about the poor now. When did that happen?
When I saw how much democrats and socialists betrayed them.
It’s heartwarming the way you care about the poor now. When did that happen?
I think the more salient question is why a declared socialist is advocating policies that harm the poor with “I can handle it. Can you?”
Scratch a socialist, find a narcissistic asshole under the skin.
commie shit is willing to suffer for his idiotic choices, why not you?
Gloomy landscape for Democrats in midterms as Biden’s approval drops to 38% in USA TODAY/Suffolk poll
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/11/07/biden-approval-falls-38-midterms-loom-usa-today-suffolk-poll/6320098001
Apparently, democrat party stooges are the only ones who still like Biden.
That’s quite a feat when they’ve got the most favorable press in American history backing them up.
Their media bubble is a blessing and a curse.
It’s a blessing in the sense that voters don’t really know what they want until it’s too late.
It’s a curse in the sense that they really don’t know how much voters hate them until it’s too late.
The same environmental extremists who campaigned to ban new carbon free nuclear power plants for the past 40 years have criticized national leaders in Glasgow for not promising to reduce carbon emissions faster, which will benefit China by destroying civilized society.
https://dailycaller.com/2021/11/10/environmentalists-united-nations-draft-agreement-emissions-glasgow-greenpeace/
Predictit says 65% chance Republicans take house and senate in 2022.
https://www.predictit.org/markets/detail/7172/What-will-be-the-balance-of-power-in-Congress-after-the-2022-election
But, whatever’s: HAPERINFLATION! TOBACCY!
In a statement, Biden said that the solution was to pass his “Build Back Better” agenda, which will “ease inflationary pressures” by getting Americans back to work and making it easier for them to afford certain services, like child care.
Because nothing cools inflation like printing money and increasing demand for stuff.
Inflation, as my econ prof told me, is “too many dollars chasing too few goods”. So the obvious solution is to print more dollars, while also reducing the supply of goods by firing workers for not getting a shot, and making it easier for people to take time off work for various reasons.
I hope you’re aware that the money “printed” x nihilo stays at the Federal Reserve on its balance sheet.
Duh: what’s the point of printing money if you’re going to let it circulate?
If you’re NOT going to let it circulate?
No, if you’re going to let it circulate. Duh, Federal Reserve prints money just to hold it forever.
There’s also the multiple trillions that Congress is spending on this or that. It most definitely circulates.
turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does.
turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does.
I’m also aware that the Fed buying 120 billion in Treasuries and mortgage backed securities every month (1.44 trillion per year) is artificially keeping interest rates low.
And the last time inflation was this high (1991), 30-year mortgage rates were at 9.25%.
And if the Fed stopped artificially driving down interest rates (the dreaded taper) and mortgage rates doubled or tripled, the housing market would collapse, followed by the stock market. And it would make 2008 seem like a hiccup.
At least inflation would be cured though, because we would be in a depression.
But the Fed has announced that beginning this month they will cut their Treasury buying by $10 and $15 billion. Tapering, in short.
Treasures and GSE MBS.
To me it seems to be very mild and slow. If inflation does kick up they can do more.
More lies from turd.
The solution is to jack up interest rates. That will force govt to actually pay for debt – will eliminate the ability of homeowners to create inflation via home equity and cash-out refi – and will force cash to be invested in new projects at a meaningful return rather than being used to just jack up prices of existing assets.
We have inflation courtesy of gov’t meddling and JFree suggests more of the same!
Yes. It is homeowners creating inflation. Youre a fucking idiot.
He’s not entirely wrong about the need to jack up interest rates, though, in order to get deflation going. The problem with that is two-fold:
1) The Fed painted itself in to a corner by keeping ZIRP going for over a decade now. Increasing interest rates will blow a hole right in the budget because debt service will go through the roof, which will legitimately threaten a default, and
2) Increasing interest rates will IMMEDITATELY kick off a recession, which no President wants to deal with. Reagan let Volker gamble that the economy would start to bounce back before the next election. No government bureaucrat has those kind of balls today.
the guy dressed like Kill the Wabbit gets 4+ years for why?
Yeah, the guy that played Kill the Babbitt didn’t even get a slap on the wrist.
Okeefe caught the lying scum sucking boot licking communists in the FIB doing what they do, screwing over America.
also what the fucking fuck FBI?
Holy shit, Reason actually decided to mention this story. I’m truly stunned, because they all despise O’Keefe and his organization.
Someone a couple of days, possibly on PowerLine but I honestly don’t remember exactly who, came up with a very interesting and provocative theory that I admit hadn’t even occurred to me: he floated the idea that Ashley Biden’s alleged diary could possibly be a Biden family/Deep State fake they created specifically to try to lure in Project Veritas and set them up so that the Feds could have a justification to turn them over and investigate them from top to bottom and maybe even try to shut them down. Almost kind of like yet another “Steele Dossier” type of deal.
Frankly I’m a tad skeptical about this theory, but this Obama-led Deep State cabal is so thoroughly evil and malevolent that I can’t rule the idea out entirely. There’s pretty much nothing that I wouldn’t put past them to try to do when it comes to destroying their enemies.
Obama-led Deep State cabal
Bingo!
I’m playing Wingnut Phrase bingo and just filled my card! Thanks Mikey!
turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
turd lies; it’s what he does.
That was the first theory I heard.
And it seemed fantastical…
Until..
They said they tried to return the diary to the Attorney offering it and they refused to take it back.
Hmmm. That seems odd. I really cannot think of a legitimate reason for that.
Then they turn it in to law enforcement.
Then, a year later, the FBI comes in and takes his iPhones and other materials which will yeild his sources and donors.
Agree 100% that them refusing the return of the diary is extremely odd to say the least. The only other explanation I can think of that makes any sense at all is that the diary actually IS the real deal and they really don’t want to acknowledge that. The present FBI raids sure make it seem plausible to now believe that it’s real.
” FBI Raid of James O’Keefe’s House Is a Blow to Press Freedom ”
Good call. Disaffected, downscale, right-wing wannabe journalists must stick together in modern America, Robby!
Asshole bigots must cut and paste bullshit.
Fuck off and die.
You will do as you are told by your betters, Sevo. You get to whine about it as much as you like — even cry if you wish — but you will continue to comply, clinger. Getting stomped in the culture war has consequences for the antisocial, bigoted right-wing losers mired in our nation’s can’t-keep-up backwaters.
FBI Raid of James O’Keefe’s House Is a Blow to Press Freedom
Despite Journalists™ insistence that freedom of the press gives them extra Constitutional rights that mere mortals and members of the laity do not possess, freedom of the press simply refers to the right to publish just the same as freedom of speech does not mean you have to be a member of Toastmasters to take advantage of the liberty. The FBI is a rogue Stasi agency and their treatment of O’Keefe is a blow to freedom, period, not just freedom of the press. The issue here is simply: Why the fucking fuck is the FBI involved in the theft of a diary? Is Biden’s daughter a Nobel Prize-winning nuclear physicist and they’re worried she might have disclosed classified information about our nuclear missiles? Is Biden’s daughter a Russian spy and they’re worried she might have disclosed intelligence secrets that might compromise national secu…..Oh. I think I know why the FBI gets involved in any shit going on with the Biden family.
How dare you interpret the Bill of Rights! That is the purview of judges and constitutional scholars, not common rabble like yourself. Unless you have studied 18th century linguistics and English common law to the point that you can think exactly like a member of the the Constitutional Convention, you are spreading falsehoods about what it means to be of the Press.
Next you will be telling us that militias consist of able bodied civilians, that bear means to carry, and that an AR-15 meets the definition of arms. Harumph! The gall.
Totalitarian Gov. Gavin Newsome, who mandated vaccines for all school children in CA, became very sick after taking a covid booster shot, which was why he disappeared for the past two weeks.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/11/10/confirmed-gavin-newsom-had-adverse-reaction-to-covid-booster-flu-shots-n1531670
Sources have revealed
If that is legit enough for the NYT, who are we to question?
nah, he skipped the save-the-world climate conference trip so he could go trick-or-treating with his kids, and attend some billionaire’s wedding.
Maybe he got sick because he stole too much of his kid’s candy.
Two weeks without being photographed? Must be suffering withdrawal.
What I find hilarious is that he re-emerged to party at a very rich person’s wedding (along with a bevy of other Democrats)
Just take the jab and when we get 330,000,000 vaccinated, with boosters, we can Return To Normal(tm).
But sources tell the Daily Mail that Newsom was left with muscle weakness and fatigue after receiving the COVID booster and a flu shot within days of each other.
By the way, I don’t want to be that guy, but many people I know who got the regular Pfizer vaccine said they got flu-like symptoms right after getting it. One friend said he felt like he was “hit by a truck”, another almost didn’t get entry into a Colocation because his body temperature was right on the edge.
I’m not sure if this counts as an “adverse reaction”, ie would count as the vaccine being “unsafe”. Blood clots, heart swelling, increased blood pressure etc., are the kinds of things that I would call an adverse reaction (moderna).
So I’m just going to guess that if the booster is anything like the original vaccine, a LOT of people are going to have these symptoms.
2/3 of the people I know who were vaccinated missed a day of work after the second shot. I was knocked out for half a day but was working from home anyway.
Not a sign that the shot is unsafe, but also not calculated anywhere I’ve seen in the cost benefit analysis. If you’re under 50 and in good health your risk from COVID is very low. Most people I know who’ve had COVID were sick for about 3 days. Others were asymptomatic.
The European Union has a new idea about how to keep illegal immigrants and asylum seekers out of the EU–they want to build a wall.
“The bloc’s political leadership, the European Council—which groups the heads of government—is asking its executive branch, the European Commission, to create legal arrangements to allow the EU to finance border walls and other immediate measures in response to what they said is a hybrid attack from Belarus.
“We are going to talk about physical infrastructure and the possibility of its financing. I am talking about a physical infrastructure that could better protect the EU,” said Charles Michel, president of the Council.”
—-WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/europe-weighs-border-walls-as-migrants-mass-in-belarus-at-polands-frontier-11636649364?
Have you ever noticed how things that are insane when Trump says them, aren’t insane when other people say the same thing?
Or that when there is a concerted effort to send thousands of would-be immigrants across a border, the media and the government can call it “hybrid warfare” and “an invasion” and “human trafficking” in the EU, but not in the western hemisphere?
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-10-27/russia-and-belarus-are-weaponizing-migration-between-the-middle-east-and-the-eu
A new type of hybrid warfare is developing as Minsk and Moscow traffic refugees between the Middle East and the European Union.
Apparently, it’s only bad when they can blame it on Russia.
call it “hybrid warfare” and “an invasion” and “human trafficking” in the EU, but not in the western hemisphere?
Let us check the Giant Chart of Intersectionality(tm):
Syrians are Caucasian, i.e., white invaders. Guatemalans, Hondurans and Nicaraguans are Native Americans and Haitians are Black African slaves, i.e., displaced persons of color.
Does that explain it?
I was disappointed that ENB chose to leave this put of her recent article on Belarus.
Orban did nothing wrong.
Yes, but they speak fancy, exotic languages that sound like French and lispy Spanish, unlike the dirtier, working-class type heard along the US-Mexico border.
Why wouldn’t it also be insane if the EU is talking about doing it?
“It appears the Southern District of New York now has journalists in their sights for the supposed crime of doing their jobs lawfully and honestly,”
No, just the ones that think there is such a thing as individual rights.
No NYT employee has been raided.
The View was playing in the other room. So that you have a feel for what the soccer moms are being told, here is a summary .. from memory:
Discussion of Rittenhouse case. Clearly none of them have watched anything beyond Huffpo clips.
The take?
Rittenhouse case is a measuring stick for where we are as a nation, because it comes after George Floyd and even though we got a conviction in that case.. we will see if this white boy is held accountable.
Said that before the shooting his social media was festooned with Blue Lives Matter paraphernalia and Trump ….. Trump refused to condemn what he did!
Said he murdered 2 people and shot a third “for no reason”
They claim self defense, but he is there open carrying an AR-15 which he cannot legally buy so he has a friend buy it for him. He cannot legally open carry. And he says he is defending himself in the first murder, but that man was unarmed.
Then people are chasing him because he is the active shooter, and he falls and shoots someone who is unarmed and then he shoots someone who is an actual EMT.
(Earlier discussion was that Rittenhouse lied to people and said he was an EMT and lied that he is going to school to be. A nurse. Said he enrolled in online classes in October.. so .. he is a liar?)
Anyway, that is their take on the trial
On the overall situation, Whoopie says that if she had done that they would not have let her go home that night. The others interjected that any black person would have been in jail. Then “the statistics tell us any black person would be dead”.
So that is the state of things on the left on TV.
The right is racist for supporting Rittenhouse. Any conviction will create a martyr for white nationalists. And any acquittal will provide a signal that vigilantes can just shoot people protesting for their rights.
I love listening to rich (mostly white) ladies opine on the right to self defense. Rich (mostly white) urban/suburban women are generally the source of a lot of the problems in the US, particularly with criminal justice. Rich white urban/suburban ladies insist that someone else keep them “safe,” while conveniently ignoring that necessarily results in over-policing and violating other people’s rights.
Not everyone can count on the cops to save them.
The View was playing in the other room.
Get divorced. It’s liberating.
Two of the most misnamed TV personalities, Whoopie and Joy.
any acquittal will provide a signal that vigilantes can just shoot people protesting for their rights
Remember the lefty fucktard ‘protesting’ without a permit that pointed his AR-15 at a car in Austin and got ventilated for his idiocy? Reason even wrote a memorial about that dead asshole.
Nobody got prosecuted. God bless Texas.
Not so fast, Chuck: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/us-army-sergeant-indicted-on-murder-charge-in-austin-protester-garrett-fosters-death/269-ba224d9e-d40c-48b9-b728-e26234a76c74
Which is complete garbage—so much so, they had to wait until Travis County elected an even more Leftist DA than the prior one, in order to get an indictment. Proof if any more were needed, that Travis County isn’t really part of Texas, any more.
The first felony is the hardest.
There is enough of Travis County outside Austin that it should be hard to rig the jury and it only takes one to hang it. I have been registered to vote for 33 years and not once been called for jury duty. I would definitely be interested in seeing what standard of evidence it took them a year to decide to prosecute.
“…Anyway, that is their take on the trial…”
Pretty sure the prosecutor watches that show.
There’s not a single honest thing about that asshole. It’s no wonder he is being investigated.
^ There’s not a single honest thing about this asshole.
Now do NBC.
What about Brian Williams? Or Katie Couric?
It is certainly so that Project Veritas has spreads a some very questionable stories, but I don’t see that it justifies this FBI overreach.
Fuck off and die, asshole. Make your family proud.
The more important subtext of this story is now we know that the diary is real.
Not surprised that journalists are smeared as activists if they’re on the right but activists are shielded as journalists if they’re on the left. Way to make your bias clear there Robby.
So the Nazi Regime sends out it’s SS to attack dissident voices. They like to Hitler you where it hurts, right at home.
That’s Reich, Jess. And they don’t &i>waffen around doing it!
And the lapdog press is just Goebelling it all up without bothering to find out who Speer-headed the whole thing!
Obama is most Nixonian piece of shit to ever plague this country.
“I think we should throw those books in a fire.” Essentially what all the tech/social media is already doing. The disease is spreading.
Sure, maybe it’s a blow to the press, if you believe that Project Veritas is press and not a thinly veiled, rightwing-backed, agitprop outfit.
All that is true, but it’s still a violation of press freedom.
So, if it’s a left wing propaganda outfit like NYT, you’re find with that, steaming pile of lefty shit?
I bet you learned that at Kos or Salon, didn’t you Fred.
Just lazy 50-centing at this point. Not that this website deserves or needs the full ShareBlue treatment to keep it in line.
Really, a gmail account as your ID? No effort from this younger generation.
Plus, a gmail account name of a man who was, per the wiki, a staunch supporter of the Republican Party. For a dipshit troll like that, it’s probably its idea of a joke. Pathetic.
BREAKING: Judge Orders FBI to Stop Search of Project Veritas Founder O’Keefe’s Phone Following Raid
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/victoria-taft/2021/11/11/breaking-judge-orders-fbi-to-stop-search-of-project-veritas-founder-okeefes-phone-following-raid-n1532173
Thank goodness more and more judges in America are waking up to the tyrannical fascist threat that Obama, Biden, and their nasty little Deep State minions pose to the country.
1. Since when did a court order ever stop the FBI from doing whatever it wants.
2. How much you want to bet Judge Analisa Torres computer, email and bank accounts are being rifled through by FBI hackers for anything blackmailable right now.
Too late.
They already leaked privileged legal communications to both the New York Times and tthe New York Post.
Worse.. The NYT is in the middle of a lawsuit with Veritas.
Criminal charges should be following. They wont. But they should be.
At the very least, the judge in the Veritas/New York Times case needs to hold someone in contempt for what is clearly an attempt to circumvent the court’s authority by directly attacking their opponent
The Nazi-Regime is doing house checks now?????
It’s like Obama’s Nazi-Regime x10……
CDC has called multiple times asking me about my vaccination status, which is as the anarchists say, “pure blood.”
They are now blocked.
I don’t know how I would know. I never answer the phone.
The FBI is no longer defending our rights, they are a prime threat to them.
And the New York Times has now been revealed as the protected propaganda arm of that same corrupt deep state.
The Biden administration is the biggest blow to Freedom this country has ever suffered. Thanks you Reason for supporting Joe Biden.
They will never admit their role in foisting this upon us.
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