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Reason Roundup

Mandatory GMO Disclosure Doesn't Sway Shopping Habits (But Will Drive Up Costs)

Plus: Questioning paranoia about smartphones and attention spans, new small business creation is thriving, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 1.7.2022 9:30 AM

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lrphotos135197 | Richard B. Levine/Newscom
(Richard B. Levine/Newscom)

Consumers shrug at mandatory GMO labeling. Beginning this year, federal food-labeling laws require products made with genetically modified ingredients to carry a label saying they are "bioengineered." But short of requiring extra work and costs for food makers and manufacturers, the law is likely to lead to little change.

Research suggests that consumers won't alter their behavior based on mandatory disclosure of genetically modified organism (GMO) food products.

"In the presence of existing voluntary non-GMO labels, mandatory labeling did not have any additional effect on demand," wrote researchers from Cornell University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a November 2021 paper. "Our findings suggest that voluntary non-GMO labels may already provide an efficient disclosure mechanism without mandatory GMO labels."

Looking at legislative consideration of GMO labeling in several states and the adoption of such labeling in Vermont, the authors found that public discussion of GMO labeling increased awareness of the issue and may have steered consumers toward products voluntarily labeled as non-GMO. "Heightened consumer awareness" was found to have "increased adoption of products with voluntary non-GMO labels, even absent actual implementation of mandatory GMO labeling," they noted.

"Contrary to previous studies that indicated the mandatory labels for products made with bioengineered food would herald big swings in consumer preferences and buying, this new study shows a more muted effect," points out Megan Poinski at Food Dive. "What did motivate consumers to change behavior was news about GMO food."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has admitted that new federal regulations mandating the labeling of bioengineered food—passed in 2016 under former President Barack Obama and finalized by the Trump administration—may be useless. It "is not expected to have any benefits to human health or the environment," the USDA said in 2018.

The changes are costly, however. "USDA estimates that the costs of the proposed [mandatory labeling] would range from $598 million to $3.5 billion for the first year, with ongoing annual costs of between $114 million and $225 million," it said. ("So not only are the new regulations useless, implementing them will jack up food prices for consumers," as Reason's Ron Bailey pointed out).

Food policy writer Baylen Linnekin has long been warning of the ways in which the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Act "is a bad law, and likely unworkable." The labeling requirements themselves are confusing:

Under the final rule, a food producer marketing a food that is genetically modified (GMO) or that contains GMO ingredients may comply with the rules in any one (or more) of four ways: 1) by clear wording on a food label; 2) by using the USDA's new symbol "BE" to designate that it is bioengineered food; 3) via a QR code printed on a food label; or 4) by giving the consumer the option to send a text message to the manufacturer seeking more information.

Besides, there's no evidence that "bioengineered" food is anything consumers should be concerned about.

"The move is universally confounding food safety advocate groups," The Washington Post reports. "Eating bioengineered foods poses no risk to human health, according to the National Academy of Sciences and the Food and Drug Administration."

"Critics say the rules devised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will actually confuse consumers further and make it harder to know what's in any given product," notes NPR.  "One advocacy group [the Center for Food Safety] has even sued the USDA to try to block the new regulations from taking effect."

Among other complaints, the ongoing lawsuit objects to manufacturers not being able to use the more widely-known term GMO, instead of bioengineered. It also objects to the fact that many foods made with bioengineered ingredients may be left out.

The USDA defines bioengineered food as "a food that contains genetic material that has been modified through in vitro rDNA techniques and for which the modification could not otherwise be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature." Foods made with genetically modified material that isn't detectable in the final product aren't considered bioengineered foods, it says.

The bottom line: Voluntary labeling of non-GMO products was working, providing consumers who—for whatever reason—wanted to know that sort of thing with the information they desired and allowing manufacturers who wanted to use non-GMO status as a marketing tool to do so. But since the federal government stepped in, the whole process has become more costly and confusing with seemingly no consumer benefit.


FREE MINDS 

Questioning paranoia about smartphones and attention spans. Journalist Matthew Sweet explores some of the cherry-picked examples and logical fallacies in Stolen Focus, a new book by Johann Hari about diminishing attention spans. (You can read the whole thread on Twitter, starting here.) One example: Hari cites a study about smartphones and distraction and draws some serious conclusions from it:

But not only was the study not the most rigorous (it "was commissioned by the authors of a business self-help book called The Plateau Effect" and is not peer-reviewed, Sweet points out), Hari also leaves out some vital information about how the study was set up. "The distracting messages mentioned were sent by the experimenters, and the subjects were told they contained important information about the test," Sweet points out. "They HAD to respond. So it tells you very little – nothing, I would suggest - about the ordinary seductions of the smartphone."

Does Johann Hari tell us this? No. Instead, he says this research suggests that our species - yes, our species! - is losing 20-30 per cent of its brainpower because it uses mobile phones. Is this a reasonable assertion? I'd say no. I'd call it cherry-picking and exaggeration.

— Matthew Sweet (@DrMatthewSweet) January 6, 2022


FREE MARKETS

New small business creation is thriving. "We're now entering year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the U.S. economy is still struggling thanks to inflation, supply chain issues, and continually bad jobs numbers. However, small business creation has been an unexpected economic bright spot since the pandemic began," notes Reason's Fiona Harrigan:

In 2021 (excluding data for December, which the U.S. Census Bureau has not yet released), an average of around 452,000 new business applications were filed monthly. That's a significant increase compared to 2019, when an average of roughly 293,000 new business applications were filed each month. Those numbers dipped in March and April 2020 before catapulting to over 550,000 in July 2020 and remaining above 2019 levels through the end of the year.

The 2021 data look especially promising because new businesses tend to hire employees. From January 2021 through the end of Q3, 1.4 million applications were filed to form businesses likely to hire workers, more than any other comparable recorded period.


QUICK HITS

• On this day in 2015, terrorists killed 12 people in an attack on the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo. See Reason's coverage here.

• Chicago schools are still closed, as the city's leadership and teachers union fight over in-person learning.

• A judge this week ruled that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doesn't have the authority to prevent local governments in the state from imposing their own mask mandates.

• Hormonal birth control is now available without a prescription in Illinois. "This legislation covers self-administered hormonal contraceptive methods — birth control pills, skin patches, and vaginal rings — which were previously available only with a prescription from a physician," notes Chicago magazine.

• Perpetually truth-challenged and sex work–obsessed pundit Nicholas Kristof can't run for governor of Oregon because he hasn't lived in the state long enough, officials say. On Thursday, "Secretary of State Shemia Fagan announced that her office was rejecting Kristof's bid to run for office, because he does not meet the state's three-year residency requirement," reports Oregon Public Broadcasting. "That decision is likely just the start of a legal fight that will be decided by the courts."

• Encrypted messaging app Signal's crypto payments feature has gone global.

• "Add swim diapers to the list of issues that can get turned into a federal case," writes Ron Hurtibise in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. In a new federal lawsuit, "a Florida family is suing their condo board over what they say is a rule barring children from using the community pool while wearing swim diapers."

• "The feminist rejection of diet culture can, at times, shift to a rejection of the whole concept of health itself, or at least of the idea that it's probably a good thing to pursue health," points out feminist author Jill Filipovic, in a Substack post calling for both a rejection of unhealthy dieting obsessions but also an understanding that "it does actually matter what we eat — to ourselves, to our bodies, to our souls, to our cultures, and to our planet."

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NEXT: Before Promising To Solve the World's Big Problems, Politicians Should Aim To Fix Potholes

Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason.

Reason RoundupGMO FoodFood LabelingFood PolicyFoodNutritionConsumptionFDA
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  1. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    Consumers shrug at mandatory GMO labeling.

    They're okay with having their DNA altered?

    1. Minadin   3 years ago

      People who get all up in fits over GMO's don't understand chemistry or genetics at even a basic level.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Or that selective breeding and cultivation has happened since the advent of farming.

        1. Lillie R. Johnson   3 years ago

          Sᴛᴀʀᴛ ᴡᴏʀᴋɪɴɢ ғʀᴏᴍ ʜᴏᴍᴇ! Gʀᴇᴀᴛ ᴊᴏʙ ғᴏʀ sᴛᴜᴅᴇɴᴛs, sᴛᴀʏ-ᴀᴛ-ʜᴏᴍᴇ ᴍᴏᴍs ᴏʀ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ ɴᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ ᴀɴ ᴇxᴛʀᴀ ɪɴᴄᴏᴍᴇ... Yᴏᴜ ᴏɴʟʏ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ᴀ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴜᴛᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ʀᴇʟɪᴀʙʟᴇ ɪɴᴛᴇʀɴᴇᴛ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ... Mᴀᴋᴇ $90 ʜᴏᴜʀʟʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴜᴘ ᴛᴏ $12000 ᴀ ᴍᴏɴᴛʜ ʙʏ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ ʟɪɴᴋ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏᴛᴛᴏᴍ ᴀɴᴅ sɪɢɴɪɴɢ ᴜᴘ... Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ғɪʀsᴛ ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴏғ ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴇᴇᴋ,go to tech tab for work detail,.......... Visit Here

      2. ErictheRed   3 years ago

        And are generally the same type of people whom will demand everyone get the jab.

        1. Anomalous   3 years ago

          Hey, they're following The Science™.

          1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

            Or just using it to indulge their primary urge: fear.

            To the panic-porn addicts, anything that sounds like a personal risk must be banned, and forcing others to do things to reduce the risks that they pose is fully justified.

            1. Marjorie Finley   3 years ago

              Gʀᴇᴀᴛ ᴊᴏʙ ғᴏʀ sᴛᴜᴅᴇɴᴛs, sᴛᴀʏ-ᴀᴛ-ʜᴏᴍᴇ ᴍᴏᴍs ᴏʀ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ ɴᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ ᴀɴ ᴇxᴛʀᴀ ɪɴᴄᴏᴍᴇ... Yᴏᴜ ᴏɴʟʏ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ᴀ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴜᴛᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ʀᴇʟɪᴀʙʟᴇ ɪɴᴛᴇʀɴᴇᴛ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ... Mᴀᴋᴇ $90 ʜᴏᴜʀʟʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴜᴘ ᴛᴏ $12000 ᴀ ᴍᴏɴᴛʜ ʙʏ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ ʟɪɴᴋ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏᴛᴛᴏᴍ ᴀɴᴅ sɪɢɴɪɴɢ ᴜᴘ... Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ғɪʀsᴛ ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴏғ ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴇᴇᴋ,go to tech tab for work detail,..........

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          2. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

            Science doesn’t speak as to whether it is wrong or right to force other people to do things. Libertarian philosophy says it is wrong, and should be avoided when possible.

            As far as following the science, it is a good idea that “everyone get the jab”, with some exceptions for the immunocompromised, etc.

            1. JesseAz   3 years ago

              Wrong.

              It is not a good idea for children to get the jab. You are free to listen to the Dr. McCullugh podcast, or even read the transcript, to see why. The incidents of cardiac inflammation is a worse risk than the risk of covid in children. This is well reported in the literature that is well cited by the doctor.

              If there is statistically zero risk from an infection, then there is no reason to ever get a jab to protect yourself from zero risk.

              And the CDC has done nothing about speaking what is right or wrong. Same with your Pres Biden who continues to call it a pandemic of the unvaccinated. That is why all of your fellow lefties are having moments of realizing they've been participating in covid shame.

              1. JesseAz   3 years ago

                In a report submitted today to the Israeli Ministry of Health, they conclude that between one in 3000 and one in 6000 men ages 16 to 24 who received the vaccine developed the rare condition. But most cases were mild and resolved within a few weeks, which is typical for myocarditis. "I can't imagine it's going to be anything that would cause medical people to say we shouldn't vaccinate kids," says Douglas Diekema, a pediatrician and bioethicist at Seattle Children's Hospital.

                This incidence of myocarditis is higher than the risk of serious complications from Covid. And per a study cited by Dr. Malone, there is a study showing a 13% growth in cases of late life heart attacks/strokes when myocarditis earlier in life has occurred.

                This is not a simple, oh it doesn't matter thing. But the statists who follow The Science don't care. They just blindly repeat what Fauci tells them.

            2. MT-Man   3 years ago

              why immuno in your example?

              1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

                Can you ask that question a little more completely or coherently?

                I didn’t give any examples. What are you asking, precisely?

                1. JesseAz   3 years ago

                  You literally stated limited exceptions like immunocompromised you dishonest shit.

                  with some exceptions for the immunocompromised, etc.

                  1. R Mac   3 years ago

                    Dee’s not very bright.

            3. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

              it is a good idea that “everyone get the jab”,

              Cite?

              1. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

                -Pfizer CEO.

                1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

                  So, now we have adopted the leftist propensity for condemning corporate profits as greedy and evil?

              2. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

                https://www.mayoclinic.org/coronavirus-covid-19/why-get-vaccinated

      3. Cyto   3 years ago

        The government determining that the labels would not have any health or environmental effects was the silliest part. That was never the intent. The intent was to stop GMO from happening at all.

        If anything, they pre-killed this by playing to the same crowd that shops at whole foods. By making it the same level of health fashion statement as acai berries and chia seeds, they allowed the faithful to assuage their guilt while priming the rest of society to understand that they are farcical.

        GMO are already revolutionizing food productivity and safety.... And they have barely touched the surface. When they get C3 and C4 photosynthesis combined into single crops, and include the pathways for understory plants as well as open field plants, they are claiming a productivity increase of a third.

        One third more food on the same land with the same effort

        Anti GMO hysteria couldn't stand in the US against the reduction of pesticide use that BT corn brought. How in the world does anyone think a label is going to dissuade the use of corn that is 30% more productive, Roundup ready, BT so pesticide free, and enhanced with needed vitamins and other custom nutrients???

        By the time this technology is well developed across all food crops, avoiding it will probably come with a 100% cost penalty, an increased pesticides penalty and a health penalty.

        1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

          But they can still keep golden rice out of the hands of peasants in other countries, right?

        2. Overt   3 years ago

          "By the time this technology is well developed across all food crops, avoiding it will probably come with a 100% cost penalty, an increased pesticides penalty and a health penalty."

          This is why the "Organic Food" industry is completely and totally about convincing people of the religious notion that a bug-eaten piece of lettuce is worth 3x the price of conventionally grown stuff.

          1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

            Howard Stern said that "Organic" means "Let's tell people we didn't spray this shit and then charge them more for it!" 🙂

      4. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

        Absolutely. GMOs are harmless, proven by widespread real-world use with no bad effects.

        And you know what else harmless, proven by widespread real-world use with no bad effects: mRNA vaccines.

        1. Overt   3 years ago

          "And you know what else harmless, proven by widespread real-world use with no bad effects: mRNA vaccines."

          Hey guys, look! We are all agreed on something, and so Mike can't help but to try and drive a wedge between us. He and others complain so much about how all the comments always devolve into partisan bitching, and what does he do? Try to derail a thread by bringing up Vaccines.

          Remember when everyone was pretty much unanimous on how the Government was fucking up Afghanistan- a real win for people who dislike aggressive foreign policy? And remember how the government changed the subject by getting everyone focused on Vaccine Mandates?

          Mike may not think he is on the side of Big gov or the Leftists currently leading it. But whether it is intentional or not, he is acting as their foot soldiers, ensuring that no moment of agreement is ever lasting.

          1. Nardz   3 years ago

            Mike Laursen knows what is.
            Mike Laursen is a virus, and pure evil.

        2. JesseAz   3 years ago

          Mike continues to lie. He completely ignores that VAERS exists, the CDC has acknowledged myocarditis, there is an increased death rate in the population within 2 weeks of the shot nobody has explained, estimated 50k vaccine related deaths based on VAERS.

          Mike is the living embodiment of intentional and wilful ignorance.

        3. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

          And you know what else harmless, proven by widespread real-world use with no bad effects: mRNA vaccines.

          Cite?

          1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

            https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid-vaccine-side-effects https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid-vaccine-side-effects

            1. Overt   3 years ago

              Look everyone, Mike da Troll showed up 6 HOURS after his little attempt to derail the thread. I highly recommend people put this guy on ignore. He is a troll.

      5. daveca   3 years ago

        yep. Its in large part mods to, for example" make " Roundup ready corn" so LESS quantities of ag chemicals need sprayed on fields.

        Hystetua mongerers dont know anything about such technical details that any Farmer can grasp, let alone want to learn.

        Fearmongering and hate are more politically expedient.

        This Bravo Sierra just happens to have sprung up in twin with the " small farm, field to table/ farmers market" nonsense.

        These sellers demand 2-3 x retail prices for food they raised in small quantities without the high costs associated with commercial Ag.

        So in keeping with the premise if " economic expansion at all costs" and " raise prices" theyve created another fake shortage....

      6. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

        All foods should be marked with a huge red "GMO" label, throw in a skull an crossbones and maybe these fanatics will starve themselves to death.

      7. JFree   3 years ago

        If you can't mention glyphosate or Roundup, then what GMO's are you really talking about?

      8. docduracoat   3 years ago

        As a medical doctor I understand genetics.
        And if the food is clearly labeled as being genetically engineered. or contains GMO ingredients, I would use a different product.
        I understand selective breeding and accept that it’s been done since the beginning of agriculture culture.
        But I prefer to eat food that has not been genetically modified.

        1. hammerhead   3 years ago

          As a non-medical person, I apply similar logic. I simply choose not to purchase genetically modified and GMO labeled food. I don't really care about all supposed science behind it's safe use, and I have no intention of discussing the issue at length, and certainly not arguing about it. I just don't want to buy them. And I don't. Personal choice.

    2. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

      "Contrary to previous studies that indicated the mandatory labels for products made with bioengineered food would herald big swings in consumer preferences and buying, this new study shows a more muted effect," points out Megan Poinski at Food Dive. "What did motivate consumers to change behavior was news about GMO food."

      Yep. When I found out that every living thing Man has ever domesticated is Genetically Modified, whether by breeding or in a Petri Dish, I doubled down on my Franken-Burger! 🙂

      And Hell yes, I want my genes modified if it means I can have a steel-plated pancreas and liver and white corpuscles, so I can eat, drink, and fuck what I want, as much as I want, with whom I want, without consequence, for indefinitely!

      And I want the Doctor to cue up Deodato's cover of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" while working on me on the operating table and throw his reflex hammer up in the air when he finishes! Then I'll get up and everyone in the operating room will dance to "Superman" by The Kinks!

      Deodato--Also Sprach Zarathustra
      https://youtu.be/RJKsp9_L24Q

      HOLLYWOOD'S VIDEOS THE KINKS SUPERMAN
      https://youtu.be/oPa92cv6HiM

      There's a great series on Netflix called Unnatural Selection on bio-hackers, people doing just what of which you speak, sometimes on themselves, with great results and more to come if Governments get out of the way and bio-hackers play their cards right with due care and full disclosure. Multiple thumbs on one hand up!

    3. Bill Godshall   3 years ago

      Virtually all corn grown and eaten in the US is GMO, which is why crop yields have continued to grow, why insects and diseases are rare, and why it tastes better than any other corn on earth.

      I try to avoid buying foods that use fear mongering tactics and to confuse people about science, nutrition, GMOs and public health.

      1. daveca   3 years ago

        ...AND a nearly DOUBLE production from the 1980s (?)

        200 bu/ac field corn is a lackluster harvest these days.

        My FIL gets 230...

        1. mad.casual   3 years ago

          It really is astounding to drive through farm country these days and look across a field of crops and see *absolutely* zero weeds overgrowing the crops. Even in the 'poorly maintained' fields, it's the last few lbs. of GMO corn left in nooks, crannies, and lines of the planter growing up in the corners among the beans. You see a field that would've been a well maintained (in terms of weeds) field by 80s standards and you know they aren't using GMOs but they still are using 'organic' (or even non-organic) herbicides. The only fields that come even remotely close to such good conditions without herbicides aren't over a dozen acres and have clear evidence of people going through them. Even to the point that the rows are planted further apart to allow humans to take care of them.

          Even if you skip past the specific GMO aspects, the ability to use GPS to apply herbicides/pesticides adaptively in a single row, automation to apply them quickly, and weather prediction and application technology to apply them in a manner where rain and weather don't simply wash them off just blows the whole notion of local, hand-grown, organic out of the water.

          It's clearly a group of hippies weeping over the condition of an ancient and dying redwood in a forest of redwoods that can have their entire 'ancient' ecosystem, with or without pests, grown to the same condition, in half the time. Even if they wanted what they claim to want, it's obvious that they should, instead, focus their energy on the cultivation of tree spirits and will-o-the-wisps to be more productive at their aims.

      2. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

        Boulder County in Colorado finally caved and is allowing farmers who use their open space plots to grow crops to use GMOs. The commies in the county are up in arms about it, of course, because they've deluded themselves in to believing that 10-40 acre plots of "heritage farm" locally sourced hippie crops are both sustainable and a growth industry.

      3. JFree   3 years ago

        Yes - Americans eat a ton of glyphosate in their breakfast cereal and daily bread. Which is a big reason why our gut bacteria are helping to stoke a nice big increase in autoimmune diseases and are keeping corn-fed Americans fatter than hogs.

        But hey - as long as no one knows what's in the food they eat, then everything will be ok and industrial 'food' can keep on rolling.

      4. Ve-Ra   3 years ago

        I spent 5 minutes ranting in a grocery store the first time I saw a popcorn bag labeled "plant-based". What the hell do they think the other popCORN is made from?

    4. Don't look at me!   3 years ago

      They're okay with having their DNA altered

      They’re getting the jab, aren’t they?

    5. dinmi   3 years ago

      I personally welcome the labeling. Due to health issues I opted to move organic which means the food has to be non-GMO. If I can't find an organic then it has to be non-GMO. When people were screaming about empty store shelves in the early stages of the pandemic I was able to get everything I needed by purchasing direct from organic farmers. Even our beef, pork and chicken are heritage breed, organically raised by a local farmer. We rarely if ever eat out because you can taste the difference. Organic/non-GMO tastes like what I remember my grandparents raising 50 years ago. The food actually has flavor that isn't added by seasoning and it doesn't have a bunch of weird stuff in it.

      1. Nardz   3 years ago

        K

      2. Idaho Bob   3 years ago

        Please define "organic".
        Next define "heritage breed".

        Until you raise your own meat, you have no idea what the animal's diet is, how it was raised, slaughtered, and processed. You only have faith; based on a label.

        FYI - I raise my own poultry and pork; and I harvest deer and elk for red meat. I will agree about flavor differences.

        1. mad.casual   3 years ago

          and I harvest deer and elk for red meat. I will agree about flavor differences.

          I disagree and I think you do as well. Let me ask you this; if I told you that no matter how distinctly you raised them, cooked them, or seasoned them, I could taste the difference between lake trout and rainbow trout, you'd think I was full of shit, right? I wouldn't be at all surprised if you told me you could taste the difference between a deer raised on grass and silage runoff and a deer raised on pine needles. Why would you insist that the distinction in flavor, that can't possibly be overcome by preparation and/or seasoning is even remotely genetic?

          I get Kosher/Halal products. I'm largely agnostic as to their shortcomings and benefits. But don't try to tell me you or anyone can taste the difference between them out of hand. If only for the fact that it makes you look like a crazy stupid religious nutjob.

          1. Chumby   3 years ago

            Harvested buck a few years back that had lived on fallen apples in the orchard for about a month. All the meat had an apple flavor to it.

      3. Minadin   3 years ago

        But, when the labels were optional, there was nothing preventing companies from adding the Non-GMO labels, should they choose - they were only required to be were accurate. So, you still had a lot of products out there and available for people with your peculiar tastes.

        I completely disagree with and and actually kind of discard your attribution of food tasting better to being non-GMO. What you're likely experiencing is the effect of having a vegetable, say a tomato, that is grown in good dirt and in natural sunlight and allowed to ripen more on the vine than what you normally experience with mass-produced vegetables. That's something I've experienced myself with my home garden.

        But you can actually have (truthfully) organically-labeled tomatoes that are grown hydroponically in a greenhouse under grow lights, which are picked green for shipping, and these do not taste any better or have better nutrition than your typical store bought varieties. On the other hand, if I take a GMO tomato plant and put it in good composted soil in my raised beds out back, you get that same amazing flavor. And bioengineered plants can actually have flavor and nutrition selectively added to them, to enhance both.

      4. mad.casual   3 years ago

        Organic/non-GMO tastes like what I remember my grandparents raising 50 years ago.

        Like chicken, right? Grandma used to cook the shit out of store-bought pork, that wasn't salt-cured, to avoid trichinosis. Like eating shoe leather. Even cuts of ham she'd cook down to half the thickness before serving. The Pork Producers, OTOH, who knew their pigs were raised on concrete and slatted floors, routinely monitored and medicated against such diseases, would produce the most wonderful, fall-off-the-bone, pork literally pulled off the roasting pig. They also knew that their pork had to appeal, both in palate and in digestive safety to a much wider audience or they wouldn't pull in the community support they sought to generate.

        Exact same breeds and lineages as Grandma's "heritage" pork right down to the right-ear notches and slap tattoos. Just not treated with the same, stupid self-righteous religious fervor about safety and disease.

        And before you get all judg-y about Grandma's cooking, just remember that she was concerned for the safety of her progeny and that saying there are other ways to cook pork means you just want people to die.

      5. JFree   3 years ago

        I don't particularly think much of organic label - precisely because of the organic fraud by Randy Constant.

        Agree that most all manufactured food is simply fraudulent crap and always will be. There is virtually no such thing as a simple honest food label. I will experiment with food in Third World street stalls - and with the French cooking various small garden animals in butter.

        But I will never trust a generic American supermarket aisle with its tide of heifers waddling down the aisle reading labels from god knows who to decide what to eat.

      6. JFree   3 years ago

        One of the best visuals I have seen is the difference between a chicken in 1957 v 1978 v 2005

        Kind of mirrors the change in the size of the humans who eat both the chickens and the grains the chickens eat.

        1. mad.casual   3 years ago

          You realize that image is photoshopped, right? That accepting it and passing it on makes you the intellectual equivalent of just another American supermarket heifer (arguably worse as the supermarket heifers tend to keep their juicy morsels to themselves) you seem to despise, right?

          1. mad.casual   3 years ago

            Proxying 'organic' with 'more research put into the history, origin, and production to produce a more productive, nutritive, and generally enriching product', this would be the 'organic' version of the exact same graphic.

          2. JFree   3 years ago

            Jeezus H Christ. You people really are completely immune to actual knowledge. Those numbers are FACT. The numbers and images are based on a poultry growth study from the University of Alberta in 2014. If the images seem weird it is because poultry now are slaughtered well before they hit 56 days (the actual size of a chicken brought to market is double what it was in 1957 - rather than 4x the weight over the same age as brought to market in 1957) so a)you would never see a chicken so obese at 56 days and b)if you did, the only place on Earth that one of those industrial chickens could even stand up by then is a science lab in Alberta.

            But I have had enough of your lies and ideological deceit. You are now on mute.

            1. mad.casual   3 years ago

              No, if the images seem weird it's because they didn't take a digital photograph of chickens in Canada in 1957 and a picture of chickens in Canada with the same camera in 2005. They took a polaroid from 1957 and a digital snapshot in 2005 and photoshopped them together.

              And, I provided you with a more nourishing ecosystem of numbers with the more empty graphical calories before you even replied. I've seen, first hand, chickens on the left and chickens on the right. Not only are the chickens on the right more able to stand of their own power, they're more capable of acquiring their own food and preying on wild pests. I've fed them the grubs myself. If you were growing your own free range chickens on your own plot of land and they looked like the ones on the left, pretty much anyone, organic/heritage farmer or other, would say you're neglecting/mistreating them.

              Your choice to mute me further demonstrates that you're just another intellectual supermarket heifer whose content to consume garbage in ignorance. Which is fine, you don't need heifers to participate in the demonstration of their ignorance and stupidity, you just need them to exist.

      7. Ben of Houston   3 years ago

        Well, Din. Some of us aren't rich. Some of us don't pay five to ten times market rate for "heritage breed" meat. Of course you could find premium foods available.

        Do you even realize that you just had a "let them eat cake" moment?

    6. Dillinger   3 years ago

      >>okay with having their DNA altered?

      not me. but I'm down on trying the 4' tall GMO'd chicken it probably tastes like ostrich

  2. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    However, small business creation has been an unexpected economic bright spot since the pandemic began...

    The government should lock us away with only our own thoughts and limit our living-making options more often.

    1. JesseAz   3 years ago

      Small business destruction was much greater.

    2. daveca   3 years ago

      That last part just made a "Patty Hearst " flashback...

    3. mad.casual   3 years ago

      After spending time to make many sentences and several more protracted posts to the same effect... *tips hat*.

  3. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    On this day in 2015, terrorists killed 12 people in an attack on the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

    And the punishment for "punching down" was codified by the Fourth Estate.

    1. JesseAz   3 years ago

      It took a lot of restraint for Pelosi to not add then to the j6 death count. She did add a cop killed in April by a Farrakhan supporter though.

  4. Commenter_XY   3 years ago

    I dunno, I am having a change of heart about Chicago.

    Is it really so bad that children are not being indoctrinated by virtue of being out of public school?

    1. JesseAz   3 years ago

      Jeff called the indoctrination simply curricula yesterday.

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

        And totally not CRT.

    2. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      It's a net-positive. Now if only they'd stop stealing money from the peasants to pay for those inoperative public schools...

    3. daveca   3 years ago

      Pubic Skrewel is like Prison.

      Inmates locked up together to better teach each other how to lie, steal, gang-bang and peddle drugs when they get out on the streets.

    4. mad.casual   3 years ago

      Is it really so bad that children are not being indoctrinated by virtue of being out of public school?

      More broadly, I would agree with the question. Specifically, I remain dubious of the educational/indoctrinational superiority of Chicago streets.

      1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

        At least they can learn some arithmetic hustling, which is not a guarantee in public schools.

        1. mad.casual   3 years ago

          Their ability to count and add to 9+1 will be second to none.

  5. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    Chicago schools are still closed, as the city's leadership and teachers union fight over in-person learning.

    And we find out who actually makes the decisions on public school policy.

  6. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    A judge this week ruled that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doesn't have the authority to prevent local governments in the state from imposing their own mask mandates.

    But the local governments do have the authority to impose them.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

      Hormonal birth control is now available without a prescription in Illinois.

      In my day we called that her time of the month.

      1. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

        Maybe I'll just reply to myself from now on, creating a single thread everyone can more easily ignore.

        1. ErictheRed   3 years ago

          There, I fucked up your plan. You're welcome.

        2. mad.casual   3 years ago

          *Mute User* 😉

          1. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

            I totally forgot about that feature!

    2. MT-Man   3 years ago

      Interesting since the ruling is: We agree with our sister court in Dallas that [the Act] does not give the governor carte blanche to issue executive orders empowering him to rule the state in any way he wishes during a disaster,” the court writes.

      So does that mean the individual and or business gets the final say over local government then too?

      1. Ve-Ra   3 years ago

        Does it also mean that his state-wide edict requiring counties to require masks was illegal?

  7. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    Add swim diapers to the list of issues that can get turned into a federal case...

    But enough about the president's pool habits.

    1. Commenter_XY   3 years ago

      Ouch!

    2. JesseAz   3 years ago

      Stop making fun of Biden. Youre destroying democracy.

      1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

        The only good statement about Joe Biden is Fuck Joe Biden.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          All of you are dog faced pony soldiers.

        2. Sometimes a Great Notion   3 years ago

          Au contraire. Joe Biden will be out office soon and he'll have a hostile Congress even sooner.

          1. Overt   3 years ago

            "Joe Biden will be out office soon and he'll have a hostile Congress even sooner."

            Congress will change before Biden is out of office? Are you giving odds on that? Because even I'm not sure.

            1. JesseAz   3 years ago

              Many states declared the 2020 election rule changes illegal, so it depends if the USSC keeps allowing last minute rule changes to stand through an election or not. They only shot down about a quarter of the illegal changes prior to the elections for 2020. Roberts has done a terrible job of consistency with that.

            2. Sometimes a Great Notion   3 years ago

              I think history is on the R's side and the economic woes won't being going away anytime soon (transitory inflation, lol). Biden is weak and won't help his party get any votes. But no I won't be taking any bets. We'll see what happens.

              1. JesseAz   3 years ago

                Why they want fortified elections.

              2. Overt   3 years ago

                Wooosh?

                Let me be more clear. I am not certain Biden is still president come Nov 2022.

          2. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

            The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the CIA, FBI, DNC, and the people at Dominion do.

    3. daveca   3 years ago

      ( golf clap )

  8. Fist of Etiquette   3 years ago

    "The feminist rejection of diet culture can, at times, shift to a rejection of the whole concept of health itself, or at least of the idea that it's probably a good thing to pursue health," points out feminist author Jill Filipovic...

    Feminist or not, women just can't help finding ways to fat shame each other.

    1. Anomalous   3 years ago

      They're not fat, they're body-positive.

      1. Zeb   3 years ago

        Which is fine. Good for them. The problem is expecting everyone else to be positive about your body. Well, and all the other problems of being obese.

      2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

        I suppose plus-size translates to positive.

      3. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

        They're not fat, they're Family Sized Soylent Green.

    2. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      Note, this is not Medical Misinformation.

      1. Longtobefree   3 years ago

        It is if twitter says it is.

    3. mad.casual   3 years ago

      Are you saying all women are fat?

  9. Ra's al Gore   3 years ago

    https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/tgif-we-made-it-to-january-7

    Is an armed robbery really so bad? Manhattan’s new district attorney, Alvin Bragg, has put out new directives for his prosecutors. And it’s a doozy.

    The new directives he sent out indicate that if you do an armed robbery of a business, but the gun isn’t loaded and no one is seriously injured, you ought to be prosecuted for petty larceny (a misdemeanor). Garage or backyard storage unit break-ins are downgraded (if the guy’s not in your bedroom itself, were you even robbed?). Drug dealers believed to be low-level will be charged only with a misdemeanor. He won’t prosecute: turnstile jumping, traffic infractions, trespassing, and resisting arrest for many types of crimes.

    “The Office will not seek a carceral sentence other than for homicide,” Bragg wrote, or for very extreme cases like violent felonies with a deadly weapon that cause serious injury. Otherwise: Back on the street.

    Upon taking office, Bragg immediately dropped the probe in former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of (and hiding of) nursing home deaths.

    1. Ra's al Gore   3 years ago

      New Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg won’t pursue fare beating, resisting arrest, other non-violent, non-felony charges, angering cop union
      https://sports.yahoo.com/manhattan-da-alvin-bragg-won-184400847.html

      Alvin Bragg, a former federal prosecutor sworn to office Jan. 1 as Manhattan’s first Black DA, told his staff not to bother with many cases of fare beating, resisting arrest and other nonviolent crimes — a move toward fulfilling his campaign promise of criminal justice reform.

      “These policy changes not only will, in and of themselves, make us safer; they also will free up prosecutorial resources to focus on violent crime,” Bragg wrote in a memo dated Tuesday.

      He promised that new initiatives and policies on guns, sex crimes, hate crimes, and other issues will be announced in the coming weeks

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        It was only a week ago reason asked why violent crimes were up. This one way to get people to stop asking.

        1. damikesc   3 years ago

          ...if they're not punished, is it REALLY crime?

          This is exactly what Soros wanted. You'd think Reason would be irked that their dream of criminal justice reform is being dragged in the mud so badly by these grifters...but you'd be wrong.

          1. R Mac   3 years ago

            Not if the grifters are doing other grifts with Koch.

      2. Cyto   3 years ago

        New initiatives on hate crimes....

        Brilliant!!!

        Breaking and entering... Fine and dandy.
        Shoplifting.... Fine.
        Dine and dash? .... Okeydoke.
        Steal a car? .... Whatevs.

        Call someone a bad name!?!? String 'em up!!!

        1. Sometimes a Great Notion   3 years ago

          Okeydoke

          That's the hand sign for White Supremacist! I'm forwarding this to Bragg.

        2. daveca   3 years ago

          CA- cocaine OK

          2 years for posession and distribution of plastic baggies.

      3. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

        This is why want ads saying "No routes through NYC" is considered a fringe benefit by truckers.

        1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

          Correction: Are considered. I'm stricter on myself about grammar than the NYC's DA is on basic human behavior.

    2. JesseAz   3 years ago

      He and another DA said they won't charge youth of any weapons charges. About to see some fun weather side story knife dancing and gun sambas.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        West side*

        1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

          They are depraved on account of they are deprived...of law enforcement scooping them up and throwing them in the pokey, that is.

      2. ElvisIsReal   3 years ago

        No comment about how everybody carrying knives will make us safer, but you gotta trust em.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          To be fair, I carry a knife every day. But I am also not in "the game" we see in urban centers.

      3. R Mac   3 years ago

        Knife fights are just part of the culture.

    3. Brian   3 years ago

      “ The new directives he sent out indicate that if you do an armed robbery of a business, but the gun isn’t loaded and no one is seriously injured, you ought to be prosecuted for petty larceny (a misdemeanor).”

      But concealed carry violation is a felony with a mandatory minimum of death by firing squad.

      1. Brian   3 years ago

        As of March 2013, what used to “only” be a misdemeanor crime is now a felony offense in New York State. If you are arrested with an unlicensed or unregistered firearm, a pistol or revolver for example, in New York City, Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, White Plains, Yonkers, New City, Poughkeepsie, Beacon, Nyack, Carmel or any other municipality, the police and prosecutors can arrest and charge you for violating New York Penal Law 265.01-b(1). Adding to the list of what is arguably to strongest and most severe weapon crimes and laws on the books, PL 265.01-b(1) is a class “E” felony punishable by a sentence of up to four years in prison whether you have a criminal past or your record is clean and pristine.

        https://www.new-york-lawyers.org/amp/new-york-criminal-possession-of-a-firearm-ny-pl-265-01-b-1.html

        So, which is it? If you’re using a gun in a crime, you get a misdemeanor, but if you’re merely possessing a gun illegally you’re a class E felon who gets four years.

        I hope all of these robbers are strictly following NY gun laws.

        How much you want to bet those are selectively enforced, mostly on people identified as wrong-thinkers?

        1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

          Gotta clear the prisons of criminals to make room for the peasants.

        2. R Mac   3 years ago

          It’s so they can punish people for political reasons.

      2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

        Get woke! Concealed carry types are white supremacists and guilty by birth. Armed robbers are oppressed POCs acting in defiance of the systemically racist state.

        That's how we achieve social justice.

    4. daveca   3 years ago

      oh it took a second read to " get" Braggs real intent...

      Gun control.

      Read in reverse, its:

      "its then a major felony to use a loaded gun to defend against the Straw Man Attacker with unloaded gun while the one being attacked cannot ascertain whether the attackers gun was loaded or not."

      VA has a somewhat similar law. Cant shoot a home invader. .

    5. Nardz   3 years ago

      This should be fun

    6. mad.casual   3 years ago

      Sounds like a 17-yr.-old with a tranquilizer or stun gun would be a legally-unstoppable force.

  10. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

    "Perpetually truth-challenged and sex work–obsessed pundit Nicholas Kristof can't run for governor of Oregon because he hasn't lived in the state long enough, officials say. On Thursday, "Secretary of State Shemia Fagan announced that her office was rejecting Kristof's bid to run for office, because he does not meet the state's three-year residency requirement," reports Oregon Public Broadcasting."

    He's eligible or not regardless of his position on prostitution--or hi position on anything else. Rooting for the law to be distorted because we don't like its implications is a progressive thing, and it reeks of elitism. As libertarians We don't want to be mistaken for elitists.

    We don't want the government to inflict the correct positions on the voting public by preventing them from being free to vote for whomever is eligible to run. We want the voting public to inflict libertarian positions on eligible candidates because the public wants more freedom.

    1. JesseAz   3 years ago

      This is why Reasons libertarian editors are also ignoring dem attempts to kick off multiple GOP incumbents off ballots on the theory of joining an insurrection. Why they were largely quiet of democrats kicking the green party off multiple ballots. No actual principles. Outcomes are fine.

      1. Ra's al Gore   3 years ago

        I realize they're Dems, but wouldn't you have to prove 'insurrection' somewhere first, particularly since nobody actually at the capitol is being charged with that, or are we just giving one party veto power over the other party's candidates?

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          Not per Elias. Democrats don't care about norms. Or even legal morality.

          1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

            Progressives believe their job is to inflict their ideas on the public using whatever means are available, and they are more than happy to distort the rule of law to achieve that. The progressive vision of democracy is about winning elections to inflict themselves on the unwilling using the law whenever possible.

            Libertarians mean to inflict our ideas on the government by using reason and persuasion on the voters, and the only way to get our ideas put into practice, over the long term, is to respect and preserve democracy in its appropriate place--as well as the people's ability to inflict themselves on their government.

            The people of Chicago are having school lockdowns inflicted on them by the teachers' unions. I suspect this is symptomatic of the people of Chicago's wrongheaded progressive ideas--that the purpose of their government is to inflict policies on the people rather than represent them.

            Before the government of Chicago get fixed, the people of Chicago will need to get their own heads right. The government they created to inflict itself on the unwilling is also capable of inflicting itself on you. They thought they created a bomb that would only hurt them enemy when it went off. It's blowing up in their faces--again.

        2. Longtobefree   3 years ago

          Accusation implies guilt; see #metoo

          1. daveca   3 years ago

            "UN-surrection"

            FIFY

    2. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      Perpetually truth-challenged and sex work–obsessed pundit

      Are we talking about ENB?

      1. mad.casual   3 years ago

        My knee-jerk. Would ENB want to be declared ineligible for public office because she's a truth-challenged and sex work-obsessed pundit?

    3. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      "We want the voting public to inflict libertarian positions on eligible candidates because the public wants more freedom."

      Where exactly is the public that wants more freedom (or at least prioritizes freedom over safety and free stuff)?

      1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

        It's our job to create that. That's why it's so important to talk to your friends and family. Emperor Xi is scared to death of what his people say to each other online because he's smart. The reason we don't have a more libertarian society is because we haven't persuaded enough of our fellow Americans to want one. You need to do your part by talking to your friends and family.

        It's easier to persuade the people you care about because they know you care about them. Because progressives treat the desires, ideas, and interests of the people with contempt, that should make it even easier. Now get to work. Christianity came to dominate the Roman without the printing press or the internet. What's our excuse?

        Persuasion should also be easy for us since we're both rational and right.

        1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

          Christianity dominated Europe by fire and sword. Not a good example.

          1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

            Christianity dominated the Roman empire by word of mouth.

    4. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      Who, exactly, in this scenario are you saying was “rooting for the law to be distorted”?

      1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

        I had never heard of Kristof before, but googling says he is a well-known progressive, so I guess you are saying Kristof was “rooting” for the law to be distorted.

        Fair enough. Don’t know if you have evidence of actual “rooting”. My take, as someone who has run for office before, is it’s just dumb to start a campaign without checking whether you qualify to run.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          Is this like when you said you didn't know who Alex Jones was? Or Joe Rogan? Or would never cite Rolling Stone?

          next up, are you going to ask who Marc Elias is when you suddenly discover how he is attempting to kick GOP incumbents off ballots?

          1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

            I had never heard of Kristof before

            Does anyone really believe it when White Mike makes claims like this?

            1. JesseAz   3 years ago

              No, because he has been caught doing it so many times. All the instances above are the same gimmick that he has actually made claims here of.

            2. R Mac   3 years ago

              I wouldn’t believe Dee if she told me what day of the week it was.

    5. chemjeff radical individualist   3 years ago

      Rooting for the law to be distorted because we don't like its implications is a progressive thing, and it reeks of elitism.

      So says the guy who was cheering for the Jan. 6 rioters to stop the Electoral College certification, because then it would thwart Biden's agenda.

      You are a complete phony, Ken.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Cite?

      2. Overt   3 years ago

        When did Ken cheer for the rioters to stop the Election?

      3. damikesc   3 years ago

        Hell, I came closest of anybody here in defending them by referring to 1/6 as what it was...a mostly peaceful protest (which was the term the Left tossed around for BLM riots all 2020). And I don't say it was a great idea.

        But that the Right showed some desire to engage in action did terrify the Left. In a way the Left does not have similar fear when Leftists riot and destroy.

      4. R Mac   3 years ago

        Why do I call him Lying Jeffy, you might ask? Here’s one example.

    6. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

      I want to see the day when positions on prostitution include "missionary," "pronebone," "doggy-style," "reverse cowgirl/cowboy," "AC/DC," or "around the world."

      1. mad.casual   3 years ago

        Pretty sure you can see that today for $20.

  11. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   3 years ago

    "it does actually matter what we eat — to ourselves, to our bodies, to our souls, to our cultures, and to our planet."

    FAT SHAMING is completely unacceptable. It's also racist according to Dr. Kendi's scholarship — Black women are more likely than most other demographics to be obese, therefore "obesity is bad" messaging disproportionately shames Black bodies.

    #HowToBeAnAntiRacist

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      I'll see your fat-black and raise you a fat-black-gay-parapalegic.

      Intersectionality poker is fun!

  12. sarcasmic   3 years ago

    Teenager who turned in his gun-toting father for taking part in Capitol riots brands him a 'psycho' and fears he's become even more 'radicalized' in jail: 'I feel like I pushed him in a more extreme direction'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10376295/Teen-turned-dad-taking-Capitol-riots-says-insurrection-tore-family-apart.html

    Guy Reffitt, 48, from Wylie, Texas, stormed the U.S. Capitol building alongside other pro-Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, while armed with a pistol
    Afterwards, he threatened his own wife and kids, telling them he would shoot them if they turned him to the authorities

    Classy.

    1. SQRLSY One   3 years ago

      If Guy Reffitt gets killed in prison, he'll become a Saint, alongside Ashli Babbitt. My inside sources in the "Great Beyond the Beyond" speculate that IF this happens, Ashli and Guy will SURELY be married, there in the "Great Beyond the Beyond", with the marriage ceremony officiated by Horst Wessel!

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Wessel

      1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        Reichsführer Squobbels of the Sqrlstaffel actually knows that poor Brian Sicknick was the real Horst Wessel.

        Only a fascist junta would lie about the unrelated stroke death of an officer, lay his body in state in the Rotunda, and bury him with honours at Arlington.

        Sqrlsy is being an obvious propaganda funktionshäftling by pretending differently.

        Ashli Babbitt, on the other hand, is actually Marinus van der Lubbe in the DNC's (and Sqrlsy's) new Reichstagsbrand.

      2. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

        I wouldn't trust Host Wessel. The song title says he lied. 😉

        1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

          I chuckled

    2. JesseAz   3 years ago

      LOL.

      Nobody responded to him so he used his sock to respond to himself. Hilarious.

      Now he will go into victimization mode.

    3. Zeb   3 years ago

      Sounds like a lovely family all around.

    4. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      No, can’t be. No January 6th rioters were armed. That is sacred truth.

      1. SQRLSY One   3 years ago

        AND they ALL stayed behind the velvet ropes, in the totally peaceful velvet protest! All that they ever wanted, was yet another vote re-count!

        (Sad to say, the Secret Lizard People Overlords will NOT allow an honest vote re-count!)

        1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

          I have asked many times now, how the officer who shot Babbitt was supposed to know she and all the rioters right behind her were unarmed.

          Nobody ever answers the question. Ken always assumes the officer should have know because Ken knows she wasn’t armed, after the events have transpired.

          Other January 6th apologist have told me that, categorically, no rioters were armed.

          1. sarcasmic   3 years ago

            I've also been told that there were zero firearms present on Jan 6. Well, other than the FBI and Antifa agent provocateurs who organized the entire event and committed all the crimes.

            1. JesseAz   3 years ago

              LOL! You didn't look at his charges did you.

              Wow, you two look like idiots.

            2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

              I'm surprised that you didn't bitch about it being Trump's fault for the Capitol Police being armed.

              But there were zero firearms present with the protesters on Jan 6 with the exception of several known FBI agents. Guy Reffitt wasn't armed with a pistol when he entered the capitol, he had disassembled it prior to the rally because you couldn't bring guns.

              Your article was fibbing.

              It's fire extinguishers all over again for you two clowns.

              1. Zeb   3 years ago

                And anyway, if a few people did have guns on them, that doesn't suddenly make "armed assault on the capital" an accurate description.

          2. JesseAz   3 years ago

            How was the officer supposed to know Floyd had cardiac failure? Is that really the standard you want to use. Police can fire as long as they do not know something?

            And we know because of the 3 officers on the side of the door that didn't shoot and had weapons down.

            You act like people can't watch the video. Your ignorance is your own, not others.

          3. Commenter_XY   3 years ago

            Lt Michael Byrd would not have known that Ashley Babbitt was unarmed. It was a legally defensible shoot (IMHO), when you look at the actual elements of the law. I base my assessment on what Andrew Braca wrote over at Legal Insurrection. I personally think that Byrd made a terrible mistake while under a lot of pressure.

            To me, Byrd should retire if he can do that and leave law enforcement. Failing that, I would encourage him to leave, even if it took a small package. He is a danger to others under pressure. That is what it comes down to.

          4. Zeb   3 years ago

            So that's the standard now? If you aren't sure someone is unarmed, it's OK to shoot them? You don't think police ought to show restraint until they are certain that a threat exists?
            It's really pathetic that people are still trying to make excuses for this. Somehow all of the other cops there managed not to kill anyone.

            1. R Mac   3 years ago

              You don’t still think sarc and Dee are operating under anything except partisanship and hypocrisy, do you?

      2. sarcasmic   3 years ago

        What rioters? They were peaceful tourists.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          Again... Sarc is outraged Portland police arrested rioters for BLM. applauds Capitol police for shooting rioters at the capitol.

          600 of the people charged are for non violent trespassing charges. over 80%

          But you just feel you are right.

      3. JesseAz   3 years ago

        God damn mike, you always make yourself look like a fool.

        Reffitt is accused of obstructing an official proceeding, aiding and abetting; obstructing justice by hindering communication through physical force or threat of physical force; entering and remaining in a restricted building; and civil disorder, according to court documents.

        He isn't charged with being armed idiot.

        https://abcnews.go.com/US/family-torn-capitol-insurrection-reflects-jan-anniversary/story?id=82070010

        I do like how you guys have to keep the narrative going though.

        1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

          He didn't even have the pistol with him. He'd disassembled it when he got to DC.

          1. JesseAz   3 years ago

            It didn't stop the jokers here from all claiming their narrative was right despite all evidence.

          2. SQRLSY One   3 years ago

            He disassembled it ONLY under the perverted mind-control of those God-Damned LIZARD PEOPLE!!! If only he'd valiantly resisted the mind-control beams, the Glorious Revolution of the TrumptatorShit would have succeeded, and we'd now all be basking in the Perfection of the Beginning of the Glorious 10,000-year Reich!

            1. JesseAz   3 years ago

              Man sarc, you really flail extra hard when you prove to be an idiot.

              1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

                It's all he's got.

                1. SQRLSY One   3 years ago

                  Well, I've got THIS, below, which you continue to refuse to refute, other than by NOT reading it!

                  I refute YOUR bullshit, too, by not reading it! So there!

                  Read this if you dare, JesseBahnFuhrer and MammaBahnFuhrer!
                  https://www.salon.com/2021/04/11/trumps-big-lie-and-hitlers-is-this-how-americas-slide-into-totalitarianism-begins/
                  Trump’s Big Lie and Hitler’s: Is this how America’s slide into totalitarianism begins?

                  Oh but I know… Anything that disagrees with the JesseBahnFuhrer and MammaryBahnFuhrer echo chamber is “Marxist”, right? No matter HOW factual it might be!

                  1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

                    Here's you're refutation:
                    The protesters were unarmed.

                    1. SQRLSY One   3 years ago

                      The protesters were armed with (and motivated by) The Big Lie (of today)!

                      The Big Lie of the NAZIs led to the deaths of 6 million Jews, and, as I recall, about 30 million war deaths in Europe. And staggering, incomprehensible suffering to boot. Time will tell HOW many deaths and how much suffering will result from Der TrumpfenFuhrer's Big Lie!

                      You are NOT helping, here, Mammary-Fuhrer!!! TRY really hard now to develop some BENEVOLENCE! Please! You will NOT escape unscathed from the mass suffering that You lust for!

                    2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

                      The only Big Lie is that (1) armed (2) insurrectionists (3) beat a cop to death with (4) pepper spray and (5) fire extinguishers while (6) smearing poop and brandishing (7) zip-ties, (8) guns and (9) molotov cocktails on the (10) explicit instructions of Trump.

                      Every bit of that story turned out to be a lie, and yet you're propagandizing ass is pretending it's real.

                      We don't call you ReichSqrlührer Squobbels for nothing, you dishonest Nazi fuck.

                    3. SQRLSY One   3 years ago

                      I provide a cite (link) that You have NEVER refuted, Mammary-Fuhrer! Now it is YOUR turn to prove Your lies!

                      If Der TrumpfenFuhrer is SO clearly the victim of vote-fraud, WHY aren't You in court with Your so-factual, so-irrefutable evidence? Is Your evidence the same as below, perhaps?

                      https://reason.com/2021/03/23/sidney-powell-says-shes-not-guilty-of-defamation-because-no-reasonable-person-would-have-believed-her-outlandish-election-conspiracy-theory/
                      Sidney Powell Says She’s Not Guilty of Defamation Because ‘No Reasonable Person’ Would Have Believed Her ‘Outlandish’ Election Conspiracy Theory
                      Which particular lies are you wanting to hear and believe today, hyper-partisan Wonder Child?

                      https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/trumps-lawyers-kraken/619915/ Trump lawyers face the heat!

                    4. SQRLSY One   3 years ago

                      Speaking of stupid, deluded fools… Y’all are still sending your money to the Rip-Off Artist In Chief, right?

                      https://www.businessinsider.com/campaign-finance-experts-stunned-by-trump-camps-reported-money-bomb-2021-4
                      ‘A complete rip-off’: Campaign-finance experts puzzled and stunned by Trump camp’s reported ‘money-bomb’ ploy

                    5. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

                      I provide a cite (link) that You have NEVER refuted

                      I just did you retarded Nazi fuck. Right here: https://reason.com/2022/01/07/mandatory-gmo-disclosure-doesnt-sway-shopping-habits-but-will-drive-up-costs/?comments=true#comment-9294702

                      Not only that, but I and dozens of others have, and you've ignored us or spazzed out.

                      You're such a dishonest fuck.

                    6. SQRLSY One   3 years ago

                      I refute what You (Queen of the Internet Cesspools) say, Mammary-Fuhrer-style, by pointing out that Your so-called "brain" has been taken over by the Amphibian People, as led by Pepe the Amphibian Person, stolen-IP-4Chan-Frog! Racist frog, NAZI frog, yaya-yada!
                      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_the_Frog !!!

      4. Overt   3 years ago

        Mike: Totally not putting words in other's mouths.

        I mean, some of us actually think it is pretty horrible that a bunch of people stormed the Capitol, but the reaction to it is 10x worse. For example, Glenn Greenwald.
        https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-histrionics-and-melodrama-around

        But see, Mike doesn't want to have that conversation. He wants to have pretend conversations with a caricature. Because his interest is not unity, it is division. Because he is a troll.

        1. Zeb   3 years ago

          It's such a common tactic nowadays. Point to some idiot commenting on a thing and then say "look, this is something only idiots believe", while ignoring all of the reasonable takes in the middle. Gets old.

      5. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        "No January 6th rioters were armed. That is sacred truth."

        I know you're trying to imply differently, but you're correct. No January 6th rioters were armed.

        Guy Reffitt wasn't armed with a pistol when he entered the capitol.

        "he had brought a “Smith & Wesson pistol” with him but “had disassembled it prior to comply with the law in Washington, D.C.”
        https://heavy.com/news/guy-reffitt/

        Sarcasmic's Daily Fail article isn't true.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          They both are so damn ignorant.

    5. damikesc   3 years ago

      Kid seems like an insufferable cunt.

      1. mad.casual   3 years ago

        "I thought my Dad might be mentally unstable so I deliberately had him locked in a cage and it makes me feel like I pushed him into a more extreme situation."

        Sounds like the whole gene pool could use some chlorine injections.

  13. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   3 years ago

    House Democrats lean into a January 6-focused strategy ahead of the midterm elections

    1 / 6 was worse than 9 / 11. Don't believe the wingnut.com myth that voters are concerned with inflation (which doesn't exist outside of spittin' tobaccy anyway). Democrats will be in excellent shape if they make the midterms all about the HEAVILY ARMED INSURRECTION. (With occasional TV ads boasting of Biden's success shutting down the virus.)

    #BlueWave2022

    1. Ra's al Gore   3 years ago

      Never forget 5/20/20

      https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/31/fires-light-up-washington-dc-on-third-night-of-george-floyd-protests

      On Sunday it was reported that Donald Trump; his wife, Melania; and son Barron had been taken down to the White House bunker at the height of the protests on Friday and then brought back up as the crowds dispersed.

      1. OpenBordersLiberal-tarian   3 years ago

        FALSE EQUIVALENCE

        Antifa and BLM conduct mostly peaceful protests. Any violence that occurs must have been caused by right-wing infiltrators.

        #LibertariansForAntifa

      2. Ra's al Gore   3 years ago

        https://twitter.com/WPLGLocal10/status/822520685054394369

        Violent protests continue throughout Washington DC following the inauguration of Donald Trump as president.

        1. Ra's al Gore   3 years ago

          https://twitter.com/Oilfield_Rando/status/1479222205061992451

          When the mob came for you, they defunded your police and told you that you were the problem.

          When the mob came for them, they made an army sleep outside their doors like dogs for a year.

  14. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Schiff thinks the Mueller report would have been more true if they had simply advertised it through public hearings.

    It is a politics.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/adam-schiff-biggest-problem-with-mueller-report-was-it-wasnt-brought-to-life-through-public-hearings

    1. Cyto   3 years ago

      The biggest problem with the Mueller report was that when they discovered that it was all a fraud designed to overturn an election, they ignored that and kept trying to extort people to flip.

      This is how you know they were co-conspirators, not well meaning prosecutors manipulated by those who came before.... They had the proof in their hands... And chose to ignore it and move forward.

      They could have dug into the dossier more... But when they found out it was fake, they quickly dropped it. They could have dug into the surveillance of political opponents when they discovered the nature of the "investigation"... But they scrupulously avoided doing that.

      They knew very early on that it was a sham. But they spent 38 million dollars trying to make the sham a reality. Everyone knows the political affiliation of the attorneys selected... It really shouldn't be so hard to connect those dots.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        The Mueller report was filled with more theory than facts, and it is because as you say they found nothing of interest for 2 years. That's why they had to include all the non illegal stuff but form a theory that if you take all this non illegal stuff it may show collusion if you add them all together. It was incredible.

        Yet we still have the left claiming Russia stole the election, with Ana Navarro saying it just a week ago.

        1. Cyto   3 years ago

          If a dead child rapist who attempted to murder a teenager can transform into a peaceful black man hunted by a white supremacist, that transformation is child's play.

          1. Nardz   3 years ago

            Mass psychosis is really fucking dangerous

          2. daveca   3 years ago

            Leave Biden out of this!

          3. rbike   3 years ago

            That's Jo-Jo you are referring to. "Little JoJo" per Mark Ruffalo.

  15. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Pelosi continues to hide planning and security documents for the Capitol in J6.

    https://justthenews.com/government/congress/what-she-hiding-top-republican-accuses-pelosi-coverup-withholding-jan-6

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      Well of course she is. The US will need a Nuremberg-style court to go overall of this plus covid one day.
      Watch the FBI turn out to be the main hive.

  16. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Supreme Court is hearing arguments about the vaccine mandates today. Can listen live.

    https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/listen-live-supreme-court-hears-oral-arguments-biden-admins-covid-vaccine

    Or if jeff or sarc wait for the narrative to be spun tomorrow.

    1. Bill Godshall   3 years ago

      The attorney defending Biden's OSHA vaccine mandate just falsely claimed (to the SCOTUS) that:
      - covid is far more hazardous than influenza,
      - OSHA never mandated vaccines for any other diseases because virtually everyone was already vaccinated, and
      - covid is as harmful at the 1918 Spanish flu (which killed very few people over 65 or obese, and mostly killed young and healthy people).

      1. Bill Godshall   3 years ago

        Oral arguments for one of the state's lawsuits challenging Biden's OSHA vaccine mandate just ended at SCOTUS, with the plaintiffs arguments sounding far more accurate and convincing (to me), and requesting SCOTUS to halt the vaccine mandate ASAP, and especially before Monday.

        Missouri's AG is now presenting his state's lawsuit challenging the OSHA vaccine mandate as it applies to healthcare service providers.

      2. daveca   3 years ago

        Last point, obvious lie

        1918, 2%

        2021 0.2 %

        1. mad.casual   3 years ago

          And even that is astoundingly slanted. How many attended super spreader breakthrough events like 'Bear Week' in 1918?

    2. Overt   3 years ago

      Man, Kagan is so insufferable. She doesn't even bother to act like a Judge, asking questions. She acts like a lawyer arguing for a case.

      "So my question is, since people are getting sick every day and this is the ONLY way that we are going to stop them getting sick- by incentivizing them to get the vaccine- why is that bad?" It's just straight up leading questioning.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Thank god she chose lawschool over the medical field. All of her assumptions are wrong.

      2. JesseAz   3 years ago

        She said 100k kids were in hospitals in serious condition from Covid currently.... then said Omicron was as deadly as Delta.

  17. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Glenn Kessler, wapo fact checker, gave Sen Cotton a liar rating for making the statement that prisoners and even the Boston bomber would get covid stimulus funds last year. Unfortunately a report yesterday stated and showed the bomber did get stimulus money. Whoops. Rating changed but still not rated true. Can't make this shit up.

    https://justthenews.com/accountability/media/wapo-fact-checker-reassesses-after-cotton-correctly-predicted-murderers-would

    1. Cyto   3 years ago

      Is anyone still pretending that fact checkers are anything other than partisan actors? I mean, Facebook et al would not be banning topics and people based on fact checkers if they could not trust that the outcome would always go their way...

      1. ElvisIsReal   3 years ago

        Even the fact checkers claim to be opinion.

      2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        It makes me chuckle the most when J-school losers and techies think that they can fact-check engineers, virologists, MDs, etc. and inevitably fuck up even the basic facts.

        Fact-checks are one of the more retarded forms of demagoguery.

        1. ElvisIsReal   3 years ago

          Most of the time they don't even seriously address the question.

          "No, water testing positive doesn't mean covid is in the water."

          Uh....the point is that the tests are shit if water is testing positive. They're professional strawmen builders/destroyers.

      3. daveca   3 years ago

        no, theyre bold about it.

      4. Nardz   3 years ago

        https://twitter.com/EricMMatheny/status/1479203108622327808?t=PueZPAm0JI9_vEX7ttFO8g&s=19

        What’s the “missing context?” Did they not say these quotes word for word? [Screenshot]

    2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      Cotton's original claim might be true, but it still does not fit Kessler's truthiness.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        How did he even fact check a prediction? It makes no sense.

  18. JesseAz   3 years ago

    Something not discussed at yesterday's j6 drama rally.. nobody has been charged with insurrection.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/reminder-not-one-person-involved-in-jan-6-riot-has-been-charged-with-insurrection

  19. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

    People are idiots. And in a twisted version of Dunning-Kruger thinking, they want to be treated like idiots.

    I am always amused at how people react to GMO foods. Idiots can argue over how to brand and ban these. And more idiots, who otherwise chant "Science" can truly believe that they will turn into genetic freaks if they ingest just one bit of GMO popcorn.

    I wonder what would happen if we mandated labels on foods that said: "Warning! This food contains chemicals."

    1. Cyto   3 years ago

      Or what would happen if someone managed to splice resistance to Panama disease into bananas, so we can still have bananas?

      How about strawberries that don't rot for weeks after ripening? Gonna avoid those? Or wine made from grapes that tolerate warmer climate?

      Yeah... Not happening. If the choice is no bananas or bananas... People will chose bananas. If the choice is $57 wine that is mediocre, or $7 wine that is excellent... Guess what they will chose?

      1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

        I think the term for this is "revealed preference".

        1. daveca   3 years ago

          Oh great, that sounds like another Bathroom sign...

      2. R Mac   3 years ago

        “$7 wine that is excellent”

        Cite?

    2. daveca   3 years ago

      ALL food is Genetically modified.

      Hybrids are. Good luck finding " original grain"

  20. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

    • Chicago schools are still closed, as the city's leadership and teachers union fight over in-person learning.

    • Hormonal birth control is now available without a prescription in Illinois. "This legislation covers self-administered hormonal contraceptive methods — birth control pills, skin patches, and vaginal rings — which were previously available only with a prescription from a physician," notes Chicago magazine.

    So that's what Chicago teachers are busy doing.

  21. Sevo   3 years ago

    Go long on lithium:

    "Mining of Lithium, Key to the Climate Fight, Faces New Scrutiny in Chile"
    [...]
    "Mr. Boric has said little about his lithium plans, except to propose the creation of a national lithium company...."
    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/climate/lithium-chile.html

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      It worked for Venezuela, right?

  22. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

    "A judge this week ruled that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doesn't have the authority to prevent local governments in the state from imposing their own mask mandates."

    In related news, the Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments today about whether Joe Biden's vaccine mandates should go into effect in Texas (or anywhere else) while the case is winding its way through the courts.

    https://www.aha.org/news/blog/2021-12-01-blog-updates-legal-challenges-cms-vaccine-mandate-rule

    I maintain that Abbot's actions were preemptive against Biden's foreseeable and foreseen mandates, much like the recent spate of voting laws in the states were at least somewhat preemptive--with an eye on the Democrats' various iterations of H.R. 1. When a state knows that the federal government is coming to hit it in the grill with a baseball bat, it really isn't necessary for them to wait for the bat to actually land on their jaw before they start to protect themselves. The time to start fighting back is as soon as they realize the federal government is coming to get them.

    For libertarians, these issues aren't just about the particulars of the issues themselves. It's also about states' rights and federalism. Supports the separation of powers through federalism is an important libertarian principle--and that can and sometimes does supersede our positions on the issues themselves. I'm all for local democracy whenever it doesn't violate our rights, but libertarians who are rooting against a state like Texas in its fight against the federal government have some explaining to do.

    1. Cyto   3 years ago

      I think it is important that right thinking judges in obscure locales get to decide national policy on their own initiative.

      Why should immigration law passed by Congress and signed by the president control how the borders are controlled, when a judge can decide that the federal government can't enforelce the law because a former administration decided to violate the law and decline to enforce it? Clearly a robe and a gavel is even more potent than a pen and a phone.

    2. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      From a libertarian perspective, both Biden and Abbott are wrong to impose mandates on private businesses.

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Abbots order didn't disallow a business to require a mask on their premise.

        Do you have to lie in every response?

        1. R Mac   3 years ago

          Yes.

    3. daveca   3 years ago

      Its a Pushme-Pullya

      Libertarian on one end, Prog Left Democrat on the other.

      Its a favorite Internet Troll tactic to start off with a conciliatory sounding comment then play " switcharoo" at the end to introduce their real goal, Leftist meme spreading.

      Thats why I read posts from bottom to top.. easy to catch them that way.

    4. Ve-Ra   3 years ago

      My favorites are the people that with a straight face say Abbot representing the state of Texas doesn't have the right to tell governmental divisions of the state of Texas, ie counties, that they can't mandate masks, but Biden has the right to tell every company in the nation that they have to require vaccines.

  23. Ra's al Gore   3 years ago

    US science teacher arrested for vaccinating 17-year-old student
    https://news.yahoo.com/us-science-teacher-arrested-vaccinating-021047634.html

    A New York school teacher with no formal medical qualification has been arrested for allegedly giving a Covid vaccine to a student, say officials.

    Police say Laura Russo administered the dose at her home despite having no legal authorisation to give jabs, or consent from the boy's parents.

    1. Red Rocks White Privilege   3 years ago

      I'm curious as to how she got the vial to begin with. It's not like the average person can just waltz in and buy them over the counter.

      Shit like this is why trust in teachers in general continues to plummet.

    2. daveca   3 years ago

      "A New York school teacher with no formal medical qualification has been arrested for allegedly giving a Covid vaccine to a student, say officials."

      But isnt is so " safe and effective?"

      Whats the harm?

      Are the people at Wal Mart doing so " formally medically trained?"

    3. mad.casual   3 years ago

      A New York school teacher with no formal medical qualification has been arrested for allegedly giving a Covid vaccine to a student, say officials.

      In, (not really) their defense, I do admire the DIY attitude. I have extended family members who can't inject themselves with their therapeutic medications, and not out of some infirmity, who think everyone should get their kids vaccinated. Violates the "never give an order you wouldn't carry out" ethics to the core.

  24. Sevo   3 years ago

    "A battle for the soul of America"
    [...]
    "Kamala Harris and Joe Biden chose the first anniversary of Jan. 6, when the mob that Donald Trump called to Washington was set upon the seat of American democracy in his rolling clown coup...'
    https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2022/1/6/22870378/capitol-attack-january-6-anniversary-biden-speech-harris-2020-presidential-election-trump-big-lie

    Plenty of bullshit from a TDS-addled lefty pile of shit; no facts. And what was Harris doing there?

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   3 years ago

      Being black(-ish).

      1. Sevo   3 years ago

        I think she was to take over the speech if droolin' Joe fell or simply skipped a page.

    2. rbike   3 years ago

      Who else used the "Big Lie" terminology? I may have heard it before somewhere.

      1. Nardz   3 years ago

        Every leftist accusation is a confession

  25. nobody 2   3 years ago

    "Research suggests that consumers won't alter their behavior based on mandatory disclosure of genetically modified organism (GMO) food products."

    I wonder how much taxpayer money was wasted on research to "suggest" that people don't care if their food is kosher according to someone else's religion.

    1. Cronut   3 years ago

      Probably the same amount that was wasted on the suggestion that people don't care how many calories are in their lattes.

    2. Zeb   3 years ago

      Kosher marks are more useful. Often a sign of good quality meat.

      1. daveca   3 years ago

        well, thats also process...storage, handling etc...

      2. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

        Kosher hot dogs and dill pickles are really good, but that has nothing to do with religious words mumbled over them or whether the cow is slowly bled to death.. If the cow were slajghtered with a quick .38 to the skull with no words said, the most Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi couldn't tell the difference.

        1. Zeb   3 years ago

          Hot dogs is probably the big one. Non-kosher hot dogs just make me feel ill. And yes, I know that the specifically kosher parts of the process aren't what makes the difference.

      3. nobody 2   3 years ago

        Sadly environmentalist kosher doesn't taste nearly as good as Jewish kosher. When I was living in LA I had to eat at a bunch of restaurants that were environmentalist kosher for business meetings, and as a result I discovered that smug self-righteousness tastes terrible.

  26. Rich   3 years ago

    "Add swim diapers to the list of issues that can get turned into a federal case"

    Does this include swim *face* diapers?

  27. Sevo   3 years ago

    "Bill Would Revoke Nonprofit Status for Anti-Democracy Groups"
    [...]
    "On the first anniversary of the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has introduced a bill to punish groups that support or actively pursue the undermining of democratic elections.
    Senate Bill 834 would allow the state's Franchise Tax Board to suspend or deny tax-exempt status for any nonprofit registered in or outside California that engages in such efforts.
    "They're raising money on efforts to overthrow our democracy, and we don't need to give them tax-exempt status," Wiener told KQED."
    https://www.kqed.org/news/11900935/bill-would-revoke-non-profit-status-for-anti-democracy-groups

    Gonna guess the first target is the Clinton Foundation.
    Weiner is a stopped clock, but he's also a total ignoramus; I'm sure he sees himself as heading the committee to make the choices.

    1. Rich   3 years ago

      Wiener's office declined to provide a comprehensive list of groups that would be affected by the law, but did mention the group Defending the Republic

      Gotta keep the options open.

    2. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      Something seems oddly familiar about this. Like it was in a Brickbat earlier today or something.

      1. Sevo   3 years ago

        Did they get it from the Chron as I did?

  28. damikesc   3 years ago

    "But not only was the study not the most rigorous (it "was commissioned by the authors of a business self-help book called The Plateau Effect" and is not peer-reviewed, Sweet points out)"

    Peer-review has proven to be not terribly useful the last few years.

    Just sayin'.

    1. chemjeff radical individualist   3 years ago

      What do you propose as an alternative to peer review?

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Peer review is fine jeff. Current peer review is a set of politically charged determinations, which is why there is a replication crisis and a submission bias. Both are well documented. But you again pretend that something that is documented is not happening.

      2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        Peer review that actually reviews instead of just pretending. The replication crisis demonstrates that a lot of reviewers were phoning it in.

        1. mad.casual   3 years ago

          Because, as Overt points out below, peer review isn't a part of the scientific process, replication is. Peer review is, inherently, a shitty proxy.

      3. Overt   3 years ago

        I think a Peer Experiment system would be interesting to consider.

        No tenant in the scientific process of "Observe, Hypothesize, Experiment, repeat" suggests that the approval or disapproval of an experiment ought to depend on the opinions of some reviewing expert. Yet at some point, "Peer Review" became synonymous with the scientific process- or viewed as some inextricable part of it.

        On the other hand, Reproducibility is absolutely part of the scientific process because you cannot have a "process" if it isn't reproducible.

        That won't solve all problems, especially those where you are relying on epidemiological data (querying past stored data sets for example), but in the biggest areas where we have seen problems recently- including biology and psychology- creating "Shadow" teams trying to replicate your results might actually be a more science-focused process.

        1. Overt   3 years ago

          Ugh...no tenet...

      4. mad.casual   3 years ago

        What do you propose as an alternative to peer review?

        Freedom for peers to publish as they please. Freedom for publishers to refuse to publish up front as they please. Freedom for non-peer experts to review. Freedom for lay people to review...

        One NB: Freedom for peers who review to be proportionately cut into any government funds secured by the publisher for their role. Even, to a degree, post hoc.

        Seriously, peer review has been broken for a long, long time and has been stated as such by many, many historically noteworthy scientists.

  29. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

    "New small business creation is thriving. "We're now entering year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the U.S. economy is still struggling thanks to inflation, supply chain issues, and continually bad jobs numbers. However, small business creation has been an unexpected economic bright spot since the pandemic began,"

    The retarded gaslighting were subjected to here is amazing.

    Somehow we're expected not to remember that the last two years saw the biggest destruction of small business in American history. Even the Civil War and WW2 didn't see as many business casualties as the lockdowns. Hundreds of thousands of enterprises lost everything and went bankrupt.

    This isn't some wonderful recovery. This is people picking through the ruins of their former lives in an effort to salvage something.

    To hail this as an economic miracle is grotesque.

    1. Sevo   3 years ago

      At least we'll know where turd got his latest bullshit.

    2. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      To hail this as an economic miracle is grotesque.

      Yeah, but it's the Party line. What can you do?

    3. daveca   3 years ago

      that quote admits my point that " shortage" and " inflation" are made up now to cover Bidens clusterfuckery, just like 2010 with him and the Clown in Chiefs previous economic disaster.

      "Look, we did something!"

      1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

        Yeah, this is the positive coverage the regime started demanding a couple months back.

    4. Overt   3 years ago

      Right, I would be very interested in knowing how many of these new small businesses are people starting up the same business again after discharging previous liabilities in bankruptcy.

  30. Ra's al Gore   3 years ago

    Democrat Governor Jay Inslee Vows to Make It a CRIME to Question Fraudulent Elections
    https://newspunch.com/democrat-governor-jay-inslee-vows-to-make-it-a-crime-to-question-fraudulent-elections/

    1. chemjeff radical individualist   3 years ago

      I love how this sort of crap passes as "news" in right-wing circles.

      This article itself is pushing lies, or at the minimum half-truths, in the service of an agenda.

      Do you think that is acceptable when the New York Times does it? If not, why do you think it is acceptable if "Newspunch" does it?

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Quoting politicians shouldn't be allowed when they expose the left's authoritarianism yelled jeff.

      2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        "This article itself is pushing lies, or at the minimum half-truths"

        It's directly quoting Inslee so of course they're lies and half-truths.
        You self-own so often Jeff.

      3. JesseAz   3 years ago

        Jeff, comment?


        Governor Jay Inslee
        @GovInslee
        Today I’m announcing my support for legislation currently being written that would outlaw attempts by candidates and elected officials to spread lies about free and fair elections when it has the likelihood to stoke violence.

        My full statement here:

      4. Overt   3 years ago

        "This article itself is pushing lies, or at the minimum half-truths, in the service of an agenda."

        Ok...that's like, your opinion, man. But can you back it up with an analysis?

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          90% of the article is quoting Inslee. Not sure what Jeff is even blathering about. We know he doesn't read his own links, but thought he'd at least read links he criticized of others.

        2. chemjeff radical individualist   3 years ago

          Did you click through to the article?
          The claim "Democrat Governor Jay Inslee Vows to Make It a CRIME to Question Fraudulent Elections" is a complete misrepresentation of what Inslee proposed. And the source for this claim is just some tweet, not even a quote from Inslee's own statement. So based on this article we can't judge what Inslee said. But we are just supposed to accept that Inslee wants to make mere "questioning" the elections a crime.

          1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

            "Governor Jay Inslee
            @GovInslee
            Today I’m announcing my support for legislation currently being written that would outlaw attempts by candidates and elected officials to spread lies about free and fair elections when it has the likelihood to stoke violence."

            His words, not ours.

            You're not going to get your fifty-cents unless you try a little harder, Jeff.

            1. JesseAz   3 years ago

              Jeff is so terrible at facts. I'm sure he's thinking of some random scenario involving bears to contradict Inslees own words.

      5. Zeb   3 years ago

        What are the lies that you see?

        Even if this isn't a criminal law they are trying to pass, trying to restrict commentary on elections is pretty much the worst violation of the 1st amendment I can think of. Political speech, of whatever sort, no matter how inaccurate or insane, and no matter the source must be absolutely protected.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          It makes a leftist look bad. That is his objection.

  31. chemjeff radical individualist   3 years ago

    Yet more evidence that Ted Cruz is a complete slimeball.

    https://news.yahoo.com/cruz-begs-tucker-forgive-him-030837828.html

    He stands with Donald Trump even after he personally insulted his family. And now he grovels at the feet of Tucker Carlson for the sake of popularity. What a pathetic man.

    1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

      Yeah, I saw that video on the Twitter this morning. Pathetic.

      1. Lord of Strazele   3 years ago

        He represents Texas too. Supposedly tough people. What a fucking joke.

        1. Mike Laursen   3 years ago

          Woah, his wikipedia page says he was born in Canada, and even has dual US/Canadian citizenship. I did not know that.

          If I were a Texan, I'd use his Canookedness as an excuse not to be hyper-embarrassed by him.

          1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

            I love how much you hate us now that you've learned we're not lotus eaters from a proggy Shangri-La.
            Wait until you learn you've been lied to about Scandinavian socialism too.

          2. Zeb   3 years ago

            He's a Hispanic immigrant.

        2. Dillinger   3 years ago

          lol way to try to insult Texans

          1. SQRLSY One   3 years ago

            Here I sit, my cheeks a-flexin',
            Giving birth to another Texan!

      2. JesseAz   3 years ago

        This explains so much. All your news is from Twitter. No wonder you're an ignorant leftist.

      3. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        I saw that video on the Twitter this morning.

        You actually are ENB... Oh wow. I didn't believe it before but...

    2. JesseAz   3 years ago

      You literally just criticized the link above criticizing what a politician says... then post this right after.

      LOL.

      1. damikesc   3 years ago

        Hell, he wrote THIS four minutes before whining in the above thread.

        1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

          Cognitive dissonance is his superpower.

        2. SQRLSY One   3 years ago

          Hey damikesc, Damned-and-Sick One! Are you STILL whining about the sad fact that Government Almighty doesn't (yet) have the POWAH to FORCE people to buy Reason Magazines?!?! Fascist much lately?

          Hey Damiksec, damiskec, and damikesc, and ALL of your other socks…
          How is your totalitarian scheme to FORCE people to buy Reason magazines coming along?

          Free speech (freedom from “Cancel Culture”) comes from Facebook, Twitter, Tik-Tok, and Google, right? THAT is why we need to pass laws to prohibit these DANGEROUS companies (which, ugh!, the BASTARDS, put profits above people!)!!! We must pass new laws to retract “Section 230” and FORCE the evil corporations to provide us all (EXCEPT for my political enemies, of course!) with a “UBIFS”, a Universal Basic Income of Free Speech!

          So leftist “false flag” commenters will inundate Reason-dot-com with shitloads of PROTECTED racist comments, and then pissed-off readers and advertisers and buyers (of Reason magazine) will all BOYCOTT Reason! And right-wing idiots like Damikesc will then FORCE people to support Reason, so as to nullify the attempts at boycotts! THAT is your ultimate authoritarian “fix” here!!!

          “Now, to “protect” Reason from this meddling here, are we going to REQUIRE readers and advertisers to support Reason, to protect Reason from boycotts?”
          Yup. Basically. Sounds rough. (Quote damikesc)

          (Etc.)

          See https://reason.com/2020/06/24/the-new-censors/

    3. Bill Godshall   3 years ago

      Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz had an excellent conversation last night (about what actually happened on Jan 6).

      Jeff is a complete slimeball

      1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

        Well the Yahoo opinion piece is lying too, and Jeff doesn't actually read beyond the headlines, so this was bound to happen.

        1. Overt   3 years ago

          To be clear, it isn't Yahoo News. It is Daily Beast, just syndicated to Yahoo's news platform.

          1. JesseAz   3 years ago

            He is hiding his DB usage after being called out on it so much. One of the ways I know he didn't mute me.

      2. chemjeff radical individualist   3 years ago

        We can count on you, Bill, to give us the hot takes and "real truth" from the right-wing paranoid fringe.

        1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

          Try harder. That's a kindergarten-level burn attempt.
          Especially ironic too for a guy who posts Daily Beast articles to accuse anyone else of being on the "paranoid fringe".

  32. Ali Akbar Alexander   3 years ago

    Sorry... yesterday I was celebrating the brave patriots of Jan 6th and especially the act of charging a cop with a loaded gun so I forgot to document the economic calamity that has resulted from the Biden economic agenda.

    S&P -0.10%

    Another horrible day in Biden’s communist AmeriKKKa. Is the dollar completely worthless yet?

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      Poor Buttplug. You just can't pull it off.
      Lefties can't meme.

      1. daveca   3 years ago

        May as well lift a cats tail and talk into the crack as respond to these Mouth Breather Socks...

      2. Ali Akbar Alexander   3 years ago

        I’m not Buttplug. I’m just a normal Black gay American in support of the libertarian GOP agenda especially exemplified by Donald Trump’s SC nominees who are freeing 60 year old religious men from the tyranny of thinking about abortion.

        1. JesseAz   3 years ago

          Shrike, this is just sad at this point.

        2. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

          You're not fooling anyone Shrike. Buttplug is when your masquerading as a left libertarian, Queen Anathema for when you want to rip off the mask, American Socia1ist for when you feel trolly, and Ali Akbar because OBL makes your butt sore, not realizing that imitation is flattery however weak the attempt.

  33. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

    Chicago schools are still closed, as the city's leadership and teachers union fight over in-person learning.

    get out of public schools.

    Anyone with their kids in public school at this point is either a fool or doesn't have the wherewithal.

    Public school is the biggest scam on and threat to poor people in america.

    1. daveca   3 years ago

      It " was" the " Boiling Frog-Slippery Slope" scenario.

      Now theyve greased the slope and are beating the Frog on the head with a wooden spoon, and pushing it under!

  34. daveca   3 years ago

    "Helpnokidhungry.org" on TV now.

    Nothing screams " economic Depression like that!"

    And with the BS imagery of " before/ hungry kids with black masks" and the "after/ not hungry kids" smiling without masks.

  35. Dillinger   3 years ago

    je suis Charlie.

  36. Ali Akbar Alexander   3 years ago

    Jack Posobiac: Jan 6 was even worse than the attack on Nakatomi Plaza

    Awww come on, Jack. The brave patriots that stumbled up the Capitol steps were way more sophisticated than the guys in Die Hard. If Hans Gruber acted like those guys he would have brought cell phones to the Nakatomi Bldg instead of guns and would have live-blogged: “Yahoo, motherfuckers, we’re taking over the Nakatomi Bldg. YEEEAAAHHH.” And worn horns on his head. The only casualty would have been Klaus when he charged the SWAT team. Poor Klaus. But you gotta admit it’s better than what occurred otherwise.

    1. mad.casual   3 years ago

      Sarah @Sarah44724425 Jan 6
      Replying to @JackPosobiec
      No matter what anybody on Capitol Hill says today, the worst part of Jan 6 will always be figuring out how to put the nativity set back into the box in the 1 exact configuration that fits.

      [Assuming Sarah is a woman] There is a funny woman.

  37. daveca   3 years ago

    BS Alert:

    "” And Justice Stephen Breyer said he found it “unbelievable” that it could it be in the “public interest” to put that rule on hold"

    https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-us-supreme-court-business-health-d96c0c56d5560f89f6bdbb7284480db6

    Since whens this now a PUBLIC matter?

    OSHA now makes PUBLIC LAW?

    1. Dillinger   3 years ago

      Justice Amy Farrah-Fowler picked up the slack somewhat.

  38. Nardz   3 years ago

    https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1479500787583758346?t=XK9GH5TDTNlol-rIr1WzJA&s=19

    Justice Sotomayor during this oral arguments:

    - Claimed covid deaths are at an all time high
    - Claimed that Omicron has been deadlier than Delta
    - Claimed 100K children are hospitalized with covid
    - Said OSHA's regulatory authority is a federal "police power."

    Justice Sotomayor also claimed that hospitals are nearing capacity.

    She also asked "Why is a human spewing a virus not like a machine spewing sparks?"

    Incredible performance all around.

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      Cripes. Did the rest of the court point at her and laugh?
      Because they should've.

    2. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      You're doing it wrong.


      - Claimed, without evidence, that covid deaths are at an all time high
      - Claimed, without evidence, that Omicron has been deadlier than Delta
      - Claimed, without evidence, that 100K children are hospitalized with covid
      - Said, falsely, that OSHA's regulatory authority is a federal "police power".

      Justice Sotomayor also claimed, without evidence, that hospitals are nearing capacity.

      She then went into an unhinged rant where she stated that people are "machines that need to be shut down".

    3. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

      she was always a stalinist through and through.

      1. Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)   3 years ago

        Someone has to stand up to the kulaks and wreckers.

  39. Nardz   3 years ago

    https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1479476960631963655?t=I6ApXAtaBgg3K7KUnj5Xrw&s=19

    JUST IN - Germany enacts new Covid restrictions: Double vaccinated no longer allowed to enter cafes/restaurants without taking tests. Tests not required for the "boosted."

    MORE - "The new restriction is intended as an incentive to get boosted," says Franziska Giffey, the Mayor of Berlin, at the federal press conference.

    1. ElvisIsReal   3 years ago

      Conspiracy theory!

    2. Moonrocks   3 years ago

      Geez. Can you get like 10 boosters right now so you can build up your balance enough for the next six-or-so months?

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        One of the papers put discusses how the spike protein remains in your system for a year with nRNA vaccines. And it is actually the protein that is believed to cause the most harm of the virus.

    3. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      If you had to take the smallpox vaccine four times in one year and yet you still got smallpox, and then you recovered but they said you're Hitler until you get a fifth, you might be forgiven for thinking that the vaccine is at best a placebo.

      You also might suspect that politicians have a lot of Pfizer stock.

    4. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

      remember when only crazy conspiracy theorists believed that this would be the eventual outcome?

      1. JesseAz   3 years ago

        And best case estimates if we did everything government told us was 1.5 million dead Americans first year. 3 million if we did nothing. That was the accepted science.

  40. Chumby   3 years ago

    Anything without GMOs is labeled as such. No need to force GMO products to indicate it. And maybe the dairy producers that don’t jab their cows with rbst won’t have to include the disclaimer big cheese (large dairy pharms) forced onto them.

    1. The Encogitationer   3 years ago

      Anything without GMOs is an empty pqckage with the "Null Set" symbol on it. 🙂

  41. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

    To be on the safe side tranny's should have to wear GMO labels.

    1. I, Woodchipper   3 years ago

      except... they haven't been genetically modified. The so called "trans men" are still women and the so-called "trans women" are still men.

      1. Moonrocks   3 years ago

        So...false advertising?

        1. mad.casual   3 years ago

          "Actual product not shown. This photograph has been enhanced to demonstrate flavor and texture."

      2. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

        My suggestion stands pat.

      3. Chumby   3 years ago

        Jean/Gene therapy

  42. Fats of Fury   3 years ago

    Journalist Matthew Sweet explores some of the cherry-picked examples and logical fallacies in Stolen Focus, a new book by Johann Hari about diminishing attention spans. (You can read the whole thread on Twitter, starting here.)

    DUH!

    1. Mother's Lament   3 years ago

      Lol.

  43. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

    The New York Times doesn't seem to think Biden's vaccine mandate met a very receptive audience in Supreme Court today:

    "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said the states and Congress, rather than a federal agency, were better situated to address the pandemic in the nation’s workplaces. Justice Amy Coney Barrett said the challenged regulation appeared to reach too broadly in covering all large employers.

    "Justices Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh suggested that the governing statute had not authorized the agency to impose the mandate clearly enough, given the political and economic stakes."

    The court’s three more liberal justices said the mandate was a needed response to the public health crisis.

    ----The New York Times, January 7, 2022

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/us/politics/biden-vaccine-mandate-supreme-court.html

    In the interests of the Democratic party, Biden should probably drop it already. The last thing the Democrats need is Biden fecklessly losing an argument that plenty of swing voting Americans want him to lose closer to the election in November. He's likely to get more mileage out demonizing Americans for supporting Trump. I don't know what you're supposed to do at this point if you're Biden's political strategist. Ignore the precipitous drop in the labor participation rate and hype the unemployment rate?

    1. Ken Shultz   3 years ago

      https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART

    2. mad.casual   3 years ago

      Ignore the precipitous drop in the labor participation rate and hype the unemployment rate?

      And, hilariously, that's *the* 'shining' star. Not even a 'but Gorsuch' to be had. Americans, tired of all the winning, elected to try abject, across-the-board losing for a change.

    3. Overt   3 years ago

      "In the interests of the Democratic party, Biden should probably drop it already."

      I usually respect your strategic analysis, Ken, but I think you are way way off here.

      The mandates are a major item that keep Biden's base in tact. You know all those teachers that sick-out'd this week? They also want to crucify Biden and primary Manchin, and push the Democratic party so far left that they will never be competitive in purple districts.

      Mandates are Biden's Iraq Invasion. They are a hail mary, to be sure. But they are the best chance he has to keep the Greens from primarying democrats with completely uncompetitive candidates.

      This issue also keeps people focused on SCotUS. Much like I grudgingly supported Trump for his Supreme Court picks, there are tons of disenchanted dems who will stay active in electioneering if it means getting the next SCotUS pick.

  44. Ben of Houston   3 years ago

    I avoid any food labeled as Non-GMO or Organic unless there is some outside reason (taste preferences) or there are no alternatives.

    First, it shows the company's ignorance or it believes we are ignorant. Stirring up claims of danger where there was none in order to con us out of increased prices.

    Secondly, since organic farming requires more land, buying organic is significantly detrimental to the environment. There's no two ways about it. If you need twice as much acreage to grow food, then you have a greater effect on the environment because the difference in the environmental effects of normal farming and "organic" aren't meaningful. In fact, heavy-metal based pesticides that are labeled organic can be significantly more harmful to the environment that a chemically based one, much less a GMO that needs no meaningful amount of pesticides at all.

    1. mad.casual   3 years ago

      I avoid any food labeled as Non-GMO or Organic unless there is some outside reason (taste preferences) or there are no alternatives.

      There's a protein-based snack cake, maybe even 100% plant protein, that's absolutely delicious. You wouldn't confuse it for the frosting-covered angel food cake that you can get at Costco. But I've pound cake made by a grandma that I would push away from in favor of the protein cake. I avoid because it has "Woman-owned business" on the label.

      Purely superficially, imagine buying a product that says "Man-owned business" on the label. Then factor in that the reason they're putting the label on the cake effectively connotes them taking pride in getting tax breaks from you and your daughters. And not because they think getting tax breaks is nifty, because they don't have to print the label to get the breaks, but because they think you and your daughters ought to know that they owe that tax money to make men more equal to them.

  45. Liberty Lover   3 years ago

    It has to have a label regardless, so what is the extra cost of printing a few letters? Pretty much zero. Consumers should be able to make an informed decision on what they buy and eat. Or can they put horse or dog meat in there too without telling people?
    Get REAL REASON!

  46. RedPilledConservative   3 years ago

    Regarding GMO Labeling: " ... requiring extra work and costs for food makers and manufacturers ... "

    Ok, that's BS. They have to label the food products with the ingredients already - telling us what's in the food we eat is already a requirement. If they don't already know what's in these ingredients - as in 'it's extra work to find out' - well that's on the manufacturers. This is no different than requiring they put calories and other general information. It doesn't matter if the overwhelming majority of people don't utilize the information to alter their choices - we have the right to know what's in our food, and to choose what we put in our bodies.

    1. Liberty Lover   3 years ago

      Many companies voluntarily print "Non-GMO" product on their labels.

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