Corpse President Says Companies Can't Do What They Want

Plus: Subway system crime by the numbers, Bernie Sanders' H-1B visa hate, surgeon general still stupid, and more...

Biden will block steel merger: The outgoing president, who has about two weeks left in his term, has decided to use his last vestiges of power to tell U.S. Steel that it can't be purchased by Japanese company Nippon Steel, putting the kibosh on a $14.1 billion deal.

The administration is expected to announce this decision later today, according to people within. The justification will apparently be national security-related, which is especially odd because the two companies have previously talked up how this merger will "combat the competitive threat" posed by China. For his part, President-elect Donald Trump has also said he would block the deal if it landed on his desk. Note that both President Joe Biden and Trump are most likely responding to pressure imposed by steelworkers unions within the U.S., which have been vocal in opposition to the deal.

Of course, U.S. Steel still wants to be acquired. The problem is that the options are dwindling. "Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., based in neighboring Ohio, pursued US Steel before Nippon Steel won the bidding," notes Bloomberg, "but it has since bought a Canadian producer and waffled on whether it would still want all or some of US Steel."

Note too the disturbing precedent this sets, in terms of the types of flimsy justifications that can be used to block deals between companies that have agreed to them. In pretty much all areas of regulatory policy—and economic policy more broadly—Joe Biden has been a nightmare. Good riddance.

Seattle minimum wage hike forces closures: Surprise, surprise! The very thing libertarians and conservatives have been warning about for years, which has been born out in locality after locality, is now happening in Seattle, Washington.

Starting on January 1, the minimum wage in the city has jumped to $20.76, up from $17.25. But note that the minimum wage is always and everywhere $0—the business you're employed by could always turn to dust, and that's what some have done in advance of this wage hike taking effect. A popular waffle shop just closed, with owner Corina Luckenbach citing the high cost of labor as the main reason. "This is financially just not going to make sense anymore. Because, just for me, the increase would cost me $32,000 more a year," Luckenbach told Fox 13 TV. Expect more closures to follow.

Hell is a warning label: The surgeon general has a new pronouncement to make: With a growing corpus of research purportedly linking alcohol to cancer, warning labels ought to be affixed so that people will drink with caution. Of course, this would require an act of Congress, so it's not clear that such a thing will be prioritized.

"Many people out there assume that as long as they're drinking at the limits or below the limits of current guidelines of one a day for women and two for men, that there is no risk to their health or well-being," said Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. "The data does not bear that out for cancer risk." (Full advisory here.)

This is classic Public Health Brain in action: Color me skeptical that warning labels do jack shit. Though cultural change—such as shifts away from cigarette smoking—can happen over time as new research emerges convincing people of a substance's harm, the warning labels have always struck me as wholly silly.

---

Scenes from New York: I have returned from nearly three weeks in Texas just in time to get all riled up about this New Year's Eve subway shoving, in which 23-year-old Kamel Hawkins pushed a 45-year-old man onto the tracks while a train was coming, severely injuring him. The victim is likely to survive, but the suspect should have faced consequences for his violent behavior long ago: He has a long rap sheet and was already facing assault charges for throwing bleach on a woman. ("He's not a bad kid," his father told The New York Times, which practically nobody believes.)

On New Year's Day, there were two subway system stabbings: One in Morningside Heights, and the other near 14th Street and 7th Avenue.

Felony assaults within the system are up 55 percent in 2024 compared to 2019 statistics—before the pandemic sent lots of straphangers out of the subway system, and introduced a lot of chaos within. There were 10 murders within the system this past year, and 25 shovings onto the subway tracks.

If you wanted to paint a rosier picture of subway crime, you could point to the fact that there's just one assault per 2 million rides. But these stats don't capture the number of crazy, erratic, and threatening people with whom a rider must routinely deal, the grisly backdrop of a dysfunctional city that can't solve this problem even with a budget of $4 billion devoted to it.

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QUICK HITS

• "South Korean anti-corruption investigators failed to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after a nearly six-hour standoff with his security team on Friday, showing tensions remain high even after he has been suspended from his duties," reports Bloomberg. Yoon, you might recall, briefly imposed martial law last month before being stopped by fellow politicians and mass protests.
• "China's property meltdown has since 2021 destroyed around $18 trillion of Chinese household wealth, according to an estimate by Barclays, eclipsing the losses suffered by Americans in the financial crash of 2008-09," reports The Wall Street Journal. "That hit, along with the trauma of Beijing's heavy-handed response to the Covid-19 pandemic, helps explain why Chinese consumers aren't spending freely."
• Sen. John Thune, the Republican from South Dakota, will serve as Senate majority leader. Thune's first challenge will be "shepherding multiple baggage-laden Trump nominees to confirmation in the closely divided Senate, where he can afford to lose no more than three Republican votes if Democrats hold together in opposition" per The New York Times. 
• Bernie Sanders, H-1B visa opponent:

Elon Musk is wrong.

The main function of the H-1B visa program is not to hire "the best and the brightest," but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad.

The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make. pic.twitter.com/Mwz7i9TcSM

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 2, 2025

• The writer Milli Hill documents instances of the word woman being culled from content related to pregnancy and breastfeeding. Her latest dispatch is the 54th edition of documenting this phenomenon; peruse her archive if you'd like to see how pervasive this is.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Corpse President Says Companies Can't Do What They Want

Corpse president. Brutal.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Robot Chicken had a skit for 'McNally's third graders presents: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride.'

The children kept calling it 'Crops Bride'. Sadly, I cannot now rea the word 'corpse' without recalling that reference.

[Minadin]

I was going to make a 'Walking Dead' reference, but that's unfair, because zombies can climb stairs.

[EISTAU Gree-Vance]

Wasn’t there a recent president who made a reference to the “Marine Corpse”?

Or maybe that’s the joke. I dunno. Everything is so subtle these days.

[Minadin]

Recent, as in current?

[Fist of Etiquette]

...tell U.S. Steel that it can't be purchased by Japanese company Nippon Steel...

Man that seems like a racist name. Those Japanese Chinamen who named it should be ashamed.

[SIV]

nips grow up to be rice

[Fist of Etiquette]

The justification will apparently be national security-related...

They did bomb Pearl Harbor.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

But it had nothing to do with steel…oh.

[Longtobefree]

Mostly true. Oil, however - - - - - - - -

[soldiermedic76]

The first embargoes were against steel and other materials related to the aerospace industry.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., based in neighboring Ohio, pursued US Steel before Nippon Steel won the bidding...

Maybe Trump can get Elon to buy it instead. Those Cyber trucks need a lot of steel to withstand the bomb attacks.

[Spiritus Mundi]

If they sell it to Montgomery-Clifts Inc. they will run it into the ditch.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

The new starships being developed by SpaceX are actually made out of stainless steel instead of traditional carbon fiber too.

More proof for Buttplug's "President Musk" conspiracy theory.

[rbike]

Very few tanks are carbon fiber. Even the falcon 9 tanks uses friction stir welded aluminum plate construction. SLS and ULA also use aluminum. Too expensive to throw away carbon

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

The entirety of Starship's body is steel. New Glenn is significantly carbon composite, it is used in several components of ULA rockets, including the Atlas V.

But carbon fiber and aluminum construction isn't the point of the joke, primarily steel rockets are... because the topic is about US Steel. And the only one made out of steel is Starship.

[Fist of Etiquette]

But note that the minimum wage is always and everywhere $0—the business you're employed by could always turn to dust, and that's what some have done in advance of this wage hike taking effect.

If businesses can't afford to pay their workers a wage the government arbitrarily determined is correct, maybe they shouldn't have been employing people in the first place.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A popular waffle shop just closed, with owner Corina Luckenbach citing the high cost of labor as the main reason.

Get a load of the kulak.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Leftist fucked around and found out.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Like leftists eat at waffle shops.

[Medulla Oblongata]

This waffle shop was an LGBT "safe space".

Owner: "I hate to close a safe space for queer people at this time but the money just isn’t there after the minimum wage increase (which I fully support).

You're thinking of Waffle House, maybe?

[Don't look at me!]

She was waffling on the decision.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Yup, my bad. I need to embrace the concept of gay waffles now.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Yeah, the queer safe space Bebop Waffle Shop is definitely not a Waffle House.

[Wizzle Bizzle]

I always knew there was something queer about waffles. Maybe it's the little square indentations. Or the sodomy.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Just import them on an h1b like 7 eleven.

https://x.com/Oilfield_Rando/status/1872828083876802667

[Minadin]

That's just like, the top 0.1% of overnight shift clerks. Making 20k annually. In Connecticut.

[Longtobefree]

A proud, gay, democrat-voting liberal. No loss to Seattle.

[Ra's al Gore]

https://x.com/SamanthaTaghoy/status/1874814722085712060

When I came forward about my abuse, I remember being asked by a detective from the CSE team whether I had “consented” to sexual activity at any point.

I was five when I was first abused.

And like 96.5% of sex abuse cases, CPS refused to take my abusers to court.

Then, I went on national TV with Mark Steyn to discuss child sexual exploitation in my hometown and the fact that little girls are still being raped and exploited on council estates in Telford today.

The police came banging on my door the next day after searching every address I’d ever lived at.

They tried to demand that I go to the police station for an “interview” and tried to intimidate me into silence because:

“When you go on national TV to discuss grooming gangs, you should expect us to come to you.”

This isn’t a thing of the past.
This is the present.

[Medulla Oblongata]

And the future, because GB seems fully intent on doing fuck-all about it.

[damikesc]

Again ---- we need to re-examine our ties to Western Europe.

Fascism with a smiley face attached is still fascism.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

The people of the UK have been holding massive protests, while the government is so frightened of their own citizens they've emptied their jails so they can put people who talk about it on Facebook in jail.

The people of England just presented a 3 million signature petition calling for a new election immediately. To put that in an American perspective population wise, that would be like American's handing a Congress an 18 million signature petition.

I love America and American's but you all sometimes have a tendency to ignore the fact that you have exactly the same problems, and are plagued just as much by authoritarianism as everywhere else in the West. The Democrats and the FBI were just as willing to put you in jail for mean thoughts as the UK police are. American political exceptionalism is a myth. The only thing that has saved your asses so far is a 230 year old document that is now being blatantly ignored.

Leaders like Starmer, Macron and Trudeau aren't any worse or more authoritarian than the Biden junta was, and are even less legitimate. Sure the 2020 election may have been a fiddle, but far, far more Americans voted for the Democrats, percentage wise, than those three ever got in their countries. Starmer and Trudeau never got more than 33% of the vote. Even a evil living corpse and a totalitarian cackling idiot beat that by a huge margin in the US.

[soldiermedic76]

I would say federalism also is one of our strengths. Which I guess you could prescribe also to the Constitution. But it does, to a degree more than Europe, limit the power of the federal government.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

Germany and Canada both have stronger federal systems than the US. As for the UK its constituent countries have far more autonomy, as do 17 Spanish autonomous communities. I'm not sure about France's departments
Both Germany and Canada grant their provinces or states significant autonomy, particularly in areas like healthcare, education, and local governance. There's no federal Canadian education minister.
In contrast, the U.S. federal government tends to exert more centralized authority in key policy areas, leading to a less decentralized federal structure overall.

[Incunabulum]

No, they aren't any more authoritarian, that is true.

But we're not getting locked up for speech. Because we still can shoot the bastards if they try.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

That's not for lack of trying by the FBI and I can point to innumerable examples. Also, the founders of Backpage might argue with you. Also, Canadian's still have plenty of guns, despite Trudeau's best efforts, and some European countries, like Switzerland are more "lax" than Texas.

[Medulla Oblongata]

In UK, you can get locked up for praying *silently*. You can get arrested for causing someone "anxiety" (but only if the someone is in a special category like a migrant or a trans person; if a normie is offended by outrageous behavior of the special classes, too bad so sad STFU before we find a reason to arrest you).

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Leaders like Starmer, Macron and Trudeau aren't any worse or more authoritarian than the Biden junta was, and are even less legitimate. Sure the 2020 election may have been a fiddle, but far, far more Americans voted for the Democrats, percentage wise, than those three ever got in their countries. Starmer and Trudeau never got more than 33% of the vote. Even a evil living corpse and a totalitarian cackling idiot beat that by a huge margin in the US.

That, unfortunately, is a major flaw in the Westminster system. Unlike the Presidential system, where there's checks and balances between the branches so Nancy Peolsi cannot act as leader of the country, the Westminster system has only Parliament, and typically, that's been cut down to just Commons. What it means is that two of the smaller parties can form a ruling coalition in spite of getting small vote totals each than their opposition. In Canada's case, this means the Liberals can team up with the NDP to stay in power. What it also means is that there's no check on the Liberals, other than their coalition partner, once in power as the Senate is a paper tiger, and there's no real executive (yes, I know of the Governor-General, but that seems to be a rubber stamp) to veto legislation. Thus, they have an easier time ramrodding absolutely terrible bills through to law. At least under our system, the House and the Supreme Court could tell Biden "NO!" due to how they're structured.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

Trudeau has been appointing new senators like a madman. Even if Poilievre gets 90% of the seats he'll have to deal with all the nuts that Trudeau installed.

[soldiermedic76]

This is largely due to the post religious age Europe has entered. They feel guilty over their colonial past (despite colonialism has always existed, the Europeans just started about the same time they surpassed other countries in technology, especially firearms and shipping). Judeo-Christian, and especially Roman Catholicism (and it's protestant descendants) has always emphasized the idea of sin, guilt and seeking absolution. Seeking absolution has long been a driver of action in Europe. The Crusaders largely fought the Crusades because of the promises of absolution, for example. This is still in our society even if you don't attend church, the sense of guilt and needing to find absolution for it. That is the root of white guilt, DEI, environmentalism etc. Instead of seeking absolution from God and his earthly representatives, they seek absolution through kowtowing to the people they believe their ancestors wronged (justly or unjustly, as the case may be).

[soldiermedic76]

Also, in the case of England, and much of the English speaking world, the dominant strain of protestantism prescribed to the ideals of salvation through work as opposed to justification through faith of Lutheranism.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

This is still in our society even if you don't attend church, the sense of guilt and needing to find absolution for it. That is the root of white guilt, DEI, environmentalism etc. Instead of seeking absolution from God and his earthly representatives, they seek absolution through kowtowing to the people they believe their ancestors wronged (justly or unjustly, as the case may be).

You are right, but for the wrong reason. Guilt is the tool, but not the source. The root of white guilt, DEI, environmentalism, etc. is the Marxism that has completely permeated academia and most other American institutions. They foment class, race and religious divisions, to feed the narrative of the oppressor and the oppressed. The goal is not absolution, it is revolution.

[soldiermedic76]

Maybe for some, this is the case. Especially for those in power (not just governmental power). But for the majority of the population that follows these trends, it is a sense of guilt and seeking of absolution from their sins. The argument then is which came first, the guilt/sin, or the powerful pushing these for their own goals. For example, the anti-imperial, anti-colonial guilt definitely predates Marxism, it was part of the debates of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and while we can argue that Revolutionary France was a proto-socialist creature, these concepts were hardly unique to Revolutionary France, albeit they tended to occur in only a minority of radical liberals in large colonial powers like England and the Netherlands. So, did the Marxist take advantage of this guilt? Or create it? The historical evidence would suggest they took advantage of it. Which is nothing new in human history.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

I think you are grossly exaggerating any popular guilt that existed prior to the 19th century. For most of history, the majority of the population has hardly ever known what was happening outside of their town, let alone felt guilty about it. It is not a coincidence that the rise of Marxism perfectly coincides with the advent of the daily news.

The British in India, the French and Spanish in SE Asia, the Belgians and Dutch in Africa, everybody in the Middle East, the meddling lasted well into the 20th century. I don't see evidence of collective guilt being manipulated prior to the arrival of Marxists. Up to and including Hitler, leaders were appealing to the self-interest of their countrymen to raise their armies.

[soldiermedic76]

I never maintained it was a large group, in fact, I stated it was a minority position. And your last paragraph is actually kind of my point. The sense of guilt existed, even if it was a tiny portion of the population, the manipulation of it is a fairly recent occurrence. I do not argue that. I am stating the guilt had to exist in order for Marxist to manipulate it. And that the general sense of guilt grew, as European society, and leftist America, abandoned organized religion and replaced it with basically nothing, not even humanism. Without a way to assuage the general sense of guilt all humans feel at times, they became easy prey for cynical manipulation. There's a reason so many progressives tend to be upper middle class or upper class, as opposed to middle to lower class. It's a sense of guilt of having more than your neighbors while not actually being willing to give it away. Christians will say that sense of guilt comes from the Holy Ghost, but even without the theological argument as to where the sense of guilt derives from, Christianity (and other religions) create paths for us to give permission to absolve ourselves of our sense of guilt.

[soldiermedic76]

Also, I think you're too caught up in the title as opposed to the idea of guilt, people (especially European and descendants of European because of our shared religious history) have guilt, and need an explanation for it, and that without a religious framework, this guilt is directed in other causes, which as you correctly point out are manipulated. It isn't necessarily even new. The search for absolution was manipulated by Popes to launch wars (Crusades in all forms) and to acquire wealth (selling of indulgences) or land (nobles sponsoring monasteries or bequeathing money in their wills for the saying of masses). Marxist and Marxist adjacent progressives certainly use guilt to push the examples I listed to manipulate and gain power.

[soldiermedic76]

Another aspect is that Christianity largely focuses on individual guilt whereas, modern progressive guilt is more likely to be universal.

[soldiermedic76]

My argument is that the guilt pre-date the cynical manipulation of it by the elite for their own aggrandization. Maybe not by those exact terms, which I used only as shorthand examples, but the underlying guilt came first, the cynical manipulation of it second.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

^

[Mickey Rat]

The British Government seems much more frightened of what the native population might do if they realize how racist and religiously intolerant the immigrant Muslim Asian population is against the native British, than protecting the rights of native British females against the sexual abuse of immigrant Muslims that happens as a result of that racism and religious intolerance. It is a symptom of Western elite self-loathing of their own culture.

[middlefinger]

The end game in the very real Sadomasochism of wealthy or power hungry/powerful sociopaths is collapse. A sadomasochist is a frustrated serial killer.

There might be the humiliation of sterilizing themselves. Sterilization of children might get them off a bit? The daily sickness, pain and humiliation are fleeting after a time period and they need to feed into something more powerful. Destroy- drama, crisis, inflict pain

This is what is happening in western civilization.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...warning labels ought to be affixed so that people will drink with caution.

Put that label at the bottom of the bottle.

[Don't look at me!]

The label should say “Too late, you cancer riddled drunk”.

[soldiermedic76]

Anyone told Sarc?

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

He kills any potential cancer cells by soaking them in ethanol.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

warning labels have always struck me as wholly silly.

Even Mr. Yuk?

[Fist of Etiquette]

"He's not a bad kid," his father told The New York Times, which practically nobody believes.

The father might. There's something to be said for getting knocked around by your old man whenever you deserve it.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Reminds me of

Relatives of a 17-year-old are angry the teenager was shot and killed by a homeowner who police say was protecting her property.

The sister of the teen who died identified him as Trevon Johnson. She said he was a student at D. A. Dorsey Technical College.

"I don't care if she have her gun license or any of that. That is way beyond the law... way beyond," said Johnson's cousin Nautika Harris. "He was not supposed to die like this. He had a future ahead of him. Trevon had goals... he was a funny guy, very big on education, loved learning."

"You have to look at it from every child's point of view that was raised in the hood," said Harris. "You have to understand... how he gonna get his money to have clothes to go to school? You have to look at it from his point-of-view."

[Idaho-Bob]

My all-time favorite is when the family of the deceased robber is called "an aspiring rapper".

Dude has a single YouTube video and six-page arrest record.

Fuck 'em.

[Minadin]

Maybe they meant 'expiring' rapper.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

I don't care if she have her gun license or any of that. That is way beyond the law... way beyond

How can anyone not understand how so many black people end up incarcerated if they consistently fail to teach their kids that just because a crime seems petty to them, it is not seen that way by the victim of a crime.

[damikesc]

This falls under the idiocy of leftists saying that "people should not put their things as being more important than somebody else's life" --- ignoring that the criminal has already made that determination and will happily kill you to get your stuff.

[Incunabulum]

They never want to look at it from the point-of-view of the person who gets their wallet stolen or their house broken into.

No sympathy for the finite life spent in order to afford the tv that the punk is gonna pawn.

[mad.casual]

"You have to look at it from every child's point of view that was raised in the hood,"

Lucifer tents his fingers and smirks.

What a delightfully evil way to insinuate that magic dirt is responsible for your (son's) actions. Look at it from every future MIT genius from the hood's point of view; simply being smart and doing well in the free public education provided to you isn't good enough, you have to rob from your friends and neighbors, otherwise, you aren't going to make it as a smart black man. Southern Plantation owners didn't have to win the Civil War, socialists trained Black people to hold themselves and/each other down through their own false ideology.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

grifters socialists trained Black people to hold themselves and/each other down through their own false ideology.

FTFY

The socialists have certainly made it worse, but they first learned it from immigrants, my ancestors (the Irish and the Welsh), the people with which they competed for jobs and housing after the Great Emancipation. Thomas Sowell wrote most eloquently about it.

[Chipper Chunked Chile Con Congress (ex NCW)]

Jesus fuck. Can we find the relatives guilty of criminal stupidity and sentence them to death as well?

[Jerry B.]

My first thought was that it’s the New York Times which practically nobody believes. I guess it could be both.

[Minadin]

"the suspect should have faced consequences for his violent behavior long ago: He has a long rap sheet and was already facing assault charges"

People are all waffling about 'oh, but it's a mental health thing, do we just lock up mentally ill people?' Yeah, sometimes. Not for being mentally ill, but for being aggressive and violent against innocent members of the public. If someone is attacking other people, you get them away from the public. Then you can assess their mental health and decide whether they are a criminal or nead medical treatment.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

Not for being mentally ill, but for being aggressive and violent against innocent members of the public. If someone is attacking other people, you get them away from the public. Then you can assess their mental health and decide whether they are a criminal or nead medical treatment.

Mentally ill and criminal are not mutually exclusive and anyone that implies they are is an asshole. If a mother does not want to prosecute her behaviorally challenged child for hitting her, that is fine, but when the child hits someone else, it is assault. We absolutely should lock up mentally ill people who hurt others.

Who reads Of Mice and Men and comes away thinking that George was a selfish bastard only looking out for himself?

[Incunabulum]

Its weird - we'll happily kill an animal that displays even the tiniest bit of threat behavior to someone violating their territory but we balk at confining a person who is openly violent at random strangers in public?

[soldiermedic76]

Not sure about happily. There's certainly a group that thinks putting down an animal, even to save the life of a kid, should be against the law.

[Ra's al Gore]

Epstein was an FBI honeypot operation.

The New Yorker Argues Hoover's FBI Was 'Nonpartisan', Trips Over Community Note With THEIR OWN Reporting
https://twitchy.com/amy-curtis/2024/12/26/new-yorker-fbi-hoover-nonpartisan-community-note-n2405724

Hoover, for all his many faults and abuses of power, was nevertheless an institution builder; he believed in the F.B.I.’s nonpartisan independence. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., he grew up imbued with the idea that career-long government service was one of life’s noblest aspirations. As a D.C. resident, Hoover could not vote, and though he was a staunch conservative, he never joined a political party. Patel’s chief goal, by contrast, is to weaponize the F.B.I. as a partisan force to protect Trump and wreak vengeance on his Administration’s enemies. If such naked politicization happens to undermine public faith in the F.B.I., so much the better. In Patel’s book 'Government Gangsters,' published last year, he describes the Bureau’s top officials—along with other 'Deep State' executives—as a group of 'spiteful mandarins' hell-bent on destroying the country in service of their 'uniformly left wing' desires. He warns, 'Democrats and the Deep State are on the same team.'

The idea that people who work at the F.B.I. are closet leftists conspiring to bring down the Republic has to be one of the more bizarre takes in a political moment with no shortage of them. But such is the state of our politics, in which self-proclaimed protectors of “law and order” attack the national-security establishment, while reluctant liberals defend its professionalism and autonomy. Hoover would agree with Patel that what happens at the F.B.I. matters. However, the similarities mostly end there. Hoover used to describe the Bureau as the 'one bulwark' against a hidden left-wing conspiracy that penetrated all corners of American life. In Patel’s world, the F.B.I. is the conspiracy.

[Ra's al Gore]

12 women sue FBI over alleged failure to protect them from Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/14/us/epstein-women-lawsuit-fbi/index.html

“For over two decades, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (hereinafter ‘FBI’) permitted Jeffrey Epstein to sex traffic and sexually abuse scores of children and young women by failing to do the job the American people expected of it and that the FBI’s own rules and regulations required: investigate the reports, tips, and evidence it had of rampant sexual abuse and sex trafficking by Epstein and protect the young women and children who fell victim to him,” the lawsuit reads.

...“Between 1996 and 2005, the FBI continued to receive direct reports, complaints and tips concerning the illegal sex trafficking of women and underage minors, sex abuse and human rights violations committed by Jeffrey Epstein and associates,” the lawsuit said. “In response, the FBI failed to act upon and investigate the complaints and tips and failed to comply with protocol and guidelines notwithstanding credible reports of solicitation of child prostitution and sex trafficking.”

...“During the FBI investigation, the FBI was complicit in permitting Epstein and coconspirators to continue to victimize Jane Does 1-12 and other young women,” the lawsuit said. “The FBI had photographs, videos and interviews and hard evidence of child prostitution and failed to timely investigate and arrest Epstein in deviation from the FBI protocols.”

Between 2006 and 2008, JP Morgan Chase contacted the federal government on “numerous occasions” regarding Epstein’s transactions and concern about child prostitution, according to the lawsuit. The FBI was notified the bank handled more than $1.1 million in payments from Epstein to women or girls, the lawsuit claimed.

“The FBI was aware of the hard cash flowing out of Epstein’s accounts in transactions related to human trafficking yet concealed the reports and did not investigate the crimes until the recent lawsuit filed by the U.S. Virgin Islands against JP Morgan Chase,” the lawsuit said.

Last year, JP Morgan Chase reached a settlement in that case, which included “significant commitments” to curtail human trafficking and a $75 million payment to the US Virgin Islands.

[SIV]

More like Mossad

[Marshal]

Patel’s chief goal, by contrast, is to weaponize the F.B.I. as a partisan force to protect Trump and wreak vengeance on his Administration’s enemies. If such naked politicization happens to undermine public faith in the F.B.I., so much the better.

In reality Patel's chief goal is to remove the partisan attacks by the FBI and return it to a non-partisan institution. Left wingers refuse to accept this because they believe the default state of all institutions should be to attack the left's enemies - for example they are now boycotting twitter because twitter no longer censors in their favor. Because they accept this as the natural state of all institutions they perceive any effort to end those attacks as partisan in nature.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

Kash Patel is a rabid white nationalist who wants to turn America into a Nazi state that oppresses POCs. - t. New Yorker

[Minadin]

I thought Patel's main objective was to dismantle the monstrosity that the FBI has become (due in great part to Hoover) and get back to something much more manageable.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Leftist hacks slander people like they breathe. See my response to Greenhut article.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

"The idea that people who work at the F.B.I. are closet leftists conspiring to bring down the Republic has to be one of the more bizarre takes in a political moment with no shortage of them."

Yeah, just another right wing "conspiracy", which means that left wing media will rant about it for a few months, and then quietly admit it is true.

[damikesc]

Cannot imagine how a government flunkie with virtually zero oversight and near limitless power might think empowering the government further is a good idea.

[Eeyore]

After admitting it was true comes the step where they say it was a good thing.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

They usually say "if it is happening its a good thing" before they admit to it.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

The idea that people who work at the F.B.I. are closet leftists conspiring to bring down the Republic has to be one of the more bizarre takes in a political moment with no shortage of them.

What about the idea that people who work at the New Yorker are open fascists conspiring to bring down the Republic?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Felony assaults within the system are up 55 percent in 2024 compared to 2019 statistics...

Pretty sure I've been told crime is definitely going down.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Well, Daniel Penny only affected one offender.

[Rick James]

Sullum and Liz aren't on speaking terms.

[damikesc]

It is one of the nicer tricks. "Well, since 2021, things are getting better."

Yeah. 2020 was a massive shithole for crime in major cities. Taking that out of the equation and everything else looks good.

[Ra's al Gore]

EXPERTS!!

More than 10,000 research papers were retracted in 2023 — a new record
The number of articles being retracted rose sharply this year. Integrity experts say that this is only the tip of the iceberg.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03974-8

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

The Science is the science of facts changing.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And the challenge is keeping up with The Narrative.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

I have an idea. 10,000 research papers on: The Efficacy of Various Masks as a Defense Against the Transmission of Viruses in a Non-Clinical Environment.

It seems this is a topic that should have been settled in the last 4 years, yet it has been studiously ignored. I wonder why?

[Spiritus Mundi]

It was settled decades ago, but some people refuse to give up their tailsmans.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I still see masks in my little blue town, most recently at the natural foods market (of course).

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

The only mask I saw last year was on a bald woman who was just out of chemo.

[Marshal]

Was just at the MVA, a woman administering driving tests was wearing one.

[Longtobefree]

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7553311/

For those who don't use links from .gov sites:
Background
In this large-scale cluster-randomized controlled trial (cRCT) we sought to assess the effectiveness of facemasks against viral respiratory infections.
Conclusion
This trial was unable to provide conclusive evidence on facemask efficacy against viral respiratory infections most likely due to poor adherence to protocol.

[Rick James]

But just the tip...

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

That's what he said.

[Ra's al Gore]

A few billion of dollars to Iran should help ease tensions.

Rushdie's Book Is an Insult
March 4, 1989
By Jimmy Carter

This op-ed originally appeared in The New York Times, March 5, 1989.
https://www.cartercenter.org/news/documents/doc1381.html

Ayatollah Khomeini's offer of paradise to Rushdie's assassin has caused writers and public officials in Western nations to become almost exclusively preoccupied with the author's rights.

While Rushdie's First Amendment freedoms are important, we have tended to promote him and his book with little acknowledgment that it is a direct insult to those millions of Moslems whose sacred beliefs have been violated and are suffering in restrained silence the added embarrassment of the Ayatollah's irresponsibility.

This is the kind of intercultural wound that is difficult to heal. Western leaders should make it clear that in protecting Rushdie's life and civil rights, there is no endorsement of an insult to the sacred beliefs of our Moslem friends.

To sever diplomatic relations with Iran over this altercation is an overreaction that could be quite costly in future years. Tactful public statements and private discussions could still defuse this explosive situation.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

What part of Carter reformation project don't you get?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

The anti-islamophobe part?

[soldiermedic76]

Did Carter ever worry that the writings of people like Dawkins offense the sensibilities of the dominant Christian faith in America, and the faith of Christians world wide?
Also, Christians were the number one victims of religious discrimination and targeted violence for another year, world wide, and it wasn't even close (again). And guess which religion tends to lead in persecuting violence against Christians?

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

The Religion of Pieces?

[soldiermedic76]

I'm going to preface this by saying I am in no way endorsing the idea that the Ottoman Turks and the Persians were bastions of religious tolerance, however, it is the case that the Ottoman Sultans and Persian Shah's tended the view the militant fundamentalist movements, such as Wahabism as dangerous and worked to suppress them, especially before the early 19th century, when both countries still had significant Christian regions under their control/suzerainty. Not so much out of a sense of religious tolerance but of pragmatism, as these movements tended to be as dangerous to their power as they were to Christians and Jews under their control.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Yep. And the ruling family in Arabia decided to ally with the Wahabists against the Ottomans, playing with fire, if you will. When Laurence (and others) allied with the Arabians and destroyed what remained of the Ottomans' power in the region, they opened a major can of worms religiously.

[soldiermedic76]

And the Saud's have been riding that tiger ever since then.

[Randy Sax]

If y'all remember, Cliffs severely underbid Nippon. I highly doubt that deal will happen.

I work much more with ironworkers (build buildings with steel) than steelworkers (works in the steel mill), and as far as I can tell the ironworks were all for the Japanese investment.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

"I highly doubt that deal will happen."

Biden still has a couple of weeks.

[Fist of Etiquette]

South Korean anti-corruption investigators failed to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after a nearly six-hour standoff with his security team on Friday...

Yoon raising his fist in defiance, chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" but, um, in Korean.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Can't they make Yoon go through one of those whacky obstacle courses?

[damikesc]

It will be bad when he is replaced by his likely replacement --- a very pro-North Korea Communist.

Might also be time to remind S Korea that it will not harm US if they are conquered.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

BUT WHERE WILL WE SOURCE OUR BIG SCREEN TVS AND ELECTRIC CARS???

[soldiermedic76]

Yoon might be authoritarian, but the leftist dominated legislature has used his actions to arguably punish the opposition. The impeachment of the Vice President over a difference of opinion on his powers as interim president was, and for not caving to the leftist demands that he appoint judges he felt he didn't have the authority to appoint as interim president, was just as authoritarian (if not more so) than Yoon's actions. And this attempt at arrest seems somewhat questionable (at least at a distance). Kind of makes you wonder if Yoon didn't have a point in his implementation of martial law. Makes me wonder if it is turtles all the way down.

[A Thinking Mind]

South Korea becoming the 12th largest economy in the world was the one success story of the Truman Doctrine. Debate if you will whether it was worth the cost, of course. But still, it’s always been bordering on a fall into authoritarianism. Ultimately the population is going to have to stand or fall on its own.

[soldiermedic76]

I wonder if something culturally makes certain peoples/societies incapable of maintaining a functioning democracy/republic or even desiring such a thing. It does seem the further east one goes, (as viewed from America and Europe) the more prone the cultures appear to be incompatible with democracy/republicanism. Then again, the US and Western Europe are hardly innocent of the sin of regression to autocracy in recent times. So, maybe it's just humanity in general, or at least a subset (quite possibly a plurality or even a majority).

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Apparently family structure and whether they are a guilt or shame based culture plays a lot into it.

The West has a lot of nuclear families, a lack of clan ties, cousin marriage was banned early on by the Church, and is a guilt-based culture where you, as the individual are solely responsible for your own actions, not for any others in your family unless they're minors.

In other cultures/civilizations, there are extended families that live together as a clan with clan ties. They also marry their cousins (Pakistan has a cousin marriage rate of 63%) and are shame-based, meaning that what you do reflects on your family as a whole, not just you as an individual.

We in the West are weird by typical world standards.

[soldiermedic76]

I have read it hypothesized that the higher density of different cultures, that were in more constant conflict/war with their neighbors, is what influenced the difference in European cultural evolution. At one time, clan and shame-based played a larger role in European society (even as late as the high middle ages, early modern age, vestiges of shame-based society still existed). It definitely spurred military development in the early Modern Era (not just equipment, but strategy, tactics, logistics, etc). The East Asians, despite having gunpowder long before the Europeans, by the 18th century, definitely lagged behind Europe in gunpowder weapon technology and implementation.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

My simple-minded corollary is that the longer humans have inhabited some geography, the more likely they will accumulate tribal grudges--and the more impossible any peaceful coexistence gets.

[Fist of Etiquette]

China's property meltdown has since 2021 destroyed around $18 trillion of Chinese household wealth...

I hope the Chicoms don't have to sell off the White House.

[Jerry B.]

People in the U.S. looking for cheap homes should consider moving to China. Liberals would fit right in, (or have their corners cut off).

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

I can imagine the larger appeal to US liberals: lots of trains, life curated by socialist committees, artisan vegetable gardening...

[Ron]

you are not up to date the Chinese government has been shutting down private gardens. Just like our government wants us to register our private gardens. first comes registration then limits if not out right ban

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Full control of all economic areas is the globalists goal.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Submission to the global collective is the leftists' fetish.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Corina Luckenbach still supports the minimum wage law, despite being put out of business by it.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCO9Ziqv9kU/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=85035d0c-380c-4417-8041-1591d9fd1fbb

I hate to close a safe space for queer people at this time but the money just isn’t there after the minimum wage increase (which I fully support).

My hope as a boss has been that every employee leaves better than when they started and breaking the news to them split my heart. MANY people are asking how to support me during this transition and all I ask is come TIP my staff, pay in CASH, tip in CASH buy all our merch, lobby for tax breaks for small businesses AND BOOK the space when we open. Tell everyone you know, send money via Venmo @bebopwaffleshop I’ll need to raise money, so stay tuned for that. Make all your spaces inclusive, your lgbtq and trans neighbors need you. AND thank you for supporting my art, my vision, my heart and my family.

[Fist of Etiquette]

She does still have to exist among those people, after all.

[Ajsloss]

I guess I’ll take my Good Lucken back. She wanted driven out of business, so be it.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Another brave business owner felled by patriarchal economics. You know, the kind with math.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

She didn't really, but she doesn't want to be excommunicated for complaining.

[Jefferson Paul]

This just shows many of these progressive policies are about controlling others, and not good intentions. She supported the minimum wage hike that is putting her out of business. She could have just paid higher wages to her own employees (and still gone out of business or found a way to make it work). But instead she supports legislation that would make EVERY OTHER business possibly fail through this inane legislation. Same for the wealthy proposing higher taxes. Those billionaires can always pay more taxes than required, if they feel so strongly about it. Or how about those billionaires supporting higher taxes can just not hire a team of accountants and lawyers to ensure they pay the absolute minimum they can.

[damikesc]

Sounds like the kind of woman who would feel bad if her rapist was an "oppressed minority" and suffered any consequences for doing that.

[Eeyore]

People who believe in the minimum wage need to own it and raise the minimum to $100. None of this slow death of a dollar or two at a time.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But that's only $200k a year, not even a living wage in most Democratic cities!

Better make it $500 per hour.

[Eeyore]

I think the best answer here - if we are going to do social engineering - is to set an ONLY wage. There should only be one wage you are ever allowed to pay, nothing lower, nothing higher. Perfect equity.

[mad.casual]

I like how it's *just* the minimum wage law, which she supports, causing the business to close. The business hasn't really bounced back since COVID, which I'm sure she totally opposed. Which further begs a real question, 5 yrs. on from COVID and 10 yrs. on from the opening, as to whether any part of the business was in any way viable even in a favorable market situation and wasn't merely kept afloat while losing money, pulling down the trickle of patronage from other closed businesses, and Luckenbach was cosplaying as a business owner the way Michal Moore cosplays as a member of the NRA...

I'm sure the business just, out of the blue, wound up in the minimum wage guillotine with no possible context or explanation of how it got there in the first place.

[DesigNate]

Sounds like she doesn’t want to pay taxes and is explicitly telling people how to help her employees avoid getting taxed on their income.

Getting a lot of mixed signals from this lady.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Paying in cash does also help to avoid credit-card fees. Tipping in cash, yeah, that's probably to facilitate tax evasion.

[Ra's al Gore]

Food Trucks!!

Rotherham child abuse - the victims’ stories: doused with petrol and told she would be set alight
https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/crime/rotherham-child-abuse-the-victims-stories-doused-with-petrol-and-told-she-would-be-set-alight-9692577.html

Child B, 15, fell in love with her groomer and had been frequently trafficked to Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield. She had suffered numerous threats and was once doused in petrol and told she would be set alight. By the time she was 18, she had become homeless and referred herself to children’s social care. No further action was taken.

Child H was 12 when she was found drunk at the back of a car with a suspected paedophile, who had indecent photos of her on his phone. She had previously told police she had been raped by adult men. Social services eventually assessed her as being at no further risk. Less than a month later she was found in a derelict house with another child and a number of adult men. She was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and no other arrests were made.

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/01/02/jess-phillipss-betrayal-of-grooming-gang-victims/

The refusal to tackle the group-based sexual exploitation committed against mostly white working-class girls by mainly Pakistani-origin Muslim men appears to have been systemic.

As is now abundantly clear, the main reason the victims of grooming gangs have so often been rebuffed is because of the background of the perpetrators, and the supposed, perceived ‘sensitivities’ involved in bringing them to justice. As report after report has shown, police, local councils and social services across the country put political correctness and preserving race relations above these girls’ safety. In Rotherham, South Yorkshire, a 2014 report revealed that several members of staff at Rotherham Council had been hesitant to ‘identify the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought as racist; others remembered clear direction from their managers not to do so’. This was also the case in Telford and Rochdale.

In 2022, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority led an inquiry that ultimately found that both police and social services failed multiple times to protect children from sexual exploitation between 2011 and 2014. In one case, a 12-year-old girl attempted to report to the police that she had been raped, only to be turned away by officers who thought she was drunk. She was then taken from the police station by her abusers and raped again, multiple times, by five different men.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Just like with fishing, pedophile catch-and-release is designed to provide for sporting opportunities while maintaining healthy populations.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

There was a story of one of these victims who the police ignored. She started being groomed and abused at 5. As an adult she finally went on a talk show and helped expose the rings. The police went after her.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Ra linked it above, so I'll repeat it down here as I feel this really needs to be dealt with.

https://x.com/SamanthaTaghoy/status/1874814722085712060

When I came forward about my abuse, I remember being asked by a detective from the CSE team whether I had “consented” to sexual activity at any point.

I was five when I was first abused.

And like 96.5% of sex abuse cases, CPS refused to take my abusers to court.

Then, I went on national TV with Mark Steyn to discuss child sexual exploitation in my hometown and the fact that little girls are still being raped and exploited on council estates in Telford today.

The police came banging on my door the next day after searching every address I’d ever lived at.

They tried to demand that I go to the police station for an “interview” and tried to intimidate me into silence because:

“When you go on national TV to discuss grooming gangs, you should expect us to come to you.”

This isn’t a thing of the past.
This is the present.

Every officer who protected these rape gangs, every member of these gangs, every family member of these gangs who knew and protected them, every politician who protected these rape gangs should publicly hang.

[Rick James]

When I came forward about my abuse, I remember being asked by a detective from the CSE team whether I had “consented” to sexual activity at any point.

I was five when I was first abused.

Isn't this where we get a "hey man, kids make adult decisions all the time, man" article from Reason?

[mad.casual]

My second favorite "If I were a dedicated misogynist, I would have trouble being that evil to women." moment from 2024, after the Kamala Harris campaign, was that, apparently no one informed Lilly Phillips prior to her stunt that you can, in fact, contract HIV by gargling the cum of 100 quasi-random guys.

[damikesc]

Too far to suggest we have a Nuremberg Trial like hearing involving the British government about this issue?

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

Hey, I've been reliably informed by Chemjeff that as long as they only ejaculated on the kids, not in them, and they felt bad afterwards, then it's okay.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That hit, along with the trauma of Beijing's heavy-handed response to the Covid-19 pandemic, helps explain why Chinese consumers aren't spending freely.

Those Americans grateful for the 4-year Biden interlude thank the Chinese for their sacrifice.

[soldiermedic76]

China is one bad month away from going full tits up, economically. We pretend it's some economic powerhouse, but in reality it's economy is largely built upon government created sand, smoke and mirrors and it has a largely aging population (far worse than Europe and the US) and a fairly large sex biased population (e.g. due to cultural norms and the one child law, that while appealed, still is largely promoted, there is more males than females). Building cities that no one lives in, and highways that no one uses can only create economic wealth for so long before the whole thing comes crashing down. Maybe that is what the globalist are really afraid of when they bitch about Trump tariffs etc.

[Marshal]

Building cities that no one lives in, and highways that no one uses can only create economic wealth for so long before the whole thing comes crashing down.

I'm not sure this really works this way. In a real sense this loss has already been recognized - through lower living standards by everyone involved in this work. But there's no future loss to create a "crash". Their government can do the same thing again tomorrow.

This couldn't work in our economy because the government can't force people to work for so much less than market value. But in theirs it does because the people have no way of understanding this loss is ultimately theirs.

[soldiermedic76]

No, even in an autocratic society, trying to maintain economic growth via government projects and artificially lowered wages is a finite proposition. Additionally, one of the major issues, is the growth of the middle class during this period, which helped fuel China's economic growth, and are now pulling back because their losing money due to devaluation of property/real estate and draconian policies. In fact, these people do understand much better than you give them credit for. There is a reason that Marx viewed the middle class as enemies, even more so than the elite. Xi's response has been to revert to a more authoritarian Maoist governing. This also is dubious as a successful long term solution.

[Marshal]

trying to maintain economic growth via government projects and artificially lowered wages is a finite proposition.

Only by their ability to identify new projects, and since there is no usefulness requirement I can't see how this is a functional limit. I think you're applying a market control to a non-market process.

As for the middle class they are "middle" in Chinese economic terms only. They still consume vastly less than they would in a free market and that difference is funding these losses. In a market economy the value you produce has to be greater than 100% of your resources. But in China because they artificially reduce their employees comp even 25% value recovery is probably enough. That's an incredible difference.

[soldiermedic76]

History says it isn't sustainable, long term. And it's already causing massive problems that tend to be overlooked because the government censors so strongly. Add in an aging population and the addition simply doesn't add up. Xi's reversion to Maoist policies is his attempt to try and head off the inevitable (and I think he's a Maoist at heart anyhow). Chinese history especially tends to show the futility of this type of governance because even the imperial dynasties relied on public works and monetary devaluation to try and maintain control and eventually it would fail, and the dynasty would fail, resulting in a civil war and a new dynasty promising reform would arise, face difficulties, revert to public works and currency manipulation and the process would repeat itself. Much like Soviet Russia was just a replacement of the Tsars and aristocracy with the Soviet Politburo (basically the name given to the tyrants was changed) Chinese communism is just another dynasty by another name.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Thought experiment:

A national chicken producer brings 5,000 immigrants into town of 50k.

The immigrants are from a population with a crime rate of 5x natives, resulting in a 50% crime spike for the town.

Does chicken company bear any liability?

https://x.com/jeremykauffman/status/1875187836108017974

[Randy Sax]

Clicked on the link, why would I need to ask bernie sanders if I want to hire an immigrant?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Why should other taxpayers help shoulder the burden of you employing an immigrant? Are you paying all their costs?

Ironically the US Sponsor system demands you to pay those costs, but they never actually do. So you cost shift some of your costs onto taxpayers while profiting off that cost shift.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

I think he’s being used as a symbol because of his position.

It has no bearing on the thought experiment I posted.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Your thought experiment is worthless. You ignore every other factor and ask about one bit player.

"A gang of bank robbers killed three people and blew up a police car. One of the car's wheels rolled down the street and knocked down my fence and all my chickens escaped. Is the bank responsible for buying me eggs for breakfast tomorrow?"

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

No, that’s a stupid analogy.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

The bank did not invite the bank robbers. The chicken producer did invite the immigrants.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

It's an excellent analogy because it points out how much you left out. The chicken producer only invited the immigrants because he was sucking up to government, or he was doing what government cronies told him to do, or government subsidized their pay and housing so much that they were worth it.

Blaming immigrant crime on the chicken producer is exactly like blaming loss of eggs on the bank.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Nope, it was stupid.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

Even if the analogy is stupid, the thought experiment is just as bad. Taking it at face value, there was already crime. It is plausible to believe that the existing criminals, knowing they could now deflect blame onto the immigrants, increased their activities by 50%.

Criminals bear the liability for their own crimes. If sponsored immigrants commit crimes, their sponsors share in the liability. There is no need to engage a stupid thought experiment instead of stating what should be obvious. Leave that to the "bears in trunks" crowd.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

“The immigrants are from a population with a crime rate of 5x natives, RESULTING in a 50% crime spike for the town.”

I think it’s a safe assumption he’s describing the new population actually committing the crime.

The post is part of an ongoing argument, some of the participants being the bears in trunks crowd, yes.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

I think it’s a safe assumption he’s describing the new population actually committing the crime.

And it is safe to assume that a person driving around with a bear in the trunk of his car is aware of the bear. That does not eliminate the stupidity of the thought experiment.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

You might find someone right here in this thread that could benefit from it.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Then again maybe you’re including tires in chicken coops people to be like bears in trunks crowd.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

You're wrong. Your assertion is the employer invited the immigrant but refuse to associate negative costs for this invitation. It is the same tactics Jeff and sarc use.

If you're going to advocate for a position except the pros and cons. You can't just deny the cons.

[sarcasmic]

If you're going to advocate for a position except the pros and cons. You can't just deny the cons.

No one denies the cons you ass, despite your constant lies to the contrary. Yet you make a point out of not only ignoring the pros, but personally attacking anyone who dares to claim they exist let alone talks about them. What a sick sack of shit you are. Fuck. I don't understand how anyone can have a conversation with your endless mendacious bullshit. Get some new material. People have wised up to your lies. Time to come up with some new ones.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Who invited your input, drunky?

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

I don't understand how anyone can have a conversation with your endless mendacious bullshit. Get some new material.

P R O J E C T I O N

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

“I don't understand how anyone can have a conversation with you…”

Yet you keep trying.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

And speak of the devil who constantly claims there are no cons. The cons far outweigh, like your boyfriend Jeff, the pros. This had been shown to you over and over.

Notice you never provide any sources for your bullshit while i do. Notice you claim racism and xenophobia to deny evidence. Lol.

But please make an intelligent argument against the costs sarc. We know you're incapable. Make an argument. One based on facts and evidence.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

No, it was a false analogy. The factory invited the immigrants. The bank did not invite the robbers.

[soldiermedic76]

A better analogy would be the Roma-Gaelic chief who invited in Saxon pirates/warriors to help him fight against his neighbors bear some responsibility for the the subsequent Anglo-Saxon invasion of England or the Irish Lord who invited in Norseman bear responsibility for the subsequent Norse invasion of Ireland. Certainly this seems to bear a passing resemblance to modern Europe and their throwing open the doors to 'refugees' from the Middle East and North Africa.

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/biden-admin-partially-blames-immigration-surge-for-massive-spike-in-homelessness/ar-AA1wAywn

The Biden administration released a new report Friday showing that homelessness in America increased by 18% in 2024, partially attributing the spike to the huge influx of immigrants settling in the country.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published its January 2024 Point-In-Time Count Report on Friday, finding that 770,000 people were homeless across the U.S. on a single night in January 2024, up 18.1% from the same point a year prior. While HUD states that its report “reflects data collected a year ago and likely does not represent current circumstances,” the agency did explicitly blame the immigration crisis as one reason for the rise in homelessness.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

How to end homelessness
1. Deport illegals
2. Stop giving money to ngo's
3. Reopen insane asylums

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

4. Stop giving free shit for being a bum.

[Mother's Lament (Salt farmer)]

Sarc says that's racist.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

We all know illegal immigrants getting government paid rent has zero effect on the housing market.

[Don't look at me!]

Are we returning to believing government statistics?

[Medulla Oblongata]

Not necessarily, but it was interesting that Biden admin admitted that the influx of immigrants affected homelessness (at any level)..

[Fist of Etiquette]

Thune's first challenge will be "shepherding multiple baggage-laden Trump nominees to confirmation in the closely divided Senate..."

Trump is going to be busy firing off devastating nicknames for those GOP holdouts.

[damikesc]

Funny how Biden did not have this problem in a closely divided Senate.

Seems Republican Senators are shit bags.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The main function of the H-1B visa program is not to hire "the best and the brightest," but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad.

Foreigners who may not even be socialists at all!

[Mike Parsons]

I wonder if he has even 1/100000th of an ounce of insight into how letting in low-wage indentured servants replacing American jobs through, I dont know, lets say, the southern border...at a scale of multiple factors higher might affect the country.

Nah, its only nearly exactly what he said, theres no way he could make that connection. Especially the part about billionaires using them as cheap labor to pad their profits. Nah, couldnt be relevant

[Rick James]

Exactly. So some buzzfeed reporter or overpaid tech worker now has his wages threatened by an H1B. Imagine the cost to day laborers, landscapers and house painters.

[damikesc]

At one point, yes, he seemed to understand.

But then the Left decided "Hey, illegals are AWESOME!" and he changed.

Like how the US Communist Party almost immediately decided Hitler was not so bad after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

[Jefferson Paul]

And like how he stopped railing against "millionaires and billionaires" and focused on "billionaires" when he, himself, became a millionaire.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make.

No one needs 14 different flavors of Indian on the payroll.

[Spiritus Mundi]

They all taste like curry anyway.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

OK, TJ, settle down.

[Ra's al Gore]

Food Trucks!!

Rochdale grooming gang: The girl kept in a cage and made to act like a dog, a 15-year-old raped and killed with heroin injection from an abuser and an aborted foetus kept in a freezer by police
https://preda.org/rochdale-grooming-gang-the-girl-kept-in-a-cage-and-made-to-act-like-a-dog-a-15-year-old-raped-and-killed-with-heroin-injection-from-an-abuser-and-an-aborted-foetus-kept-in-a-freezer-by-police/

[Medulla Oblongata]

"back in 2016, [MP Jess] Phillips was ‘criticised for downplaying’, noted the BBC, the mass sexual assault of women in the German city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve 2015. Appearing on BBC Question Time, she compared those depraved attacks to women being ‘baited and heckled’ in Birmingham on a night out. ‘A very similar situation to what happened in Cologne could be described as Broad Street in Birmingham every week’, she said. By this point, it was common knowledge that the majority of the perpetrators were Middle Eastern and African men, many of them recent refugees.

Jess Phillips’s reluctance to back a full inquiry into Oldham’s grooming gangs is, surely, yet another sign of her and Labour’s profound cowardice. Phillips poses as a straight-talking, no-nonsense feminist – until, it seems, she comes across a case of the wrong kind of victims, and the wrong kind of perpetrators.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

The rapists said they were sorry. Don't bad mouth them. - jeffsarc.

Cultural differences. Suck it up buttercup. - also jeffsarc.

[Medulla Oblongata]

If you do bad mouth them, we'll send you to prison. -- Germany

[Rick James]

To be fair, back in 2016, 'baited and heckled' wasn't yet considered rape. That wouldn't come around until 2018.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Jess is basically equating being sexually assaulted (as hundreds of women were in Cologne at the hands of migrants) with being catcalled outside a bar...downplaying any suggestion that mass sexual assaults by migrants might be a bad thing.

----------------------------------

An MP has been criticised for downplaying the Cologne sex attacks by comparing them to harassment of women during a typical night out in Birmingham.

Hundreds of women in the German city were subjected to sexual assaults on New Year's Eve, 2015.

Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, said it was akin to "heckling" on Birmingham's Broad Street.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Cowardice? Or retarded race-based morality?

[mamabug]

Women are very low on the left's victim hierarchy totem pole - they rate barely above Jews. Need at least one other modifier (Trans, PoC, etc) for the left to actually give a shit.

[Jefferson Paul]

To the new left, everyone who isn't a straight, white (cisgender--though I hate using that term as it's ceding control of language to the neo-Marxists) male is a victim (oppressed), and everyone who is a straight white male is a victimizer (oppressor). Once you delineate if someone is not a straight white male, you can then engage the victim hierarchy totem pole.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Wikipedia:

Notable incidents
Amberdale children's home
Aylesbury child sex abuse ring
Banbury child sex abuse ring[45]
Beechwood children's home – A care home where 136 former residents reported being sexually abused, which police believe is "the small tip of a very large iceberg".
Berkhamsted paedophile network – A gang led from Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire that was stopped in 2016.
Birmingham bathing cult
Bristol child sex abuse ring[46]
Derby child sex abuse ring[47]
Eliza Armstrong case – a late 19th-century child sexual abuse scandal that led to the passing of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, which raised the age of consent from 13 to 16.
Halifax child sex abuse ring[48]
Huddersfield grooming gang
Islington Children's Homes[49]
Jersey child abuse investigation
Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal. See also Operation Yewtree, the police investigation into abuse by Savile and others.
Keighley child sex abuse ring
Kesgrave Hall School
Kidwelly sex cult
Kincora Boys' Home – the scandal first came to public attention on 24 January 1980 after a news report in the Irish Independent titled it as "Sex Racket at Children's Home".
Manchester child sex abuse ring
Manchester Children's Homes[50]
Mark Trotter Affair[51]
Medomsley Detention Centre – A youth prison in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980 where over 1,800 former inmates were subjected to serious sexual and physical abuse by prison guards.
Murder of Alesha MacPhail
Newcastle child sex abuse ring[52]
North Wales child abuse scandal – Scandal leading to a three-year, £13 million investigation into the physical and sexual abuse of children in care homes in the counties of Clwyd and Gwynedd, in North Wales, including the Bryn Estyn children's home at Wrexham, between 1974 and 1990.
North West Hebephile Hunters forms[53]
Norwich sexual abuse ring
Nottingham Care Homes[54]
Operation Voicer – A successful police investigation into sexual abuse of babies and infants across England.
Oxford child sex abuse ring[55]
Peterborough sex abuse case[56]
Plymouth child abuse case – paedophile ring involving at least five adults from different parts of England
Rochdale child sex abuse ring. See also Operation Doublet, an ongoing investigation by Greater Manchester Police.
Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal – widespread child exploitation in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, between 1997 and 2013, estimated to have involved at least 1400 children who were subjected to 'appalling' sexual exploitation by gangs of men, many of Pakistani heritage.[57][58]
2019 South Wales paternal sex abuse case
Telford child sexual exploitation scandal[59][60][61]
United Kingdom football sexual abuse scandal – started in November 2016 when former professional footballers waived their rights to anonymity and talked publicly about abuse by former football coaches in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The initial allegations centred on Crewe Alexandra and Manchester City.
Westminster paedophile dossier – A dossier on paedophiles allegedly associated with the British government

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

turd's trying to find his passport.

[Rev Arthur L kuckland (5-30-24 banana republic day)]

I always think of esau. God hated esau from trading his birthright for food. It exactly what we see with the food truck arguments. We will trade all the benifit from the enlightenment age for food from those who want to destroy it

[Jefferson Paul]

I will never forget the verse I learned as a child: "Esau was a hairy man."

I always found it amusing that it was so important to write down his hirsute nature.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Thus spake Esau: "goonie goo goo"

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Your wife’s a bigfoot, isn’t she?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The writer Milli Hill documents instances of the word woman being culled from content related to pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Lol, we're still doing this? I'm afraid the gender deniers weird grip on the lexicon of the day is about to come to a bitter end.

[Rick James]

It's not going away. It's an institutionalized movement. It's going to quietly continue in many areas of life unless everyone involved everywhere speaks up. Wokeness as a popular movement is dying... gasping for air even, but this particular shit isn't. It's invaded the body and will quietly do its work-- and because 'wokeness' is on the way out, too many people will think "we're done, we can go back to arguing about marginal tax rates and healthcare policy now".

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Yeah, like a cancer in remission. And in those pockets holding out, like American academia and alt-left city councils, the woke will be far from quiet.

[Marshal]

Right, we have to cleanse our institutions of political corruption and return them to their original missions. If those missions were political we let them die.

[Ra's al Gore]

keir RAPE ROW Sir Keir Starmer ‘sat on 21 out of 23 meetings’ that led to controversial sex crime sentence changes
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/22072201/keir-starmer-sat-on-sentencing-meetings-sex-crimes/

SIR Keir Starmer sat on the Sentencing Council when it said a child rapist could swerve jail, it was claimed earlier today.

The body that sets guidelines for judges sending down criminals suggested in December 2012 “there is a necessity for flexibility within the sentencing regime” for rape of a child under 13.

It is claimed Sir Keir Starmer sat on more than 20 meetings on the Sentencing Council when it made controversial changes

It is claimed Sir Keir Starmer sat on more than 20 meetings on the Sentencing Council when it made controversial changes

As Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Keir was a member of the council from 2008 to 2013 - attending more than 20 of its meetings.

Their 2012 review stated “a sentencer may decide that a non-custodial sentence is more appropriate”.

[Medulla Oblongata]

https://www.thetimes.com/article/we-failed-grooming-victims-law-chief-keir-starmer-admits-9dwd9brflvm

In Rochdale, a 15-year-old girl gave police a detailed description of being taken to have sex with men in cars, houses and flats, but the case was dropped in 2009 after a prosecution lawyer ruled that she lacked credibility as a witness.

The decision was overturned in 2011 and this year nine men, mainly taxi drivers and takeaway food workers, were convicted of multiple sex offences against the girl and other vulnerable children.

The Times exposed further cases of organised groups of child-sex offenders escaping prosecution despite police, social services and specialist agencies holding detailed intelligence about the men and their victims.

A large majority of convicted child-sex offenders in Britain are white men, usually acting alone, but most street-grooming networks identified in northern England and the Midlands, including Rochdale, involved men of Pakistani origin.

Mr Starmer chaired the review of the CPS’s role in the Rochdale case, then ordered a national analysis of all current cases of child sexual exploitation. “In a number of cases presented to us, particularly in cases involving groups, there’s clearly an issue of ethnicity that has to be understood and addressed. As prosecutors we shouldn’t shy away from that,” he said. “But if we’re honest it’s the approach to the victims, the credibility issue, that caused these cases not to be prosecuted in the past. There was a lack of understanding.”

[Minadin]

Public health officials are the worst sort of tyrants. As C.S. Lewis said - they have convinced themselves that they are doing it for your own good.

You know what else is bad for your health? A severe and well-deserved ass-kicking.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

What about tarring and feathering?

[Minadin]

Can we use organically sourced spray adhesive and vegan / artificial feather substitute?

[damikesc]

Cannot remember who said it, but it is better to be robbed by a common criminal than a politician. The criminal will not expect you to thank him for robbing you.

[soldiermedic76]

You know what the two biggest contributors to cancer are? Genetics and age. You can follow all their guidelines and still develop cancer, because you lost the genetic lottery and you're aging.

[Ra's al Gore]

Rochdale grooming gang ringleader STILL lives in Britain despite deportation order
https://www.gbnews.com/news/rochdale-grooming-gang-ringleader-qari-abdul-rauf-lives-uk-despite-restraining-order

[Medulla Oblongata]

"their lawyers argued that their forced removal would be against their human rights"

Boo fucking hoo.

If the girls they raped had real fathers, these fuckers would all have been dealt with a long time ago.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

They rape each others' daughters. Why would they turn on each other? Even if a father had only sons, that's no impediment, no excuse for snitching.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Stop being ignorant or stfu on the topic.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

If I were ignorant, you'd provide examples. It looks like you're the one who did stfu in actual fact.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

No, if you were ignorant, you’d say something ignorant, which is what you did.

[damikesc]

The Pakistani men are not raping Pakistani girls.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

The cops and prosecutors and judges who turn a blind eye to this are honorary Pakistanis, and in moral fact, they are rapists. If none of their children have been raped yet, that's just old-fashioned luck.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Ignorant again.

[Medulla Oblongata]

"group-based sexual exploitation committed against mostly white working-class girls by mainly Pakistani-origin Muslim men appears to have been systemic."

So you mean that white working-class girl's fathers are raping each other's daughters?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

He isn't Hitler like Trump. You want him to go door to door deporting hard working immigrants?!? - sarc.

[Medulla Oblongata]

"such as shifts away from cigarette smoking"

Cigarettes were called 'coffin nails' in the 1800's, and known as 'cancer sticks' in 1950's. People knew, at some level, that cigarettes were bad for you, but didn't care overmuch.

https://tobacco.harpweek.com/hubpages/CommentaryPage.asp?Commentary=Introduction

"In 1867, the editor of Harper’s Weekly, George William Curtis, identified the three major health dangers of tobacco use: cancer, heart disease, and lung disease.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

The dangers of tobacco were known within a few years of bringing it to Europe.

[Ra's al Gore]

ABUSE HELL Social worker ‘attended wedding of girl, 15, to abuser’ as grooming hell revealed in damning Bradford report
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15712514/social-worker-attended-wedding-grooming-victim-bradford/

When she turned 15, she told a project worker she converted to Islam and married her older Asian "boyfriend" in a Sharia law ceremony.

The report found there was "collusion" by her social worker, who "allegedly attended the ceremony and assessed that her marriage was likely to reduce the risks incurred when Anna was missing".

Even when she fell pregnant, the vulnerable youngster was placed with the family of her "husband" as a foster child.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make.

And the more you can steal from them, Bernie.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

But give Bernie a break. In his mind, and his experience from a career in government, worker competency is not a thing. He can't possibly grok how a successful (and profitable) enterprise requires sufficient staff talent. And how talented people justify higher wages.

[Spiritus Mundi]

It is amazing how much better one Liz is compaired to the other.

[Ajsloss]

Now do Liz Cheney to Liz Warren.

[Spiritus Mundi]

Compared to each it other, one is clearly better than the other while both are worse individually than the dirt on the bottom of my shoe.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

One identifies as Indian the other identifies as a principled conservative? Both liars?

[DesigNate]

At least it’s marginally possible that there is some Native American DNA in Warren. There’s not a smidge of an ounce of conservative in Cheney.

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

One is trans-cherokee while the other is trans-conservative.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Can we imagine a circle of duplicates of one with guns pointed at the other?

[Dillinger]

>>Now do Liz Cheney to Liz Warren.

worst. threesome. ever.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Could we interest you in a gang-bang with The View?

[Dillinger]

I know the blonde one on a family level it wouldn't go over well.

[Ra's al Gore]

MP shares tweet saying abuse victims should ‘shut their mouths for good of diversity’
https://metro.co.uk/2017/08/23/mp-shares-tweet-saying-abuse-victims-should-shut-their-mouths-for-good-of-diversity-6872181/

A Labour MP has been criticised for sharing a Twitter post telling Rotherham sex abuse victims to ‘shut their mouths for the good of diversity’.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

There’s only one solution to this. Do Englishmen have the balls?

[Idaho-Bob]

I hope so. If we start seeing "hate crime" BBC articles of native Brits killing immigrants, we know it has begun. Both the vengeance and the gov't propaganda.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

I hate going all internet tough guy but if any of the women in my life experienced anything like the, now almost daily, videos I’m seeing out of Europe, there would be a lot if bodies hanging from light posts. Including some of the police officers and judges involved, and possibly their own families. This is an occupation, assisted by treasonous people in government.

[DesigNate]

All the Englishmen who had the balls to stand up to their tyrannical government came here in the 1700’s.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Good point.

[Rick James]

Ms Shah was suspended by the Labour Party in 2016 for making anti-semitic comments online.

Yeah, but that was 2016...

[Ra's al Gore]

Canadian school cancels ISIS survivor Nadia Murad over Islamophobia fears
https://www.theins.news/postview/702-canadian-school-cancels-isis-survivor-nadia-murad-over-islamophobia-fears

Nadia Murad, 28, was set to sit down with students from some of the 600 schools that are part of the Toronto District School Board to talk about her upcoming book, “The Last Girl: My Story Of Captivity,” to be published in February 2022.

But school board superintendent Helen Fisher pulled the plug on Murad’s visit, saying she would not let students attend because the book would be offensive to Muslims and “foster Islamophobia,” the Telegraph reported.

Murad advocates for survivors of genocide and sexual violence and is also a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and UN Goodwill Ambassador.

Murad’s book tells how she escaped the Islamic State after being taken from her home and sold into sexual slavery when she was just 14.

[Rick James]

The biggest problem in schools is someone removed a child/adult dick-sucking book.

[Spiritus Mundi]

If you wanted to paint a rosier picture of subway crime illegal immigration, you could point to the fact that there's just one assault terrorist per 2 million rides illegals. But these stats don't capture the number of crazy, erratic, and threatening people with whom a rider citizen must routinely deal, the grisly backdrop of a dysfunctional city DHS secretary that can't solve this problem even with a budget of $4 $103 billion devoted to it.

[Ra's al Gore]

Grooming gangs: Ex-Labour MP claims former party chairman told him not to raise ‘ethnicity aspect’ to keep votes
https://www.gbnews.com/politics/grooming-gangs-labour-mp-simon-danczuk-ethnicity

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

AccuWeather posts picture showing D.C. about to get pounded.

https://x.com/accuweather/status/1874829332633514327

[Ajsloss]

It’s already nuts in Knoxville.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Best response?

https://x.com/grandoldmemes/status/1874898559449080103

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Lol.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Is this finally the climapocalypse?

[Minadin]

As far as DC is concerned, it's just the tip.

[MK Ultra]

Area stores are already crowded with idiots buying toilet paper like they were during the early days of Covid. DC folk do not handle even the threat of snow well.

[Minadin]

So how is the 'threat of snow' different from anything else, with regard to how they handle things?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Video

Libs of TikTok
@libsoftiktok
An AI-powered robot toy called "Miko" that a father bought for his 2-year-old says Kamala will be the 47th President and praises Kamala and Biden. But when asked about Trump, it says nothing positive.

Why are kid's toys being used as propaganda tools?

https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1874232876729811198

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Socialists, like Jesuits, know they have better brainwashing success if they start them young.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Are there "libertarians" who truly think 40k Venezuelans all just walked up to Denver and settled in? Do they think the Haitians in Ohio had a caravan all of their own to get there?
Why is this left out of the discussion?
Am I, a non autist, autistic on this issue or something?

https://x.com/ForestMommy/status/1875182468820861066

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

They call themselves libertarian. But spout open borders Marxism.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Open borders is not Marxism.

Infinite welfare and no consequences is Marxism.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Again, stop being ignorant or stfu.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Again, if you don't provide examples, then you have, in actual fact, stfu.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Examples of immigrants getting government funding?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

That is literally what the open borders crowd advocates. Stop deluding yourself.

https://www.marxist.com/video-why-marxists-must-fight-for-open-borders.htm

https://marxist.com/why-marxists-oppose-immigration-controls.htm

Don't be stupid. If you actually want open borders the welfare state has to end before open borders. Anything less is deluded Marxist.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

No shit. That's what true open borders means. That's what voluntary means. Stealing taxes to entice criminals across borders is not open borders. Stores have open and closed hours; open means open to business, not open to thieves who the government won't prosecute.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Did you read my op in this thread? Have you confused yourself?

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Except in 90% of your posts defending open borders, even seen above with your analogy, you leave off the first step of the belief you claim to hold. It is a tactic held by CATO and others. Pretend they care about the costs when they actually don't, caring more for the open borders than the violations of government spending.

If your claim is open borders sans welfare, include the no welfare. Or you're just spouting Marxist bullshit as seen in the 2 links above.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Sure. People made the trip from Siberia to Venezuela with no governments or civilization.

[Idaho-Bob]

Some of them made it. Those who made it had to fend for themselves or die. Today's migrants now demand food, shelter, transportation, communication (phones), and then refuse to assimilate.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

That took generations, not a few days with guidance and assistance from NGOs and private sponsors.

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Who?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'Starting on January 1, the minimum wage in the city has jumped to $20.76, up from $17.25. But note that the minimum wage is always and everywhere $0—the business you're employed by could always turn to dust, and that's what some have done in advance of this wage hike taking effect.'

Of course, Democrats have a solution for this: mandated business operations, including staffing and worker hours. Just wait.

[Medulla Oblongata]

People in Seattle are eschewing tipping more and more now, since all the wait-staff are making a "living wage".

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/seattles-minimum-wage-increase-sparks-tipping-debate/ar-AA1wBn3c

With Seattle now boasting one of the highest minimum wages in the nation, many in Seattle question the necessity of tipping on top of already substantial wages, especially in the context of escalating prices in restaurants and retail. One Reddit user encapsulated the sentiment, stating, “I’m done tipping 10-20% come January 1st.”

“With Seattle’s new minimum wage going into effect really soon, most food industry workers are finally reaching a level playing field. As a result, I’ll no longer be tipping more than 5-10%. And I’m ONLY doing that if service is EXCEPTIONAL,” one user pledged.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Tip tax, coming to a city near you.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'The surgeon general has a new pronouncement to make: With a growing corpus of research purportedly linking alcohol to cancer, warning labels ought to be affixed so that people will drink with caution.'

Does he WANT ugly people to never have sex?

[Don’t. Get. Eliminated.]

Is he a globalist?

[Dillinger]

angry about his arranged marriage at 16?

[Unable2Reason]

It's well known that sugar causes and accelerates cancer. Any chance of a warning label on my candy bar? Funny how only disfavored things are targeted for warning labels.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'He has a long rap sheet and was already facing assault charges for throwing bleach on a woman. ("He's not a bad kid," his father told The New York Times, which practically nobody believes.)'

Too bad Kamel Hawkins' dad is not President, and he could issue a blanket pardon for his "not bad" son.

[Eeyore]

He is not a bad kid - now.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'On New Year's Day, there were two subway system stabbings: One in Morningside Heights, and the other near 14th Street and 7th Avenue.'

Liz, how do you know these were "stabbings" and not new year celebratory indigenous folk knife dances?

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"...("He's not a bad kid," his father told The New York Times, which practically nobody believes.)..."

'...He be turnin his life aroun...'

[Ra's al Gore]

Why would a self-proclaimed feminist refuse to hold an inquiry into the Oldham ‘rape gangs’?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-self-proclaimed-feminist-refuse-151956403.html

After a justified sigh of relief that she had not suffered same fate as a handful of other Labour candidates at the hands of angry Muslim voters, a couple of days later Phillips was back in favour with the new prime minister, taking office as the parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Home Office in charge of safeguarding and violence against women and girls. Given Phillips’ record and rhetoric on this issue, the job was a good fit. She has made a name for herself as a champion of women and girls in the face of the threat they face from abusive males.

It was in this role that she was asked by Oldham council to authorise a government inquiry into historic child abuse in the area.

Phillips said no. It was up to the council to decide if it wanted to conduct its own inquiry. The Government would stay out of it.

To be clear: a self-described feminist who has frequently railed against the injustice of men’s violence against women and girls wants no part of an inquiry into the alleged systematic abuse – including rape, torture and threats of murder – of young, vulnerable working class girls by gangs of men.

[Dillinger]

>>a self-described feminist who has frequently railed against the injustice of men’s violence against women and girls

if I could tell my teenage self "anyone can tell us what they are and say a lot of shit" I may have saved some trouble.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

"China's property meltdown has since 2021 destroyed around $18 trillion of Chinese household wealth, according to an estimate by Barclays, eclipsing the losses suffered by Americans in the financial crash of 2008-09"

Um, OK, but this whole real-estate wealth concept seems more imaginary than real. If I buy a house for $500k, and then after a spike in prices think I can sell it for $1 million, am I really $500k richer? And after prices drop, did that "wealth" vanish?

[sarcasmic]

If I buy a house for $500k, and then after a spike in prices think I can sell it for $1 million, am I really $500k richer?

Depends on if your local municipality decides to reassess property values for tax purposes, in which case you're definitely going to be poorer.

[Rick James]

If I buy a house for $500k, and then after a spike in prices think I can sell it for $1 million, am I really $500k richer?

I made a comment on this yesterday re: all the wages rising everywhere esoteric federal statistics thread.

The short answer to this is: Presuming you stay within your market, probably not. And depending on how high the spike went compared to wages-- you might even be poorer. Now, if you sell and run to a cheaper market...

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Housing equity was proof Biden had a booming economy.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""If I buy a house for $500k, and then after a spike in prices think I can sell it for $1 million, am I really $500k richer?""

More likely $250k richer after taxes.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"...Thune's first challenge will be "shepherding multiple baggage-laden Trump nominees to confirmation in the closely divided Senate, where he can afford to lose no more than three Republican votes if Democrats hold together in opposition" per The New York Times..."

Couldn't find a quote from an honest source like CNN?

[Ra's al Gore]

Why did the BBC fawn over a Syrian child rapist?
A Newsnight report smeared his 14-year-old accuser as a sexually promiscuous racist.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/03/11/why-did-the-bbc-fawn-over-a-syrian-child-rapist/

Following the trial, Newsnight interviewed Omar and his family about the case. He said that his accuser ‘didn’t want foreigners in this country and that is why she made up the whole story’.

Not only did the BBC not challenge this view of the girl ‘making up’ the allegation for racist ends. It also decided to subtly shame the girls at the centre of the case. ‘The Syrian men, in many ways, appeared less sexually experienced than the girls they were supposed to have attacked’, said the voiceover by former Newsnight journalist and current BBC News media editor Katie Razzall.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

"Why did the BBC fawn over a Syrian child rapist?"

Cuz they have gone full DEI retard?

[Rick James]

The writer Milli Hill documents instances of the word woman being culled from content related to pregnancy and breastfeeding. Her latest dispatch is the 54th edition of documenting this phenomenon; peruse her archive if you'd like to see how pervasive this is.

Did Nick make a "promethean transformation" comment to you before huffily signing off on this, Liz?

[Ra's al Gore]

Labour chiefs: It’s OK to have sex with 10-yr-olds
https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/634148/labour-chiefs-its-ok-to-have-sex-with-10-yr-olds/

LABOUR’S Patricia Hewitt last night apologised after The Sun confronted her
for backing a paedophile plan for the age of consent to be TEN in certain
cases.

The ex-Health Secretary put her name to a document that also wanted to
legalise incest. She and Jack Dromey, now a Labour MP, were members of a
committee recommending a revolutionary change in child sex laws.

Our investigation showed how she backed the work of the Paedophile Information
Exchange (PIE) in the 1970s and 1980s. She said: “I got it wrong on PIE and
I apologise for having done so.”

[Rick James]

And people think the MAP in LGBTQI2MAP+ is just me being mean.

[Eeyore]

Is there a committee that approves additions? Who the fck approved the addition of 2? That is a mental disorder, not a sexuality.

[Nobartium]

Biden must really hate Kamkam, since he could have blocked this earlier. Would have won them votes.

[Nobartium]

China's property meltdown has since 2021 destroyed around $18 trillion of Chinese household wealth, according to an estimate by Barclays, eclipsing the losses suffered by Americans in the financial crash of 2008-09

If this much wealth was wiped out over that 3 year period, then the rest of their output should reflect that.

It doesn't, so I reject that they lost wealth.

The most likely explanation is that the communists lied about how wealthy their people are.

[Rick James]

The most likely explanation is that the communists lied about how wealthy their people are.

I tend to agree with this, but then why are they telling the truth now?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Don't worry, they're not.

[soldiermedic76]

They likely are downplaying the severity. Admit to a partial problem, that no longer can be denied but than understate how severe the problem is, is right out of the autocrat playbook.

[LIBtranslator]

Who invited the squeaky Orangopox MAGAt to the Roundtable? Is this a gambit to make FOX or OAN look credible?

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Fuck off, Hank.

[Dillinger]

it's an attempt to forward the exposure of his wife.

[Dillinger]

>>Corpse President

making fun of Brandon or O? also welcome back happy new year.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Clinton and his trail of bodies?

[Dillinger]

Billy Jeff is toeing that line himself lately.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Don't forget Carter.

[Dillinger]

some people think literal humor is too cringey.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

On Reason?

[Dillinger]

well not me lol.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""Clinton and his trail of bodies?""

Bill has nothing to do with that. The agreement was Bill gets the girls, Hillary get to kill.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Lol. Read that to Paul Revere.

Bill grabbed the girlies, Hillary snatched the lives.

[Dillinger]

>>tell U.S. Steel that it can't be purchased by Japanese company Nippon Steel

ya the government already let Japan attack America once ...

[Dillinger]

>>the suspect should have faced consequences for his violent behavior long ago: He has a long rap sheet and was already facing assault charges for throwing bleach on a woman.

NYC is not safe for you or anyone else. shoulda stayed in Texas.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

NYC MSG NYE LIVE!

[Dillinger]

did you go? I listened to most of it on xm29. mme. dillinger will goto the shows for the party but scoffs at couch tour lol

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

I didn't make it this year. My bother had a blast up there though.

[Dillinger]

>>writer Milli Hill documents instances of the word woman being culled from content related to pregnancy and breastfeeding.

likewise, Milli Vanilli culled singing related to live performances.

[Dillinger]

Robby's "Lie of the Year" pisses me off even more second-day where was he with the telling anyone the emperor had no clothes?

[mad.casual]

where was he with the telling anyone the emperor had no clothes?

Mandating it for schoolchildren?

[Dillinger]

the hoops conversation still funny two years later

[SRG2]

There is no good argument for stopping the US Steel acquisition. Hence all arguments are bad.

Meanwhile, Seattle has fallen victim to the monotonic fallacy. It may well be the case that there are economic benefits in increasing a minimum wage from some derisory amount to a modest amount, but that does not mean that continuing to increase the mnimum wage to higher and higher levels will continue to be beneficial.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"...It may well be the case that there are economic benefits in increasing a minimum wage from some derisory amount to a modest amount,..."

There is NEVER an economic benefit to higher M/W. If the new amount is close to the market set wage, it, at best, won't cause much harm.

[mad.casual]

The very thing libertarians and conservatives have been warning about for years, which has been born out in locality after locality, is now happening in Seattle, Washington.
...
Color me skeptical that warning labels do jack shit.

+1 for Good Liz making NYC respectable again.

[Dillinger]

>>Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. "The data does not bear that out for cancer risk."

Tony the Tiger first, then Maker's Mark you shill.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Breakfast of champions?

[Dillinger]

lol yuck. I tell my mom she shoulda just put blow on the table.

[Dillinger]

>>Bernie Sanders, H-1B visa opponent

I love when American issues are American issues.

[Marshal]

("He's not a bad kid," his father told The New York Times, which practically nobody believes.)

Probably 15% or approaching 50 million Americans believe this, that's the whole problem. They've been trained to believe whatever is necessary to justify the left's political preferences instead of understanding the true nature of the world. That's why they are incapable of designing effective systems, image trying to build a functioning aircraft while denying gravity exists. Then consider how you would micromanage an economy while simultaneously denying that minimum wage increases reduce the number of jobs.

The insanity is obvious and reality is unforgiving.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

It's cargo cult level thinking (emphasis on "cult").

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Cargo cult. Haven't heard that in a long time.

[Eeyore]

Even the smartest economist would fk up a centrally planned economy.

[Marshal]

While true that's the inverse problem. The point is that people who refuse to understand how the world works can't do anything right. It's a laugh out loud bonus these fools used to refer to themselves as the reality based community.

[Eeyore]

To dumb to solve a problem that already has a solution?

[Eeyore]

There is a common human desire for the world to work a different way than it actually does. A parent having a delusional view of their kid isn't that uncommon. Especially when the parent is trying to deny just how screwed up the kid is. When the media tries to validate the delusion it's maddening.

[Marshal]

Sure, but every serious person recognizes this and specifically recognizes wishful thinking as a risk. The exception is political extremists who have learned you can talk the weak-minded into just about anything if you do it long enough and give them a scapegoat.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""image trying to build a functioning aircraft while denying gravity exists. ""

I want to be in the room when they are discussing their opinions on how gravity wants to be identified. Someone in the back keeps yelling Yo, g.

[MWAocdoc]

"New York City ... dysfunctional city that can't solve this problem ..."

LIz, this was all you needed to say. However, ALL cities have become increasingly dysfunctional. It is impossible to maintain a complex infrastructure in high-population-density regions without despotic, corrupt officials in bed with public employee labor unions, each one of which maintains a stranglehold on survival for the citizens and veto power over the election of officials.

[Incunabulum]

>"Corpse President"

Wolfe, stop, its not funny if you're doing it because its safe now.

[Eeyore]

Less corpse - more puppet.

[Dillinger]

Red Fraggle's Tariffs On China Bad For Economy - Boehm

[Longtobefree]

How many union workers are going to lose their jobs when US Steel goes belly up?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

When is the next election?

[SRG2]

But TJJ2000 will approve because god forbid a US company sell itself to, gasp, foreigners.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

It is obvious you don't know anything about business shrike. Are liabilities, such as supply chain risk, bookmarked as cost or asset?

[TJJ2000]

And again. It's not the 'company' that is concerning.
It *is* the 150,000 acres of USA soil.

Heck why not just sell D.C. to Japan - It's only 43,520 acres.

[TJJ2000]

GOOD! One good point for Biden.
Japan doesn't need to own 150,000+ acres of USA soil.
A US citizen / business can own it.
Sadly it's Democrat-Socialists that has made it so hard for US citizens to produce.

[SRG2]

The government is telling Americans what they're allowed to do with their money - and you approve.

And while regulations may have made it harder for US Steel, that doesn't explain why Nippon Steel can think that they can make it work. If there were no buyers at any reasonable price for US Steet, you'd have a point. But when a foreign company wants to buy a US company at a considerable premium to the stock price, obviously they think that regulation won't be too grave an obstacle.

https://www.heritage.org/markets-and-finance/commentary/nippon-acquisition-us-steel

the Japanese suitor looks to infuse new life into this former behemoth with an infusion of cash, technology, and vision.

Nippon Steel has these, US Steel apparently does not. You can't blame Washington here. The same considerations would apply.

And if - as you may later argue - Nippon Steel will face the same issues, wouldn't you rather the adverse outcome is experienced by a foreign company, not a domestic one?

[TJJ2000]

"obviously they think that regulation won't be too grave an obstacle"

Just like illegal immigrants think the same and rightfully so precisely because they don't really fit completely under US jurisdiction.

This is the same premise SQRLSY made a while back.
"It's my house so I can invite as many illegal immigrants here as I want."/s
I say BS.

[SRG2]

Nippon Steel is not an illegal immigrant. And in operating US Steel in the US they will be fully subject to US regulations.

[TJJ2000]

I have no objection to them "operating" it.
I have objection to them "owning" the land.

https://reason.com/2024/12/31/bootleggers-and-baptists-in-the-u-s-steel-deal/?comments=true#comment-10851866
"full acquisition, meaning Nippon Steel will own everything U.S. Steel owns, including all facilities and land"

[DesigNate]

Technically they’re telling a Japanese company what they can’t do with their money.

[TJJ2000]

Indeed ....like buy 150,000+ acres of USA soil?
If it wasn't USA soil they'd have no premise to say NO.

And when Japan decides to turn-it and sell it to Russia or Iran???
Is it still then none of the US governments business?

"To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations"
There is actually a procedure catch there... It should be up-to Congress not Biden by Executive Order.

[SRG2]

Is it still then none of the US governments business?

Perhaps then there might be a genuine national security interest. But there isn't atm.

And why shouldn't Americans be free to sell their property to whomever they want if there are no security grounds to stop them?

[TJJ2000]

...because the USA is a sovereign nation (i.e. landmass) not an UN-governed territory and it's for US citizens not for Japan.

You just as well be asking why can't citizens of Ukraine sell off their property to Russia?

[SRG2]

So every time you post some crap about Gov-guns and whine about government taking away freedoms, all we need to say is, "the US is a sovereign nation" and can do what the fuck it wants - because that is your argument here.

[TJJ2000]

It certainly can defend the nation against foreign ownership claim.

[SRG2]

It is your clear position that US citizens are not free to sell their productive property and their land to foreigners.

As a policy, this would not only restrict the freedom of Americans, it would impair US companies' ability to raise capital - as they could only raise equity from US citizens (and US corporations) thus driving up the cost of equity and thence debt, with long-term adverse economic effects. Rising cost of capital is inflationary, while inability to raise enough capital for growth is recessionary.

Further, it would require non-US-companies to liquidate their holdings of US equity - which in the short term would cause the stock market to collapse.

So your brilliant nationalist "capitalism" would cause a stock market crash, rising inflation, and a recession. But hey, at least no foreigner owns US land, praise the Lawd.

For a claimed freedom lover, you sure do hate capitalism.

[TJJ2000]

Or maybe I'm just a US patriot instead of a Globalist trying to put the entire planet under the same sovereignty.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

If there wasn't a concern Nippon wouldn't have added conditions such as a 10 year output requirement.

[SRG2]

They're telling US shareholders, you can't sell your shares to Nippon Steel. Granted, that's not literally money, but it's still a restriction.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Stopped clock.

[TJJ2000]

"full acquisition, meaning Nippon Steel will own everything U.S. Steel owns, including all facilities and land"

It's a lot more than just 'shares'.

[SRG2]

"full acquisition, meaning Nippon Steel will own everything U.S. Steel owns, including all facilities and land"

Yes, large companies typically own facilities and land. And shareholders own the company that owns the facilities and land. This seems a new idea to you.

[TJJ2000]

Maybe you should go pitch a tent on your 'share' property and see what happens.

[SRG2]

Irrelevant to the point.

[TJJ2000]

Indeed. And it was your point to begin with.
Trying to pretend 150,000 acres owned by Japan is just a 'shareholder' issue.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

USS became the giant it once was by buying other companies. A bit of irony if its demise is due to being purchased.

[See.More]

> ... A bit of irony if its demise is due to being purchased.

... or karma.

[gordo53]

Regardless of what Joe (or anyone else) says about it, our government is run by wealthy special interests, mostly corporations, who have paid politicians for the privilege.

[GroundTruth]

I'm going to guess that Dr. Murthy doesn't drink.

Reminds me of a quote from a National Geographic article about Maine from 40 years ago; some older gent, off the grid before anyone called it that, standing in front of his wood pile, say " reformers.... first they find something they don't like, and then, boy! can they reform!"