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"Everything is Broken:" A Must Read Essay

This essay takes a little time to get going, and you might wonder where it's going at all.

But stay with it. It's really a must-read. Bookmark it for the weekend.

The article rambles about the Silicon Valley drive to make everything "flat" -- basically, all the same, without place or purpose, because that's the Silicon Valley ideal.

We're no longer rooted in any particular place or culture. Such things are too complicated for FaceBook profiles. The real world has been made to conform with the limitations of the fake digital world -- by removing people's individuality.

It has made them flat, because Google's algorithms cannot try to sell shit to three-dimensional people.

It then turns to the consequences of turning everyone flat:

Once we accepted it, we turned from willful individuals into parts of a mass that could move, or be moved, anywhere. Once people accepted the idea of an app, you could get them to pay for dozens of them--if not more. You could get people to send thousands of dollars to strangers in other countries to stay in homes they'd never seen in cities they’d never visited. You could train them to order in food--most of their food, even all of their food--from restaurants that they'd never been to, based on recommendations from people they'd never met. You could get them to understand their social world not as consisting of people whose families and faces one knew, which was literally the definition of social life for hundreds of thousands of years, but rather as composed of people who belonged to categories -- "also followed by," "friends in common," "BIPOC" -- that didn’t even exist 15 years ago. You could create a culture in which it was normal to have sex with someone whose two-dimensional picture you saw on a phone, once.

You could, seemingly overnight, transform people's views about anything--even everything.

The Obama administration could swiftly overturn the decision-making space in which Capitol Hill staff and newspaper reporters functioned so that Iran, a country that had killed thousands of Americans and consistently announces itself to be America's greatest enemy, is now to be seen as inherently as trustworthy and desirable an ally as France or Germany. Flatness, frictionlessness.

The biological difference between the sexes, which had been a foundational assumption of medicine as well as of the feminist movement, was almost instantaneously replaced not only by the idea that there are numerous genders but that reference in medicine, law or popular culture to the existence of a gender binary is actually bigoted and abusive. Flatness.

Facebook's longtime motto was, famously, "Move fast and break shit," which is exactly what Silicon Valley enabled others to do.

The internet tycoons used the ideology of flatness to hoover up the value from local businesses, national retailers, the whole newspaper industry, etc.--and no one seemed to care. This heist--by which a small group of people, using the wiring of flatness, could transfer to themselves enormous assets without any political, legal or social pushback--enabled progressive activists and their oligarchic funders to pull off a heist of their own, using the same wiring. They seized on the fact that the entire world was already adapting to a life of practical flatness in order to push their ideology of political flatness--what they call social justice, but which has historically meant the transfer of enormous amounts of power and wealth to a select few.

Because this cohort insists on sameness and purity, they have turned the once-independent parts of the American cultural complex into a mutually validating pipeline for conformists with approved viewpoints--who then credential, promote and marry each other. A young Ivy League student gets A's by parroting intersectional gospel, which in turn means that he is recommended by his professors for an entry-level job at a Washington think tank or publication that is also devoted to these ideas. His ability to widely promote those viewpoints on social media is likely to attract the approval of his next possible boss or the reader of his graduate school application or future mates. His success in clearing those bars will in turn open future opportunities for love and employment. Doing the opposite has an inverse effect, which is nearly impossible to avoid given how tightly this system is now woven. A person who is determined to forgo such worldly enticements--because they are especially smart, or rich, or stubborn--will see only examples of even more talented and accomplished people who have seen their careers crushed and reputations destroyed for daring to stick a toe over the ever multiplying maze of red lines.

So, instead of reflecting the diversity of a large country, these institutions have now been repurposed as instruments to instill and enforce the narrow and rigid agenda of one cohort of people, forbidding exploration or deviation--a regime that has ironically left homeless many, if not most, of the country's best thinkers and creators.

I think people are waking up to this "heist" of all culture, thought, commerce, individuality, and humanity by a small group of Woke Plutocrat Tyrants and lunatic religious zealots, but, alas: It might be too late to do a damn thing to stop them.

Oh well, at least Rich Lowry knows that his funding will be guaranteed for fifty years.

Posted by: Ace at 01:15 PM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 First

Posted by: Political McGuffin at January 15, 2021 02:15 PM (1MFjD)

2 This is an excellent read. Glad to see it's gaining traction.

Posted by: Swanzinator, Master of the Red Pill at January 15, 2021 02:16 PM (A/Ogw)

3 Push the Great Reset button.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 15, 2021 02:18 PM (63Dwl)

4 Ask the Romans how that whole Oligarchy thing worked out for them.

Wait...

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 15, 2021 02:18 PM (lmikk)

5 It's our time to shine, whatever that means.

Posted by: NPCs at January 15, 2021 02:18 PM (Ti+Tv)

6 How does this put more semen inside my wife?

Posted by: Bill Kristol at January 15, 2021 02:19 PM (6eed0)

7 It's *their* time in the fire.

Posted by: Marketing materials for St. Elmo's Fire (1985) at January 15, 2021 02:19 PM (5+1A/)

8 Surprisingly insightful article, coming from an admitted journalist who is almost certainly a nominal liberal who I'm sure marinates in leftism because of her job and social circles.

Posted by: Dworkin Barimen - anarcho-tyranny? you're soaking in it! at January 15, 2021 02:19 PM (poEUH)

9 moving to Costa Rica soon

gonna be a Tica tycoon

Posted by: REDACTED at January 15, 2021 02:19 PM (zZxh0)

10 It doesn't. That's how.

What good is this article?

Posted by: Bill Kristol at January 15, 2021 02:19 PM (VISjH)

11 Ever been to Japan? It's pretty flat, even with the mountains.

Posted by: Roy at January 15, 2021 02:19 PM (Ti+Tv)

12 >>>6 How does this put more semen inside my wife?
Posted by: Bill Kristol

Get out of my head!

Posted by: David French at January 15, 2021 02:20 PM (5+1A/)

13 But but muh diversities! Gotta have moar diversities!

Posted by: cornbred at January 15, 2021 02:20 PM (1Bbei)

14 BREAKING: Russia's entire government has resigned except Putin. Merkel has said she will step down. Other resignations today include Holland's PM and cabinet, Estonia's PM, and Kuwait's government. Italy's government is about to collapse after Renzi stepped down.

And the US capitol is surrounded by 20k troops.

Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:20 PM (DBPIP)

15 Ok, on to the content

Posted by: Skip at January 15, 2021 02:20 PM (Cxk7w)

16 Well damn.
Homework?

Posted by: Diogenes at January 15, 2021 02:20 PM (axyOa)

17 Willowed:

Nood & broke.


Story of my life.

Posted by: rickb223 at January 15, 2021 02:21 PM (C+45H)

18 yawn. There have been thinkers who have been warning about this for 20 years, coming to these conclusions now is pretty timid.

Posted by: Dr. DJ3Way at January 15, 2021 02:21 PM (bhPL1)

19 regarding sidebar item, Anyone remember the video of Arnie getting chest kicked down in Africa?

Posted by: Toto: That's not how you do it at January 15, 2021 02:21 PM (w3rBT)

20 11 Ever been to Japan? It's pretty flat, even with the mountains.
Posted by: Roy at January 15, 2021 02:19 PM (Ti+Tv)

Japan is 99.9% Japanese

might be onto sumptin

Posted by: REDACTED at January 15, 2021 02:21 PM (zZxh0)

21 "14 people on Twitter."

the author must watch ya boi zack

Posted by: Dr. Shatterhand at January 15, 2021 02:22 PM (EUaR1)

22 The Sun article on Putin today: https://tinyurl.com/y4zfpebd

Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:22 PM (DBPIP)

23 In other words: DOOM

I think Monty is back.

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:22 PM (ZfRYq)

24 What I'm not understanding is if these idiots get their great reset, just WHAT are they going to be selling, since people won't be able to buy shit? Will rental prices be that bad?

Posted by: clutch cargo - processed in a facility that may contain lead at January 15, 2021 02:22 PM (L8ADy)

25
Japan is 99.9% Japanese

might be onto sumptin
Posted by: REDACTED


No diversity dummies, those guys.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 15, 2021 02:23 PM (63Dwl)

26 >>..Woke Plutocrat Tyrants and lunatic religious zealots..

Don't forget, they're also pedophiles and sexual deviants in the main as well.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 15, 2021 02:23 PM (vqU+L)

27 CZ P-07 9MM OD GREEN 9mm 3.75 15rd

$539

link next

Posted by: bonhomme at January 15, 2021 02:23 PM (UW2ZS)

28 22 The Sun article on Putin today: https://tinyurl.com/y4zfpebd
Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:22 PM (DBPIP)

---

Sorry y'all, that's from 2020. But the other government heads did resign today. Estonia, Holland, etc.

Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:23 PM (DBPIP)

29 https://bit.ly/2XGcnFQ

Posted by: bonhomme at January 15, 2021 02:23 PM (UW2ZS)

30 I think people are waking up to this "heist" of all culture, thought, commerce, individuality, and humanity by a small group of Woke Plutocrat Tyrants and lunatic religious zealots, but, alas: It might be too late to do a damn thing to stop them.

Oh well, at least Rich Lowry knows that his funding will be guaranteed for fifty years.

Posted by: Ace at 01:15 PM

If nothing else entropy will stop them. My money is on an increasingly ignored central government though followed by something like a warring states period in Asia.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 02:23 PM (Zm+LZ)

31 I highly reccomend that piece, even if you disagree with it, because on a technical level the writing is excellent.

Well structured sentences, excellent pacing and flow to the paragraphs, wonderful combination of simple, declarative sentences and longer, more complicated sentence structure.

As to content, this is of a piece with the article noting that cities, at least in the downtown city center, are all the same. It's all the same brands and labels and everyone wears the same clothes and uses the same technology. You can go from NYC to Toronto to London to Bern to Lisbon to Tel Aviv to Tokyo and never fell out of place. This is not a good thing.

Posted by: alexthechick - Boobs and hysteria at January 15, 2021 02:24 PM (GbPPJ)

32 Read it the other day. Good article.

I still think it can be considered this way: after WWII there was a huge amount of cultural, social, and political capital which the "elites" (the political, academic, and artistic classes) leveraged to gain more power in society, much like a business uses it's assets as collateral for loans. And much like a business, the first groups to do this were fairly moderate in their ambitions. Over time, however, they were replaced by leaders who borrowed more and more. As long as the economy did well, as long as people's lives were improving, as long as society seemed to continue to do well, citizens in the west allowed this to go on. The problem is that the more leveraged you are, the more fragile you are, and by the late 90s they were massively overleveraged. This amplified the effects of the shock of 9/11 and the continued messes in the Middle East, followed by the 2008 collapse of the housing market and recession. The former destroyed any faith in their ability to handle foreign policy, while the latter did the same for economic policy. COVID is hopefully the final blow.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 02:24 PM (jOcSX)

33 @14 is that real?

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:24 PM (ZfRYq)

34 As to content, this is of a piece with the article noting that cities, at least in the downtown city center, are all the same. It's all the same brands and labels and everyone wears the same clothes and uses the same technology. You can go from NYC to Toronto to London to Bern to Lisbon to Tel Aviv to Tokyo and never fell out of place. This is not a good thing.
Posted by: alexthechick - Boobs and hysteria at January 15, 2021 02:24 PM (GbPPJ)


When I lived in Columbus, OH, I worked downtown across from the statehouse, and it struck me that they seemed to be trying to turn it into Brooklyn, or Portland. The aesthetic was the same.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 02:25 PM (jOcSX)

35 OT: Been watching the Expanse, and what is an ad that pops up? A Marie Curie movie. Oh Yay.

Understand that I am not disparaging Madame Curie, but the morons who seek to use her as a chess piece in their games.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 15, 2021 02:25 PM (lmikk)

36 And the US capitol is surrounded by 20k troops.
Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:20 PM (DBPIP)


#twoweeks!

I'll admit, something seems - a bit off about all of this.

Posted by: clutch cargo - processed in a facility that may contain lead at January 15, 2021 02:26 PM (L8ADy)

37 This was a process that took decades. Sped up with the arrival of social media

Posted by: steevy at January 15, 2021 02:26 PM (wgghp)

38 "I think people are waking up to this "heist" of all culture, thought,
commerce, individuality, and humanity by a small group of Woke Plutocrat
Tyrants and lunatic religious zealots,"

The overwhelming majority of people wear masks into he restaurant to the table, take them off, then put them on to go to the restroom, then take them off at the table, the put them on to leave the restaurant. Many wear them in their cars and outside. No one is waking up to anything.We are doomed.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob - PHD Cannibal Studies at January 15, 2021 02:26 PM (Dz5W3)

39 The World Is Flat.

Mission Accomplished!
- Tom Friedman and Xi

Posted by: Darrell Harris at January 15, 2021 02:26 PM (4tiP2)

40 @14 is that real?

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:24 PM (ZfRYq)

No it's not. Again.

Posted by: Brian in New Orleans at January 15, 2021 02:26 PM (CQ3Qb)

41 @14

I saw a lot of what has transpired coming, I did not see them also throwing The Reset into the mix.

That has actually caught me by surprise.


Long story short, you can never be too cynical.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 15, 2021 02:27 PM (vqU+L)

42 36 And the US capitol is surrounded by 20k troops.
Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:20 PM (DBPIP)

#twoweeks!

I'll admit, something seems - a bit off about all of this.
------------------
Viva Bideno! How much for the little girl?

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 02:27 PM (14Wwm)

43 I like the form you fill out on the plane ride. It does what it is supposed to do. Welcome Traveler! We have a great country and we want to keep it that way. The door is over there when you are done. Thank you.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 15, 2021 02:27 PM (lmikk)

44 >>And the US capitol is surrounded by 20k troops.


I'm not saying it's Aliens...



...but, it is totally gonna be Aliens.

Posted by: garrett at January 15, 2021 02:27 PM (VISjH)

45 If nothing else entropy will stop them. My money is on an increasingly ignored central government though followed by something like a warring states period in Asia.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 02:23 PM (Zm+LZ)


I've said before that my fear is the US is turning into a modern Holy Roman Empire, and that we're heading for 1618.

The rest of the world isn't much better. A lot of old grudges were kept tamped down by US money and power, and the hope that everyone would get rich and no longer care. If that doesn't happen, the world would likely get very violent, very quickly. Especially if the US is believed to be too weak to get involved.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 02:27 PM (jOcSX)

46 How does this put more seamen inside my wife?

Posted by: Jonah Goldberg at January 15, 2021 02:27 PM (yQpMk)

47
When I lived in Columbus, OH, I worked downtown across from the statehouse, and it struck me that they seemed to be trying to turn it into Brooklyn, or Portland. The aesthetic was the same.
Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 02:25 PM (jOcSX)


There are a few major urban design firms and they all studied under the same people and all have the same fundamental design philosophy.

It's like how foreign policy seems the same no matter if it is a Dem or a Republican in the White House. They all went to the Kennedy School and all think the same things. Trump exception and why they hate him #1,263,983 here.

Posted by: alexthechick - Boobs and hysteria at January 15, 2021 02:28 PM (GbPPJ)

48
You can go from NYC to Toronto to London to Bern to Lisbon to Tel Aviv to Tokyo and never fell out of place. This is not a good thing.
Posted by: alexthechick - Boobs and hysteria


The diversity of homogeneity.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 15, 2021 02:28 PM (63Dwl)

49 @46

** GOLF CLAP **

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 15, 2021 02:28 PM (vqU+L)

50 Hmm Merkel is retiring end of her term this year.

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:28 PM (ZfRYq)

51 Alternate Theory - Silicon Valley is run by a bunch of malevolent pricks with delusions of grandeur. Discuss !!!

Posted by: Pierre at January 15, 2021 02:28 PM (EjQ00)

52 Hmmm. Russian government did resign.

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:29 PM (ZfRYq)

53
Hmm Merkel is retiring end of her term this year.

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:28 PM (ZfRYq)

and by 'retiring' you mean firing squad?

Posted by: Cannibal Bob - PHD Cannibal Studies at January 15, 2021 02:29 PM (Dz5W3)

54 Rush pointed out for a guy who supposedly had more votes than anyone ever they need to shut down the Capital so he can be sworn in. Those 80 million people who voted for him they can't go and see him, they must be heartbroken.

Posted by: Skip at January 15, 2021 02:29 PM (Cxk7w)

55 There are a few major urban design firms and they all studied under the same people and all have the same fundamental design philosophy.
I've seriously considered going back to school for a masters in architecture just because I hate those designers so much.


It's like how foreign policy seems the same no matter if it is a Dem or a Republican in the White House. They all went to the Kennedy School and all think the same things. Trump exception and why they hate him #1,263,983 here.
Posted by: alexthechick - Boobs and hysteria at January 15, 2021 02:28 PM (GbPPJ)


Yup. Especially since he's demonstrated that they were utterly incompetent and that many of their assumptions about the world were wrong.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 02:30 PM (jOcSX)

56 50 Hmm Merkel is retiring end of her term this year.
----------------
So the EU Anschloss is complete?

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 02:30 PM (14Wwm)

57
I'm not saying it's Aliens...

...but, it is totally gonna be Aliens.
Posted by: garrett at January 15, 2021 02:27 PM (VISjH)

That would really help fill in some of the gaps I have figuring out what is going on...

Posted by: Inogame - Trump won at January 15, 2021 02:30 PM (+2xjH)

58 And they facilitate, exagerate hate for the non-flat, non-conformists. Bigly.

Posted by: Lizzy at January 15, 2021 02:30 PM (bDqIh)

59 Hmm Dutch government did resign.

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (ZfRYq)

60 Silicon Valley is also big on a flat workspace. There are no bosses. Everyone is a team member. Everyone has a voice. CEO dresses like he just came from the beach, etc. Structure is for old white guys. Hip Zoomers just do whatever man.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (736Ux)

61 Did Putin try to start a insurrection and take over the country?

Posted by: Skip at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (Cxk7w)

62 Well the result of all this is the shit floats to the top.

Posted by: f'd at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (+y8uL)

63 Hmm Merkel is retiring end of her term this year.

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:28 PM (ZfRYq)

and by 'retiring' you mean firing squad?
Posted by: Cannibal Bob - PHD Cannibal Studies at January 15, 2021 02:29 PM (Dz5W3)

An unkind soul might say a more fitting end would be in a dimly lit basement cell with a gunshot to the back of the head.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (lmikk)

64 Silicon Valley is also big on a flat workspace. There are no bosses. Everyone is a team member. Everyone has a voice. CEO dresses like he just came from the beach, etc. Structure is for old white guys. Hip Zoomers just do whatever man.
Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (736Ux)


Everyone likes that right up until the important decisions need to be made.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (jOcSX)

65 I just gotta be MEEEEEEEEEEE

Posted by: nurse ratched at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (W2Pud)

66 Hmm Kuwaití government resigns

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (ZfRYq)

67 >>Well the result of all this is the shit floats to the top.


Almost there!

Posted by: Kamala Harris at January 15, 2021 02:32 PM (VISjH)

68 Get ready for the next part.

BOHICA!

Oh, and I called my shot and may have missed the method of transmission, but not the message that was transmitted.

Posted by: Zombie George Orwell at January 15, 2021 02:32 PM (Ojki1)

69 Merkel is retiring end of her term this year.

Her tits look like they retired 20 years ago.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at January 15, 2021 02:32 PM (H5knJ)

70 I read it yesterday. If Tablet was smarter, their editors would have told Mike Bloomberg and Mark Zuckerberg that their plan was insane. That Donald Trump was going to win, and that the risks of being caught were far too great. Then Trump not only won, but won so huge that it crushed the Dominion algos in real time.

The primary problem the cabal faces is that they thought having elite society, especially the Supreme Court, solidly behind the steal would validate it. Instead, it has left ALL of Donald Trump's voters with the firm knowledge that none of these elites can be trusted: that Donald Trump is the only rich man in America with the people's interests at heart. This goes as far as the officer corps: but the enlisted swear their oaths to the lawful President, not the Constitution.

On top of that, multiple European governments are collapsing this week. Is that all coincidence? Do you think even 30000 troops can defend Washington if 60% of them secretly hate the Democrats? Bottom line is, the things the cabal has control of- mortgages, Facebook, academia, Disney, finance, the legal system- are all parasites that don't actually have solid value of their own.

Posted by: trev006 at January 15, 2021 02:32 PM (jpsJS)

71 So in short @14 is all true.

That is a lot of coincidence but I think it is just more reflection of everything is broken than anything else

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:33 PM (ZfRYq)

72 There are a few major urban design firms and they all studied under the same people and all have the same fundamental design philosophy.

It's like how foreign policy seems the same no matter if it is a Dem or a Republican in the White House. They all went to the Kennedy School and all think the same things. Trump exception and why they hate him #1,263,983 here.
Posted by: alexthechick - Boobs and hysteria at January 15, 2021 02:28 PM (GbPPJ

Having a shared outlook and values isn't a bad thing per se - the Greeks and Romans shared a set of values built around towns and cities. They called those who shared it 'civilized' and once adopted by those of other cultures as disparate as Iran and Britain the cultural differences could be absorbed into the melting pot.

The problem is that the current shared values of the elites are tribal at best, and psychotic at worst. Anything goes, if you get ahead, even for a moment.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 15, 2021 02:33 PM (eoQWY)

73 It then turns to the consequences of turning everyone flat:

------

In before the Brei Larson jokes!

Posted by: josephistan at January 15, 2021 02:33 PM (Izzlo)

74 I've been saying they want to form us all into useful economic
(humanoid) widgets. They can stack us better if we are all uniform (flat), ...
works for ideology as well as boxes. Most importantly, they don't want
the old traditions (of Liberty) to be more important than their new
conformity to BigGov/BigTech. Stay in your lane (box, uniform CultThink).


imo
BigTech is united with DeepState, which is really BigGov ... and
GoldmanSachs (and the others) run the money, which is really the biggest
control. I put 20 WorldBanks at the top of the pyramid -- they freely
launder cartel money from around the world (Deutsche Bank/HSBC have been
caught and released, as I understand it).

Posted by: illiniwek at January 15, 2021 02:33 PM (Cus5s)

75 50 Hmm Merkel is retiring end of her term this year.
Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:28 PM (ZfRYq)

This had been promised a while back due to her creation of the migrant crisis.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 02:33 PM (Zm+LZ)

76 69 Merkel is retiring end of her term this year.

Her tits look like they retired 20 years ago.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at January 15, 2021 02:32 PM (H5knJ)

*looking at Merkel's neck*

Run away!!!!!

Posted by: Merkel's French Tits at January 15, 2021 02:34 PM (lmikk)

77 >>It then turns to the consequences of turning everyone flat


Ladies and Gentlemen -

Our time has arrived.

Posted by: Itty Bitty Titty Committee at January 15, 2021 02:34 PM (VISjH)

78 Bomb threat at the Va SC building.

Posted by: f'd at January 15, 2021 02:34 PM (+y8uL)

79 @40 BINO seems to all actually be true

It's a lot of chaos that's for sure

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:34 PM (ZfRYq)

80 It appears that DC mayor Muriel Bowser is in a bit of a snit about not being in the loop on the inclusion of troops in DC:

https://tinyurl.com/y6yf5pqm

Posted by: one of the quiet ones at January 15, 2021 02:35 PM (2k7BX)

81 Merkel set out to finish the job Adolph started. Destroy Europe. I'd say she did a pretty good job.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 15, 2021 02:35 PM (kTF2Z)

82 Damn, good article. As a lawyer, I can say the legal system is broke'd as well.

Posted by: PunchBowlPariah at January 15, 2021 02:35 PM (u8oC4)

83 I just read it. Very good. It's a call for for the beautiful risky untidiness of freedom and American individuality. It is a response to realizing you are living in a horror story.

Posted by: Ordinary American at January 15, 2021 02:35 PM (H8QX8)

84 Silicon Valley is also big on a flat workspace. There are no bosses. Everyone is a team member. Everyone has a voice. CEO dresses like he just came from the beach, etc. Structure is for old white guys. Hip Zoomers just do whatever man.
Posted by: Joe XiDen

That's an illusion. There is always a heirarchy. That's what they want to tell people to make them feel "empowered" and "take ownership" of whatever ridiculous task they are assigned by....somebody.

The heirarchy is there, it is just purposely hidden.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 02:35 PM (vcOmj)

85 The problem is that the current shared values of the elites are tribal at best, and psychotic at worst.

My take as well. I want a largely uniform homogenous culture. Given that we insist on not being ethnically or religiously homogenous, we at least need a broad common culture. Otherwise, the Balkans. The problem is that our current uniform homogenous culture sucks.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at January 15, 2021 02:36 PM (H5knJ)

86


These sick bastards know how to use psychology, and education.

Wouldn't be surprised to find the cancerous thoughts of that shitstain Billy Ayers all through this.

Posted by: Rev. Dr. E Buzz Miller, Lesbian at January 15, 2021 02:36 PM (lg/F7)

87 Bowser keeps telling Americans not to come to the inauguration.

I think she wants all the illegals to come.

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:36 PM (ZfRYq)

88 Once people accepted the idea of an app, you could get them to pay for dozens of them--if not more.
apps annoy me. phone has perfectly acceptable web browser, why do i need an app?

Posted by: Comrade Anachronda, behind the Newsom curtain at January 15, 2021 02:36 PM (sGtp+)

89 Who is it that keeps describing Merkel as Germany's second worst Chancellor?

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:37 PM (ZfRYq)

90 Elijah was hated by Ahab not because he lied, but because he spoke the truth. Trump called the Swamp the scum that they are and they hated him for it. Now we see how disgusting they are too. If that was Trump's mission, well done. He is a giant among men and truly deserves a place on Rushmore.

Posted by: jmel at January 15, 2021 02:37 PM (RWHIh)

91 Merkel set out to finish the job Adolph started. Destroy Europe. I'd say she did a pretty good job.
Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 15, 2021 02:35 PM (kTF2Z)


Merkel destroyed the shining socialist city on a hill that inspired the American Left for decades ? I should send a gift.

Posted by: Pierre at January 15, 2021 02:37 PM (EjQ00)

92 The pandemic will end soon everywhere except the UK. then it will magically end there too when they get rid of Boris. All of the Kardashian followers of the world won't notice a thing.

Posted by: Lemmiwinks at January 15, 2021 02:37 PM (h1jJh)

93 Hmm Dutch government did resign.
Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (ZfRYq)

Scrubbed from history?

Posted by: BurtTC at January 15, 2021 02:37 PM (oQ94s)

94 The future has already been franchised, arbitrage and mutilated.

Posted by: DaveA at January 15, 2021 02:37 PM (FhXTo)

95 >>As to content, this is of a piece with the article noting that cities, at least in the downtown city center, are all the same. It's all the same brands and labels and everyone wears the same clothes and uses the same technology.


Living in DC and N.VA on early 2000's we saw this happen several times. First, in Cleveland Park on Connecticate Ave, a block-long string of bricked store fronts with long-time mom-and pop shops and restaurants torn down and replaced with. . . The Gap and Ann Taylor and chain restaurants. Then in Arlington,VA within a few metro stops, Clarendon shops torn down and replaced with huge mall-like area with Crate and Barrel, Barns and Noble, etc.

Sad.

Posted by: Lizzy at January 15, 2021 02:37 PM (bDqIh)

96 @40 BINO seems to all actually be true



It's a lot of chaos that's for sure

Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:34 PM (ZfRYq)

That they're all related is what I'll disagree with.

Posted by: Brian in New Orleans at January 15, 2021 02:37 PM (CQ3Qb)

97 Structure is for old white guys. Hip Zoomers just do whatever man.
Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (736Ux)

Until you voice an opinion counter to the orthodoxy.
Then the big guy with the uniform and the medium sized box is next to your desk, just like everywhere else.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at January 15, 2021 02:38 PM (z79tQ)

98 Anyone who wants to read one of the first prophets and possibly seminal work of this train of thought should read "You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto" by Jared Lanier c2011 .

Available on Walmart.com for those who don't want to pay Amazon.

Posted by: Funkotron at January 15, 2021 02:38 PM (kMwl2)

99 Ace ~ It might be too late to do a damn thing to stop them.

Me - Know what really helps, Ace?

If people actually DO something instead of sucking their thumbs waiting for somebody else to do something

Posted by: Uncle Rick at January 15, 2021 02:38 PM (48/MM)

100 64 Silicon Valley is also big on a flat workspace. There are no bosses. Everyone is a team member. Everyone has a voice. CEO dresses like he just came from the beach, etc. Structure is for old white guys. Hip Zoomers just do whatever man.
Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (736Ux)

Everyone likes that right up until the important decisions need to be made.
Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (jOcSX)

Everyone is everyone else's boss - what could possibly go wrong?

Posted by: josephistan at January 15, 2021 02:38 PM (Izzlo)

101 *Hmm fill in the blank government resigns*

I checked Babylon Bee, no story there.

I rate this as a spoof.

Posted by: tbodie at January 15, 2021 02:38 PM (fo8C+)

102 100

Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 15, 2021 02:38 PM (kTF2Z)

103 Damn, good article. As a lawyer, I can say the legal system is broke'd as well.
Posted by: PunchBowlPariah

A lot of things, institutions, organizations, governments, corporations are "broken" because you can no longer rely on excellence or merit to figure out who is in charge.
This has ALWAYS been a problem (Which is why companies fail), but it's worse than ever, especially in the Permanent Bureaucracy in government that runs our lives. Full of fail, and people failing upward.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 02:38 PM (vcOmj)

104 Does it strike anyone that "banning QAnon disinformation" will also snag anything "pedo conspiracy" related, such as more public discussion of the ongoing Epstein /Maxwell investigations, such as it is?

Time was I wasn't so conspiracy minded. But that was before they confected FISA warrants to spy on us, launched phone Russia-gate Special counsels, created a Reichstag Insurrection etc etc etc.

Posted by: Parler at January 15, 2021 02:38 PM (w/5KC)

105 Well got through some of the article but have outside stuff to do while it's almost 50 degrees.

Posted by: Skip at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (Cxk7w)

106 Far as I can tell the Russia stuff is false and the other stuff is correct but lacking context. They don't appear related, and Merkel's thing was long foreshadowed while Italy does this at least once a year lately.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (Zm+LZ)

107 Everything is broken, yes. Not because of tech or social media. It's broken because all of our institutions have been infested with Marxist cant, a project that started in the 1960s. The Marxist capture of the education system, in particular, destroyed Americans' knowledge of history, human nature, and ability to reason. The genesis of this disaster preceded the internet.

Posted by: Behold gp's Sleek Slender Trunion at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (qpX6U)

108 Ace, you and your cobs with their interest threads banning politics or the 100 comment rule on the daily art thread are examples of building a community that is not flat.

That also needs to be done in IRL in your communities. Create these small binding organizations in your community and tell the budding politicos to go somewhere else. Impolitely. DO not make politics your sole existence. I am repulsed by that every time I have to go to DC because basically that is all they know and care about. It is a miserable existence to do that day in and day out.

Posted by: whig at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (pO7gM)

109 So we were the curve to be flattened all along?

Posted by: BurtTC at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (oQ94s)

110 I've been working my way through this one since yesterday, between training sessions and other work.

I am not so sure that I agree that the culture has been a victim of a "heist." It strikes me more that the culture has been destroyed as a prerequisite to remaking it to conform with automation while appearing to be diverse.

Diversity is anathema to automation. Automation requires conformity. What we have is ersatz diversity (different colors, different types of food, etc.) but actual rigorous conformity in an increasing number of areas. This is great for automation, and automation is great for convenience, but it is soul-crushing.

Sadly, being soul-crushing isn't the only problem. It has gotten to the point where automation ability is *the* defining characteristic. If it can't be automated, it must not be accommodated. Once it is automated, the inputs (that is, the people), now used to it, can be adjusted. It isn't just cultural destruction, it's a complete destruction of the *mind.* If you can't be put into the algorithm, you cannot be permitted to exist.

The end of this will be Harrison Bergeron's world of perfect consistency, even without involving ideology.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (UZVEt)

111 My take as well. I want a largely uniform homogenous culture. Given that we insist on not being ethnically or religiously homogenous, we at least need a broad common culture. Otherwise, the Balkans. The problem is that our current uniform homogenous culture sucks.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at January 15, 2021 02:36 PM (H5knJ)


The problem is that it's largely manufactured, not organically formed. Every aspect is decided on by marketing departments with reams of studies.

Perfect homogeneity is dangerous. You want something broadly homogeneous but with a lot of minor variations that allow for it to adjust to local requirements, as well as to ensure that you can adapt to changing events.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (jOcSX)

112 I see why Ace suggested this piece for weekend reading.
I read a bit, quit, and thought of school-age children of friends and family forced into Zoom learning and how depressed they are.

My reaction: You shouldn't force three-dimensional creatures [perhaps four if you include a spirit or soul] into a two-dimensional world and expect positive outcomes. It's inhuman.

Posted by: Mr. Barky at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (hKi6n)

113 Three governments have resigned today: Netherlands, Estonia, and Kuwait. Merkel will step down in 2021.

US news is not featuring any of this.

Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (DBPIP)

114 Who is it that keeps describing Merkel as Germany's second worst Chancellor?
Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:37 PM (ZfRYq)

That would be The Germans.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (z79tQ)

115 Can't find anything quick about Europe packing it in, maybe the Caliphate is taking over esrly.

Posted by: Skip at January 15, 2021 02:40 PM (Cxk7w)

116 I want to make it very clear that the Democratic Party does not hate all white people. We only hate Whiteness and seek to eliminate the poison of Whiteness and it just so happens that all white people are a carrier for the disease of Whiteness. That said, there are many ways for whites to be allies in the War on Whiteness. Step 1 is acknowledging the evil nature of Whiteness and refusing to participate in the generational transmission of Whiteness by not reproducing. Not putting white babies into the world is the minimum we ask of white allies. Whites reproducing themselves is by itself an act of racial violence and we have to acknowledge that before we can start the important work of racial healing. Thank you.

Posted by: Democrats at January 15, 2021 02:40 PM (Oyenf)

117 Flattening is what Marxism is about.

Removing all the "arbitrary values" of society, and, during the "Capitalistic" phase, reducing values down to only the measure of the dollar.

Libertarians have actually done a pretty good job of following Marx's plan.

Posted by: Axeman at January 15, 2021 02:41 PM (FYe3W)

118 It can be stopped very simply; everyone reject the "norms". Stop using facebook, twitter, instagram etc.

Note I said simple not easy. But that's the answer and first it has to be made known and then folks have to decide to do it and I think there's the rub. They don't see (yet) what the consequences will be in the long run. Because of their brain flushing they can't really see very far or deduce results from events going on now.

And many of them won't see a problem with what's coming even if they do see it and recognize what will happen.

The further the country got away from teaching history and the results the closer to what we have now we've come. Very few really spend any time reading about what happened and noting the results and why and how things happened.

Posted by: jakee308.com at January 15, 2021 02:41 PM (ZUlgm)

119 84

Yeah it is absolutely there. But they fool the worker bees into thinking they are all one big happy family.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 02:41 PM (736Ux)

120 They also weren't today but over the last week or so. And one is to occur in the future.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 02:41 PM (Zm+LZ)

121 That also needs to be done in IRL in your communities. Create these small binding organizations in your community and tell the budding politicos to go somewhere else. Impolitely. DO not make politics your sole existence. I am repulsed by that every time I have to go to DC because basically that is all they know and care about. It is a miserable existence to do that day in and day out.
Posted by: whig at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (pO7gM)


I just moved out here and already want to get the hell away to Texas. The dating sites are depressing.

I really want to get back to tango and swing and HEMA, but the problem is that too often those things have been taken over by the politicos.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 02:41 PM (jOcSX)

122 It might be too late to do a damn thing to stop them.

It is never too late to do the right thing. It is only, as Winston Churchill notes, a question of the escalating cost. In this case it is a matter of how serious they are about depopulation (in which case waiting continually leads to our annihilation), or if being in control they will go on being distracted by shiny things, ruling incompetently, bringing about a global economic collapse.

Posted by: Methos at January 15, 2021 02:41 PM (kOpft)

123 US news is not featuring any of this.

Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (DBPIP)

Meaning?

Posted by: LMAO at January 15, 2021 02:41 PM (5mEzs)

124 This was my theory years ago.

Somebody said to me "We have the entire sum of all the world's knowledge at our fingertips".

But I disagreed. Because your search is controlled by someone, the information you can access is guided all to the same sources.

It is akin to a librarian that will only take you to one book on the Civil War when you ask for help. And if you say you want a different book, it's just another book printed after the first book that cites the first book as authoritative. And so on and so forth. And only if you find a used book store in a dark alley with books piled up inside a cardboard box marked 'Attic', will you get a different point of view, and perhaps actually the correct point of view.

The internet has not expanded our understanding, it has condensed it and placed in the hands of its controllers your access to understand any other way than the one presented to you.

Posted by: Kurt Eichenwald at January 15, 2021 02:42 PM (dJsTl)

125 I don't think there is any rationality to the actions of the Left. They are ruled by emotion, and the desire to impose their will on you and me. The plan is do that by whatever means necessary.

Posted by: f'd at January 15, 2021 02:42 PM (+y8uL)

126 Does it strike anyone that "banning QAnon disinformation" will also snag anything "pedo conspiracy" related, such as more public discussion of the ongoing Epstein /Maxwell investigations, such as it is?

Time was I wasn't so conspiracy minded. But that was before they confected FISA warrants to spy on us, launched phone Russia-gate Special counsels, created a Reichstag Insurrection etc etc etc.
Posted by: Parler at January 15, 2021 02:38 PM (w/5KC)

I'm convinced MUCH of what has occurred over the past few years, the anti-Trump, the Covids, riots in the streets... most of it was in service toward protecting against the pedo and other sex perversions accusations leveled against the rich and powerful.

Whatever other things that are being bandied about as reasons? Just distractions from this major inconvenience they've experiences since Epstein and #metoo became a thing.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 15, 2021 02:42 PM (oQ94s)

127 A lot of things, institutions, organizations, governments, corporations are "broken" because you can no longer rely on excellence or merit to figure out who is in charge.

They are broken because they evolved into things that are too large. You can have an excellent organization. You can have a large organization. You can not have both.

We remain wedded to the idea that we can have organizations that are large and powerful - yet also honorable and accountable. This can simply never happen. Yet we persist.

Posted by: Pierre at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (EjQ00)

128
It's not the acceptance of the culturally declared "truths" and "norms" that troubles me as much as it is the near total unwillingness to concede and question that they may, in fact, be wrong (often completely so).

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (pNxlR)

129 I want to make it very clear that the Democratic
Party does not hate all white people. We only hate Whiteness and seek to
eliminate the poison of Whiteness and it just so happens that all white
people are a carrier for the disease of Whiteness. That said, there are
many ways for whites to be allies in the War on Whiteness. Step 1 is
acknowledging the evil nature of Whiteness and refusing to participate
in the generational transmission of Whiteness by not reproducing. Not
putting white babies into the world is the minimum we ask of white
allies. Whites reproducing themselves is by itself an act of racial
violence and we have to acknowledge that before we can start the
important work of racial healing. Thank you.


Posted by: Democrats at January 15, 2021 02:40 PM (Oyenf)

I'll just wait for the vaccine.

Posted by: Brian in New Orleans at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (CQ3Qb)

130 Japan is 99.9% Japanese



might be onto sumptin


Just wondering if they get assaulted by their own Japanese SJW's who decry "Japanese privilege" and "Japanese-ness"-or "Yellow privilege?"

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - #WASTF at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (HaL55)

131 Damn it.

Off tentacle masturbation sock.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (dJsTl)

132 104 Does it strike anyone that "banning QAnon disinformation" will also snag anything "pedo conspiracy" related, such as more public discussion of the ongoing Epstein /Maxwell investigations, such as it is?

Time was I wasn't so conspiracy minded. But that was before they confected FISA warrants to spy on us, launched phone Russia-gate Special counsels, created a Reichstag Insurrection etc etc etc.
Posted by: Parler at January 15, 2021 02:38 PM (w/5KC)

---

I've always told people to stay away from Q stuff. Then 20k troops surrounded the US capitol with no explanation. Then Pelosi demanded the nuclear codes from Trump. Then this week government heads started resigning at the same time. I'm not going to defend Q, but I will say that elections stolen by clandestine means invoke clandestine responses.

Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (DBPIP)

133 I think Rush meant :

"Brit Hume. Who knows Establishment Republicans when their Balls are resting on his chin."

just now.

Posted by: garrett at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (VISjH)

134 As a lawyer, I can say the legal system is broke'd as well.

I'll offer a half-hearted defense of the law. Lawyers are agents; they represent other people's interests (with some notable out-of-control exceptions). So if society is broken and filled with broken people, lawyers will necessarily will reflect their brokenness. The law can be a bulwark in a functioning society but it cannot prop up a society in which every institution is broken.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (H5knJ)

135 My reaction: You shouldn't force three-dimensional creatures [perhaps four if you include a spirit or soul] into a two-dimensional world and expect positive outcomes. It's inhuman.
------------------
Spot on. Thanks. This would be a good time to reread Cuckoos Nest. Manhattan Media/Silicon Inquisition is Nurse Ratchet running a Pecking Party.

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (14Wwm)

136 It can be stopped very simply; everyone reject the "norms". Stop using facebook, twitter, instagram etc. ...
Posted by: jakee308.com at January 15, 2021 02:41 PM (ZUlgm)
++++
It goes even beyond that. This might be generational (I'm a millennial), but even if you try to avoid the arbiters of rightness and good taste, they may well intersect with you anyway.

Example: I visited a friend (in the before times) and we were going to go out for dinner. I asked him what was good in his area and where we should go. His answer, "Hang on, I'll check Yelp."

Even if you ask someone for a genuine opinion, it is more than possible that what you'll get we be moderated by one of the many platforms. This goes way beyond politics. People in general, regardless of political bent, need to make interacting with the real world the *first* choice, and online items the second or more distance point.

The common marketing ordering of "Click, call or come in" needs to be fully reversed.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at January 15, 2021 02:44 PM (UZVEt)

137 Flattening is what Marxism is all about.

Posted by: Axeman at January 15, 2021 02:41 PM (FYe3W)

Yes. But frictionless is a better descriptor. Sums it up.

Posted by: Golfman at January 15, 2021 02:44 PM (WddwH)

138 "Somebody said to me "We have the entire sum of all the world's knowledge at our fingertips"."

We still do. But most people today aren't interested in it. They have their "Feelz," and that's good enough for them. They find pewdiepie infinitely more interesting than anything written before the year 2000.

Posted by: Behold gp's Sleek Slender Trunion at January 15, 2021 02:45 PM (qpX6U)

139 What we have is ersatz diversity (different colors, different types of food, etc.)

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (UZVEt)
---
Careful! Eating other cuisines is cultural appropriation--as opposed to sticking to traditional American foods, which is completely White Supremacy!

Posted by: Axeman at January 15, 2021 02:45 PM (FYe3W)

140 >> Silicon Valley is also big on a flat workspace. There are no bosses. Everyone is a team member. Everyone has a voice. CEO dresses like he just came from the beach, etc. Structure is for old white guys. Hip Zoomers just do whatever man.


Refernced this before, but the James Damore lawsuit describes a workplace from Hell because Google (and I assume others) have completely, intentionally blurred the lines between work and personal lives. They have an employee intranet where they are encouraged to discuss all sorts of personal interests, opinions; they have onsite group meeting for outside interestas, and HR sees no problem discussing an employee's race, religion, gender, family life with him, and even execs get in on it. Not only is this sovery illegal, it is a recipe for a crazy workplace.

These people have made everything personal now political, everything private is now public.

Posted by: Lizzy at January 15, 2021 02:45 PM (bDqIh)

141
I'll offer a half-hearted defense of the law. Lawyers are agents; they represent other people's interests (with some notable out-of-control exceptions). So if society is broken and filled with broken people, lawyers will necessarily will reflect their brokenness. The law can be a bulwark in a functioning society but it cannot prop up a society in which every institution is broken.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (H5knJ)

Who writes our laws though?

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 02:45 PM (Zm+LZ)

142 113 I can't even find anything on those other ones mentioned at @14 besides the Dutch one.

Posted by: Gaff at January 15, 2021 02:45 PM (jPS2y)

143 124 But I disagreed. Because your search is controlled by someone, the information you can access is guided all to the same sources.
this can all be fixed by having the search engines buy blimps.

Posted by: Comrade Anachronda, behind the Newsom curtain at January 15, 2021 02:46 PM (sGtp+)

144 such as more public discussion of the ongoing Epstein /Maxwell investigations, such as it is?
I expect so. Whatever the hell pizzagate was the FNM went NUTS on how anyone believing many of our elites were above the law pedophiles was CRAZY. Until the Epstein stuff leaked and it turned out many of our elites were above the law pedophiles.
Since the people involved with Epstein seem to also be members in good standing of the left, they are going to make this stuff disappear.
I expect in a few years the narrative will be that Epstein didn't really do anything that bad - he was just a run of the mill pimp on an island and come on who doesn't want a massage from a pretty girl anyway are you some kind of ReichWing fascist or something that hates fun?

Posted by: 18-1 at January 15, 2021 02:46 PM (qlFIA)

145 "Silicon Valley is also big on a flat workspace."

Like those stupid open workplaces where nobody has their own desk?

Posted by: f'd at January 15, 2021 02:46 PM (+y8uL)

146 Always figured Q Annon was an FBI and/or CIA disinformation outlet to keep both Agencies fully employed setting up American citizens. Upper Middle Class Jobs are Hard To Find. Hat tip to Flannery O'Connor.

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 02:46 PM (14Wwm)

147 The usurping, geriatric white trash bastard's WH will now use genderless language.

At WZ

Posted by: Bicentennialguy at January 15, 2021 02:46 PM (86YWq)

148 Alana Newhouse, the author of the article and Editor-in-Chief of Tablet Magazine, has a protonmail.com account.

She gets it.

Posted by: Darrell Harris at January 15, 2021 02:46 PM (4tiP2)

149 I like chaos. Let's have some more.

Posted by: sunny-dee at January 15, 2021 02:46 PM (Z2HD7)

150 As I have said for quite a while....

Facebook and Twitter are not the real world. And they ate not necessary for communication. Everyone was yelping about Twitter shadow banning people or out right banning people.. How will we communicate they wailed. How dare they shut us out they whined. We won't be able to talk to like minded people they cried. I said... So what? Can you not still use a phone? Write an email or text message? Write a letter or even a postcard? Speak to someone face to face. Throughout history, people have been communicating without permission, without Facebook, without Twitter. Humans do not need these silly platforms. The French Resistance was not dependent upon #resist.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at January 15, 2021 02:47 PM (Vxu+H)

151 The primary driving force behind all of this is that if you do not conform you will die. It's as simple as that. The system now can take your life and it's almost impossible now to recover any semblance of a life with all the tracking and facial recognition done.

Just a few years ago one could make a fake id that would serve to get one a job and if you were really good at it could get a SS number and with that you had all you needed for a new life. (this is back about 30 years ago before 9-11)

Now people find it difficult to move unless they have a job waiting. Employers don't want strangers and landlords don't want transients. They want someone with a credit history and references. One of the reasons for the increase in the homeless? It's not just laziness.

Posted by: jakee308.com at January 15, 2021 02:47 PM (ZUlgm)

152 147 The usurping, geriatric white trash bastard's WH will now use genderless language.

At WZ

So I can still refer to biden as asshole since that is genderless

Posted by: It's me donna at January 15, 2021 02:47 PM (Zmnko)

153 For a supposed conspiracy theory that is 10000% debunked they sure as fuck are trying hard to silence any knowledge of it.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 02:47 PM (736Ux)

154 142 113 I can't even find anything on those other ones mentioned at @14 besides the Dutch one.
Posted by: Gaff at January 15, 2021 02:45 PM (jPS2y)

Estonia PM - NYT
https://tinyurl.com/y6jyegnl

Kuwait government
https://tinyurl.com/yxqf9bhm

Merkel's isn't really news since that was announced perhaps a couple years back?

Nothing on Russia afaik, but it would be extremely strange for a shake up to occur there.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 02:47 PM (Zm+LZ)

155 The internet has not expanded our understanding, it has condensed it and placed in the hands of its controllers your access to understand any other way than the one presented to you.
Posted by: Kurt Eichenwald (actually Bitter Clinger) at January 15, 2021 02:42 PM (dJsTl)
++++
The problem with the internet is analogous to the problem with GPS. GPS is great at getting you from A to B, but lousy at telling you where you are with any context. You don't really know where anything is, just how to get there.

The internet does the same thing with knowledge. You can find any given fact you wish, but there's no context unless you painstakingly build it the old-fashioned way by studying. My dad calls the internet - quite incisively, I think - "the great decontextualizer."

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at January 15, 2021 02:47 PM (UZVEt)

156 Germany is apparently opening camps in Dresden for "COVID dissidents". Unbelievable. Summit.news

Posted by: jmel at January 15, 2021 02:48 PM (RWHIh)

157 152 147 The usurping, geriatric white trash bastard's WH will now use genderless language.

At WZ

So I can still refer to biden as asshole since that is genderless
-------------------
How do you correctly refer to a fake pussy?

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 02:48 PM (14Wwm)

158 This is a great essay and I wish it would get more coverage.

Once again we find that the major obstacle facing us in turning the country around is the corporate media.

We need to devote our time and money into reducing their power. Somehow.

Posted by: jakee308.com at January 15, 2021 02:48 PM (ZUlgm)

159 I hate what Obama did and his cultists, but I'd expect no less from any of them

Posted by: CN at January 15, 2021 02:48 PM (ONvIw)

160 I will read this article/essay this evening while I smoke a fine cigar, likely a Davidoff, sip on some of Kentucky's finest, and enjoy the peacefulness that comes from the 24-hour Facebook boycott I'm participating in today.

Posted by: Grapefruit LaCroix at January 15, 2021 02:48 PM (4VafR)

161 >>What we have is ersatz diversity (different colors, different types of food, etc.)


And things like "I love drinking wine" / "I love bacon" are considerd a personality.

Was talking to a friend last night about how Lefty women are like middle schoolers with there never-ending dress-up for politics -- pussy hats to hate Trump! Lace collars to memorialize RGB! Pearl necklaces to celebrate Kamak! Come on grrrrls, we all have to wear the same thing next Tuesday!!

Posted by: Lizzy at January 15, 2021 02:48 PM (bDqIh)

162 Three governments have resigned today: Netherlands, Estonia, and Kuwait. Merkel will step down in 2021.

US news is not featuring any of this.
Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:39 PM (DBPIP)

I'm sure it's because they've done such a good job, those folks in government decided there was nothing else for them to do, and they're going to give others a chance to take the reigns.

Posted by: BurtTC at January 15, 2021 02:48 PM (oQ94s)

163
Because your search is controlled by someone, the information you can access is guided all to the same sources.

See Also: Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky & Edward S. Herman

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 15, 2021 02:48 PM (dY4CJ)

164 79 @40 BINO seems to all actually be true

It's a lot of chaos that's for sure
Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:34 PM (ZfRYq)

Unpossible that BINO jumped in with unsourced BS.. I mean.. or another day ending in y

Posted by: Inogame - Trump won at January 15, 2021 02:49 PM (+2xjH)

165 Even if you ask someone for a genuine opinion, it is
more than possible that what you'll get we be moderated by one of the
many platforms. This goes way beyond politics. People in general,
regardless of political bent, need to make interacting with the real
world the *first* choice, and online items the second or more distance
point.



The common marketing ordering of "Click, call or come in" needs to be fully reversed.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at January 15, 2021 02:44 PM (UZVEt)

The sad fact is that there's a growing percentage of the population who will blindly believe whatever they read. That number has grown significantly since critical thinking skills stopped being taught in schools and exploded once pocket-sized devices were invented that contained all the combined knowledge of humanity. Nobody has to learn anything any more.

Posted by: Brian in New Orleans at January 15, 2021 02:49 PM (CQ3Qb)

166 "Like those stupid open workplaces where nobody has their own desk?"

I remember fondly the day I got my own real office at work, with a door that closed. If I could have gotten rid of the phone, it would have been perfect.

Posted by: Behold gp's Sleek Slender Trunion at January 15, 2021 02:49 PM (qpX6U)

167 Great essay, Ace -- thanks!

"Because this cohort insists on sameness and purity, they have turned the once-independent parts of the American cultural complex into a mutually validating pipeline for conformists with approved viewpoints"

I draw a parallel to the use / overreliance on analytics. Baseball was the first to widely use (then overuse) analytics. It has flowed down to the high school and travel/club level. Players are evaluated almost exclusively by their physical measurements (height, weight, BMI, etc) and their measurable abilities (Launch angle, exit velocity, etc). Gone are the intangible measures of heart and hustle. And it shows up in the game, too. Going away (gone?) are things like small-ball, junk-ball pitchers, stolen bases, sac bunts, opposite field slap hitting, etc. It's all about home runs and strikeouts.

In the words of C3PO, everything is becoming "machines making machines -- how perverse!"

Posted by: Doof at January 15, 2021 02:49 PM (mZUr4)

168 Does it strike anyone that "banning QAnon disinformation" will also snag anything "pedo conspiracy" related, such as more public discussion of the ongoing Epstein /Maxwell investigations, such as it is?

Time was I wasn't so conspiracy minded. But that was before they confected FISA warrants to spy on us, launched phone Russia-gate Special counsels, created a Reichstag Insurrection etc etc etc.
Posted by: Parler at January 15, 2021 02:38 PM (w/5KC)
---
Not a Q fan. But banning is ridiculous.

They think "conspiracy theories" need to be reined in--they never said that about Bush and 9-11.

You're dealing with people who can only hear the sound of their own voice.

I am one of the people who pretty much said "It's only Alex Jones". And now I want Alex Jones back.

Posted by: Axeman at January 15, 2021 02:49 PM (FYe3W)

169 The 60's era Civil Rights Acts fucked everything up. Lawsuits and civil rights have destroyed America ever since. Read Christopher Caldwell Age Of Entitlement.

Posted by: BJ Starr at January 15, 2021 02:49 PM (WYePJ)

170 Bloomberg news for Italy's government if anyone doubts it's collapsing yet again.

https://tinyurl.com/y3h4wkwo

But US news is covering this and it appears largely unconnected. It's just foreign news.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 02:50 PM (Zm+LZ)

171 We still do. But most people today aren't interested in it.
Most of our younger people now, and our LIVs know very little. And if you engage with them the answer is, well, I can just google something if I need to know more about it. There are two problems with this.
The first, and most obvious is that you are letting google decide what information you have access to.
The second, and less obvious, is if you don't have a basic knowledge of a whole topic you can't just skim a wikipedia article and come up with a reasonable understanding of the issue at hand. Essentially you don't have your own "narrative" so you are likely to end up using whatever narrative is handed to you.

Posted by: 18-1 at January 15, 2021 02:50 PM (qlFIA)

172 This thought just occurred to me... whatever happened to the conventional corporate disclaimer that the views of customers do not necessarily represent the views of the company? I forget what the legal term for that type of disclaimer, but I remember hearing it all the time on TV. It should completely nullify cancellation of customers for their views, one would think. Any legal eagles care to comment?

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at January 15, 2021 02:50 PM (gDJlP)

173 " 24-hour Facebook boycott"
The first 24hrs? Surely you are not going back?

Posted by: f'd at January 15, 2021 02:50 PM (+y8uL)

174 Who writes our laws though?
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 02:45 PM (Zm+LZ)

It was supposed to be our Legislatures, who were supposed to be accountable to the people, who were supposed to throw them out and get better people if they failed to do their job. All 3 legs of that system has failed.

Legislatures didn't want to to the hard work of actually thinking about laws and their consequences, so they farmed the job out to unelected judges and bureaucrats.
Legislators were supposed to be accountable, but they figured out how to run high finance perma-campaigns and how to buy, borrow, and steal enough votes to stay in office forever.
The people were supposed to rise up and toss the bums out - but a huge part of the population just wants to be handed money and told sweet nothings, and other than that they don't give a shit.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 15, 2021 02:50 PM (V2Yro)

175 You're right ace that was a good article. If Breitbart was still alive he'd be at Alana's doorstep in a pair of roller skates saying, "I want you to walk with me, I think we're on a wavelength, let's talk".

Posted by: banana Dream at January 15, 2021 02:50 PM (w3rBT)

176 147 The usurping, geriatric white trash bastard's WH will now use genderless language.
not sure how that's getting attached to the white house; those are pelosi's rules for the house of representatives, which she went on to break during her impeachment rant.

Posted by: Comrade Anachronda, behind the Newsom curtain at January 15, 2021 02:50 PM (v3pYe)

177 Refernced this before, but the James Damore lawsuit describes a workplace from Hell because Google (and I assume others) have completely, intentionally blurred the lines between work and personal lives. They have an employee intranet where they are encouraged to discuss all sorts of personal interests, opinions; they have onsite group meeting for outside interestas, and HR sees no problem discussing an employee's race, religion, gender, family life with him, and even execs get in on it. Not only is this sovery illegal, it is a recipe for a crazy workplace.

These people have made everything personal now political, everything private is now public.
Posted by: Lizzy at January 15, 2021 02:45 PM (bDqIh)

---

Marxists are all about dissolving boundaries, except the one between the rulers and the ruled.

You know who else doesn't perceive boundaries? Children.

Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:50 PM (DBPIP)

178 Everything is broken. Obviously Bob Dylan was way ahead of everyone again.

Posted by: leber at January 15, 2021 02:51 PM (TUdnY)

179 140

Tech companies are big on providing unlimited free food for employees. All day long. Which seems like a perk. But it isnt. It is a subtle way the employer is saying you need to be in house all the time. Come in early for breakfast. Stay late for dinner. And who not go to a bit of work post dinner since you are here anyway? We even have beer available!!

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 02:51 PM (736Ux)

180 Re Russia, that happened, but it happened January 2020, not 2021.

Posted by: sunny-dee at January 15, 2021 02:51 PM (Z2HD7)

181 'demic is over? In Illinois, at least. Miracle.

Posted by: klaftern at January 15, 2021 02:51 PM (RuIsu)

182 I'll offer a half-hearted defense of the law. Lawyers are agents; they represent other people's interests (with some notable out-of-control exceptions). So if society is broken and filled with broken people, lawyers will necessarily will reflect their brokenness. The law can be a bulwark in a functioning society but it cannot prop up a society in which every institution is broken.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (H5knJ)


From my limited experience in court it seems to me the problem is not the lawyers, it is the judges. They are the ones that have turned one's right to a speedy trial into a travesty spanning years and tens or hundreds of thousands in legal bills. They are the ones that have allowed plea bargaining to supplant one's right to a trial by one's peers. They are the first ones, even before so-called journalists, I want to see dragged out and, well, you fill in the blank. But back to the topic at hand it is correct that the legal system is also completely broken.

Posted by: moon_over_vermont at January 15, 2021 02:51 PM (TPW8V)

183 @172 Or was that employees, either way. It seems to have gone the way of the dodo.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at January 15, 2021 02:51 PM (gDJlP)

184 I thought about this after reading it yesterday afternoon, from a link in a comment by Colorado Alex.
Thanks.

Another way to look at this is that everything now is a commodity. Everything has been turned into a commodity to be marketed. I was listening to about 2 minutes of Sirius 184 last night, and they were talking about the Mets' acquisition of Francisco Lindor. And this guy is basically a "commodity" the Mets acquired, to be marketed to the fans, to sell them on the idea of the Mets. A lot of baseball fan sites do this, because of "advanced metrics" method of analyzing players.
More broadly, everything in life is being reduced to marketing, supply chains, etc.
The old time hardware stores have been replaced with Home Depot, Lowe's, Menards. Everything is made in China or somewhere in Asia, or Mexico.
Most tools are second or third rate, but we are marketed to buy this or that brand, all pretty much the same. All this and much more took place WITHOUT the internet, per se.
With the rise of Social Media on the Internet, came the means of turning you and me into a commodity.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 02:51 PM (vcOmj)

185 I've been saying this for years and I really noticed it after reading The Road to Serfdom. Every public square, every home now has to look like an architect's drawing. If you look of photos of downtown Portland now, it looks like that. If you look of photos from a hundred years ago of the same area, it's messy. Lots of businesses and floating structures on the river. Now they build a wall of condos on the river, to keep the riff raff off it. Freedom is messy.

And I'd appreciate it if you don't try and blame this one on the Boomers We were never all that into ticky tacky. See fashions from the 70s to confirm.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 15, 2021 02:51 PM (JKNZq)

186 Gentlemen (and ladies),
This thread is full of interesting comments, often insightful and just plain goodness.
I thank you. This is why Ace's comment section is the gem of the www.
Now to finish this and post quick before MUNG and Raimondo show up.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at January 15, 2021 02:51 PM (z79tQ)

187 You can go from NYC to Toronto to London to Bern to Lisbon to Tel Aviv to Tokyo and never fell out of place. This is not a good thing.
Posted by: alexthechick

Funny, I feel out of place wherever I'm surrounded by niqabs and gangstas. Tokyo would feel fine, though.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 15, 2021 02:52 PM (OssQ4)

188 170 Bloomberg news for Italy's government if anyone doubts it's collapsing yet again."

I feel like I can hear Rocky Squirrel when Bullwinkle says "watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!!!" and Rocky says "Again? That trick NEVER works!!!"

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 15, 2021 02:52 PM (V2Yro)

189 180 Re Russia, that happened, but it happened January 2020, not 2021.
Posted by: sunny-dee at January 15, 2021 02:51 PM (Z2HD7)

Oh Putin's remodeling of the government. That wasn't a protest or scandal resignation so less surprising. It'd be weird for members of the government to rebel against Putin.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 02:52 PM (Zm+LZ)

190 Funny thing about Alex Jones - before he got really famous he was best known as a WoT Troofer.
And he was one of those conservatives that the left LOVES during the WoT. They even cast him, as himself, in A Scanner Darkly.

Posted by: 18-1 at January 15, 2021 02:52 PM (qlFIA)

191 Nothing on Russia afaik, but it would be extremely strange for a shake up to occur there.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 02:47 PM (Zm+LZ)

---

I got the Russia one wrong. It happened in 2020.

Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:52 PM (DBPIP)

192 I remember fondly the day I got my own real office at work, with a door that closed. If I could have gotten rid of the phone, it would have been perfect.
------------------
All that and rape button on the desk. NBC Rheee!

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 02:53 PM (14Wwm)

193 I know it's far beyond hopeless but FFS foreign policy was not remotely the same when many R-D transitions occurred. Apart from China, many radical changes of course. And mostly just the difference between fairly serious adults and Beltway idiots.

And the idea that Biden (if he were still himself, who knows now) is some kind of "war monger" pristinely ignores his decades of actual performance and idiocy. Except for tribally supporting idiotic actions if a D was in the WH (Balkans), or going along to avoid damaging his (in his case always non-existent until this cycle) presidential ambitions and chances (both Gulf wars), he's been a central casting clueless Dem who always opposes US use of force, or undermines it once it's under way.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 15, 2021 02:53 PM (OTzUX)

194 Another way to look at this is that everything now is a commodity. Everything has been turned into a commodity to be marketed.

It's not so much that everything is a commodity, it's the financialization of everything.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 02:53 PM (jOcSX)

195 Hmm Dutch government did resign.
Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (ZfRYq)

Scrubbed from history?
Posted by: BurtTC


Jawohl!

Posted by: rickb223 at January 15, 2021 02:53 PM (C+45H)

196 So will Biden invade Europe?

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 02:53 PM (14Wwm)

197 This is why it's so important to get to meet other morons in meat space. Just go.
I'm doing all I can to meet real people in real life. It takes effort. What else do you have to do that is more important that establishing real relationships with real people?
Yeah, whatever, your job is important, but that company would just as well fire you as help you through hardship. But your friends, your real friends will fly across the country to hold your ha d, throw back a drink and be with you.

*off soapbox *

Posted by: nurse ratched at January 15, 2021 02:54 PM (W2Pud)

198 I like chaos. Let's have some more.
Posted by: sunny-dee at January 15, 2021 02:46 PM (Z2HD7)


I do as well. Because I don't see how freedom can exist, or flourish, without some degree of chaos. I don't want a society that prizes order over freedom. What we are seeing now are the fruits of creating a society that is entirely too structured towards order. I really can't stand using the phrase "law and order" as an unquestionable virtue. Some of the greatest crimes against humanity were both legal and orderly.

Posted by: Pierre at January 15, 2021 02:54 PM (EjQ00)

199 Point of fact, the enlisted oath of enlistment includes "support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America."

Posted by: Washington Nearsider, fuck you, war. at January 15, 2021 02:54 PM (tpneH)

200 194 Another way to look at this is that everything now is a commodity. Everything has been turned into a commodity to be marketed.
--------------------
And all people are coolies. Does anyone remember why we invented Nation States?

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 02:54 PM (14Wwm)

201 As to content, this is of a piece with the article noting that cities, at least in the downtown city center, are all the same. It's all the same brands and labels and everyone wears the same clothes and uses the same technology. You can go from NYC to Toronto to London to Bern to Lisbon to Tel Aviv to Tokyo and never fell out of place. This is not a good thing.
Posted by: alexthechick - Boobs and hysteria at January 15, 2021 02:24 PM (GbPPJ)
++++
It is true in my experience (though I've never been to the Orient) that most major city centers are largely compatible. Smaller cities and towns, though, are still wildly different. I don't know if this was always true or not. I never left this country before the Internet Age was established. But it might be a form of manifested projection.

The people who make these systems are concentrated in giant cities, and their perception will be what is modeled.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at January 15, 2021 02:55 PM (UZVEt)

202 I work for a large tech company. (Not Google, but still known in the industry.) The joke is that you think you're starting a job, and you're really joining a cult. Our CEO "wrote" a book (our marketing department wrote it) about having a particular kind of "collaborative" culture. In practice, it's almost impossible to accomplish anything because there are too many voices, a refusal to make decisions, and outright hostility to the idea of "forcing" someone to follow standard practices. Or you just go rogue - literally, just do your own thing and tell someone in management (or whose job it is) to eff themselves.

I love a lot of the people I work with, I like my job, and I've worked from home for a decade, so I've been here awhile. But there are a lot of dysunctions.

Posted by: sunny-dee at January 15, 2021 02:55 PM (Z2HD7)

203 Participating in the 24 hour facebook boycott that went around on messenger this week. Preparing myself to do completely delete the account when the Dark Times roll in next week. I've got 11 years of pictures and memes to save. Not sure what I'm going to do with them--I cannot eat them in the gulag...

Posted by: Grapefruit LaCroix at January 15, 2021 02:56 PM (4VafR)

204 179 140 >

When we lived in Silicon Valley back in 2000 - 2003 my wife briefly worked for a startup software company. They were doing some work with Oracle and I went with her one late afternoon up to Redwood Shores where Oracle's HQ is.

Holy shit. It was like a 5 star resort in the common spaces. All to keep the employees happy and to remain at work, doing Oracle approved things for Oracle.

Posted by: Martini Farmer - Now a Pirate, Hoisting the Black Flag at January 15, 2021 02:57 PM (3/pmb)

205 hmm, Facebook boycott - I've been boycotting it for 15 years and counting.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 15, 2021 02:57 PM (V2Yro)

206 Our CEO "wrote" a book (our marketing department wrote it) about having a particular kind of "collaborative" culture.
----------------
Charlie Manson was extremely ahead of his time.

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 02:57 PM (14Wwm)

207 Nobody has to learn anything any more.

And the first thing they don't learn is how to use that hand held device.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 15, 2021 02:57 PM (JKNZq)

208 Maybe I will join FB so I can boycott it later.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 02:57 PM (736Ux)

209 LOLOL!!!
"Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is returning to the House Homeland
Security Committee despite concerns about his links to a purported
Chinese spy, while rising Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(D-N.Y.) will be a member of the House Financial Services Committee, it
was announced Thursday. "

Posted by: Brian in New Orleans at January 15, 2021 02:57 PM (CQ3Qb)

210 >>Another way to look at this is that everything now is a commodity. Everything has been turned into a commodity to be marketed.


This!

Read an article about "smart" appliances a while back (no idea how to find it to link), but the point was: every "smart" appliance is spying on you, tracking your behavior so as to better market to you. It's capturing every time you use it, how often, what time of day, and on and on. Not surprising, but really creepy having it all laid out in detail, with examples, etc.

Posted by: Lizzy at January 15, 2021 02:58 PM (bDqIh)

211 Constitution was supposed to be the glue that would fix anything that broke. This Biden junta ( not administration) will kill it, once and for all... and plenty of us, too.

Posted by: Dinner at Deviant's Palace at January 15, 2021 02:58 PM (HI3xr)

212 All of our institutions are corrupt.

Posted by: West at January 15, 2021 02:58 PM (QY+6a)

213 Russian government resigned, per Medvedev:

https://preview.tinyurl.com/wwue8ce

Links to CNN (ptui!)

Posted by: Darrell Harris at January 15, 2021 02:58 PM (4tiP2)

214 204

Yep.
For the cost of $50 a day in food and a few pool tables you get tens of thousands of house of free labor a year. And employees think these perks are awesome man.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 02:59 PM (736Ux)

215 "a particular kind of "collaborative" culture. In practice, it's almost impossible to accomplish anything because there are too many voices,"

I hate "teaming" at work. Real and difficult tasks require solitude, quiet and lack of interruptions for productivity. I wrote code for decades. To do it well, I had to "get into flow," hard concentration, which is impossible to achieve in a collaborative work model.

Posted by: Behold gp's Sleek Slender Trunion at January 15, 2021 02:59 PM (qpX6U)

216 190 Funny thing about Alex Jones - before he got really famous he was best known as a WoT Troofer.
And he was one of those conservatives that the left LOVES during the WoT. They even cast him, as himself, in A Scanner Darkly.
Posted by: 18-1 at January 15, 2021 02:52 PM (qlFIA)

---

Alex Jones was a local novelty in the 90's when he was on Austin cable access. The best story is when he started a fight in the studio lobby with a guy from another show, but Jones got his ass kicked badly. He went on air the next day saying undercover agents assaulted him and tried to silence his freedom of speech.

Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 02:59 PM (DBPIP)

217 Hmm Dutch government did resign.
Posted by: blaster at January 15, 2021 02:31 PM (ZfRYq)

---------

The plumbing in parliament got clogged.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 15, 2021 02:59 PM (kTF2Z)

218 Anyone in the DFW area? We can do coffee. My email is deon-at-deonlackey-dot-com

Posted by: sunny-dee at January 15, 2021 02:59 PM (Z2HD7)

219 Colorado Alex,
I hear you.
I lived in DC for awhile working on the Hill but never developed Potomac fever. Immediate family used to live in the area and work in the bureaucracy.

Every time I go back, I become more and more revolted by what I see and hear there.

The key is to ruthlessly kick out the agitators in an organization like a book club that seek to infiltrate. Require caucus and Robert's rules of order on any such attempts to draw the organization into a political fight. Avoid trying to grow exponentially. Stay small. Tell unhappy people to start their own organizations. Be cruel to be kind and gently tell them to take the political activism elsewhere as they are being divisive. Tell them to make their own organizations but not hijack this one.

Political and policy organizations have to be run more ruthlessly with caucus rules (see Heinlein)--you lose the caucus vote, either acceded or leave without looking back.

Posted by: whig at January 15, 2021 02:59 PM (pO7gM)

220 My 12 year old daughter has classmates who identify as "non-binary" and "other-kin" and all sorts of crap they picked up from being on the internet 16 hours a day. Fortunately, she recognizes it as nonsense, but its hard to be one of the sane ones in a (virtual) classroom full of crazies.

Media companies can convince a not-insignificant portion of an entire generation that they're transgendered werewolves.

Posted by: PabloD, make commies fly again! at January 15, 2021 03:00 PM (8JoH/)

221 I don't think it's ever too late to stop them. It could come from a mass awareness, a mass awakening to what's happened and how we got here. Simplified, yes. But what once was can be again. If we understand the transformation and push back against it. It would take a lot of people who will refuse to be cowed and would push back hard against what is essentially this deeply poisonous social engineering. But above all, an enormous awakening must happen.

Posted by: Lady in Black at January 15, 2021 03:00 PM (O+I8R)

222 213 Russian government resigned, per Medvedev:

https://preview.tinyurl.com/wwue8ce

Links to CNN (ptui!)
Posted by: Darrell Harris at January 15, 2021 02:58 PM (4tiP2)

That's from last year when Putin was "reforming" the government.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is Already Dead at January 15, 2021 03:00 PM (Zm+LZ)

223 "Bookmark it for the weekend."

Too late. I found myself at the end of the article in almost no time at all (subjectively, anyway).

Posted by: Palindrome Paduan at January 15, 2021 03:00 PM (AHq56)

224 Read an article about "smart" appliances a while back (no idea how to find it to link), but the point was: every "smart" appliance is spying on you, tracking your behavior so as to better market to you. It's capturing every time you use it, how often, what time of day, and on and on. Not surprising, but really creepy having it all laid out in detail, with examples, etc.
Posted by: Lizzy at January 15, 2021 02:58 PM (bDqIh)
++++
"Smart" is a non-starter for me in my home. I have a smart TV, but I keep it ring-fenced from my real stuff on another network. If anything else has "smart" functions or app-based management I always ask, before anything else, "is it optional?"

If it isn't, I don't buy it. If it is, I probably won't buy it - but if I do, then I will never link it to my network, not even once. If it doesn't work offline *and* never-connected - completely and with all necessary features - then I don't buy it.

Sometimes getting that answer is tough. I had talk to *five* different Select Comfort sales reps when buying a mattress before one of them could affirm that their "smart" functions on the bed were optional and never had to be activated to use the damn thing.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at January 15, 2021 03:01 PM (UZVEt)

225 The internet has not expanded our understanding, it has condensed it and placed in the hands of its controllers your access to understand any other way than the one presented to you.
--------------

I find it interesting that the biggest companies on the internet began with (in no particular order):

1. Search
2. Books
3. Personal Communication
4. Mass Communication
5. Computers
6. An Operating System

You should be able to put the names to faces there

Posted by: ... at January 15, 2021 03:01 PM (jhm6b)

226 Three governments have resigned today: Netherlands, Estonia, and Kuwait. Merkel will step down in 2021.

US news is not featuring any of this.


Netherlands - https://preview.tinyurl.com/y4ot4ovg
Estonia - https://preview.tinyurl.com/y6j4sush
Kuwait - https://preview.tinyurl.com/y4ov3j5e

Posted by: Laughing in Texas at January 15, 2021 03:01 PM (ExV1e)

227 I expect in a few years the narrative will be that Epstein didn't really do anything that bad - he was just a run of the mill pimp on an island and come on who doesn't want a massage from a pretty girl anyway are you some kind of ReichWing fascist or something that hates fun?

Posted by: 18-1 at January 15, 2021 02:46 PM

"...and Some As Young As 14." -- Every single report.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 15, 2021 03:02 PM (OssQ4)

228 Dark stuff.

Posted by: Denny Crane! at January 15, 2021 03:02 PM (uc+oy)

229 We just heard from Senator Leahy that Trump is dangerous and that he may launch Nuclaar weapons to get even with Joe Bidum and the Democrants. He must be removered now to so us from a Nuclaer global warming earth !!!!!!

Posted by: Mary Clogginstein from Brattleboro, VT at January 15, 2021 03:02 PM (DZprG)

230 I lived in DC for awhile working on the Hill but never developed Potomac fever. Immediate family used to live in the area and work in the bureaucracy.

Every time I go back, I become more and more revolted by what I see and hear there.


I live out in Stafford because I didn't want to live near that mess, and I'm lucky to telework. Come next November I'll probably pull up stakes and move to TX so I can sign up for metalworking classes.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 03:02 PM (jOcSX)

231 I love a lot of the people I work with, I like my job, and I've worked from home for a decade, so I've been here awhile. But there are a lot of dysunctions.
Posted by: sunny-dee at January 15, 2021 02:55 PM (Z2HD7)

In workplaces such as you describe, the people who schmooze the best rise the highest and the fastest, and it doesn't matter if they really have many technical skills at all. I knew a man (now retired) who rose high and made a few million in the early tech industry, and he would always laugh about how it was all due to his great golf game, and his ability to lose to the "right" people when that was called for. He never actually did much at the company, except talk to people, hang out with the bosses, and get promoted every 6 months.

End game - you end up with a company run by nothing but social climbers who really don't know much at all about anything.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 15, 2021 03:02 PM (V2Yro)

232 213 Russian government resigned, per Medvedev:

https://preview.tinyurl.com/wwue8ce

Links to CNN (ptui!)
Posted by: Darrell Harris at January 15, 2021 02:58 PM (4tiP2)

---

From 2020. I made that mistake too.

Posted by: Brisco County Sr at January 15, 2021 03:02 PM (DBPIP)

233 It's capturing every time you use it, how often, what time of day, and on and on. Not surprising, but really creepy having it all laid out in detail, with examples, etc.
Posted by: Lizzy at January 15, 2021 02:58 PM (bDqIh


There is no reason to have your refrigerator, toaster, or even your thermostat (which seems to be very popular) hooked up to the internet. Assume anything with an internet connection is spying on you. When I am at home my cell phone is off and is left in the car.

Posted by: moon_over_vermont at January 15, 2021 03:02 PM (TPW8V)

234 Yep.
For the cost of $50 a day in food and a few pool tables you get tens of thousands of house of free labor a year. And employees think these perks are awesome man.
Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 02:59 PM (736Ux)
++++
Don't forget the greatest scheme they ever came up with: "unlimited non-accruing paid time off."

My old company did this. I never took less time off. For every person who abuses such a system (who you can sweep in the annual layoff anyway), there are scores who just forget to take time off entirely.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at January 15, 2021 03:02 PM (UZVEt)

235 Our CEO "wrote" a book (our marketing department wrote it) about having a particular kind of "collaborative" culture.
----------------
Charlie Manson was extremely ahead of his time.
Posted by: Puddin Head

And then there was that stupid book that was running around about 15-16 years ago..."Who Moved My Cheese?". This was a BIG THING full of newspeak management hoopla. Again, making everyone think alike. It was supposed to be about adapting to change, but was really about conformity of thought. At the time, our biggest customer (Philip Morris) was really big into this book. We were all supposed to read it. I made fun of it to my boss. He was not amused.
A few years later, a parody came out about corporate leaders who were now in prison...."Who Moved My Soap?".

Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 03:03 PM (vcOmj)

236 Rich Lowry is the definition of what my Mother used to refer to as a " thin necked weasel'.

Posted by: Ktgreat at January 15, 2021 03:03 PM (AD3JT)

237 I would argue that this is part of the reason that the south has been particularly a subject of attack. We have long had a very strong sense of a particular identity and that cannot be allowed.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at January 15, 2021 03:04 PM (946rW)

238 232 213 From 2020. I made that mistake too.

Flatness. No date on the page?

Posted by: Palindrome Paduan at January 15, 2021 03:04 PM (AHq56)

239 'Smart' TVs I kind of understood and went along with. But they lost me at 'smart' refrigerator. Laptop, phone, and TV are the only things I want connected to the intertubes. No way on my security system or cameras, and certainly not on my household appliances. Fuckabunchathat.

I'm also considering getting an old beater truck at some point with no computer bullshit at all. Will probably need it once the world goes full-on Mad Max

Posted by: Grapefruit LaCroix at January 15, 2021 03:05 PM (4VafR)

240 And as for the medical profession, all you have to do is look at how they are handling the Wuflu. You would think this is the only country dealing with it as we have to ignore what is working in other countries. We have known for months now that putting people on vents makes it worse, yet they continue to do exactly that. Most doctors can't diagnose their way out of a paper bag.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 15, 2021 03:05 PM (JKNZq)

241 Now that Presdent biden has developed the Covid vaccerine we must now follow his plan to reopen the econermy that trump destroyed !!!!!

Posted by: Mary Clogginstein from Brattleboro, VT at January 15, 2021 03:06 PM (DZprG)

242 230 I lived in DC for awhile working on the Hill but never developed Potomac fever. Immediate family used to live in the area and work in the bureaucracy.

Every time I go back, I become more and more revolted by what I see and hear there.

I live out in Stafford because I didn't want to live near that mess, and I'm lucky to telework. Come next November I'll probably pull up stakes and move to TX so I can sign up for metalworking classes.
--------------------
I lived on the Hill for around 10 years before moving to VA. Yes, I go back to meet friends and realize they are still captive to their teenage years. All of them. Remarkable amount of confirmation bias that comprises their lives. They really don't want to think or question any of their dogma. Creepy.

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 03:06 PM (14Wwm)

243 Monitor your neighborhood's WiFi with Kismet. Look at all the outgoing packets from smart appliances, TVs, and IoT devices.

Posted by: Behold gp's Sleek Slender Trunion at January 15, 2021 03:06 PM (qpX6U)

244 Everything Biden ushers in will be illegitimate, because his presidency is illegitimate. It needs to be said...often.

Posted by: Lady in Black at January 15, 2021 03:06 PM (O+I8R)

245 >>> 235 Our CEO "wrote" a book (our marketing department wrote it) about having a particular kind of "collaborative" culture.
----------------
Charlie Manson was extremely ahead of his time.
Posted by: Puddin Head

And then there was that stupid book that was running around about 15-16 years ago..."Who Moved My Cheese?". This was a BIG THING full of newspeak management hoopla. Again, making everyone think alike. It was supposed to be about adapting to change, but was really about conformity of thought. At the time, our biggest customer (Philip Morris) was really big into this book. We were all supposed to read it. I made fun of it to my boss. He was not amused.
A few years later, a parody came out about corporate leaders who were now in prison...."Who Moved My Soap?".
Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 03:03 PM (vcOmj)


The current one they all love is the Navy guy's Turn the Ship Around. They love the crap out of the book. tl;dr: you all just take care of shit and leave me alone to get rich

Posted by: banana Dream at January 15, 2021 03:07 PM (w3rBT)

246 235 And then there was that stupid book that was running around about 15-16 years ago..."Who Moved My Cheese?". This was a BIG THING full of newspeak management hoopla. Again, making everyone think alike. It was supposed to be about adapting to change, but was really about conformity of thought. At the time, our biggest customer (Philip Morris) was really big into this book. We were all supposed to read it. I made fun of it to my boss. He was not amused.
A few years later, a parody came out about corporate leaders who were now in prison...."Who Moved My Soap?".
Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 03:03 PM (vcOmj)

==========

The book my management got all hot and bothered about was about having a ticket to a bus, meaning emotional involvement. The book included an anecdote about the origin of the idea where a manager fired someone on the spot because they didn't get into it.

I'm not a fan of the whole management book thing, though it does seem like a decent enough racket.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, figuring this whole time thing out with Nolan at January 15, 2021 03:07 PM (NWM+b)

247 the pool tables need not be gold crown IVs

Posted by: REDACTED at January 15, 2021 03:07 PM (zZxh0)

248 And as for the medical profession, all you have to do is look at how they are handling the Wuflu. You would think this is the only country dealing with it as we have to ignore what is working in other countries. We have known for months now that putting people on vents makes it worse, yet they continue to do exactly that. Most doctors can't diagnose their way out of a paper bag.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward


It is actually terribly scary to see what has happened to the so-called Medical Profession. A lot of doctors are frankly incompetent (I had a physician like that about 20 years ago). Some are only mildly competent (my present doctor).

Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 03:08 PM (vcOmj)

249 Things that would have got you put away ten years ago but now make you the doggone sanest person in the room:

"My toaster is spying on me."

Posted by: ... at January 15, 2021 03:08 PM (jhm6b)

250
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at January 15, 2021 03:08 PM (yQpMk)

251 Late '19 due to injury I began ordering grocery pick up service from the same store I shop in person. I've used the service a few times now during covid just to avoid the bs. When I click to check out I get a message asking if I am missing anything "due to recent purchases" and I get several images of stuff I have purchased in person but never online. I have used the same debit card but I dont recall giving anyone permission to keep track of what I purchase. Am I missing the fine print somewhere?

Posted by: Tree of Liberty Landscaping at January 15, 2021 03:08 PM (DB16e)

252 -
Hmm Dutch government did resign.
---

The dyke screamed. Scared 'em all off.

Posted by: irright at January 15, 2021 03:08 PM (SchQD)

253 Am I good?

Posted by: NOOD at January 15, 2021 03:09 PM (KgyFl)

254 Everything Biden ushers in will be illegitimate, because his presidency is illegitimate. It needs to be said...often.
Posted by: Lady in Black at January 15, 2021 03:06 PM (O+I8R)

We need a better word. How about phony?

Posted by: ... at January 15, 2021 03:09 PM (jhm6b)

255 Where's the "fix it" part?

Posted by: West at January 15, 2021 03:09 PM (QY+6a)

256 Bob Dylan had another song: Everything is Broken. I would post the lyrics, but the word "broken" is used too often and Pixy doesn't like that

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:09 PM (KZzsI)

257 I won't rant about what the doctors did to my late husband. But I have no intention on dealing with any doctors again, other than to keep getting the drug I need for my lungs. (And I will likely have to fight the insurance company to get that.) I've actually had competent doctors. I've seen way too many bad ones.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 15, 2021 03:10 PM (JKNZq)

258 I think people are waking up to this "heist" of all culture, thought, commerce, individuality, and humanity by a small group of Woke Plutocrat Tyrants and lunatic religious zealots, but, alas: It might be too late to do a damn thing to stop them.

Been thinking about "Harrison Bergeron" a lot lately.

Posted by: Gaelic Girl's Irish Democracy at January 15, 2021 03:10 PM (5FCda)

259
Everything Biden ushers in will be illegitimate, because his presidency is illegitimate. It needs to be said...often.

Posted by: Lady in Black at January 15, 2021 03:06 PM (O+I8R)

That "consent of the governed" thing being a necessity.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at January 15, 2021 03:10 PM (946rW)

260 That "consent of the governed" thing being a necessity.

"You'll consent if you know what's good for you"
--Our Betters

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:11 PM (KZzsI)

261 Everything Biden ushers in will be illegitimate, because his presidency is illegitimate. It needs to be said...often.

Posted by: Lady in Black at January 15, 2021 03:06 PM (O+I8R)



We need a better word. How about phony?

Posted by: ... at January 15, 2021 03:09 PM (jhm6b)

Illegitimate works fine though it is also illegal.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at January 15, 2021 03:11 PM (946rW)

262 "Silicon Valley is also big on a flat workspace."

Like those stupid open workplaces where nobody has their own desk?


I get senior management at my company saying that we should do x, y, or z because that's how Google does it and then they look at me like I've got two heads when I point out that our business model is fundamentally different from Google's. And these people are, theoretically, trained engineers.

Posted by: Laughing in Texas at January 15, 2021 03:12 PM (ExV1e)

263
I'm also considering getting an old beater truck at some point with no computer bullshit at all. Will probably need it once the world goes full-on Mad Max
Posted by: Grapefruit LaCroix



*snort*

Posted by: Cash For Clunkers at January 15, 2021 03:12 PM (EGyGV)

264 "next November I'll probably pull up stakes and move to TX so I can sign up for metalworking classes."

some guy I used to chat with on mIRC while day trading (last century) was building his own plane, and moving to Wyoming to learn gunsmithing. Lots of competent people out there seeking the better, more fulfilling life of self reliance.

Posted by: illiniwek at January 15, 2021 03:12 PM (Cus5s)

265 "You'll consent if you know what's good for you"

--Our Betters

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:11 PM (KZzsI)

Our Betters obviously do not know me.

Posted by: redbanzai the Southerner at January 15, 2021 03:12 PM (946rW)

266 Late '19 due to injury I began ordering grocery pick up service from the same store I shop in person. I've used the service a few times now during covid just to avoid the bs. When I click to check out I get a message asking if I am missing anything "due to recent purchases" and I get several images of stuff I have purchased in person but never online. I have used the same debit card but I dont recall giving anyone permission to keep track of what I purchase. Am I missing the fine print somewhere?
Posted by: Tree of Liberty Landscaping at January 15, 2021 03:08 PM (DB16e)
++++
Do you use your supermarket's discount club (Safeway card, Kroger card, whatever)? If you do, they have a record of everything you ever bought and when.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at January 15, 2021 03:12 PM (UZVEt)

267 Most doctors can't diagnose their way out of a paper bag.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward

---------

If you're looking for a new doc, get an Oder one. The younger ones barely listen while typing on their laptops.

Have a slight fever.
Uh huh uh huh
And a cough
Uh huh uh huh
And I turned into a newt.
Uh huh uh huh

Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 15, 2021 03:12 PM (kTF2Z)

268 Was that a fake Nood?

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 03:13 PM (14Wwm)

269 SPRINGFIELD M1A STD W/BLK COMP STK

$1680

link next

Posted by: bonhomme at January 15, 2021 03:13 PM (UW2ZS)

270 https://bit.ly/3p0ynac

Posted by: bonhomme at January 15, 2021 03:13 PM (UW2ZS)

271 I'm not a fan of the whole management book thing, though it does seem like a decent enough racket.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, figuring this whole time thing out with Nolan


It is a racket. There is always a new "fashion" coming out every few years. I recall when "What Color is Your Parachute?" was a hot thing.

There is little immunity to dumb ideas in the executive suite. Where a little brown lipstick goes a long way. One of my company's "top men" lost 20 Million dollars on a research project, and then they asked him to retire. Oops!
He got along fine playing the corporate game for years, then got caught being stupid.
Another example of .....everything is broken. Dum-dum me saw how he was doing it all wrong, but "Full Speed Ahead!" He was also a great golfer. I think that is a warning sign, too.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 03:13 PM (vcOmj)

272 From the sidebar... "Arnold Schwarzenegger grips sword from "Conan" as he delivers seven minute rant calling Trump supporters Nazis."

Umm... wasn't his own father an actual Nazi? I mean, literally an officially registered member of the National Socialist Worker's Party of Germany?

Wow, the steroid-atrophied balls on this guy...

Posted by: Prothonotary Warbler- Quit the GOP on 1/20! at January 15, 2021 03:13 PM (H3MF8)

273 Our Betters obviously do not know me.
-------------------
Me either. Its a good thing they don't park their cars on the curb.

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 03:14 PM (14Wwm)

274 Colorado Alex in Exile: I'm also in Stafford. It's nice being a bit removed from the crazy.

Posted by: Washington Nearsider, fuck you, war. at January 15, 2021 03:14 PM (tpneH)

275 Illegitimate, phony - all the damage will be very real.

And if the populace really did re-elect Trump - or even if it didn't - it's in the same trap.

The Dems. Or, the GOP, which - l've literally already seen this verbiage from them - will be "fighting for you" and opposing the evil skeeery Dem leviathan.

Blue s**t-hole bailouts are the biggest disaster that will come first. Let's see if most of the GOP even does a pro forma kabuki theater on this (I think "pro forma kabuki" is a new standard I've established for dishonest political posturing).

Posted by: rhomboid at January 15, 2021 03:14 PM (OTzUX)

276 Do things that generate love and attention from three people you actually know instead of hundreds you don't.

I realized that Facebook wasn't for me when it insisted that I call people that I never met, and which I never ever would meet, "friends" despite them being no such thing.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at January 15, 2021 03:14 PM (zWGCW)

277 I saw Consent of the Governed open for Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen at the Gorge in George in '84.

Posted by: Diogenes at January 15, 2021 03:14 PM (axyOa)

278 I'm also considering getting an old beater truck at some point with no
computer bullshit at all. Will probably need it once the world goes
full-on Mad Max

Posted by: Grapefruit LaCroix


I spent some time at a body shop when I got out of highschool. We had an early 70's chevy pickup. Looked like shit, but it had a 350 vette motor and all the goodies in the drive train. They called it the ghetto jet. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at January 15, 2021 03:15 PM (9Om/r)

279 Hello, is anyone out there?

Posted by: NOOD at January 15, 2021 03:15 PM (KgyFl)

280 I had a client, big company everyone here was used before. They had his yuuuge cafeteria for employees. And with pretty good food at subsidized prices. Nobody ever went out for lunch because it was cheaper and more convenient to stay in. This was non tech related but the same principle applied. A few $ worth of subsidized food to keep everyone from leaving at lunch. You go out to lunch you will take a long time. You stay in for lunch you will be back at work much faster. And nobody seemed to have understood that but me lol.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 03:15 PM (736Ux)

281 >>> 251 Late '19 due to injury I began ordering grocery pick up service from the same store I shop in person. I've used the service a few times now during covid just to avoid the bs. When I click to check out I get a message asking if I am missing anything "due to recent purchases" and I get several images of stuff I have purchased in person but never online. I have used the same debit card but I dont recall giving anyone permission to keep track of what I purchase. Am I missing the fine print somewhere?
Posted by: Tree of Liberty Landscaping at January 15, 2021 03:08 PM (DB16e)

If you have their discount card (and probably if you ever did, even for one purchase) then yes, you did agree to be on their marketing list.

Yay nosy-ass corporations.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at January 15, 2021 03:15 PM (TK8Ry)

282 Thank you for posting this - it was a fantastic read.

Posted by: Doctor.Boom at January 15, 2021 03:15 PM (NYS7S)

283 I'll probably be willowed, but I read this last night and it really made an impression on me. I shared the gist of it in a conversation with my brother this morning, particularly as it relates to medical care. Wonderful essay. I bookmarked it last night.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz, Trump Won at January 15, 2021 03:15 PM (a4EWo)

284 Most general practitioners are not exactly the best in their field. Beverly Crusher types who are fine if they are in the realm of the familiar and simple, but when confronted with something new to them or complicated they put you on antidepressants hoping you stop complaining about it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:16 PM (KZzsI)

285 Are we talking tax credits for what?

Posted by: NOOD at January 15, 2021 03:16 PM (KgyFl)

286 Just looked for a new thread, this came up so I'm back

Posted by: Skip at January 15, 2021 03:16 PM (Cxk7w)

287 "Everything is Broken"

imo it should be active voice. ..."The Tyrants of DeepState are Breaking Everything". This is planned warfare, not "normal" societal decay. The plans were set forth decades ago ... attack on family and church, on any structure that held "the West" together.

Posted by: illiniwek at January 15, 2021 03:16 PM (Cus5s)

288
It is actually terribly scary to see what has happened to the so-called Medical Profession. A lot of doctors are frankly incompetent (I had a physician like that about 20 years ago). Some are only mildly competent (my present doctor).
Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 03:08 PM (vcOmj)

My dad's VA doc was apparently a brilliant Infections Disease Specialist, but the department was closed and he took a job in primary care.

Completely missed that my dad had very high blood sugar at his physical and but for my mom's intervention to check his blood sugar a few months later after he'd been "sick" for a month he might not be here today as he went right into the hospital that night.

Posted by: Bete at January 15, 2021 03:16 PM (Ojki1)

289 I spent some time at a body shop when I got out of highschool. We had an early 70's chevy pickup. Looked like shit, but it had a 350 vette motor and all the goodies in the drive train.

My brother had one of those, a late 60s Chevy pickup that was kind of beat up and rusty, with a Vette engine, it would really roar. Empty bed made for bad traction, though.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:17 PM (KZzsI)

290 Market for pre 2010 cars is pretty hot these days. A growing number of people have come to hate modern cars with all the computer aided tech running things.

2000s era was the sweet spot. Enough tech, power quality and modernity but without all the excessive shit of cars today.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 03:17 PM (736Ux)

291 I actually saw a Biden/Harris bumpersticker two days ago. Got me to thinking about investing in a Dash Cam system and putting a Trump bumpersticker on to see who I catch vandalizing my car. My car needs some body work and I'd really like to stick the bill to a Biden supporter.

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 03:17 PM (14Wwm)

292
I'm not a fan of the whole management book thing, though it does seem like a decent enough racket.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, figuring this whole time thing out with Nolan



How many management book authors are actually managing businesses, other than managing their writing career?

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 15, 2021 03:17 PM (EGyGV)

293 Do you use your supermarket's discount club (Safeway card, Kroger card, whatever)? If you do, they have a record of everything you ever bought and when.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at January 15, 2021 03:12 PM

I have not used any discount club cards for anything for 12 years or so.

Posted by: Tree of Liberty Landscaping at January 15, 2021 03:17 PM (DB16e)

294 I lived on the Hill for around 10 years before moving to VA. Yes, I go back to meet friends and realize they are still captive to their teenage years. All of them. Remarkable amount of confirmation bias that comprises their lives. They really don't want to think or question any of their dogma. Creepy.
Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 03:06 PM (14Wwm)


The dating profiles are what depress me. They're all the same. Leftwing, upper middle class, working support jobs. They all have the same pictures, dress the same, and have the same "interests."

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 03:17 PM (jOcSX)

295 Like those stupid open workplaces where nobody has their own desk?

I hate those. They're popular with creative types, but as a cranky Gen X coder, I need my isolation. And at my current job, I've got it.

Posted by: Ian S. at January 15, 2021 03:17 PM (ZGrMX)

296 Everything is worse, now. Call any company and you get an apology/excuse for not providing prompt service -- it's due to Covid.

Order something for carry out eating, one out of three times there is a screw up in what they give you. And you only find out when you get home.

And that is before we hire airline pilots and everyone else with a major focus on their "identity".

Brave new world.

Posted by: JM in Florida at January 15, 2021 03:18 PM (HCeRP)

297 281 >>> 251 Late '19 due to injury I began ordering grocery pick up service from the same store I shop in person. I've used the service a few times now during covid just to avoid the bs. When I click to check out I get a message asking if I am missing anything "due to recent purchases" and I get several images of stuff I have purchased in person but never online. I have used the same debit card but I dont recall giving anyone permission to keep track of what I purchase. Am I missing the fine print somewhere?
Posted by: Tree of Liberty Landscaping at January 15, 2021 03:08 PM (DB16e)

If you have their discount card (and probably if you ever did, even for one purchase) then yes, you did agree to be on their marketing list.

Yay nosy-ass corporations.
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at January 15, 2021 03:15 PM (TK8Ry)

Walmart does that shit. when I do my online pick up order. stuff I bought in store show up in my favorites.
Even a 55" tv I bought in store last summer. Guess they think I'll click and buy another one. It's tied to the card you use.

Posted by: Busted can of biscuits at January 15, 2021 03:18 PM (2cfUo)

298 290 Market for pre 2010 cars is pretty hot these days. A growing number of people have come to hate modern cars with all the computer aided tech running things.
-------------------
What, you don't like strange ladies talking to you out of the blue when you drive?

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 03:18 PM (14Wwm)

299 I'm not a fan of the whole management book thing, though it does seem like a decent enough racket.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, figuring this whole time thing out with Nolan


I've considered writing a "management" book based on George Silver's Paradoxes of Defence, similar to the ones written based on Sun Tzu.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 03:18 PM (jOcSX)

300 They all have the same pictures, dress the same, and have the same "interests."

Likes: puppy dogs, snuggling, long walks on the beach
Hates: Trump, rainy days

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:18 PM (KZzsI)

301
You stay in for lunch you will be back at work much faster. And nobody seemed to have understood that but me lol.
Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 03:15 PM (736Ux)

________

When my wife's company built its new headquarters it put in a very good cafeteria, a doctor's office and a dental clinic. That's three things that people can waste time going out for. It might look lavish, but it likely pays for itself.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at January 15, 2021 03:19 PM (BICN6)

302 So if you reply to me, a false NOOD, you will also be banned?

Posted by: NOOD at January 15, 2021 03:19 PM (KgyFl)

303 I actually saw a Biden/Harris bumpersticker two days ago. Got me to thinking about investing in a Dash Cam system and putting a Trump bumpersticker on to see who I catch vandalizing my car. My car needs some body work and I'd really like to stick the bill to a Biden supporter.
Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 03:17 PM (14Wwm)/i]


Isn't that like hunting over a baited field?

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at January 15, 2021 03:19 PM (yQpMk)

304 292 How many management book authors are actually managing businesses, other than managing their writing career?
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 15, 2021 03:17 PM (EGyGV)

=======

I knew a project manager who quit his job to push his book that he self-published right before he quit. He even got a VP to have a rolling out party for the book on campus.

I only see him posting little videos about self-improvement on LinkedIn these days.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, figuring this whole time thing out with Nolan at January 15, 2021 03:19 PM (NWM+b)

305 dammit

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at January 15, 2021 03:19 PM (yQpMk)

306 Has anyone mentioned R.L. Burnside's blues song of the same name?

Worth a listen if not.

Posted by: Mr. Gray at January 15, 2021 03:20 PM (BDWWT)

307 Beverly Crusher types who are fine if they are in the realm of the familiar and simple, but when confronted with something new to them or complicated they put you on antidepressants hoping you stop complaining about it.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021


***

I only wish my doctor looked like Beverly.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 15, 2021 03:20 PM (yvr3o)

308

America is now the hostages in that movie 'Dog Dick Afternoon'...

Posted by: Circus Freak No. 69 at January 15, 2021 03:20 PM (USmY7)

309 > I had a client, big company everyone here was used before. They had his yuuuge cafeteria for employees. And with pretty good food at subsidized prices. Nobody ever went out for lunch because it was cheaper and more convenient to stay in. This was non tech related but the same principle applied. A few $ worth of subsidized food to keep everyone from leaving at lunch. You go out to lunch you will take a long time. You stay in for lunch you will be back at work much faster. And nobody seemed to have understood that but me lol.

Google cafeteria food is fully subsidized. It's one of the perks. They are fully aware it's there to keep them working. Every couple of years at Microsoft the employees start agitating for the things Google employees get. Microsoft then sends out an email polling people to see if they're willing to take a paycut in exchange. That shuts the Microsofties up.

Funny part is, Google engineers make more money too.

Posted by: bonhomme at January 15, 2021 03:20 PM (UW2ZS)

310 LOLs

Posted by: NOOD at January 15, 2021 03:20 PM (KgyFl)

311 Everything is broken is actually a long-standing tenet of Christianity.

The World is in a fallen state, it will remain fallen.

We eat of the Knowledge of Good and Evil every day.

Posted by: Axeman at January 15, 2021 03:20 PM (FYe3W)

312 hmm populist.press is down.

Posted by: f'd at January 15, 2021 03:20 PM (+y8uL)

313 It may be a glass half full, though. Everything isn't really broken--its just corrupt.

We may be better off than we were 5 years ago, when even the clever people on this blog had no idea how bad the corruption was.

Now we do. Q calls it The Great Awakening.

Posted by: artemis at January 15, 2021 03:20 PM (AwPyG)

314 Pudden Head great idea, I still have my 4 More Years sign in my truck, should put it back on display if I had a dash cam.

Posted by: Skip at January 15, 2021 03:21 PM (Cxk7w)

315 Likes: puppy dogs, snuggling, long walks on the beach
Hates: Trump, rainy days
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:18 PM (KZzsI)


"I'm dedicated to my career and looking for someone who is the same. I can dress up and rock the dance floor in a dress, but also like staying in watching a movie in my sweats. Must have a passport and be willing to use it. I have two furbabies. I'm a sucker for beards and tattoos. No Trump supporters."

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 03:21 PM (jOcSX)

316 So if you reply to me, a {fuckhead troll}, you will also be banned?
Posted by: {fuckhead troll} at January 15, 2021 03:19 PM (redacted)
++++
No. Super easy. Barely an inconvenience.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at January 15, 2021 03:21 PM (UZVEt)

317 America is now the hostages in that movie 'Dog Dick Afternoon'...
Posted by: Circus Freak No. 69 at January 15, 2021 03:20 PM (USmY7)
---
I thought it was the boyfriend who wanted the sex change.

Posted by: Axeman at January 15, 2021 03:21 PM (FYe3W)

318 299 I'm not a fan of the whole management book thing, though it does seem like a decent enough racket.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, figuring this whole time thing out with Nolan

I've considered writing a "management" book based on George Silver's Paradoxes of Defence, similar to the ones written based on Sun Tzu.
Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 03:18 PM (jOcSX)

=========

I think you need a simple metaphor to be your hook. Actual discussions of ideas won't sell. A heavily simplified idea that seems like a big change but actually doesn't do anything.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, figuring this whole time thing out with Nolan at January 15, 2021 03:21 PM (NWM+b)

319 We eat of the Knowledge of Good and Evil every day.
Posted by: Axeman at January 15, 2021 03:20 PM (FYe3W)


Which one is responsible for the inches around my waist?

Posted by: moon_over_vermont at January 15, 2021 03:21 PM (TPW8V)

320 Everything is broken is actually a long-standing tenet of Christianity.

Back before political correctness, this was called "original sin" but now pastors use "broken" because it tests better in polling.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:21 PM (KZzsI)

321 I bought a jacket last week at a sporting goods store. When I checked out the clerk asked for my zip code. I said what for? She said for marketing purposes. I said are you paying me for market research? She didnt get the joke.

And not sure why they ask anyway, I paid with a credit card so they know everything about me already. That is just laziness on their part.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 03:21 PM (736Ux)

322 All I do is breath deeply, my blood pressure calms ... mostly down.

Posted by: NOOD at January 15, 2021 03:21 PM (KgyFl)

323 Good essay. David Reaboi alerted this piece to those of us still on Twitter. He's a good man to follow.

I want to exit Twitter, but the Late Unhappiness has killed Parler for now. I only follow good, solid conservatives and leave it to others to deal with following the riff-raff.

Posted by: Michael the Texan at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (9IdCK)

324 I definitely believe the medical system is completely broken.

Posted by: Skip at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (Cxk7w)

325 I have not used any discount club cards for anything for 12 years or so.
Posted by: Tree of Liberty Landscaping

They track you through your credit card or debit card.

I used to use my debit card to buy groceries. Not so much, anymore.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (vcOmj)

326 No Trump supporters.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 03:21 PM (jOcSX)

Makes sorting them out easier, though.

Posted by: Washington Nearsider, fuck you, war. at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (tpneH)

327 272 From the sidebar... "Arnold Schwarzenegger grips sword from "Conan" as he delivers seven minute rant calling Trump supporters Nazis."
--------

The thing I'm loving most about the Biden Era is all the Unity.

Posted by: ... at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (jhm6b)

328
Isn't that like hunting over a baited field?
Posted by: G'rump928(c)




Nah. Varmint control.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (EGyGV)

329 I've spent my adult life trying to ignore the cultural grey world she describes, hiding from social media and working to excel in my little world.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, Fopps News Sucks at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (gkHkW)

330 Must have a passport and be willing to use it. I have two furbabies. I'm a sucker for beards and tattoos.

Translation: I want a hep-C infected man who will take me places around the world and put up with my childish pet fixation.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (KZzsI)

331 Here's the problem. I had a great older doctor. But because I went more than three years without a visit, I lost him as my doctor. Couldn't get him back.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (JKNZq)

332 Likes: puppy dogs, snuggling, long walks on the beach
Hates: Trump, rainy days
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:18 PM (KZzsI)

Moar likes: Fightin' the Patriarchy, social justicin'

Posted by: Thrawn at January 15, 2021 03:23 PM (lNxD2)

333 I heard Biden is going to increase the child tax credit (free money to people with no tax liability for popping out them babies) by $1000 or so. More free cash if the child is under six, I believe.

Posted by: Mr. Gray at January 15, 2021 03:23 PM (BDWWT)

334 Funny part is, Google engineers make more money too.

They have to, because opening your eyes in the morning costs $1000 in Silicon Valley. There's an ongoing genre of stories about how Google employees mostly live in RVs because there's no housing in the area for under a million dollars.

One interesting "flatness" idea starting to gain favor among tech companies is that they pay you the same amount no matter where you do the job, and you pick where that is. It's *really* a way to avoid paying people in California more, but the effect will be to further drive people out of that state.

Posted by: Ian S. at January 15, 2021 03:23 PM (ZGrMX)

335 327 272 From the sidebar... "Arnold Schwarzenegger grips sword from "Conan" as he delivers seven minute rant calling Trump supporters Nazis."
--------

The thing I'm loving most about the Biden Era is all the Unity.
Posted by: ... at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (jhm6b)

And the healing. So much healing!

Posted by: Prothonotary Warbler- Quit the GOP on 1/20! at January 15, 2021 03:23 PM (H3MF8)

336 varmit control, that's a good one. funny

Posted by: NOOD at January 15, 2021 03:23 PM (KgyFl)

337 1 Here's the problem. I had a great older doctor. But because I went more than three years without a visit, I lost him as my doctor. Couldn't get him back.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (JKNZq)

****

Clearly you didn't like him enough or you could keep him.

Posted by: Mr. Gray at January 15, 2021 03:24 PM (BDWWT)

338 cocks are my fav finger food

Posted by: NOOD at January 15, 2021 03:24 PM (zZxh0)

339 Posted by: Busted can of biscuits at January 15, 2021 03:18 PM

Yep. Same company.

Posted by: Tree of Liberty Landscaping at January 15, 2021 03:24 PM (DB16e)

340 330 Must have a passport and be willing to use it. I have two furbabies. I'm a sucker for beards and tattoos.

Translation: I want a hep-C infected man who will take me places around the world and put up with my childish pet fixation.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:22 PM (KZzsI)

Oh, furbabies are pets. That makes a lot more sense then what I was thinking.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at January 15, 2021 03:24 PM (xfb67)

341 303 I actually saw a Biden/Harris bumpersticker two days ago. Got me to thinking about investing in a Dash Cam system and putting a Trump bumpersticker on to see who I catch vandalizing my car. My car needs some body work and I'd really like to stick the bill to a Biden supporter.
Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 03:17 PM (14Wwm)/i]


Isn't that like hunting over a baited field?
------------------
Kind of. Pretty sure it will work. Basically a salt lick for cash.

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 03:24 PM (14Wwm)

342 When asked for zip code just say here, why would Ij go somewhere else to buy it?

Posted by: Skip at January 15, 2021 03:24 PM (Cxk7w)

343 while you rubes are belching

I'm velching

Posted by: NOOD at January 15, 2021 03:25 PM (zZxh0)

344 I bought a jacket last week at a sporting goods store. When I checked out the clerk asked for my zip code. I said what for? She said for marketing purposes. I said are you paying me for market research? She didnt get the joke.

And not sure why they ask anyway, I paid with a credit card so they know everything about me already. That is just laziness on their part.
Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021


***

O'Reilly's Auto Parts and, years ago, Radio Shack asked me that. I was paying cash. I refused to give them that information.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at January 15, 2021 03:25 PM (yvr3o)

345 Because it was Trump supporters blocking off streets and assaulting people, right?

Posted by: Axeman at January 15, 2021 03:25 PM (FYe3W)

346 Notice that the new generation is constantly encouraged not to settle down or marry.

Travel! Live like a cool vagabond, there's plenty of time to worry about the serious stuff later.

Posted by: artemis at January 15, 2021 03:25 PM (AwPyG)

347 And pets are just as good as children

Posted by: artemis at January 15, 2021 03:26 PM (AwPyG)

348 Yay. Got Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and The Elephant Man in the mail.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, figuring this whole time thing out with Nolan at January 15, 2021 03:26 PM (NWM+b)

349 > Like those stupid open workplaces where nobody has their own desk?

There are at least two levels of this jackassery. Level one is the open office. Nobody gets a cube wall. Everyone can see everything. Management claims this will help foster more open exchange, which fosters creativity. Usually, it's actually because Management doesn't trust their workers to work unless they feel like anyone could be looking.

Level two, which is even worse, is what you're describing. I've heard some people call it hot-swapping. Basically, nobody owns a desk. Anyone can sit anywhere. I don't know a single person who likes this one.

Posted by: bonhomme at January 15, 2021 03:26 PM (UW2ZS)

350 I saw 2 Biden/Harris stickers for all of 2020. And in 2008 Obama stickers were all over the place where I live. But, yeah, more people voted for Joe Biden than Obama, sure.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at January 15, 2021 03:26 PM (xfb67)

351 Flatness. Something something equal in slavery something something unequal in freedom.

Posted by: ShainS at January 15, 2021 03:27 PM (fqKO+)

352 1 I bought a jacket last week at a sporting goods store. When I checked out the clerk asked for my zip code. I said what for? She said for marketing purposes. I said are you paying me for market research? She didnt get the joke.
Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 03:21 PM


89044 is the zip code for Area 51.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at January 15, 2021 03:27 PM (DMUuz)

353 -
And pets are just as good as children

Posted by: artemis at January 15, 2021 03:26 PM
-

No. They are not.

Posted by: Moloch at January 15, 2021 03:27 PM (SchQD)

354 When I lived in Columbus, OH, I worked downtown across from the statehouse, and it struck me that they seemed to be trying to turn it into Brooklyn, or Portland. The aesthetic was the same.
Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 02:25 PM (jOcSX)

There are a few major urban design firms and they all studied under the same people and all have the same fundamental design philosophy.

It's like how foreign policy seems the same no matter if it is a Dem or a Republican in the White House. They all went to the Kennedy School and all think the same things. Trump exception and why they hate him #1,263,983 here.
Posted by: alexthechick - Boobs and hysteria at January 15, 2021 02:28 PM (GbPPJ)

----

And after over 100 years, cars all have steering wheels, and other items that were part of the originals. It sounds silly but I was always amazed at how little the main design hasn't changed.

Posted by: Chillin the most at January 15, 2021 03:27 PM (lonOK)

355 We may be better off than we were 5 years ago, when even the clever people on this blog had no idea how bad the corruption was.

We argue now mostly on how to rectify this painlessly. Once we move past that little fantasy - I firmly believe the current shit state gets fixed in less than a year. But what results won't look like how things currently are.

Posted by: Pierre at January 15, 2021 03:27 PM (EjQ00)

356 Notice that the new generation is constantly encouraged not to settle down or marry.

Posted by: artemis at January 15, 2021 03:25 PM (AwPyG)
---
I've been noticing a pattern against the idea of reproducing.

Which suggests to me that it's all this elitist population control stuff.

Posted by: Axeman at January 15, 2021 03:27 PM (FYe3W)

357 Notice that the new generation is constantly encouraged not to settle down or marry.

Travel! Live like a cool vagabond, there's plenty of time to worry about the serious stuff later.
Posted by: artemis at January 15, 2021 03:25 PM (AwPyG)

*****

All the cool kids know you can wait until you're in your late 30s to find good marriage material and settle down after you've seen the world and established a career.

Posted by: Mr. Gray at January 15, 2021 03:27 PM (BDWWT)

358 Oh, furbabies are pets. That makes a lot more sense then what I was thinking.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe


What? Did you think she was outing herself as a "Furry"? Furbabies is chick-talk for having pets.

My wife and I sometimes call our cats our kids, but that's just because they act so goofy sometimes, and follow us around. "The kids are in the bedroom, waiting for us to go to bed".
My real kids are grown and have lives of their own.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 03:28 PM (vcOmj)

359 I just read where the Biden White House has banned all gender related terms like mom, dad, sister, etc.

We can still call them M'F's right?


Posted by: Cheri at January 15, 2021 03:28 PM (oiNtH)

360 Started reading the article and couldn't stop.


Fan-fucking-tastic.

Posted by: McLurkerson at January 15, 2021 03:28 PM (QqhVI)

361 My zip code is always 54321 no matter who asks for it or where I am.

Posted by: Martini Farmer - Now a Pirate, Hoisting the Black Flag at January 15, 2021 03:28 PM (3H9h1)

362 > They have to, because opening your eyes in the morning costs $1000 in Silicon Valley. There's an ongoing genre of stories about how Google employees mostly live in RVs because there's no housing in the area for under a million dollars.

Sure, but the Googlers in Seattle and Kirkland also earn more than Redmond based Microsofties.

Posted by: bonhomme at January 15, 2021 03:28 PM (UW2ZS)

363 "Everything is broken", is a Tom Waits lyric.

Posted by: pawn at January 15, 2021 03:28 PM (WKDxF)

364 @349

But I can kinda see the logic. If your office has a door there is an exponentially greater potential for goofing off

Posted by: artemis at January 15, 2021 03:28 PM (AwPyG)

365 I actually saw a Biden/Harris bumpersticker two days ago. Got me to thinking about investing in a Dash Cam system and putting a Trump bumpersticker on to see who I catch vandalizing my car. My car needs some body work and I'd really like to stick the bill to a Biden supporter.
Posted by: Puddin Head

I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Posted by: Vyx at January 15, 2021 03:28 PM (ZCiJZ)

366 the pinnacle of my existence is finding my boifriend's ass hair in my teeth

Posted by: NOOD at January 15, 2021 03:28 PM (zZxh0)

367 Our evil Google overlords will become trapped in their myopic view of a one dimensional virtual reality. Thus their suprise and outrage will be great when those of us who remain firmly grounded in the world

Posted by: Sock Monkey. * at January 15, 2021 03:29 PM (ICej8)

368 I didnt settle down and get married for a long time. I traveled a lot and moved around a lot too. Glad I did. That isnt bad advice for the yuutes.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 03:29 PM (736Ux)

369 I had the head of infectious diseases at a local clinic tell me that the local strain of MRSA was not resistant to Bactrim. I'd had three rounds of it and they gave me bactrim every time. I happened to get an urgent care doctor there that didn't get her memo.. He treated me with vancomycin and it never came back.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 15, 2021 03:29 PM (JKNZq)

370 Since we're on the topic of office design. How about "standing desks"? You want to find out who are the smuggest hipsters in your office? Install just one standing desk in an open cube. They'll all gather around to admire it, then storm to HR to ask for their own.

Posted by: banana Dream at January 15, 2021 03:29 PM (w3rBT)

371 We can still call them M'F's right?


Posted by: Cheri at January 15, 2021 03:28 PM (oiNtH)


Cocksuckers is apparently now a completely gender-neutral term.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 03:29 PM (jOcSX)

372 lol

Posted by: Bosk at January 15, 2021 03:29 PM (SWbVS)

373 Everything is Broken

Is this the new Lego Movie song?

Posted by: spindrift at January 15, 2021 03:29 PM (Q7J8K)

374 "Everything is broken", is a Tom Waits lyric."
The carpet need a haircut.

Posted by: f'd at January 15, 2021 03:30 PM (+y8uL)

375 you can thank me for running off the troll later


REDACTED

Posted by: NOOD at January 15, 2021 03:30 PM (zZxh0)

376 Since we're on the topic of office design. How about "standing desks"? You want to find out who are the smuggest hipsters in your office? Install just one standing desk in an open cube. They'll all gather around to admire it, then storm to HR to ask for their own.
Posted by: banana Dream at January 15, 2021 03:29 PM (w3rBT)


I had one at my last job. You could raise it up to standing height, or lower it to sitting height. I loved it, because I hate sitting all day.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 03:30 PM (jOcSX)

377 @355

I think that's part of the problem--Trump and the white hats are trying to make this as painless as possible, and I don't see how you counter The Great Reset without some very dumb people feeling a little pain

Posted by: artemis at January 15, 2021 03:30 PM (AwPyG)

378 Speaking of cults, a Google employee is called a Googler. A new Google employee is called ... a Newgler. No, I am not kidding.

Posted by: bonhomme at January 15, 2021 03:30 PM (UW2ZS)

379 I got married at 19 and did my traveling around with my husband. It was a lot more fun.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 15, 2021 03:30 PM (JKNZq)

380 Respond accordingly. The proof reading squirrels are on a smoke break.

Posted by: Sock Monkey. * at January 15, 2021 03:30 PM (ICej8)

381 "Everything is broken", is a Tom Waits lyric.

***

I'm trying to think of it but I'm drawing a blank. Post Bone Machine, maybe?

I think Bob Dylan had a song titled that, too.

Posted by: Mr. Gray at January 15, 2021 03:31 PM (BDWWT)

382 380 Respond accordingly. The proof reading squirrels are on a smoke break.
Posted by: Sock Monkey. * at January 15, 2021 03:30 PM (ICej

==========

You don't fuck with squirrels, Morty.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, figuring this whole time thing out with Nolan at January 15, 2021 03:32 PM (NWM+b)

383 Another all-too-common thing in modern dating profiles... "You must be at least this tall to ride."

By "this tall", I mean a standard formula of "my height plus seven inches, or six feet tall, whichever is greater".

And this is not a "would be nice"; it's a strict requirement.

But if you insist on dating only women who weigh less than you, "Oh, what pig! What an asshole!"

Posted by: Prothonotary Warbler- Quit the GOP on 1/20! at January 15, 2021 03:32 PM (H3MF8)

384 256 Bob Dylan had another song: Everything is Broken. I would post the lyrics, but the word "broken" is used too often and Pixy doesn't like that
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:09 PM (KZzsI)

...

From "Oh Mercy". I like every song on it.

Posted by: TexasDan at January 15, 2021 03:32 PM (yL25O)

385 I have a standing desk in my home office. Raise and lower it throughout the day.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 03:32 PM (736Ux)

386 Yeah Radio Shack was infamous for wanting your info and mailing out crap. People hated them for it, and they disappeared over time.

Now everything, everywhere on line forces you to register so they can get your info.

Its like when I turned on my brand-new Kindle for the first time. It has an ad. First thing you see.

I was infuriated. Still annoys me. Really? I BOUGHT THIS FUCKING THING AND YOU ARE SPAMMING ME WITH ADS?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:32 PM (KZzsI)

387 I was engaged at 20, married at 21, and a father and sole earner of a family at 22.

I plan on starting my wild years soon.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at January 15, 2021 03:32 PM (yQpMk)

388 368 I didnt settle down and get married for a long time. I traveled a lot and moved around a lot too. Glad I did. That isnt bad advice for the yuutes.
Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 15, 2021 03:29 PM (736Ux)

Did the same. Married in my early 30s. The major caveat is, however, there is a time to f'ing grow up and we did.

I think most people today think travel and hook up culture is a great path forward, which it is, if you want to be alone and depressed for the bulk of your life.

Posted by: Grip the Weasel at January 15, 2021 03:32 PM (KbCG3)

389 "pro forma kabuke

Check your Moron style guide

Pro forma bukkake

Posted by: DaveA at January 15, 2021 03:33 PM (FhXTo)

390 Nood Luntz.

Posted by: rickb223 at January 15, 2021 03:33 PM (BJLVZ)

391 Netflix had one standing desk at the end of every other row in their call center. You did not get your own assigned desk, but generally stayed in the same row. You had to have a medical need to use the standing desk. They were neat, used hydraulics to raise and lower it, so it could be used like a standard desk.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at January 15, 2021 03:33 PM (JKNZq)

392 From "Oh Mercy". I like every song on it.

Great album, one of the few I like by him. Blood on the Tracks is good, too.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:33 PM (KZzsI)

393 They'll all gather around to admire it, then storm to HR to ask for their own.
Posted by: banana Dream


Yeah, a couple major a-holes in the office got them. Fortunately, I have not seen them in months because of the Covid nonsense. All too afraid of the rest of the human race. But stand - up desks? Got it!

Posted by: Bozo Conservative ....Living on the prison planet at January 15, 2021 03:33 PM (vcOmj)

394 @368

Yeah, it is. Because as someone else pointed out, there is a finite supply of good marriage material and good jobs.

the good marriage material are willing to get married, so when you wait too long, there's not-so-good left.

Not to mention the biological problems you get with older moms, which no one ever wants to talk about

Posted by: artemis at January 15, 2021 03:33 PM (AwPyG)

395
There's an ongoing genre of stories about how Google employees mostly live in RVs because there's no housing in the area for under a million dollars.

Posted by: Ian S. at January 15, 2021 03:23 PM (ZGrMX)



Which is one of the main reasons for the High Speed Rail bullshit (aside from the mountain of graft, of course). It's a subsidy for Googlites so that they can buy homes in Modesto and Fresno for 1/3 the cost of a shitbox in the Bay Area.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 15, 2021 03:33 PM (EGyGV)

396 The piano has been drinking...

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz, Trump Won at January 15, 2021 03:33 PM (a4EWo)

397 The internet is a toilet overflowing with what a toilet overflows with.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at January 15, 2021 03:33 PM (R/m4+)

398 Respond accordingly. The proof reading squirrels are on a smoke break.
Posted by: Sock Monkey. * at January 15, 2021 03:30 PM


Squirrels? Is that what you're yclepting us now?

Posted by: Assistant Associate AoSHQ Copy Editor, Oxford Comma Platoon at January 15, 2021 03:34 PM (DMUuz)

399 The article reminds me of an article I just read from another of the Unpersoned, Mark Steyn (who doesn't get nearly the play anymore that he deserves):


"I despise the United States Congress, and not merely for the weeks I had to spend there during the Clinton impeachment trial: My contempt pre-dates that circus. It dates to the moment I first realized, as a recent arrival to this land, that when Dick Durbin or some such is giving some overwrought speech on a burning issue he is speaking to an entirely empty chamber - because there are no debates, because most of these over-entouraged Emirs of Incumbistan are entirely incapable of debate


https://tinyurl.com/yxktu2a9

Another clear take on the capitol protest.

Posted by: McLurkerson at January 15, 2021 03:34 PM (QqhVI)

400 Since we're on the topic of office design. How
about "standing desks"? You want to find out who are the smuggest
hipsters in your office? Install just one standing desk in an open cube.
They'll all gather around to admire it, then storm to HR to ask for
their own.

Posted by: banana Dream at January 15, 2021 03:29 PM (w3rBT)



I had one at my last job. You could raise it up to standing height,
or lower it to sitting height. I loved it, because I hate sitting all
day.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile at January 15, 2021 03:30 PM (jOcSX)

The wife has one. She loves it.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at January 15, 2021 03:34 PM (9Om/r)

401 By "this tall", I mean a standard formula of "my height plus seven inches, or six feet tall, whichever is greater".

And this is not a "would be nice"; it's a strict requirement.

Posted by: Prothonotary Warbler

That is as gauche as - "You must have a net worth value of $xxxxxxxx."

I've been out of those sites for awhile. Net worth filters may in fact be common now.

Posted by: Tonypete at January 15, 2021 03:34 PM (Rvt88)

402 > You want to find out who are the smuggest hipsters in your office? Install just one standing desk in an open cube. They'll all gather around to admire it, then storm to HR to ask for their own.

Heh. Standing desks are so common in all of the places I've worked, nobody cares. Some people like them, some people don't.

Posted by: bonhomme at January 15, 2021 03:34 PM (UW2ZS)

403 Did the same. Married in my early 30s. The major caveat is, however, there is a time to f'ing grow up and we did.
-----------------
Yep. A bunch of my HS friends got married right after graduation. Only one couple lasted and they both joined the Air Force together. The Teenage Brain is a very unstable thing.

Posted by: Puddin Head at January 15, 2021 03:34 PM (14Wwm)

404 My zip code is always 54321 no matter who asks for it or where I am.
Posted by: Martini Farmer - Now a Pirate, Hoisting the Black Flag at January 15, 2021 03:28 PM (3H9h1)

That's the same combination on my luggage!

Posted by: ... at January 15, 2021 03:34 PM (jhm6b)

405 But if you insist on dating only women who weigh less than you, "Oh, what pig! What an asshole!"

Posted by: Prothonotary Warbler- Quit the GOP on 1/20! at January 15, 2021 03:32 PM (H3MF

I always put no fatties or ugoes.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at January 15, 2021 03:34 PM (xfb67)

406 Everything is broken
Everything is falling apart at the seams
Everything is broken
When you're in a Marxist scheme

Posted by: spindrift at January 15, 2021 03:35 PM (Q7J8K)

407 The major caveat is, however, there is a time to f'ing grow up and we did.


One of the signs of maturity is when a person realizes that the purpose of their life is not about themselves. We are put here to serve, not be served.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:35 PM (KZzsI)

408 I think that's part of the problem--Trump and the white hats are trying to make this as painless as possible, and I don't see how you counter The Great Reset without some very dumb people feeling a little pain
Posted by: artemis at January 15, 2021 03:30 PM (AwPyG)


I truly believe growth is impossible without pain. Nobody sane likes pain - nobody sane seeks it out for its own sake. But you have to be willing to do painful things to grow.

If these "white hats" you speak of are trying to spare the public from pain - then they do us a terrible disservice.

Posted by: Pierre at January 15, 2021 03:37 PM (EjQ00)

409 I had one at my last job. You could raise it up to standing height,
or lower it to sitting height. I loved it, because I hate sitting all
day.

Posted by: Colorado Alex in Exile

I had one also due to back trouble.

Price through the company buying process, $1100.

Price for the exact same item through a office supply site, $500 delivered.

Corporate foolishness strikes again.

Posted by: Tonypete at January 15, 2021 03:37 PM (Rvt88)

410 And the subtitle makes it even better:

Everything Is Broken
And how to fix it

Posted by: m at January 15, 2021 03:37 PM (UM8Xw)

411 >>> Its like when I turned on my brand-new Kindle for the first time. It has an ad. First thing you see.

I was infuriated. Still annoys me. Really? I BOUGHT THIS FUCKING THING AND YOU ARE SPAMMING ME WITH ADS?
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:32 PM (KZzsI)


There are two kinds of every kindle. One called "ad-supported" shows ads on the lock screen, the other doesn't and is 25-30 $ more expensive.

Posted by: banana Dream at January 15, 2021 03:37 PM (w3rBT)

412 There is a new thread.

Posted by: m at January 15, 2021 03:37 PM (UM8Xw)

413 If these "white hats" you speak of are trying to spare the public from pain - then they do us a terrible disservice.

Posted by: Pierre at January 15, 2021 03:37 PM (EjQ00)

That which gives light must first burn.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at January 15, 2021 03:37 PM (xfb67)

414 I always put no fatties or ugoes.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe


"BAN HIM!!!!!!!!!"
--Crayola-Haired disease merchant xer/xhe

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:38 PM (KZzsI)

415 There are two kinds of every kindle. One called "ad-supported" shows ads on the lock screen, the other doesn't and is 25-30 $ more expensive.
Posted by: banana Dream at January 15, 2021 03:37 PM (w3rBT)

******

And both track the shit out of you.

Posted by: Mr. Gray at January 15, 2021 03:38 PM (BDWWT)

416 One of the signs of maturity is when a person realizes that the purpose of their life is not about themselves. We are put here to serve, not be served.

Said every true believing Fascist. Tread carefully - especially if you see yourself fit to name who should serve, and the manner of their service.

Posted by: Pierre at January 15, 2021 03:40 PM (EjQ00)

417 Yay. Got Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and The Elephant Man in the mail.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison

-----

"The bad news? You will no longer own the largest private movie collection in the country once we confiscate it -- for the people. The good news? After burning down the old white supremacist Library of Congress, we will seed the new Ministry of State T ruth with the collected works of Biden's greatest plagiarized speeches, comrade!"

Posted by: ShainS at January 15, 2021 03:40 PM (fqKO+)

418 "Everything is broken" is a line in Tom Taubert's Blues and is one of the most maudlin songs ever.

When I read the title, I heard it in Tom Waits's "voice".

Posted by: pawn at January 15, 2021 03:45 PM (WKDxF)

419 It then turns to the consequences of turning everyone flat:


*******


Maaybe this is a prelude to implementing a flat tax.

Posted by: Muldoon at January 15, 2021 03:45 PM (m45I2)

420
I was infuriated. Still annoys me. Really? I BOUGHT THIS FUCKING THING AND YOU ARE SPAMMING ME WITH ADS?
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 15, 2021 03:32 PM (KZzsI)


You could own an iPhone and have a POS album automatically installed on it from that POS Irish band U2.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 15, 2021 03:47 PM (pNxlR)

421 I'll offer a half-hearted defense of the law. Lawyers are agents; they represent other people's interests (with some notable out-of-control exceptions). So if society is broken and filled with broken people, lawyers will necessarily will reflect their brokenness. The law can be a bulwark in a functioning society but it cannot prop up a society in which every institution is broken.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (H5knJ)

The judicial system is the hinderance, rather than individual lawyers. The primary issue is the court with case backlogs of four years or more, judicial reluctance to dispose of cases on summary judgment yet frustration with case management, judicial ignorance of the case, etc.

Posted by: PunchBowlPariah at January 15, 2021 03:48 PM (u8oC4)

422
It then turns to the consequences of turning everyone flat:

*******

Maybe this is a prelude to implementing a flat tax.
Posted by: Muldoon at January 15, 2021 03:45 PM (m45I2)


We are all Flat Stanley now

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 15, 2021 03:49 PM (pNxlR)

423
"Everything is Broken:"


Everything is awesome!
Everything is cool when you're part of a team!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at January 15, 2021 03:51 PM (pNxlR)

424 From my limited experience in court it seems to me the problem is not the lawyers, it is the judges. They are the ones that have turned one's right to a speedy trial into a travesty spanning years and tens or hundreds of thousands in legal bills. They are the ones that have allowed plea bargaining to supplant one's right to a trial by one's peers.

Posted by: moon_over_vermont at January 15, 2021 02:51 PM (TPW8V)

Well said.

Posted by: PunchBowlPariah at January 15, 2021 03:51 PM (u8oC4)

425 Oohhhhh...flat. I read it as everyone is fat.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at January 15, 2021 03:52 PM (r+sAi)

426 Over 400 and not a single mention of Rachel Corrie. Y'all are slipping.

Posted by: Muldoon at January 15, 2021 03:59 PM (m45I2)

427 Trite and dull by a neurotic ambulance chasing trial lawyer fanboi

Posted by: Mike Hunt at January 15, 2021 03:59 PM (c3nqT)

428 I used to have a Flat Cat.

Posted by: pawn at January 15, 2021 04:01 PM (WKDxF)

429 Why is there so much military firepower and barriers in the capital? The "rioters" last week was a handful of people. There's no significant threats, so what is going on here?

Posted by: Mozam at January 15, 2021 04:03 PM (uToj1)

430 "Q calls it The Great Awakening."

Posted by: artemis at January 15, 2021 03:20 PM (AwPyG)

Preference cascade. Been defined for quite some time. Ace may even have done a post on ot.

Posted by: West at January 15, 2021 04:05 PM (QY+6a)

431 426 Over 400 and not a single mention of Rachel Corrie. Y'all are slipping.

Posted by: Muldoon at January 15, 2021 03:59 PM

She's mot a fan of flatness.

Posted by: West at January 15, 2021 04:08 PM (QY+6a)

432 321 I bought a jacket last week at a sporting goods store. When I checked out the clerk asked for my zip code. I said what for?
=========
I just say no. Same thing for phone number or email receipt. NO do not spam me.

Posted by: Bonecrusher at January 15, 2021 04:08 PM (JNTt1)

433 It's especially ridiculous that women can have height standards, but men can't have weight standards, when you consider that a man must be 7" taller than a woman he wants to date.

A 6' tall, athletic, 200-lb. man thus can't insist that the 5'5" or shorter women who are willing to date him weigh less than 200 lbs.

Posted by: Prothonotary Warbler- Quit the GOP on 1/20! at January 15, 2021 04:10 PM (H3MF8)

434 Let's hear it for double-plus good duckspeakers!

Posted by: Parker at January 15, 2021 04:23 PM (hJWil)

435 Flat as in flat affect/emotions? Flat as in flat chested?
Flat as in flat tire? Flat as a pancake? Flat as in flat liner? Flat horizon? Flat footed? Flat-tulence?

Flat as in dead: emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, physically. That's what they want. Easier to control when FLAT.

Posted by: Ziba at January 15, 2021 04:23 PM (S1hrL)

436 14 Indeed. It has my attention.

Posted by: SaltyDonnie at January 15, 2021 04:25 PM (i6shs)

437 Utilitarianism on steroids. Who in there right mind ever admitted to seeing this coming?
Oh, well. Better spruce up your resumé morons. You MUST be useful.

Posted by: pascal at January 15, 2021 04:43 PM (I6KFS)

438 I'll offer a half-hearted defense of the law. Lawyers are agents; they represent other people's interests (with some notable out-of-control exceptions). So if society is broken and filled with broken people, lawyers will necessarily will reflect their brokenness. The law can be a bulwark in a functioning society but it cannot prop up a society in which every institution is broken.
Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at January 15, 2021 02:43 PM (H5knJ)

The judicial system is the hinderance, rather than individual lawyers. The primary issue is the court with case backlogs of four years or more, judicial reluctance to dispose of cases on summary judgment yet frustration with case management, judicial ignorance of the case, etc.
Posted by: PunchBowlPariah at January 15, 2021 03:48 PM (u8oC4)

Systems are an illusion, or a metaphor - there is only people and habits. If the "Legal System" is broken it is because judges and lawyers make it so and allow it to be so. Just because it is convenient to think of Systems as entities, doesn't make them the actors.

If judges and lawyers weren't paid by the hour but by the case I'm sure speedy trials would be back in very fast.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 15, 2021 05:30 PM (eoQWY)

439 Which is one of the main reasons for the High Speed Rail bullshit (aside from the mountain of graft, of course). It's a subsidy for Googlites so that they can buy homes in Modesto and Fresno for 1/3 the cost of a shitbox in the Bay Area.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at January 15, 2021 03:33 PM (EGyGV)

The tickets on the rail will cost more than the house.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 15, 2021 05:33 PM (eoQWY)

440 I keep thinking about that movie Code 46. Definitely that flat tone.

Posted by: Grandmalcaesar at January 15, 2021 06:27 PM (EiOif)

441 This article hurt me, its so true. I'm ostensibly a milennial and desperate for an actual experience. I'm grossed out by how everything looks like an app, doesn't work, and how everyone seems to be okay with that. I have been fascinated with "old stuff", and history, just looking for something REAL.

Posted by: funsize at January 15, 2021 06:41 PM (grLA4)

442 I guess the best we can hope is that enough people see through the charade and... and do what ? That's the real question. How do you actually reverse the process ?

She says at one point, something like, "allergy to excellence", but I think she has that wrong.

People aren't actually allergic to excellence. It's that so little of it is presented, not because people don't want it, but because its existence marks the mediocrity, or even their inferiority. I mean, I'm sure you've all seen reference to it, but "work ethic" and "perfectionism" are now hallmarks of "white supremacy", as if minorities cannot strive for, let alone achieve excellence. A proposition we all know to be complete bunk. It's just an institutional way to implement the soft bigotry of low expectations.

And all in the name of the flatness of social justice - for MARXISM. But how to reverse it ? No idea. The media, again, is our chief concern, as they provide the massive PR umbrella under which this horrible regime survives with nothing to show for itself but destruction. The only way out is to destroy the mainstream media.

Posted by: deadrody at January 15, 2021 07:13 PM (V9901)

443 Oh, and she's absolutely right, everything is broken, and / or a scam

My daughter got a DUI about a year ago. The amount of BS scams involved in digging out of that mess is incredible. Not a bit of it worth a thing, yet costing hundreds of dollars at every turn - classes, counseling, lawyers, expert witnesses, restricted license, special license, oh now you're convicted ? - restart the whole special license process all over again.

Literally everything is a scam.

Posted by: deadrody at January 15, 2021 07:15 PM (V9901)

444 It looks like this is the antithesis to Murray's Bell Curve. Intelligence is not the desciminating factor any longer.

Posted by: JT Smith at January 15, 2021 07:18 PM (frfx6)

445 She can't believe this has ever happened before. People will try to sell you things for some of your money? My God! Stop the presses. I hope she has good doctors. Her parents and teachers failed.

Posted by: Art at January 15, 2021 07:44 PM (cts7U)

446 What might constitute a cure: do more of what actually makes you happy. Do not fear failure, otherwise no risks will be taken. Personally, I need to let my brain be quiet and wander more. Being too plugged in is bad for creativity (hard to unplug, when every new day's news brings more eye-popping ridiculousness). Also taking time to experience things that are new to you is important.

Posted by: funsize at January 15, 2021 07:47 PM (EiPf6)

447 The post-WW2 era she yearns for was in fact the "Jewish moment" in American cultural history, although Jews were far from the only people who made it what it was. And she's right; there's been nothing nearly as good since then.

Posted by: William A Befort at January 16, 2021 09:50 PM (WHscG)

448 I never thought i could smile and be in a happy marriage again if not for the help of DR.Moses Buba. I got the doctors Emailsbuba.herbalmiraclemedicine@gmail.com ) on the internet and i emailed him, and he got back to me with some encouraging words, he got me some herbs cream which i use for just 8 days and i began to feel the enlargement of my penis, and without surgery. This went on for a little period of about 10 days and to my surprise my wife keeps screaming that she loves my big dick now. Now my wife no longer cheats on me, and my penis is now about 10.5 inches long on erection and off course very large round. And now my wife uses breasts, hips and bums enlargement. I and my wife are very happy for the help rendered to me by DR.Moses Buba, and I want to say a big thanks to the Doctor for the help. You can contact the Doctor now on his Email buba.herbalmiraclemedicine@gmail.com ) OR WHATSAPP +2349060529305

Posted by: Charles at January 16, 2021 10:49 PM (baxhz)

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