Why Do Leftists Never Learn?<br>By Your Raving Roving Science Correspondent [Jay Guevara]

Why Do Leftists Never Learn?
By Your Raving Roving Science Correspondent [Jay Guevara]

I've long been vexed by this question. How many times must liberals step on a rake before reality intrudes, and they realize that stepping on a rake is not a good idea? The answer must be on the order of Avogadro's number, because we're still far from that goal.

Consider the policies and perspectives to which liberals/leftists cling, despite contrary evidence right before their eyes.

We've all seen this many times: liberals propose some policy to mitigate a perceived problem, implement the policy, and find that they've inadvertently aggravated the original problem manifold. So they propose another policy to fix the now fulminant problem they've caused, and the problem gets even worse.

Examples abound. Rent control leaps to mind in this connection. Rent control was initiated (IIRC) in NYC during WWII, i.e., under exigent circumstances. Apparently it exists to this day. Does it work? No, of course not. Rent-controlled apartments tend not to go on the market, but rather to be sublet by the present occupant, who collects some of the payment that rightfully should have gone to the landlord, in effect benefiting from the arbitrage between the controlled rent and the market value rent.

That's the best case. If rents are artificially set low enough, the landlord cannot afford to maintain his property and so lets it decay. If he's actually losing money on it, and therefore cannot possibly sell it as a rental property, he may try to "encourage" tenants to leave so he can convert the property to condos. In extremis, he may just insure the building and then have it torched for the insurance money.

So all in all, a policy that historically has not only failed, but failed miserably, and could easily be foreseen to be a failure beforehand. Does that stop leftists from proposing it? Hell no. To this day leftists agitate for rent control, most recently in California (handily turned down by the voters - even California voters aren't that stupid, apparently, but the legislature passed a rent control measure anyway) and Oregon followed suit.

Why do leftists keep going back to the well? They say they support rent control to deal with the perceived shortage of housing, but then promote a policy that absolutely guarantees a more severe shortage of housing.

Same thing with the "homelessness" problem. First, "homelessness" is a misnomer; the long-term "homeless" are typically mentally ill and/or drug-addled. Their problem is not lack of a home; that's a consequence of their problem(s), not the source.* Yet leftists persist in the threadbare fiction that the problem is a lack of housing, inviting the conclusion that if the "homeless" were just provided with a home, all would be well. Any honest person with eyes to see knows that that is not true.

And so it is with so many leftist policies. Why do they not learn from experience, from observation?

My considered answer: it's because they eschew empiricism. They are convinced that their perspective on reality is correct, quite apart from what they see around them. Their ideology trumps their experience.

Which brings me to the scientific method, so much more honored in the breach than the observance.

This is largely because it is not a natural way to think. It takes graduate students years to learn to adopt it reflexively to attack any problem, and some never get it. (The latter group we put in charge of science policy, as far as I can tell.)

Here's the process. First, observe the phenomenon, in what might be called the "taxonomic phase." (As Sherlock Holmes famously said, "I cannot make bricks without clay.") Then generate a conjecture (i.e., a guess) on how the phenomenon works (or what controls it). Firm up the conjecture by predicting from the conjecture what should happen in a given circumstance, i.e., a way of testing the conjecture, thereby advancing the conjecture to the "hypothesis phase." Next, conduct the test and evaluate the results: do they comport well with the prediction, or no? In the latter case, the hypothesis needs to be at least modified, if not rejected outright. The former case does not "prove" the hypothesis; that is impossible. It merely shows that the hypothesis is consistent with the observations to hand thus far.

Auto mechanics and electricians, to name two, are generally very good at the scientific method, whereas most college graduates (in any subject) are appallingly bad at it. (Even physicians are often terrible at it.) As indicated, it's not a natural way to think. In trying to solve a problem most people naturally tend to take pot shots in hopes of hitting the answer, instead of approaching the problem systematically.

The keystone of the scientific method is, of course, empiricism. If your beliefs about something are not borne out by observation, then your beliefs are wrong. Simple, really. And no lifting your failed hypothesis by its sagging shorts, either, by adding ad hoc provisions. If your model says the climate should be getting warmer, but the climate does not cooperate, then your model is wrong. No rescuing it by lamely claiming that the heat must be lurking in the deep ocean, there biding its time, waiting ... waiting ... (cue theme from "Jaws"). That flunks Ockham's Razor.

At the next level of abstraction is epistemology, the philosophical field that deals with knowledge. What does it mean to "know" something? How do we come to "know" what we "know?" In epistemological terms, leftists favor a priori knowledge, i.e., knowledge acquired by pure reason (as they see it), whereas the scientific method looks to a posteriori knowledge, i.e., knowledge deriving from empirical observation. In a nautical metaphor, those looking to a posteriori knowledge sail hugging the coast of Reality, keeping in sight, whereas those favoring a priori knowledge strike out across the open sea. Now some of the greatest thinkers in human history - mathematicians, theoretical physicists, philosophers - generated a priori knowledge, e.g., Aristotle, Newton, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Bohr, Dirac, Einstein, Descartes, Voltaire, Kant, and Locke. (On the other hand, Galileo, Kepler, and Faraday, to name three, generated a posteriori knowledge based upon observations.)

I think that this is where leftists go astray. (As did, e.g., Aristotle, whose natural history is now considered largely risible, and Newton, who believed in the occult. Losing sight of the coast of Reality can come with a price, even for those of such superior intellect.) Leftists consider that they have reached their views through pure reason (I'm not laughing), when in fact they've merely adopted the views that have been made fashionable (the "community-based reality").

They place their beliefs and feelings (or as they would characterize it, their pure reason) above their observations, and that makes their intellectual carapace impenetrable. (Graduate students sometimes said to me, "It's X." "But your experiment shows it's not X." "But ... but I know it's X." "Do you have reason to believe the experiment is flawed?" "No." "Then your experimental results say you're wrong.") I suspect that this is why leftist policies never work: it's because they are scratching where it doesn't itch, and why it is so difficult to get them to recognize objective reality.

Just for fun, try this in a debate with a leftist: "What would it take to get you to reconsider your views?" (Note: not change them, that's asking too much, but just consider whether they should be reconsidered.) I've never received a substantive answer to this question from any leftist. They usually just dismiss the question out of hand.

I'll play. If someone accurately predicts (predicts; none of this after-the-fact "we would have predicted" crap) the climate (by some mutually agreed measure) over some (mutually agreed) period, in the near future (not 100 years from now, thank you very much; try the next, say, five years), then I'll reconsider my skepticism regarding the "climate change" models. Until then, no dice.

*Those who do not fall into this category seem to believe that they should be able to live wherever they want, regardless of whether or not they can afford it. For my part, I want to live in Malibu, but don't - because I can't afford it.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:30 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Hola

Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 30, 2021 07:33 PM (kTF2Z)

2 Why do leftists keep going back to the well?

Because nobody's there to stop them.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 07:33 PM (W4eKo)

3 I alerted the otters.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 30, 2021 07:34 PM (kTF2Z)

4 Just found it on my own

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 07:35 PM (Cxk7w)

5 Fixer Uppers

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 07:35 PM (oUcR5)

6 Is it too early for a thread winner by you #2 Notorious BFD?

Posted by: Jaimo at January 30, 2021 07:36 PM (NXGjq)

7 2 Why do leftists keep going back to the well?

Because nobody's there to stop them.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 07:33 PM (W4eKo)

Because the GOPe built a paved road to the well and bought buckets for everyone.

Posted by: Ladyl at January 30, 2021 07:37 PM (TdMsT)

8 Good evening, all

Posted by: My life is insanity at January 30, 2021 07:37 PM (Z/jzm)

9
Because that's where the money is.

Posted by: Dr. Dr. Willy Sutton at January 30, 2021 07:38 PM (TMRqY)

10 Why do leftists keep going back to the well?

Tell me once when it has failed them.

Posted by: MarkY at January 30, 2021 07:38 PM (Yqi/Y)

11 I was out earlier and saw at least a dozen wearing two. Unbelievable.
Posted by: Notorious BFD
-----
I noticed lots of two-maskers yesterday when I was at the grocery store, Sams Club, and Costco.
It's should be painful to be so stupid... excruciatingly painful!

Ditto with the rent controllers. Or the Austin city clowns who want to buy more hotels to house the homeless... arrgghhhh!!!!

Posted by: lin-duh 27-4 at January 30, 2021 07:38 PM (UUBmN)

12 It's been said by many Leftism is one stage thinking.
Look no further than our year long pandemic.

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 07:38 PM (Cxk7w)

13 Saddest thing about those houses is they where once really nice homes. Most likely solid plaster interior walls and frames are the only reason they are still standing.

Posted by: Big V Caffeinated at January 30, 2021 07:38 PM (6Pqz7)

14 Hiya Jay !

Nice post !

Posted by: JT at January 30, 2021 07:38 PM (arJlL)

15 Why do liberals never learn? Because they believe they already have all the answers. It's reality that's wrong.

They cannot learn. It's a condition of this mental disorder.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at January 30, 2021 07:39 PM (l9m7l)

16 hi there

Posted by: Dr. Varno at January 30, 2021 07:39 PM (vuisn)

17 The true believers will be able to see by the double masks..

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 07:39 PM (Cxk7w)

18 14 Hiya Jay !

Nice post !
Posted by: JT at January 30, 2021 07:38 PM (arJlL)

Thanks, JT!

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 07:40 PM (YqDXo)

19 Hiya MLii !

Fancy meetin' you here !

Posted by: JT at January 30, 2021 07:40 PM (arJlL)

20 Great post Jay.

I would quibble only to note that for many, thinking logically and empirically comes very naturally.

For such people, American society has been an increasingly vexatious, now verging on intolerable, experience.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 30, 2021 07:40 PM (OTzUX)

21 It's all greed and "will to power."

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at January 30, 2021 07:41 PM (2BZBZ)

22 Excellent post.

Leftisits, i.e. communists, inflict their "ideas" on others but they themselves are always shielded from these very same ideas.

Look at the minimum wage. None of the douchebags who promote this nonsense actually ever work for "minimum" wage. I would like to see all government employees at all levels only be paid the "minimum" wage ( and never a raise) so as to be in solidarity with the great unwashed.

Power to the People!

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at January 30, 2021 07:42 PM (R/m4+)

23 The leadership and the serious ideologues know what they're doing, there is nothing for them to "learn".

It's the useful idiots that have the attention span and memory of goldfish. But - a large chunk of any society are idiots. What matters is if the non-left, non-idiots manage to defeat the leftists.

Posted by: there are only three star wars films at January 30, 2021 07:43 PM (EEVQU)

24 Hey JT!

Posted by: My life is insanity at January 30, 2021 07:44 PM (Z/jzm)

25 Can't remember where, but I read about a guest lecturer at a university who asked the class who would change their mind about global warming if they were presented data that said it wasn't happening. No hands went up so he packed up his things and left, but not before stating that he was here to talk about science not religion.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 30, 2021 07:44 PM (kTF2Z)

26 is this a horror movie post or a black comedy movie post?

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom Staunch Demofaszi (on gab as @vm) at January 30, 2021 07:44 PM (nUhF0)

27 Back a few decades ago, the mental institutions were deemed to be in human, and so they were emptied of all the crazies and slower witted of the population.
That started the present day problem of homeless individuals.
Granted, many of those institutions were not run humanely, but they were necessary. Some people need caretakers.

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 07:44 PM (oUcR5)

28 Great post Jay.

I would quibble only to note that for many, thinking logically and empirically comes very naturally.

For such people, American society has been an increasingly vexatious, now verging on intolerable, experience.

Posted by: rhomboid at January 30, 2021 07:40 PM (OTzUX)

Thanks, rhomboid. Thinking logically and empirically is not coextensive with the scientific method, but is a necessary prerequisite for practicing it.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 07:45 PM (YqDXo)

29 Here's why I think leftards stick to ideas that don't pan out:

because they like the idea so much, and it appears to be such an elegant solution, that they refuse to give it up. 'It simply MUST work. It HAS to!'

Like wind or solar power. What a neat idea! Free energy from the sky! It's perfect, it's clean! No more dirty oil! We're saved!

Except the sun doesn't always shine; the wind doesn't always blow.

Leftists, liberals, whatever name you choose- are cursed with immense self-regard. They are good people; their ideas make sense. It simply MUST WORK!

Posted by: DB- just DB at January 30, 2021 07:45 PM (iTXRQ)

30 vmom - yes

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 07:46 PM (Cxk7w)

31 You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.

Posted by: f'd at January 30, 2021 07:46 PM (ioRZu)

32 The Left never suffers consequences so they never learn. They always fail up.

Posted by: blaster at January 30, 2021 07:46 PM (6GiCM)

33 American society has been an increasingly vexatious, now verging on intolerable, experience

In so many ways, it has indeed. I find myself disconnecting a bit more every day. Sure, there's still family and friends but the public-at-large has become (to use your word) truly intolerable.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 07:47 PM (W4eKo)

34 1 Molotov cocktail would fix those two houses.

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 07:47 PM (Cxk7w)

35 Again, it comes down to worldviews. When your basic assumptions about life, reality, morals, humanity, and truth are challenged at a fundamental level, you have a few choices.

1) change your mind: I must have been wrong about all this (this is the hardest to do, because it challenges your most basic self worth and is very frightening, because now nothing makes sense)
2) Go crazy: nothing makes sense, there is no reality, nothing matters
3) Reject the truth and decide you're still right in some way that has yet to be revealed or can be explained by excuses: the USA interfered, they did it wrong, we are smarter now, etc.

Look at that picture at the White House of all those people, Psaki, Jarret, all the pajama bois. They don't look sad, or distraught or shocked. They look scolding. HOW DARE YOU??

That's the response of the zealot who is challenged and will not, or even cannot, change their mind.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 07:47 PM (KZzsI)

36 Excellent post.

Leftisits, i.e. communists, inflict their "ideas" on others but they themselves are always shielded from these very same ideas.

Look at the minimum wage. None of the douchebags who promote this nonsense actually ever work for "minimum" wage. I would like to see all government employees at all levels only be paid the "minimum" wage ( and never a raise) so as to be in solidarity with the great unwashed.

Power to the People!
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at January 30, 2021 07:42 PM (R/m4+)

Thanks, Hairyback Guy, and you raise an important point that may go some way to explaining why leftists' are insensible to empirical observations: because they're at too great a remove from them to have the requisite impact.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 07:47 PM (YqDXo)

37 Nicely done, Jay. This has vexed me too. How do you talk to another human, if reason and logic are ruled out before the conversation starts?

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 07:48 PM (RzGcW)

38 Wonderful post! While overly represented, leftists aren't the only ones who think in these terms - plenty on the right get stuck in their own dogma, as well (corporate taxes, immigration). I think it's a human nature thing - Ego (with a capital "E") is a huge limiting factor to being open to new ideas, evaluating different points of view, and willingness to say, Oops, I screwed up.

Posted by: Russkilitlover at January 30, 2021 07:48 PM (99Nt9)

39 34 1 Molotov cocktail would fix those two houses.
Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 07:47 PM (Cxk7w)

Those houses would sell for $500,000 in coastal California!

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 07:49 PM (YqDXo)

40 Sure, there's still family and friends but the public-at-large has become (to use your word) truly intolerable.

Christians faced this in the early 20th century when Freud, Darwin, and Dewey recreated the entire philosophical landscape and gave the light thinkers and know-nothings a way of explaining the world that didn't need God.

The response of most Christians was to withdraw from the world, because it was hostile and crazy and would not listen any longer to the warnings. And there were plenty of warnings: this will happen if you continue down this path (and they were right, it has all happened, and worse).

Had the Christians stayed engaged, fighting in culture and striving to be salt and light would things have turned out differently, would it have made a difference? God knows.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 07:49 PM (KZzsI)

41 There are only two ways to get me to do what you want me to do. Persuasion or coercion. The left has abandoned the former.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 30, 2021 07:49 PM (kTF2Z)

42 sometimes people just need a punch in the face to see reason

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom Staunch Demofaszi (on gab as @vm) at January 30, 2021 07:49 PM (nUhF0)

43 The thought is Socialism isn't for the Socialists, it's only for the masses, they have no plans to live under their rules.

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 07:50 PM (Cxk7w)

44 Emotions will outweigh reason with a significant percentage of the population.

Posted by: f'd at January 30, 2021 07:50 PM (ioRZu)

45 Also, your concept of what it would take to prove to you that you are wrong is right on. If you can make a prediction, and it comes true, I'll listen to you for sure, and be willing to change what I think.

That's science, basically.

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 07:50 PM (RzGcW)

46 Leftists have a firm belief they are the ones who will make communism work. This time. Though atheists, they have a pretty strong 'religion'.

Posted by: Eromero at January 30, 2021 07:51 PM (em79L)

47 Yesterday, online (never mind where): Wine Mom posts a meme advocating for a higher minimum wage and giving teachers whatever they want to make, because teachers are HEROES!!!

Me: the miminum wage is ALWAYS zero.
Wine Mom: It's 2021, time for a living wage. (I never bothered to ask how the laws of economics simply stopped because the calendar went from 2020 to 2021, but whatever)
Me: Res qunatum valet tantum vendi potest. (I COULD translate that into English but that would lead to far more confusion.)

I don't understand why teachers are entitled to money just because they are teachers. What if they suck? (That question is never asked.)

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 07:51 PM (49Dnm)

48 Those two houses are East and West Berlin, back in the days of the wall. That contrast is something the Leftists of the time could not even begin to talk about.

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 07:52 PM (RzGcW)

49 Ask a warmest how low should our target be for atmospheric CO2 in ppm. Whatever the respond with say "why not lower it to 0?". Watch their eyes cloud over.

Posted by: Javems at January 30, 2021 07:53 PM (8SSHh)

50 Just for fun, try this in a debate with a leftist: "What would it take to get you to reconsider your views?" (Note: not change them, that's asking too much, but just consider whether they should be reconsidered.)

As it has been said, it is useless to try to reason a man out of a position that he did not arrive from reason. If someone arrives at a conclusion based on emotion, fear, irrational compassion, or foolishness, then no amount of reason can force that person to change their minds. For them, you're speaking a different language, none of it makes sense.

A moment like the proverbial "mugging" that turns a liberal into a conservative, for instance, or 9/11 for many, is what it takes. Something so shocking and conflicting with their worldview that they are torn from it and left to rebuild, based on what they now know to be true rather than what they wish to be so.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 07:53 PM (KZzsI)

51 Are those 2 houses in Detroit?

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 07:54 PM (oUcR5)

52 The Left lives in a bubble, and no matter what goes wrong, they will make excuses. (Take minimum wage hikes. What did Leftists say in Seattle about their insane minimum wage hikes and the fact that they forced businesses to move or close althgether? "Well, lots of things force businesses to close. That isn't the only thing.")

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 07:54 PM (49Dnm)

53 Great post Jay.

I would quibble only to note that for many, thinking logically and empirically comes very naturally.

For such people, American society has been an increasingly vexatious, now verging on intolerable, experience.

Posted by: rhomboid

I remember Nixon using the term "Silent Majority" (and he was roundly mocked by the MSM)

I think that's true of today, but now we're the SILENCED majority.

Posted by: JT at January 30, 2021 07:54 PM (arJlL)

54
Ditto with the rent controllers. Or the Austin city clowns who want to buy more hotels to house the homeless... arrgghhhh!!!!
Posted by: lin-duh 27-4 at January 30, 2021 07:38 PM (UUBmN)

I don't think the point is to reduce rents or house homeless. I think the point is that private ownership is anathema to all globalists. If we agree that globalists believe we are pawns to service thier lifestyles, then it becomes evident that ownership of anything subverts their ability to move us around, lump us together or separate us, and otherwise control our location, movement, and all forms of individual choice or preference.

Posted by: Russkilitlover at January 30, 2021 07:54 PM (99Nt9)

55 Thanks for all the kind comments.

I think it's important to lean into the wind, and to be intellectually honest.

"This is what I think and/or would like to believe. So I will be especially skeptical of anything confirming me in what is an idea near and dear to my heart."

When I first met my now-wife she used to endorse my views. I told her, "Don't tell me how great I am. I'm already convinced of that. Tell me why I'm wrong, what I've overlooked, or failed to weight appropriately, because the thought that torments is that I might have blinders on."

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 07:54 PM (YqDXo)

56 Back a few decades ago, the mental institutions were deemed to be in human, and so they were emptied of all the crazies and slower witted of the population.
That started the present day problem of homeless individuals.
Granted, many of those institutions were not run humanely, but they were necessary. Some people need caretakers.
Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 07:44 PM (oUcR5

There was one near St. Joseph, MO. They now do tours. My daughter and I took one a few years ago. They really went through things evenly, acknowledging that there were abuses, but also pointing out how these hospitals solved some of society's worst problems. It was fascinating.

Posted by: Catherine at January 30, 2021 07:55 PM (89Sgd)

57 Rent control leaps to mind in this connection. Rent control was initiated (IIRC) in NYC during WWII, i.e., under exigent circumstances. Apparently it exists to this day.

One of the first conservative books I read back during the Reagan era was Homelessness and Housing Policies that discussed rent control laws in NYC, which turned the housing market into hot garbage. Apparently there are several sets of rent control laws that apply to different types of rental of properties, and nobody wants to move from their rent-controlled apartment because it's too good a deal, so the natural cycle of housing vacancies/renting freezes up and the rental prices on the non-controlled housing units are completely insane.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at January 30, 2021 07:55 PM (cNTlh)

58
Look at that picture at the White House of all those people, Psaki, Jarret, all the pajama bois. They don't look sad, or distraught or shocked. They look scolding. HOW DARE YOU??

They won. They should be joyously celebrating but are instead doubling down on their anger.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 30, 2021 07:55 PM (63Dwl)

59
Hey, nice photo of Schloss Hadrian!

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at January 30, 2021 07:55 PM (mht8P)

60 If you think you own your house, try missing your property tax payment.

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 07:56 PM (oUcR5)

61 A moment like the proverbial "mugging" that turns a liberal into a conservative, for instance, or 9/11 for many, is what it takes. Something so shocking and conflicting with their worldview that they are torn from it and left to rebuild, based on what they now know to be true rather than what they wish to be so.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

This is why I reflect on what the former MEP Farage said on a different subject: "We've reached a point with this where actually it doesn't matter what any of you say: nobody believes you, the public don't support you; I hope and pray the markets break you." It sucks, but it takes something like that to MAYBE get people to learn valuable lessons.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 07:56 PM (49Dnm)

62 Great write-up, Jay! Spot on with your point about asking leftists about reconsidering their argument / opinion. Most simply "know what they know" and refuse to admit that another opinion could be correct. Even (especially??) if they are proven wrong.

For example, they "know" that the 2020 election was legitimate. Most likely because their Echo chamber told them so and continues to ridicule anyone who even tries to examine conflicting evidence.

I'm reminded of a quote from Mark Twain. "It is easier to fool someone than to convince them that they have been fooled". It takes an honest and humble person to admit they were fooled.

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 07:57 PM (mZUr4)

63 56 Back a few decades ago, the mental institutions were deemed to be in human, and so they were emptied of all the crazies and slower witted of the population.
That started the present day problem of homeless individuals.
Granted, many of those institutions were not run humanely, but they were necessary. Some people need caretakers.

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 07:44 PM (oUcR5

You can also thank psychologist Thomas Szasz, the man most responsible for turning mental illness into a civil right.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at January 30, 2021 07:57 PM (cNTlh)

64 sometimes people just need a punch in the face to see reason
Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom Staunch Demofaszi (on gab as @vm)

LOL !!!

Posted by: JT at January 30, 2021 07:57 PM (arJlL)

65 The Left never suffers consequences so they never learn. They always fail up.

They never suffer consequences until those consequences pile up to the point they're overwhelming and the people who should learn die in the process and the rest insist that the ideas were merely tried 'by the wrong people.'

Posted by: Methos at January 30, 2021 07:57 PM (kOpft)

66 or 9/11 for many, is what it takes

Unfortunately, that wake up call barely lasted a year. Then it was on to other shiny objects.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 07:58 PM (W4eKo)

67 arguing with a lefty =

lefties know so much that is not true and generally will not reconsider any new or contrary facts

Posted by: will choose a nic later at January 30, 2021 07:58 PM (r4bSV)

68 Prager would say Leftism always needs a crisis that must be acted on immediately or dire consequences will occur

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 07:59 PM (Cxk7w)

69 Dunning-Kruger Effect?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at January 30, 2021 08:00 PM (yFpt5)

70 Modern life is too easy. Strife without a handout changes attitudes.

Posted by: f'd at January 30, 2021 08:01 PM (ioRZu)

71 48 Those two houses are East and West Berlin, back in the days of the wall. That contrast is something the Leftists of the time could not even begin to talk about.
Posted by: Splunge

As much as we (rightly) put the "educational" system on full blast on being rife with Leftism, one of the best things that happened to me (again) was when 1) I got interested in all things Berlin at a young age, 2) my father went TDY there and took me with him so I could see the Wall and much else besides, and 3) my fourth-grade teacher, who had been there, insisting that I visit Herr Hildebrandt's museum at Checkpoint Charlie, among other Berlin-related things. I think this inoculated me from much of the lies of the Left for decades thereafter.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:01 PM (49Dnm)

72 Catherine - I too have been to the asylum / museum in St. Jo. Some of the stuff about psychiatric surgery is bone-chilling.
There's also a pretty good natural history museum on the same site; lots of Indian artifacts and such.

Posted by: PabloD, booking agent for Aero Pinochet at January 30, 2021 08:01 PM (j5/wh)

73 OM @ 57- Just that exactly! And one other thing to remember, if families were ashamed to have a family member in the 'state hospital' they were also ashamed to be on 'welfare'. That's gone today. Not to mention the problem of drugs causing a big part in homelessness, as well as being the root cause of a hell of a lot of crime.

Posted by: Eromero at January 30, 2021 08:02 PM (em79L)

74 Good post!

Posted by: Can't Spell Bagpipe Without gp at January 30, 2021 08:02 PM (qpX6U)

75 Why Do Leftists Never Learn?

They never want to be right?

Posted by: Tonypete at January 30, 2021 08:02 PM (Rvt88)

76 I've spent 20+ years practicing San Francisco/California land use law. I could go on and on with stories like this.

Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 08:02 PM (KAi1n)

77 Francis Schaeffer was the one who coined the term "worldview" and his little book Escape from Reason should be required reading in every school on earth. It shows how philosophy over the years, step by step moved from reason to madness, warping and shaping education and culture until... well...

look around you.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:02 PM (KZzsI)

78 Consider the policies and perspectives to which liberals/leftists cling, despite contrary evidence right before their eyes.
--------

The answer is straightforward, if hard to accept. They have been so thoroughly inculcated by the schools, and the media, that their psyches have been damaged. Some would call it 'brainwashing'.

Their brains simply are no longer capable of absorbing and objectively processing anything that contradicts the narrative that has been installed in their heads.

Anything that does contradict that narrative never makes it past their eyes or ears.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 30, 2021 08:04 PM (8u/ei)

79 Unfortunately, that wake up call barely lasted a year. Then it was on to other shiny objects.

For many that happens, yes. Its scary to go out into that uncharted new world, and typically one is surrounded by like minded people who try to drag you back into the crazy because they don't understand or like this new you.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:04 PM (KZzsI)

80 Ditto with the rent controllers. Or the Austin city clowns who want to buy more hotels to house the homeless... arrgghhhh!!!!
Posted by: lin-duh 27-4 at January 30, 2021 07:38 PM (UUBmN)

This time The Projects will work!

Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 08:04 PM (Ojki1)

81 When I first met my now-wife she used to endorse my views. I told her, "Don't tell me how great I am. I'm already convinced of that. Tell me why I'm wrong, what I've overlooked, or failed to weight appropriately, because the thought that torments is that I might have blinders on."

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 07:54 PM (YqDXo)

"Nah, that's just crazy talk."

-CNN

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at January 30, 2021 08:05 PM (cNTlh)

82 The answer to your question is job security.

Semi-tangentially related to the marxist axiom "The Worse, the Better."

The more things they fuck up, the more they can "help".

It's akin to you getting along fine. Maybe not great, but doing well enough.

Someone comes along and breaks your kneecap, then hands you a crutch and says "Boy! Aren't you glad I came along!"

Posted by: Common Tater at January 30, 2021 08:05 PM (qV3Xe)

83 One technique I used to use with subordinates who were urging a particular course of action was to ask them to make the best argument they could against their proposed course of action.

This accomplished a number of goals. First, since I did it routinely, it forced them to think about this so they could defend their proposal against the inevitable question.

Second, if, as some did, they said there is no argument against it, I knew they were of rather meager intellect, or at least bereft of intellectual honesty, and therefore could not be relied upon to exercise judgment on my behalf.

Third, it threw cold water on the tried and true strategy of sandwiching one's favored course of action with two cripples that no one would ever adopt.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:05 PM (YqDXo)

84 Emotions will outweigh reason with a significant percentage of the population.
Posted by: f'd

That's quite true, but do you really understand the mental and neurological processes underlying, and responsible for, this? "Emotion" is often the subconscious processing information fast enough to "protect" the person from potential impending doom -- fight or flight being the best example. That's why military and martial arts training focus on overcoming this so that you can rationally process what's going on rather than just fleeing or running in circles.

Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 08:06 PM (KAi1n)

85 Their brains simply are no longer capable of absorbing and objectively processing anything that contradicts the narrative that has been installed in their heads.

Most of them, younger than, say 60, never learned the basic skills required to be able to understand or process anything. The Trivium approach to education was torn down and rejected in the 60s because it created students resistant to leftist cant: it makes no sense, reason tears it down.

Solution... don't teach them reason any longer.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:06 PM (KZzsI)

86 "If your beliefs about something are not borne out by observation, then your beliefs are wrong. Simple, really. And no lifting your failed hypothesis by its sagging shorts, either, by adding ad hoc provisions. If your model says the climate should be getting warmer, but the climate does not cooperate, then your model is wrong."

This. Yep, I dared say this exact (pretty much) thing in public, in the wrong crowd a few months back in my AO. It was surreal to witness, I was immediately evil reincarnated before their eyes. How dare I question GW mantra?
Well, I wasn't, I was just pointing out your numbers don't back your claims. It was like I was strangling puppies before their eyes. Simply devoid of reality. It reminded me of what The State/Progda is doing to not allow discussion of the election fraud.

Posted by: LeftCoast Dawg at January 30, 2021 08:06 PM (sy5kK)

87 Their brains simply are no longer capable of absorbing and objectively processing anything that contradicts the narrative that has been installed in their heads.

Anything that does contradict that narrative never makes it past their eyes or ears.
Posted by: Mike Hammer

You're talking about my some of my deluded Catholic brethren and sisteren and their wholehearted support for abortion and those pols that push it.

Posted by: Tonypete at January 30, 2021 08:06 PM (Rvt88)

88 This time we almost made the pieces fit
Didn't We, girl?
This time we almost made some sense of it
Didn't We, girl?
This time I had the answer right here in my hand,
Then I touched it and it had turned to sand

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 30, 2021 08:06 PM (VVEnO)

89 This time The Projects will work!
Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 08:04 PM (Ojki1)

"Last time we just didn't go far enough, that's all!"

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:07 PM (YqDXo)

90 their psyches have been damaged

And that is so painfully evident when engaging a "true believer".

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 08:07 PM (W4eKo)

91 It would require a individual Leftist to think for themselves to change a opinion, that is not allowed in group think.

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 08:07 PM (Cxk7w)

92 59
Hey, nice photo of Schloss Hadrian!
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at January 30, 2021 07:55 PM (mht8P)

..........

Nothing that Chip and Joanna cant fix!

Posted by: Molly k. at January 30, 2021 08:07 PM (BIhD/)

93 One technique I used to use with subordinates who were urging a particular course of action was to ask them to make the best argument they could against their proposed course of action.

Unfortunately this requires a mental agility and at least enough understanding of logic to be able to start to do so. I would suspect that most young people are incapable of this exercise now. All they can offer is sneering mockery and stereotype of what they reject and dislike.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:07 PM (KZzsI)

94 It's only a mistake if you think they want to solve the problem rather than perpetuate it.

Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 08:07 PM (/aiGx)

95 66 or 9/11 for many, is what it takes

Unfortunately, that wake up call barely lasted a year. Then it was on to other shiny objects.
Posted by: Notorious BFD

I keep going back to Kiplings 'Gods of the Copybook Headings'.

Posted by: Puddleglum at January 30, 2021 08:07 PM (y1YMN)

96 why don't they learn ?

none of it is about thinking.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 30, 2021 08:08 PM (PpU3N)

97 94 It's only a mistake if you think they want to solve the problem rather than perpetuate it.
Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 08:07 PM (/aiGx)

Job security for the Deep State.

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 08:08 PM (oUcR5)

98 Do we know these houses in the picture are in Berlin? In style they could be in Detroit.

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 08:09 PM (Cxk7w)

99 When I first met my now-wife she used to endorse my views. I told her, "Don't tell me how great I am. I'm already convinced of that. Tell me why I'm wrong, what I've overlooked, or failed to weight appropriately, because the thought that torments is that I might have blinders on."

-
Mrs. Wrecks does that but I didn't ask her to.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 30, 2021 08:09 PM (VVEnO)

100 This time The Projects will work!
Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 08:04 PM (Ojki1)

==============

Rocky: "But that trick NEVER works"

Bullwinkle: "This time for SURE!"

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 08:10 PM (mZUr4)

101 They dont learn because the media and education complex tells them all these policies worked.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 30, 2021 08:10 PM (OvHLS)

102 Nothing that Chip and Joanna cant fix!
Posted by: Molly k.

Add some shiplapped interior siding, some galvanized accessories and throw a few pillows around - Voila!

Posted by: Tonypete at January 30, 2021 08:10 PM (Rvt88)

103 I always told my children that they were free to have any opinion they wished as long as it was backed up with logic and facts. The minute any one of them ever said "I feel" I walked away.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 30, 2021 08:10 PM (kTF2Z)

104 Deplorable Jay Guevara

Superb posts. Pragmatists for the win!

Lives have been and are in my hands. I have to be grounded in reality to keep the CPAs greater than zero.

It is also how I govern. My budget is inadequate for my constituents emotional needs. But I can scrape together enough to fix real problems.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:10 PM (u82oZ)

105 98 Do we know these houses in the picture are in Berlin? In style they could be in Detroit.
Posted by: Skip

Could be anywhere around the Rust Belt. Doesn't look European at all.

Posted by: Puddleglum at January 30, 2021 08:11 PM (y1YMN)

106
I keep going back to Kiplings 'Gods of the Copybook Headings'.
Posted by: Puddleglum
---------

Never heard of him...and what is a 'copybook'?

Posted by: A Millenial at January 30, 2021 08:11 PM (8u/ei)

107 Ditto with the rent controllers. Or the Austin city clowns who want to buy more hotels to house the homeless... arrgghhhh!!!!
Posted by: lin-duh 27-4 at January 30, 2021

Or people who can't figure out that no matter who you are, you pay property taxes. Back when I lived
in San Marcos I was with a bunch of fellow students
and they were talking about how gleefully they would
vote to have ACC expand into Hays County to fund a community college in San Marcos (IIRC). I explained to them I wouldn't vote for it because of increased property taxes. One gal said that since I lived in an apartment I wouldn't pay property taxes. So after choking back what I WANTED to say instead, I patiently explained how increased property taxes are passed on to owners AND tenants alike. I guarantee you the students at UT-Moscow can't connect those dots for all their expensive "education".

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:11 PM (49Dnm)

108 I learned today that Delaware Democrats serve muskrat at restaurants and consider it a delicacy, so not understanding cause and effect by Democrats, in general, seems logical.

Posted by: EveR at January 30, 2021 08:11 PM (R0z7P)

109 "That's quite true, but do you really understand the mental and neurological processes underlying, and responsible for, this? "

Lazyness?

Posted by: f'd at January 30, 2021 08:11 PM (ioRZu)

110 They don't learn because that's not the plan, they're the Devil

Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at January 30, 2021 08:12 PM (+4EvF)

111 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Shaw
He drives California housing policy.

Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 08:12 PM (KAi1n)

112 The gas meter is okay. Whew.

Posted by: Ladyl at January 30, 2021 08:12 PM (TdMsT)

113 Wrecks @ 99 --

Hahahahahahahahahaha

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 08:12 PM (mZUr4)

114 71 Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:01 PM (49Dnm)

Yes, that Checkpoint Charlie museum is clarifying. I visited it within a year after the wall fell, not during the separation, and it is hard to describe how inspiring it was to see the actual improvised devices people used to escape what the Left wants to make in our country now. I don't think they will succeed.

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:12 PM (RzGcW)

115 I think P.T. Barnham said it best, "There's a sucker born every minute."

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 30, 2021 08:13 PM (VVEnO)

116 Part of the path downwards, started by both parties, was the disestablishment of Mental Hospitals, and putting the mentally ill on the streets. Many people have died because of that policy.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:13 PM (u82oZ)

117 Ahhhhh, the 'invisible hand' is never a concept of the feeble minded dolts on the left.

Posted by: Gmac - WTF did you think was going to happen? at January 30, 2021 08:13 PM (qZdIZ)

118 Nice write-up. And the ending was a surprise! LOL Malibu is overrated anyway.

Posted by: Deplorably Bonnie Blue says TRUMP WON at January 30, 2021 08:14 PM (BNMel)

119 Lazyness?
Posted by: f'd

This kind of thinking is part of the reason we're here. You cannot even begin to understand how to deal with the issue since you don't understand the issue to begin with and you simply belittle it.

Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 08:14 PM (KAi1n)

120 Another useful technique: assume you're wrong. How could that be the case? Go at it in a full-blooded fashion, no half-measures.

One dividend is doing that forces you to identify your implicit assumptions. In my experience, any paradox in research arises from an implicit assumption that turns out not to be true.

One experiment indicates X > Y, another that X

"The instrument says X, so it must be X. There must be something wrong with the other result." (Implicit assumption: the instrument is working correctly, and has been properly calibrated.)

Me: "Have you checked the instrument with a known sample?"

(Deer in the headlights look.)

Me: "Ah."

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:14 PM (YqDXo)

121 One technique I used to use with subordinates who were urging a particular course of action was to ask them to make the best argument they could against their proposed course of action.

Excellent. In all of my fascination with our early space program, I learned that was exactly the environment that was fostered within NASA. It's culmination was an almost unequivocal and miraculous success.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 08:14 PM (W4eKo)

122 Always wondered what kids did with muskrats caught in traps down at the river here in Pennsylvania

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 08:14 PM (Cxk7w)

123 Adam Smith should be required reading. The guy was brilliant and observant.

Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 08:15 PM (KAi1n)

124 Yes, that Checkpoint Charlie museum is clarifying. I visited it within a year after the wall fell, not during the separation, and it is hard to describe how inspiring it was to see the actual improvised devices people used to escape what the Left wants to make in our country now. I don't think they will succeed.
Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:12 PM

It is a tribute to something Mark Steyn said that has stuck in my head for all time. I can't remember when he said it, but it's this: "The final freedom you have is to vote with your feet."

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:15 PM (49Dnm)

125 122 Always wondered what kids did with muskrats caught in traps down at the river here in Pennsylvania
Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 08:14 PM (Cxk7w)

Let us put you some knowledge.

Posted by: The Captain And Tenille at January 30, 2021 08:15 PM (RzGcW)

126 Could be anywhere around the Rust Belt. Doesn't look European at all.

Posted by: Puddleglum at January 30, 2021 08:11 PM (y1YMN)

Right. Could be Detroit, could be St. Louis, could be the Bronx.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at January 30, 2021 08:15 PM (cNTlh)

127 A few years ago my county voted for an increase in car registration fees. It was a lopsided yes vote with over 60% support. Then the next year the local media reported on how people were outraged at the cost of renewing their registration. For some it more than tripled. But but but I didnt think it would affect me since I dont drive a BMW was the shit people would tell the media. I thought it would only affect rich people not regular people like me. This is an outrage!!!!!

Guess what happened two years later? With the same 60% margin voters approved an increase in the sales tax.

You just cannot fix stupid.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 30, 2021 08:15 PM (OvHLS)

128 116 Part of the path downwards, started by both parties, was the disestablishment of Mental Hospitals, and putting the mentally ill on the streets. Many people have died because of that policy.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:13 PM (u82oZ)

The kill shot was delivered by the Supreme Court. The book "My Brother Ron" details the history of all this.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:15 PM (YqDXo)

129
I patiently explained how increased property taxes are passed on to owners AND tenants alike.

And that is why we need rent control!

nyuk
nyuk

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 30, 2021 08:16 PM (63Dwl)

130 One common misconception on the left, almost a universally shared presupposition, is that evil is not innate to people, but imposed upon individual through bad situations or influences (there are no bad children).

This idea is compelling, because it leaves one believing they can fix EVERYTHING simply by removing these bad influences and situations (end racism, end sexism, end hunger, yadda yadda), and further it makes one feel righteous by being the One Who Can Fix It vs the Evil Ones Who Oppose My Righteous Cause.

But the idea falls apart under even the slightest scrutiny.

If this is the case, where did that first bad influence come from?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:16 PM (KZzsI)

131 Right. Could be Detroit, could be St. Louis, could be the Bronx.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at January 30, 2021 08:15 PM (cNTlh)

I was thinking Youngstown, OH honestly.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:16 PM (49Dnm)

132 Go back through the blog here - then you'll see why Leftists never learn.

Look at all the fights over why just keeping your hands at ten and two, and being polite, means you'll never have anything to fear from a cop. Look at how it was perfectly OK for Apartment Patty to hold the door shut and demand to see ID from a guy that lived in the same building. Look at all the #VoteHarder and #TakeTheGOP stuff we still see every day.

Point being - and I know this is a bitter pill - but few and far between are those that actually view whats going on and try to form working worldviews based upon conditions at hand. The Left is no more interested in "learning" than the Right. Because they already know. Just like most here.

Frankly - the Left, if anything, is more adaptable to tactics. The Right, as present here, is too busy screaming they should fifty points ahead to talk about why they are behind.

Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:16 PM (LiqBV)

133 I think that it is wrong to consider those on the other side dumb. Or even ignorant. They think the same of us.

I think it can be placed in Skinners model often. The Left does what they are rewarded for and avoids what they are punished for. They can really only pay a price for not being Left enough.

Posted by: blaster at January 30, 2021 08:16 PM (ZfRYq)

134 The Open Blogger Blog is now Open for your dining, dancing, and philosophical pleasure.

Posted by: Miklos, maitre d'loqique at January 30, 2021 08:17 PM (QzkSJ)

135 my mother shuts down if eliminating voting fraud would change an election. So, we talk baseball and weather alot.

Posted by: Jamaica NYC at January 30, 2021 08:17 PM (4vNgL)

136 Yes, that Checkpoint Charlie museum is clarifying. I visited it within a year after the wall fell, not during the separation, and it is hard to describe how inspiring it was to see the actual improvised devices people used to escape what the Left wants to make in our country now. I don't think they will succeed.
Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:12 PM

It is, and it may provide some valuable lessons on how to escape, e.g., the People's Republic of California, because after enough high-rollers (e.g., Elon Musk) flee, the leftists will proceed down the path that leads to the Berlin Wall.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:17 PM (YqDXo)

137 Mrs. Wrecks does that but I didn't ask her to.

I lurfed.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 08:18 PM (W4eKo)

138 " ...
Unfortunately this requires a mental agility and at least enough understanding of logic to be able to start to do so. I would suspect that most young people are incapable of this exercise now. All they can offer is sneering mockery and stereotype of what they reject and dislike.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:07 PM (KZzsI) "

literally this; they have utterly reversed the curriculum I was taught back in the get-off-my-lawn times.
the day does not go by that I am not thankful for the education I received at the peak of our lost civilization.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 30, 2021 08:18 PM (PpU3N)

139 Just read the start of the post; will go back & finish; but naturally I have a comment to make Moronically.

Why do they never learn? Learning is a process of thought and reasoning, and when the process employed is emotional and utopian, consequences are meaningless.

In case nobody noted that yet.

Posted by: mindful webworker
here lie webworks
at January 30, 2021 08:18 PM (rTqAd)

140 Splunge with the Daryl Dragon sock @ 125 --

I caught that semi-obscure reference there!!

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 08:18 PM (mZUr4)

141 133 I think that it is wrong to consider those on the other side dumb. Or even ignorant. They think the same of us.

I think it can be placed in Skinners model often. The Left does what they are rewarded for and avoids what they are punished for. They can really only pay a price for not being Left enough.
Posted by: blaster at January 30, 2021 08:16 PM (ZfRYq)

They are certainly ignorant of many facts. And they are not dumb, just stupid. It doesn't matter how good your brain is if you never stop to think things out. That's a paraphrase of a Thomas Sowell quote I saw recently.

You're implicitly agreeing with all this by saying they're acting like pigeons in a Skinner box.

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:19 PM (RzGcW)

142 Guess what happened two years later? With the same 60% margin voters approved an increase in the sales tax.

It is difficult for me to get my head around, since I ignore advertising and care nothing for their message, but most people are (still!) heavily influenced by ads. They even know better, they'll all say "its all bullcrap" when asked, but then they ask for another spoonful.

Look at what happened with the Wuhan Flu, masks, shutdowns, etc. Most of the country didn't just buy into this, but became missionaries, determined to spread the Word about Safety.

The truth is you can get enough of the public to believe in something, no matter how stupid or contradictory, to vote for it, with enough and proper advertising and publicity.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:19 PM (KZzsI)

143 Someone comes along and breaks your kneecap, then hands you a crutch and says "Boy! Aren't you glad I came along!"
Posted by: Common Tater at January 30, 2021 08:05 PM (qV3Xe)

My kingdom for a new punch line!

Posted by: zombie Harry Browne at January 30, 2021 08:19 PM (49Dnm)

144 One common misconception on the left, almost a universally shared presupposition, is that evil is not innate to people, but imposed upon individual through bad situations or influences (there are no bad children).

Rousseau - not prize package himself - has SO much to answer for.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:19 PM (YqDXo)

145 Pierre,

I am more than willing to accept I was wrong about shit. The Iraq war was a colossal mistake, taxing billionaires is not communism and fuck the police.

All positions that are 180 from what I used to think.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 30, 2021 08:19 PM (OvHLS)

146 >>121 One technique I used to use with subordinates who were urging a particular course of action was to ask them to make the best argument they could against their proposed course of action.

Strawmanning and steelmanning -- gotta be able to do both.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at January 30, 2021 08:20 PM (vuisn)

147 Their ideology trumps their experience.

Yeah, this.

Posted by: mindful webworker
here lie webworks
at January 30, 2021 08:20 PM (rTqAd)

148 Any body been to Milan? Like dancing boys and girls? Can pronounce Prisencolinesinaincfiusol? Watch https://tinyurl.com/y5yecrqf

Posted by: Javems at January 30, 2021 08:21 PM (8SSHh)

149 "This kind of thinking is part of the reason we're here."

In think it is partly intellectual lazyness. It's easy to go with the flow.

Posted by: f'd at January 30, 2021 08:21 PM (ioRZu)

150 my mother shuts down if eliminating voting fraud would change an election. So, we talk baseball and weather alot.
Posted by: Jamaica NYC at January 30, 2021 08:17 PM (4vNgL)
============

So do you and mom agree on things like keeping the Designated Hitter out of the NL and outlawing The Shift?? Haha

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 08:21 PM (mZUr4)

151
Right. Could be Detroit, could be St. Louis, could be the Bronx.
Posted by: OregonMuse
------

[tosses in Gary, IN] https://tinyurl.com/y6tswsgp

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 30, 2021 08:21 PM (8u/ei)

152 It is, and it may provide some valuable lessons on how to escape, e.g., the People's Republic of California, because after enough high-rollers (e.g., Elon Musk) flee, the leftists will proceed down the path that leads to the Berlin Wall.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021

This is why they so badly want the United States to be unitary: because if it is, you can't escape them simply by moving to another state.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:21 PM (49Dnm)

153 Pierre

That is a static world analysis, and does not hold up in changeable environments. Like the sea, or driving, or an organometallic synthesis lab.

Observational skills are not just for scientists, even if I am one.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:21 PM (u82oZ)

154 Change of pace. Makes me forget about my troubles

Posted by: Javems at January 30, 2021 08:21 PM (8SSHh)

155 Leftists generally dont know anything beyond what cnn tells them. They are very ignorant of the world around them.

Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 30, 2021 08:22 PM (OvHLS)

156 We're watching the plan in action, it's slow motion compared with some revolutions, but sure.

Emptying the mental institutions was Then.

Emptying the prisons is Now.

Posted by: Common Tater at January 30, 2021 08:22 PM (qV3Xe)

157 Ladies and gentlemen! With just one bottle of Socialist Snake Oil, unemployment will disappear! Hunger and homelessness will be a mere memory! Poverty will be forgotten and you will live in a paradise of prosperity and equality?

And what is the price of this Heaven on Earth? Merely your freedom and your superstitions! Do away with the Ten Commandments and adopt science! All this awaits you if you just give us your minds!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at January 30, 2021 08:22 PM (VVEnO)

158 Why do they never learn? Learning is a process of thought and reasoning, and when the process employed is emotional and utopian, consequences are meaningless.

Like always back the blue ? Or believe in those good rank and file folks at the FBI ? Or trust i Trump playing Nth Dimensional Chess ?

What you are talking about is putting reason over faith. That will be a hard sell here. And also, for any group of Progs. The fight is, to no small extent, all about where each group places their faith.

Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:22 PM (LiqBV)

159 It is, and it may provide some valuable lessons on how to escape, e.g., the People's Republic of California, because after enough high-rollers (e.g., Elon Musk) flee, the leftists will proceed down the path that leads to the Berlin Wall.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara

Most excellent.

Posted by: Miklos, fingers templed at January 30, 2021 08:23 PM (QzkSJ)

160 " ...
They are certainly ignorant of many facts. And they are not dumb, just stupid. It doesn't matter how good your brain is if you never stop to think things out. That's a paraphrase of a Thomas Sowell quote I saw recently.

You're implicitly agreeing with all this by saying they're acting like pigeons in a Skinner box.

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:19 PM (RzGcW) "

or, for a paraphrase of Cordwainer Smith:
"Bright brains serve madness just as well as they serve sanity, ... "

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 30, 2021 08:23 PM (PpU3N)

161 Common Tater

Emptying the prisons is the first act of successful revolutionaries since, well the French Revolution. Bastille Day and all that. See Iran, Russia, and now some parts of America.

It is a tell.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:23 PM (u82oZ)

162 52 The Left lives in a bubble, and no matter what goes wrong, they will make excuses. (Take minimum wage hikes. What did Leftists say in Seattle about their insane minimum wage hikes and the fact that they forced businesses to move or close althgether? "Well, lots of things force businesses to close. That isn't the only thing.")
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 07:54 PM (49Dnm)
---
Last fall, there was a report on local TV news about a bicycle store for something like 35 years that was unfortunately located within in the "CHOP/CHAZ" area of Capitol Hill in Seattle. Just about exactly like the kind of person you'd think that started a small business fixing and selling bikes in an area that uses a lot of bikes. Low key, get along kinda guy. Not really political, the reporter asked him a few questions about last summer, and he was mostly interested in safety and couldn't understand why the mayor and cops abandoned him. He was broken, emotionally spent, as he was closing down his business in the last few days of the month. He was overwhelmed with the destruction of a city he had loved for four decades.
The city council ignores these people.

Posted by: LeftCoast Dawg at January 30, 2021 08:24 PM (sy5kK)

163 100 This time The Projects will work!
Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 08:04 PM (Ojki1)

==============

Rocky: "But that trick NEVER works"

Bullwinkle: "This time for SURE!"
Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 08:10 PM (mZUr4)

"So you're saying it's due?"

(throws rope over joist)

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:24 PM (YqDXo)

164 As much as we (rightly) put the "educational" system on full blast on being rife with Leftism, one of the best things that happened to me (again) was when 1) I got interested in all things Berlin at a young age, 2) my father went TDY there and took me with him so I could see the Wall and much else besides, and 3) my fourth-grade teacher, who had been there, insisting that I visit Herr Hildebrandt's museum at Checkpoint Charlie, among other Berlin-related things. I think this inoculated me from much of the lies of the Left for decades thereafter.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021

Reflecting further, my teacher made damn sure I went there (and I did and it made a serious impression). Weeks later at the school's Open House, where my parents met her, one of the first questions she asked was if we went to that museum. So some teachers (too few and far between) do care that their students learn about freedom and what it means.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:24 PM (49Dnm)

165 DE peeps tried to include PA folks in the muskrat eating bunch, but failed to provide any PA restaurant that had it on the menu, unlike the ones that bragged about it in DE.

Posted by: EveR at January 30, 2021 08:25 PM (R0z7P)

166 find that they've inadvertently aggravated the original problem manifold

Ah, but you see, most of them do *not*. They don't think what they've done has aggravated the problem at all.

Either they think it's some external force "correcting" for their action (kulaks, wreckers, a Jewish cabal, etc.), or they have different goals (buying votes with something they know is ineffective or they don't care if it is).

Posted by: GWB at January 30, 2021 08:25 PM (lclUd)

167 sock_rat_eez

Ol Cordwainer Smith was in the CIA when they fought against Commies and believed in America.

What stories he wrote! I would accept a working Instrumentality of Man vice what we have now.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:26 PM (u82oZ)

168 Liberals cannot comprehend the concept of cause and effect.
If they could they would no longer be liberals.

Posted by: Dr. Mongo at January 30, 2021 08:26 PM (IU8aO)

169 This is why they so badly want the United States to be unitary: because if it is, you can't escape them simply by moving to another state.
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:21 PM (49Dnm)

Exactly. If the Federal government can mandate economic, educational, and social policies, there's no point in fleeing to another state.

Federalism is as anathema to the left as is the nuclear family, and for many of the same reasons.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:27 PM (YqDXo)

170 112 The gas meter is okay. Whew.
Posted by: Ladyl at January 30, 2021 08:12 PM (TdMsT)

Evening, ma'am. There must be quite the story leading up to this conclusion!

Posted by: Schnorflepuppy at January 30, 2021 08:27 PM (1uBGK)

171 Can't remember where, but I read about a guest lecturer at a university who asked the class who would change their mind about global warming if they were presented data that said it wasn't happening. No hands went up so he packed up his things and left, but not before stating that he was here to talk about science not religion.
Posted by: Duke Lowell at January 30, 2021 07:44 PM

The last time I posted on a the topic of anthropogenic global climate change catastrophe, there was someone there who made the same challenge from the other side, and I answered with what is basically an expansion of Jay Guevara's answer. If a theory can be used to make predictions, it's useful. Otherwise, give me a freaking break.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at January 30, 2021 08:27 PM (qDSku)

172 That is a static world analysis, and does not hold up in changeable environments.

Please - go on. I've always liked your insight, Salty. Elaborate. I'd pour you a beer if I could.

Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:27 PM (LiqBV)

173 foad, pierre; try to sell your bullshit somewhere else.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 30, 2021 08:27 PM (PpU3N)

174 167 What stories he wrote! I would accept a working Instrumentality of Man vice what we have now.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:26 PM (u82oZ)

No one like him, that's for sure. That one about the punishment planet where the inmates grow extra ears and things for harvest haunts me to this day. So does "The Burning of the Brain."

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:27 PM (RzGcW)

175 Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:22 PM (LiqBV)

.....

I get your point.

I think you are sort of lumping the entire blog into a category it doesn't belong in.

I've spent many ONTs discussing how much I dislike cops, and I wasn't alone.

Yes, there were some that said Back the Blue as well.

That's called discussion and debate. This blog is not a badge-sniffer cult.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at January 30, 2021 08:28 PM (yFpt5)

176 Not really political, the reporter asked him a few questions about last summer, and he was mostly interested in safety and couldn't understand why the mayor and cops abandoned him.

Tragic story but one can't help but wonder if he may have voted for the very cretins that abandoned him.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 08:28 PM (W4eKo)

177 Herr Hildebrandt's museum at Checkpoint Charlie, among other Berlin-related things. I think this inoculated me from much of the lies of the Left for decades thereafter.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33

Budapest has a Terror Museum.

Socialists of various kinds feature prominently.

Posted by: Miklos, aware beyond his years at January 30, 2021 08:28 PM (QzkSJ)

178
Yes, that Checkpoint Charlie museum is clarifying.

We have a Checkpoint Chuck E. Cheese in Washington, D.C. now.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 30, 2021 08:29 PM (63Dwl)

179 The answer is straightforward, if hard to accept. They have been so thoroughly inculcated by the schools, and the media, that their psyches have been damaged. Some would call it 'brainwashing'.

Anything that does contradict that narrative never makes it past their eyes or ears.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 30, 2021 08:04 PM (8u/ei)

Culturally they are encouraged not to change as well. The media reinforces "the right way to think", and their social circle reflects that to keep ever member in line, many ostracizing those who stray too far from the herd (like cults). So each feels special and swears they would be the guy in the picture not saluting Hitler with the rest of the masses, while in fact doing what the rest of the masses do and feeling it is right because so many are doing it.

Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 08:29 PM (Ojki1)

180 The great thing about being Jewish is that we count as Jews AND potentially as kulaks, wreckers, cabal members, etc.

Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 08:30 PM (KAi1n)

181 How many filters products can we buy that say on the package exactly what they filter? Vacuum filters and bags, furnace filters and construction masks, I bet even your car cabin air filter has a rating. Surgical masks have no rating because they filter nothing.
And yet, here we are

Posted by: Jamaica NYC at January 30, 2021 08:31 PM (4vNgL)

182 DE peeps tried to include PA folks in the muskrat eating bunch, but failed to provide any PA restaurant that had it on the menu, unlike the ones that bragged about it in DE.
Posted by: EveR

This reminds me of the movie King Rat

Posted by: JT at January 30, 2021 08:31 PM (arJlL)

183 foad, pierre; try to sell your bullshit somewhere else.

Like I say - the biggest mistake I always see on the Right is assuming they are so much intellectually better than the Left. The Left just wins without apology. Advantage - Left.

Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:31 PM (LiqBV)

184 So each feels special and swears they would be the guy in the picture not saluting Hitler with the rest of the masses, while in fact doing what the rest of the masses do and feeling it is right because so many are doing it.
Posted by: Bete

My new cool tattoo makes me unique and special!

Posted by: Millennial Miklos at January 30, 2021 08:32 PM (QzkSJ)

185
Third, it threw cold water on the tried and true strategy of sandwiching one's favored course of action with two cripples that no one would ever adopt.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:05 PM (YqDXo)

There are, uh, some who say this strategy can uh, be an argument.

Posted by: Obumbles what got less votes than Bidet at January 30, 2021 08:32 PM (Ojki1)

186 o boy howdy, same here NaCly !
godson of sun yat sen, how could that fail ?
when sci fi was still the free-est form of literature.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 30, 2021 08:32 PM (PpU3N)

187 Splunge

A Planet Named Shayol. *Shudder*

Commander Suzdal, who appeared in "The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal" was there. One of my favorite characters.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:32 PM (u82oZ)

188 183 Like I say - the biggest mistake I always see on the Right is assuming they are so much intellectually better than the Left. The Left just wins without apology. Advantage - Left.
Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:31 PM (LiqBV)

I don't follow the shift you made from intellect to tactics there. Explain.

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:32 PM (RzGcW)

189 sometimes people just need a punch in the face to see reason
Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom Staunch Demofaszi (on gab as @vm) at January 30, 2021 07:49 PM

Insom's Tire Irons for sale.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 08:33 PM (OssQ4)

190 Insom's Tire Irons for sale.

BOGO

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 08:34 PM (W4eKo)

191 A few years ago my county voted for an increase in car registration fees. It was a lopsided yes vote with over 60% support. Then the next year the local media reported on how people were outraged at the cost of renewing their registration. For some it more than tripled. But but but I didnt think it would affect me since I dont drive a BMW was the shit people would tell the media. I thought it would only affect rich people not regular people like me. This is an outrage!!!!!
Guess what happened two years later? With the same 60% margin voters approved an increase in the sales tax.
You just cannot fix stupid.
Posted by: Joe XiDen at January 30, 2021 08:15 PM (OvHLS)
Obligatory question now, and always until it is fixed.
Are you a Dominion Voting Machine state? There are 30 of them.

Posted by: LeftCoast Dawg at January 30, 2021 08:34 PM (sy5kK)

192 keep sayin' it, makes no difference to me ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 30, 2021 08:34 PM (PpU3N)

193 Third, it threw cold water on the tried and true strategy of sandwiching one's favored course of action with two cripples that no one would ever adopt.

That is happening right here in this very discussion: I have the perfect solution and those who disagree with it are losers who won't listen: stereotype, exaggeration, overbroad painting with brush

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:34 PM (KZzsI)

194 Jay, excellent essay. I'm spreading this one around.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 08:35 PM (OssQ4)

195 Insom's Tire Irons for sale.
Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 08:33 PM (OssQ4)

190 Insom's Tire Irons for sale.

BOGO
Posted by: Notorious

MyTireIron

Posted by: Miklos, for Insom Lindell Inc. at January 30, 2021 08:35 PM (QzkSJ)

196 Like I say - the biggest mistake I always see on the Right is assuming they are so much intellectually better than the Left. The Left just wins without apology. Advantage - Left.
Posted by: Pierre

+1

Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 08:35 PM (KAi1n)

197 My new cool tattoo makes me unique and special!
Posted by: Millennial Miklos at January 30, 2021 08:32 PM (QzkSJ)

Is it a tribal tat or Chinese letters someone swore to you isn't "Idiot foreigner?"

Both are now racist of course as the circle's beliefs have moved.

Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 08:35 PM (Ojki1)

198 Listening to all the back and forth, it seems there will never be a solution, always two or more separate camps. which is a good thing.
Some liberal ideas have merit, but then are typically taken to extremes, which makes them unworkable.

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 08:35 PM (oUcR5)

199 If the right is so smart, why didn't we think to create a fake pandemic so that we could harvest ballots from inner city layabouts and shut down voting, only to then dump massive amounts of ballots at 4 am?

Huh.

Not so smart now are ya?

/s

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at January 30, 2021 08:35 PM (yFpt5)

200 Help me out. Is a muskrat related to an otter?

Posted by: LeftCoast Dawg at January 30, 2021 08:36 PM (sy5kK)

201 But yeah, that was Obama's tried and true, old and hackneyed sophistry in every speech. "There are some who say something outrageous and extreme nobody actually says, but I say something less extreme but radical which seems okay only in comparison"

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:36 PM (KZzsI)

202 This blog is not a badge-sniffer cult.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger

We don't need no stinking badges.

Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 08:36 PM (KAi1n)

203
Budapest has a Terror Museum.

Socialists of various kinds feature prominently.
Posted by: Miklos, aware beyond his years at January 30, 2021 08:28 PM (QzkSJ)

(Takes notes as he wants to visit Budapest one day)
I have also been told Prague has the Museum of Communism. Apparently the Czechs aren't exactly fond of communism for some odd reason.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:36 PM (49Dnm)

204 200 Help me out. Is a muskrat related to an otter?
Posted by: LeftCoast Dawg at January 30, 2021 08:36 PM (sy5kK)

Only by marriage.

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 08:37 PM (oUcR5)

205 {{{S'puppy}}}

The meter was making a weird beeping noise. The Col Gas guy checked it out.

Posted by: Ladyl at January 30, 2021 08:38 PM (TdMsT)

206 194 Jay, excellent essay. I'm spreading this one around.
Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 08:35 PM (OssQ4)

Thanks, Taqiyyologist and to all the others offering kind comments. I appreciate them.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:38 PM (YqDXo)

207
The voters who approve these policies are the dum-dums Jay describes... Totally emotion-driven """thinking""".

The politicians who purpose these policies know G-ddamned well they'll be unmitigated disasters, but the ruination of their constituents serves their own ends.

It's not an inability foresee the consequences. It's a psychopathic indifference to them.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at January 30, 2021 08:38 PM (2OXuD)

208 201 But yeah, that was Obama's tried and true, old and hackneyed sophistry in every speech. "There are some who say something outrageous and extreme nobody actually says, but I say something less extreme but radical which seems okay only in comparison"
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:36 PM (KZzsI)

Don't forget His HOT, BEAUTIFUL SMILE, which entranced millions..

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:39 PM (49Dnm)

209 JT, the pix of the little shake n bake muskrat on the plate in the restaurant with the sides in their own little bowls was surreal. It looked like the rat meal Baby Jane/Bette Davis served Joan Crawford.

Posted by: EveR at January 30, 2021 08:39 PM (R0z7P)

210 201 But yeah, that was Obama's tried and true, old and hackneyed sophistry in every speech. "There are some who say something outrageous and extreme nobody actually says, but I say something less extreme but radical which seems okay only in comparison"
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:36 PM (KZzsI)

It was "there are those who say..."

He said it so often that someone made a seating chart for his second Inaugural (shudder) that had a whole section for "Those Who Say."

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:39 PM (RzGcW)

211 I am eagerly awaiting the day when all internet connections and sewer/water/power etc are hooked up to "smart" monitors to make sure people are using this stuff wisely and conserving, for the good of the planet. And, you know, so they can be shut off if someone upsets the Commissar.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:39 PM (KZzsI)

212 years ago I bought up a bunch of his books, particularly "Space Lords" to give away to artists & poets of my acquaintance, as a, i dunno what, guide, example, ... , whatever, ...
drunkboat in particular, but there are so many others ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 30, 2021 08:40 PM (PpU3N)

213 The right and left don't even speak the same language -- the words may be generally known but they have different meanings to different people. This gets back to my question the other day whether anyone here has read up on linguistics/semiotics/etc. Darmok and Jalad on the ocean?

Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 08:40 PM (KAi1n)

214 I don't follow the shift you made from intellect to tactics there. Explain.
Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:32 PM (RzGcW)

There's always a great big helping of "We are correct - so therefore we must win" here - on the Right in general - and also on the Left. And also quite a bit of "see - they can't stand to have their shitty little positions attacked" smug satisfaction at how the Left attempts to silence dissenting views.

And no lack of the same on the Right. Why ? I know why. Because a ton of people on both side are just screaming talking points. No reasoning or logic. Just chanting of faiths. And that constant self assurance - from each side - that they are "better". They're flip sides of the same coin.

Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:40 PM (LiqBV)

215 That picture up top comes from an article on a website called tremr.

https://tinyurl.com/y3a4csxb

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 08:40 PM (oUcR5)

216 The essay dovetails with a Scientific Method Flowchart posted on the ONT or Monkey Thread earlier in the week.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 08:40 PM (OssQ4)

217 The meter was making a weird beeping noise. The Col Gas guy checked it out.
Posted by: Ladyl at January 30, 2021 08:38 PM (TdMsT)

{{{Ladyl}}}
Glad to hear it wasn't a leak, ma'am. I always go to the worst-case scenario first when I think of natural gas.

Posted by: Schnorflepuppy at January 30, 2021 08:41 PM (1uBGK)

218 Obligatory question now, and always until it is fixed.
Are you a Dominion Voting Machine state? There are 30 of them.
Posted by: LeftCoast Dawg at January 30, 2021 08:34 PM (sy5kK)

While it is nice to suspect a betenoire every time your fellow citizens are proved to be barely functioning simpletons, Occam's razor would suggest that years of the same result show that many people vote on feelings and the assumption the consequences won't fall on them, and the Gell-Mann effect applies at large.

Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 08:41 PM (Ojki1)

219 There are those who say I mishandled an umbrella and throw like I girl.

Posted by: Baracky O'Cracky at January 30, 2021 08:41 PM (W4eKo)

220 Obama's speechifying was really effective, right up to the point where suddenly it wasn't and people just wished he'd shut up. At which point he made more speeches.

That's how sophistry works, though if you don't vary it. Going back to the same well over and over in robotic patterns becomes off-putting. The same looks, the same movement of the head, the same tone of voice, the same sentence structures.

They were all too studied, deliberate, and carefully manufactured for maximum impact and eventually everyone caught on.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:41 PM (KZzsI)

221 ...a girl...FML

Posted by: Baracky O'Cracky at January 30, 2021 08:41 PM (W4eKo)

222 The essay dovetails with a Scientific Method Flowchart posted on the ONT or Monkey Thread earlier in the week.
Posted by: Taqiyyologist

That was missing the key "more funding required" box.

Posted by: Miklos, aspiring federally funded scientific rap researcher at January 30, 2021 08:42 PM (QzkSJ)

223 Federalism is as anathema to the left as is the nuclear family, and for many of the same reasons.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:27 PM (YqDXo)

And civil society. The government would love nothing more than to see the destruction of civil society because if it goes, the only people you have to turn to is government.

And make no mistake, government at all levels is AT WAR with civil society.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:42 PM (49Dnm)

224 214 Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:40 PM (LiqBV)

I don't think you've found a useful line of argument there. Can you articulate something maybe more concrete, and less "above it all?"

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:42 PM (RzGcW)

225 No reasoning or logic. Just chanting of faiths. And that constant self assurance - from each side - that they are "better". They're flip sides of the same coin.
Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:40 PM (LiqBV)

You may be on to something, Pierre. A lot of polical articles are just click bait, designed to sell advertising. Like soap operas, back in the day.

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 08:42 PM (oUcR5)

226 It's not an inability foresee the consequences. It's a psychopathic indifference to them.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice

It's not indifference. You just do not understand their inner motivations and attempt to discern them from your framework of knowledge and understanding.

Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 08:43 PM (KAi1n)

227 They place their beliefs ... above their observations

Well, I place my beliefs above observation sometimes, too. The primary difference is that I acknowledge I am doing so. I acknowledge my religious beliefs as such.

The problem is that a Progressive holds his God is named SCIENCE! So, by definition, whatever is orthodox to the true believers _must_ be absolutely true, despite their lying eyes. If you're seeing differently, it must be because you deny SCIENCE!

Posted by: GWB at January 30, 2021 08:43 PM (lclUd)

228 Quick show of hands, here, who has ever believed, said, or thought "We are correct - so therefore we must win?" Ever? At any level?

Anyone?

...anyone?

Beuller?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:43 PM (KZzsI)

229 You gotta lose your mind in Detroit, Rock City!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at January 30, 2021 08:44 PM (03n3v)

230 Long answer: The Vision of the Anointed" by Tom Sowell

Posted by: Hall Dall MD at January 30, 2021 08:44 PM (pB25K)

231 221 FML
Posted by: Baracky O'Cracky at January 30, 2021 08:41 PM (W4eKo)

On it!

Posted by: Reggie at January 30, 2021 08:44 PM (Ojki1)

232 >>>For my part, I want to live in Malibu, but don't - because I can't afford it.

=======

You may want to confer with grammie first, but according to the two billboards currently up in my small city, Sheboygan is the Malibu of the Midwest.

Posted by: Swingin' for the downs at January 30, 2021 08:45 PM (o9apC)

233 Quick show of hands, here, who has ever believed, said, or thought "We are correct - so therefore we must win?" Ever? At any level?
Anyone?
...anyone?

Beuller?
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:43 PM (KZzsI)

---

Nope.

Ultimately, Jesus wins, but until then...

Posted by: SMH at January 30, 2021 08:45 PM (gSAr2)

234 228 Quick show of hands, here, who has ever believed, said, or thought "We are correct - so therefore we must win?" Ever? At any level?
Anyone?
...anyone?
Beuller?
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:43 PM (KZzsI)

Yeah, I have, that one time I was double-billed on my credit card.

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:45 PM (RzGcW)

235 They were all too studied, deliberate, and carefully manufactured for maximum impact and eventually everyone caught on.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:41 PM

Not very many actually knew about the precise and well-honed crowd hypnosis techniques he was using, though, even after eight years of it. He was well-trained, and good at it.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 08:45 PM (OssQ4)

236 I don't think you've found a useful line of argument there. Can you articulate something maybe more concrete, and less "above it all?"

Well Hell - I guess not. But I gotta' say - I've never read "Bullshit on you" more polite than how you just wrote it. Thats pretty good.

Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:45 PM (LiqBV)

237 I am eagerly awaiting the day when all internet connections and sewer/water/power etc are hooked up to "smart" monitors to make sure people are using this stuff wisely and conserving, for the good of the planet. And, you know, so they can be shut off if someone upsets the Commissar.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:39 PM (KZzsI)

You're in California too?

We've had some torrential rains here recently. Some female functionary of our burg sent out an email urging us to shut off our irrigation systems whenever we had a "rain event" (apparently totally different from a rain storm), to conserve water against the next drought.

Consider that she must have thought we were all idiots that needed to be told that, and that she assumed there would be more water restrictions in the future. God forbid we catch any of the torrential rains.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:45 PM (YqDXo)

238 Yeah, I have, that one time I was double-billed on my credit card.

Your name isn't Underhill is it?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:46 PM (KZzsI)

239 Hey everybody. :-)

Just for the record, even if I could afford it (or live there for free), I wouldn't want to live in Malibu. It's dangerous overall, the whole town seems in danger of eventually slipping into the ocean or a giant sinkhole, too many self-loving Hollywood hippie/lefty types, and its 'natural beauty' has IMHO been almost completely spoiled by the overpopulation.

Similar to Beverly Hills, which is a beautiful area that's surrounded by urban blight (in some spots, really bad blight).

Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 08:47 PM (L2ZTs)

240 You're in California too?

Nope, Oregon. But its coming, at the federal level. Because of global warming, you see.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:47 PM (KZzsI)

241 You may want to confer with grammie first, but according to the two billboards currently up in my small city, Sheboygan is the Malibu of the Midwest.
Posted by: Swingin' for the downs at January 30, 2021 08:45 PM (o9apC)

I'd like to live in Malibu for the physical geography, but not the political one. Turf out Barbra Streisand and her ilk, and then I'd be interested. But still couldn't afford it.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:47 PM (YqDXo)

242 >>He said it so often that someone made a seating chart for his second Inaugural (shudder) that had a whole section for "Those Who Say."

Heh. Was there also a section for "Those Who Will Not Let Me Be Clear?"

Posted by: Lizzy at January 30, 2021 08:47 PM (bDqIh)

243 238 Yeah, I have, that one time I was double-billed on my credit card.

Your name isn't Underhill is it?
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:46 PM (KZzsI)

It's just a traveling name.

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:47 PM (RzGcW)

244 The only towns I really would want to live in, in California anymore, are all near Highway 395. It's practically another state in those areas.

Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 08:48 PM (L2ZTs)

245 Like I say - the biggest mistake I always see on the Right is assuming they are so much intellectually better than the Left. The Left just wins without apology. Advantage - Left.
Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:31 PM

I've long accepted that you are very bitter and angry, that you are at war with history and believe yourself to be too good for people here, but enlighten me - what planet are you from? Leftists are constantly bragging about their levels of education and how Rightists are idiot knuckle draggers. Leftists worship accreditation that people on the Right cannot match.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:48 PM (49Dnm)

246 Check one. Check one. Sibilance. Sibilance.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at January 30, 2021 08:48 PM (7moj5)

247 You may want to confer with grammie first, but according to the two billboards currently up in my small city, Sheboygan is the Malibu of the Midwest.
Posted by: Swingin' for the downs at January 30, 2021 08:45 PM (o9apC)

Even Sheboygan doesn't believe that. Seriously, it isn't the worst city in WI, but Malibu? Maybe a 2014 model that is reasonable well maintained with about 150,000 miles.

Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 08:48 PM (Ojki1)

248 Detroit up top?

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 08:48 PM (lmikk)

249 You may want to confer with grammie first, but according to the two billboards currently up in my small city, Sheboygan is the Malibu of the Midwest.

###

Indeed it is. I can't believe the surf guys weren't out there today. The swells were, well, swell.

Posted by: Pete Seria at January 30, 2021 08:48 PM (7ZQe3)

250 Pierre

To debate you would be a long process. First, the Right is a convenient label that does not describe many here. We react to our own observations. Pragmatists is my term. The political Right is an off-flavor of the corrupt Leftists.

We have 148 years of data on the Left's political failures when they get in power. Their policies lack positive feedback mechanisms and humility.

Ask anyone here how we changed our view of GW Bush and Iraq policy. I knew it was a strategic error from the start. The American way of war was to strike at the heart of the enemy with massive firepower. We did not do that WRT Iran.

And many found Trump's common sense policy victories overcame optics. This is analysis the Left does not use. As a group, we warmed to him the harder he fought for us.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:48 PM (u82oZ)

251 Nope, Oregon. But its coming, at the federal level. Because of global warming, you see.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:47 PM (KZzsI)

Yeah, I was kidding. California pushed hard to put in "smart" electricity meters. You know, the ones you can control from a central office. No more imploring people to conserve electricity. Take the bat right out of their hands.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:49 PM (YqDXo)

252 That was missing the key "more funding required" box.
Posted by: Miklos, aspiring federally funded scientific rap researcher at January 30, 2021 08:42 PM

Yes, the final point made in every scientific article today. "And this is why we need more money. We're so close to a breakthrough! #twoweeks!"

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 08:49 PM (OssQ4)

253 Your name isn't Underhill is it?
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:46 PM (KZzsI)
=============

Bringing it back to Fletch!
*Fist bump *

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 08:49 PM (mZUr4)

254 >>>We've had some torrential rains here recently. Some female functionary of our burg sent out an email urging us to shut off our irrigation systems whenever we had a "rain event" (apparently totally different from a rain storm), to conserve water against the next drought.

=======

Heck, even the 15 year old irrigation system on my baseball field is able to determine current moisture levels, thus can turn off the system when not needed. IOW, dummy proof.

Posted by: Swingin' for the downs at January 30, 2021 08:49 PM (o9apC)

255 For my part, I want to live in Malibu, but don't - because I can't afford it.
You may want to confer with grammie first, but according to the two billboards currently up in my small city, Sheboygan is the Malibu of the Midwest.
Posted by: Swingin' for the downs at January 30, 2021 08:45 PM (o9apC)

Stay out of Malibu! Stay out of Malibu, deadbeat! Keep your ugly fuckin' goldbrickin' ass out of my beach community.

Posted by: Malibu Police Chief at January 30, 2021 08:50 PM (R/m4+)

256 It is a common error to look at the left's antics and tactics, and then look at their recent successes and come to the conclusion that A leads to B and we should follow suit.

That's like looking at a baseball player hit a home run and say "well I just have to swing like that" because that's on the surface in a shallow and ignorant manner, what it looks like: swing this way, hit a home run.

But the left didn't get to this point in a year by having BLM riot. They lost the election in part because of the rioting, which Americans historically and viscerally hate.

It took them about a century of generation after generation infecting, infesting, and corrupting every institution and structure in the country to reach this point. Just like it took years of training and physical exercise and learning for that slugger to see the right pitch and know how to step into it just right for the right swing at the right time, with enough strength and agility to make it all work.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:50 PM (KZzsI)

257 The problem is that a Progressive holds his God is named SCIENCE! So, by definition, whatever is orthodox to the true believers _must_ be absolutely true, despite their lying eyes. If you're seeing differently, it must be because you deny SCIENCE!
Posted by: GWB at January 30, 2021 08:43 PM (lclUd)

I've been characterized online as uneducated, anti-intellectual, and anti-science.

Good times, good times.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:51 PM (YqDXo)

258 Anyone know how to send Morning Report tips to JJ? I never see an email address posted for him

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 08:51 PM (mZUr4)

259 Not really political, the reporter asked him a few questions about last summer, and he was mostly interested in safety and couldn't understand why the mayor and cops abandoned him. He was broken, emotionally spent, as he was closing down his business in the last few days of the month. He was overwhelmed with the destruction of a city he had loved for four decades.
The city council ignores these people.
Posted by: LeftCoast Dawg at January 30, 2021 08:24 PM (sy5kK)

Nope. The city council HATES those people. They can't kill them, or imprison them (yet) but they CAN run them off.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:52 PM (49Dnm)

260 >>>Even Sheboygan doesn't believe that. Seriously, it isn't the worst city in WI, but Malibu? Maybe a 2014 model that is reasonable well maintained with about 150,000 miles.
Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 08:48 PM (Ojki1)

======

We're just over three hours from Sheboygan so I think we know better. I just get a kick out of 2 billboards being up here in the middle of winter. Somebody who works for Lamar is a heck of a salesman.

Posted by: Swingin' for the downs at January 30, 2021 08:53 PM (o9apC)

261 Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:48 PM (u82oZ)

.....

Which is to say nothing for the position of arguing against tribalism, while simultaneously declaring all others to be in tribes you disapprove of.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at January 30, 2021 08:53 PM (yFpt5)

262 Deplorable Jay Guevara

Knocked it out of the park. Again. Thank you.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:53 PM (u82oZ)

263 "Lady, we are all insane here, I do not think we want to leave".
- planet shayol

"Red square, dead square, under a yellow sun."
- lost c'mell

" ... the swimming of the businessmen."
- drunkboat

so much, so many, ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 30, 2021 08:53 PM (PpU3N)

264 Anyone know how to send Morning Report tips to JJ? I never see an email address posted for him
Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 08:51 PM (mZUr4)

Try cut,jib,newsletter. There might be contact info there.

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at January 30, 2021 08:53 PM (uxUoN)

265 The establishment and rise of the United States for so a brief time was the height of human achchiement. We are cursed to live in its decline and fall.

Posted by: Toy Cannon at January 30, 2021 08:54 PM (xi9yF)

266 Vaguely related; a game company called Yaquinto came up with a hilarious, fun game called The Creature That Ate Sheboygan based on old 50s monster movies. One of their Album Games, they were made like a double album and the thing unfolded into the game map.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:54 PM (KZzsI)

267 262 Deplorable Jay Guevara

Knocked it out of the park. Again. Thank you.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:53 PM (u82oZ)

Thanks, NaCly Dog. I appreciate it!

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:54 PM (YqDXo)

268 Yeah this year has been a wake up call about cops.

The Left pisses all over then and then goes out and enforces their bullshit against the normies.

Posted by: blaster at January 30, 2021 08:54 PM (ZfRYq)

269 I've long accepted that you are very bitter and angry, that you are at war with history and believe yourself to be too good for people here, but enlighten me - what planet are you from?

The planet White Trash Poverty. All your sarcasm aside - that is the difference. I don't have the blind faith in certain institutions that you do because I've seen them work against people.

I scratched my way up. I just don't hang out or live in my tax bracket. Because doing so is a whole new set of problems I don't need.

Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 08:55 PM (LiqBV)

270 blaster, one sad thing I've learned the last few years is that too many cops only care about their pensions.

Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 08:55 PM (L2ZTs)

271 I hate those damned rain events.

Posted by: Noah at January 30, 2021 08:55 PM (W4eKo)

272 Well, it was a mistake to assume that the police (and military) were uniquely immune to the crap that every other business has been infected by. That somehow their membership avoided the leftist wokesters in their midst, that only the best and finest ever signed up for the job.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:56 PM (KZzsI)

273 I would guess muskrats are closer to groundhogs

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 08:56 PM (Cxk7w)

274 The problem is that a Progressive holds his God is named SCIENCE! So, by definition, whatever is orthodox to the true believers _must_ be absolutely true, despite their lying eyes. If you're seeing differently, it must be because you deny SCIENCE!
Posted by: GWB at January 30, 2021 08:43 PM

Meanwhile, every week you can find a new discovery that "shakes science to the core" or "changes everything we previously believed". Despite last week's pronouncement that "We're right! Period!" Well, apparently every week or so they have to say "We were wrong, and this is why we need more funding.". And today, "We're right! Period!"

And the cycle just repeats ad infinitum.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 08:56 PM (OssQ4)

275 Anyone know how to send Morning Report tips to JJ? I never see an email address posted for him
Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 08:51 PM (mZUr4)

Try cut,jib,newsletter. There might be contact info there.
Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at January 30, 2021 08:53 PM (uxUoN)
==========

Thanks for the suggestion. Didn't see anything there either

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 08:56 PM (mZUr4)

276 I've had a couple of people express frustration to me about those anti-maskers and shutdown opposers who don't believe in science!

Well, science theorized that shutdowns and masks would reduce Covid spread. The data did not support the theories. It seems some people get stuck in the theory step and the data confirmation step doesn't matter to them. If the theory sounds good, then of course any contrary data must be disregarded.

Posted by: Emmie at January 30, 2021 08:56 PM (ofYez)

277 Honey Malibubu

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 30, 2021 08:56 PM (63Dwl)

278 Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund)

Go to https://cutjibnewsletter.com.

Deplorable Jay Guevara cross-posted this to there. And it is J.J. Sefton's home blog.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:57 PM (u82oZ)

279 I'm in Sheboygan and those crazy surfers will go all winter long if conditions are right. And dry suits. Really good dry suits.

It's something about the rock formations offshore that cause the big waves

Posted by: Pete Seria at January 30, 2021 08:57 PM (7ZQe3)

280 One of the anecdotes from a book about cops that I like a lot (it might be What Cops Know, which is a great read) is about some rookie sent in to make a drug buy in, I suppose, Milwaukee, and the drug dealer asks where he's from, and he says "Sheboygan," and the drug dealer acts like he's never heard the word, and it's just too weird to deal with, so the rookie never made the buy, and all of his colleagues in the van made endless fun of him when he got back. "Sheboygan? Why did you say Sheboygan?"

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 08:57 PM (RzGcW)

281 Pierre, do you like movies about gladiators?

Posted by: Balrog of Morgoth at January 30, 2021 08:57 PM (wm2Fi)

282
Consider that she must have thought we were all idiots that needed to be told that, and that she assumed there would be more water restrictions in the future. God forbid we catch any of the torrential rains.
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:45 PM (YqDXo)

Heh. I can't tell you the number of times I would see sprinklers going full bore while it was raining. This was mostly in the planned communites where I was born and raised - Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Hills, El Toro, Irvine, etc.

Posted by: Russkilitlover at January 30, 2021 08:58 PM (99Nt9)

283 "265 The establishment and rise of the United States for so a brief time was the height of human achchiement. We are cursed to live in its decline and fall.

Posted by: Toy Cannon at January 30, 2021 08:54 PM (xi9yF) "

boom.
this.
spot-on.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 30, 2021 08:58 PM (PpU3N)

284 The planet White Trash Poverty.

If by some bizarre circumstance I ever become President, the White House driveway will be flanked by half buried old tires painted white.

Posted by: Miklos2028! at January 30, 2021 08:58 PM (QzkSJ)

285 Russkilitlover, really nice area! El Toro is now known as Lake Forest.

And I consider myself banned from the town. Long story. :-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 08:59 PM (L2ZTs)

286 Posted by: Javems at January 30, 2021 08:21 PM (8SSHh)

I have been to Milan many times, and I recognize Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, but I don't recognize the language. It is not Italian!

Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 08:59 PM (/aiGx)

287 265 The establishment and rise of the United States for so a brief time was the height of human achchiement. We are cursed to live in its decline and fall.
Posted by: Toy Cannon at January 30, 2021 08:54 PM (xi9yF)

50 years from now the 20 year olds won't believe the stories of what the United States was like in 2018.

Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 08:59 PM (Ojki1)

288 If by some bizarre circumstance I ever become President, the White House driveway will be flanked by half buried old tires painted white.
Posted by: Miklos2028! at January 30, 2021 08:58 PM (QzkSJ)

Don't forget the concrete statuary.

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 09:00 PM (oUcR5)

289 277 Honey Malibubu
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at January 30, 2021 08:56 PM (63Dwl)

What, no one came up with Maliboobies? The Horde is slipping.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 09:00 PM (YqDXo)

290 273 So got interested
Muskrats and beavers are connected in surroundings but in genetics closer to hamsters

Posted by: Skip at January 30, 2021 09:00 PM (Cxk7w)

291 Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund)

Go to https://cutjibnewsletter.com.

Deplorable Jay Guevara cross-posted this to there. And it is J.J. Sefton's home blog.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 08:57 PM (u82oZ)
==========

I looked there too but I don't see any contact info

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 09:00 PM (mZUr4)

292 On the first day of my Administration, I will sign an executive order that all federal buildings will display a large banner saying "F*ck Yale" over their entrance.

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 09:00 PM (RzGcW)

293 "284 The planet White Trash Poverty.
If by some bizarre circumstance I ever become President, the White House driveway will be flanked by half buried old tires painted white.
Posted by: Miklos2028! at January 30, 2021 08:58 PM (QzkSJ) "

I've always wanted a driveway paved with empty used brass instead of gravel.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 30, 2021 09:00 PM (PpU3N)

294 276 I've had a couple of people express frustration to me about those anti-maskers and shutdown opposers who don't believe in science!

Well, science theorized that shutdowns and masks would reduce Covid spread. The data did not support the theories. It seems some people get stuck in the theory step and the data confirmation step doesn't matter to them. If the theory sounds good, then of course any contrary data must be disregarded.
Posted by: Emmie at January 30, 2021 08:56 PM (ofYez)

See, it is because not everyone shut down enough or wore the mask enough. Much like Communism, it didn't fail it just wasn't done right.

Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 09:01 PM (Ojki1)

295 If things go as badly as I fear, we'll see another one of those periods in history where technology and learning actually reverses, that we forget much of what we know that makes all this possible.

Like the Saxons living in Britain tearing roads and Roman buildings apart to make huts with.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 09:01 PM (KZzsI)

296 Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:50 PM

Bravo, good sir. Outstanding analysis.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 09:02 PM (u82oZ)

297 292 On the first day of my Administration, I will sign an executive order that all federal buildings will display a large banner saying "F*ck Yale" over their entrance.
Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 09:00 PM (RzGcW)

Harvard man, eh?

*checks to make sure sweater is still tied around neck*

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:02 PM (lmikk)

298 gerbils>hamsters

Posted by: Bill Kristol at January 30, 2021 09:02 PM (wm2Fi)

299 I just barely managed to stave off a full blown panic attack. The destruction of my country and civil society is the culprit. Not being able to see a face or touch anyone is literally killing me.

I can't be alone in this.

We all need prayers.

Posted by: nurse ratched at January 30, 2021 09:03 PM (U2p+3)

300 297 Harvard man, eh?
Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:02 PM (lmikk)

Wow, you are really good at insults.

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 09:03 PM (RzGcW)

301
I've always wanted a driveway paved with empty used brass instead of gravel.
Posted by: sock_rat_eez

Better home security than ADT

Posted by: Miklos, except for the really stupid criminals, or which some are also in elective office at January 30, 2021 09:03 PM (QzkSJ)

302 Like the Saxons living in Britain tearing roads and Roman buildings apart to make huts with.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

And it will be called bad luck.
Heinlein

Posted by: MarkY at January 30, 2021 09:03 PM (Yqi/Y)

303 gerbils>hamsters
Posted by: Bill Kristol at January 30, 2021 09:02 PM (wm2Fi)

*fistbump*

Posted by: Richard Gere at January 30, 2021 09:04 PM (+CUgm)

304 To debate you would be a long process. First, the Right is a convenient label that does not describe many here. We react to our own observations. Pragmatists is my term. The political Right is an off-flavor of the corrupt Leftists.

Its evolved here, for sure. I remember when Eric Garner got what he had coming - after all, he was told to stand down and stop selling those loosies. Go look it up. Hell - I remember when Trump was DOA according to the Ewok. I've been around here a while.

It all comes down to the citizen and the state - and the relationship. Press hard enough, and the cracks show.

Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 09:04 PM (LiqBV)

305 The fundamental error is thinking things like "rent control" is about rents. It's about control.

Posted by: MW at January 30, 2021 09:04 PM (gWtVa)

306 293 I've always wanted a driveway paved with empty used brass instead of gravel.
Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 30, 2021 09:00 PM (PpU3N)

I thought it was a great idea, until I saw that second 's'.

Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 09:04 PM (RzGcW)

307 Russkilitlover, really nice area! El Toro is now known as Lake Forest.
And I consider myself banned from the town. Long story. :-)
Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 08:59 PM (L2ZTs)

It will always be El Toro to me! And do tell the long story...

Posted by: Russkilitlover at January 30, 2021 09:04 PM (99Nt9)

308 "Just for fun, try this in a debate with a leftist: 'What would it take to get you to reconsider your views?' "

They believe whatever their puppet masters tell them to think, so as soon as they get the new word from whatever they consider the "authorities" to be, their view will be instantly different. They will have no problem in the least that what the new "truth" is, is in opposition to what the old "truth" was, and will look at you like you have two heads if you question this.

They do not think or reason; that's why they're called "authoritarians", and why it usually takes no time at all for them to try to change the subject in a "debate".

If you REALLY want to have fun with a Leftist, ask them how you can be a woman trapped in a man's body if there's no such thing as a female brain.

Posted by: President Optimizer at January 30, 2021 09:04 PM (hOOi9)

309 Isn't it "Res tantum valet tantum vendi potest?"

Posted by: FriscoYoda at January 30, 2021 09:04 PM (+56GQ)

310 Christopher R Taylor

The Creature That Ate Sheboygan was originally an old SPI game. And fun.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 09:04 PM (u82oZ)

311 gerbils>hamsters
Posted by: Bill Kristol at January 30, 2021 09:02 PM (wm2Fi)
========
Armageddon!

https://youtu.be/cTrOb8zyrZk

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 09:05 PM (mZUr4)

312 nurse ratched, prayers up.

In the meantime, here's some music to unwind by. :-)

https://youtu.be/2W7_6rAWd54

Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 09:05 PM (L2ZTs)

313 On the first day of my Administration, I will sign an executive order that all federal buildings will display a large banner saying "F*ck Yale" over their entrance.
Posted by: Splunge

The Supreme Court would overturn that by a 7-2 decision.

Posted by: Miklos, rah rah sis-boom-bah! at January 30, 2021 09:05 PM (QzkSJ)

314 Sorry, screwed that up; it's "Res tantum valet quantum vendi potest."

Posted by: FriscoYoda at January 30, 2021 09:05 PM (+56GQ)

315 {{{Nurse}}}

Call me.

Posted by: Ladyl at January 30, 2021 09:05 PM (TdMsT)

316 300 297 Harvard man, eh?

Wow, you are really good at insults.
Posted by: Splunge at January 30, 2021 09:03 PM (RzGcW)

The joke, like so many others, would have been more funny around 20 years ago.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:05 PM (lmikk)

317 Well, our USBP highway checkpoints have now been closed so the agents can be sent down to the border itself due to the massive surge we are seeing. Since we were understaffed at both places it won't make much difference. If the illegals make it past the border with its sparse staffing they are home free.

Posted by: AZ Hi Desert (Gringo fuertemente armado-Tempus Belli) at January 30, 2021 09:05 PM (l7Kbv)

318 303 gerbils>hamsters
Posted by: Bill Kristol at January 30, 2021 09:02 PM (wm2Fi)

*fistbump*
Posted by: Richard Gere at January 30, 2021 09:04 PM (+CUgm)

That story got him and the rest of Whoreywood to stop talking about Tibet, didn't it round eyes?

Posted by: Xi what owns Bidet at January 30, 2021 09:06 PM (Ojki1)

319 The Creature That Ate Sheboygan was originally an old SPI game.

Was it SPI? I can't remember, its been forever. We have large cabinets packed with bookshelf and other board games that we never play any more

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 09:06 PM (KZzsI)

320 302 Like the Saxons living in Britain tearing roads and Roman buildings apart to make huts with.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

And it will be called bad luck.
Heinlein
Posted by: MarkY at January 30, 2021 09:03 PM (Yqi/Y)

Trump's fault.

Posted by: Russkilitlover at January 30, 2021 09:06 PM (99Nt9)

321 Pierre at January 30, 2021 09:04 PM

OK. what is your solution or plan of action to correct problems?

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 09:06 PM (u82oZ)

322 Like the Saxons living in Britain tearing roads and Roman buildings apart to make huts with.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Hut Sweet Hut

Posted by: Obumbles Kenyan half-brother at January 30, 2021 09:07 PM (QzkSJ)

323 If there's going to be an emp, or dirty bomb, or nuke in a shipping container, or some other attack of mass destruction, I'd say the next 4 years are the window.

Posted by: davidt at January 30, 2021 09:07 PM (l3+k2)

324 Well, it was a mistake to assume that the police (and military) were uniquely immune to the crap that every other business has been infected by. That somehow their membership avoided the leftist wokesters in their midst, that only the best and finest ever signed up for the job.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 08:56 PM (KZzsI)

---

I always knew I was going to follow my dad into the military from an early age, though it wasn't until my teens that I decided upon the Army. Definitely did not consider myself the best or finest.

That said, I always found it laughable that a lot of civvies held some funny misconceptions about military folks and their families.

The military has its shitbags, just like the society it serves.

And just like in society, sometimes the shitbags floats to the top.

Posted by: SMH at January 30, 2021 09:07 PM (gSAr2)

325 See, it is because not everyone shut down enough or wore the mask enough. Much like Communism, it didn't fail it just wasn't done right.

Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 09:01 PM (Ojki1)
......
Yes, this is the exact response you will get.

I asked my state Senator why infections went up in the community AFTER the mask mandate.

He replied something about beach trips and "Sturgis, North Dakota" bike rallies (strange that a doctor, retired Air Force officer and sitting state Senator doesn't know basic f*cking geography) and that we should trust the CDC, because that's where the smart people are that can be trusted.

When I asked him in reply where the beaches were in East Tennessee and what North Dakota has to do with Tennessee, he stopped our correspondence.

Just wear the mask.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at January 30, 2021 09:08 PM (yFpt5)

326 Muskrats and beavers are connected in surroundings but in genetics closer to hamsters

Those were some big hamsters.

Posted by: Noah at January 30, 2021 09:08 PM (W4eKo)

327 We all need prayers.
Posted by: nurse ratched

and hugs

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom Staunch Demofaszi (on gab as @vm) at January 30, 2021 09:08 PM (nUhF0)

328 If there's going to be an emp, or dirty bomb, or nuke in a shipping container, or some other attack of mass destruction, I'd say the next 4 years are the window.
Posted by: davidt at January 30, 2021 09:07 PM (l3+k2)

---

Take a wild guess who it will be blamed on.

Posted by: SMH at January 30, 2021 09:08 PM (gSAr2)

329 For all us old wargamers esp SPI

https://youtu.be/dNDe_JDew1E

Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:08 PM (/aiGx)

330

As much as we (rightly) put the "educational" system on full blast on being rife with Leftism, one of the best things that happened to me (again) was when 1) I got interested in all things Berlin at a young age, 2) my father went TDY there and took me with him so I could see the Wall and much else besides, and 3) my fourth-grade teacher, who had been there, insisting that I visit Herr Hildebrandt's museum at Checkpoint Charlie, among other Berlin-related things. I think this inoculated me from much of the lies of the Left for decades thereafter.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at January 30, 2021 08:01 PM (49Dnm)

This will show you how things have changed - in Grade School there was a magazine issued that had a longish article with pictures about what it would be like if your normal town had a huge wall built down the middle dividing it in two - families split, and so on.

Even without the secret police and shootings, having a government do that to the people was a horrible idea. Never happen now.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:09 PM (eoQWY)

331 Sup, y'all?

Posted by: Weasel at January 30, 2021 09:09 PM (Ab2uT)

332 When I asked him in reply where the beaches were in East Tennessee and what North Dakota has to do with Tennessee, he stopped our correspondence.

Top. Men.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 09:09 PM (W4eKo)

333 it's "Res tantum valet quantum vendi potest."
Posted by: FriscoYoda

Caveat Emptor.

Posted by: Miklos pro tem at January 30, 2021 09:09 PM (QzkSJ)

334 Hey Weasel and Nurse. : )

Posted by: SMH at January 30, 2021 09:10 PM (gSAr2)

335 We all need prayers.
Posted by: nurse ratched

and hugs

Posted by:�Herr Frau Doktor vmom Staunch Demofaszi (on gab as @vm)�at January 30

And BJs.

Posted by: LOL at January 30, 2021 09:10 PM (q7QYq)

336 Take a wild guess who it will be blamed on.
Posted by: SMH at January 30, 2021 09:08 PM (gSAr2)

Just a matter of time.

Posted by: Richard Gere at January 30, 2021 09:10 PM (+CUgm)

337 Christopher R Taylor

We need a week or so to play those old games.

Alas, I have 3 paying jobs now, with my startup. And spousal support. Could be a. while to free up time. Although I am leaving politics behind.

30+years of sound decisions, helping free people in control-freak central of Reston, VA, getting behind good people, door-knocking, marching in parades, the Constitution Bee, sweat equity fundraising, clearing the local area of bad office-holders, and my path to County Commissioner, all gone.

I'm registered as Unaffiliated now.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 09:10 PM (u82oZ)

338 Off gerbil sock!

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at January 30, 2021 09:10 PM (+CUgm)

339 For all us old wargamers esp SPI

https://youtu.be/dNDe_JDew1E
Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:08 PM (/aiGx)

I have a bunch of those games, including "Invasion America". It was a good game, too, the US had a good chance if it bloodied the invaders up in various cities.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:11 PM (eoQWY)

340 He replied something about beach trips and "Sturgis, North Dakota" bike rallies (strange that a doctor, retired Air Force officer and sitting state Senator doesn't know basic f*cking geography) and that we should trust the CDC, because that's where the smart people are that can be trusted.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at January 30, 2021 09:08 PM (yFpt5)

My oncologist, who is a specialist in her field, is all in on all of this. If they proposed eternal masks she would be down with it as the masks kept influenza down this year.

Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 09:11 PM (Ojki1)

341 I was never big on wargames, I liked all the OTHER games Avalon Hill and SPI put out like Speed Circuit, DragonQuest, Magic Realm, Facts in Five, 221b etc.

That was a golden ages of games. Boardgames are really popular again (or, at least they were getting to be, but now nobody can go out and play them with others any more) but not like back then.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 09:11 PM (KZzsI)

342 The Creature That Ate Sheboygan was originally an old SPI game.

Was it SPI? I can't remember, its been forever. We have large cabinets packed with bookshelf and other board games that we never play any more
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 09:06 PM (KZzsI)

Yes. I have that one too in a box somewhere.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:12 PM (eoQWY)

343 We all need prayers.
Posted by: nurse ratched

and hugs
Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom Staunch Demofaszi (on gab as @vm) at January 30, 2021 09:08 PM (nUhF0)

I've adopted the jellyfish as my spirit animal - even bought a cool glass pendant to wear like a talisman- float along, mind my own business, bump off obstacles, and sting if fucked with.

Posted by: Russkilitlover at January 30, 2021 09:13 PM (99Nt9)

344 OK. what is your solution or plan of action to correct problems?
Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 09:06 PM (u82oZ)

I don't know, Salty. I really don't. I know I would back a Pinochet or Franco at this point. I'm a classical liberal - as Friedman described - but that shit has failed. Honestly - I'm just tires of the hypocrisy on the right as well as the left. I'm sick of the talking points and attempts to silence.

Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 09:13 PM (LiqBV)

345 Magic Realm was good for 8 hours on a Saturday. Then play again.

Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:13 PM (/aiGx)

346 My oncologist, who is a specialist in her field, is all in on all of this. If they proposed eternal masks she would be down with it as the masks kept influenza down this year.

I pray that she's particularly good in her own field.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 09:13 PM (W4eKo)

347 My oncologist, who is a specialist in her field, is all in on all of this. If they proposed eternal masks she would be down with it as the masks kept influenza down this year.
Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 09:11 PM (Ojki1)

I would explain it as "calling everything with a sniffle COVID" and people not wanting to go to the doctors being what kept influenza down this year.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:14 PM (eoQWY)

348

Fuck it. Barrel. Whatever.

Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 09:14 PM (LiqBV)

349 Magic Realm was good for 8 hours on a Saturday. Then play again.

7 of those 8 were just setting up the game. Some of those really beg for a good, simple computer version.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 09:15 PM (KZzsI)

350 If they proposed eternal masks she would be down with it as the masks kept influenza down this year.

***

I might have missed it, but did she explain how masks completely stopped one highly contagious respiratory virus while cases of the other one kept rising?

Posted by: Mr. Gray #9 at January 30, 2021 09:15 PM (CM8Oa)

351 i like to poop in the sink

Posted by: Joe Biden at January 30, 2021 09:15 PM (wm2Fi)

352 One thing I admire about the leftists is their ability to use the system to their advantage, no matter what.

They have an superior ability to manipulate laws, media, whatever... and it's true they get help, but still, it's a force unlike anything we've dealt with before.

To cut their shit off at the head we need to get dirty, really, really dirty. And not feel bad about it.

Posted by: Martini Farmer - Now a Pirate, Hoisting the Black Flag at January 30, 2021 09:16 PM (3H9h1)

353 Hello everyone,

I recently recounted how my dad was playing a virtual reality boxing game with my sons and they were awed by his ability. When I spoke with my dad about it, he said the game was unrealistic because in real life, his opponent would have rethought his options after getting hit.

Relevant here because if the elites were hit by reality they would rethink their options.

If we want to win the culture war, we need to make their bad decisions hurt them. See GameStop Revolt.

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at January 30, 2021 09:16 PM (IDhUW)

354 Posted by: SMH at January 30, 2021 09:10 PM (gSAr2)
-----
Howdy SMH!

Posted by: Weasel at January 30, 2021 09:16 PM (MVjcR)

355 I will repost this tomorrow in the gun thread. We went to a gun show north of Denver. Had to wait an hour to get in. Spent money on things that will be lost in a tragic canoe accident

Posted by: westminsterdogshow at January 30, 2021 09:16 PM (/UQ/R)

356 It's also weird that this flu season's numbers aren't segregated into flu season.

We just have one giant, never-ending COVID season death counts that we compare against single year data for other strains.

And now, if the virus mutates, it isn't "this year's prevalent flu strain" it's a continuation of COVID-19.

With such a rigged reporting system, I predict by the time they attribute all subsequent viruses to the original COVID that it will kill a billion people.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at January 30, 2021 09:17 PM (yFpt5)

357 I just barely managed to stave off a full blown panic attack. The destruction of my country and civil society is the culprit. Not being able to see a face or touch anyone is literally killing me.

I can't be alone in this.

We all need prayers.
Posted by: nurse ratched at January 30, 2021 09:03 PM (U2p+3)

There is a pic of one of my kitties linked by my name if it will help any. Prayers for you - one advantage of a flinty old heart is being resistant to today's type of horror.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:17 PM (eoQWY)

358 Damn canoes. You know, some day we might want to find a better way to transport expensive items.

Some day.

Next year in Jerusalem.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:18 PM (lmikk)

359 With such a rigged reporting system, I predict by the time they attribute all subsequent viruses to the original COVID that it will kill a billion people.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger at January 30, 2021 09:17 PM (yFpt5)

Just as likely they will re-label it each year, like Automakers do with cars and for just as much of a reason.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:18 PM (eoQWY)

360 I might have missed it, but did she explain how masks completely stopped one highly contagious respiratory virus while cases of the other one kept rising?
Posted by: Mr. Gray #9 at January 30, 2021 09:15 PM (CM8Oa)

Why do you hate science?

Posted by: Toy Cannon at January 30, 2021 09:19 PM (xi9yF)

361 I predict by the time they attribute all subsequent viruses to the original COVID that it will kill a billion people.

We must trust the numbers. Stay safe.

Posted by: A Scold of Karens at January 30, 2021 09:19 PM (W4eKo)

362 I might have missed it, but did she explain how masks completely stopped one highly contagious respiratory virus while cases of the other one kept rising?
Posted by: Mr. Gray #9 at January 30, 2021 09:15 PM (CM8Oa)

Bull's eye. The operative question.

And considering that influenza cases are way down, but that Covid cases are up, one has to suspect some statistical massaging going on.

For my part, I'd like to see the sum of influenza and Covid cases for the last year, because I would not be surprised if the sum is pretty close to the typical annual incidence of influenza cases.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 09:19 PM (YqDXo)

363 Pierre

Nyah. You're good. Pixy stops some of the old cascading hits.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 09:19 PM (u82oZ)

364 There is a pic of one of my kitties linked by my name if it will help any.

Posted by: Oldcat

AWWWWW!!!!

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom Staunch Demofaszi (on gab as @vm) at January 30, 2021 09:19 PM (nUhF0)

365 For my part, I'd like to see the sum of influenza and Covid cases for the last year, because I would not be surprised if the sum is pretty close to the typical annual incidence of influenza cases.

The CDC numbers I've seen put it on the high side of yearly seasonal flu cases, but not epidemic/extreme levels.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 09:20 PM (KZzsI)

366 One thing I admire about the leftists is their ability to use the system to their advantage, no matter what.

They have an superior ability to manipulate laws, media, whatever... and it's true they get help, but still, it's a force unlike anything we've dealt with before.

To cut their shit off at the head we need to get dirty, really, really dirty. And not feel bad about it.
Posted by: Martini Farmer -

no need to admire them for that. If you got to make the rules you could make a more effective one that the one they have build, especially now as the facade that hid the reality is gone.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:20 PM (eoQWY)

367 CDs in my online shopping cart:

- Cab Calloway: Absolutely Essential
- Savoy Brown: Hellbound Train
- Strunz & Farah: Best Of
- Chet Baker: It Could Happen To You/Chet Baker Sings
- The Lumineers

...guess I fulfilled my wish of expanding my musical horizons.

Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 09:20 PM (L2ZTs)

368 Pierre

I get where you are coming from. But plans of action or reaction are better than wishing people were different.

Make your case for why, and lead people to better places.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 09:21 PM (u82oZ)

369 They have an superior ability to manipulate laws, media, whatever... and it's true they get help, but still, it's a force unlike anything we've dealt with before.

*******

You have to have complete disregard progressing into active hate for people who disagree with you, your neighbors, your nation, and the history that brought you to this point.

Our problem is we want people to mind their own business, raise their families, save for retirement, and then travel the US and visit the grandbabies.

They have none of those goals. The politically aware are psychopaths who hate us and want to be sure people they don't know are bowing to their whims.

Posted by: Mr. Gray #9 at January 30, 2021 09:21 PM (CM8Oa)

370 Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:17 PM (eoQWY)

What a beauty!!

Posted by: Russkilitlover at January 30, 2021 09:21 PM (99Nt9)

371 Check out Louis Jordan sometime, qdpsteve. He's one of the biggest acts of the 20th century with a huge catalog of terrific hits that almost nobody even knows about any more.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 09:21 PM (KZzsI)

372 Ask them what is the best argument against the traditional global warming narrative. If they don't know, then ask them how they can compare the arguments for and against it. Put it this way: There are two numbers between one and one hundred. The first number is 42.
Is the second number larger or smaller than 42?
If you don't know the value of the second number then how can you compare them?

I argue with a young electrician at work that way.
I torment him if he doesn't know both sides of an issue.
And I openly tell him that I am tormenting him so that he will learn both sides of the argument and end up agreeing that I'm right. I force him to do research and to think.

Electricians and mechanics (and others) understand systems.
To diagnose problems with systems you have to know how one component relates to and and how it affects the other components. It is a logical and unforgiving process. There are things that are possible under a certain set of symptoms and others that are not possible. And you get constant feedback on how well you do at applying logic. If you're wrong then you don't solve the problem, if you solve the problem then you know you did it right.

Posted by: Dr. Mongo at January 30, 2021 09:21 PM (IU8aO)

373 I might have missed it, but did she explain how masks completely stopped one highly contagious respiratory virus while cases of the other one kept rising?
Posted by: Mr. Gray #9 at January 30, 2021 09:15 PM (CM8Oa)

It just did.

And then there was the 5 minute pitch on the Covid vaccine, which she couldn't change and had to keep telling me it was OK to be scared of it even after I said I am not, though that did seem to throw her sales pitch off a bit.

Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 09:21 PM (Ojki1)

374 Not being able to see a face or touch anyone is literally killing me.

I can't be alone in this.

Posted by: nurse ratched at January 30, 2021 09:03 PM (U2p+3)

Hop on a plane.

Come to Tennessee, I'll take you to some bars, you can come to church, catch a few bands.

Serious offer.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at January 30, 2021 09:21 PM (yFpt5)

375 Christopher, thanks!

Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 09:22 PM (L2ZTs)

376 For my part, I'd like to see the sum of influenza and Covid cases for the last year, because I would not be surprised if the sum is pretty close to the typical annual incidence of influenza cases.

The CDC numbers I've seen put it on the high side of yearly seasonal flu cases, but not epidemic/extreme levels.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 09:20 PM (KZzsI)

An academic at Johns Hopkins did just that and wrote an article showing that stats showed NO excess deaths.

She was instantly unpersoned and recanted, but not refuted, as she used government numbers.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:22 PM (eoQWY)

377 Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 09:19 PM (u82oZ)

Thanks for the chat. Its been a while - always enjoyed talking with you.

Later.

Posted by: Pierre at January 30, 2021 09:22 PM (LiqBV)

378 You have to have complete disregard progressing into active hate for people who disagree with you, your neighbors, your nation, and the history that brought you to this point.

Our problem is we want people to mind their own business, raise their families, save for retirement, and then travel the US and visit the grandbabies.

They have none of those goals. The politically aware are psychopaths who hate us and want to be sure people they don't know are bowing to their whims.
Posted by: Mr. Gray #9 at January 30, 2021 09:21 PM (CM8Oa)

Don't forget no logic, ethics or qualms about cheating, stealing or outright murder.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:22 PM (lmikk)

379 then there is this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D2R69gVyZ0

Posted by: Balrog of Morgoth at January 30, 2021 09:23 PM (wm2Fi)

380 Oh, here's a great mask website with graphs and dates. Look at those numbers rise!

rationalground.com/mask-charts/

Posted by: Mr. Gray #9 at January 30, 2021 09:23 PM (CM8Oa)

381 If we want to win the culture war, we need to make their bad decisions hurt them. See GameStop Revolt.
Posted by: AmericanKestrel at January 30, 2021 09:16 PM (IDhUW)

Oh, we are looking at that hard. And any "harm" to the hedge fund will be undone where as WB is gonna get the Flynn treatment.

Posted by: SEC at January 30, 2021 09:23 PM (Ojki1)

382 352 One thing I admire about the leftists is their ability to use the system to their advantage, no matter what.

They have an superior ability to manipulate laws, media, whatever... and it's true they get help, but still, it's a force unlike anything we've dealt with before.

To cut their shit off at the head we need to get dirty, really, really dirty. And not feel bad about it.
----
I wish I had more answers. One answer is to Go Galt to extremes that hurt us but hurts the gvt more.
I understand the gray man strategy, but I too am tired of being the nice guy. I don't mind being the nail that sticks up, I just want to make a difference. History shows us that there are usually a couple failures before a movement is established.

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at January 30, 2021 09:24 PM (IDhUW)

383 I could use an opponent for Advanced Squad Leader Festung Budapest. I got an itch to murder some cardboard commies with my Hungarian Horde.

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at January 30, 2021 09:24 PM (uxUoN)

384 qdpsteve @ 367 --

That's en eclectic list!

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 09:25 PM (mZUr4)

385 Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:17 PM (eoQWY)

What a beauty!!
Posted by: Russkilitlover at January 30, 2021 09:21 PM (99Nt9)

A couple years back I broke an arm and she parked herself right next to that arm every moment until it healed, then she went back to her normal spots.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:26 PM (eoQWY)

386 Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at January 30, 2021 09:24 PM (uxUoN)

Are you using VASL?

Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:26 PM (/aiGx)

387 Doof, thanks.

I just know that a number of years ago I wanted to get some classic American and other music into my collection, besides classic rock.

I started with blues, and things really blossomed from there. It helps that the only radio station I listen to anymore is KKJZ from California State University Long Beach, which plays a Classic Pop/Jazz/Blues format (and is one of the very few stations in the whole country that still plays those songs).

Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 09:27 PM (L2ZTs)

388 AmericanKestrel

I've been trying to get some of my peeps to join me in registering for classes at the local Big-12 university. Go through indoc, and take no prisoners.

"I thought there was one human race." We are all inter-fertile, right?

Equity? Bullshit. Here is a Boltzmann distribution. Use science, you asses. Etc.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 09:27 PM (u82oZ)

389 qdpsteve -- Are you familiar with The Revivalists? If not, I suggest you remedy that!

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 09:28 PM (mZUr4)

390 If we want to win the culture war, we need to make their bad decisions hurt them. See GameStop Revolt.

I agree that that is the path forward, a sort of neo asymmetrical urban warfare, fought with institutions and structures rather than weapons. But I'm not clever enough or strong enough to pull off that kind of thing.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 09:28 PM (KZzsI)

391 I wish I had more answers. One answer is to Go Galt to extremes that hurt us but hurts the gvt more.
I understand the gray man strategy, but I too am tired of being the nice guy. I don't mind being the nail that sticks up, I just want to make a difference. History shows us that there are usually a couple failures before a movement is established.
Posted by: AmericanKestrel at January 30, 2021 09:24 PM (IDhUW)

One of the key things Ayn Rand discussed was the "Sanction of the Victim" - the Left needs you to agree that they are right to do evil to you and the world. It is a start to just start disagreeing and not giving them credit for good intentions or good hearts.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:28 PM (eoQWY)

392 I also want to get more classic country into my collection, including Marty Robbins and Tammy Wynette.

Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 09:28 PM (L2ZTs)

393 Are you using VASL?
Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:26 PM (/aiGx)

I would prefer FTF but yeah...Most of my ASL opponents are via VASL.

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at January 30, 2021 09:29 PM (uxUoN)

394 The joke, like so many others, would have been more funny around 20 years ago.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:05 PM

Like my joke about yo mamma being so fat she wears a VCR for a beeper. Kids look at me like a confused dog.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 09:29 PM (OssQ4)

395 Doof, I'll look them up, thanks.

Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 09:29 PM (L2ZTs)

396 oh great! you're here Oldcat!

you're little kitty is SO BEAUTIFUL!

wow

stunning!

Posted by: BlackOrchid at January 30, 2021 09:29 PM (j9HX3)

397 343 We all need prayers.
Posted by: nurse ratched

and hugs
Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom Staunch Demofaszi (on gab as @vm) at January 30, 2021 09:08 PM (nUhF0)

Prayers up and virtual hugs.

Nurse, easy enough to get a flight up here. You are always welcome.

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at January 30, 2021 09:29 PM (IDhUW)

398 you're = your

damn

Posted by: BlackOrchid at January 30, 2021 09:29 PM (j9HX3)

399 Ayn Rand's solutions were fine for her time period but you cannot use them now. There's nowhere to escape to, no place we can hide or find a little pocket to build our safe place in.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 09:30 PM (KZzsI)

400 Mmm...perhaps the issue isn't our simpleton fellow men so much as it is the malleability built into the system. Maybe "here's the rules" was enough from the Very Smart Founders, and "here's the way to (easily) change them" was too much.

Posted by: Farmer Bob at January 30, 2021 09:30 PM (7o4Oo)

401 Have a great night, everyone.

May you all be blessed with love, warmth, and deep sleep.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 30, 2021 09:30 PM (u82oZ)

402 Doof, I'll look them up, thanks.
Posted by: qdpsteve at January 30, 2021 09:29 PM (L2ZTs)
========

I discovered them in late 2019. Curious as to your thoughts. I have a lot of music buddies. Most like The Revivalists. A few don't.

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 09:31 PM (mZUr4)

403 One of the key things Ayn Rand discussed was the "Sanction of the Victim" - the Left needs you to agree that they are right to do evil to you and the world. It is a start to just start disagreeing and not giving them credit for good intentions or good hearts.
Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:28 PM (eoQWY)

***

I've been fascinated reading all the articles in the local newspapers about how scared local democrat voters are that Republican voters are flying their flags upside down and some actually believe the conspiracy theory that Trump won the election and the democrat voters are scared of the Republican voters for rejecting the rule of law etc etc.

Posted by: Mr. Gray #9 at January 30, 2021 09:32 PM (CM8Oa)

404 I've been trying to get some of my peeps to join me in registering for classes at the local Big-12 university. Go through indoc, and take no prisoners.
------
This sounds like so much fun! I hope you can make it happen. You know you have the support of the Horde.

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at January 30, 2021 09:32 PM (IDhUW)

405 No movie thread? Damn.. and I had a whole list of movies to NOT watch.

Posted by: Jewells45 at January 30, 2021 09:32 PM (nxdel)

406 'Night, all. Snow supposed to start 2 am(ish). Can't wait to take teh doggeh out to play tomorrow.

Posted by: Russkilitlover at January 30, 2021 09:33 PM (99Nt9)

407 Get a little savage with it Peleton.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at January 30, 2021 09:33 PM (ufFY8)

408 In epistemological terms, leftists favor a priori knowledge, i.e., knowledge acquired by pure reason (as they see it), whereas the scientific method looks to a posteriori knowledge, i.e., knowledge deriving from empirical observation.
__________

That's a common error. ALL reasoning is fundamentally based on logic, which is a priori. And leftists don't believe in that, at all. Check out the history of their thought; the rejection of pure reason runs through it.

What the problem is that they don't check their assumptions. And THOSE can often be checked against reality.

BTW, Aristotle's philosophy of science has been making a comeback for several decades. DDG "Aristotle-totle-totle" by Max Delbruck.

Posted by: Eeyore at January 30, 2021 09:33 PM (7X3UV)

409 No movie thread? Damn.. and I had a whole list of movies to NOT watch.
Posted by: Jewells45 at January 30, 2021 09:32 PM (nxdel)

---

Heh.

Posted by: SMH at January 30, 2021 09:34 PM (gSAr2)

410 One of the key things Ayn Rand discussed was the "Sanction of the Victim" - the Left needs you to agree that they are right to do evil to you and the world. It is a start to just start disagreeing and not giving them credit for good intentions or good hearts.
Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:28 PM (

Thanks for this thought. What a great starting point! They are wrong, they are evil and we will not acquiesce to their demands.

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at January 30, 2021 09:34 PM (IDhUW)

411 The California legislature passed rent control as preparation for an assault on Prop 13.
Kill Prop 13, property taxes go to 'market', landlords can't jack rents to compensate. Diabolical!

Posted by: Duncanthrax at January 30, 2021 09:34 PM (DMUuz)

412 Hi Jewells! My AoSHQ key chain arrived today, and I love it! Thank you!

Posted by: ALH, Trump Won at January 30, 2021 09:34 PM (oUcR5)

413 Like my joke about yo mamma being so fat she wears a VCR for a beeper. Kids look at me like a confused dog.
Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 09:29 PM (OssQ4)

I was telling some of the kids who work with me a couple weeks ago: there was a time you could go several fucking days without hearing from anyone outside your immediate family- and it was awesome. No personal item on you that you had to worry about the charge.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:35 PM (lmikk)

414 An academic at Johns Hopkins did just that and wrote an article showing that stats showed NO excess deaths.
She was instantly unpersoned and recanted, but not refuted, as she used government numbers.
Posted by:�Oldcat�at January 30, 2021 09:22 PM

Confounding the issue is that significant amounts of the data are so hopelessly corrupted as to make teasing out the truth difficult, just like they did with climate-related temperature data.

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings at January 30, 2021 09:35 PM (MhLHf)

415 I would prefer FTF but yeah...Most of my ASL opponents are via VASL.
Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at January 30, 2021 09:29 PM (uxUoN)

I'm up in Arlington Heights so FTF is probably not realistic. I'm on AoSHQ until Parler re-opens. Honestly I'm more SK level so you might be bored kicking my ass all over Budapest. Up to you

Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:36 PM (/aiGx)

416 Ayn Rand's solutions were fine for her time period but you cannot use them now. There's nowhere to escape to, no place we can hide or find a little pocket to build our safe place in.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at January 30, 2021 09:30 PM (KZzsI)

Well her solutions didn't work even then - she just started the fake Libertarians up that have been used as cover for all sorts of attacks on moral values. One thing Rand had was a horror of relativism. You might disagree with her ideas but she could see evil when faced with it, even in the mild versions of the 60s.

But it is so that so many of the abuses start by us giving unearned credit to the enemy. Why was anyone listening to the likes of Goldberg or Kristol ? What had they ever done to earn their position, unlike Sowell or VD Hanson?

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:36 PM (eoQWY)

417 "Would you rather live in the ascendency of a civilization or its decline?"

Posted by: Revenge of the Nerds at January 30, 2021 09:37 PM (KAi1n)

418 One thing we could, a campaign to get kids out of the current public school system. Don't try to fix the current one by running for school board, home school or start taking the Amish/Mennonite model of schooling, multiple "schools" spread out with a few dozen kids total.

Posted by: lowandslow at January 30, 2021 09:37 PM (qH6FZ)

419 Tonight's movie thread: Prometheus and Ghost Ship: Compare and Contrast.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at January 30, 2021 09:37 PM (DMUuz)

420 there are very few truly "homeless" in America: those people get into programs and reclaim their lives.

the rest are either mentally ill, with "advocates" who fight for their right to be mentally ill in public, and vagrants, who'd rather spend their days getting high and having sex.

and "unhoused" is pure refined bullshit of the 1st order.

Posted by: redc1c4 (Zhou Bai-Din Cheated) at January 30, 2021 09:37 PM (ORHyT)

421 After discussions about the TV show Sanctuary the other day, I broke out the DVDs. Just a few episodes in to season 3 now.

Posted by: No One of Consequence at January 30, 2021 09:37 PM (CAJOC)

422 Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 09:28 PM (mZUr4)

Someone on Steam asked for favorite current bands. I checked Pandora, because it knows the truth, despite what I think at any given moment. My current favorite bands are Revivalists, by a long shot, followed by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, and a good current reggae act called Stick Figure.

Revivalists' catalogue has some range, and very positive stuff.

Rateliff's band reminds me of Van Morrison, for some reason.

Stick Figure is also very uplifting.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 09:37 PM (OssQ4)

423 419 Tonight's movie thread: Prometheus and Ghost Ship: Compare and Contrast.
Posted by: Duncanthrax at January 30, 2021 09:37 PM (DMUuz)

Ghost Ship has naked women.

Prometheus... actually I don't know.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:39 PM (lmikk)

424 Confounding the issue is that significant amounts of the data are so hopelessly corrupted as to make teasing out the truth difficult, just like they did with climate-related temperature data.
Posted by: Drink Like Vikings at January 30, 2021 09:35 PM (MhLHf)

Oh its not that hard. I remember just looking at a climate model mapped on top of Lake Michigan and looking up in the top corner and seeing numbers like 150 and 225....degrees C. Thats above the boiling point of water, dude. You publishing and getting away with it that makes the entire 'science' dead to me.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:39 PM (eoQWY)

425 Taqiyyologist @ 422 --

Thanks for the suggestions! Nice to find a fellow Revivalists fan!

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 09:39 PM (mZUr4)

426 399 Ayn Rand's solutions were fine for her time period but you cannot use them now. There's nowhere to escape to, no place we can hide or find a little pocket to build our safe place in.
-------
There may not be a Galt's Gultch to retreat to, but we can withdraw from taxes as much as possible, withdraw support from products that support the enemy, withdraw from gvt schools and other institutions.

I don't need a safe place to retreat to. This is not my home.

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at January 30, 2021 09:39 PM (IDhUW)

427 Why was anyone listening to the likes of Goldberg or Kristol ? What had they ever done to earn their position, unlike Sowell or VD Hanson?
Posted by: Oldcat

Lucianne and Irving or Jonah and Cpt Bill?

Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 09:40 PM (KAi1n)

428 421 After discussions about the TV show Sanctuary the other day, I broke out the DVDs. Just a few episodes in to season 3 now.
Posted by: No One of Consequence at January 30, 2021 09:37 PM (CAJOC)

You know something I have noticed over the past couple of years: I do not think I have the patience to watch TV shows the way they have always been done rather than as a seasonal block. I got into The Expanse and while I like the show (barring a few problems) it was much better in bloc form than watching an episode at a time. As single episodes, nothing seems to fricking happen and everything seems to move at a glacial pace.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:41 PM (lmikk)

429 It's their religion

Posted by: ghost of hallelujah, circling back, always circling back at January 30, 2021 09:41 PM (oAY8z)

430 One thing we could, a campaign to get kids out of the current public school system. Don't try to fix the current one by running for school board, home school or start taking the Amish/Mennonite model of schooling, multiple "schools" spread out with a few dozen kids total.
Posted by: lowandslow at January 30, 2021 09:37 PM (qH6FZ)

As with computing, and suburbia, decentralization and diffusion of authority paired with freedom of communication is the way to go. What has the school board ever done for education? Certainly not hold teachers feet to the fire.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:41 PM (eoQWY)

431 Most leftists just want to be cool. And all the cultural leftists tell them that the only way to be cool is to not be us.

Posted by: Kate Winslet's boobs at January 30, 2021 09:42 PM (ftFVW)

432 Why was anyone listening to the likes of Goldberg or Kristol ? What had they ever done to earn their position, unlike Sowell or VD Hanson?
Posted by: Oldcat

Lucianne and Irving or Jonah and Cpt Bill?
Posted by: SFGoth at January 30, 2021 09:40 PM (KAi1n)

I was thinking the latter, not being too familiar with the former, but they did build themselves up.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:42 PM (eoQWY)

433 Certainly not hold teachers feet to the fire.
Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:41 PM (eoQWY)

They'd have to gather the teachers from their paid Covid vacations to do that.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:43 PM (lmikk)

434 Some new-ish bands playing good ole rock music...

The Pale White
Royal Blood
Greta Van Fleet
The Glorious Sons
Arctic Monkeys
Highly Suspect

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 09:43 PM (mZUr4)

435 The book "My Brother Ron" details the history of all this.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at January 30, 2021 08:15 PM (YqDXo)

You recommended it to me, and while it is a decidedly unpleasant book to read, the history of our outrageous missteps with the mentally ill is so very, very important.

I think everyone should read this book!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 30, 2021 09:43 PM (Q9lwr)

436 Thanks for the suggestions! Nice to find a fellow Revivalists fan!
Posted by: Doof

Its funny, I never heard of them before 2018 or so, whenever alt rock stations started playing "Wish I Knew You When I was Young", but I end up tapping thumbs up on just about every song since. Its my driving music, and working music.

My favorite Pandora station has those three acts for seeds. You end up hearing quite a good variety.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 09:44 PM (OssQ4)

437 418 One thing we could, a campaign to get kids out of the current public school system. Don't try to fix the current one by running for school board, home school or start taking the Amish/Mennonite model of schooling, multiple "schools" spread out with a few dozen kids total.
Posted by: lowandslow at January 30, 2021 09:37 PM (qH6FZ)
-----
Yes! I don't know how to emphasize enough how damaging it is to give our children's minds to a gvt institution.

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at January 30, 2021 09:44 PM (IDhUW)

438 There may not be a Galt's Gultch to retreat to, but we can withdraw from taxes as much as possible, withdraw support from products that support the enemy, withdraw from gvt schools and other institutions.

I don't need a safe place to retreat to. This is not my home.
Posted by: AmericanKestrel at January 30, 2021 09:39 PM (IDhUW)

Galt and his people lived in the real world 11 months of the year. The Gulch was a 'vacation' spot where they can work. Galt himself worked in Dagny's railroad where he could take away the people she relied on, one by one.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:45 PM (eoQWY)

439 I was thinking the latter, not being too familiar with the former, but they did build themselves up.
Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:42 PM (eoQWY)

Dennis Miller had a bit a while back (may have been a subject on his HBO show) where he pointed out we used to demand more as far as CV from our leaders and heroes: they had to win a war, slay a dragon- actually have done something.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:45 PM (lmikk)

440 the democrat voters are scared of the Republican voters for rejecting the rule of law etc

Oh, the irony...

Posted by: Notorious BFD at January 30, 2021 09:45 PM (W4eKo)

441 Hey - CBD is here! A little while ago I asked about contact info for JJ. I have a tip for a Morning Report article. Does he take such tips from us morons?

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 09:45 PM (mZUr4)

442 I'm up in Arlington Heights so FTF is probably not realistic. I'm on AoSHQ until Parler re-opens. Honestly I'm more SK level so you might be bored kicking my ass all over Budapest. Up to you
Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:36 PM (/aiGx)

I have all the starter kits. That wouldn't be a problem. You have skype? Game goes a lot better when you can talk.

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at January 30, 2021 09:46 PM (uxUoN)

443 ONT is nood.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at January 30, 2021 09:46 PM (lmikk)

444
I've been fascinated reading all the articles in the local newspapers about how scared local democrat voters are that Republican voters are flying their flags upside down and some actually believe the conspiracy theory that Trump won the election and the democrat voters are scared of the Republican voters for rejecting the rule of law etc etc.
Posted by: Mr. Gray #9 at January 30, 2021 09:32 PM (CM8Oa)

What is wrong with a #Resistence? It was so cool for 4 years.

Posted by: Bete at January 30, 2021 09:46 PM (Ojki1)

445 Posted by: Doof
Thanks, ill copy that list. Only one I know is Greta Van Fleet.

You will love Nathaniel Rateliff.

Also Alabama Shakes.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at January 30, 2021 09:46 PM (OssQ4)

446 I'm up in Arlington Heights so FTF is probably not realistic. I'm on AoSHQ until Parler re-opens. Honestly I'm more SK level so you might be bored kicking my ass all over Budapest. Up to you
Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:36 PM (/aiGx)

Send a mail to MisHum and lets arrange something.

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at January 30, 2021 09:47 PM (uxUoN)

447 Quick show of hands, here, who has ever believed, said, or thought "We are correct - so therefore we must win?" Ever? At any level?

Have you met the female of the species? *ducks*

Posted by: Ian S. at January 30, 2021 09:47 PM (6XLoz)

448 Good God, all the crap that's going on, including Biden wanting open borders and we get a post about... RENT CONTROL.

You gotta be kidding. Yeah, let the R's run on getting Rid of Rent Control. Then we'll cruise to victory. Here's the slogan: "Stop Socialism. Stop Rent Control. Vote Republican". That'll bring 'em in.

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 09:47 PM (evE25)

449 Your mistake is that you believe that the goal of the Left is to improve people's lives. That's your goal, not theirs. Their goal is to obtain and hold power over people's lives. And by that measure, their policies are tremendously successful.

A key element of their policies is that they seem plausible on the surface, which is all most voters care about. Take your example: rent control. The problem is framed as "rent is too high". One way to reduce rent would be to remove obstacles to that limit the supply of housing. Doing so would mean less government power.

Another way is to limit the amount that landlord's can charge tenants. That increases government power. Naturally, that is the policy proposed by the Left. And it sounds good to voters, since it addresses the symptom: high rent.

Posted by: The Rent's Too D*mn High at January 30, 2021 09:48 PM (psq2p)

450 Taqiyyologist @ 436 --

I had plans to go see The Revivalists in DC last year but then WuFlu madness.

It Was a Sin, Gold to Glass, All My Friends -- a few of my favorites.

Change made it onto my 5K race day playlist last summer

Posted by: Doof (Invested in Sonic the Hedge Fund) at January 30, 2021 09:48 PM (mZUr4)

451 I've been fascinated reading all the articles in the local newspapers about how scared local democrat voters are that Republican voters are flying their flags upside down and some actually believe the conspiracy theory that Trump won the election and the democrat voters are scared of the Republican voters for rejecting the rule of law etc etc.
Posted by: Mr. Gray #9 at January 30, 2021 09:32 PM (CM8Oa)

They are scared of that, because they need you to give them permission to destroy you, to agree that their poison is good food, and that the destruction they bring was all for the best.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:48 PM (eoQWY)

452 Seriously, we're about 1 step away from the D's establishing a soft 1 party rule forever, and I'm supposed to care about some rich landlord not getting enough $$. Sorry, I have more important things to care about.

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 09:49 PM (evE25)

453 Leftists are all for pounding square pegs into round holes. No amount of visual evidence that it won't fit, that it's not the right solution will change their minds. I will never understand how their brains can reject that which is so easily seen.

Posted by: Lady in Black at January 30, 2021 09:49 PM (O+I8R)

454 Have you met the female of the species? *ducks*
Posted by: Ian S. at January 30, 2021 09:47 PM (6XLoz)

---

How cute.

Posted by: SMH at January 30, 2021 09:50 PM (gSAr2)

455 Good God, all the crap that's going on, including Biden wanting open borders and we get a post about... RENT CONTROL.

--

Um, I think you've missed the entire gist of the post.

Posted by: Lady in Black at January 30, 2021 09:51 PM (O+I8R)

456 oh great! you're here Oldcat!

you're little kitty is SO BEAUTIFUL!

wow

stunning!
Posted by: BlackOrchid at January 30, 2021 09:29 PM (j9HX3)

Thank you, she is a lovely girl and makes me very happy along with the others.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:52 PM (eoQWY)

457 Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at January 30, 2021 09:46 PM (uxUoN)

I can meet in the VASL lobby any time we are both in the ONT. I have Festung Budapest and I have played a couple of the scenarios when it came out, but not the campagin games. So look for me and we can start any night. I am Ted Torgerson on VASL. Play by email works too as long as you have agreement on when to stop mov files.

Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:52 PM (/aiGx)

458 Nice post !
Posted by: JT at January 30, 2021 07:38 PM (arJlL)

It is. Girthy, and substantive.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at January 30, 2021 09:53 PM (mzC78)

459 "One way to reduce rent would be to remove obstacles to that limit the supply of housing. Doing so would mean less government power."

Sorry this is just more dumb "Muh free enterprise" rhetoric. What reason is there to believe that rents will go DOWN because supply will go UP. Maybe the rich Landlords own so many apartments, they don't want the rents to go down. So they won't. Maybe the rich landlords will constrict the supply through their bribed politicians. maybe if you want to build a lot of apartments and drive down rents, the big landlords will find a way to crush you just like paler got crushed by Amazon and Google.

Stop with the 11th grade libertarianism. In 2021, no one buys it.

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 09:53 PM (evE25)

460 I'm up in Arlington Heights so FTF is probably not realistic. I'm on AoSHQ until Parler re-opens. Honestly I'm more SK level so you might be bored kicking my ass all over Budapest. Up to you
Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:36 PM (/aiGx)

Send a mail to MisHum and lets arrange something.
Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at January 30, 2021 09:47 PM (uxUoN)

Ah, no need to worry about different skill levels, he can always give you lots more men to hammer at him when you run low. Its the contest that's fun.

Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:54 PM (eoQWY)

461 It seems some people get stuck in the theory step
Posted by: Emmie at January 30, 2021 08:56 PM (ofYez)

Not so much the theory step. It's more the Authority Step. To so many, folks in a white lab coat hold all True Knowledge, and they treat those folks as high priests of their god, SCIENCE!. They never even reach the Theory Step.

Posted by: GWB at January 30, 2021 09:54 PM (lclUd)

462 "Um, I think you've missed the entire gist of the post."

Well, UM, why don't you tell me what that is. And I'll 100-1 you'll either respond with a non-sequitur, snark, or an evasion.

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 09:56 PM (evE25)

463 Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:52 PM (eoQWY)

I've enjoyed your comments and clicked on your nic to see if your email was there and saw that beautiful kitty. Precious!

Posted by: AmericanKestrel at January 30, 2021 09:56 PM (IDhUW)

464 Oh, you don't agree with libertarianism? well, if only you understood it.

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 09:57 PM (evE25)

465 My good shooting buddy who retired here to the Texas Hill Country about the same time I did used to be a Jet salesman for Gulfstream and he has a lot of wisdom. One day at the shooting range he came up to and said, "I really admire Walmart."
I asked him why and he said, "They hire the unemployable, they keep people off of welfare who are not really capable of holding jobs." And then he went on to tell me of his latest experience with a Wally World employee which was nuts.

Posted by: OldTexan at January 30, 2021 09:57 PM (LNPJV)

466 Great post, Jay.

Posted by: GnuBreed at January 30, 2021 09:57 PM (F0YaR)

467
I think everyone should read this book!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 30, 2021 09:43 PM (Q9lwr)
-----
Does it have pictures?

Posted by: Weasel at January 30, 2021 09:58 PM (MVjcR)

468 Posted by: Oldcat at January 30, 2021 09:54 PM (eoQWY)

In the campaign games there is a refit phase where you buy dudes and equipment, You can give the guy that is losing extra money to buy a Tiger II and just go to town.

Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:59 PM (/aiGx)

469 The Left doesn't "Institute Rent Control" to correct a lack of housing. They do it, to buy the votes of people who rent. because the renters think they are paying too much in rent.

The Left - used to - form labor unions to fight for workers rights. That's not because they cared about workers, its because it was a way to buy off the workers votes and support.

But the answer is not: "Oh, lets not have rent control or labor unions because Muh Free Enterprise". That's just stupid. The answer is to get on the side of the renters or the workers and get them a fair shake. Maybe that means rent control, maybe it means temporary rent control. Whatever. But you solve the problem.

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 10:01 PM (evE25)

470 If I'm an average person, and I get a choice between some rich Republican telling me he doesn't care because MUH FREE ENTERPRISE and a Democrat who will help me. I'm voting D every time.

That's the problem.

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 10:03 PM (evE25)

471 Rcocean, no I won't respond with snark. Don't usually do that unless one is a troll. You're not a troll, are you? The gist was that leftists can't make connections between their shitty "solutions" to their abysmal results to those shitty solutions. Or their complete inability to reason past their various religions (such as global warming). Jay was giving examples, rent control being one. The post wasn't about rent control, FFS.

Posted by: Lady in Black at January 30, 2021 10:05 PM (O+I8R)

472 That's the problem.

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 10:03 PM (evE25)

No, the problem is that you are obsessively focusing on one thing. Maybe broaden your horizons a bit and realize that a post about "rent control" (it really wasn't) is of some value.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 30, 2021 10:11 PM (Q9lwr)

473 Very well written and interesting post.

When politicians take over science it usually ends badly.

One example is the "low fat diet", which was based on small and flawed studies, but was adopted by politicians and then scientists who doubted it were prevented from getting funding for their studies. Read "The Big Fat Surprise" by Nina Teicholz for the full story.

A second is the assumption by doctors that stomach ulcers were caused by a spicy diet and hard work. For decades a bland diet was prescribed and enforced by governments. Then, two doctors in Australia discovered a bacterium, H. pylori, was present in most patients with ulcers and appeared to be the cause, but this was rejected for years. Finally one of them prepared a cocktail with H. pylori, drank it, and within a week had the stomach symptoms.

Posted by: Roland F Hirsch at January 30, 2021 10:11 PM (oMkPq)

474 Then, two doctors in Australia discovered a
bacterium, H. pylori, was present in most patients with ulcers and
appeared to be the cause, but this was rejected for years.

Posted by: Roland F Hirsch at January 30, 2021 10:11 PM (oMkPq)

One of the greatest examples of the scientific method being rejected by conventional wisdom for years and years.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 30, 2021 10:14 PM (Q9lwr)

475
Posted by: Ted Torgerson at January 30, 2021 09:36 PM (/aiGx)

I'll keep my VASL open. I should see you if you come in the main room.

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at January 30, 2021 10:14 PM (uxUoN)

476 Seriously, we're about 1 step away from the D's establishing a soft 1 party rule forever, and I'm supposed to care about some rich landlord not getting enough $$. Sorry, I have more important things to care about.
Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 09:49 PM (evE25)

Lemme guess. Reading comprehension is not your strong suit?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at January 30, 2021 10:40 PM (mzC78)

477 "Lemme guess. Reading comprehension is not your strong suit?"

well i wont guess. I can say the same about you Pal.

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 10:51 PM (evE25)

478 Damn. you sure can tell the losertarians. Just mention rent control and they come out of the woodwork. Hope ACE doesn't mention legal Hookers and Cocaine.

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 10:52 PM (evE25)

479 "The gist was that leftists can't make connections between their shitty "solutions" to their abysmal results to those shitty solutions. Or their complete inability to reason past their various religions (such as global warming). Jay was giving examples, rent control being one. The post wasn't about rent control, FFS"

thanks for the intelligent reply. If that was the "gist', it would've been much more powerful without talking about Rent control. And explaining that the Left does not care about "Solutions". As I've stated, imputing good faith to the Left, 'they're coming up with solutions that don't work" is wrong. The left doesn't CARE. Their Solution is them being in Power. That is their "Solution".

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 10:57 PM (evE25)

480 Excellent post.

Checking in to say that Safari thinks cut jib is dangerous.

Three door keepers did I pass in order to open the site. boogey boogie boogie

Posted by: Braenyard at January 30, 2021 11:04 PM (CZm2G)

481 So who here amongst the horde is having trouble paying the rent? This is what I'm gathering from the comments I've read.

I'll pitch in, do they have a Go Fund Me account?

Posted by: JROD at January 30, 2021 11:13 PM (0jZnq)

482 Many of them aren't stepping on a rake; the pole it's coming to their face.

It's more like they are renovating your house, while not knowing how to hold a hammer or read a set of blueprints. Don't worry, they got this. They just drilled through your water line, pried up half of your stair boards & freed your living room from the stuffy confines of the windows. They painted diverse & LGBT+ friendly murals on your walls to improve it. Then they got bored halfway through & left for another project, while leaving your once cozy home half destroyed & desecrated. But don't you know, they had good intentions.

Posted by: Simak at January 31, 2021 12:19 AM (WwqBx)

483 479 As I've stated, imputing good faith to the Left, 'they're coming up with solutions that don't work" is wrong. The left doesn't CARE. Their Solution is them being in Power. That is their "Solution".

Posted by: rcocean at January 30, 2021 09:53 PM

Which is what I said. "Their goal is to obtain and hold power over people's lives."

Your examples of landlord monopolies, non-competitive behavior, and political corruption are all "obstacles that limit the supply of housing". If you think that supply and demand only apply in "free enterprise", I suggest that you review the command economies of the Warsaw Pact nations. All prices were controlled and that led to shortages and inferior quality of many goods, such as cars, housing and meat.

Your belief that I am arguing for libertarianism at any grade level is mistaken. I am arguing that the Left is rational. Their goals are different from Jay Guevara's goals. The policies they propose, such as rent control, advance those goals.

Posted by: The Rent's Too D*mn High at January 31, 2021 03:16 AM (psq2p)

484 For Liberals intentions are more important than results. They ignore the law of unintended consequences.

Posted by: Kaiju66 at January 31, 2021 07:34 AM (NzURT)

485 Regarding the rakes: the patriarchy put them there.

Posted by: Simak at January 31, 2021 07:45 AM (WwqBx)

486 "Granted, many of those institutions were not run humanely, but they were necessary"

They threw the baby out with the bath water.

Posted by: Men Oath at January 31, 2021 07:55 AM (vxipj)

487 This dumb mechanical engineer employs scientific method every day. And it works(duh). I was required to get a four year degree and the degree was warranted due to analytic methods. That said, the engineering fields are about the only place you need a degree. Some of the dumbest people I have ever met have four year degrees in non-scientific - and that includes social 'sciences' - fields.

Small business owners are some of the smartest people you will ever meet, so embrace them. That is the epitome of scientific method :-D.

Posted by: Danimal28 at January 31, 2021 11:52 AM (K20Oe)

488 the feel good idea is to far removed from the awful consequences. minutes and hours. too long for liberals.

Posted by: arbitrary-turn-back cmd at January 31, 2021 12:11 PM (9/sZ8)

489 If I could contact the author of this piece, I would. And I'd thank him for a thoughtful, penetrating essay. ...Anyone know how I can find the author?

Posted by: Simon at January 31, 2021 01:41 PM (8GXjL)

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Why Do Leftists Never Learn?By Your Raving Roving Science Correspondent [Jay Guevara]

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Why Do Leftists Never Learn?
By Your Raving Roving Science Correspondent [Jay Guevara]