THE MORNING RANT: When States & Municipalities Fail, Let’s Break Them Up

Milwaukee is a failed city that cannot pay its bills. Regrettably, the Republican-controlled legislature in Wisconsin is simply going to bail the city out, rather than letting it actually go bankrupt. Any bailout that keeps municipal services operating should also terminate the city as it is currently incorporated, because Milwaukee has proved it is not capable of self-governance.

Bipartisan Deal Reached to Save Milwaukee From Bankruptcy [AP – 06/08/2023]

Wisconsin has handed cash-strapped Milwaukee a lifeline to stave off bankruptcy, allowing the city to raise sales taxes without voter approval as part of a larger local government and K-12 schools funding plan, according to a bipartisan deal announced Thursday by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican lawmakers.
Evers called it a “transformative” deal that will rescue Milwaukee from the threat of bankruptcy, “something that would have devastating consequences for communities in every corner of our state and our state economy as a whole.”
As part of the deal, the GOP-controlled Legislature agreed to spending an additional $1 billion on K-12 schools, along with increasing payments to families whose children attend taxpayer-funded private voucher schools.

While it’s true that Wisconsin has a Democrat Governor, the GOP legislature had the option of doing nothing and simply letting Milwaukee fail. There will apparently be no consequences for the Democrat power structure in Milwaukee that spent money the city didn’t have.

Coincidentally, Yale Law Professor David Schleicher has a new book out that is receiving a lot of promotion, “In a Bad State: Responding to State and Local Budget Crises.” Daniel DiSalvo reviews the book at City Journal, and when discussing the inevitable bankruptcy of both Chicago and the state of Illinois, I notice that there is one significant option not discussed…

When Your Local Government Goes Broke [City Journal – 6/13/2023]

Imagine, sometime in the next decade, that the governor of Illinois and the mayor of Chicago hold a joint press conference to declare that the state and city can’t pay their bills. Schools close, crime spikes, garbage goes uncollected, and public employees protest proposed job and pension cuts. It’s a mess. What, if anything, should the federal government do?

Here is an idea that is not originally mine, but it’s a good one. How about dissolving the failed state of Illinois and making it a territory? Or perhaps putting Chicago in federal receivership, making it similar to Guam as an unincorporated territory of the United States, and allowing the downstate counties to be annexed by neighboring states?

Unfortunately, that is not discussed in this piece. It pretty much accepts the premise that a bailout will happen, and the only question is will Chicago and Illinois face any repercussions through “austerity.”

Circling back to Milwaukee, I don’t know if it has neighborhoods that wish they could de-annex, but my experience is that in most any city, there are neighborhoods that were annexed against their will which wish to be free of the taxes and pathologies of the leftist municipal government that now holds control over them.

Austin and Atlanta are just two cities I’m familiar with that are imposing crime, high taxes, and a lack of policing on neighborhoods that wish to be liberated from those cities. They’ve not been successful so far.

Bill to Allow Lost Creek Neighborhood to Leave Austin Dies in Texas House

Georgia Gov. Kemp Deals Blow to Buckhead Suburb Trying to Secede From Atlanta Over Violent Crime [Fox News – 3/02/2023]

Of note, the Texas legislature is controlled by Republicans, and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is (nominally) a Republican. Those “conservatives” are protecting the pro-crime Democrats who run Austin and Atlanta from the law-abiding residents who seek to escape the taxes and dysfunction of those cities.

There are a couple of widely accepted notions about political boundaries that need to change:

First, the notion that when cities annex new land, the annexation has created a permanent and irreversible map change. This needs to change.

Second, the notion that state boundaries are permanently fixed. This also needs to change.

Take a look at this evolving map of the United States. The idea that the political boundaries as of 1912 (when Arizona became a state) are the final and permanent state boundaries of the United States is preposterous.

The state of Virginia alone has seen its borders adjusted many times throughout our nation’s history. The counties of Arlington and Alexandria were once part of Washington DC, and the governance of Virginia would improve remarkably if it could give those counties back to DC.

Maps are going to change. They always have. When and how they change is not yet known, but the course of human history is that political boundaries are always in flux.

There are rural counties in far-left states that are already agitating to secede and join neighboring states, or possibly create all new states.

Oregon’s Rural-Urban Divide Sparks Talk of Secession [NY Times – 3/18/2023]

The broad sense of estrangement felt across rural Oregon has led conservatives in recent years to pursue a scrupulous strategy to open a theoretical escape hatch, gathering thousands of signatures for a series of ballot measures that have now passed in 11 counties. Those measures require regular meetings to discuss the idea of secession. In those places, including Union County, Ms. Cook’s new home, county commissioners in rooms adorned by Oregon flags and maps are now obligated to talk about whether it would one day make sense to be part of Idaho.

Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) has written about this too, specifically, how many in the rural parts of California are seeking to secede and form a new state so as to gain freedom from the big city leftists in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

West Virginia was carved out of Virginia and Tennessee was carved out of North Carolina. There’s no reason a new state can’t be carved out of California.

Leftism has taken an aggressively destructive form, with Pol Pot mayors and Maoist Governors using crime and failed schools to destroy the vestiges of civilization in areas they control.

The inevitable collapse of those municipalities is an opportunity to liberate the freedom loving people who are stuck within their borders. It’s also an opportunity to eliminate the concentrated power that those left-wing governments employed.

When a business goes bankrupt and can no longer operate, its assets are surrendered and its liabilities disposed of. Let’s seize the opportunity when liberal municipalities fail and do the same. Let’s break them up.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Sponge

Posted by: TJM's phone at June 18, 2023 07:01 PM (LvTSG)

2 Thank you!

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at June 19, 2023 11:01 AM (1n+EO)

3 allowing the city to raise sales taxes without voter approval

Taxation without Representation. This is a local tax issue, yet decided by he State. Let the city go bankrupt; that may be what it needs.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:03 AM (ynpvh)

4 allowing the city to raise sales taxes without voter approval

..

Tee hee!

Posted by: Uniparty at June 19, 2023 11:03 AM (QB5c3)

5 You gotta let people fail, let the voters deal with the consequences of their actions.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, gainfully employed again! But buy ammo at June 19, 2023 11:05 AM (xcxpd)

6 When States & Municipalities Fail, Let’s Break Them Up

And if no neighboring state wants them, they revert back to territorial status until such time as one state will claim them.

Posted by: rickb223 at June 19, 2023 11:05 AM (nW4TA)

7 Top 10

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at June 19, 2023 11:05 AM (Lu0ZI)

8 Wall them off

Posted by: Skip at June 19, 2023 11:05 AM (CcBbR)

9 West Virginia was carved out of Virginia and Tennessee was carved out of North California. There’s no reason a new state can’t be carved out of California.
----
Wait...When did we have a "North California"?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 19, 2023 11:05 AM (BpYfr)

10 In the immortal words of Rock Master Scott:

The roof! The roof! The roof is on fire!

We don't need no water, let the motherfucker burn!

Burn, Motherfucker, Burn.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:05 AM (aD39U)

11 Milwaukee is a failed city that cannot pay its bills. Regrettably, the Republican-controlled legislature in Wisconsin is simply going to bail the city out, rather than letting it actually go bankrupt. Any bailout that keeps municipal services operating should also terminate the city as it is currently incorporated, because Milwaukee has proved it is not capable of self-governance.
++++
Absolutely. Reorganize it under a city manager who has one job: slash, reorganize, rebalance. Until the books are balanced and the bankruptcy is completed (the debts that are going to be written off are written off, those that will be cut down are cut down, etc.), the city government as it was is suspended. The mayor, city councilmen, etc. all go home. Most of the executives are probably fired, too. When it comes out the other side with manageable books and ruined credit rating, hold new elections.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:05 AM (t0OGg)

12 North California is a fake Hollywood state like East Dakota and Rhode Island.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:06 AM (aD39U)

13 10 In the immortal words of Rock Master Scott:

The roof! The roof! The roof is on fire!

We don't need no water, let the motherfucker burn!

Burn, Motherfucker, Burn.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:05 AM (aD39U)

https://youtu.be/-ogAJdg99Jk

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:07 AM (ynpvh)

14
Or perhaps putting Chicago in federal receivership, making it similar to Guam

Tipsy

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 19, 2023 11:07 AM (63Dwl)

15 Milwaukee…. Why do GOP idiots do this??! Milwaukee (and big cities all over) is where the Dems stole WI from Trump in 2020. Lots of funky ballots there…. And they wanna save them? The GOP needs to die as a party

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at June 19, 2023 11:07 AM (5ENx5)

16 Headline: BUCK TO MILWAUKEE. DROP DEAD.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at June 19, 2023 11:08 AM (RIvkX)

17 North California was briefly occupied by Peruvia, but they quickly decided they didn't really want it.

Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at June 19, 2023 11:08 AM (N3zMI)

18 15 Milwaukee…. Why do GOP idiots do this??! Milwaukee (and big cities all over) is where the Dems stole WI from Trump in 2020. Lots of funky ballots there…. And they wanna save them? The GOP needs to die as a party

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at June 19, 2023 11:07 AM (5ENx5)

See #4

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:08 AM (ynpvh)

19 Or perhaps putting Chicago in federal receivership, making it similar to Guam

Tipsy
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 19, 2023 11:07 AM (63Dwl)
---
If Chicago tipped over into Lake Michigan, would anyone care?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 19, 2023 11:08 AM (BpYfr)

20 North Milwaukee is a vile, dangerous shithole. When I used to have to travel there for work, I always made sure that I had a gun (WI honors MN concealed carry permits). Thank God that I never had to use it; I had enough of that when I was in the Army during Desert Storm.

Posted by: jackcoke at June 19, 2023 11:08 AM (EFQuV)

21 Evers called it a “transformative” deal that will rescue Milwaukee from the threat of bankruptcy, “something that would have devastating consequences for communities in every corner of our state and our state economy as a whole.”
++++
Bankruptcy is a cornerstone of the modern economy and one of the most important inventions in the history of economics and finance. Bankruptcy allows the purge of those who overextended in an orderly and piecemeal way. With it, we don't things like "debt jubilees" on one end or debtor's prisons on the other. Irresponsible borrowers *and* lenders both get punished, the rot can be purged out, and those that can survive will. Those that can't are destroyed - but destroyed in an orderly, lawful, predictable, stabilizing way.

Yes, bankruptcy is failure - but it is a *good* thing to have happen and be managed in a sane way. "Rescuing" outfits from bankruptcy at all costs is a fiction. It just means transferring the bad stuff to another market participant (in this case, higher government). Who backstops the backstop? Eventually, no one. Then we have a disorderly breakdown of everything all at once.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (t0OGg)

22 Has this ever happened? A US city that just went away?

Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (geLO8)

23 Eastern Wa has also made waves about secession. They won't be able to, with Spokane getting purple and Walla Walla blue blue blue with uppity college folks and boutique wineries. Pullman, with the university, is also purple.

Progressives ruin everything. Then they take their money and buy a house somewhere free from their ruinous policies and immediately start instituting the same damn policies that just destroyed the last city. Check voting records. Don't let them in your county. No matter how much money they bring.

Posted by: nurse ratched at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (U2p+3)

24 19 Or perhaps putting Chicago in federal receivership, making it similar to Guam

Tipsy
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 19, 2023 11:07 AM (63Dwl)
---
If Chicago tipped over into Lake Michigan, would anyone care?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 19, 2023 11:08 AM (BpYfr)

Environmental disaster for the lake.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (ynpvh)

25 And I wish all the luck to the Inland Empire supporters. It'll never happen. The Uniparty won't allow the conservatives to gather.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, gainfully employed again! But buy ammo at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (xcxpd)

26 And no doubt the grateful "citizens" of Milwaukee, living and dead, will thank the Republicans by overwhelmingly voting for them in '24?

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (f9D/y)

27 "When it comes out the other side with manageable books and ruined credit rating, hold new elections.

Posted by: Joe Mannix"

The voters will then proceed to elect the same class of idiots that brought about the crisis. They will learn nothing.

Posted by: Ripley at June 19, 2023 11:10 AM (E8zan)

28 I really do think that it should be in the constitution that if 2/3rds of the states vote for it, a state that is in clear decline is reverted to territory status. You'd have to have criteria, like x number of years with y sorts of awful stuff, but I think it would be a great way to regulate states out of control and damaging the rest of the nation in the process. Clearly you cannot handle self governance, and its time to shut down your crazy and self destructive pattern

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:10 AM (0hOvj)

29 It's an excellent idea. But since only dem cities would fail, they'd hate it.
"Ooooooo!!! You can't disenfranchise those poor citizens!"

Wanna bet? They don't have the right or the authority to destroy the life styles of the rest of the state's population.

Posted by: Diogenes at June 19, 2023 11:10 AM (e4fEA)

30 Bailouts consume funds that you could be sending to Ukraine!

Posted by: Volodymyr Zelenskyy at June 19, 2023 11:10 AM (ptElO)

31 Has this ever happened? A US city that just went away?
Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (geLO

Times Beach, MO.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:10 AM (f9D/y)

32 There are two cities in Florida right next to each other, Magnolia Park is YT while Rivera Beach is chocolate city.

Guess which own went bankrupt and the State of Florida had to take over and run because they had spent all Da Money on large salaries, kick backs and cocaine some years ago.

Go on, guess…

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at June 19, 2023 11:11 AM (R/m4+)

33 If Chicago tipped over into Lake Michigan, would anyone care?
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 19, 2023 11:08 AM (BpYfr)

Well it would pollute and corrupt the water with zombie Democrats

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, gainfully employed again! But buy ammo at June 19, 2023 11:11 AM (xcxpd)

34 26 And no doubt the grateful "citizens" of Milwaukee, living and dead, will thank the Republicans by overwhelmingly voting for them in '24?
Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (f9D/y)

Yup, WI GOP still think it's the early 2000's not 2023.

Posted by: Inogame at June 19, 2023 11:11 AM (53oGX)

35 Nuke Chicago--it's the only way to be sure...

Posted by: Angzarr the Cromulent at June 19, 2023 11:11 AM (XMwZJ)

36 Has this ever happened? A US city that just went away?
Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (geLO

---
A lot towns out west went bust when the local economy dried up (e.g., gold and silver mines).

Nowadays, I suppose there are quite few communities that are barely functioning shells of what they once were when the jobs went overseas.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 19, 2023 11:11 AM (BpYfr)

37 Here is an idea that is not originally mine, but it’s a good one. How about dissolving the failed state of Illinois and making it a territory? Or perhaps putting Chicago in federal receivership, making it similar to Guam as an unincorporated territory of the United States, and allowing the downstate counties to be annexed by neighboring states.
++++
The same treatment for all governments. Dissolve the existing government leadership and essentially put in an economic and financial dictator until the debts are purged and budget is balanced. He stalked through the halls with a machete, cutting everything he can and dealing with the courts on who's getting zero cents on his dollar and who's getting more than zero. Nobody will get 100. Not bondholders, not the pension system, nobody.

Once things have shaken out and the government is running balanced for at least 12 months, hold new elections and dissolve the bankruptcy manager/dictator.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:11 AM (t0OGg)

38
Make Clear Lake City independent again!

(annexed by Houston in 1977)

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 19, 2023 11:11 AM (hq47M)

39 Republicans will always come to the aid of leftists. They can't help themselves. It's where the grift comes from.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 19, 2023 11:11 AM (Q4IgG)

40 The Night Chicago Died

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 19, 2023 11:11 AM (63Dwl)

41 It'll never happen. The Uniparty won't allow the conservatives to gather.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, gainfully employed again! But buy ammo at June 19,

Yep.

And never is being optimistic.

Posted by: Not trying to be mean but... at June 19, 2023 11:12 AM (QB5c3)

42 Wait...When did we have a "North California"?
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 19, 2023 11:05 AM (BpYfr)

Forget it, he's rolling.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:12 AM (f9D/y)

43 21 ...

Yes, bankruptcy is failure - but it is a *good* thing to have happen and be managed in a sane way. "Rescuing" outfits from bankruptcy at all costs is a fiction. It just means transferring the bad stuff to another market participant (in this case, higher government). Who backstops the backstop? Eventually, no one. Then we have a disorderly breakdown of everything all at once.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (t0OGg)

Now do Voter Integrity laws. In reality, states that don't have them should be handled the same way the South was handled after the Civil War. Problem is we have a FED Gov't also out-of-control that would force things ever further askew.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:12 AM (ynpvh)

44 The part I like is when cities decide to impose destructive policies that wreck them financially, and then whine that the suburbs "aren't doing their share" to bail the city out, when the suburbs had no say in the establishment of those destructive policies.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 19, 2023 11:12 AM (2tUFv)

45 The Night Chicago Died
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 19, 2023 11:11 AM (63Dwl)

Glory be!

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:13 AM (aD39U)

46 If Chicago tipped over into Lake Michigan, would anyone care?
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 19, 2023 11:08 AM (BpYfr)

Hank Johnson would!!

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at June 19, 2023 11:13 AM (5ENx5)

47 Talk about failed cities:

Dallas PD is working a robbery homicide at the 7/11 at Jefferson and Hampton. The clerk was shot and killed. Detectives and CSI on scene. Occurred earlier this morning.

Posted by: rickb223 at June 19, 2023 11:13 AM (nW4TA)

48 West Virginia was carved out of Virginia and Tennessee was carved out of North California. There’s no reason a new state can’t be carved out of California.
++++
Man, California used to be *huge!*

But yeah. CA should maybe be at least two, maybe four states. But the devil, as always, is in the details. Splitting it north/south solves nothing. Splitting longways 75 or 100 miles from the coast does more. Quartering the state might do more still. There are at least three Californias anyway. Coastal and interior is one division, north and south is another.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:14 AM (t0OGg)

49 I just told a "PhD in twitter handle" that his group is stupid and awful. Felt good.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at June 19, 2023 11:14 AM (44ww/)

50 42 Wait...When did we have a "North California"?
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 19, 2023 11:05 AM (BpYfr)

Forget it, he's rolling.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:12 AM (f9D/y)

Around the time the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:14 AM (ynpvh)

51 A lot towns out west went bust when the local economy dried up (e.g., gold and silver mines).

Nowadays, I suppose there are quite few communities that are barely functioning shells of what they once were when the jobs went overseas.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at June 19, 2023 11:11 AM (BpYfr)

Clearly there are rust belt towns, and formerly thriving farm communities all around the middle part of the country, they don't really have anything going for them.

Essentially, the jobs that still exist are fast food, convenience stores, and WalMart. Otherwise, it's government jobs and welfare keeping them afloat.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:14 AM (f9D/y)

52 "Has this ever happened? A US city that just went away?
Posted by: DB"

Cleveland came close but was saved from becoming a barren wasteland and now maintains it's hellhole status.

Posted by: Ripley at June 19, 2023 11:15 AM (E8zan)

53 Its not just Chicago, there are a dozen or so hard left cities that have been Democrat for decades, or longer, which are hell holes of crime and misery.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:15 AM (0hOvj)

54 Wait...When did we have a "North California"?

Interesting. I blew right by that and read it "Carolina" as obviously intended. Weird how sometimes the brain can see what it expects to see instead of what it right there in black and white.

Posted by: Oddbob at June 19, 2023 11:15 AM (nfrXX)

55 The voters will then proceed to elect the same class of idiots that brought about the crisis. They will learn nothing.
Posted by: Ripley at June 19, 2023 11:10 AM (E8zan)
++++
No question. It's the nature of things. But that doesn't mean that they get to keep offloading it onto everyone else. If they want to serially go bankrupt and ruin everything every few decades like Argentina, let them. But if they do, they lose their representation and democratic systems until the purges are completes.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:15 AM (t0OGg)

56 48 West Virginia was carved out of Virginia and Tennessee was carved out of North California. There’s no reason a new state can’t be carved out of California.
++++
Man, California used to be *huge!*

But yeah. CA should maybe be at least two, maybe four states. But the devil, as always, is in the details. Splitting it north/south solves nothing. Splitting longways 75 or 100 miles from the coast does more. Quartering the state might do more still. There are at least three Californias anyway. Coastal and interior is one division, north and south is another.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:14 AM (t0OGg)

Virginia technically used to go all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:16 AM (ynpvh)

57 hellhole... better or worse than shithole?

Posted by: Warai-otoko at June 19, 2023 11:16 AM (/EuRN)

58 Has this ever happened? A US city that just went away?

Detroit almost did. Its slowly staggering back but is still mostly wasteland.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:16 AM (0hOvj)

59 Now do Voter Integrity laws. In reality, states that don't have them should be handled the same way the South was handled after the Civil War. Problem is we have a FED Gov't also out-of-control that would force things ever further askew.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:12 AM (ynpvh)
++++
Sure. The central government benefits directly from the lack of election integrity. No incentive to change a thing, other than to make lack of integrity as common as possible.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:17 AM (t0OGg)

60
Benton Harbor, MI: 39.6% of population below poverty line.

St. Joseph, MI (just across the river): 6.1% of population below poverty line.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 19, 2023 11:17 AM (hq47M)

61 Hey, don’t look at me. I tried my best.

— Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at June 19, 2023 11:17 AM (znF4D)

62 "If Chicago tipped over into Lake Michigan, would anyone care?"

As long as the accompanying tsunami peters out before it hits Pontiac, lettr tip!

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at June 19, 2023 11:17 AM (89Sog)

63 What kind of a deal.
A deal deal. Maybe he's a Republican.

Posted by: DaveA at June 19, 2023 11:17 AM (FhXTo)

64 I like North California, I'd live there except for all the Sasquatch. Too "sqautchy" for me.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at June 19, 2023 11:17 AM (MeG8a)

65 Lots of dried up little towns out here. Makes me sad to see the hollowed out store fronts. I always think about the early settlers that were sure their town was going to boom.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at June 19, 2023 11:17 AM (ouTlx)

66 On Virginia:
https://is.gd/HNYLNI
"Virginia was the mother of the colonies. Each of the other original colonies was directly or indirectly carved out of Virginia. It was the first territory to be claimed by England in North America. At its maximum extent, Virginia encompassed most of what is now the United States, as well as portions of Canada and Mexico."

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:17 AM (ynpvh)

67 > Talk about failed cities:
___________

Yesterday I posted about a huge disturbance up in Louisville that required the entire city's police force to put down. About 100 kids at a skate park causing mayhem. A couple guns were taken. Fighting between the crowd and police.

Some areas are apparently "no go zones."

Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 19, 2023 11:17 AM (Q4IgG)

68 Milwaukee is a failed city that cannot pay its bills. Regrettably, the Republican-controlled legislature in Wisconsin is simply going to bail the city out, rather than letting it actually go bankrupt. Any bailout that keeps municipal services operating should also terminate the city as it is currently incorporated, because Milwaukee has proved it is not capable of self-governance

Let me save you all the drama and demagoguery.

The 2020 DNC Convention was slated to be in Milwaukee, due to The Wuhan Death Miasma Panic, that didn't happen, but what did happen is that the Secret Service dropped a HUGE amount of money into the city to beef up surveillance, law enforcement and all things believed to make for a safe political convention. Other entities beefed up for a convention.

The RNC is leveraging that investment in Milwaukee for their 2024 Convention

Rather than pissing away multiple billions in yet another city to replicate the entire security apparatus.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at June 19, 2023 11:18 AM (3hSHB)

69 Bailouts consume funds that you could be sending to Ukraine!

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter, eight hours ago:

Ukraine confirms liberation of Piatykhatky in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported that Ukraine's forces liberated the village of Piatykhatky in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. This is the eighth settlement liberated in Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive.

And this after only fifteen days of the Ukrainian blitzkrieg!

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 19, 2023 11:18 AM (2tUFv)

70 Rhode Island should be among the first to go. Purely for economic reasons, far to small to be run efficiently with all the governments that have evolved.
Auction off it's Senators to some new state and distribute the funds directly to the current residents of the state.
New England and New York and NJ, eight states, should be consolidated to three, one being the NY/NJ/CT tri-state area, and the other two being a Northern NE/NY, and a Southern NE/CT. Would shake out as 1 red, 2 blue, but that's a red gain.

Posted by: From about that Time at June 19, 2023 11:18 AM (4780s)

71 53
I have been thinking along similar lines. Urban areas obviously have different objectives and need separate treatment from suburban and rural areas.
Cities need to be their own political units such that they can't f___ things up for everyone else.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at June 19, 2023 11:18 AM (YohY1)

72 Speaking of failing.

Went to a Target store yesterday around noon to get a prescription at CVS, there were maybe 5 customer freaks in the store. They have shut down the outdoor customer pick up area as well. They're dead Jim.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at June 19, 2023 11:18 AM (9RRW+)

73 every club in a city's golf bag is a foot iron

Posted by: REDACTED at June 19, 2023 11:18 AM (us2H3)

74 Break something big up into small pieces. It'll never work.

Posted by: AT&T at June 19, 2023 11:18 AM (VBswW)

75 Milwaukee goes bankrupt - Laverne and Shirley hardest hit.

Posted by: Roy at June 19, 2023 11:19 AM (SWx4m)

76 60 Or, as we used to call them growing up in SW MI in the 80s, Benton Harlem and St. Johannesburg.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at June 19, 2023 11:19 AM (znF4D)

77 68 ...
The RNC is leveraging that investment in Milwaukee for their 2024 Convention

Rather than pissing away multiple billions in yet another city to replicate the entire security apparatus.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at June 19, 2023 11:18 AM (3hSHB)

Why not hold it in a RED state?

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:20 AM (ynpvh)

78 The part I like is when cities decide to impose destructive policies that wreck them financially, and then whine that the suburbs "aren't doing their share" to bail the city out, when the suburbs had no say in the establishment of those destructive policies.
Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 19, 2023 11:12 AM (2tUFv)

The argument made in St. Louis (which is completely separate from St. Louis County) is that sportsball, other entertainment venues and such exist in the city, are "enjoyed" by county (and other places) residents, who contribute nothing to solving the city's problems.

Which begs the question, if everyone is coming IN to the city to spend their money, don't you then have tax dollars you've reaped from them, without having to provide them with govie services, other than roads? Which you maintain worse than Kabul?

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:20 AM (81i8c)

79 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:20 AM (tjClK)

80 hellhole... better or worse than shithole?

Posted by: Warai-otoko at June 19, 2023 11:16 AM (/EuRN)

Hellhole worse because it's eternal.

Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 11:21 AM (Ey8kR)

81 Has this ever happened? A US city that just went away?

St. Louis had 857,000 people in 1950, and 293,000 now.

When city governance gets bad enough, people vote with their feet.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 19, 2023 11:21 AM (2tUFv)

82 11.
'Reorganize it under a city manager who has one job: slash, reorganize, rebalance.'

Good idea but it leaves one requirement out. Prepare for and deal with the violent leftist mob who will show up and disrupt.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at June 19, 2023 11:21 AM (YohY1)

83 *Wisconsin Legislature writes a big check*

Milwaukee: "WE'RE NOT WORTHY!, WE'RE NOT WORTHY!, WE'RE NOT WORTHY!"

Posted by: Roy at June 19, 2023 11:22 AM (SWx4m)

84 I think they could probably fix it if they'd just reduce parking spaces by another 40%

Posted by: The recovered remains of Hitler's cocaine filled flying submarine at June 19, 2023 11:22 AM (de2/z)

85 80 hellhole... better or worse than shithole?

Posted by: Warai-otoko at June 19, 2023 11:16 AM (/EuRN)

Hellhole worse because it's eternal.

Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 11:21 AM (Ey8kR)

What if a shithole burnt forever?

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:22 AM (ynpvh)

86 Do what 43 and 21 said to do. For the election laws, remove them from the territorial/state code and put a new set of laws for how elections are to be conducted when the territory regains its statehood.

Posted by: Sasquatch, the Original Trans-Wookie at June 19, 2023 11:22 AM (xxG/v)

87 There is little incentive on government employees to balance the budget.

Spending money they don't have makes them and their clients wealthy and gets them votes. Cutting spending will reduce opportunities for graft and cost them votes. Bad incentives create bad outcomes.

Here is a real simple solution - any government employee that submits or votes for a budget that isn't balanced is *personally* responsible for their share of the short fall.

So, the city is short $1M and the mayor approves the budget? He gets a bill for $1M undischargeable from bankruptcy. And when he clients give him money later then that money will be clawed back from him.

Posted by: 18-1 at June 19, 2023 11:22 AM (lc5cP)

88 We have too many states. Fuse RI, Connecticut, and Massachusetts into one state, and Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey into another.

For that matter, NH, Vermont, and Maine could be one state.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:23 AM (aD39U)

89 What if a shithole burnt forever?
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:22 AM (ynpvh)

But eventually the shit would all burn away and you'd just be left with an ashhole.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at June 19, 2023 11:23 AM (/EuRN)

90 You can try to remove the shit from a shithole, but there's no removing Hell

Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:23 AM (geLO8)

91 "Has this ever happened? A US city that just went away?
Posted by: DB"

Cleveland came close but was saved from becoming a barren wasteland and now maintains it's hellhole status.

Flint, Michigan - double digit percentage decline decade after decade in population since the 1970s.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at June 19, 2023 11:23 AM (3hSHB)

92 88 We have too many states. Fuse RI, Connecticut, and Massachusetts into one state, and Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey into another.

For that matter, NH, Vermont, and Maine could be one state.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:23 AM (aD39U)

The Greater State of New England...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:23 AM (ynpvh)

93
When city governance gets bad enough, people vote with their feet.

The problem is those people stay on the voting rolls and someone submits ballots for them.

Posted by: 18-1 at June 19, 2023 11:23 AM (lc5cP)

94 Every liberal shithole knows the state or the federal government will bail them out to continue the graft, so why should they give a rats ass about doing anything correctly or to actual benefit of the citizens of said shithole.

The right palms get greased every time, so there's no worry. I mean, there's a video out there of how corrupt Nanzi Pelosi is and the fact that her district got 24% of the ENTIRE NATIONAL BUDGET for the National Parks and Recreation department. The REST OF THE COUNTRY could've been managed for the over $300 MILLION her district got.

And everyone wonders why she gets reelected in landslides every time. BECAUSE SHE BUYS THE ELECTION.

This country is broken. And broke. Bad.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:23 AM (tjClK)

95 It's interesting to think about the rearrangement of state borders and secession of municipalities in terms of race. If such changes were allowed, all the wealthier white areas would immediately shift to other, better-run states, and the cries of racism and segregation would be deafening. However, SCOTUS has said it's okay to draw ridiculously rococo voting districts so as to concentrate the black vote.

By what principle other than "because we say so" is one okay, but not the other?

Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 11:24 AM (eOEVl)

96 The argument made in St. Louis (which is completely separate from St. Louis County) is that sportsball, other entertainment venues and such exist in the city, are "enjoyed" by county (and other places) residents, who contribute nothing to solving the city's problems.

Portland has done everything possible to turn Portland into a magnet for homeless drug-addicted people from across the country, and then turns around and denounces the suburbs "for not doing their share" in accommodating the homeless.

Hey, the suburbs didn't get a vote on the destructive policies that Portland decided to pursue.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 19, 2023 11:24 AM (2tUFv)

97 Milwaukee goes bankrupt - Laverne and Shirley hardest hit.
Posted by: Roy at June 19, 2023 11:19 AM (SWx4m)

Good thing they're both dead.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:25 AM (tjClK)

98 Has this ever happened? A US city that just went away?

Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (geLO

Sure

https://www.geotab.com/ghost-towns/

Posted by: BignJames at June 19, 2023 11:25 AM (AwYPR)

99 Please cut Colorado into three pieces, vertically. The middle- Front Range cities and communities- can be a communist state, and the Eastern Plains and Western slope can join Wyoming or Utah

Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:25 AM (geLO8)

100 The problem is those people stay on the voting rolls and someone submits ballots for them.
Posted by: 18-1 at June 19, 2023 11:23 AM (lc5cP)

This. So much this

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at June 19, 2023 11:25 AM (5ENx5)

101 Look at old photos of Detroit, then and now. Churches, theaters, hotels, schools, factories, grand homes.
It's depressing...

Posted by: gourmand du jour at June 19, 2023 11:25 AM (MeG8a)

102 Good thing they're both dead.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:25 AM (tjClK)

But they still have a vote

Posted by: It's me donna at June 19, 2023 11:25 AM (bs+z0)

103 Hey, the suburbs didn't get a vote on the destructive policies that Portland decided to pursue.

They take most of the state's money, starving the rest of the state for resources because they have half the state's votes. Then they demand more money because they are ruining themselves

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:25 AM (0hOvj)

104 It’s a mess. What, if anything, should the federal government do?

Declare a penal colony. Escape From New York without Snake Pliskin

Posted by: SMOD at June 19, 2023 11:25 AM (RHGPo)

105 Government bankruptcies will mean, no matter, that cuts are made and then the entire government apparatus turns into a political football that is tossed around in pursuit of the basest ambitions of any given player.

What will get cut in a municipal bankruptcy? Easy: services for the poor and disadvantaged. Wealthy neighborhood public schools will keep on ticking, but foster services for BIPOC kids will surely suffer. Public garbage cans and washrooms on the "good side of the tracks" will be maintained while trees will rot on the other. Financial management teams consisting of middle-aged white men will descend with their knives, benefiting their own kind and hurting everyone else.

Not to mention the inevitable workforce reductions. Sanitation workers won't miss a paycheck, but the DEI teams doing vital work in the name of equity and justice will be shown the door. Government bankruptcy is inherently regressive and has disparate impact on poor, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities and is therefore illegal. It must be avoided at all costs, and the state or federal government has a legal and financial obligation forbid it.

Posted by: Your Kid's Public Finance Professor at June 19, 2023 11:25 AM (t0OGg)

106 Milwaukee…. Why do GOP idiots do this??! Milwaukee (and big cities all over) is where the Dems stole WI from Trump in 2020. Lots of funky ballots there…. And they wanna save them? The GOP needs to die as a party

Excellent point. If you are so dysfunctional that you're bankrupt, you're clearly not capable of running free and fair elections. You lose the right to make those policies.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 11:26 AM (eOEVl)

107 95 It's interesting to think about the rearrangement of state borders and secession of municipalities in terms of race. If such changes were allowed, all the wealthier white areas would immediately shift to other, better-run states, and the cries of racism and segregation would be deafening. However, SCOTUS has said it's okay to draw ridiculously rococo voting districts so as to concentrate the black vote.

By what principle other than "because we say so" is one okay, but not the other?
Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 11:24 AM (eOEVl)

Well the Holy Roman Empire used to run like this internally. Very patchwork "states".

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at June 19, 2023 11:26 AM (eYoxG)

108 no- not ghost towns

ghost cities

Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:26 AM (geLO8)

109 Virginia technically used to go all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:16 AM (ynpvh)

Didn't the Iroquois create Virginia? And the Pacific Ocean?

And they used to call it maize?

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:26 AM (p2iSj)

110 Ukraine has released images purporting to show a car packed with explosives parked on the Kakhovka Dam before it was bombed

Posted by: SMOD at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (RHGPo)

111 109 Virginia technically used to go all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:16 AM (ynpvh)

Didn't the Iroquois create Virginia? And the Pacific Ocean?

And they used to call it maize?

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:26 AM (p2iSj)

That would be amaizing if true.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (ynpvh)

112 Milwaukee…. Why do GOP idiots do this??!

Democrats f*ck things up and the Republicans tweak them so they aren't quite as bad without punishing anyone responsible. Its been a pattern since Shrub at least.

Posted by: 18-1 at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (lc5cP)

113 hellhole... better or worse than shithole?

Posted by: Warai-otoko at June 19, 2023 11:16 AM (/EuRN)

Hellhole worse because it's eternal.

Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 11:21 AM (Ey8kR)

What if a shithole burnt forever?

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:22 AM (ynpvh)

I'd have to ask a fag that.

Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (Ey8kR)

114 110 Ukraine has released images purporting to show a car packed with explosives parked on the Kakhovka Dam before it was bombed
Posted by: SMOD at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (RHGPo)

I bet they do.... Of course they/ we put it there

Posted by: It's me donna at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (bs+z0)

115 That would be amaizing if true.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (ynpvh)

The corny puns begin.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (aD39U)

116 99 Please cut Colorado into three pieces, vertically. The middle- Front Range cities and communities- can be a communist state, and the Eastern Plains and Western slope can join Wyoming or Utah
Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:25 AM (geLO

*******

A good idea but to have just two states, Colorado and The Butthole of Colorado, has a nice, true ring about it.

Posted by: Sasquatch, the Original Trans-Wookie at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (xxG/v)

117 Is Milwaukee's mayor gay?

If so, would that make him the Queer that made Milwaukee famous?

Posted by: Joe Mama at June 19, 2023 11:28 AM (lZVy/)

118 The argument made in St. Louis (which is completely separate from St. Louis County) is that sportsball, other entertainment venues and such exist in the city, are "enjoyed" by county (and other places) residents, who contribute nothing to solving the city's problems.

Which begs the question, if everyone is coming IN to the city to spend their money, don't you then have tax dollars you've reaped from them, without having to provide them with govie services, other than roads? Which you maintain worse than Kabul?
Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:20 AM (81i8c)
++++
Right, it's the built-in contradiction and lie in this kind of argumentation. If people travel in for the big cultural facilities, they pay for the use of those facilities. They buy the ticket. They pay for parking. The city gets those fees (or taxes on those fees), the city gets its cut of concessions, etc.

If those revenue streams don't justify the cost of the stadium (spoiler alert: they don't. Ever.), then the stadium was a bad investment. Sorry.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:28 AM (t0OGg)

119 If we could sell Maricopa County to Mexico for 1 peso, we would Make Arizona Great Again!

/Throw in Pima County, too, as a bonus ...

Posted by: ShainS -- Opression Scientist and Your AI Interpreter at June 19, 2023 11:28 AM (+z+6a)

120 37 . . . dealing with the courts on who's getting zero cents on his dollar and who's getting more than zero. Nobody will get 100. Not bondholders, not the pension system, nobody . . .

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!)
____________

Ah, the bondholders. The GOP legislature in Wisconsin was no doubt doing the bidding of the Chamber of Commerce so that bondholders could be bailed out by the taxpayers.

Posted by: Kam Fong as Chin Ho at June 19, 2023 11:28 AM (gf7Ez)

121 115 That would be amaizing if true.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (ynpvh)

The corny puns begin.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (aD39U)

:::getting out the popcorn:::

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:28 AM (ynpvh)

122 Democrats f*ck things up and the Republicans tweak them so they aren't quite as bad without punishing anyone responsible. Its been a pattern since Shrub at least.
Posted by: 18-1 at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (lc5cP)

The Republicans are the tax collectors of the Welfare State.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:28 AM (aD39U)

123 We have too many states. Fuse RI, Connecticut, and Massachusetts into one state, and Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey into another.

I highly disagree. Breakup states like Florida, Texas, New York and California.

None of these states, similar to the FUSA, has added state representatives since their founding so as the population grows, the state legislators are more and more distant from their constituents. For example, early FUSA had around five thousand voters to representative. Now that number is over 800,000 : 1.

Without a smaller ratio, the representatives end up being fully accountable to Party stewards, top donors and lobbyists since losing thousands of potential voters is hidden in the noise.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at June 19, 2023 11:28 AM (3hSHB)

124 Look at old photos of Detroit, then and now. Churches, theaters, hotels, schools, factories, grand homes.

Detroit was called the Paris of the west, it was the richest city in America and was unbelievably posh and beautiful. After 1968 riots, nobody even bothered to rebuild for decades, and most of the population left. They had a long series of incredibly corrupt, grifting mayors, and almost all the money went in the pockets of them and their favored staff.

Several stabs were made at rebuilding downtown so it looked nicer, but that didn't help the rest of the city.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:28 AM (0hOvj)

125 We keep trying to give Detroit to Ontario, but they always say, “Nah, bruh, we’re good.”

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at June 19, 2023 11:29 AM (znF4D)

126 Tennessee was carved out of North California.

It's been a slice!

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 19, 2023 11:29 AM (v0vOS)

127 “The problem is not simply fossil fuel emissions. It’s fossil fuels – period.”
UN SecGen @antonioguterres emphasizes that fossil fuels are “a product incompatible with human survival”

.. ground all UN personel
No heating oil or gas
Only allow them EVs and bicycles

Posted by: SMOD at June 19, 2023 11:29 AM (RHGPo)

128 Texas Republic included Oklahoma but we corrected that problem as soon as possible. 😀

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 11:29 AM (MNhXM)

129 Give Illinois to Canada. If Chicago wants to be socialist, give them socialism. If Canada wants to be diverse, give them diversity

Posted by: 29Victor at June 19, 2023 11:30 AM (M+gBW)

130 Actually, there is one glaring reason why California will never be split into two states. That would cause the creation of a conservative majority in the new state, giving the Republicans two additional Senators, and the powers that be will never allow this to happen. I think they have given up on this and are now hoping to be adopted by Idaho.

Posted by: TimothyJ at June 19, 2023 11:30 AM (zmVPn)

131 They take most of the state's money, starving the rest of the state for resources because they have half the state's votes.

Less than 20% of the population of Oregon lives in Portland.

However, Portland has a complete lock on state politics, since Portlanders vote at North Korean levels for leftist candidates and policies, offsetting the rest of the state.

All the State governors for the last twenty-five years have been Democrats, and not a single one of them got a majority of the vote in Oregon outside of Portland's county.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 19, 2023 11:30 AM (2tUFv)

132 They had a long series of incredibly corrupt, grifting mayors, and almost all the money went in the pockets of them and their favored staff.

My favorite was the Mayor then just gave all the bureaucrats another month of pay per year *after* the city ran out of money.

They made sure he kept getting re-elected no matter what the actual voters might say...

Posted by: 18-1 at June 19, 2023 11:30 AM (lc5cP)

133 Ah, the bondholders. The GOP legislature in Wisconsin was no doubt doing the bidding of the Chamber of Commerce so that bondholders could be bailed out by the taxpayers.
Posted by: Kam Fong as Chin Ho at June 19, 2023 11:28 AM (gf7Ez)
++++
Essentially all of the government finance agencies exist as bond-insurance schemes masquerading as things they're not.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:30 AM (t0OGg)

134 If those revenue streams don't justify the cost of the stadium (spoiler alert: they don't. Ever.), then the stadium was a bad investment. Sorry.

The argument is simple. If these things pay for themselves, even with a heavy cut of taxes collected by the state, why do you need anything other than private investment.

The answer is that they never, EVER pay for themselves.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 11:30 AM (eOEVl)

135 I flicked past 60 minutes last night long enough (2 minutes tops) to see Scott Pelley nodding somberly as a female Ukrainian soldier just back from the front described unspeakable Russian atrocities like crushing baby skulls…. She mentioned some ludicrous number as the amount of civilian casualties. Obvious propaganda…. So obvious and yet Pelley continued to nod and furrow his brow soberly

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at June 19, 2023 11:31 AM (5ENx5)

136 The corny puns begin.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (aD39U)

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

Out: The new state of Butthole Colorado.
In: The new state of Cornhole Colorado.

Posted by: ShainS -- Opression Scientist and Your AI Interpreter at June 19, 2023 11:31 AM (+z+6a)

137 Detroit was called the Paris of the west, it was the richest city in America and was unbelievably posh and beautiful. After 1968 riots, nobody even bothered to rebuild for decades, and most of the population left. They had a long series of incredibly corrupt, grifting mayors, and almost all the money went in the pockets of them and their favored staff.

Several stabs were made at rebuilding downtown so it looked nicer, but that didn't help the rest of the city.

Coleman Young told the affluent white people to leave. The problem is...they did.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 11:31 AM (eOEVl)

138 Tennessee was carved out of North California.

It's been a slice!
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 19, 2023 11:29 AM (v0vOS)

Tennessee has an interesting history of corruption. To their credit some of the citizens said enough is enough. See The Battle of Athens.

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 11:32 AM (MNhXM)

139 I flicked past 60 minutes last night long enough (2 minutes tops) to see Scott Pelley nodding somberly as a female Ukrainian soldier just back from the front described unspeakable Russian atrocities like crushing baby skulls…. She mentioned some ludicrous number as the amount of civilian casualties. Obvious propaganda…. So obvious and yet Pelley continued to nod and furrow his brow soberly
Posted by: LinusVanPelt at June 19, 2023 11:31 AM (5ENx5)
++++
It's his job. He - like everyone else in the American press - is a propagandist.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:32 AM (t0OGg)

140 Delaware was part of Pennsylvania, until the Constitution was written. They voted "yes" 1st and declared themselves a state.

Posted by: SMOD at June 19, 2023 11:33 AM (RHGPo)

141 > Tennessee was carved out of North California.

that's why they built the uh, intercontinental railroad
it's a little known fact

Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:33 AM (geLO8)

142 136 The corny puns begin.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (aD39U)

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

Out: The new state of Butthole Colorado.
In: The new state of Cornhole Colorado.

Posted by: ShainS -- Opression Scientist and Your AI Interpreter at June 19, 2023 11:31 AM (+z+6a)

Might I ponder a guess that the state sport will be corn-holing?

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:33 AM (ynpvh)

143 It's his job. He - like everyone else in the American press - is a propagandist.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:32 AM (t0OGg)

They give the North Korean press a run for it's money

Posted by: It's me donna at June 19, 2023 11:33 AM (bs+z0)

144 ++++
It's his job. He - like everyone else in the American press - is a propagandist.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:32 AM (t0OGg)

"It's our job to tell you what to think!!!"

- - - - Mantra of the American Journalism Degree Program

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:33 AM (tjClK)

145 128 Texas Republic included Oklahoma but we corrected that problem as soon as possible. 😀

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 11:29 AM (MNhXM)

If only Texas had remained an independent nation.

Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 11:33 AM (Ey8kR)

146 Lots of dried up little towns out here. Makes me sad to see the hollowed out store fronts. I always think about the early settlers that were sure their town was going to boom.
Posted by: Notsothoreau

Welcome to Texas. Yeah. We have too many towns to count that are that way.

Posted by: rickb223 at June 19, 2023 11:33 AM (nW4TA)

147 The major city in my county had a "renaissance project"...aka a black hole for taxpayer's money.

Posted by: BignJames at June 19, 2023 11:34 AM (AwYPR)

148 145 128 Texas Republic included Oklahoma but we corrected that problem as soon as possible. 😀

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 11:29 AM (MNhXM)

If only Texas had remained an independent nation.

Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 11:33 AM (Ey8kR)

Well, there were a lot of unhappy Mexicans south of their border...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:34 AM (ynpvh)

149 Disney's new $200-million Pixar film did a belly flop on opening weekend. How can this be, since it features a non-binary character and talks about racism and xenophobia??

Variety: But there's no sugar-coating the debut of 'Elemental,' which landed by far the worst start in modern history for Pixar, ranking below some of its more forgettable attempts like 2015's 'The Good Dinosaur' ($39 million) and 2020's "Onward" ($39 million).

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 19, 2023 11:34 AM (FVME7)

150
They give the North Korean press a run for it's money
Posted by: It's me donna at June 19, 2023 11:33 AM (bs+z0)

"The American Troops are NO WHERE NEAR Baghdad."

- - - - Baghdad Bob the Wordsmith

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:34 AM (tjClK)

151 Coleman Young told the affluent white people to leave. The problem is...they did.
Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 11:31 AM (eOEVl)
++++
They did. That might have been survivable. What absolutely was not survivable was the middle classes leaving.

What academic dickheads called "white flight" wasn't. It was *middle class flight* and it destroyed the places where it happened. Detroit's middle class - mostly white, black and Asian - hollowed itself out. The middle class is the glue that holds things together, and Detroit's left. Some of them were told to leave and listened, some of them saw what was happening and fled before it was too late.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:34 AM (t0OGg)

152 I do have to point out though the corruption machine didn’t give up . See Buford Pusser having to address it again.

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 11:34 AM (MNhXM)

153 Axios has a hilarious piece about how Joe Biden's bizarre demented statements are folksy old fashioned "aphorisms"

https://tinyurl.com/5f4x9fec

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (0hOvj)

154 148 145 128 Texas Republic included Oklahoma but we corrected that problem as soon as possible. 😀

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 11:29 AM (MNhXM)

If only Texas had remained an independent nation.

Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 11:33 AM (Ey8kR)

Well, there were a lot of unhappy Mexicans south of their border...
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:34 AM (ynpvh)

Would've been an Armenia in between Rome and Parthia situation.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (eYoxG)

155 St. Louis had 857,000 people in 1950, and 293,000 now.

When city governance gets bad enough, people vote with their feet.
Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 19, 2023 11:21 AM (2tUFv)

That's probably the largest percentage drop, but I believe Detroit, Baltimore, and possibly Chitcago have lost more residents.

These places are literally hollowed out. Shells of brick building still standing, you don't always notice the rot until you look more closely.

I know people who still live in St. Louis city, but they live in gated or otherwise insulated neighborhoods.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (5BSKN)

156
Welcome to Texas. Yeah. We have too many towns to count that are that way.
Posted by: rickb223 at June 19, 2023 11:33 AM (nW4TA)

F*ck Joe Biden.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (tjClK)

157 147 The major city in my county had a "renaissance project"...aka a black hole for taxpayer's money.

Posted by: BignJames at June 19, 2023 11:34 AM (AwYPR)

Which means the funds are allocated according to the "Friends and Family" method...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (ynpvh)

158 However, Portland has a complete lock on state politics, since Portlanders vote at North Korean levels for leftist candidates and policies, offsetting the rest of the state.

----------

In his last drop, Tucker mocked our MDM-MSM comparing them to North Korean media.

And now we have North Korean voting levels in virtually every blue shithole city across the nation ...

Posted by: ShainS -- Opression Scientist and Your AI Interpreter at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (+z+6a)

159 119 Maricopa County goes up for sale, and a lady selling tamales out of a bucket on Camelback Road puts in the high bid. Reconsiders and backs out. Brother Juan with the ice cream push cart steps in and the county sees an improvement in government within weeks.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (rLD7a)

160 Gee, for once my fraudulently elected "governor" managed to say something without lying!

This sure as hell is "transformative", as in away from any of the Before Times concepts of how any of this works.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (dwh5k)

161 They did. That might have been survivable. What absolutely was not survivable was the middle classes leaving.

I was including the middle class in that statement, but could have been clearer. You are correct.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (eOEVl)

162 153 Axios has a hilarious piece about how Joe Biden's bizarre demented statements are folksy old fashioned "aphorisms"

https://tinyurl.com/5f4x9fec
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (0hOvj)

Ephorisms.

The ramblings of a perverted insane cult leader that other people pretend mean something.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at June 19, 2023 11:36 AM (/EuRN)

163 Texas Republic included Oklahoma but we corrected that problem as soon as possible. 😀

Posted by: polynikes

We had parts of NM, CO & WY also.

Posted by: rickb223 at June 19, 2023 11:36 AM (nW4TA)

164 136 The corny puns begin.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:27 AM (aD39U)

Where's a COB when you need one?

Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at June 19, 2023 11:36 AM (N3zMI)

165 Axios has a hilarious piece about how Joe Biden's bizarre demented statements are folksy old fashioned "aphorisms"

https://tinyurl.com/5f4x9fec
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (0hOvj)

Do they actually believe the shit they shovel or are they just collecting a paycheck?

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:36 AM (tjClK)

166 Maps are going to change. They always have. When and how they change is not yet known, but the course of human history is that political boundaries are always in flux.

No! It's not allowed! Only white supremacist neo-confederate wannabe-slaveowner traitors think this way! The Civil War settled this matter once and for all! Any so-called American calling for secession or reorganization needs to be killed by the U.S. military!

Posted by: Whargbargle! at June 19, 2023 11:36 AM (AJ2DX)

167 The state sport of Colorado is spending thousands of dollars on expensive skiwear and then not going skiing

there's also Designer Dog Walking and crossover SUV beauty contests

Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:36 AM (geLO8)

168 Here is an idea that is not originally mine, but it’s a good one. How about dissolving the failed state of Illinois and making it a territory?
-
I live in Cook County and would endorse this plan.

Posted by: Methos at June 19, 2023 11:37 AM (kOpft)

169 Axios has a hilarious piece about how Joe Biden's bizarre demented statements are folksy old fashioned "aphorisms"

What we call "lies".

Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 11:37 AM (eOEVl)

170 "15 Milwaukee…. Why do GOP idiots do this??! Milwaukee (and big cities all over) is where the Dems stole WI from Trump in 2020. Lots of funky ballots there…. And they wanna save them? The GOP needs to die as a party

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at June 19, 2023 11:07 AM (5ENx5) "

endorsed 100%!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at June 19, 2023 11:37 AM (dwh5k)

171 165 Axios has a hilarious piece about how Joe Biden's bizarre demented statements are folksy old fashioned "aphorisms"

https://tinyurl.com/5f4x9fec
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (0hOvj)

Do they actually believe the shit they shovel or are they just collecting a paycheck?

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:36 AM (tjClK)

Yes

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:37 AM (ynpvh)

172 The major city in my county had a "renaissance project"...aka a black hole for taxpayer's money.

Detroit had several of those, they'd renovate an old building or tear something beautiful and old down and build something big and ugly but new. To stand empty for years.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:37 AM (0hOvj)

173 What will get cut in a municipal bankruptcy? Easy: services for the poor and disadvantaged. Wealthy neighborhood public schools will keep on ticking, but foster services for BIPOC kids will surely suffer.

Counter argument:

If a grocery store gave away a gallon of milk and charged wealthy people $10/gallon, how long would that business practice prove to be profitable?

Only wealthy people who have more dollars than sense, value convenience, find other services in the store that make it worthwhile or are virtue signaling would continue to shop there.

That explains why not all wealthy people aren't rushing the door to leave, but enough have where margins are no longer made.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at June 19, 2023 11:37 AM (3hSHB)

174 Good idea but it leaves one requirement out. Prepare for and deal with the violent leftist mob who will show up and disrupt.
Posted by: Dr. Claw at June 19, 2023 11:21 AM (YohY1)

Vietnam-style gun trucks, with mounted quad 50's.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 19, 2023 11:37 AM (v0vOS)

175 Oh and I-70 Parking Derby

that's a year round sport

Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:38 AM (geLO8)

176 Pittsburgh was the 9th largest city in 1960. Aurora, CO is bigger now.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at June 19, 2023 11:38 AM (Lu0ZI)

177 39 I flicked past 60 minutes last night long enough (2 minutes tops) to see Scott Pelley nodding somberly as a female Ukrainian soldier just back from the front described unspeakable Russian atrocities like crushing baby skulls…

Planned Parenthood operates in Russia too? I had no idea.

Posted by: World record holder in baby skull crushing at June 19, 2023 11:38 AM (AJ2DX)

178 Sorry folks, Milwaukee's closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya.

Posted by: Doof at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (FY0FO)

179 Oh and I-70 Parking Derby

that's a year round sport
Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:38 AM (geLO8

I 90.....yeah. You're stuck on 90. for 90 is, uh....90. Yeah. for the 90's. it's 90. So, yeah.....

Posted by: John Fetterman at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (tjClK)

180 Has this ever happened? A US city that just went away?
Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:09 AM (geLO)

Memphis, TN after a particularly bad round of Yellow Fever.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (nC+QA)

181 Do they actually believe the shit they shovel or are they just collecting a paycheck?

I have never really been sure about that. Did the guys writing Pravda, or Das Reich, or Moniteur believe what they wrote, or did they just get the paycheck?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (0hOvj)

182 God save the Marines, man!

Posted by: Mush Head at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (kYVzH)

183 What made Milwaukee famous has been ceded to China and other countries like Belgium.

Posted by: Eromero at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (4svuj)

184 Detroit was called the Paris of the west, it was the richest city in America and was unbelievably posh and beautiful. After 1968 riots, nobody even bothered to rebuild for decades, and most of the population left. They had a long series of incredibly corrupt, grifting mayors, and almost all the money went in the pockets of them and their favored staff.

Several stabs were made at rebuilding downtown so it looked nicer, but that didn't help the rest of the city.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:28 AM (0hOvj)

---------

Listened to a well-written & researched audiobook on this some years ago entitled "Detroit: An American Autopsy" by Charlie LeDuff (a former Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the NYT).

Posted by: ShainS -- Opression Scientist and Your AI Interpreter at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (+z+6a)

185 What made Milwaukee famous has been ceded to China and other countries like Belgium.
Posted by: Eromero at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (4svuj)
++++
And Belgium isn't even a real country!

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (t0OGg)

186 Jokes aside, I don't know that these news mutants "believe" anything, any more than your dog "believes" that a bowl full of kibble is reason to jump around and go Wooo!

It's just a lizard-brain base level action. Squeeze the magic words out of your face, any order will do. Other smooth-brains go Orp Orp Orp and lap it up. Hero with all the kibble throws you a treat. You get to feel good about yourself AND do something good for the universe.

They're not even idiots. They're animals.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at June 19, 2023 11:40 AM (/EuRN)

187 no- not ghost towns

ghost cities

Posted by: DB

--

Wasn't that where Fetterman's Monster made his name?

Posted by: The recovered remains of Hitler's cocaine filled flying submarine at June 19, 2023 11:40 AM (de2/z)

188 Pittsburgh was the 9th largest city in 1960. Aurora, CO is bigger now.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at June 19, 2023 11:38 AM (Lu0ZI)

When your city is the "Steel City" and steel manufacturing is exported to China.......

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:40 AM (tjClK)

189 While trying to come up with an excuse for Joe Biden’s use of ‘God save the queen, man,' Axios also brought up the infamous 2020 “lying, dog-faced pony soldier” incident, where he bizarrely called a female student that.

Posted by: SMOD at June 19, 2023 11:40 AM (RHGPo)

190 Only two states have undergone major boundary revisions since they joined the Union: Nevada (got the two pointy parts in the south from Arizona Territory), and Missouri (the triangular Platt Purchase to the west).

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at June 19, 2023 11:40 AM (znF4D)

191 it was the richest city in America and was unbelievably posh and beautiful.

--

I just learned how "posh" came about as a word. I won't ruin it, but it's very interesting.

Posted by: The recovered remains of Hitler's cocaine filled flying submarine at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (de2/z)

192 There are rural counties in far-left states that are already agitating to secede and join neighboring states, or possibly create all new states.

Kill them! Kill them all!!!!!

Posted by: Zombie Abraham Lincoln at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (AJ2DX)

193 What made Milwaukee famous has been ceded to China and other countries like Belgium.

Posted by: Eromero at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (4svuj)

Chinese beer?...What's it's name?

Posted by: BignJames at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (AwYPR)

194 What made Milwaukee famous has been ceded to China and other countries like Belgium.
Posted by: Eromero at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (4svuj)

The Fonz??

Posted by: Doof at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (FY0FO)

195 163 Texas Republic included Oklahoma but we corrected that problem as soon as possible. 😀
Posted by: polynikes

We had parts of NM, CO & WY also.
Posted by: rickb223
____________

And the marginally more sensible southwest part of Kansas. (You know, that "deep red" state that has elected two leftwing Democrat governors four times since the early 2000's.)

Posted by: Kam Fong as Chin Ho at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (gf7Ez)

196 Three deadest words in the English vernacular. Responsibility, accountability and assimilation.

Posted by: Ben Had at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (0W9qL)

197 Vietnam-style gun trucks, with mounted quad 50's.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 19, 2023 11:37 AM (v0vOS)

A Maxson mount. More than 2,000 rounds/minute of .50 caliber. That will get a crowd's attention.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (PHmov)

198 This slender blonde in a scandalous dress things she has what it takes to be a brutally ruthless cost-cutter and people-firer for municipalities in bankruptcy:
https://is.gd/PqBA7x

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (t0OGg)

199 185 What made Milwaukee famous has been ceded to China and other countries like Belgium.
Posted by: Eromero at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (4svuj)
++++
And Belgium isn't even a real country!
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (t0OGg)

But its gratuitous use in a screenplay might win you a major award!

Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (N3zMI)

200 God save the Marines, man!

Posted by: Mush Head at June 19, 2023 11:39 AM (kYVzH)

---------

Don't they play baseball in Seattle?

Posted by: Fetterman's Lump at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (+z+6a)

201 Birmingham AL was once the Pittsburg of the South. Now Pittsburg is the Birmingham of the North.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (aD39U)

202 But its gratuitous use in a screenplay might win you a major award!
Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (N3zMI)
++++
LOL

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:42 AM (t0OGg)

203 Milwaukee had Darryl Clarke as a Sheriff for a second . I thought that might have an effect but it was only temporary like Rudy’s NYC run.

Damn NYC almost lived up to its myth as the best city in the world during that time. Didn’t take long for the Left to destroy the city again.

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 11:42 AM (MNhXM)

204
Chinese beer?...What's it's name?
Posted by: BignJames at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (AwYPR)

Roundeye Right. A Piwsner Brew.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:42 AM (tjClK)

205 Tennessee has an interesting history of corruption. To their credit some of the citizens said enough is enough. See The Battle of Athens.
Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 11:32 AM (MNhXM)

I heard the guy who wrote the book by that title on some podcast. Fascinating story. Problem is, he told it on a podcast, so I didn't have a need to buy the book.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:42 AM (+zMED)

206 I flicked past 60 minutes last night long enough (2 minutes tops) to see Scott Pelley nodding somberly as a female Ukrainian soldier just back from the front described unspeakable Russian atrocities like crushing baby skulls…

What bothers me is that people just believe this stuff. They nod and go along with the propaganda. I have a buddy who lives in Manchester, we game online. He believes everything sold him about Ukraine. He thinks Putin is the next Hitler, and Russia is evil, and Ukraine is heroic and noble.

Most people don't know that in the 90s, Ukraine invaded Crimea and topped its government, just taking over the territory because they didn't like the guy elected there.

https://tinyurl.com/muxs4bdr

They just invaded and took it over. Crimea was independent for about 4 years.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:42 AM (0hOvj)

207 When you see the weeds growing through the asphalt in a factory parking lot where 8K people used to work, you might have a problem. And to solve that problem, leftist local governments come up with crackpot ideas. Tourism (nobody wants to visit your shithole), gentrification (nobody wants to live in the shithole you created).

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at June 19, 2023 11:43 AM (rLD7a)

208 Only two states have undergone major boundary revisions since they joined the Union: Nevada (got the two pointy parts in the south from Arizona Territory), and Missouri (the triangular Platt Purchase to the west).
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at June 19, 2023 11:40 AM (znF4D)

They need to fix that weird little "notch" on the Massachusetts / Connecticut border

Posted by: Doof at June 19, 2023 11:43 AM (FY0FO)

209 We should have at least one redrawing maps thread each week! In the long run, redefining our political unions, booting some out, bringing others in, is the only issue that matters

Posted by: Maximilian Robespierre at June 19, 2023 11:43 AM (ExFoQ)

210 They need to fix that weird little "notch" on the Massachusetts / Connecticut border
Posted by: Doof at June 19, 2023 11:43 AM (FY0FO)
++++
A lot of notches need fixing, as do a lot of historical injustices.

54-50 or fight!

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:44 AM (t0OGg)

211 “The problem is not simply fossil fuel emissions. It’s fossil fuels – period.”
UN SecGen @antonioguterres emphasizes that fossil fuels are “a product incompatible with human survival”

--

This absurdity is part of their disdain and complete rejection of God.

Fossil fuels are a gift from a loving creator, same as long-lasting chicken eggs, and milk from animals that humans are able to safely consume.

They reject it because they hate Him and us.

Posted by: The recovered remains of Hitler's cocaine filled flying submarine at June 19, 2023 11:44 AM (de2/z)

212 GAH! 54-40. Stupid fingers.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:44 AM (t0OGg)

213 Don't they play baseball in Seattle?
Posted by: Fetterman's Lump at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (+z+6a)

If you call that thing they play these days baseball.

Which I don't.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:44 AM (+zMED)

214 What academic dickheads called "white flight" wasn't. It was *middle class flight* and it destroyed the places where it happened. Detroit's middle class - mostly white, black and Asian - hollowed itself out. The middle class is the glue that holds things together, and Detroit's left. Some of them were told to leave and listened, some of them saw what was happening and fled before it was too late.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:34 AM (t0OGg)

There is a common denomitor to all this but it isn't to be mentioned.

Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 11:44 AM (Ey8kR)

215
Axios has a hilarious piece about how Joe Biden's bizarre demented statements are folksy old fashioned "aphorisms"

____________

Democrat: Sophisticated
Republican: Elitist

Democrat: Impassioned
Republican: Insane

Democrat: Folksy
Republican: Stupid

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 19, 2023 11:45 AM (hq47M)

216 António Guterres is lactose intolerant.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:45 AM (aD39U)

217 "Detroit: An American Autopsy" by Charlie LeDuff

A good book, but LeDuff made a hilarious mistake in it.

LeDuff said that George Wallace won the Republican primary in Michigan in 1972.

Of course, George Wallace won the Democratic primary in Michigan in 1972.

Damned Republicans!

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 19, 2023 11:45 AM (2tUFv)

218 I flicked past 60 minutes last night long enough (2 minutes tops) to see Scott Pelley nodding somberly as a female Ukrainian soldier just back from the front described unspeakable Russian atrocities like crushing baby skulls…

What bothers me is that people just believe this stuff. They nod and go along with the propaganda.

--

The baby skull thing is clearly fake.

There's no way THE GHOST OF KEEEEV would allow that sort of thing to happen.

Posted by: The recovered remains of Hitler's cocaine filled flying submarine at June 19, 2023 11:45 AM (de2/z)

219 “The problem is not simply fossil fuel emissions. It’s fossil fuels – period.”
UN SecGen @antonioguterres emphasizes that fossil fuels are “a product incompatible with human survival” ...
Posted by: The recovered remains of Hitler's cocaine filled flying submarine at June 19, 2023 11:44 AM (de2/z)
++++
Uhhhh, no. Fossil fuels are a product on which human survival depends. Not as a species, perhaps - the loss of fossil fuels would probably not result in total human extinction - but as multi-billion-strong population, it is an utter dependency.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:46 AM (t0OGg)

220 António Guterres is lactose intolerant.
Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:45 AM (aD39U)

Oh great.......

Posted by: Benicio del Toro at June 19, 2023 11:46 AM (tjClK)

221 The GOP: Doing what is necessary to usurp the libertarian position of handmaid to the left. We don't want the terrorists to call us racist, do we?

Posted by: someguy at June 19, 2023 11:46 AM (6XqdK)

222 This slender blonde in a scandalous dress things she has what it takes to be a brutally ruthless cost-cutter and people-firer for municipalities in bankruptcy:
https://is.gd/PqBA7x
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (t0OGg)

Very nice

Posted by: Doof at June 19, 2023 11:46 AM (FY0FO)

223 It seems to have begun in ernst with O's National Democratic Redistricting Project headed by former AG Holder. Thanks to redistricting, new congressional districts comprised of parts of Philly and the suburbs helped the Democrats win in D.C.

In 2010, Harrisburg - the PA state capital - underwent receivership. Chester, PA is currently (for decades?) under receivership & its receiver filed for bankruptcy on behalf of the city as "Chester’s state-appointed receiver projects the city will fall into a $46.5 million deficit in 2023," reported WHYY.

The city takes revenue from Harrah's casino; constantly gets an influx of political funding; owns the Chester Water Authority and more. But, as per Swarthmore College (where few, if any kids of Chester, Pa, attend), "Chester's poverty is often blamed on deindus- trialization and a decline in employment opportunities. But a far more important factor is the concentration of the region's low-cost rental housing in the City."

The county, state private entities plan riverfront development for the city. That really means re-gentrification as the the low income are "nudged" into surrounding 'affordable' communities.

Posted by: L - very tired at June 19, 2023 11:46 AM (GshMh)

224 Only two states have undergone major boundary revisions since they joined the Union: Nevada (got the two pointy parts in the south from Arizona Territory), and Missouri (the triangular Platt Purchase to the west).
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at June 19, 2023 11:40 AM (znF4D)

At some point Missouri acquired the Bootheel, either before or after statehood. Not sure why. Arkysaw prolly didn't want it. I'm sure they don't want it now.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:46 AM (+zMED)

225 Loren D Estleman has a terrific series of books about Detroit, starting at the dawn of the automotive industry, they are not just great stories but packed with history.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:46 AM (0hOvj)

226 that weird little notch on the Massachusetts / Connecticut border

The Oblong has entered the chat.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at June 19, 2023 11:46 AM (znF4D)

227 There is a common denomitor to all this but it isn't to be mentioned.

Most of Chicago's black middle class has moved to the suburbs, other Midwestern cities, or the South.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 19, 2023 11:46 AM (2tUFv)

228 Three deadest words in the English vernacular. Responsibility, accountability and assimilation.

Posted by: Ben Had at June 19, 2023 11:41 AM (0W9qL)

---------

Back in the day (going back to at least the 90s), radio talk show host Michael Savage used to phrase it as "Borders, Language, Culture" that he -- and most of us -- prophetically saw being eroded & targeted for eventual destruction. And here we are ...

Posted by: ShainS -- Opression Scientist and Your AI Interpreter at June 19, 2023 11:47 AM (+z+6a)

229 the loss of fossil fuels would probably not result in total human extinction - but as multi-billion-strong population, it is an utter dependency.

--

Yep. I know they're not, but by now folks with even a 9th or 10th grade education should be catching on.

Posted by: The recovered remains of Hitler's cocaine filled flying submarine at June 19, 2023 11:47 AM (de2/z)

230 There's nothing wrong with the City of Milwaukee that wouldn't be improved by a 3 day continuous artillery barrage.

Posted by: Urban Renewal Ukraine/Lebanon Style at June 19, 2023 11:47 AM (sh1GZ)

231 There is a common denomitor to all this but it isn't to be mentioned.
Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 11:44 AM (Ey8kR)

What the fuck you trynna say, muthafucka?

Posted by: Kwame Kilpatrick at June 19, 2023 11:47 AM (AJ2DX)

232 The liabilities of these failed city/states still need to be paid, and essential services still need to be allocated and maintained, you can't just leave the citizens to fate or you'll end up with warlords like Somalia and other third world shit holes.

A good first step would be to end sovereign immunity. Government officials who did this should have their assets frozen and sold. Pensions should be stripped. Government reduced to the minimum to support basic sanitation, utilities and law enforcement. It can regrow from that point, provided bills are paid first.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at June 19, 2023 11:47 AM (YRsIm)

233 I flicked past 60 minutes last night long enough (2 minutes tops) to see Scott Pelley nodding somberly as a female Ukrainian soldier just back from the front described unspeakable Russian atrocities like crushing baby skulls…

Planned Parenthood operates in Russia too? I had no idea.
Posted by: World record holder in baby skull crushing

-
Example 3,749,603 of it's OK when we do it.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 19, 2023 11:47 AM (FVME7)

234 Along with letting localities fail, let's pop some popcorn and halt all EBT transfer payments, using illegal immigration as an excuse.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (ufFY8)

235 Vietnam-style gun trucks, with mounted quad 50's.

I feel this is where we can learn from our Muslim brothers: deploy a bunch of Toyota pickups with mounted whatever in the bed. Those held the US military Biden always claims will crush MAGA to a stalemate.

Posted by: Ian S. at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (X4R3E)

236 We should have at least one redrawing maps thread each week! In the long run, redefining our political unions, booting some out, bringing others in, is the only issue that matters
Posted by: Maximilian Robespierre at June 19, 2023 11:43 AM (ExFoQ)

Smart ~~military~~ cartography blog!

Posted by: Doof at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (FY0FO)

237 Look at old photos of Detroit, then and now. Churches, theaters, hotels, schools, factories, grand homes

there was a thread on Reddit once where someone posted a dozen or so historic pictures of cities like Detroit, St Louis, Philly, Chicago, Cleveland at the turn of the 20th century. So much classical architecture, clean streets, etc. Pretty pictures.

The top voted comment was "everything is so clean." One of the next comments was "everyone is so . . . white" -- this being left wing Reddit that implication was this was bad.

The follow-up comment to that was something like "gee I wonder if there's any connection there?" -- buried in downvotes

Posted by: brak at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (25k9m)

238 This slender blonde in a scandalous dress things she has what it takes to be a brutally ruthless cost-cutter and people-firer for municipalities in bankruptcy:

Obvious implants. When will they learn?

Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (eOEVl)

239 174
A lot could be done by suspending the cities' right to assembly beforehand. That way you scare off their fence sitters and only machine gun the true believers. They deserve it more and will be the most trouble later.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (YohY1)

240 Georgia is still having a dispute with Tennessee on the border lines. The reason is the old age reason.

Water.

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (MNhXM)

241 218 "The Hun is playing toss the Belgian Baby on the Bayonets. Yeah, we'll run with that."

1914 Allied PR firms

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (rLD7a)

242 Why not hold it in a RED state?

Because Democrats are in charge and security for putting the RNC convention in a safe place won't happen.

Milwaukee has trained and has the latest and greatest (well at least the last three years) technology for security.

Besides, name a RED state has a viable non BLUE shithole city. Might as well hold the RNC Convention in a place where the the DNC themselves built out a security apparatus for their needs.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (3hSHB)

243
The argument is simple. If these things pay for themselves, even with a heavy cut of taxes collected by the state, why do you need anything other than private investment.

The answer is that they never, EVER pay for themselves.
Posted by: Archimedes

Why would private investors bother to finanace it when they know they can sucker the government to sock it to the saps (taxpayers).

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (63Dwl)

244
There is a common denomitor to all this but it isn't to be mentioned.
Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 11:44 AM (Ey8kR)

___________

I doubt the black middle class wants to stay in a deteriorating city out of racial solidarity.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (hq47M)

245
If you call that thing they play these days baseball.

Which I don't.
Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:44 AM (+zMED)

I was extremely disappointed to see that the Texas Rangers signed baseball ruining Bruce Bochy as manager. Whiny ass bitch brought us the Buster Pussy rule, which led to the outlawing the break up of the double play.

Baseball is done.......But they celebrate the homo at most parks (NOT the Texas Rangers, however), so I guess homo money is just as good as hetero money. Good luck.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (tjClK)

246 I once worked for a company that went into receivership. I shit you not, the reciever's name was Michael Myers, just like the guy in Halloween...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:49 AM (ynpvh)

247 141 > Tennessee was carved out of North California.

that's why they built the uh, intercontinental railroad
it's a little known fact

===

Railroads? Choo-choo! From the Pacific all the way across the Indian Ocean!

Posted by: Joey The Tank Engine at June 19, 2023 11:49 AM (l6DYb)

248 The follow-up comment to that was something like "gee I wonder if there's any connection there?" -- buried in downvotes

--

oof.

I bet that was visible for about 45 seconds before vanishing via democracy.

Posted by: The recovered remains of Hitler's cocaine filled flying submarine at June 19, 2023 11:49 AM (de2/z)

249 Yeah, about that Detroit thing…

Posted by: Chief Pontiac at June 19, 2023 11:49 AM (znF4D)

250 I expect to see a lot of failures in the urban shit holes over the next decade or so. But I also expect to see a lot of bailouts. Yet the locusts will continue to migrate elsewhere bringing their urban sensibilities along with them to infect wherever it is they go.

The former US is a lost cause.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at June 19, 2023 11:49 AM (Q4IgG)

251 230 There's nothing wrong with the City of Milwaukee that wouldn't be improved by a 3 day continuous artillery barrage.
Posted by: Urban Renewal Ukraine/Lebanon Style at June 19, 2023 11:47 AM (sh1GZ)

That didn't already occur? WTF happened there then?

Posted by: Roy at June 19, 2023 11:49 AM (07Z/0)

252 Why Bigots fight so hard to get their way. Dunning-Kruger says the people in the bottom 10% of any field are much more confident than the top 10% of the field. Bigots are the bottom 10% of humanity, as such they are supremely confident that they have all the answers, when actually they have none of the answers to anything. The Democrats are the party of bigotry, and always have been, its their one enduring quality over the history of this country.

Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at June 19, 2023 11:49 AM (CecP5)

253 America's oldest brewery
Yuengling (pronounced Ying-ling) means “young man” in German. The tricky name – some beer drinkers mistakenly think it is Chinese – would later present marketing problems for the company.

Wouldn't doubt it a bit.

Posted by: BignJames at June 19, 2023 11:50 AM (AwYPR)

254 236 We should have at least one redrawing maps thread each week! In the long run, redefining our political unions, booting some out, bringing others in, is the only issue that matters
Posted by: Maximilian Robespierre at June 19, 2023 11:43 AM (ExFoQ)

Smart military cartography blog!

Posted by: Doof at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (FY0FO)

And fun with flags!

Posted by: Sheldon Cooper at June 19, 2023 11:50 AM (ynpvh)

255 What bothers me is that people just believe this stuff. They nod and go along with the propaganda.

--

The baby skull thing is clearly fake.

There's no way THE GHOST OF KEEEEV would allow that sort of thing to happen.
Posted by: The recovered remains of Hitler's cocaine filled flying submarine at June 19, 2023 11:45 AM (de2/z)

It does beg the question, which American media will never ask: Why does the rest of the world, those of us who have NO VESTED INTEREST IN THIS WAR not press both sides for a cease fire? So that fewer baby skulls will be crushed?

Don't bother, I know the answer. Just sayin'...

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:50 AM (+zMED)

256 I posted the other day that the four largest cities in America are run by Lefty POC mayors. The fifth largest by a woke Democrat white Karen.

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 11:50 AM (MNhXM)

257 It's been raining constantly for 13 hours now.

Glad I did the powerwashing on Saturday and Sunday. It's wet, but it ain't slippery out there.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:50 AM (t0OGg)

258 Most of Chicago's black middle class has moved to the suburbs, other Midwestern cities, or the South.

Baltimore's black middle class is out in the suburbs as well, but they're starting to be displaced by Hispanics.

Posted by: Ian S. at June 19, 2023 11:50 AM (X4R3E)

259 "Has this ever happened? A US city that just went away? "

Drive through Jeffrey City, Wyoming sometime if you'd like to see what happens when a town's reason for being goes away.

Posted by: Tom Lehrer at June 19, 2023 11:51 AM (a/7LW)

260 238 This slender blonde in a scandalous dress things she has what it takes to be a brutally ruthless cost-cutter and people-firer for municipalities in bankruptcy:

Obvious implants. When will they learn?

Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (eOEVl)

Russian Implants? Like spies?

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:51 AM (ynpvh)

261 So if they get rid of petrochemicals...what are they going to make the EV bodies out of? Wiring insulation? Tires? Valve stems? Air compressor hose? Medical equipment and supplies?

Get rid of petrochemicals we go back to hunting, gathering, and subsistence farming. And billions of people starve or die from treatable/curable conditions. This people are anti-human.

Posted by: Fiends. Demons. Devils. at June 19, 2023 11:51 AM (AJ2DX)

262 I feel this is where we can learn from our Muslim brothers: deploy a bunch of Toyota pickups with mounted whatever in the bed. Those held the US military Biden always claims will crush MAGA to a stalemate.

Stalemate? The Party military, which was defeated by goat herders in Toyota "technicals" so badly that the failed regime left tens of billions of dollars worth of armaments and munitions behind to move the Taliban into a top ten military force.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at June 19, 2023 11:51 AM (3hSHB)

263 There is no problem in any metro area that midnight basketball, job training, and light rail can't solve.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at June 19, 2023 11:51 AM (rLD7a)

264 Yeah, about that Detroit thing…
Posted by: Chief Pontiac at June 19, 2023 11:49 AM (znF4D)

Tell me about it.

Posted by: Chief Sealth at June 19, 2023 11:52 AM (e4fEA)

265 Sponge, but the Rangers are winning!///

Posted by: Ben Had at June 19, 2023 11:52 AM (0W9qL)

266 Blue cityscapes should be turned into narure preserves. That's where the Ford Explorers on slot car tracks could be use for 'tourists'. Free-staters would be armed as per home state laws, blue-staters would abide by their insane laws. I see the future here.

Posted by: Eromero at June 19, 2023 11:52 AM (4svuj)

267 242 Why not hold it in a RED state?

Because Democrats are in charge and security for putting the RNC convention in a safe place won't happen.

Milwaukee has trained and has the latest and greatest (well at least the last three years) technology for security.

Besides, name a RED state has a viable non BLUE shithole city. Might as well hold the RNC Convention in a place where the the DNC themselves built out a security apparatus for their needs.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (3hSHB)

Every RED state has a BLUE shithole city. The definition of viability in this case needs to be further explained.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:52 AM (ynpvh)

268
Get rid of petrochemicals we go back to hunting, gathering, and subsistence farming. And billions of people starve or die from treatable/curable conditions. This people are anti-human.
Posted by: Fiends. Demons. Devils. at June 19, 2023 11:51 AM (AJ2DX)

____________

The real problem? Sparrows.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 19, 2023 11:52 AM (hq47M)

269 Not a single Kevin Williamson reference?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at June 19, 2023 11:52 AM (LvTSG)

270 Sponge, but the Rangers are winning!///
Posted by: Ben Had at June 19, 2023 11:52 AM (0W9qL)

I heard they're doing well, but don't care.

They may make the post season, but won't go anywhere there, as usual.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at June 19, 2023 11:53 AM (tjClK)

271 "217 "Detroit: An American Autopsy" by Charlie LeDuff

A good book, but LeDuff made a hilarious mistake in it.

LeDuff said that George Wallace won the Republican primary in Michigan in 1972.

Of course, George Wallace won the Democratic primary in Michigan in 1972.

Damned Republicans!

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 19, 2023 11:45 AM (2tUFv) "

If only that were the only instance ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - we are being gaslighted 24/365 at June 19, 2023 11:53 AM (dwh5k)

272 247 141 > Tennessee was carved out of North California.

that's why they built the uh, intercontinental railroad
it's a little known fact

===

Railroads? Choo-choo! From the Pacific all the way across the Indian Ocean!

Posted by: Joey The Tank Engine at June 19, 2023 11:49 AM (l6DYb)

I hear the view on the Marianas Trench leg is unbelieveable...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:53 AM (ynpvh)

273
Chicago: Like Guam But With MUCH More Shooting

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot Egg-Fried: Proud Member of Clan Fried for ... oh, 'bout Two Weeks Now at June 19, 2023 11:54 AM (pNxlR)

274 "As part of the deal, the GOP-controlled Legislature agreed to spending an additional $1 billion on K-12 schools"

========

You just have to love these brave figthin' Republicans!

Posted by: Jay in PA at June 19, 2023 11:54 AM (i7Q7S)

275 Most of Chicago's black middle class has moved to the suburbs, other Midwestern cities, or the South.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at June 19, 2023 11:46 AM (2tUFv)

---------

You dare to raise "black flight" on Completely-Irrelevant Yet-Forced-Upon-Us National-Holiday-of-a Mangled-Mispronounced-Word That-Does-Nothing But Divide-Us-Yet Gives-Government-Employees a-Day-Off — Day!?!?! [h/t J.J.]

REALLY???

[Years ago I remember seeing a cartoonist's depiction of "white flight" from the cities to the suburbs & rural areas (using some concentric circles).

He cleverly captioned it the "White Ring Conspiracy."]

Posted by: ShainS -- Opression Scientist and Your AI Interpreter at June 19, 2023 11:54 AM (+z+6a)

276 So if they get rid of petrochemicals...what are they going to make the EV bodies out of? Wiring insulation? Tires? Valve stems? Air compressor hose? Medical equipment and supplies?

Wiring insulation in cars has been exclusively soy-based since around 2000. That's why rodents find new cars' wiring harnesses much more delicious than they used to.

Posted by: Ian S. at June 19, 2023 11:54 AM (X4R3E)

277 Down with the Four Pests! 除四害

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 11:54 AM (aD39U)

278 I feel this is where we can learn from our Muslim brothers: deploy a bunch of Toyota pickups with mounted whatever in the bed. Those held the US military Biden always claims will crush MAGA to a stalemate.

Stalemate? The Party military, which was defeated by goat herders in Toyota "technicals" so badly that the failed regime left tens of billions of dollars worth of armaments and munitions behind to move the Taliban into a top ten military force.
Posted by: Reuben Hick at June 19, 2023 11:51 AM (3hSHB)
***

Hey Sarge! I got a live one here!!!

Posted by: US Army Protective Services Battalion LP 4 at June 19, 2023 11:54 AM (e4fEA)

279 There is no problem in any metro area that midnight basketball, job training, and light rail can't solve.
Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at June 19, 2023 11:51 AM (rLD7a)
++++
Ahhh, light rail. There has only been one successful light rail experiment that I am aware of, and it has never been replicated: Denver's initial LR system. It was done as a part of a massive highway expansion (the T-REX project along the I-25 corridor from Denver to points south) and connected downtown to some of the southern suburbs. That whole project was unique in approach, and it came in ahead of schedule and under budget. The light rail system wasn't a boondoggle, either.

A project that successful cannot be allowed to be reproduced, so it hasn't been. And Denver's subsequent light rail expansions have been fiscally disastrous.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:54 AM (t0OGg)

280 there was a thread on Reddit once where someone posted a dozen or so historic pictures of cities like Detroit, St Louis, Philly, Chicago, Cleveland at the turn of the 20th century. So much classical architecture, clean streets, etc. Pretty pictures.

The top voted comment was "everything is so clean." One of the next comments was "everyone is so . . . white" -- this being left wing Reddit that implication was this was bad.

The follow-up comment to that was something like "gee I wonder if there's any connection there?" -- buried in downvotes
Posted by: brak at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (25k9m)

I don't know about the rest of them, but I do know the powers that be in St. Louis saw fit to destroy the thriving black middle class neighborhoods, put in a bunch of industrial buildings (thus adding to the less clean look of the city), and trying to herd all the black people into high rise slums.

So yeah, there's a connection. Just not the one many people try to make.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:55 AM (+zMED)

281 "The Hun is playing toss the Belgian Baby on the Bayonets. Yeah, we'll run with that."

1914 Allied PR firms
Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at June 19, 2023 11:48 AM (rLD7a)

Just as in every phony Holocaust memoir, there's always a scene where a German soldier grabs a baby and smashes its skull against a wall.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 19, 2023 11:55 AM (AW0uW)

282
Tennessee was carved out of North California.

I thought that it was carved out of hickory

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot Egg-Fried: Proud Member of Clan Fried for ... oh, 'bout Two Weeks Now at June 19, 2023 11:55 AM (pNxlR)

283 At the very least, if there is a bailout in these situations (which I don't support) have permanent reforms tied to it. Like say make the county drop its pension plan for a 401k. Cap salaries. Cap helathcare expenses. The list is long.

The problem also is, the modern conservative movement does not care about smaller government any more. How many people "revolted" during the Covid corporate bailouts or subsidies? Nobody on our side said anything because were afraid to raise the ire of Trump. All of it dwarfed TARP that spawned the Tea Party movement.

Posted by: Blago at June 19, 2023 11:56 AM (dcfkP)

284 Just as in every phony Holocaust memoir, there's always a scene where a German soldier grabs a baby and smashes its skull against a wall.

Yeah, there were some psychos in the military, but most of them were doing a job, and didn't take particular sadistic glee in what they did.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:56 AM (0hOvj)

285 Stockton went bankrupt in 2012, lol.

Posted by: Fisht at June 19, 2023 11:57 AM (ZRarh)

286 234
'halt all EBT transfer payments, using illegal immigration as an excuse.'

Make sure to say that EBT is turned off until illegal immigration is dealt with 'somehow'.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at June 19, 2023 11:57 AM (YohY1)

287
"The Hun is playing toss the Belgian Baby on the Bayonets. Yeah, we'll run with that."

Iraqi soldiers ripping babies out of incubators in Kuwait

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 19, 2023 11:57 AM (63Dwl)

288 The sodomites are big baseball fans.

Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at June 19, 2023 11:57 AM (flINI)

289 286 234
'halt all EBT transfer payments, using illegal immigration as an excuse.'

Make sure to say that EBT is turned off until illegal immigration is dealt with 'somehow'.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at June 19, 2023 11:57 AM (YohY1)

A train to Africa via the Indian Ocean?

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:57 AM (ynpvh)

290 Get rid of petrochemicals we go back to hunting, gathering, and subsistence farming. And billions of people starve or die from treatable/curable conditions. This people are anti-human.

Posted by: Fiends. Demons. Devils. at June 19, 2023 11:51 AM (AJ2DX)

----------

[From 1971 re: the "New Left"]

"Return of The Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution"

Posted by: ShainS -- Opression Scientist and Your AI Interpreter at June 19, 2023 11:57 AM (+z+6a)

291 Well I live west of Denver, and the light rail cuts through many neighborhoods on its way to the Jeffco county building. The trains are mostly empty going both ways.

Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (geLO8)

292 288 The sodomites are big baseball fans.

Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at June 19, 2023 11:57 AM (flINI)

Mostly when it comes to batting practice...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (ynpvh)

293 283 The problem also is, the modern conservative movement does not care about smaller government any more. How many people "revolted" during the Covid corporate bailouts or subsidies? Nobody on our side said anything because were afraid to raise the ire of Trump. All of it dwarfed TARP that spawned the Tea Party movement.

Posted by: Blago at June 19, 2023 11:56 AM (dcfkP)

=========

"Keep the government's hands off of my Medicare."

The conservative movement's dedication to small government has always been...selective, inconsistent, and largely a joke.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (LvTSG)

294
A project that successful cannot be allowed to be reproduced, so it hasn't been. And Denver's subsequent light rail expansions have been fiscally disastrous.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!)

Now let's talk about their airport's baggage handling system ...

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot Egg-Fried: Proud Member of Clan Fried for ... oh, 'bout Two Weeks Now at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (pNxlR)

295 I don't know about the rest of them, but I do know the powers that be in St. Louis saw fit to destroy the thriving black middle class neighborhoods, put in a bunch of industrial buildings (thus adding to the less clean look of the city), and trying to herd all the black people into high rise slums.

So yeah, there's a connection. Just not the one many people try to make.
Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:55 AM (+zMED)
+++++
Saint Louis was the first American city to give up on high-density, high-rise public housing projects. They told HUD to pound sand and tore down the Pruitt-Igoe hellhole themselves in the 1970s - just 20 years after construction. Chicago did not, which is why parts of the Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor vertical killing fields stood until the 2010s.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (t0OGg)

296 Most of Chicago's black middle class has moved to the suburbs, other Midwestern cities, or the South.

Baltimore's black middle class is out in the suburbs as well, but they're starting to be displaced by Hispanics.

Posted by: Ian S. at June 19, 2023 11:50 AM (X4R3E)

City and federal government workers; without it there is no black middle class.

Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (Ey8kR)

297 291 Well I live west of Denver, and the light rail cuts through many neighborhoods on its way to the Jeffco county building. The trains are mostly empty going both ways.

Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (geLO

Your Gov't dollars at work! You should see the homeles solutions!

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (ynpvh)

298 These places are literally hollowed out. Shells of brick building still standing, you don't always notice the rot until you look more closely.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 11:35 AM (5BSKN)

Speaking of that, Inspector and I were in San Antonio last month and his company paid for a hotel on the Riverwalk. Positively third world with posh hotels right next to abandoned historical buildings that are *not* uninhabited even though condemned.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at June 19, 2023 11:59 AM (nC+QA)

299
Ahhh, light rail. There has only been one successful light rail experiment that I am aware of, and it has never been replicated: Denver's initial LR system.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!)

==========

San Diego built a little red choo-choo that ran from Tijuana to the center of the city many years ago under a Republican mayoralty. Pete Wilson was determined to build it without a dime of federal or state money. He succeeded in raising those funds locally and got the thing done in no time.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at June 19, 2023 11:59 AM (DbsAM)

300 294
A project that successful cannot be allowed to be reproduced, so it hasn't been. And Denver's subsequent light rail expansions have been fiscally disastrous.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!)

Now let's talk about their airport's baggage handling system ...

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot Egg-Fried: Proud Member of Clan Fried for ... oh, 'bout Two Weeks Now at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (pNxlR)

I think if them as baggage MIS-handling systems...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 11:59 AM (ynpvh)

301 Well I live west of Denver, and the light rail cuts through many neighborhoods on its way to the Jeffco county building. The trains are mostly empty going both ways.
Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (geLO

++++
The W line is new, and it was a stupid idea that will never ever pay for itself.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:59 AM (t0OGg)

302 301 Well I live west of Denver, and the light rail cuts through many neighborhoods on its way to the Jeffco county building. The trains are mostly empty going both ways.
Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (geLO
++++
The W line is new, and it was a stupid idea that will never ever pay for itself.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:59 AM (t0OGg)

=======

But Paris has trains!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at June 19, 2023 12:00 PM (LvTSG)

303
At the very least, if there is a bailout in these situations (which I don't support) have permanent reforms tied to it. Like say make the county drop its pension plan for a 401k. Cap salaries. Cap helathcare expenses. The list is long.

_____________

Cue the weepies on the local news with some woman blubbering, "Now I'm gonna have to work until I'm 60!"

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 19, 2023 12:00 PM (hq47M)

304 Just as in every phony Holocaust memoir, there's always a scene where a German soldier grabs a baby and smashes its skull against a wall.
------------
Yeah, there were some psychos in the military, but most of them were doing a job, and didn't take particular sadistic glee in what they did.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 11:56 AM (0hOvj)

Sure, most. But not all.

Not every story of German (and other nation's soldiers) atrocities are "phony."

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 12:00 PM (+zMED)

305 Why would private investors bother to finanace it when they know they can sucker the government to sock it to the saps (taxpayers).

That is how the Private Investment/Public Funding strategery works best.

For example, Austin didn't want people building out in the geologically stable yet beautiful limestone country (near the lakes and wind energy) for Reasons™ Instead they built a turnpike way out east in soft-soil country that catches on fire a lot. Then they made deals to attract the wealthiest man on planet earth to build a battery factory out in the hinterlands.

This brings in developers who ED land on the cheap and build with new things allowing the city to point to new growth (and collect massive amounts of permit fees) while ignoring the legacy pathologies near the urban core. The city can ignore potholes, infrastructure, schools and all of that leaving it to migrants and poor people (to be exploited later when needed).

Cities must die, because politicians want to have their name on new buildings and projects, not on maintenance projects. Thus entropy, decay and failure for those Left Behind.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at June 19, 2023 12:00 PM (3hSHB)

306 But Paris has trains!
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at June 19, 2023 12:00 PM (LvTSG)

So did Auschwitz.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at June 19, 2023 12:00 PM (v0vOS)

307 "Bipartisan Deal Reached to Save Milwaukee from *Democrats*"

The real headline.

And I'm getting sick of reading it.

Posted by: McLurkerson at June 19, 2023 12:00 PM (wNDOJ)

308 The progressive society created mass transit to accommodate the masses and then promptly turned it over to criminals.
I haven't been on BART in years, nor will I. The last several times I did, there were always "incidents" with hostile homeless people, crazies or opportunistic criminals. Not a BART cop to be seen.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at June 19, 2023 12:01 PM (MeG8a)

309 299 And back then, folks in TJ bought round trip tickets.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at June 19, 2023 12:01 PM (rLD7a)

310 Well I live west of Denver, and the light rail cuts through many neighborhoods on its way to the Jeffco county building. The trains are mostly empty going both ways.
Posted by: DB - at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (geLO

Seattle has the Regional Transit Authority...which taxes the shit outta everyone in four counties because they all benefit from this wonderful transportation system...used by the same 12,000 people every day. My $30 car tabs (voted on three time here before the fu*ktards in Olympia got it) has $270 in other fees, the biggest being the RTA tax.
Fu*kers!

Posted by: Diogenes at June 19, 2023 12:01 PM (e4fEA)

311 There is no problem in any metro area that midnight basketball, job training, and light rail can't solve.

I'm perpetually amused by the implied racism of "all blacks just want to play basketball". White liberals for 70 years have thought the only permissible careers for blacks are sports, music, and sometimes Hollywood.

Posted by: Ian S. at June 19, 2023 12:01 PM (X4R3E)

312 It can be lunch time

Posted by: Skip at June 19, 2023 12:01 PM (CcBbR)

313 A tiger decides he wants a nice gaur lunch.
Gaur is like "you want a piece of this?".
The tiger decides he'd really like a nice salad.

Start at about 1:10.

https://tinyurl.com/mu8ryf4z

Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 12:01 PM (eOEVl)

314
"Keep the government's hands off of my Medicare."

The conservative movement's dedication to small government has always been...selective, inconsistent, and largely a joke.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler

===========

Yes, and it's also the nature of freebies. The progression from acceptance to addiction is well known to the Free Shit Army.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at June 19, 2023 12:01 PM (DbsAM)

315 there was a secession movement in lower IL years ago, not sure if they are meeting, but it would be nice if it happened. Or we could join Missouri ... but the Outfit in Chi-town is corrupt as hell and runs the state.

Posted by: illiniwek at June 19, 2023 12:02 PM (Cus5s)

316 Now let's talk about their airport's baggage handling system ...
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot Egg-Fried: Proud Member of Clan Fried for ... oh, 'bout Two Weeks Now at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (pNxlR)
++++
Heh. That one can't really be pinned on local government, that was almost entirely United Airlines' boondoggle. It didn't work. The idea was cool for sure, but it didn't work. If you go under the airport (I've been through a bunch of the underground corridors there for work in a prior life), there's a lot of track on the ceilings everywhere that are the major remnants of that system. Essentially, it's just a bunch of scrap metal bolted to the ceiling.

Now the contracting corruption and failed runways that had to be rebuilt - *that* lies at the feet of the City and County of Denver, the state of Colorado and the US DOT.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 12:02 PM (t0OGg)

317 The states should be the same size and shape. All of them. Some will get chopped up and some will get eliminated in the consolidation. Borders and coast lines will have to change as well. This will make things more fair.
No state may have the same name as another state.
Example... The Dakotas. One can remain Dakota but the other can't have that name. It's appropriation.
No state may have the word "new" in the name. Using this word is obviously appropriating from the "old". New Mexico is especially offensive. Just stealing their culture and name.
No state may be named after a dead white person or slave owner.
Exactly half of the states should be on the east side of the Mississippi river and the other half on the west side.
A new mountain range must be built to form the northern border and a ten mile wide two mile deep trench will be dug to form the southern border. This prevents citizens from escaping.
Air travel and sea travel is strictly limited to government officials.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at June 19, 2023 12:02 PM (Wy1BU)

318 Can I tell you how much I hate people?

I get on the boat. Apparently all the other regulars are off today or took the bus. I hate the bus. It's dangerous and filthy. So, I get on the boat and the only other five people to board sit within ten feet of me. There's an entire boat! With an upstairs!

And they are stupid fucking tourists who obviously want to engage me in conversation but I'm ignoring them because they are idiots! Look! There's a whale! No, you fucktard, those are divers. Oh! They must be cold! No, you miserable backwards ass country fuck, they are wearing dry suits. Is there a Starbucks near the terminal? Only every block. Do you not have a fucking smart phone to look it up? Is see you taking selfies. Please
Fall overboard.

Posted by: nurse ratched at June 19, 2023 12:02 PM (V65Dk)

319 The Houston light rail was one of the funniest examples. It didn't go places people wanted (so they eliminated bus routes to get people to use it) and they didn't install a ticket system to get onboard (it was basically an honor system other than spot checks by police).

It became a prime place for homeless to sleep.

Posted by: brak at June 19, 2023 12:02 PM (25k9m)

320 The tricky name – some beer drinkers mistakenly think it is Chinese – would later present marketing problems for the company.

They could always use "𝔍𝔲𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔤"

Posted by: t-bird at June 19, 2023 12:03 PM (ptElO)

321 In my theory a forms of government of Marxists are spending to go broke so their opponents will have to bail them out

Posted by: Skip at June 19, 2023 12:03 PM (CcBbR)

322 321 In my theory a forms of government of Marxists are spending to go broke so their opponents will have to bail them out

Posted by: Skip at June 19, 2023 12:03 PM (CcBbR)

It should be a Charlie Brown/Lucy moment, with the football pulled awaty from them as the last moment.
Ooh, so close.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at June 19, 2023 12:04 PM (ynpvh)

323 289
'A train to Africa via the Indian Ocean?'

Hahaha!
Choo-choo! All aboard!
glubglubglub.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at June 19, 2023 12:04 PM (YohY1)

324 Just as in every phony Holocaust memoir, there's always a scene where a German soldier grabs a baby and smashes its skull against a wall.

Theodore Dalrymple who for years dealt with sub-humans in the UK penal/welfare system wrote a passage in one of his books about the declining culture where a couple were high on drugs, and the boyfriend takes the kid by the ankles, swings him like a baseball bat such where the kid's face slams into the wall.

You don't need to be a Nazi, just a drugged up loser in a shithole city/state/country.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at June 19, 2023 12:05 PM (3hSHB)

325 Saint Louis was the first American city to give up on high-density, high-rise public housing projects. They told HUD to pound sand and tore down the Pruitt-Igoe hellhole themselves in the 1970s - just 20 years after construction. Chicago did not, which is why parts of the Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor vertical killing fields stood until the 2010s.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:58 AM (t0OGg)

They weren't completely gone in the 90s, when I was going into those buildings as part of some research that was being done.

I remember going to see a 70 something year old grandma, who told me to let her know when I was coming, so she could come out and watch for me from her landing. When I left, she did the same thing. She said the thugs would leave me alone, as long as they knew I was there to see her.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 12:05 PM (+zMED)

326 And they are stupid fucking tourists who obviously want to engage me in conversation but I'm ignoring them because they are idiots! Look! There's a whale! No, you fucktard, those are divers. Oh! They must be cold! No, you miserable backwards ass country fuck, they are wearing dry suits. Is there a Starbucks near the terminal? Only every block. Do you not have a fucking smart phone to look it up? Is see you taking selfies. Please
Fall overboard.

Posted by: nurse ratched at June 19, 2023 12:02 PM (V65Dk)
***

Come on Nurse. You can't talk about people from Bellingham like that.

Posted by: Diogenes at June 19, 2023 12:05 PM (e4fEA)

327 Posted by: nurse ratched at June 19, 2023 12:02 PM (V65Dk)
-----
Somebody needs a hug!

Posted by: Weasel at June 19, 2023 12:06 PM (RG6z4)

328 327 Posted by: nurse ratched at June 19, 2023 12:02 PM (V65Dk)
-----
Somebody needs a hug!
Posted by: Weasel at June 19, 2023 12:06 PM (RG6z4)

========

And a selfie with some whales!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at June 19, 2023 12:06 PM (LvTSG)

329 Sure, most. But not all.

Not every story of German (and other nation's soldiers) atrocities are "phony."
Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 12:00 PM (+zMED)

Is it ironic that a lot of those horrific Nazi actions were committed by Ukrainian recruited Nazis?

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 12:06 PM (MNhXM)

330 I disagree with the poster.
==
1. By default, law enforcement should be vested in county government or consortia of county governments.
==
2. In non-metropolitan zones, you have a sheriff's department with about six divisions handling various aspects of the sheriff's work. Among them is a patrol division. (You also have a social welfare inspectorate which handles child protective, foster care, and the like). Concentrated population centers can at their discretion set up town police departments to provide supplementary patrols. This would be a non-default option, so could be reconsidered via referendum every six years and subject to automatic reconsideration if the matter had not been addressed in thirty years.
==
3. Sheriff's departments and social welfare inspectorates are financed out of general revenues. If they cover a single county, the budget is written by the county board. If they cover multiple counties, the budget is written by a convocation of member counties which proceeds by weighted voting. The costs are then apportioned among the member counties according to population, who then pay their shares out of general revenues.
==

Posted by: Art Deco at June 19, 2023 12:06 PM (SHrUD)

331 The W line is new, and it was a stupid idea that will never ever pay for itself.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at June 19, 2023 11:59 AM (t0OGg)

We lived in Brighton before we retired. There was talk of a line between there and downtown. Just for grins, I mapped out a 'commute' to work under that scenario. I could walk about 5 miles from east Brighton to downtown, catch a train to Union Station, then catch another train to Cherry Creek and then walk another 4 miles to the airfield. Rinse, lather, repeat at the end of the day. All in all it was about a 3.5-4 hour commute. Disregard ticket cost for the moment and just factor in weather. On second thought, no.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at June 19, 2023 12:06 PM (YRsIm)

332 318 A most enjoyable feature of Erie PA is the water taxi. Takes people from stops downtown to Presque Isle (actually a peninsula) park. Cheap, last time I rode it $6 round trip and that's what I did. Just went out for a nice hour+ boat ride.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at June 19, 2023 12:06 PM (rLD7a)

333 And a selfie with some whales!
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at June 19, 2023 12:06 PM (LvTSG)

and a Starbucks.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at June 19, 2023 12:07 PM (aD39U)

334 332 318 A most enjoyable feature of Erie PA is the water taxi. Takes people from stops downtown to Presque Isle (actually a peninsula) park. Cheap, last time I rode it $6 round trip and that's what I did. Just went out for a nice hour+ boat ride.
Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at June 19, 2023 12:06 PM (rLD7a)

=======

I wrote a book set in that area...

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at June 19, 2023 12:07 PM (LvTSG)

335
NOOD: On the Selfless Honesty of Fact Checkers

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot Egg-Fried: Proud Member of Clan Fried for ... oh, 'bout Two Weeks Now at June 19, 2023 12:07 PM (pNxlR)

336 F*ck those guys!

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken: "We do not support Taiwan independence." 👀

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at June 19, 2023 12:07 PM (FVME7)

337 The Houston light rail was one of the funniest examples. It didn't go places people wanted (so they eliminated bus routes to get people to use it) and they didn't install a ticket system to get onboard (it was basically an honor system other than spot checks by police).

The Minneapolis one was pretty entertaining too. It goes from the airport to downtown, which seems like a useful thing, but it was immediately taken over by gangs and is now known to locals as "the rape train". Which is much worse than the Love Boat.

Posted by: Ian S. at June 19, 2023 12:07 PM (X4R3E)

338 Not every story of German (and other nation's soldiers) atrocities are "phony."

I didn't mean to imply that. Only that, as an author whose name I can't recall pointed out, it is almost an invariable part of phony memoirs to have a baby-killing scene.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 19, 2023 12:07 PM (AW0uW)

339 Only every block. Do you not have a fucking smart phone to look it up? Is see you taking selfies. Please
Fall overboard.

Posted by: nurse ratched at June 19, 2023 12:02 PM (V65Dk)

LOL.

Where were the tourists from?

They sound like river otters.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at June 19, 2023 12:08 PM (ufFY8)

340 328 327 Posted by: nurse ratched at June 19, 2023 12:02 PM (V65Dk)
-----
Somebody needs a hug!
Posted by: Weasel at June 19, 2023 12:06 PM (RG6z4)

========

And a selfie with some whales!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at June 19, 2023 12:06 PM (LvTSG)

...

Posted by: Women on the View at June 19, 2023 12:08 PM (ynpvh)

341

A search and rescue mission was underway Monday morning for a submarine that went missing in the North Atlantic on an expedition to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. Lt. Jordan Hart of the U.S. Coast Guard in Boston told CBS News that personnel were "currently undergoing a search and rescue operation" when asked about the rescue efforts off the coast of Newfoundland.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at June 19, 2023 12:08 PM (63Dwl)

342 I don't know about the rest of them, but I do know the powers that be in St. Louis saw fit to destroy the thriving black middle class neighborhoods, put in a bunch of industrial buildings (thus adding to the less clean look of the city), and trying to herd all the black people into high rise slums.

So yeah, there's a connection. Just not the one many people try to make.

Posted by: BurtTC

--

I'm no city-ologist, but I'm guessing that was key to switching the culture so drastically, too. In one generation people accepted it as normal, and it became normal and devastating in a long-lasting, foundational way that established it as a culture. Same as everything, it has nothing to do with skin color. Sadly these days the two seem to be pretty much interchangeable, though.

Posted by: The recovered remains of Hitler's cocaine filled flying submarine at June 19, 2023 12:08 PM (de2/z)

343 318
'Can I tell you how much I hate people?'

Come on. Give us a smile!

Posted by: Dr. Claw at June 19, 2023 12:08 PM (YohY1)

344 The tricky name – some beer drinkers mistakenly think it is Chinese – would later present marketing problems for the company.

Wait, it's *not* Chinese? Seriously?

Posted by: Ian S. at June 19, 2023 12:09 PM (X4R3E)

345 Most people don't know that in the 90s, Ukraine invaded Crimea and topped its government, just taking over the territory because they didn't like the guy elected there.

https://tinyurl.com/muxs4bdr

Crimea was part of Ukraine, when the USSR made Ukraine a Republic.

In 1991, some Crimeans voted to make it an autonomous republic. Ukraine understandably said no, sort of like our Civil War.

The decree was first announced, on the front page of Pravda, on 27 February 1954.[10] The full text of the decree was:[11]

On April 26, 1954 The decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet transferring the Crimea Oblast from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.

Taking into account the integral character of the economy, the territorial proximity and the close economic and cultural ties between the Crimea Province and the Ukrainian SSR, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet decrees:

To approve the joint presentation of the Presidium of the Russian SFSR Supreme Soviet and the Presidium of the Ukrainian SSR Supreme Soviet on the transfer of the Crimea Province from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.

https://tinyurl.com/3ussyd6f

Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 12:09 PM (eOEVl)

346 Not every story of German (and other nation's soldiers) atrocities are "phony."

A certain percentage of soldiers in combat are psychopaths, who see the carnage of war as a chance to do what they want.

Want to make sense of the madness of the Vietnam war? Realize Robert McNamara was a psychopath who just wanted to see how many people he could kill. Our people, their people, didn't matter to him, body counts were all that mattered.

Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at June 19, 2023 12:09 PM (CecP5)

347 I didn't mean to imply that. Only that, as an author whose name I can't recall pointed out, it is almost an invariable part of phony memoirs to have a baby-killing scene.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 19, 2023 12:07 PM (AW0uW)

Oh, sorry. I guess that's sorta like all the french after the war who were part of the resistance.

Yeah, no you weren't.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 12:09 PM (+zMED)

348 In my theory a forms of government of Marxists are spending to go broke so their opponents will have to bail them out

Posted by: Skip at June 19, 2023 12:03 PM (CcBbR)

Capitalism vs collectivism. He have seen how it plays out.

Posted by: JmT at June 19, 2023 12:09 PM (Ey8kR)

349 Oh, that's a dirty window, darn it.

Well, salt spray tends to make the windows a bit dirty. I apologize. Why don't I hold your feet while you get out the windex.

Please. Jump. The water is awesome.

Posted by: nurse ratched at June 19, 2023 12:10 PM (TLhHb)

350 The Houston light rail was one of the funniest examples. It didn't go places people wanted (so they eliminated bus routes to get people to use it) and they didn't install a ticket system to get onboard (it was basically an honor system other than spot checks by police).

It became a prime place for homeless to sleep.
Posted by: brak at June 19, 2023 12:02 PM (25k9m

And they built it at ground level where it can’t run with the slightest of flooding. Also it shares road space. Close to a hundred train /car accidents since it’s been built.

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 12:10 PM (MNhXM)

351 nurse, practice the thousand yard stare.

Posted by: Ben Had at June 19, 2023 12:11 PM (0W9qL)

352 Want to make sense of the madness of the Vietnam war? Realize Robert McNamara was a psychopath who just wanted to see how many people he could kill. Our people, their people, didn't matter to him, body counts were all that mattered.
Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at June 19, 2023 12:09 PM (CecP5)

Hmmm, sounds like bipartisan Wash DC now, with Ukraine. And Syria. And Yemen. And so on and so forth.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 19, 2023 12:11 PM (+zMED)

353 4. In metropolitan zones, everything is financed the same way except the patrol division. The patrol division operates only outside the core city / suburban settlement, and is financed by a supplementary property tax in the exurban zones which goes into a dedicated fund and can only be used to finance the patrol division.
==
5. In the core / city suburban zone, you have a police department. The police department is financed by a supplementary value-added tax that is collected in that zone and goes into a dedicated fund. The chief of police may work for the government of the consortium, for the government of the county, or for a municipal government if it be coterminous with the core city / suburban zone; it depends on how many jurisdictions over which the core city / suburban zone spreads.

Posted by: Art Deco at June 19, 2023 12:12 PM (SHrUD)

354 Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 12:09 PM (eOEVl)

Understandably? Hah your Ukrainian support reasoning is all relative .

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 12:13 PM (MNhXM)

355 Understandably? Hah your Ukrainian support reasoning is all relative .

Okay? Whatever that means.

Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 12:14 PM (eOEVl)

356 Understandably? Hah your Ukrainian support reasoning is all relative .

Okay? Whatever that means.
Posted by: Archimedes at June 19, 2023 12:14 PM (eOEVl)

You’re obtuse too.

Posted by: polynikes at June 19, 2023 12:15 PM (MNhXM)

357 Break a failed city up into its component neighborhoods as towns to run their own affairs.

Make government smaller.

Posted by: SkylerKat at June 19, 2023 12:15 PM (6JOB5)

358 The tricky name – some beer drinkers mistakenly think it is Chinese – would later present marketing problems for the company.

--

Something similar was discussed in Pixy's thread this morning regarding illegals and the hard-drinking, unhealthy lifestyles that non-border cities are beginning to discover exist in the demographic.

While it's easy to work off of intuition (and correct), I had no idea about the actual numbers. NIH dot gov:

https://tinyurl.com/2dmjxg9r

What's neat is when you scroll down to the binge drinking etc. they stop comparing the population to "non-hispanic white" like they briefly do for alcohol consumption in general up top.

This is interesting, though:

"Living and working in the United States, raising families here, speaking English, and above all, getting an American education all contribute to adapting to American culture. But as acculturation levels increase, so can alcohol consumption"

See what they did there?

Posted by: The recovered remains of Hitler's cocaine filled flying submarine at June 19, 2023 12:16 PM (de2/z)

359 Not every story of German (and other nation's soldiers) atrocities are "phony."

Yeah, there were horrible things done in the past by terrible people. And, as unpleasant as it is to imagine, some atrocities were done by our Greatest Generation heroes, as well.

But over time I have discovered that most of the really horrific stories told about a conflict are either grossly exaggerated or just flat out false. I remember stories of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Stories of soldiers forcing kids to donate blood, of Kuwaitis being thrown in the ocean chained to weights, etc. I remember stories of massive slaughters in Yugoslavia, mass graves everywhere. In time these were revealed to be either invented by propagandists or grossly exaggerated.

At this point I take any of these kind of tales with a huge block of salt.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 12:17 PM (0hOvj)

360 The Houston light rail was one of the funniest examples. It didn't go places people wanted (so they eliminated bus routes to get people to use it) and they didn't install a ticket system to get onboard (it was basically an honor system other than spot checks by police).

A friend of mine who used to work for a railroad company, said of the Houston Light Rail before it was built: "It would be cheaper to buy everyone who will ever ride that their own personal limousine." He was, of course, correct.

Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at June 19, 2023 12:19 PM (CecP5)

361 6. Patrol divisions should operate over jurisdictions which have a non-institutional population of at least 85,000. In metropolitan zones, should the exurban zone fall below that population, the area over which the police department operates should extend to include the exurban zone. Again, the police department is financed by a dedicated value-added tax.
==
7. In exurban, small town, and rural zones, you should have town municipalities, which consist of discrete settlements with a population density exceeding a certain thresh-holds and rural municipalities, which should consist of everything else. The minimum non-institutional population for each should be about 2,400. Supplementary services for villages within rural municipalities can be handled via special district authorities assessing metered service charges, supplementary property taxes, or capitations.
==

Posted by: Art Deco at June 19, 2023 12:20 PM (SHrUD)

362 Crimea was part of Ukraine, when the USSR made Ukraine a Republic.

In 1991, some Crimeans voted to make it an autonomous republic. Ukraine understandably said no, sort of like our Civil War.

When the Soviet Union broke up, it became its own country, briefly. Then Ukraine rolled in and took it over.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 19, 2023 12:21 PM (0hOvj)

363 Close to a hundred train /car accidents since it’s been built.

Every one of those accidents were judged to be the auto driver's fault. Of course, none of those accidents would have happened if the train hadn't been there.

Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at June 19, 2023 12:23 PM (CecP5)

364 8. Core city / suburban zones - discrete concentrated population centers of a thresh-hold density and with a non-institutional population exceeding 50,000 should have two types of municipalities. One is a general borough, which is the default location of all the residents, and of which there is only one per county. The other sort would be petition boroughs, which are created by petition and referendum. A petition borough would have to have valid boundaries to be created and continue. It would be a non-default option, so could be reconsidered every six years and would be subject to automatic reconsideration every thirty years if the question had not been considered in that time.
==
9. "Valid boundaries" for a petition borough would have the following properties: (a) they delineate a contiguous territory entirely within the county in question and entirely within the city in question; (b) they encompass a non-institutional population of at least 2,400; and (c) no more than 4% of their residents live within a tax abatement zone on their creation and no more than 20% at any point after their creation.

Posted by: Art Deco at June 19, 2023 12:26 PM (SHrUD)

365 10. There is, consequent to the federal census, a general survey of settlements in the state every 10 years. Town, city, and village boundaries are automatically adjusted. Settlements which change category consequent to population increase or decline adjust their governmental institutions according to standard procedures which make use of referenda.
==
11. Tax abatement zones, which are exclusive to city settlements, are adjusted every 10 years as well. In any city settlement, census block groups are rank ordered according to personal income per capita, lowest to highest. The least affluent block groups, accounting for 15% of the population of the city settlement, make the full abatement zone. Slightly more affluent block groups, accounting for 5% of the city settlement, make the partial abatement zone. The zones are not expected to be contiguous. Properties which on resurvey are transferred from the full abatement zone to the partial zone or the no-abatement zone or from the partial zone to the no-abatement zone retain their special preference for a term of years.
==

Posted by: Art Deco at June 19, 2023 12:34 PM (SHrUD)

366 12. Petition boroughs which have too much tax abatement are automatically dissolved. They are given a grace period to have a petition campaign to modify their boundaries in order to stay in business.
==
13. The circumstances under which local governments may accept federal grants and under which states may make grants to local governments are sharply circumscribed by constitutional provisions. Disaster relief, indemnities, and payment-in-lieu-of-taxes are permitted. A general grant is permitted.
==
14. A 'general grant' is a grant by a superordinate authority to a lower authority which is calculated according to formulae in the state constitution and may be used for any function which falls under the enabling legislation of the local authority in question. There are no 'strings'. The total sums appropriated would be at the discretion of the state legislature, but their pattern of distribution would be constitutionally prescribed and not discretionary. The state would cut two checks, one for counties and one for school districts. Counties would cut a check for their component municipalities distributed according to the same prescription.
==

Posted by: Art Deco at June 19, 2023 12:41 PM (SHrUD)

367 15. The significance of the general grant would vary from one jurisdiction to another, as would its per capita dimensions. A jurisdiction with average per capita income and average propensity to spend would generally finance about 20% of its expenditures out of the general grant and the other 80% out of local taxes.
==
16. Again, the state would be debarred from making grants other than according to the aforementioned prescriptions. Bankrupt localities would be subject to reorganization in federal court as if they were private companies. No exceptions.

Posted by: Art Deco at June 19, 2023 12:45 PM (SHrUD)

368 "Want to make sense of the madness of the Vietnam war? Realize Robert McNamara was a psychopath who just wanted to see how many people he could kill. Our people, their people, didn't matter to him, body counts were all that mattered."
==
That doesn't make sense of the VietNam War. It tells us you're a malicious nut.

Posted by: Art Deco at June 19, 2023 01:07 PM (SHrUD)

369 Benton Harbor, MI: 39.6% of population below poverty line.

St. Joseph, MI (just across the river): 6.1% of population below poverty line.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at June 19, 2023 11:17 AM (hq47M)

I used to live in St. Joe. Later, I lived about 10 miles down the coast in Stevensville. You went to Benton Harbor to shop and then leave.

The comedian Sinbad was born in Benton Harbor.

Posted by: Advo at June 19, 2023 01:16 PM (VHN21)

370 Republicans and Conservatives are too soft for that. However, the Democrats would definitely use that leverage against the Republicans, because they aren't pussies, even though they don't know what gender they are.

Posted by: DFCtomm at June 19, 2023 01:25 PM (NTi06)

371 A brilliant and workable strategy.

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at June 19, 2023 01:28 PM (b306O)

372 Many Democrats register as a Republican because, while they are Democrats in principle, they disagree with some Democrat party policies.

Posted by: Jim at June 19, 2023 02:42 PM (zhWvq)

373 How about:

[President] to [irresponsible state/local government]: Drop Dead

Posted by: go get your fuckin shine box at June 19, 2023 06:30 PM (2wS81)

374 More than $15k can be earned online by performing straightforward tasks from home. In the previous month, I got $18376. Even a young child may do this job and make money because it is so simple to complete and has higher pay than typical office occupations. Everyone needs to try this task by using the information on this page. https://Getmoney012.blogspot.com

Posted by: Lenna Zulauf at June 20, 2023 02:23 AM (5PwHJ)

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