Saving the Shire

Modern Life Complexities Not Found in the Shire

Pictured above is a hobbit hole in Hobbitenago, Guatemala. It features not only trails with Lord of the Rings kinds of things but also attractions like panoramas featuring volcanoes.

The volcanoes are close enough to be something of a concern. But in the original Shire which inspired this park, they did not have to think about Artificial Intelligence and related electronic complications to life.

This week, I had another odd Social Media Experience. FB sent me a message that one of my friends had a new post. I seldom check this friend's page, and the post turned out to be a slightly snarky article in BlazeMedia by Owen Anderson proposing a thought experiment: What if the commies were right after all? What if the rich folk were the dangerous, permanent oppressors of the world?

He proposed an alternative:

The left condemns concentrated wealth while demanding concentrated political power, the only kind backed by guns, prisons, and law.

He discussed some of his own experiences with leftists and made some suggestions for countering their influence.

Normally, I would not have paid much attention to this piece. But one of my friend's friends, I'll call her "young teacher friend" seemed upset and begged her to learn what democratic socialists believed, "from primary sources".

I looked at Young Teacher Friend's FB page, and it included almost no personal information - just run-of-the-mill memes for leftist causes and a single post - an essay supporting protests by students, including elementary school students. Though she acknowledged the authority of school districts to enforce mandatory school attendance.

My friend expressed surprise that the Blaze piece had shown up on her FB page. I have never seen her post anything political before. And this piece was certainly not her style. How did it get there? Why was I notified of this post? Was Young Teacher Friend also notified? Was the algorithm trying to start a fight?

Anyway, I took it as an opening, and posted the new DSA platform on my friend's page as Young Teacher Friend had suggested (can't get a more primary source than that). I admit that Young Teacher Friend is not the primary intended audience here:

DSA program and platform, July 2026
“DSA has written this program for ending capitalist oligarchy and creating a real democracy. Some of these demands may be won under our current system, but we know complete victory will require building a new society from the ground up. We push these demands to their furthest extent today, so we can fight for their fullest realization in a socialist future. Join us.”
- -
“For the working class to govern, we need a new political system. End political corruption and legalized bribery: get rid of lobbyists, dark money, and Citizens United, and publicly finance all elections. Abolish the Electoral College. Replace the President and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress.

Replace the two-party system with a multi-party democracy. Expand the House of Representatives, implement proportional representation and ranked choice voting in all elections, and abolish the Senate.”

https://program.dsausa.org/

If you follow the link, you may be surprised, and maybe a little alarmed, at the simplicity of the language in the entire platform.

Do you think anyone will get the message about what the DSA's real goals are? Why are young people attracted to these failed programs and ideologies?

Absolutely insane:

Two-thirds of Americans don't know who Mao was. Half don't know who Xi is!

It's no wonder Americans tend to be so unconcerned about the rise of China when they know so little! https://t.co/fljCDP7wXz pic.twitter.com/iSHHbg45Qh

— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) July 15, 2026

Keeping the generations in touch with each other

Johann Kurtz has written an interesting piece which will likely lead to some lively discussion: Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise

On the surface it does seem as if the young are fine. Real median incomes are higher than they were for their parents at the same age, unemployment has spent most of the past decade at historic lows, and purchasing power has risen roughly 63 percent since 1973. Televisions, clothing, food, and air travel are cheaper than ever.

And yet this generation is also not marrying, not buying homes, not having children, and seem pretty miserable. I think we’re clearly in the midst of a tremendous measurement failure.

My argument is that previous generations received an enormous stock of social capital: trusted neighbors, functional public schools, a productive courtship culture, predictable career arcs, and a public square in which children could roam and adults could be relied upon. That stock, once given for free, has now been substantially liquidated.

(emphasis mine). So, maybe it really does "take a village". Not just a village that consists of government programs?

What actually got cheaper over the past fifty years? Electronics, entertainment, fast fashion, processed food, toys, screens of every kind. And what got more expensive, usually by many multiples? Housing, education, childcare, healthcare, insurance.

Absurdly, both of these movements register in the statistics as progress: one shows up as asset appreciation and the other as consumer surplus. But the lived reality for families feels like a pincer.

Housing is the least ambiguous case. . .

The entire essay is worth thinking about.

Saving the Shire

The Secret Anguish of the Median Voter

This is my favorite scene in The Lord of the Rings movies.

The four hobbits are riding home to the Shire, having come through hell and back. Frodo has saved the world at terrible personal cost. Pippin is now a knight, wearing his mail and tunic bearing the White Tree of Gondor. Merry is still dressed as an Esquire of Rohan.

All of them are in outlandish clothes, and laden with exotic treasures of dwarves, elves, and men. They have been utterly transformed by their journey.

But Everard Proudfoot (a contrivance of the film) has not been transformed by their journey. He spent the last year in the Shire, with its ordinary rhythms and expectations, and he thinks they are fucking weird.

It’s a big change from the books of course, where Saruman has brought the conflict home, and the hobbits have to drum him out.

I like both versions of the story — but what I like about the scene in the movie is that Everard Proudfoot represents the totality of their victory. They truly saved the Shire — completely intact, exactly as they left it.

If we win the way we hope to win, all the people who think we are weird and disreputable will have no reason to change their minds. (In fact — as in the film — the way we win may confirm all their suspicions.)

But imagine trying to get Everard Proudfoot to vote to save the world.

A few weeks ago, my wife got her hair done by the Median Utah Voter.

Lately I’ve been using the term “median voter” instead of the n-word (normie) — but in this case I mean it literally.

White, married, middle-class, homeowner, “some college”, late fifties. She lives in a safe neighborhood, where she still sees most of her neighbors at church.

She couldn’t afford her house if she had to buy it now, but she doesn’t have to buy it now. Her husband is closing in on retirement; they saved responsibly, she mostly just cuts hair to have something to do.

She’s not political, except in the ambient sense that she watches the TV news sometimes, and feels bad about the things she’s supposed to feel bad about. She doesn’t like to see people being nasty to each other.

She voted for Trump in 2020 and 2024 (though probably not in 2016), because she’s a Conservative, but she doesn’t like him personally — or at least, she doesn’t like “the way he talks about people.”

When she sees Trump (and Trump surrogates) being harsh and insulting on TV, she thinks about how she tries to treat people — the kind of people she meets in her real life, in her safe neighborhood.

The Mexican guy who fixed her water heater was polite and efficient, and gave her a good price. She did a service project for a refugee charity last Christmas, and seeing those families smile as they got their care packages made her feel really good.

Nothing (in her real life) justifies being Nasty, or Hurting People.

You’re not going to convince this woman of The Big Picture.

There’s no bar graph you can show her that will convince her that her neighborhood is dangerous (it isn’t), or that the contractor who installed her water heater is a threat (he isn’t), or that the refugees at the charity are about to make a fire with her Beautiful Oak Door — they aren’t (at least, not any time soon).

She lives in the real world; she Touches Grass. She isn’t going to care about any of the stuff you care about until she sees it right in front of her physically, and by then it will be way, way too late.

Of course, her moral attention can be redirected parasocially, but not by you — not in the totalizing way that activates a person politically. She’s not going to update her worldview — which, again, is very much wrapped up in her moral attitude toward dozens of real relationships in her real life — because you showed her a meme, or a statistic, or even a lurid atrocity video.

Read the entire essay for more nuance and information about "Median Voter", but the "X" post gets to the nitty-gritty:

“Do you want your grandchildren to be foreigners in their own country?” In political conversations with older people with kids, no other point has shaken them awake quite like this one.

— Theseus' Star Destroyer (@theseus365) July 17, 2026

From the end of the Old Testament:

Malachi's prophecy is literally true

If the hearts of the fathers are not turned to their children & vice versa, nothing will change until the earth is smitten with a curse, & the barbarians are literally, physically at the door

From the essay:

If the Median Voters - - the cozy Everard Proudfoots of the world - - understand themselves as atomized individuals, they will never take action until the earth is smitten with a curse, and the barbarians are literally, physically at their doorstep.

(Again, the individualist frame was inculcated with the express purpose of lowering these defenses.)

The only way to make them see what is coming - - what is, in fact, already happening - - is to turn their hearts to their children.

Weekend

Congratulations, Duncan. You, as much anyone I know -- more-- were dealt a crappy hand as a working artist, kicked aside by the system, wandered in the wilderness, and are turning it all around in a passionate, winning, meaningful fashion. This is going to be great. https://t.co/dabAX4Nupd

— Walter Kirn (@walterkirn) July 16, 2026

The Week in Pictures: Don't Get Buffalo'd Edition

Let’s see: Gulf War III is back in full swing, Mitch McConnell has become Schrodinger’s senator, but the biggest stories in America right now are a buffalo trying out to be an NFL placekicker, and Taco Bell deciding that a life-imitating-art menu is the best life after all. Too bad about the Whirled Cup soccer thing, but losing to . . . Belgium? Maybe we can appeal to the Whirled Court. Oh, wait. . .

Music

The Shire

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Last week's thread, July 11, Can we afford utopian education?

Notable comment:

"It's a system built on envy of those who have more than the self-anointed "best and brightest".

And again, here's another quote from F.L. Lucas. I think this guy has potential.

“Thence it is possible to arrive by easy stages at the happy notion, not uncommon among 'intellectuals', that taste consists of distaste, and that the loftiest of pleasures is that of feeling displeased; and thus to end by enjoying almost nothing in literature but one's own opinions, while oneself incapable of writing a living sentence.”

Posted by: Archimedes at July 11, 2026 11:32 AM

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 hola chamucos y chamucas

Posted by: alpine_beer at July 18, 2026 11:26 AM (van9r)

2 On this day in 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy drove his car off a narrow, unlit wooden bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. Kennedy escaped the submerged vehicle, but his passenger, 28-year-old campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne, died. Kennedy didn't report the accident for another 10 hours.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at July 18, 2026 11:27 AM (mbiBc)

3 People who never eat evil processed foods die.

Posted by: Cow Demon at July 18, 2026 11:32 AM (4g5V+)

4 Juan Valdez was a hobbit?

Posted by: Diogenes at July 18, 2026 11:33 AM (2WIwB)

5 A question I almost always asked of the communists at school was,

"Why must the working class govern? Maybe they can't govern, as evidenced by their failure in society to...you know...actually govern, or even succeed! Maybe they don't have the intellectual power to lead."

It's a fun fight to start.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 18, 2026 11:34 AM (l4RKn)

6 Why has medical care (look, I cannot, ever, get this “health care” - besides, when was the last time you went to the doc or the ER because you were healthy?) taken off in price? The same reason higher education has. - the illusion of free money from the government. Get the government out of both to the greatest extent possible, watch both collapse in price.

Posted by: Cow Demon at July 18, 2026 11:35 AM (4g5V+)

7 I was curious if the soccer-pimping bot that was here last week will return with lots of pro soccer propaganda. I guess not.

Posted by: Cow Demon at July 18, 2026 11:37 AM (4g5V+)

8 So, basically, the “DSA” wants to make America into a unitary Socialist state like many places in Europe.

Problem is, the European model hasn’t served Europe so well.

Posted by: Cow Demon at July 18, 2026 11:38 AM (4g5V+)

9 Juan Valdez was a hobbit?
Posted by: Diogenes at July 18, 2026 11:33 AM (2WIwB)

Juan Valdez wasn't even Guatemalan!

Posted by: Kindltot at July 18, 2026 11:39 AM (rbvCR)

10 When did debt become the American dream?

$1/2MM homes, $70K vehicles, and this is before you decide to have children. Longer work hours to cover the debt, more commuting. It really not hard to see why these younger generations are moving in different directions.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at July 18, 2026 11:40 AM (sYM3s)

11 I was wondering what because of Mr. Duncan’s one act play. That will be awesome. Good to see.

Posted by: Cow Demon at July 18, 2026 11:40 AM (4g5V+)

12 Problem is, the European model hasn’t served Europe so well.
Posted by: Cow Demon at July 18, 2026 11:38 AM (4g5V+)

People like Ursula von der Leyen and other such Eurocrats have been served quite well by this model, and that is what is being sought.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 18, 2026 11:41 AM (rbvCR)

13 Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 18, 2026 11:34 AM (l4RKn)
Lenin made this connection early on and that is why Communism is not Marxism. It's Marxism-Leninism. If the workers are too stupid to gain class consciousness without the vanguard of the intellectual class, how could the workers be intelligent enough to be allowed power after the revolution?

Marx is almost dead. Lenin is stronger than ever.

Posted by: PHustle31 at July 18, 2026 11:41 AM (R86kT)

14 10 When did debt become the American dream?

$1/2MM homes, $70K vehicles, and this is before you decide to have children. Longer work hours to cover the debt, more commuting. It really not hard to see why these younger generations are moving in different directions.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at July 18, 2026 11:40 AM (sYM3s)

Debt…or lowering what you can get? Why get a $500K home if you can get something half that? Why get a $70K vehicle when you can get one for $15-20K that works as well?

Posted by: Cow Demon at July 18, 2026 11:42 AM (4g5V+)

15 Everyone here is Young Teacher Friend..

Posted by: Reddit at July 18, 2026 11:44 AM (rf/GM)

16 Marx is almost dead. Lenin is stronger than ever.

Posted by: PHustle31 at July 18, 2026 11:41 AM (R86kT)

Absolutely, but the useful idiots who believe in Marxism were and are curiously ignorant of the reality.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 18, 2026 11:45 AM (l4RKn)

17 People like Ursula von der Leyen and other such Eurocrats have been served quite well by this model, and that is what is being sought.
Posted by: Kindltot at July 18, 2026 11:41 AM (rbvCR)

No question. I have no doubt the “DSA” types look at blue collar work or manual labor with nothing but sneering scorn. They could do that, but they want to set up cushy office jobs up for themselves. Hence their love of massive bureaucracies.

Posted by: Cow Demon at July 18, 2026 11:45 AM (4g5V+)

18
I know of Clifton Duncan from X. He's one of those talented, dedicated people who decided to make it as an artist. Moved to New York, waited tables, studied, went to auditions, did a lot of work for free.

He finally made it. Got his big break. Big show. Big time gig. Money. Long run. Was told he had to get the vaxx in order to be in the show. Refused. Go home, buddy.

He went back to waiting on people who fucked his career. Decided to put on his own show about Thomas Sowell and raised money on social media for it.

Incredible guy.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at July 18, 2026 11:46 AM (mmrXZ)

19 Democracy is idiotic on its face. We’re watching it self destruct in real time. This was both predictable and predicted. “Universal Suffrage” apparently in practice means allowing people - anyone - with no stake in the game to participate, and those at the top and bottom of the social strata have made it abundantly clear they want to destroy this system of democracy by majority vote. How weird is that?

Since said destruction just isn’t happening fast enough, they’ve taken to importing people illegally by the millions who are more amenable to destroying the system.

And “we the people” don’t get to vote on this arrangement amusingly enough, nor will our democratically elected representatives deign to even try and stop it.

Scotty, Beam Me Up!

Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 11:48 AM (izaSZ)

20 I know I'm in unsympathetic company. And I loved LoTR as a kid. I used to sit and drink tea while my dad read it to me.

But I've always viewed it as a children's parable, like the Chronicles of Narnia.

It's a childish thing. It outlines some basic archetypes needed for proper social and emotional development. It's not a thing for grownups. I get the same weird vibe from Boomers and GenX who love it as I do from Millennials with their Harry Potter fetish.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at July 18, 2026 11:50 AM (BI5O2)

21 “Why get a $500K home if you can get something half that? ”

In my city $250k homes don’t exist. Last time they did was maybe 2010 at the bottom of the crash. And even then $250k didn’t get you much.

Posted by: Reality Check at July 18, 2026 11:51 AM (rf/GM)

22 Thx K.T.
I actually did to a friend who's a big lefty whether he wanted his children and grandchildren growing up under the DSA ( our state rep is DSA) . He immediately began rambling about Trump.
The middle class left doesn't even comprehend the cognitive dissonance from which they suffer

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 18, 2026 11:51 AM (OXYE0)

23 Debt…or lowering what you can get? Why get a $500K home if you can get something half that? Why get a $70K vehicle when you can get one for $15-20K that works as well?
Posted by: Cow Demon at July 18, 2026 11:42 AM (4g5V+)

Find a house in your area that is 250 000. Gather 50,000 for the down payment. Imagine paying 2000 a month for that house for 30 years on the remainder.
Your job may go away in five years.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 18, 2026 11:53 AM (rbvCR)

24 I like looking at houses on Redfin and Century 21.
Century 21 has listings for Argentina too, and you know, the concept of what a proper house should be is very culturally based.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 18, 2026 11:56 AM (rbvCR)

25 Senator Edward Kennedy didn't even report the fatal incident for another 10 hours
——

1969 was busy. This debacle was overshadowed by the Apollo 11 first landing on the Moon that week. The Manson “Family” murders in LA in August, and the Woodstock hippie disaster in upstate NY. Lots of stuff going on. Capped off with a “Free” Rolling Stones concert out in California.

They then deployed James Taylor and Thorazine to get everyone to mellow out a bit by the 1970s

Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 11:58 AM (izaSZ)

26 I like the towns where the elevation exceeds the population

Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 11:59 AM (izaSZ)

27 Juan Valdez wasn't even Guatemalan!
Posted by: Kindltot
--------

Next you'll tell me that Iron Eyes Cody wasn't actually an indian...

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 18, 2026 11:59 AM (XeU6L)

28 "And the very last end of the war, I hope" said Merry. "I hope so," said Frodo and sighed, "the very last stroke. But to think it should fall here, at the very door of Bag End, among all my hopes and fears at least I never expected that." Return of the King, Chapter 8.

The scene of the four hobbits in the tavern, while showing an optimistic ending, cheats the narrative of its essence--the fight against evil begins and ends at home. The "scouring of the Shire" is an essential part of the book, helping to transform the complacent and passive hobbits. That transformation, of the four Companions as well as much of the Shire's population, is the theme of the book. Leaving it out cheats the viewer.

Posted by: Joe at July 18, 2026 12:00 PM (FBeFb)

29 I'm unavailable for comment.

https://tinyurl.com/23k2fkf6

Posted by: The ghost of MJK at July 18, 2026 12:01 PM (2Ez/1)

30 I like the towns where the elevation exceeds the population
Posted by: Common Tater
------

Holding the high ground is fundamental strategy.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 18, 2026 12:02 PM (XeU6L)

31 Scripture: Know, love and serve the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Posted by: Hokey Pokey at July 18, 2026 12:04 PM (YlWIZ)

32 I'm unavailable for comment.

https://tinyurl.com/23k2fkf6

Posted by: The ghost of MJK

-----------

Me either.

Posted by: Martha Moxley at July 18, 2026 12:05 PM (XeU6L)

33 Find a copy of A Clockwork Orange with Burgess' final chapter included.

Posted by: Hokey Pokey at July 18, 2026 12:06 PM (YlWIZ)

34 Hard men ( I'm talking about the population as a whole) who built this country had to know who their adversaries were and how those adversaries were planning to take over their freedom. Those hard men created the life of luxury available today to all Americans where they don't have to think about anything except living their best life. That will cause its downfall.

It's a vicious cycle.

Posted by: polynikes at July 18, 2026 12:07 PM (/WQyy)

35 @16 I doubt any of the useful idiots have ever read The Communist Manifesto or Das Kapital. If they did and had a brain they'd realize what gibberish Marx was peddling

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 18, 2026 12:08 PM (OXYE0)

36 This is where Isildur lost the ring. See nic.

Posted by: polynikes at July 18, 2026 12:11 PM (/WQyy)

37
I'm unavailable for comment.

https://tinyurl.com/23k2fkf6
Posted by: The ghost of MJK

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

When Ted Kennedy was alive and my liberal friend adored her, I asked her Well, what about Mary Jo? She'd never heard of the whole thing. Never heard of Chappaquiddick. I told her to look it up. She got back to me and asked me what the fuss was about. It could have been an accident.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at July 18, 2026 12:12 PM (mmrXZ)

38
adored him*

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at July 18, 2026 12:12 PM (mmrXZ)

39 Juan Valdez was a hobbit?
Posted by: Diogenes at July 18, 2026 11:33 AM (2WIwB)

Juan Valdez wasn't even Guatemalan!
Posted by: Kindltot at July 18, 2026 11:39 AM (rbvCR)


Jeez.
That bastard surprised us both!
He's probably an illegal living in Sacramento now.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 18, 2026 12:15 PM (2WIwB)

40 doubt any of the useful idiots have ever read The Communist Manifesto or Das Kapital. If they did and had a brain they'd realize what gibberish Marx was peddling
Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 18, 2026 12:08 PM (OXYE

Do 'cliff notes' count because I don't want to be a useful idiot.

Posted by: polynikes at July 18, 2026 12:16 PM (/WQyy)

41 They then deployed James Taylor and Thorazine to get everyone to mellow out a bit by the 1970s

But not that mellow much given there were 2200 leftist bombings in a month at one point in the early 70s. The Democrats staged Civil War 2 and nobody noticed / Walter Cronkite didn't think it was news so they won by default and took over the universities. That's how we got Obama.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 18, 2026 12:16 PM (QZThv)

42 33 Find a copy of A Clockwork Orange with Burgess' final chapter included.
Posted by: Hokey Pokey at July 18, 2026 12:06 PM (YlWIZ)

I got one. With no glossary.

The copy I read was missing the chapter but had the glossary. (Though I have found if you have a working knowledge of Russian, the glossary is not needed.)

Posted by: Cow Demon at July 18, 2026 12:17 PM (4g5V+)

43 Next you'll tell me that Iron Eyes Cody wasn't actually an indian...
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 18, 2026 11:59 AM (XeU6L)

Doubt he was ever within a thousand miles of Mumbai

Posted by: Kindltot at July 18, 2026 12:17 PM (rbvCR)

44 Posted by: Blonde Morticia at July 18, 2026 12:12 PM (mmrXZ

You should have told her the story and substituted Trump for Kennedy. I bet her reaction would be a bit different.

Posted by: polynikes at July 18, 2026 12:17 PM (/WQyy)

45 I doubt any of the useful idiots have ever read The Communist Manifesto or Das Kapital. If they did and had a brain they'd realize what gibberish Marx was peddling

I may have spotted the flaw in your argument.

Posted by: Oddbob at July 18, 2026 12:18 PM (vTZFs)

46 I doubt any of the useful idiots have ever read The Communist Manifesto or Das Kapital. If they did and had a brain they'd realize what gibberish Marx was peddling

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 18, 2026 12:08 PM (OXYE0)

They had it explained to them by a manipulative cadre chief, and their equally manipulative professors. Plus a compliant media touted the pseudo-socialism of the Scandinavian countries.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 18, 2026 12:19 PM (l4RKn)

47 One of the things that I didn't like Jackson leaving out of LofTR was Merry and Pippen becoming the largest hobbits ever after drinking from the Entwash. Not a huge deal but it shows the impact that the journey had on the two

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 18, 2026 12:19 PM (OXYE0)

48 I doubt any of the useful idiots have ever read The Communist Manifesto or Das Kapital.

Not to mention Marx's personal letters where he's raving about the N-words.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 18, 2026 12:19 PM (QZThv)

49
Find a house in your area that is 250 000. Gather 50,000 for the down payment. Imagine paying 2000 a month for that house for 30 years on the remainder.
Your job may go away in five years.
Posted by: Kindltot at July 18, 2026 11:53 AM (rbvCR)

There are houses in my area that will go for less than $100K. (Which I won’t buy because I know why they are that low: because they are hard to sell to begin with.)

Posted by: Cow Demon at July 18, 2026 12:20 PM (4g5V+)

50 There’s a fairly scholarly tome written by a guy who posits Marx, who grew up in a reasonably well adjusted family, became heavily involved in occult or satanic devil worship wackery. He was a strange cat.

One glaring difference in the OG Soviet, they didn’t have any illusions about paying people not to work. No “universal basic income” siren song schemes.

They assigned you a job. “Report to Glorious Widget Factory #6” You don’t refuse. Now you might pretend to work while you’re there, while they pretend to pay you, but they sent you off to a Gulag if you refused.

Central Planning! Gotta love it.

Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 12:20 PM (izaSZ)

51 I'm sure all the idiots who wear the Che" Guevara t-shirt don't have a clue who he really was either.

Posted by: polynikes at July 18, 2026 12:22 PM (/WQyy)

52 @51 Che definitely did not think much of the black folks

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 18, 2026 12:23 PM (OXYE0)

53 One glaring difference in the OG Soviet, they didn’t have any illusions about paying people not to work. No “universal basic income” siren song schemes.

They assigned you a job. “Report to Glorious Widget Factory #6” You don’t refuse. Now you might pretend to work while you’re there, while they pretend to pay you, but they sent you off to a Gulag if you refused.

And that's exactly the attraction for rich Democrats now: you sell it to the unwashed as glorious equality with no work and UBI, but the reality is feudalism where the masses are forced to cower to your every demand. Especially your every weird sex fetish demand.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 18, 2026 12:24 PM (QZThv)

54 Coulda been first, but read the contents. Fed the cat. Showered. Read some more content. For over an hour.
Such is life.

Posted by: From about That Time at July 18, 2026 12:24 PM (sl73Y)

55 An entire generation (or two) has gone through academia and been groomed in all things socialist. All the while the names Marx, Mao, etc. are never mentioned and the kids are oblivious to them.

Could their educators indoctrinators have omitted this by design?

Yes, yes they did.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 18, 2026 12:25 PM (jehhT)

56 “It could have been an accident”

It could have been, but that isn’t the point, nothing Kennedy ever said or did after that point made any sense.

Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 12:26 PM (izaSZ)

57 I'm sure all the idiots who wear the Che" Guevara t-shirt don't have a clue who he really was either.
Posted by: polynikes

Maybe. A good number of progressives like to play dumb.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at July 18, 2026 12:27 PM (wOO3z)

58 Posted by: Kindltot at July 18, 2026 11:53 AM (rbvCR)

10% down is usually the number for first time homebuyers. A 225k mortgage would be about 1700-1800 a month plus insurance and property tax. Another 500 a month approximately. That's what a decent 2 bedroom apartment costs .

I honestly don't see any more difficulty I had buying my first house than the difficulty today. It has always been tough and stressful.

Posted by: polynikes at July 18, 2026 12:30 PM (/WQyy)

59 Awesome content. I'm only halfway through, butbthisbvaught my eye:

"When she sees Trump (and Trump surrogates) being harsh and insulting on TV, she thinks about how she tries to treat people — the kind of people she meets in her real life, in her safe neighborhood."

From what I've heard, Trump's treatment of the people he reacts with, doorman, waiters, cleaning staff, is stellar. He sees them as resl human beings and engages with them as people. The stories I hear about Kamala and Hillary make me think they would rsther be surrounded by mindless drones with no personal life who are there strictly to don't heir bidding and otherwise disappear.

I could be wrong as most of what Inhear is third-hand knowledge, but I would still much rather be a member of the service industry with Trump as a customer than most other politicians-- or celebrities of any stripe, really.

Posted by: tankdemon at July 18, 2026 12:31 PM (2RJDy)

60 Maybe. A good number of progressives like to play dumb.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at July 18, 2026 12:27 PM (wOO3z)

I'm talking about his racism and psychopathic murdering.

Posted by: polynikes at July 18, 2026 12:32 PM (/WQyy)

61 30 year low down payment low interest government backed loans were a post World War II creation. Prior to the banking collapse of the 1930s, mortgages were ordinarily 50% down, 7 year notes callable at any time.

Tough row to hoe, but the banks had virtually zero risk exposure, and neither did the homeowner for that matter. This arrangement was a plot line in early Westerns. Widow Jenny is going to lose the ranch, because some sharpy bought the note and is demanding full payment so he can acquire the property.

Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 12:35 PM (izaSZ)

62 >>>An entire generation (or two) has gone through academia and been groomed in all things socialist. All the while the names Marx, Mao, etc. are never mentioned and the kids are oblivious to them.

>Don't forget Kant and Hegel when the topic is Marx and Engels. The mindfuck runs deep.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at July 18, 2026 12:37 PM (sYM3s)

63
Longer work hours to cover the debt, more commuting.

Isn't everybody working from home now?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 18, 2026 12:38 PM (Cqx++)

64 Hillary's treatment of "the help" is abysmal and has been documented over and over. She's a royal bitch of the first order.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 18, 2026 12:38 PM (jehhT)

65 Living within your means is an outdated idea.

Posted by: polynikes at July 18, 2026 12:39 PM (/WQyy)

66 Posted by: tankdemon at July 18, 2026 12:31 PM (2RJDy

I get the feeling that when Trump's father taught him about the construction and the real estate business he had him learn about all facets off it and talk to people and get to know them personally . Therefore, he wasn't lording it over people although he expects a well done job and on time. He knows them as individuals and talks to them . I think I read in another context that one of the Secret Service folks said that of all the Presidents he had done security for, Trump may have been the only or one if the few who knew his name and knew about his family. That to me says a lot.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 18, 2026 12:40 PM (jt/rW)

67 Posted by: tankdemon at July 18, 2026 12:31 PM (2RJDy

Oh, sorry. You basically said what I said in your prior post.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 18, 2026 12:42 PM (jt/rW)

68 I have no idea what any of this means nor do I care.I thought you should know this. Happy Trails.

Posted by: Gill Westrum at July 18, 2026 12:43 PM (yqhRp)

69 “From what I've heard, Trump's treatment of the people he reacts with, doorman, waiters, cleaning staff, is stellar. He sees them as real human beings and engages with them as people. The stories I hear about Harris and Clinton ….”

In the .mil I heard all about what it was like working VIP details for the pols. As one might suspect, leftist Democrats are generally total dickheads to work for and treat everyone like shit. GW Bush was pretty decent to work for, Billy Jeff was good too, though decidedly not SWMBO. AlGore was a grade A asshole, and so on.

As the saying goes, you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat people who can do nothing for them. It’s a character defect, and a disqualifying one to my way of thinking.

Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 12:43 PM (izaSZ)

70 I think that's why the "campaign op " of Trump working at McDonalds was so successful. It made him approachable , it seemed down to earth ( I get the sense her really liked meeting the customers and talking with them) and it made Kamala look ridiculous since she had evidently never worked at McDonalds as she had claimed .

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 18, 2026 12:48 PM (jt/rW)

71 Living within your means is an outdated idea.

Posted by: polynikes at July 18, 2026 12:39 PM (/WQyy)

I am happy to be outdated.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 18, 2026 12:50 PM (l4RKn)

72 “Kamala”. I find it astonishing even ostensibly conservative posters here feel they are on a first name basis with these critters

Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 12:50 PM (izaSZ)

73 Common Tater at July 18, 2026 12:35 PM

Amazing how much of how we think is based on recent expectations. An older friend, now deceased, was born in a tent outside Las Vegas, where her Dad had a job mining. One of DH's relatives started her married life in a tent in Oildale, CA.

Posted by: KT at July 18, 2026 12:51 PM (rdeQO)

74 In my city $250k homes don’t exist. Last time they did was maybe 2010 at the bottom of the crash. And even then $250k didn’t get you much.
Posted by: Reality Check at July 18, 2026 11:51 AM (rf/GM)

Then maybe you should get out of that city.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 18, 2026 12:51 PM (1z8ji)

75 Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 12:50 PM (izaSZ)

I don't not want to be on a first name basis with her nor am I. Just used it as it was the first thing that came to mind rather than Harris.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 18, 2026 12:54 PM (xTinh)

76 72 “Kamala”. I find it astonishing even ostensibly conservative posters here feel they are on a first name basis with these critters
Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 12:50 PM (izaSZ)

Well, I'm certainly not going to render her the unearned respect of referring to her as "Mrs. Harris."

Posted by: tankdemon at July 18, 2026 12:55 PM (2RJDy)

77 Posted by: Gill Westrum at July 18, 2026 12:43 PM (yqhRp)

You're welcome. Come again when you can't stay as long.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 18, 2026 12:58 PM (1z8ji)

78 76 72 “Kamala”. I find it astonishing even ostensibly conservative posters here feel they are on a first name basis with these critters
Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 12:50 PM (izaSZ)

Well, I'm certainly not going to render her the unearned respect of referring to her as "Mrs. Harris."
Posted by: tankdemon at July 18, 2026 12:55 PM (2RJDy

How about Doug's wife ?

Posted by: It's me donna at July 18, 2026 12:59 PM (FtULh)

79 For reasons which remain unclear to me, the US military has taken out the Obama Monument in Chicago. I think we can all agree this is a big one for everyone.

https://tinyurl.com/mvy6wn4h

Posted by: Archimedes at July 18, 2026 12:59 PM (Riz8t)

80 A big "win".

Posted by: Archimedes at July 18, 2026 01:00 PM (Riz8t)

81 I wish the socialism-curious LIVs would just stop and think what would happen if the State were in sole charge of distributing goods and services (supposedly to make things "fair").

What would keep the distributors from being or becoming corrupt? After all, the available resources are going to be passing through their hands.

How does it "expand access" if the access is restricted to government sources? In free markets a person has a chance of finding what they need because there are multiple sources.

What are you going to do about human greed? In free markets, a person who wants more can produce more of something to trade for what they want. In a socialist system, a person who wants more must cheat and steal.

Posted by: Emmie, celebrating 250 years of God's grace at July 18, 2026 01:00 PM (OlzlW)

82 “Kamala”. I find it astonishing even ostensibly conservative posters here feel they are on a first name basis with these critters
Posted by: Common Tater at July 18, 2026 12:50 PM (izaSZ)

Well, I'm certainly not going to render her the unearned respect of referring to her as "Mrs. Harris."
Posted by: tankdemon at July 18, 2026 12:55 PM (2RJDy

How about Doug's wife ?
Posted by: It's me donna

I've got a few names.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at July 18, 2026 01:00 PM (wOO3z)

83 It could have been an accident.
Posted by: Blonde Morticia at

The ability to justify pretty much anything is an absolute art form. The test is when you substitute a Republican for the dem in question - ex. Can you believe Senator Kennedy from LA let a woman drown? Just left her there? *Que horror, disgusting, he should be in jail from lefty* - proceed to look it up to “find the exact date” oops, my bad. Wrong Kennedy.

Posted by: Piper at July 18, 2026 01:01 PM (Dd38x)

84 How about Doug's wife ?
Posted by: It's me donna at July 18, 2026 12:59 PM (FtULh)

I might go with "Willie Brown's side piece."

Posted by: tankdemon at July 18, 2026 01:01 PM (2RJDy)

85
“Kamala”. I find it astonishing even ostensibly conservative posters here feel they are on a first name basis with these critters
Posted by: Common Tater

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

What on earth are you on about? Kamala. Hillary. Barack. I'm not going to give them any deference or call them by their honorifics. "President Obama"? Hah.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at July 18, 2026 01:01 PM (mmrXZ)

86 >> Living within your means is an outdated idea.

Posted by: polynikes at July 18, 2026 12:39 PM (/WQyy)

I am happy to be outdated.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 18, 2026 12:50 PM (l4RKn)
----------
fist bump

It takes discipline.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 18, 2026 01:01 PM (jehhT)

87 Why get a $500K home if you can get something half that? ”

In my city $250k homes don’t exist. Last time they did was maybe 2010 at the bottom of the crash. And even then $250k didn’t get you much.
Posted by: Reality Check at July 18, 2026 11:51 AM (rf/GM)

Then move somewhere where good quality can be obtained with much less money. There are places like that. All one needs is the courage to make that decision. Sheesh!

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at July 18, 2026 01:04 PM (g8Ew8)

88 Then move somewhere where good quality can be obtained with much less money. There are places like that. All one needs is the courage to make that decision. Sheesh!
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at July 18, 2026 01:04 PM (g8Ew

There is a couple of really nice houses in Edgar NE. No real jobs, but the houses are nice.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 18, 2026 01:06 PM (rbvCR)

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