Tom Woods did a recent show on an article arguing that Taxation was not Theft (link: https://tomwoods.com/ep-1434-taxation-isnt-theft-or-slavery/). I thought it was a rather good episode, however I think Tom misses a point that I would like to add.
First let’s discuss the argument. I would attribute the argument to the original author, however I’ve seen it made by several socialist thinkers and so I don’t know who made it originally. It has come into vogue on the left as a counter talking point to the “Taxation is Theft” mantra. Here is what they say: Taxation isn’t theft because theft implies taking something from someone who has a moral right to something. They then claim that the poor have a stronger moral right to a wealthy person’s property than the wealthy because we have to weigh in a person’s right to eat, have shelter over a person’s right to their property.
Tom does a fantastic job on arguing why such thinking is not only morally bankrupt, but also just unworkable. I’ll leave that for him to discuss in his episode. However, what I am going to say is that even on their own terms, that argument does not justify our tax regime.
First of all this argument would only justify taxing the “rich.” However, our current tax system taxes the poor and wealthy alike. Whether that be gas taxes, sales taxes or FICA taxes, everyone is forced to pay into the system. Now, one could argue that the poorest get more out in direct welfare benefits than they put in, but that is really only true for the poorest group of people. There are plenty of people who would be considered poor that pay into the system rather than get out. Under the argument supplied taxation would not be justified.
A possible second argument is that everyone but the super wealthy in the country receives more than they put in because of all the services that are granted, things like roads, defense, and grants for studies about global warming’s disproportionate effects on women. To some this may seem plausible. But it is entirely beside the point. The argument to justify taxation as not theft only justifies taxation in the pursuit of redistribution of wealth from rich to poor. If taxation isn’t theft because the rich don’t have a moral right to their food in the face of the plight of the poor, it is theft because the government takes the money that should (according to this argument) go to the poor and instead spends it on something else.
Now I can understand why this argument isn’t the first one given by Tom (and other libertarians I’ve heard counter it). But I think it is a particularly strong one because it doesn’t let progressives talk out of both sides of their mouth. On one hand they justify taxation by saying the poor have a moral right to the property, but on the other hand they advocate all sorts of spending and taxation schemes that are still not justified by their logic.
Anyway feel free to tell me I’m wrong.
Comments
216 responses to “A Short Thought On Taxation and Theft”
The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat. 2 Thess 3:10
Seems that my morality doesn’t include a right to eat.
Mine either. What a stupid idea.
Buddhism actually has a lot to say on the ethics of taxation. For example, in stating why the Buddha’s father was a righteous king, Asvaghosa brings up taxation and theft as similar concepts in the same sentence:
Likewise, Nagarjuna counsels rulers with the following advice:
Furthermore, while monks are supposed to live as medicants, having given up all worldly possessions except for a robe, bowl, razor, umbrella, and medicine, householders were instructed to invest and avoid debt.
It’s almost like humans come to the same conclusions despite living in different areas. Spooner exposed the lie that anyone alive actually consented to being governed by the people that govern us. Since we’re going off culture, 嘘つきはどろぼうのはじまり. Usou wa dorobo no hajimari or “A thief starts with a lie.”
makes sense; a matter of context (to whom the verse is directed, of course)
And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God. – Lev 23:22
I’m a lousy Christian (to be sure)
Well, he did write “unwilling”, not “unable”. Gleaning is work within itself, and basically was the dumpster diving of the majority of recorded history.
absolutely
just noting that the Old Testament precedent for self-taxation (maybe that’s where the morality of it comes?) isn’t some remote notion
(which you could also undoes my self-incrimination re Christian leanings . . . yes: the veil is rent)
makes sense; a matter of context (to whom the verse is directed, of course)
This is absolutely key, and something that I didn’t initially bring up because it’s a big honkin can of worms. Basically, they were running a commune and some people weren’t putting in their share of the work.
I like to make a distinction when one of the commands to provide charity are mentioned. Duty to provide charity =/= right to receive charity. Charity in and of itself is an act of mercy, an undeserved boon given because of a recognition of innate human dignity. A duty to feed can and does exist absent a right to eat.
If taxation isn’t theft, then earning a wage is; if some of your money isn’t yours, you must have stolen it when you were paid . . . or at least your employer did.
There must be a full philosophy of property that resolves this for taxation to not be theft.
turn in those Medals of Honor, 7th Cav
The Remove the Stain Act was introduced Tuesday byReps. Denny Heck, D-Washington, Deb Haaland, D-New Mexico, and Paul Cook, R-California. It was named for the U.S. military’s massacre of more than 200 Lakota Indians, confined to a camp near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, on Dec. 29, 1890. Eventually, 20 men were awarded the military’s highest honor for that engagement and the bill seeks to address what proponents call an historic wrong.
I generally don’t like this idea: soldiers serve and suffer and rise to heroic levels without regard to whether the motives and goals of their government were moral. Still, it’s very hard to imagine that on 20 different occasions in a massacre that had few elements of symmetrical engagement that such heroics ever occurred. What a mess.
How many Sioux will be resurrected per Medals of Honor rescinded?
I couldn’t be more clear: “I generally don’t like this idea”
but I must say I find your answer unsettling: you’re implying we never acknowledge a mistake because history can’t be undone? (that is to say: what thing can’t be exempted from review with your logic?) I don’t want us to spend all our time with SJW navel-gazing, but there is a place for reflection and acknowledgement, is there not ?
It was a wry statement on obvious political theater.
whew
who was it that was always needing his sarc meter adjusted ?
About 45 percent of the commentariat.
But rarely the same 45% at any given time.
for the second time in my life, I’m a minority
Haha! Good one! Wait…
The questions is: Is he being sarcastic now?
I would also challenge the supposition that you would find more heroism in a symmetrical engagement. Due to an error in strategy the 7th Cav stumbled upon a force that outnumbered them 2 to 1. In a very fight for survival in which they basically fought to the last man, I would expect such heroics. While one can justifiable reexamine the reports used to justify the award, it is morally disgusting to strip individual soldiers of their valor because the overall context of the war is one that we now find distasteful.
sure, that’s possible; I didn’t read the reports
again, I couldn’t be more clear: “I generally don’t like this idea”
I remember a panel discussion about greatest person of the 20th Century. Of course the plagerist Doris Godwin picked FDR but I digress. Someone mentioned the American soldiers who fought in WWII because if their courage and valor. WF Buckely Jr. replies well what about the German soldiers? Did they not fight with courage and valor also? People looked at him like he had three heads.
We’ve been reflecting and acknowledging and apologizing and being lectured to and preached at entirely too goddam long about things done by people long dead to other people also long dead. I’m sick of it and tell the lecturers and preachers and grievance mongers to stop bothering me and get a life.
Others second-guessing the wrong things too much really doesn’t have anything to do with whether thoughtful people should second-guess the right things. Aren’t you throwing the baby out with the bathwater: surrendering difficult reflection in favor of a less reflective but unworthy peace.
As I said, I’ve heard enough yammering about bad stuff stuff from the past that neither I nor the yammerers can do diddly squat about.
I’m 72 years old. What am I expected to learn from this that I haven’t already learned from hundreds of similar complaints?
I think it’s a 3:5 ratio.
The problem is that for a long period of time the Medal Of Honor was the only award (aside from the purple heart, which i do think pre-dates it). Look at the # awarded during those wars, and they were handed out for a lot less than today.
I do wonder if units with Confederate Regimental affiliation will be forced to be disbanded.
Medal Of Honor was the only award aside from the purple heart
very clarifying, yes
I think the PH has GeoW on it because he created it
Only a matter of time. And long-standing installations renamed for non military figures.
As a Southern child, I always wondered about Hood and Bragg: surely they know ?
I’m a little torn on this one. Those medals were awarded not because they were deserved, but to cover the governments ass, and to make the battle look like something other than what it was, a wholesale massacre. But come on, they’re dead.
I included this incident in a speech I gave three weeks ago. Glad to see another attempt to rescind these 20 ridiculous awards of the MOH. One of the soldiers was cited because he retrieved a panicked pack mule! MOHs being given out like candy at Halloween, led to a pendulum swing that was equally ridiculous. There were only three MOH given to the soliders who successfully stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day! There were only two MOHs awarded to the famous 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles during the entirety of WWII!
The Purple Heart was established during the Revolution by Washington and three were awarded by Washington himself. The PH then was not awarded again until after WWI (1932) when the PH was resurrected for recipients of Wound Chevrons and Meritorious Service Citation. The Medal of Honor dates from the Civil War and was the sole decoration for heroism until WWI.
In 1917 there was a review of all previous MoH awards and 911 were rescinded. The review included Wounded Knee and those were not rescinded. As far as I concerned the recipients should not be stricken from the rolls. PC be damned.
THere’s only so much revisionism I can take – at some point the people pushing this stuff are going to have to understand that what goes around comes around and some day they’ll be the ones erased.
I guess we will agree to disagree. Most, if not all, those Wounded Knee MOHs are an insult to every military man who won the honor since then or deserved too but had to settle for a lesser honor. Revisions continue to happen, including rewarding those who were in action long ago. Just a few years ago, they finally awarded the MOH to Lt. Alonso Cushing, who continued to work his artillery battery against Pickett’s Charge, even as his balls had been literally blown off.
I’m having a little trouble with this. If I’m rich how did I get rich? Was it work, investments that provided people with something they were willing to pay for. Even if I inherited that money if I spent it for goods that someone else had made would that not be a redistribution?
How did the poor get that way? Did someone steal their efforts in the form of labor (slavery)? If you and I work at the same job and same pay and you invest your time and efforts differently than I do am I entitled to some of your wealth? If taxation is not theft is stealing immoral?
There is nothing wrong with being poor, there may be something wrong with liking it.
And there’s definitely something wrong with promoting it.
” If taxation is not theft is stealing immoral?”
That is another common argument. Some socialists will claim saying taxation is theft is a stolen base, because some theft is OK. e.g. THe theft of bread by a starving person is not immoral because it is morally superior to have someone live than starve to death.
That argument also misses the point since it doesn’t show why taxation itself is a morally superior use of a persons property.
In my view, A starving person stealing a loaf of bread is still stealing. It is still immoral. It alwos is a forced question. Why can’t the wood be thief ask for the bread? Why is theft assumed to be the only recourse? I think the only situation where this is realistic is a POW escaping stealing food from the countryside during their escape. IMO they still owe an attempt at restitution when they are able.
Mrs Fourscore and I were discussing this one day, she was railing about the illegals and providing them with benefits, etc. She’s a tough lady. I asked her if some hungry people knocked on our door would she feed them? Of course she answered yes. I said how many? 5-10-20, what’s the number? Now I was pissing her off. Then how many tomorrow would she feed? These are real questions that have to be answered.
I don’t know the answer but I do know sometimes we have to say ‘No’. Sometimes we have to pull our troops out of Afghanistan because we’re not fixing anything. Sometimes that old clunker in the yard is beyond any economical repair. Some marriages aren’t made in heaven.
That’s one of the major points I took away from Herbert Spencer’s Principles of Ethics – doing the right thing does not always feel good. In fact, sometimes it feels pretty fucking bad. You can’t just go with the emotionally comfortable course of action and assume that this is the right thing.
^^ this. Everybody is susceptible to it, but progressives have seemed to weapnize it. Ethics by emoting.
Government = Force
Taxation is how you pay for govt. That doesn’t make all taxation equal or equitable, it simply says if you are going to have govt, you are going to have to pay for it – which should be a reasonable proposition to most any libertarian (you don’t get something for nothing).
So the only people that ought to ever make the argument are the an-caps I guess – they don’t want govt so there is no need for taxation. Of course we’ve seen the extensive real world success of this theory, so it isn’t like we can dismiss them for being insanely unrealistic.
You just failed the Ideological Turning Test.
For we AnCaps, the issue is that of voluntary consent of the governed. I would happily pay for many of the services provided for by our current government if the governmental monopoly on them were broken they were offered by private parties. The fact that there is no option to “opt-out” if we so desire, and that the penalty for the inherently peaceable act of “opting-out” is the threat of, (and if threats don’t work, the eventual use of,) deadly force is what we object to. You don’t have to agree, but watch “You Can Always Leave” until you understand.
It always comes back to the island:).
Taxation is how you pay for govt.
Taxation is one way to pay for government.
There are plenty of other voluntary and coercive ways to collect funding for government, such as printing money, usage fees, and (in a nod to DNT) donations. Some ways are better, and some are worse than the current system.
Would someone punch that Tucker idiot in the nose. Right now, on air.
Jeffery or Carlson? Or both?
I think his wife likes Tucker, who happens to go far into left field from time to time. But idk as I do not have cable.
He must be talking economics, he’s dismal on those.
*groan*
She likes him until he starts that shit. You should have heard her cussing him last night.
Elizabeth Warren? Really?
Taxation isn’t theft because theft implies taking something from someone who has a moral right to something. They then claim that the poor have a stronger moral right to a wealthy person’s property than the wealthy because we have to weigh in a person’s right to eat, have shelter over a person’s right to their property.
That’s a new one to me. Usually I hear some variation of the Social Contract in response to “Taxation is Theft”.
I tried to pose the argument as fairly as possible, but i could have messed it up a little. But that’s the gist of it.
OK. I didn’t listen to the podcast.
I’ll have to read this tomorrow. But a funny thing is occurring here. The sound of the local fireworks show is being overtaken by the sound of an incoming thunderstorm. Both of my cats are rather concerned. It is fascinating.
Mine are split on this issue. The beta fraidy-cat is like meh whatever. The alpha is nowhere to be found.
Uncle Milty on taxes.
https://youtu.be/yS7Jb58hcsc
Fireworks currently going off outside. Fireworks upstairs went off earlier tonight and she is already asleep. You do the math.
Excellent.
Here she is shooting her CZ75 bright polish
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/rbARpSCgQvGOvewOAv6Yaw.U-TAzd14M86JSz8Gy3ajBV
Dat ass…
?
*Looks at pic*
*Re-reads original comment*
Oh! Now I get it! You da man!
Yep.
Sean is beating his meat outside until the cops show up?
That’s what I got out of that.
Now for a little beer. Mothman courtesy of the BIF.
I’ve had that some. But I prefer Greenbrier’s Devil Anse IPA to Mothman. I’m not sure it has anything to do with flavor, I’m from the Hatfield line and we support our own.
I also received some Devil Anse in the BIF. It was OK.
OK. Now what the hell is a Black IPA?
I think of it as an overhopped stout.
Taxation is theft? OK. But that is like saying murder is assault. Taxation exists somewhere between theft and slavery IMHO.
Straff, I take the view that taxation is more toward the slavery end of the spectrum. It may not be slavery but it’s a helluva lot closer to serfdom. doG help us if the Democratic (or otherwise) Socialists win in 2020 and ram through those ‘free shit’ programs they tout. That mortgages the earnings of the American taxpayers for generations.
Beatings and violence are the bedrock of it and it’s systemic. So, yeah, it’s getting awfully close to slavery or serfdom.
IMO, taxation is only justified to the extent required to guarantee my rights as defined in the Constitution. Anything over and above that is theft.
Of course, I’m Canadian, and have no rights, according to our Constitution. Ergo, all taxation is theft.
In my teens, July 4 meant fireworks at Hickman, KY.
The local grocer, E W James, paid for it all. My dad was a competitor, so I knew the business, and driving for Coke as a kid I worked everyone’s stores and knew them all. Fun fact: EW bought both pecans and skins at the old Hickman warehouse.
Anyways, the fireworks were launched from a barge in the harbor and generally went off over the Mississippi. Up on the bluff, they must have seemed silly: sparks down on the river.
But on the flood wall, underneath the explosions, they were wonderful. We’d walk the wall (which seemed two miles long) until we were at least 20 feet above grade, girlfriends screeching every step. No one ever told us to get down or behave or you’ll break your neck; maybe they had money on it or even preferred our demise. It was the dirty, humid South; AC in our cars was unknown; we were sticky and awful and girls made out with us anyway.
So this is happening on the twitters…
https://twitter.com/TomArnold/status/1146887643608711168
Tom Arnold? Yeah, not clicking that.
He’s offering sex to someone. C’mon, you wanna know.
Straff; did you ever know that you’re my hero?
I’m the hottest 49 year old you’ve EVER seen.
He did it…for the boys
Yeah, that makes me want to click.
If Tom Arnold banging Bette Midler turns you on go ahead. And then see a shrink.
It’s better than Tom and Rosanne.
Barely. Just barely.
Pictured:
https://youtu.be/fEwOMt-1_pQ?t=37
I’m too scared to click. Someone else do it!
I laffed.
That was beautiful, Chip. Those two did not deserve being compared to Tom and Bette.
*clicks*
No way Bette still looks that good.
I love these little philosophical debates but can we please just cut spending?
And lose our multiplier effect? You monster.
That IS at the root of this issue.
Oh no doubt, but we’re not getting to zero taxes anytime soon.
Oh yeah? Hold my beer and watch this.
/Gordon Kahl
True, he doesn’t pay taxes anymore. Lol.
“This one weird trick will get you out of paying taxes”
*chambers round*
Well played!
Nope.
Man seen wearing only panties on home security video arrested
Who has been missing from the comments today? Also what crime did this guy commit?
not me: I escaped
I did work in Wylie for several years, but, anyway, I like hip-huggers
He stole a light bulb.
Also, hawt.
I can’t believe how sophisticated some of the neighbors’ displays have become. Like, launchers and shit.
Some music for today.
My choice for our anthem.
https://youtu.be/xjd5BRwUdlk
Nice. Keb’ Mo’ is great.
Then how many tomorrow would she feed?
Great question. The question.
Remember distributors and carburetors: waiting after church to make sure everyone fired up and was able to drive away? Jumper cables: never knew when or who would need them. The good old days.
Maybe ten years ago I up in the Red River valley and saw a 5-series slide off the snowy road and down a generous embankment, apparently unscathed. I drove on: I had my plans and my goals. And he had a Bimmer and a cell phone and a credit card; he’d be fine: unless someone has arterial bleeding, I generally drive on. They’ll be okay; nothing’s worth it.
I used to stop and check on everyone; now I never do.
Stop to help and end up falsely accused of rape.
Love me some blues guitar. Outstanding!
Rooney needs to chill the fuck out and learn how to tackle.
I just want to leave a quick word of thanks for Leon;. Nice article. I enjoyed the read.
Thanks! I enjoyed getting some thoughts down.
I appreciate anyone who’s willing to put their opinion out there.
Taxes are the price we pay for not being civilized. Civilized people would expect to voluntarily pay for their needs, not send out armed agents to have others pay for their needs. Marx had it backwards. “From each according to his needs; to each according to his ability.”
Flash backs. This is from my driveway. There’s 50-60 people sitting about 80-100′ away.
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/44h9s2ZmSKSDwa4rta3LNA.9BzHFT5lUj5PbAlBh_3aj8
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/771U_y9fQ9ezg4c3BZYTXg.srovNoqlWP87I59zcyo0AR
Sigh. Why do men have to ruin everything?!
I mean it does feel like bad scheduling.
I can watch three finals in one day. I’m not a narcissist so I don’t see what’s wrong with it at all.
If they were scheduled at the same time, I could understand. But they are not.
Oh I thought they were at the same time. Yeah same day shouldn’t be a big problem.
TBH, I don’t how much of this kerfuffle is on the ladies versus the media stirring shit up.
All I know is I hate everyone. Again.
I hate everyone.
Again.Equally.There, now you’re not a monster anymore.
But I don’t want to not be a monster.
I hate everyone
It’s the safest lane!
Why even have a women’s world cup? It’s not like they have balls.
I’m thinking the same could apply to men’s soccer…
Next World Cup some will.
EXCUSE ME, IT’S MA’AM!
Yes, Sen. Boxer.
Went mountain biking with a few friends this week.
https://youtu.be/zDUxktR57u0
I feel very…somewhat guilty about larfing at that.
That’s a lot of paper boys.
Once again, It’s Too Late to Apologize. And also, America Fuck Yeah!
We just had 1776 when I was a kid in school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7iVsdRbhnc
Another possible anthem.
The booms have already died out. I think the hideous mugginess has driven everyone back indoors. Yay klimate krisis!
Our stuff isn’t until Saturday (tourist area, so to let them celebrate all weekend we do it on the weekend every year) when I have to be up at 3am the next day. FUN!
Even your neighbors? I’m talking about amateur hour booms.
I’ve heard a few booms tonight, but the festivities of Saturday will bring out a lot more, that and the actual one they shoot off just down the road.
Your town sounds insufficiently patriotic if it can’t even celebrate America without shuffling it off to the weekend.
Democrats: there are too many Democrats
“. . . there was no way he was going to devote two evenings to watching the first round of debates last week. Instead Mr. Deeth, a 55-year-old from Iowa City who has volunteered for every Democratic caucus since 1992, spent one debate night watching “Goodfellas” and the other at the grocery store. “Until this field is narrowed down to serious people, I’m not going to spend four hours watching them,” Mr. Deeth said. “I’m not going to suffer through Andrew Yang.”
lolracist
every Democratic caucus since 1992
Interesting cherry pick since the ’88 primaries had 13 declared candidates, the most until this year.
Easy way to clear the field, everyone using their first name as the only or prominent name in their logo is auto DQ’d. Try to have a modicum of dignity.
-1 Gropin’ joe 🙁
9 out of the current field weren’t old enough to vote during Biden’s first presidential run.
You are so age-ist tonight! S-Club would not approve!
Buttglug is younger than all but Jon.
And something from circa OG Biden’s run
https://youtu.be/QzGGvGOIAJ4
I don’t care if she’s a playback princess, she puts on a heck of an act and those hips are rocking.
If you can get past that pig nose, power to you.
Sandra!
She had possibly the biggest mega-hit of the year that I lived in Deutschland.
More Sandra – buried in the mix somewhere
You link to them way more than seems healthy. What is your connection to them?
My connection? I know it’s not your thing, but MY Oshkosh B’Gosh!
ironically: The only kingmaker . . . so far has been Oprah
Mexico gets tough
Any foreigner caught without proper documentation is taken away and likely to be deported. In 40 minutes, two Cubans, one Honduran and one Guatemalan are detained.
To pay for this trip, he says he mortgaged his land, and will now have to return and tell her wife and other child that they could not make it.
For him, like most others, more desperation waits when he gets back home.
Wait, he owns land outright and was able to get a loan against it? Buried lede.
BBC eh? Now do your own country and lecture them about why they have to accommodate everyone to the south of you fleeing “violence and economic instability”.
You gheys and your BBC. What is wrong with Caucasian cock!?
Nice work, Leon.I enjoyed the read.
And also, fuck off, slavers.
Thanks! And nice to see you. Are you still making trips out to DPG?
Yep! Although less so now that I’m more of a manager.
I kind of miss it. Wish I could be there with the guys.
Haha. I was there a couple weeks ago and it was actually quite green.
Aloha Hayek. I’ll be in San Diego for a week later this month. Any suggestions for dining?
Hi DoubleEagle!! Dining depends on where you are staying (San Diego spreads a bit).
Contact me at myname@protonmail.com
Sent ya a test email.
Is there something specific you want while in SD dbleagle?
Real Mexican would be great. Not chain stuff, I beat that at home.
There is plenty of it and you could go right over the border to Tijuana if you want it from the motherland. If you are downtown, Puesto is a fun place with plenty of outdoor seating.
Still burning!
https://www.apnews.com/925b0c7bced74794b9d7942ad1339369
This is as bad as a hay fire.
More like a hayseed fire, amiright
*nudges invisible buddy*
They’re making the frogs drunk now.
He stepped on the cat door, pinning the furr ball to the frame. Gradually adding pressure with his heel, the kitty started pleading in its high pitched feline howl. “I should fucking do it. Just a little bit more and it’s dead”, he thought to himself. The kitty’s reprieve came when he suddenly remembered his mom would be home soon and he didn’t have time to dispose of another pet’s corpse. The kitty bolted away into the shrubbery.
“Did you go to your oboe lessons? Here’s a 20 for lunch. Love you, Mom. PS, could you change the litter box?” Fuck the cat and fuck that bitch. I’m a revolutionary. He ripped the note to shreds and threw them in the litter box. “Goddamn it!” After taping the 20 spot back together (he kind of liked the new scar on the face of the dead President), he started to hide the day’s evidence. In the hamper under his kid sister’s training bra went his black bandana. The pepper spray was hidden under the kitchen sink.
He winced as he tried to shake a bitter clinger of cat shit from the tray, litter smoke filling his nostrils. This was nothing compared to what they had done to Andy. He grinned at the memory. The Asian faggot deserved worse than the squirt he had hit him with, but it was something. Blake had popped Andy in face and this stirred jealous rumblings in his stomach. He started shadow boxing in the kitchen, beating the hell out of an imaginary Quillette writer.
“What are doing, Honey?” his mother asked from the doorway. How long had she been watching? It was bad enough that the imaginary writer was kicking his ass in his own fantasy, but that his mother had witnessed it was too much to bear. He wiped the tears away with his shirt sleeve. “Stop looking at me!” he yelled in the direction of the doorway, ran up to his bedroom and slammed the door.
To be continued?
And then they all climbed into their Subaru Forester and lived(?) happily ever after.
It’s coming full circle. SF has ruined my voice.
That’s likely very close to the truth.
Fireworks now all over town. Some of the best are coming from the fire depatment.
Boom. I’m definitely too old for that stuff.
Sunset is approaching so the booms have been small in number, so far.
My town (Kailua) has a privately funded fireworks display at the beach every year. The show is pretty good and the labor is all volunteer. I will watch it from my pool drinking some cognac.
The home fireworks will go until midnight at least. For hours the entire neighborhood will be encased in smoke like a Civil War battlefield with car alarms going off. Maybe this year I will not have a neighborhood dog fall into my pool. The bursting “mortars” will cause flinching from my time overseas, but it is better than in years past.
As a lapsed numismatist, I’ve neglected to commend you on your choice of one of the most beautiful American coins ever. They really knew how to make ’em back then.
I hope that rat bastard FDR is burning right now. Illegal executive orders? Let’s start with EO 6102 and 9066. The original pen and phone dictator.
I agree that the St Gaudens Double Eagle is a grand coin. I think the last “pre-presidential” silver were uniformly outstanding. The Walking Liberty half dollar is the most complex coin minted for general circulation. I admire the hell out of the designers.
Oh yeah and fuck FDR. You got that right Gustav.
That was my other had-in-mind. Gorge.
What exactly is the feeling evoked when you hear the “mortars” going off? Identical emotion or just a vague tinge?
Exaggerated startle response and occasionally more. Right after I got back the unexpected explosion from the mortar type firework (no color just a single large blast) put me under a truck in a parking lot. It was just an involuntary reaction from doing that overseas. Generally if you can hear the arty/rocket in flight you are safe. No sound and sudden explosion- it was close. If you were at the MNF-I HQ in 2008 you got good at judging incoming fire. When “March Madness” started we would get 50-100 rounds a day, day after day. I could (and did) sleep through outgoing artillery much to the surprise of people around me.
Now it is startle response and slightly elevated heart rate. Worse is if it is the first unexpected part of a fireworks show, not bad as part of the finale. I race off of Waikiki most weeks and there is a firework show after dark every week. Continued exposure, and the passage of time, has helped.
I don’t know if Canada is invading down through the panhandle, or if Antifa is trying to move east from Portland, but from the sound of it, we’re blowing the shit out of them.
Taxation is not thedt because all money belongs tot he state and being magnanimous they let you keep some.
Good morning glibs.
Fucking kawhi still aint said shit.
That was not meant as a reply
Changed my mind. He’s staying in Toronto.
I haven’t changed my mind. I still don’t care.
I don’t consent to so many taxes. High sales taxes and carbon tax for example. So to me, it’s theft by other means.
I can be convinced for the need of a tax depending for what.
For example, in Rome, merchants paid a tax to protect their trade routes. That makes sense.
National defense and security is another.
A tax for Gaia or free education are not.
So a single land tax to pay for those things 😀
Canadians pay for national defense?
Well, what passes for “national defense,” yeah.
Trudeau’s view of national defense.
https://youtu.be/u7APmRkatEU
MikeS’ suggestion for our new anthem.
https://youtu.be/K_7V3xuv03c
Lemmy!
So, I live on a street with a lot of old people. It’s narrow as hell. We get ambulances at least weekly, and for whatever reason we never see a plow when it snows. There’s a guy in our neighborhood who plows the street on his own and never asks anyone for anything in recompense. I would pay him if he asked. Meanwhile, I’m paying city taxes which one would assume would cover plowing.
In our little enclave, we’ve got people living on SS distributions, retirement, and whatever their family is sending, we’ve got people with boats they name after pets, and we’ve got people just kind of in the middle. We all get the same lack of city attention. Mostly, we deal with it ourselves. And then pay city taxes.
bureaucrats must eat. and often they eat well.
Fireworks still going strong here at 1030 local. It’s not directly in my neighborhood, but I can still see and hear what must be hundreds being set off. It’s amazing how many really big ones are getting set off privately. The sound makes me think of a huge drumline.
seems dangerous. one could lose an eye.
I don’t think they’ll reach Romania.
I can’t imagine why Salon is in trouble.
https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2019/07/04/whos-ready-for-a-ratio-party-salon-takes-on-the-sexist-racist-prejudiced-declaration-of-independence/
LOL that led me to Colin You-Know-Who embarrassing himself trying to quote Frederick Douglass – son, don’t even try.
Colin is nothing but an entitled selfish little attention whore. MF has the money to move anywhere in the world but here he stays.
Why not? He’s getting paid millions to bash the place.
Don’t eat the meat!
https://tn.com.ar/sociedad/piden-no-consumir-los-cerdos-robados-del-camion-en-santa-fe-estan-contaminados_976207
Yeah right, after “helping” to clean up the accident, the thieves aren’t going to live high on the hog?
Que?
No leer espanol, ingles por favor.
In case you can’t tell since I used the wrong case for ‘to read’.
“I don’t leer at Spaniels, Engels was my favorite”?
If only I’d watched any of Her movies
Racist!!!!
Against Hungarians? Or Greeks?
Isn’t that called poetic justice?
Wonder if this makes the linx.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7216327/Wife-hacks-husbands-penis-refused-sex-punishment-drinking.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small
Seems like a healthy relationship
Her actions seem counterproductive for future encounters.