Civics 101: The United States of America is a Constitutional Republic, set up as a federation, with the federal government divided into three branches with separated, enumerated powers, and additional specific limits on the exercise of those enumerated powers.
I think that single sentence is a fair synopsis of the intention of the framers of the Constitution, but what did they mean by that? And what does it mean today in practice?
First we have to understand some of the terms in use:
Sovereignty is the authority of a state to govern itself independent of any outside source of authority. In a monarchy the king is sovereign and all authority ultimately comes from the crown.
A Republic is form of government in which the sovereignty lies with some portion of the citizenry, not in a Monarch. A Republic is not necessarily democratic; the portion of the citizenry holding the sovereign power may be a small minority, but it can be democratic, if the portion of the citizenry holding sovereignty is extensive.
A constitution is a framework law, supreme over all other laws in the state, and which sets limits on those other laws and establishes the procedures for their creation and enforcement.
A Constitutional Republic is a state that has a republican form of government subject to the limitations, procedures, and powers set out in a constitution.
A Federation is a sovereign conglomerate state made up of other states, provinces, or administrative districts which either retain, if the federation was from the bottom up with sovereign states coming together, or are granted, if the federation was from the top down with a sovereign state dividing itself, some portion of, but less than all, sovereignty.
Enumerated powers are limited sovereignty. In a government of enumerated powers the State is sovereign only with regard to those areas enumerated in some list; the remainder of the sovereignty resides elsewhere.
The General Police Power, is the largest component of sovereignty. It is the authority of a government to declare various actions criminal and set forth punishments for those acts in order to promote the morality, safety and health of the populace. As such it is limited only by the power and whim of the sovereign. Libertarians generally regard the General Police Power with disfavor, preferring enumerated police powers limited to policing direct harms to the person, property, or liberty of another, but historically the General Police Power has extended to any objective desired by the sovereign.
In 1787 a Constitutional Convention was called into session and created the system of government that persists (however weakly) to this day. The framers of the United States Constitution were attempting to sail between the Scylla of the newborn Nation dividing into 13 completely independent polities and the Charybdis of a centralized Leviathan. The 13 States were sovereign and the prior federation under the Articles of Confederation explicitly recognized that sovereignty. The federal ‘government’ under the articles had almost no independent authority to act and it acted more as a standing conference of the States than as a sovereign power. It rapidly became clear that something more was needed to prevent the 13 States from going their own ways, although it is less clear that such a separate development would have been the disaster feared at the time.
The Federal Government that came out of that convention had sovereignty over matters set out in Article 1, section 8:
1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
2: To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
3: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
4: To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
5: To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
6: To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
8: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
9: To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
10: To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
12: To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
13: To provide and maintain a Navy;
14: To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
15: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
16: To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
17: To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—
And
18: To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
The very next section of Article 1, makes it abundantly plain that the power of the Federal Government is limited to the enumerated powers and is not general, and that it is subject to other additional limits even when being used according to a section 8 power:
1: The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
2: The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
3: No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
4: No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
5: No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
6: No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.
7: No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.
8: No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
Further there is no mention of the most important portion of sovereignty, the General Police Power. This is made explicit in the 1st through 8th and 10th Amendment:
Article [I] (Amendment 1 – Freedom of expression and religion)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Article [II] (Amendment 2 – Bearing Arms)
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Article [III] (Amendment 3 – Quartering Soldiers)
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Article [IV] (Amendment 4 – Search and Seizure)
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Article [V] (Amendment 5 – Rights of Persons)
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Article [VI] (Amendment 6 – Rights of Accused in Criminal Prosecutions)
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
Article [VII] (Amendment 7 – Civil Trials)
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Article [VIII] (Amendment 8 – Further Guarantees in Criminal Cases)
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Article [X] (Amendment 10 – Reserved Powers)
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
And the fact that even the States were not to possess an unlimited General Police Power is made clear by the specific limitations on the States found in Article 1, section 10 and Article IV:
Section 10
1: No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
2: No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.
3: No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
Article IV (Article 4 – States’ Relations)
Section 1
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.
Section 2
1: The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
2: A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.
3: No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
Section 3
1: New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
2: The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Section 4
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
and the text of the 9th Amendment:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The General Police Power is the power to regulate behavior in general and not with regard to some specific enumerated power. The Federal Government does not have this. The States do, subject only to limits found in their several constitutions, the Articles above, and under the doctrine of incorporation, the Bill of Rights.
So far everything I have discussed has centered around the Article I powers and the limits thereon, since Article I, sets out only the Legislative power and form of Congress, why have I not discussed the Judicial or Executive branch in my discussion of the extent of Federal Authority? Quite simply because, all of the power to initiate action by Government is vested in the Legislative body. The Executive and Judicial branches are concerned with implementing and enforcing laws. The laws that are to guide their actions are meant to come from the Congress. I plan to discuss the other branches further in future pieces, but when talking about the enumeration of powers and limits on their exercise it is the legislative power that is the driver.
So the bulk of Federal Authority is vested in Congress, and that authority is specifically limited by explicit prohibitions on actions, as well as being generally limited to the enumerated powers, but the structure of Congress is in itself another check on Federal authority. The framer’s biggest difficulty in balancing the need to preserve the States as sovereign entities with the need for a centralized authority to make us a Nation in more than name, was in determining how to select and shape the legislature. It was decided to create a bicameral legislature, each body having certain exclusive powers, but both bodies assent being needed to pass general legislation.
This Congress was loosely modeled after the British Parliament, with the House of Representatives serving as the equivalent to the House of Commons, and the Senate an even looser equivalent to the House of Lords.
The House was given the sole authority to initiate the exercise of the power to raise revenue, either by taxation or borrowing, and the power to initiate impeachments of officers of the other branches. The Senate was given the power of advising the Executive on treaties and appointments of officers, and the more significant power of consenting to such treaties and appointments, without which the treaty or appointment fails, and additionally the power of trying impeachments. The assignment of powers reflects the founders view of the House as being the People’s voice in the Government and the Senate being the States’ voice.
The Great Compromise, sometimes called the Connecticut Compromise because Connecticut delegates Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth proposed and fought for it, is what finally brought the framers through the channel between Scylla and Charybdis. It provided that the States would each have two Senators, appointed by the State Legislature and serving a six year term. House terms were deliberately kept short at 2 years in order to try and keep the representatives easily subject to replacement if they acted in opposition to the will of the People.
The general plan was that the House was to be the democratic body and the Senate the more aristocratic. The power of the purse was left to the people (subject to the specific prohibition of Article I section 9:4 which was meant to prevent exactly the sort of “loot the rich” tax schemes we are suffering today), because any money spent was coming from the people. The combination of a ban on direct taxes on any terms except equal payment from each person, with turning the budget over to the popularly elected House was meant to enforce fiscal responsibility. The XVIth amendment broke this system and gave the mob the power to vote themselves largess at the expense of various minority groups, and spending has steadily climbed ever since.
The power of impeachment was also given to the House, but the power of trying impeached officers was given to the Senate. Splitting the power to remove officials between the democratic House and the aristocratic Senate was intended to simultaneously prevent the elites from protecting their own, and to prevent the passions of the mob from removing good officials for not catering to popular demands.
The power of advice and consent was given to the Senate. This was a bit of a compromise intended to give the States, which were surrendering their power to enter treaties to the new Federal Government, input into, and veto power over foreign agreements. The XVIIth amendment broke this compromise and did a great deal of harm to our system in the name of democracy.
Basically the framers set up a Government in shackles. It was capable of decisive action in moments where the various parts of the country were aligned and much more restrained when they were not. Much of our history since has been a series of loosenings of those shackles, for the most part to our detriment.
Comments
363 responses to “Checks and Balances”
Wow, excellent document, well done Sir!
Thanks, but the good parts are mostly by Madison.
Billy?
Nah, the dude married to that snack cake lady.
I thought that first picture looked familiar. I did some digging: It’s Charlemagne. It’s the Treasury of Aachen Cathedral. Aachen Cathedral is a pretty cool building. A mish-mash of different styles.
Kind of like a one-way vice, one might say.
Like frottage?
I saw that.
Or ratchet.
“3: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;”
It says “several”, so they only get to pick five.
If you don’t put the rest back, young man, so help me God…
“12: To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;”
LOLOLOL
Hey, they pass a new continuing resolution every year so it is all good.
Is this going to be on the test?
JK, thank you
Just say “slavery”.
So do we generally agree that the house should be expanded in keeping with the original intent of reps/populace in order to keep a more effective representation – and Ll the more now that technology should make it easier to get things done?
Honestly I think the “pass the original XIIth amendment” crowd is being a bit naive. You’d probably get a few more libertarian types with 10x as many districts, each much smaller, but the ‘elites’ would still gerrymander, and the real defense against the House is an informed responsible electorate, which is lacking.
You can’t create a civil society through legislation. In large part politics in the US looks the way it does because it reflects our political culture. The electorate is largely uninformed and typically only engages in politics through biannual votes (at best), along party lines or, if you’re lucky, after spending an hour or two looking up candidates on the Internet. The problem is that the people who get involved are the ones you least want involved, and they change the system to acquire more power. It’s the world’s worst HOA, you can’t opt out, and all the rules were made by the horrible busybodies who show up to all the meetings with notes.
busybodies who show up to all the meetings with notes.-
Leon?
🙂
And the staffs and civil service cement their power even more.
I do. We should start a movement to finish the ratification of The Congressional Apportionment Amendment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Apportionment_Amendment
So we should have 6,600 representatives? I’m game.
Can you imagine the snippy freshman class when there’s a couple hundred airheads jockeying for position?
Read it again. It says no MORE than 1:50,000. It is setting an upper limit of 1:50,000 and a lower limit of 200, and Congress decides where the number is set between those parameters. Since Congress has currently set the size at 435, which is more than 200 and less than 1:50,000 the Amendment would not change anything.
Did you read what I said? I asked:
Can you imagine having a couple hundred of those self-serious, ineducable twerps straining and back-biting for camera time?
A man can dream though
Bah. As soon as the technology becomes available to do it securely, abolish the House. Instead of “representing” the people, let the people vote directly. Since the Senate represents the states, it should stay.
Ofc, all quorum rules would apply — if not enough of the population votes on a given bill, it dies.
Incoming 1200 page long Stop Perverts from Raping Toddlers Act that bans everything EXCEPT toddler rape, and seizes all private property. It’ll pass with flying colors.
You’re both right. It’s both a very good and a very bad idea.
A good populist could get the voters riled up enough to put House rules in place that would ban bills more than ten pages long.
And also, without official reps, all house bills would have to be written by citizenry. Which means millions of bills designating Boaty McBoatface as the official National Bird. Two weeks after direct voting being implemented, people wouldn’t bother to vote for (and thus no quorum) anything that wasn’t immediately and obviously necessary.
And then there’s the issue of all tax bills needing to come from the House…
As a person who has to live through and vote on California “propositions”, that’s a FUCK NO from me. THis is how we got our completely stupid “High Speed Rail” law, among other stupidities.
Athena’s Rule of California Ballot Initiatives: It’s either a bad idea, or a good idea executed badly.
I see no reason not to think that rule wouldn’t apply federally too.
Excellent article, Jarflax. I would like to hear more arguments for/against expanding the house. It would dilute both good/bad congressmen and possibly reduce some of the aristocratic aura of being a representative.
Even if the Amendment were ratifies it is up to Congress to expand, which they could do now, the size is already set by a law they passed. The Amendment doesn’t mandate expansion:
After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to two hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons.
Both those requirements are currently met, so why would it change anything?
I think you need to re-check your math. We’re currently at something like 1:750000.
not more than. 1:750,000 is less than 1:50,000
I am aware of that 🙂
But yes I see your point now. It looks like the House cleverly re-worded it to make it fail to achieve the effect everyone believe it does.
Yeah, sorry I didn’t mean to be condescending. I have a friend who is all in on this ‘revive the last of the bill of rights’ stuff, and I have grown frustrated. Yes, the House accepted almost all the Senate language, they just changed the not , a tiny little change.
The wikipedia article seems to have the same misunderstanding, despite mentioning how the House fucked it up.
I understand I’m taxed more than I should be. I understand the government has widely unchecked powers.
However, I do not feel oppressed going about my dailey life. I wake up, strap on a firearm, and go about my business. Go to work, drive around, plentiful shopping, virtually no police interaction (once in the past 10 years), generally free to travel and live unmolested. Isn’t that the dream?*
Residents of NY, NJ, CA, HI, & other shitholes need not answer.
^this. For the most part my life is no different than it would be in an ideally free society. There a re a few things that I’d like to be able to do but can’t but not many. The big stressor to me is the number of people trying to ruin that.
I agree generally, but there are numerous areas creeping in. I take a shower in the morning and the water isn’t hot enough thanks to anti scald legislation. I go get a burger for lunch and I have to ask for both a straw and ketchup packets, they can’t just give it to me. I pickup groceries on the way home and have to pay a nickel for paper bag that rips holding goods in the rain. I have to remember to get gas before I leave town because gas stations can’t open near where I live. My yard light is a shitty led because HPS isn’t acceptable anymore. And so on.
I can probably point to a better state. Can you point to a better country?
Government likes to intrude on you by limiting your choices through regulation of business. You don’t realize it because you never experience the alternative.
I ordered a holster from UT tonight for a gun made in NY. Picked up from a FFL in PA.
Where’s the regulation?
When you need a medication that is still in FDA trials, or want to import an unpasteurized cheese for example.
Alcohol is a big one, too, no matter which state. Tobacco, too. Buying and operating a motor vehicle. The list gets really, really long even if you’re in a relatively “free” state, but you don’t notice it because you’ve been living with it for so long.
Try to buy a bumpstock
Pour me a scotch. And leave the bottle
—resident of shithole CA.
You’re not allowed to have the bottle for six dozen criminal statutes and regulatory reasons. Also, you’re sitting on a used needle, which apparently is more sacred than bald eagle fathers.
…which can be bought on a Sunday at any grocery store in CA.
And for which you pay the general sales tax and state excise tax, on top of the federal excise tax.
They’re greedier than most.
Grrrrrr…
You’re tellin’ me.
So you’re used to the water getting hotter.
I just hurt myself laughing.
I’ve been playing “In Search of…” DVDs for background noise. I just got to the episode on climate change, and Leonard Nemoy is narrating in the super serious “Very Concerned” tone about… the coming Ice Age.
I’m surprised a Vulcan fell for that BS.
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1176211314223374336
Holy shit that guy is an idiot.
The year before that, ProFa’s predecessor assholes shutdown bridges and freeways because of Trumps election. Some gangbangers shot one of them because they couldn’t get through.
Nate Green
@NateGreen989
Replying to @MrAndyNgo
That shouldn’t have a “Warning graphic” tag it should have a “Warning awesome” tag
Section of senators was already close to a dead letter even before the 17th Amendment. Thanks progressives. And Gray v Sanders is just as much of a knife to state sovereignty as direct elections were.
Selection of Senators was fully corrupt before the XVIIth, but it was corruption by different interests than corruption in the house 🙂 so it actually still served its purpose of creating gridlock.
You beat me to it.
Senators were originally selected by state governments, to represent the state. The house was designed to represent the people. Then Woodrow Wilson came along and fucked the whole thing up.
I think what Jarflax was hinting at was that many states had ceded senator selection to popular election even before the national mandate, so the point was well on its way to being moot anyway.
Someone check my math and history on this.
Yes. 17A, like Prohibition and leer repeal, were lagging indicators.
Once again, politicians abdicating responsibility to shield themselves.
That guy was a major asshole.
That’s he’s held up as one of the best President’s we’ve had just boggles the mind.
Held up by Progs. He was the uber prog, so of course they love him. Academic, technocratic, racist, war monger, expanded Federal power, he checks all the boxes.
I’m listening to the Hardcore History series on WWI, and Dan Carlin, the narrator, doesn’t dwell on him or really get too far into what is still apparently a controversial position, but even with kid gloves on it’s very difficult to not see Wilson as an effete, racist, megalomaniacal, narcissistic war-monger. Without necessarily even trying to, Carlin pretty much makes the case that Wilson’s goal in his two-faced foreign policy and eventual entry into the war was to put himself in a position where he could establish a world government with himself as its primus inter pares in a sense–not the leader as such, but venerated as the father of it all without having to actually shoulder any of the load.
And his wife was the de facto President in the last year because he was gorked out from a stroke.
It all ended here,
In one line libertarianism was squashed.
The regulation of interstate commerce was just itching to be abused.
I think that one’s a mistake: it either means that the USG can be in charge of everything interstate . . . or nothing.
There’s no fence, no frontier, no scope or span that is reasonable and unambiguous.
I vote: nothing
But then you get California banning Arizona goods from passing through and so on, which was the fear that had the framers add interstate commerce to the Fed’s powers. Perhaps they should have been more explicit, but bad faith by the pro expansion forces isn’t balked by other extremely explicit language so….
At the end of the day keeping people from doing thing they want depends on the people not the wording of any rule, which sounds like it is a pro liberty statement until you realize that a lot of what people want to do is stop other people from doing things they disapprove of.
I’ll be longer and more clear with examples:
States routinely ban products with backhanded slaps. CA and PA, for example, have notoriously tougher weights and measures than other states; trucks can’t idle at Long Beach unless they have a sticker from the SoCal board (initials escape me this moment), Kentucky bourbon doesn’t necessarily qualify as Tennessee whiskey . .. . these games never end. Just by requiring a label . . . or not allowing one . . . the whole thing is regularly routed.
But my real assumption was this: it is one thing to say that the USG can’t regulate IC and another thing to say that the states can’t prevent it; the latter is as easy to write and enforce as the former, but the former is obviously, notoriously corrupt whereas the latter merely violates states’ sovereignty.
Oh, I understand where you are coming from. I was just pointing out that no matter what the forces pushing expansion of power will continue and you can’t beat them with carefully crafted rules, because they don’t argue in good faith. You need people to remain vigilant.
WaPo already has an explainer video for the civically challenged on how impeachment works. What are the odds that if/when the house impeaches we get the same sullen reaction from the horribly uninformed when they find out that the Senate has to convict as when they “found out” that the president is elected by the states and not a Popular Vote.
“and, but, and or: they’ll get you very far”
Fuck Conjunctions
Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?
I’M Gonna get you there, if your very careful…
I’m just a bill.
On Capitol Hill?
Lollie’s, get your adverbs here.
It occurs to me that we’re better educated from Saturday morning cartoons than many of today’s kids are at public school.
OMG that was the best tune of the bunch.
8, turn it on it’s side and it becomes infinity…….
What, no love for Scatman??
Also, we got a lot better music education.
The composer behind Bugs Bunny introduced a generation to classical music
They were excellent. Bugs was a great way to introduce youth to opera. Sing “Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!” to people of the Suthen, OMWC, Dbl, Moj, etc. demographic and they instantly know the Ring Cycle.
So, so much! I mean, the only reason anybody knows Tales of Hoffman is because of Bugs Bunny.
*anybody = people who don’t do music for a living
They’ll just call for the abolition of the senate, since that’s what they did for the electoral college.
OT: A Teacher is in Court Fighting for Her Legal Right to Have Sex With Students on School Property
Hey Con Law guy, what does your silly document think about this poor woman’s struggle against the system?
Would.
“3rd degree sodomy”
Catching, or strap on?
She’s a bit lacking in orbital symmetry but I’ve seen worse.
Just how many degrees of sodomy are there?
An asshole is a circle, so that’s 360 degrees.
Let’s see….Six degrees of separation…Love in the Third Degree….carry the one
17.
You know the legal test. How hot is she?
Age of consent in Kentucky is 18. Sorry, ma’am, it’s a hefty jail term followed by life on a list for you.
Tulsi on Kennedy!
Strange boner…
Strange?
Dunno.
I was quite drunk at that point. Don’t remember posting that. ?
pics or it didn’t happen
ER a hoppin’ place for a Tuesday night. Teenaged sprained ankles waaaaaay low on the triage list. I am enacting your labor to entertain me.
Teenager complaining about a sprained ankle isn’t entertaining enough?
She is very clumsy and hurts lots of things. So very entertaining. ?
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/9c40534b-cb7e-45a1-a168-bd5a65a2c244
Why the ER? She’ll be fine in the morning for Urgent Care, if there isn’t one near you open now.
I didn’t want to wait until morning.
An ER at night?
Godspeed.
But it’s Tuesday!
I shouldn’t be surprised. Tuesdays are awful. Like Monday’s evil younger brother.
The closest ER to me is like a war zone MASH unit, and while that place is hopefully an outlier, ER’s are almost always hotbeds of activity.
See if you can count the number of moms there panicking about their child’s sickness.
I hate Monday because they took away my WFH Monday, which was always my fav WFH Monday, because my main client HAS to meet on Monday. And then Tuesdays suck even more because no one works from home on Tuesday and the office is a fucking loud madhouse where the only way you get anything done is to wear noise canceling headphones all day long.
Don’t you know you’re supposed to call 911 to bypass the waiting room?
I did not know that, but I’m low-key drama llama. Ambulance is beyond my comfort zone.
This trick only works if you are indigent. If you pay your bills, they charge you for the ambulance, and the rate is bizarrely high. My Dad got shuttled from one hospital where he was in the ER to another with better maxilo-facial surgeons via ambulance (at their insistence, they would not let him call someone to drive him because he was concussed) and was billed $2600 for what was in effect a 3/4 mile 5 minute cab ride. He had already had emergency treatment and was just being moved from facility to facility, there was nothing exigent about it at all, the receiving hospital admitted him, and did the surgery, 3 days later.
That’s why a volunteer ambulance that serves just my corner of Brooklyn is my charity of choice.
It all has to do with Medicare reimbursement rates. Everything is governed by that.
Our 911 system has a subscription service, as does air ambulance. You want sticker shock? Get transported by helicopter.
Buddy of mine was in a bad car wreck and medivac’d to Louisville.
$150K.
You still get triaged even if you come in on an ambulance.
But you don’t go to the waiting room. Except the one time that a patient of mine was obviously working the system, and I hung a right turn heading into the ER and took her right to registration.
Sucky way to spend an evening. Please allow me to attempt to entertain you with a true story: Some years back, my sister was trying to rescue one of her cats from the rafters of the garage. (She overlooked the obvious: pull her truck into the garage and let the cat jump down onto its roof. Where do you think the cat had jumped up from anyway?) She fell from the ladder, shattered her elbow, and chipped a bone in her ankle. Rather than call for an ambulance (because she “didn’t want to entertain the neighbors,”) she drove herself and Alzheimer’s-addled Mom, with whom she lived, to the hospital. Then she called me. (We lived just a few miles away.)
A couple of weeks later, when Mom fell and broke her hip (as depicted in the story “Old Devil Time,”) Sis wisely decided that maybe an ambulance wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
OH OUCH!
(Speaking of the story “ODT,”I don’t want to be a pest, but I’d be honored if you could read and, if you have time and/or inclination, critique it.)
Did you send it to me already? If not, resend plz.
Sent! Thx!
Email not syncing here at the hospital. ??? I’ll get it at home.
Got it! I’ll read tomorrow. 😀
ER is truly some form of hell. I had a fucking broken arm once, like snapped in half, and I still had to wait more than eight hours to see a doctor. I was passed out from the pain most of the time but during the brief periods I was conscious enough to scream out for another aspirin it didn’t look all that busy to me.
Oh ugh! Usually this ER is empty.
Last time I was here all I had to say was 50, female, shortness of breath, dizziness. Boom, fast tracked.
16 sprained ankle, not so urgent.
Dude, try visiting John’s Hopkins ER on a weekend, LOL. Last time I was in there on a Sunday there were like 6 gunshot victims and cops every fucking where. Oh, and that’s besides the guys they are carting in every 10 minutes ODing on Heroin or whatever.
Yeah. This was Buffalo, don’t remember if a weekend. Not busy at all. The reason I had to wait 8 hours to see a doctor is because there weren’t any around until one rolled out of bed in the morning.
But on TV it looks like working in the ER is awesome. A bunch of underwear models having sex in the supply closet, quirky but funny patients, and noble physicians who “fight the system” by “ordering tests no matter the costs” and “standing up to the insurance companies” so they can make 8x what the average household in this country does.
DAMN! I didn’t know fisting was so dangerous!
Pfft, I wasn’t even card-carrying at that point.
You know what you have to do to jump up on the triage list.
Fake chest pains?
I had a peptic ulcer in April. First thing they checked me for was a heart attack.
It’s my pet peeve that heart disease kills more women than all cancers combined but yet breast cancer gets all the support. It’s like heart disease is a man’s disease or sumpin.
(Heart disease runs heavily in my family. No cancer. My aunt had 2 bypasses before she was my age. I am super conscious of my ticker.)
When it comes to heart attacks, women don’t have the same symptoms as men. Chest pain typically doesn’t apply.
Correct. I’m 51. I do not have heart disease (amazingly). I go to the cardiologist every year. I keep abreast on what I should be aware of.
Hospitals are keenly aware tho. Shortness of breath and dizziness are the two biggie symptoms, which you will also have with a GI bleed. So they went with the obvious (heart attack) first. I appreciated it later tho at that moment seeing “cardiology” on their jackets scared the bejeebers out of me.
I cannot pull a Sanford. MY name is Elizabeth.
You know how he died, right?
Everybody does, eventually.
Is Joker a ‘Dangerous’ Movie? Joaquin Phoenix and Director Todd Phillips Respond to Critics
This callous monster wants to release his little artistic project with no consequences.
Hey LawDog, how can I sue him?
Open-mindedness is considered a dangerous thing, bro.
(I’m not discounting the possibility that the nontroversy was ginned up to turn around a cowplop opening.)
Actually, I’m assuming it. Just see: Busters, Ghost (2016). Sony realized it had a wet fart on its hands, so they did what they could to drum up interest.
While I understand where you’re coming from I can’t imagine Phillips and Phoenix want to be connected to terrorism.
“What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?”
Checks and Balances.
That’s one of the questions they might have asked my wife this afternoon on her citizenship interview.
So, what stops them all from becoming too powerful? Apparently nothing.
Anyway, now she’s just waiting for her letter to tell her when to show up for her swearing in ceremony thingy.
That was really fucked up. Her appt was at 4PM. So we showed up about 3:30. They called her back around 5PM and at 6PM, we’re still there. I mean I am the only person in that room, all the employees are gone.
Then 3 people wonder in and one of them says ‘Sir, are you waiting for someone?’. And I said ‘Yeah, my wife, she’s in her interview’. Then about 5 minutes later, a few more people show up and one of them says ‘Sir, are you waiting for someone?’. This is about the time I started to get annoyed. I said ‘Yes, my wife, she’s in her interview’. I probably looked pissed, because I was. Then the guy says ‘I just wanted to be sure you aren’t waiting for an interview’. I really wanted to say ‘Nah, I just decided to hang around here because it’s so much fucking fun and I don’t have nothing else to do’.
Anyway, the lady who interviewed my wife was super nice, but then again my wife is a social butterfly and very charming, so no surprise. I’m always happy when I don’t have to deal with the government again, for any reason, forever.
Congrats! I mean, if they let her in the club.
Thanks, Rhywun, we’re really happy that we don’t have to deal with any of the immigration shit anymore. Anything you have to do involving the government is a pain in the ass and that’s the king of pain in the asses.
True. Congrats to your wife.
Thanks!
CONGRATS!
Thanks!
Congratulations and welcome Mrs. Hyp. to the club.
Yeah, and she’s even a libertarian now. Or some sort of right wing extremist.
Congratulations, balances out my naturalized BIL. Pretty sure he’s a leftist hipster based on a number of factors, but I never talk politics directly with him. Great guy and still glad he’s here.
I can only imagine it’s like the dmvs dmv.
I waited almost 2 hours for my naturalization interview. I arrived before the scheduled time of 7:15 am, dozens and dozens of other people who arrived after got called in–but not me. Past 9 am, my name was finally called. Turned out the agent who was in charge of my case didn’t show up for work that day. Another officer had to do my interview. He actually apologized on behalf of the USCIS for the delay.
Very cool.
Continuing my pimping of this movie, because everyone should be watching all the fine movies the people at Cinestate produce
omgs!
Bad linking. I blame HM.
You and LH, amirite? …. Too soon?
No such thing! Everyone has a breaking limit somewhere, but also he seems like a cool guy so I am sure he wouldn’t mind a little teasing.
Lactose is a sugar.
So is Dextrose, but Sinistrose is just sad.
You would be too if you were drummed out of the Green Lantern Corps.
At the risk of being too serious, did we really lose another one? What the hell, man!?
Let me just go on record that I never intend to offend anyone here and if I do I would like it brought to my attention so I can apologize.
“Let me just go on record that I never intend to offend anyone here and if I do I would like it brought to my attention so I can apologize.”
Literally gayer than LH.
But is it Gayer than ISIS?
Yeah? Then where’s my dog picture!? I WANT MY DOG PICTURE!
Only Judd Apatow is gayer than ISIS.
Ok.
#FakeNews
Can’t be Dallas County: there’s water in that river
You’re such a tease.
Especially in that area. Maybe from Bachman Lake…
Pelosi announced impeachment proceedings.
Hang on Hillary! There’s still hope bitch!
They can’t possibly beclown themselves enough. They’re going to one up outclown themselves no matter what.
Good News! My wife liked my pork in plum sauce.
I can’t keep up with these euphemisms.
Just select the ones that work for you.
No anaphylaxis?
Yay!
Did you tell her?
I texted but she hasn’t responded other than she really liked it.
She thought the plums were apples. Mission accomplished
Yay!!!
That’s not even a euphemism.
You should name the dish Ailes Rouges
I searched, but don’t get it.
Pork in a reddish sauce. Pork’n red sauce. Red wings.
Jokes, they can’t all be good, hell I’m shooting for any.
Ah, Like Mr Candie, i do not speak French.
The Grown Men Scared of a 16-Year-Old Girl
*backs away*
Sounds about right.
comparison to the Covington Catholic boys, who took heat for their viral mockery of a Native American man at the Lincoln Memorial. This parallel is supposed to prove the left’s hypocrisy, since we criticized those teens, and establish that anyone this age is fair game for the discourse. It’s a misguided parallel for a few reasons: The Covington lads were specifically bussed to Washington to serve the patriarchal agenda of protesting women’s reproductive rights
1. Propagating an outright lie.
2. You see it’s wrong because they were bussed and she was boated
3. MUH ABORTION
The problem is that as Facebook is getting more and more unhip, the kids who would post this stuff on their timelines are back to making freestanding blog posts and calling it an opinion piece.
heh heh…the logo says “Mel beta”.
So the Covington kids were held accountable even though they were under more pressure to conform?
And held accountable for actions that they were falsely accused of.
But whatevs.
That may be the singe most disingenuous, dishonest article I have read.
Nobody on her side has said you can’t challenge her position;
Sure you can, but they won’t engage with your argument they’ll call you a denier and act as though that answers you.
The Covington lads were specifically bussed to Washington to serve the patriarchal agenda of protesting women’s reproductive rights
Fair enough, and Greta’s holy voyage across the sea was totes different.
they were held accountable for their own disgraceful behavior as young adults
behavior that did not occur, was specifically and explicitly disproved by the video, but hey allegations were made so…
And it’s difficult to argue the case for her general welfare when you support a state apparatus poisoning children’s tap water, caging them at the border and refusing to prevent their deaths in school shootings.
Ah yes, this is indeed a damning point, except like the ‘disgraceful behavior of the Covington kids it is all made up.
You can’t spend years calling leftist men cucks and betas and soy boys and then have an on-air emotional breakdown because someone born less than two decades ago is advocating for the survival of the human race.
Disagreement and laughter are “emotional breakdowns”?
We’re supposed to admire Greta’s self-styled “superpower” of Asperger Syndrome that gives her the ability to process enormous amounts of data without distraction, thus she possesses a steely-eyed realism as to what the real priorities of the planet are. Yet, we’re not allowed to question why we should formulate policy around the opinions of someone who, by definition, cannot grasp the socio-political impacts involved in such policy, as she is incapable of conceptualizing a theory of mind.
“I mean, in order to get the planet’s CO2 levels to 280 ppm or lower, we just need to depopulate the entirety of Asia and Africa. It’s so easy! Why won’t you adults listen! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
Fuck her.
This whole episode is just bizarre. It’s so strange to watch so many people lie to themselves and everyone else about taking at minimum a teenager with significant life issues of some kind as some sort of prophet or something. It’s such an obvious Emperor’s New Clothes type of thing. This would be an Onion article ten, fifteen years ago. Maybe a Terry Gilliam movie. How heavily must you have to blunt your own capacity for introspection in order to keep the farce up?
Meanwhile in today’s Onion.
:eyeroll:
Sad.
If you thought comedy died on the left…. you were right! Holy crap….
Remember the response in “the Onion” to 9-11?
“Terrorists surprised to find selves in hell”
“God clarifies no killing rule”
What happened to these people?
Meanwhile the Bablylon Bee has “Democrats Introduce Debate Strategy Of Holding Up Small Child Whenever Their Positions Are Challenged” in response to this.
Someone, maybe Switzy compared it to the Children’s Crusade a few days ago. For some reason kids in the grip of religious hysteria somehow strike a chord with devotees of the religion. It does not end well for the kids or their followers because the ‘purity and wisdom’ of the hysterical teen seldom extend to logistical planning, effective strategy or tactics, or basic survival.
Yeah, it’s the whole “and a child shall lead them” phenomenon. Her… condition isn’t even relevant, so long as she has the kid-wisdom thing going.
It’s relevant as an extra shield, but besides that, no. Same thing as the Parkland kids (except Kyle Kashuv of course, who was fair game)
“We’re supposed to admire Greta’s self-styled “superpower” of Asperger Syndrome that gives her the ability to process enormous amounts of data without distraction, thus she possesses a steely-eyed realism as to what the real priorities of the planet are”
Exactly.
You know who else wanted to go to war under the banner of a mentally ill teen-aged girl?
…Hit…no…it’s on the tip of my tongue…
Menelaus?
Nah Helen was on the other side.
I guess i was thinking of Going to war for a teenaged girl…
France during the 100 years war?
High point of French military history? (“For Sale: French battle rifle. Dropped once, never fired.”)
Cheese eating surrender monkeys is the technical term I believe.
Rupert Giles?
*snort*
Except that she could karate chop you into the hospital.
Not me. I can brood like a mother fucker. And that is the one weakness of the Slayer – dudes that can brood like mother fuckers.
Uncle Enzo?
You win.
My favorite memories of that book are Uncle Enzo meeting with YT, and previously, Uncle Enzo’s right-hand man explaining to the former franchisee owner just how absolutely, positively, unimpeachably fucked he is for trying to be clever.
Also, everything else about that book.
Including the fact that it wasn’t 1000 pages.
I think I need a re-read.
I just read it. Evidently I need to read ring world too.
I just started reading this.
Oh, mentally ill… well, she did run afoul of the United States government. And fell in with a bunch of drug-addict, brainwashed cultitsts. And she briefly fucked the most dangerous man in North America. All in the name of recovering a mind control technology, kinda.
I’mma go with Crusty Juggler and say Joan of Arc.
Those who rallied around Joan of Arc?
Argle bargle goalposts strawmen JFC.
All the crazy shit that gets posted on this site, I bet this is the one that raises the most flags with the NSA. Thanks Mr Flax.
True. My most boring article ever, in which I took not a single controversial opinion, and every bit of which used to be taught in grade school civics class is probably considered extremist rhetoric today.
Informative, not boring.
Pets should not be denied medical coverage for preexisting conditions: bill
As goes NY so goes America. You’re welcome!
Crazy cat lady hardest hit as vet bills rise to equal hospital bills.
Dude, we’re not CA. Nobody pays attention to us any more. ?
Yup, you’ll depopulate yourself into obscurity.
NYC and suburbs are still going strong on inertia (and Wall Street dollars), but the rest of the state is a fucking basket-case.
FFS, it’s just a cat.
Thanks for the article, Jarflax!
This is getting better. Trump may be releasing the whistle blower complaint.
Thing is, no matter what’s in there the media is going to bury it.
I think as long as he wasnt egregiously seeking dirt and he doesnt throw the military at Iran, this turns bad for Dems.
They never learn. Trump just worked them like a rib…again.
welp … thanks, MSNBC, for giving me this wonderful new reaction GIF.
He knows what is going to be the highlight of my night.
Is there sound? (For some reason the sound went out on my computer.)
It’s probably better without.
Never mind, my sound is back.
This clip is silent gold!
‘Fap fap fap’?
scroll down for the clip with sound, but it is better without.
Glibs. Come for the mocking and links, stay for this stuff right here.
Oh my. He’s not even holding a shaker weight.
Oh sure. No love for my Article this morning. You guys Suck. :runs away and cries:
I was busy putting new ceiling tiles in! I’ll go back!!!!
I’m just yanking your chain
I referenced your article in an earlier comment to burn you.
Did you post an article this morning?
No; he posted it at noon.
where’d you land?
I think you beat feet out of San Marcos just before I came through
We’re in southern New Hampshire. Near Keene. I got a job as the locksmith at a small school here.
In other news, the baby is a girl, and everything is looking great so far. Ladydoom isn’t enjoying the lack of sleep and general uncomfortableness currently, but feeling kicks is pretty awesome.
I think we did just miss you by a few days!
Nice. I have a brother and his wife in Keene. Lovely area.
I’m really enjoying the scenery on my commute to work.
That small school wouldn’t happen to be across the border in VT, would it?
It isn’t. Closer to mass.
Is there a place in VT I should have been looking at?
I dunno about should be looking at part. There’s a small college in Brattleboro that my brother went to.
YOU’RE BACK!!! HOW HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!?!
Too busy with lots of stuff, but I’m good!
We moved into a senior dorm for a month or so, while we looked for a more permanent living situation. Landed in a nice apartment.
The school hasn’t had a locksmith in a while, so I feel very busy trying to get things in order. The lady and I have also been visiting family most weekends, and unfortunately I just haven’t had much time for my favorite site.
Yanno, I don’t know you, but I was concerned about you wjen you got stranded and I have been worried. I’m glad you’re good. ???
Me too. And I’m glad you guys were thinking of us. I really means a lot to me.
Right on Doom, congrats on the job and the upcoming baby! Glad you landed back on your feet after your Texas disaster.
Thanks! It feels great to have that chapter closed. It’s a lot to reign in here though. There’s something like 20 buildings total here and we have 3 keyways and about 6 “masters”
I have a meeting soon to basically teach access 101 and explain why the maintenance staff shouldn’t need 14 keys to go anywhere.
One day at a time.
Welcome back! I’m glad to hear that life is going well.
Heh, heh, cool, sounds like a fun mess to sort out.
Very glad to hear you ended up on your feet! Nothing rougher than moving to a new place for a job and having it all fall apart. (Thoughts with OMWC as well)
Background sign guy vs news director
LOLOLOL! Well played, even if it is an Remainer moron.
Well organized. Not just watching the cameras, but has someone watching it on tv and feeding info to the guy on the phone.
I’m not sure about the wisdom of naming your org SODEM, but apparently sign guy has been doing this for several years.
twitter.com/snb19692
Meanwhile in the us
https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1176676655273861121?s=19
Dunno if this has been posted already. Looks like the media doing a great job to reinforce why they are hated so much.
https://www.kcci.com/article/anheuser-busch-to-cut-ties-with-carson-king-over-multiple-offensive-social-media-posts/29216988
Isn’t it interesting that these articles never actually include the text of the ‘problematic’ posts?
Well they can’t post that, or else they’d also be problematic.
You should just trust me and grab a pitchfork.
Yup, something Daniel Tosh said, so it can’t be that bad if he isn’t being forced to apologize. Right?
Fixed.
I chalk that up more to social media is evil, than the media.
OK, the media are evil for digging shit up too. But social media is the root of the problem IMHO.
Twenty five years before Greta, there was Severn and we ignored her
Countless lives could have been saved
I mean if you think 0 is an uncountable number
Nope, still not a religion.
What climate-induced natural disasters have happened in the interim?
Name one that wasn’t some obscure sub-species. I’ll wait. The world isn’t static. There is no set number of things that should exist, or what temperature it should be.
Grade-A morons.
Is….that, like, a promise?
Just like you’ll die from unwed sex, it’s SCIENCE!
Ok, that article kind of demands that I go back to the last thread and pull this forward. Courtesty of the AlmightyJB:
You value freedom more than safety?
Yes
Can we trade her for the protesters?
Why stop at her, we can find enough wannabe socialists here to trade them 1:1 for liberty minded folk from HK. It is a win win, the Chicoms get people to boss around who won’t mouth off, the socialists get their dream, the protesters get their dream and we get a few million people immunized against socialist BS.
I fully support this deal. Trump likes deals, how do we get this to his Twitter DMs?
I’ll chip in to the GoFundMe account…
I am not pleased with the quality of the audio I recorded last night, will re-record the entire ep.
With my monitor issues, moved the secondary monitor to be the main monitor (couldn’t do that before because the cable set-up didn’t allow, but with the adaptor I bought to hook the TV up I could also hook-up the old primary monitor farther away). As for the HDCP non-compliance, that fault seems to lie with the new adapter and not the TV. But all in all, the secondary monitor being used as main has put a stop to the main monitor giving me a headache. Small victories.
Just re-recorded the audio, much happier with the results.
Got a secret spot at the top of a stairwell where I take breaks to get away from co workers. Been using it for years. Today I go up and the new guy is sitting there. Dammit.
Pee on him.
Go full on Gaijin smash huh?
You could just pee on your spot. Kinda like marking your territory.
Peeing on him might lead to certain uncomfortable revelations….
Loom over him until he finds his own spot!
Challenge him to a sword fight.
?
I knew I could count on you.
It’s a shame new guy couldn’t take the pressure and jumped to his death.
If he’s there for a “quiet spot”, just start talking to him non-stop, about shit that doesn’t mean anything to him. As much inane banter as you can muster. Do so until he leaves.
Or, just grab him by the scruff of the neck and throw him down the stairs.
Well, it would be more polite than bringing a bunch of Glibertarian commentary into the fray..
I’m picturing a sumo charge, with a handful of Warty types in the lead
what’s with the new avatar? I used to think well of ypu.
+1 The Velvet Fog.
https://youtu.be/yDUZgORmrSY
Well, we know Sir Digby isn’t Judge Harry T Stone.
RIP Harry Anderson.
Yep–no grave posting, here!!
::sigh:: Alright, here’s the set-up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JLrgi6BRVo
Add that tho the fact that I started here/registered with “NOT a Naked Intruder”…
I got your email, I’ll work on it, just like I said don’t get all pissy at me if I don’t get around to it in what you feel is a timely manner.
………..Did I do that? Sorry if I have–don’t recall.
Not saying you have, just that people have in the past. It’s one of the things that pisses me off most, get mad that someone doing something for free doesn’t do it fast enough.
Point taken!
You’re forgiven.
Thank you, Mikey. No hatred of the Velvet fog, here.
Is he asian or cockasian?
That is unfair! Not all expats in Japan followed their cock.
Ok… not sure where to file this, but I gotta share.
On the bottom of the “American Lectures Hong Kong Protestors: “You guys value freedom more than safety” article there is a block of those click-bait links.
Here’s the headline:
“Grab Tissues Before Seeing Gal Gadot Without Makeup”
Tissues.
I saw one of those clickbait fake news story ads today: She is why this NBA star moved to [INSERT ORIGIN TOWN OF ISP]. Hahaha, it said that for the small northern Wisconsin town I work in, population less than 10,000.
You’ll cry because she’s so ugly, obviously.
You’ll cry because she is slide 937 after 936 ‘famous’ people from 1978.
Each of which loads as a new page, so your back button is useless MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!
On impeachment:
They are announcing the beginnings of an impeachment inquiry now. Leave aside the question of how this is any different from what they have been doing so far…. how does this play out?
It is barely more than a year before the election. So they would be doing this right into the teeth of the election. Probably punting it to the Senate in the summer, so that Trump can’t campaign effectively. And it would be really hard for the senate to do a decent job before the election – so either they slap something together and vote it down, or they drag it out through the election. Either way… it looks bad for the Senate.
Maybe that is the calculus that changed.
Of course, how in the world do they avoid looking ridiculous and nakedly political by putting that in the middle of the election?
Bonus crazy: RBG has to be replaced during the same shitshow.
The worst is smug from lefties: How are those deals working Drumfenhitler!? When every possible thing has been done to undermine his ability to actually negotiate. They can’t even let him test his stupid ideas. STOP MAKING ME DEFEND HIM!
I may have said that 1,000 times since 2016. It really does get annoying.
And they have had some success. If they nominate one of these insane progressives, I’ll probably end up casting my first vote for the (R) in the last 30 years. Which would be quite amazing, since I was pretty much all alone in the “Trump is an idiot” camp way back when The Apprentice came out. I haven’t changed my opinion of him much… but he’s still miles better than the stuff they are putting up.
Which really, really should be giving the DNC pause. If a staunch “pox on both your houses” libertarian who has very little regard for Trump would even consider casting a vote for him… you might just be in trouble. HRC wasn’t enough to get me to move off of my Don Quixote vote for the (L) candidate. But this lot might just do it.
Pelosi has to drag her feet and maybe let it get to a vote, but not leave enough time to do the Senate part, because the Dems have mostly senators running and no way she times it so Warren (Sanders/Kamala/whoever) have to be in DC a lot for Impeachment when they need to campaign.
I would bet their strategy is probably “we hang the House Votes for Impeachment” on him, and campaign on trying to get a Senate Majority to finish the job. What they don’t want is to leave enough time for Mitch to call a vote BEFORE the election, and end it. (although I guess then they’d campaign on freaking out about that,)
End it? Just keeping impeaching and voting until the Orange One is removed. In chains.
More Swedish food
https://youtu.be/AGRyr8yIo9w
If you follow this 11 minutes of instructions to eat this food that is canned (presumably for convenience) you might not think it sucks as bad.
Reading about it, it’s canned for your protection not convenience. And not protection in the usual food safety manner either.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surströmming
According to a Japanese study, a newly opened can of surströmming has one of the most putrid food smells in the world, even stronger than similarly fermented fish dishes such as the Korean hongeohoe or Japanese kusaya.
pungent (propionic acid), rotten-egg (hydrogen sulfide), rancid-butter (butyric acid), and vinegary (acetic acid)
This quote and the video make me think it’s about simply hanging on to something for the sake of hanging on. I don’t eat sauerkraut and dumplings only out of family heritage, I do actually like the flavor. I don’t simply tolerate it because it is a food my relatives used to eat. This makes me think of the depression era foods my grandma grew up with like a lard sandwich. Any way to get calories was good no matter how it tasted. Keeping those recipes available for nostalgia and historical factors, ok, but don’t try to pass it on as anything anyone ever actually enjoyed.
I’ll pass on mock apple pie, but I do like a good butter sandwich.
I didn’t say butter sandwich. I said lard sandwich. And I don’t even know what mock apple pie is…googles…Ritz crackers? Apples grow on trees, crackers have to be paid for…sounds like city folk problems.
I’m going off her video, picked because she looks like an asian Shannon Sassoman, checking every box.
I like sauerkraut and kielbasa.
A classic, “I need calories but don’t want to work
at it.” dish. But no turkey “kielbasa”.
We have here a place that makes and smokes their own kielbasa. It is heaven on your tongue. I don’t waste that in sauerkraut, though. I just get Johnsonville Polish or Beddar Cheddars for sauerkraut.
I have an Icelandic buddy that came back from a visit there with a tub of fermented shark. Luckily his wife insisted that he not open it in our house and so he did on the porch. From several feet away the putrid stench was unbearably potent. I’m pretty adventurous about trying food, but no fricking way was I letting that shit get anywhere near me.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hákarl
I kept warning my friend, who took at trip there in ’18, to not try the piss shark. He says he didn’t, and, he’s still alive…
Heh, heh, it really does reek like ammonia piss cheese. I could not even imagine eating it if I was starving to death, and I like to add anchovy paste and lots of fish sauce to foods. Those Icelanders are a strange breed.
Whatever they are, he is utterly smitten by the country, and is quietly working on a return trip.
I fear that, if he goes back, he’ll be Hakarl-tempted*.
*not really–if he tries it, I would actually like to see video.
Okay, XX tax deduction and I are home now. Sprained ankle, naprosyn, Ace wrap, brace, many excuses for school (elevator, early dismissal from class). We supplied our own crutches. Wow. This whole raisin’ kids thing… A laff a minute.
Did you get through it earlier than planned? I was gathering that you were planning on a longer time sink there.
Yeah, it was pretty quick. 8:00 pm to 11:30 in, out, with a stop at CVS for rx.
3.5 hours spent on “kid health”….eh, I guess it could be worse, and you’re finally in.
/I’ll allow it.
last ?
Last in is sloppy
secondsthirds39ers356ers.Sorry to hear about your mishap Mojeaux.
Last night was girl’s night so I did the usual designated driver bit. I got her home…she wasn’t smashed but heavily buzzed. Suddenly she got it in her head she wanted to check the mail. I find this a nuisance because the neighbor’s dogs always mob us when they see or hear us out and about. They aren’t dangerous, just aggressively friendly and a pain in the ass, so I suggested we wait until daylight. Nope, she wasn’t having it. Then, to make things worse, she took our little male dog with her.
*facepalm*
I knew the neighbors dogs and our dog were going to cause grief one way or the other. The wife is very intelligent and well educated but for some reason I cant understand five seconds after dogs come into a situation her IQ drops about 60 points. It is very frustrating. So I grab my pistol (there is one dog in the area that I am leery of) and follow her. I am trying to catch up and I am asking her “Are you sure you want to do this?” when I see the neighbor’s dogs headed our way. I call her name…”Mrs. Suthen….you cant see disaster coming? This is a mistake…”. I said that twice…she ignored me.
Just before she gets to the end of the driveway our little dog makes a semi-aggressive lunge at the neighbors male dog. The neighbor’s dog is a bit skittish and does one of those half-sideways, half-backward dodges that dogs do and crashes right into Mrs. Suthenboy, knocking her legs out from under her mid-stride. Down she goes, her legs crumpling sideways. Yep. She twisted her ankle and tore the extensor tendons in the top of her left foot. For anyone who hasn’t experienced this – it is a crippling injury and one of the most painful injuries you can have. Worse, there is nothing you can do for it aside from ice packs, ibuprofen and keeping your foot elevated. She cant put any weight on it at all without excruciating pain.
I had to get the car and lift her into the car to get her back to the house. *bangs head on desk* This. morning nothing has improved. I tore mine about thirty years ago and I was on crutches for 9 months. It was awful.
So here she is three days from leaving with her buddies for a week on the beach vacation…one she has been looking forward to for months…ad she is crippled. It is too late for a refund and though I don’t think her injury is as severe as mine was I don’t think she will be sufficiently recovered by Saturday.
Fuckity frickety fracking fuck.
“You cant see this coming?”. I guess not.
My stepson asked me once after he narrowly avoided disaster by following my advice “How do you always know what is going to happen?”. My answer “How do you think I know?”
Ok, I will be back for links. I will be waiting on the Mrs. hand and foot for a while.
Good luck and I hope the. young one has a speedy recovery with minimum grief for you.
Last sentence was aimed at Mojeaux.
Mornin’, Suthen. Hope the Mrs. can salvage her vacation somehow. Maybe have a handsome cabana boy help her to a seaside chaise and keep her in Mai Tais?
Oh. I guess I shouldn’t have mentioned that to you. Um…sorry?
I know you’ll take good care of her. Hope the injury isn’t too bad and doesn’t disrupt both of your lives too much.