Monopoly Money

There is a meme going around depicting Monopoly, the classic Parker Brother’s game from the 1930s, if the board was designed in a manner to suit Kamala Harris.  I found it funny, but I also thought it was missing a couple spaces for taxes and began thought experiments on some of the other candidates and how Monopoly would look for them.  Warren for example would be nothing but spaces for Income Tax and Luxury Tax. Sanders would alternate between tax spaces, communal housing, players wouldn’t be able to purchase any of the properties, nor would they be able to land on Boardwalk and Park place as they are both Dachas, nobody gets to be the racecar, and of course Sanders himself is the banker and only pays in black bread.  Wiliamson would be a bunch of pot dispensaries, yoga studios, hipster eateries, the railroads are electric and the pieces are all different colored crystals.  Booker has the distinction of simultaneously having or not having a version of Monopoly with his name as being racist.

The racecar token is not an option in any of these versions…

Then I got to Yang…more tax spaces and you get $1000 when you pass go?

This is my review of Santa Fe Brewing Co. Chicken Killer Barleywine.

Yang’s campaign is focused on the idea of a “freedom dividend” that in a sense sounds like a UBI of $1000 per person over 18 per month.  That’s the about all anybody focuses on in the media, so I decided to look up the proposal itself and it is straightforward enough.

This is independent of one’s work status or any other factor. This would enable all Americans to pay their bills, educate themselves, start businesses, be more creative, stay healthy, relocate for work, spend time with their children, take care of loved ones, and have a real stake in the future.

Other than regular increases to keep up the cost of living, any change to the Freedom Dividend would require a constitutional amendment.

It will be illegal to lend or borrow against one’s Dividend.

A Universal Basic Income at this level would permanently grow the economy by 12.56 to 13.10 percent—or about $2.5 trillion by 2025—and it would increase the labor force by 4.5 to 4.7 million people.  Putting money into people’s hands and keeping it there would be a perpetual boost and support to job growth and the economy.

Yang’s FAQ page states his plan does not take the place of other social programs like Veteran’s benefits or Social Security since both are either paid into or earned.  This is in contrast with Milton Friedman’s Negative Income Tax; while often portrayed as a UBI scheme it is better described as way Friedman balanced his Chicago School philosophy, Minarchism, and everyone else’s desire for welfare programs.  Not paying income taxes is a way to give low wage earners extra money without the disincentive to work.  The same FAQ page quotes Friedman out of context as a way to convince the voter UBI is not a new idea.  He even quotes Thomas Payne.

Welcome to Alaska…here’s $1000

Yang also goes on to compare this scheme to the dividend from the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) given to residents of Alaska as an example of how this might work on the national level.  The APF however functions much differently and is not funded through a tax, it is a state owned wealth fund and the dividend paid is based on the overall performance of the investments in that fund.  The amount paid therefore varies, and it is also subject to strict definitions of “resident”.

There is also the part where there are what, 100 people living in Alaska?

“Foolish Irishman, stop this at once! I’m white! Can’t you see I’m white?”

Interestingly enough, there are not many recent arguments out there discussing the merits or demerits of the idea, other than this article from FEE that is mostly making the argument that once a government program starts it never dies and gets bigger.  While true, I was hoping for something a little more in depth and  FEE to their credit does deliver in an older article.  I expect this to change as the primary election rolls along since unlike nearly all of that field, Yang is actually likeable.

As far as a barleywine goes this one is a bit unusual since you can almost serve it ice cold and chug it.  Not recommended for a barleywine since it should be served at the almost universal optimum temperature (50F) for beer and there it starts to feel more like what one expects from this style.  Its deep red and a bit of a sweet aftertaste but overall, a nice complex brew but I’ve had better.  Santa Fe Brewing Co. Chicken Killer Barleywine 3.5/5.

 

Comments

286 responses to “Monopoly Money”

  1. PieInTheSky

    Barleywine – that is a lie. wine is made of grapes

    1. PieInTheSky

      barley based alcohol should be under 7% or over 45%. in between is bullshit.

      1. hayeksplosives

        This is why you lot deserved communism

        1. Sean

          Off the top rope!

          Ouch.

      2. mexican sharpshooter

        I disagree.

      3. DEG

        Sad.

        But, look on the bright side, more Samichlaus and other high alcohol beers for me.

    2. Nephilium

      And that’s why in the US you can’t call a beer a barleywine. Instead they’re all called Barleywine style ales (or beers). Because the Federal Government thinks people would be confused and think there were grapes involved.

  2. PieInTheSky

    A Universal Basic Income at this level would permanently grow the economy by 12.56 to 13.10 percent—or about $2.5 trillion by 2025—and it would increase the labor force by 4.5 to 4.7 million people. Putting money into people’s hands and keeping it there would be a perpetual boost and support to job growth and the economy. – this is just making shit up

    1. cyto

      Yeah, that’s hilarious.

      Take a bunch of money from everyone and then give some of it back to everyone. That’ll grow the economy by trillions!!

      (in the same argumentum ad absurdum as the minimum wage – if a grand nets you $2.5 trillion, why not go ahead and push for $10 grand per month for everyone. The economic growth based on yacht sales alone would pay for the thing…..

      1. It’s reminiscent of that old example of the shopkeeper who makes a $20 sale, uses the $20 to pay off a debt, and the same $20 bill then gets passed around the neighborhood paying debts until it’s returned to the same shopkeeper by someone who owed him $20 — and then the first customer comes back in, returns his purchase and gets the original $20 refunded. Economic activity for all at zero cost!

      2. Fourscore

        Take this job and shove it, I ain’t working here no more. My time is way too valuable when I get paid for watching TV.

  3. PieInTheSky

    There is also the part where there are what, 100 people living in Alaska? – and they all have big tits given that Q wants to buy land there

    1. creech

      Big tits? Sure, if all the residents are Sarah Palin and her kids and grandkids.

  4. Timeloose

    Kamala Harris, needs a few Take a Pass from your boss make 200$

    1. hayeksplosives

      Nice

  5. Timeloose

    Biden’s should have a sniff the community chest and take a chance that no one is looking spaces.

  6. Timeloose

    I just picked up some summer brews for today. A great variety pack from Troges, a six of Eat A Peach Weise by Susquehanna, and a four pack of tall cans of a local NE IPA.

    1. DEG

      Troges makes good stuff. I’ve had some good beer from Susquehanna.

      1. DEG

        And both of us spelled Troegs wrong….

      2. Timeloose

        It’s a great brewery to visit. They have a state of the art brewing setup. They contract brew many of the local and regional micros.

      1. DEG

        Yuengling! Yes!

        1. Timeloose

          It’s heavy on the PA beers.

          1. DEG

            That’s my fridge right now. I bought a lot of PA beers while I was passing through on my road trip. Mostly Sly Fox.

  7. AlmightyJB

    All beverages should be icy cold or piping hot.

  8. Cy

    I don’t get it… Why do you keep reviewing beer when the perfect drink already exists: Rum & Coke.

    1. Crusty Juggler

      Don’t you mean Johnnie Walker Black Label?

      1. hayeksplosives

        And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we are Libertarians. We all have strong preferences but we are not going to force compliance from others.

        Bernie Sanders would be all “Nobody needs more than one type of cocktail.” eff you, Bernie.

        1. Suthenboy

          No no no. The best drink is determined by completely objective criteria.

          1. Tundra

            The other night I had a few Negronis. That’s a pretty objectively perfect summer cocktail.

            It’s science.

          2. Rhywun

            I had a few too many negronis last night.

          3. MikeS

            My vote is for a Moscow Mule…or even more perfect; A Mule Named Barb. (swap rhubarb juice for the lime juice)

            *starts a new batch of rhubarb juice*

        2. Old Man With Candy

          Wrong.

          It’s 109° outside. The sun is beating down. Our air conditioning is dead. There is one and one only “best” for this circumstance: Bugey de Cerdon.

          1. MikeS

            Maybe mixed with 7-Up on ice.

          2. Tulip

            I’m sure you know this, but put big trays of ice in front of fans set to blow on you. Like, buyout the convenience store big trays.

      2. Allen

        Why not mix your whiskey with other whiskey, and have a rusty nail?

        1. blackjack

          One malt at a time, please. Oh, and the brewer better be wearing a skirt and golfing afterwards (Meaning after he was done, 18 years ago) .

          1. cyto

            Oh, we have that chain here! The Tilted Kilt, right?

    2. mexican sharpshooter

      Rum & Coke

      Cy eats deep dish. I guarantee it.

      1. He’s probably circumcised too.

        1. Cy

          Is this a round about way of you asking for a dick pic?

      2. Cy

        I actually despise deep dish! I think Chicago style is too damn doughy.

    3. DEG

      Run is for sipping, putting in daquiris, or Dark n Stormies.

      1. Liking the taste of rye, but only wanting to drink good rye straight or in Manhattans, I’ve found you can make an inexpensive alternative to rum and coke in Canadian Club and Diet Coke. Tasty and zero carbs too.

    4. KSuellington

      Alcohol and caffeine living together!? Are you crazy? Needs some type of law there.

      1. DEG

        You can have my Irish Coffee or my Bailey’s and Coffee when you can pry them out of my cold, dead hands.

        1. Cy

          *Raises cup of coffee into the air*

          I AM SPARTACUS!

  9. A Universal Basic Income at this level would permanently grow the economy by 12.56 to 13.10 percent—or about $2.5 trillion by 2025—and it would increase the labor force by 4.5 to 4.7 million people. Putting money into people’s hands and keeping it there would be a perpetual boost and support to job growth and the economy.

    Utter horseshit.

    1. Cy

      “Utter horseshit.”

      I think there’s a pattern developing here.

    2. AlmightyJB

      Yeap. I did back of envelope on UBI a while back. I think I calculated that if you balanced the budget and eliminated Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security (but still collected the same amount of money for them), you could give everyone 18 and over 15K a year and be neutral. That 15K will of course now have to cover health care and retirement savings. Of course as has been said, every presidential candidate going forward will promise to raise that amount. Not to mention, we should be cutting spending and taxes, not remaining neutral.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Oh I also eliminated all welfare spending as well in those calcs.

  10. DEG

    “Foolish Irishman, stop this at once! I’m white! Can’t you see I’m white?”

    Stupid laws apply to everyone, even rich white people.

  11. KSuellington

    Instead of Free Parking for Warren it should be a Big Wampum space where you get shell beads. She would also need a Chance card that gets you a cushy grant at Harvard.

    1. AlmightyJB

      Printing Press to print another trillion with each turn

      1. KSuellington

        Bernie version should have all the properties as Baltic Ave except for the dachas on Broadway and Park Place that couldn’t be bought or sold, and were awarded at the beginning of the game.

        1. MikeS

          And if you land on Broadway or Park Place you are executed sent to Siberia for annoying the nomenklatura.

  12. Suthenboy

    “This is independent of one’s work status or any other factor. This would enable all Americans to pay their bills, educate themselves, start businesses, be more creative, stay healthy, relocate for work, spend time with their children, take care of loved ones, and have a real stake in the future.”

    Or buy guns and ammo. In other words, convert it into something you are gonna need when the money runs out.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    and it would increase the labor force by 4.5 to 4.7 million people

    How, pray tell, does paying people to *not* work increase the labor force?

    1. Suthenboy

      They assume that people spending more money would spur increased production and sales of demanded goods. what they don’t account for is where the money will come from or the increase in wages required to incentivize people to go to work. They have a zero sum mentality. The economy is completely 2 dimensional for them. They simply cant grasp how the economy rights itself no matter what you do to it and they cant imaging getting the fuck out of the way and letting productive people do what productive people do.

    2. Fourscore

      He didn’t say ‘voluntarily’ increase the work force

  14. AlmightyJB

    Headed to liquor store later in quest for Campari. Recommendations on Bourbons and Rums (thinking dark but open mind to light)?

    1. Crusty Juggler

      Four Roses small batch.

      you’re welcome.

      1. AlmightyJB

        I already have that along with Woodford Double Oaked:) good call though.

      2. Cy

        I’ll second the four roses recommendation.

      3. AlmightyJB

        I was planning on looking for some Old Ezra 7-year-old Barrel Strength or maybe some Blanton’s, Buffalo Trace, or Booker’s. Anyone have have any opinions on those as far as bourbon goes?

        1. MikeS

          I wasn’t very impressed with Buffalo Trace. I’d got for Bulleit over that.

          1. AlmightyJB

            Thanks. Yeah, Bulleit is good.

    2. DEG

      Gosling’s for rum. Black Seal or their Old Rum.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Cool thanks!

      2. AlmightyJB

        Hopefully they’ll have the Black Seal. Have you tried El Dorado? I’ve heard that was pretty good too.

        1. DEG

          I haven’t had El Dorado.

          Gosling’s Black Seal is pretty common. Their Old Rum is not as common, and more expensive.

          1. AlmightyJB

            Cool. Out liquor store selection isn’t very good around here. I’m going to a specialty shop that’s supposed to have a better selection to I’m hopefully. If not, there are some good bars around there so still win.

    3. straffinrun

      Go to the local dive bar and pick up the lady behind on her bills/hooker.

      1. AlmightyJB

        They’re always train wrecks. Just not worth it.

        1. straffinrun

          Met this chick at the bar tonight. She cracked me up for a couple of hours. Hot enough body and face. I’m married, though, and of course made my way home alone as usual. Wife is splayed out on the couch in her work clothes. “Oh, you’re home. O’Kaeri”. Scoop her up and plop her in bed. I don’t follow my own advice because it’S TERRIBLE.

          1. AlmightyJB

            🙂

  15. JaimeRoberto: Gentleman, Scholar, French Tickler

    Regarding Harris and sending people to jail for marijuana, was she just enforcing the law as written? If so, isn’t that what someone in the Executive Branch is supposed to do? i don’t particularly like when the Executive Branch picks and chooses which laws to enforce. It makes a mockery of the law. Don’t like the law? Get the legislature to change it.

    Blocking the release of exculpatory DNA evidence is pretty messed up though.

    1. Suthenboy

      Out of one side of their mouth is ‘prosecutorial discretion!’ and out of the other ‘I have no choice but to enforce the law as written!’.
      I am not buying it. She is a sociopathic, power hungry, evil bitch.

      1. KSuellington

        There was a ballot measure about a decade back that would have decriminalized prostitution and she came out strongly against it, claiming the usual “sex trafficking would increase” canard. Now I see she has done a 180 on that. You would think that someone who got her leg up into politics based on a sexual transaction would either have a consistent position or largely keep her mouth shut about that subject.

        1. Plinker762

          Leg up indeed.

        2. Tacit Rainbow

          A clear case of her pulling up the ladder behind her.

    2. straffinrun

      Sure. But smoking it at the same time she was throwing people in cages for the same thing is what’s pissing people off.

    3. KSuellington

      I posted there before I finished. All politicians pander to some degree or another. Kamala lies on the extreme of that. The woman is quite willing to say anything she thinks her current audience wants to hear that day. She really is among the worst of the Dem lot. I’ve been saying for a couple years now that she is gonna lock up the VP nod for the Dems. I don’t think the DNC are stupid enough to let her get the top billing. It’ll be Warren-Harris or Biden-Harris.

  16. BEAM’s not a team player

    OT: Rex Murphy, Canada’s national treasure, lays a sick burn on the latest pack of mega-stars and mega-rich navel-gazing about climate change.

    1. hayeksplosives

      I always thought Mark Steyn was Canada’s national treasure but this Rex guy was pretty good.

      1. BEAM’s not a team player

        Fortunately, we have more than one “national treasure.” Unfortunately, we also have this idiot, supposedly one of Canada’s world-class “public intellectuals.”

      2. DEG

        Steyn has left Canada. He lives in New Hampshire now.

        1. hayeksplosives

          Yes, but he is still a Canuck citizen and is very active in trying to keep Canada “human rights tribunal” from muzzling the likes of him and others who enjoy free speech

          1. BEAM’s not a team player

            It’s an uphill battle — we not only have a Federal “human rights tribunal” but there’s a bunch of provincial ones as well. In some ways fighting them all is like playing “whack-a-mole” across ten million square kilometres.

          2. DEG

            It’s an uphill battle

            From what little I’ve heard, that’s an understatement.

          3. DEG

            People are most honest when they vote with their feet.

    2. Chafed

      That was very good.

  17. Crusty Juggler

    Reposting this from the previous thread because it angers me and I don’t want to be alone with my anger. Share in my anger. Share it. ’He’s done nothing wrong’ — Police union chief blasts recommendation to fire officer over the chokehold death of Eric Garner

    hey’ve taken your power away,” a passionate Lynch said at a Manhattan news conference. “To say a police officer doing his job was reckless will freeze this police department. The police department is frozen.”

    Lynch drew a line in the sand, offering his own recommendation to the rank and file. He said if Pantaleo is fired, he will instruct cops faced with a suspect who is resisting arrest to call a supervisor or emergency services, and avoid any harm to themselves or their careers.

    Wait for it…

    Lynch accused the judge of ignoring the evidence and trampling Pantaleo’s due process rights. He said the decision tells officers that they’re expendable.

    “A police officer has no other choice but to enforce that law,” Lynch said. “We can’t just walk away. It’s not called de-escalation it’s called doing your job.

    Can it get worse? Oh, it can.

    Lynch acknowledge the Garner family’s suffering. But he said police officers have suffered, too.

    1. hayeksplosives

      I wonder if Sir Digby has any special insight into how the Dallas/Arlington/Ft Worth local mood is, in the law enforcement world as well as the local community and the news coverage

      1. Cy

        As a local… It’s concerning to say the least. Apparently dogs and women laying on the grass are “draw your weapon and dump the mag” kind of scary these days.

        What’s it going to take for these assholes to change?

        1. blackjack

          They will never change. If you pin a hall monitor badge on someone, they will find a violator. Then, they will find more and more. When they’ve finished with all the people lacking passes, they will lobby for more authority. EVERY.SINGLE. TIME.

          The only hope is to restrain them via laws, but those are under the purview of politicians and we all know they work.

  18. straffinrun

    That monopoly board is great. I’d like to see the game of Life version.

    1. Tundra

      Where would you put the aborted pegs?

      1. Like DUH, you sell them to Chinese research labs.

      2. straffinrun

        Haven’t played in a while. They added an abortion offramp?

        1. Nephilium

          It’s the Robot Chicken edition (NSFW).

  19. AlmightyJB

    The question is, given that society demands some sort of economic safety net (or hammock), how do you mitigate the disincentive to work that you have with current welfare programs. Negative Income Tax and UBI are intended to address that but a cheaper solution would be preferable. Like maybe allowing a certain amount of income without losing benefits and then beyond that reduce benefits by 50 cents for each additional dollar earned or something along those lines until your off the dole. Of course a better option is to eliminate all the licensing, regulations, fees, etc that prevent the poor from going into business as week as ending prohibitions on drugs, gambling, and prostitution but too many nannies to contend with.

    1. Akira

      Like maybe allowing a certain amount of income without losing benefits and then beyond that reduce benefits by 50 cents for each additional dollar earned or something along those lines until your off the dole.

      Pretty much that. I think if we MUST have some kind of welfare system, the least destructive one would be a cash stipend that tapers off as you earn more. The tricky part would be setting the stipend at a level that is not too comfortable so that people are actually incentivized to move into actual work at some point.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of metrosexual hipsters- yesterday, a guy at the other end of the bar ordered some sort of fruity beer with a shot of vanilla vodka in it.
    What the fuck is wrong with people?

    1. There was a time not so long ago when doing something like that in Montana would get you lynched.

    2. Tundra

      You should have ordered him a Fuzzy Navel.

    3. straffinrun

      I tried a negroni tonight because everyone here was raving about them. Or least some people were. No. I switched back to beer quickly.

      1. Tundra

        Really? I thought they were great!

        But I was outside on a patio with my wife and our best friends, so I was feeling pretty mellow anyway.

        1. straffinrun

          900 yen and I got a glass of lava lamp juice with a lemon in it. I’d take a martini any day.

          1. Tulip

            That’s not a negroni.

        2. BEAM’s not a team player

          Context is important.

    4. Crusty Juggler

      “Speaking of metrosexual hipsters”

      Check out 2002 reference guy over here.

    5. blackjack

      That guy NEVER had lunch money when he was in school.

  21. Not a big barleywine fan. If I’m going to have something with that much alcohol, I’d rather just drink actual wine… or liquor. I think I’m biased because several years ago I had Dogfish Head 120 minute IPA, which is classified as a barleywine. It’s something like 20% abv and with so much hops it’s like chewing on lawn clippings. You could make a decent approximation by taking plastic bottle vodka and watering it down, adding a tiny touch of maple syrup, dumping as much hops as you can fit and then putting it in the blender.

    My other more recent barleywine experiences were not nearly so bad but they were in the same ballpark.

    1. Tundra

      Not a fan either. My beer expert peeps assure me good ones exist, but I’m still waiting.

      1. hayeksplosives

        The Happy Gnome in St Paul usually has a good barley wine on tap

        1. Tundra

          Thanks, but you know I hate crossing the River!

          1. hayeksplosives

            Yeah, I always avoided rush hour. Also from Fridley it wasn’t so far.

      2. mexican sharpshooter

        I’m telling ya…Killer Penguin.

        1. BakedPenguin

          Mwahahaha… Oh, you meant this.

      3. Nephilium

        Look for the Killer Penguin (as mentioned above), or if you can find it, try out Thomas Hardy Ale.

    2. DEG

      I had some 120 Minute IPA at the Dogfish Head Brewery back in June. I usually don’t go for American IPAs but I liked it.

      1. l0b0t

        The 120-Minute IPA is in my top 5 all time best beers. I love it and drink a couple every week.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    But smoking it at the same time she was throwing people in cages for the same thing is what’s pissing people off.

    That was covered in Moby Dick, right? Some whales are more equal than others, or something like that.

    1. straffinrun

      Tell me Queequeg didn’t toke.

  23. 0x90

    Giving $1k to everybody every month will totally not have any effect on the prices of things.

    1. mexican sharpshooter

      Like housing?

      Service members stationed in Europe often find the locals ask for their rank rather than negotiate on the rent, because the locals know the schedule for the housing allowance and price it accordingly for full amount.

  24. Rhywun

    any change to the Freedom Dividend would require a constitutional amendment

    lolwut

    1. 0x90

      I’ve heard arguments for amending the constitution to deal with abuse of executive power, but this is a new one.

    1. DEG

      That’s a pretty tame video by your standards. It did open up with testicles, but still, kinda tame.

      1. BEAM’s not a team player

        Bigger testicles? Meh. If it had opened with “bigger schlong,” that would’ve been worth listening to.

        1. Suthenboy

          Yep. I already have trouble with mine getting the witch’s kiss. I don’t need bigger ones.

        2. Heroic Mulatto

          The punchline is that Trump frequently boasts about only needing 4 hours of sleep a night.

          1. BEAM’s not a team player

            “So, you’re saying that Donald Trump’s balls are already YUUUUGE?” /Cathy Newman

          2. Crusty Juggler

            It’s part of his physical and mental health regimen.

    2. Suthenboy

      Funny stuff but I am not watching that through. What is he selling?

      1. Suthenboy

        I think Pie posted a photo yesterday of some panhandler with a sign that said ‘If you have a small dick, smile. If you have a large dick toss in a coin’ or something to that effect. Is this the same guy?

      2. Heroic Mulatto

        His book on sleeping, I guess.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Giving $1k to everybody every month will totally not have any effect on the prices of things.

    “I could have sworn Victory Gin came in a bigger bottle.”

    “Naah, you’re wrong. They’ve always been that size. Pay up. People are waiting.”

  26. Rebel Scum

    Barley wine? Strange.

    *opens Blue Moon Belgian White*

  27. DEG

    A little KBS from 2018. Yummy.

  28. Rebel Scum

    People of Walmart

    Texas police officers responded to an active shooter report near a local Walmart in El Paso on Saturday morning. There were no immediate reports of injuries or fatalities.

    El Paso police said on Twitter the scene in the Cielo Vista Mall area was still active and asked people to stay clear of the active scene.

    The shooter was reported shortly before 11 a.m. local time. Additional details were not immediately available.

    1. Suthenboy

      El Fuckin’ Paso.

      *Pro tip: Never be in EP without firepower within easy reach.

    2. Rebel Scum

      Information is still unreliable, but…

      KTSM reported that at least 18 people were shot inside the Walmart; however, the extent of their injuries was not immediately known.

      No bueno.

  29. Sean

    Two nice looking strips with protection.

    https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/URTJ1EXyTVKfS34sIA36UA.Yu4XPZrXVC63jpVm8B0Bdj

    Salted them up and stashed them in the fridge to sit overnight.

    1. DEG

      Excellent.

  30. Urthona

    How is Trump withdrawing half our troops from Afghanistan barely even a news mention? Seems to me like it should be a bigger deal.

    1. MikeS

      He’s only finishing what Obama started.

      /TDS

    2. Suthenboy

      Who’dathunk that personality disorders could rise to the level of an epidemic?

      Orangemanbad is no exaggeration. I wish C Anacreon were around about now.

  31. KSuellington

    About to do the drive back from San Diego to SF. 9 hours in the car with little kids. Lord give me strength. At least I have plenty of beer in the fridge at home waiting for me.

    1. Cy

      That’s a shitty 9 hours too. Have fun on I-5 through LA!

      Are you contemplating Highway 1 or just leaving after 7pm?

    2. Crusty Juggler

      Drug them with CBD oil.

    3. Mad Scientist

      Strap them kids in, give ’em a little bit of Benadryl and a Cherry Coke.

    4. Why’s the beer in the fridge? It won’t do you any good there. You need it in a cooler next to the driver’s seat.

      1. blackjack

        So you can throw it at people texting and driving?

  32. Crusty Juggler

    OT: Conservatives Are Hiding Their ‘Loathing’ Behind Our Flag

    The way the nationalist sees it, liberals always throw the first punch by “changing things.” When members of the “Great American Middle” (to use the artfully coded phrase of Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri to refer to nonurban whites) lash out in response to the provocations of progressive social change, they see themselves as patriots defending their America from internal attack.

    The attackers — the nature-denying feminists, ungrateful blacks, babbling immigrants, ostentatiously wedded gays — bear full responsibility for any damage wrought by populist backlash, because they incited it by demanding and claiming a measure of equal freedom. But they aren’t entitled to it, because the conservative denizens of the fruited plain are entitled first to a country that feels like home to them. That’s what America is. So the blame for polarizing mutual animosity must always fall on those who fought for, or failed to prevent, the developments that made America into something else — a country “real Americans” find hard to recognize or love.

    1. Sounds about right.

      1. Suthenboy

        *facepalm*

      2. Heroic Mulatto

        SHUT THE FUCK UP, LIBTARD!

    2. Rhywun

      TL;DR: Submit to everything the left demands or you’re a racist.

      1. Sean

        2020 should be fun.

  33. Crusty Juggler

    Is It Possible to Be Funny and Also a Christian? Snopes Investigates

    To me, the big story here isn’t liberal bias at Snopes. Nearly every outlet has some internal bias, but Snopes fact-checks the stories that people are asking about. The big story here is how the hell are people going to learn to tell the difference between fact and fiction?

    Critical thinking is a quaint, outdated, process.

    Anyway, let’s list the conspiracy theory we most believe in, or want to believe in.

    The MLK assassination! James Earl Ray was a patsy! Who was behind it? We can only speculate…

    1. Suthenboy

      “…Snopes fact-checks the stories that people are asking about.”

      Now who is trying to be funny?

  34. Crusty Juggler

    Why I Want to Start a Free Speech Trade Union

    However, Ferguson’s article prompted me to come up with a slightly different idea, which is to set up a trade union. The apposite Cold War analogy here is not with NATO, but with Solidarnosc, the Polish trade union born in in the Gdansk Shipyard in 1980. Among the 21 demands drawn up by the Inter-Factory Strike Committee and its chairman Lech Walesa was freedom of speech—that is, a guarantee that workers wouldn’t lose their jobs for publicly criticizing the Communist regime. It officially registered its existence on 10th November 1980 after signing the Gdansk Agreement with the Polish government and was one of the first cracks to appear in the Soviet control system in Eastern Europe. Ten years later, Solidarity won the first semi-free election to be held in Poland since the Second World War, setting off a chain of event that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

    What I have in mind is a British Solidarnosc (although it won’t be called that, obviously), a membership organization for people who earn a living through writing or performing, primarily for the purpose of expressing ideas. (A bit like PEN before it was captured by the ‘woke’ Left.) So membership will be open to academics, intellectuals, columnists, pundits, novelists, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, songwriters, comedians, and so on—“writers of any stripe,” in Ferguson’s phrase. And not just those who’ve achieved some professional standing in those fields, but those with ambitions to do so—students as well as practitioners, even older schoolchildren. After all, it’s on university campuses and in high schools that so much contemporary censorship takes place.

    England’s weird.

    1. Suthenboy

      There is a reason that we ran them off.

  35. Crusty Juggler

    How to Impress Your Sugar Daddy by Reading an Analog Clock

    Say fancy things like “quarter past.”

    There is no better way to flex your time-telling prowess than dropping in some freaky fractions. Ask your sugar daddy to pick you up at “half past 7” and watch him go wild. Using the real numbers is so millennial. Saying “it’s 4:50” makes it seem like you use your iPhone as a clock. Instead, you can say “it’s ten to five, papa.” Delicious!

    Steal his watch.

    Use your nimble little baby girl fingers to grab that big huge Cartier right off his wrist. He may be a little upset at first, but he will be so impressed once he sees you reading it, roman numerals and all. You’ll look so smart, hot, and most importantly young that he will have no choice but to accept it and buy himself a new watch.

    Good advice, imo

    1. MikeS

      My wife worked with a kid (early 20’s) who literally did not know how to read an analog clock.

      1. Old Man With Candy

        I had a gym teacher who couldn’t, but he had a watch anyway. Everyone would say, “Hey, Mr. Hurdle, what time is it?” and he’d look at his watch and say, “It’s… uhhhh… it’s… uhhhh…. it’s… uhhhh…. WHATSA MATTAH YOU AIN’T GOT Y’OWN WATCH ON?!?!?”

        Man, that never got old.

        1. Crusty Juggler

          When asked for the time I usually look at my watch and say something like, “it’s a quarter to three, unless Mickey has a boner.”

          You know, to keep it humorous.

    2. Suthenboy

      I clicked expecting The Babylon Bee.

    3. Rhywun

      I’m confused. The young guy pictured with the porn ‘stache is supposed to be a sugar daddy…?

      1. Suthenboy

        Yeaaaah…..it isn’t just his age.

        It is not uncommon for women, especially young ones, to have an imaginary ideal man that is too young to be mature and not straight. I never understood that. I think it is the princess/white picket fence mentality they have been indoctrinated with in their formative years. That photo is an exaggerated example.

        1. Suthenboy

          It sure sets them up for a lifetime of disappointment, frustration and unhappiness.

      2. You don’t want a young John Stossel as your sugar daddy?

        Or is that a young John Oates?

      3. Plinker762

        My initial though was that he might was the sugar baby.

        1. Plinker762

          proof read fail

    4. DEG

      Some former coworkers of mine and I had dinner at a local place for dinner. It turns into a nightclub after about 10 PM. We got a late start on dinner, and lingered after the DJ started belting out tunes.

      Some hot 20-something chick sits next to me, the youngest of the group of guys, and says, “Are you guys rich? Do any of you want to be my sugar daddy?”

      There was a 20-something guy hanging around her. We asked her if she was there with him. She said no. She’s out with her friends and trying to get over her recent breakup.

      Huh.

      It sure seemed to us like she was there with that guy and trying to use us to make him jealous.

      None of us became her sugar daddy. I think we’re better off.

      1. Heroic Mulatto

        It sure seemed to us like she was there with that guy and trying to use us to make him jealous.

        Or he was her pimp.

        1. DEG

          None of us had thought of that.

          1. Crusty Juggler

            lol what a bunch of squares.

      2. Suthenboy

        Sounds like a starter pistol to me.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    How is Trump withdrawing half our troops from Afghanistan barely even a news mention? Seems to me like it should be a bigger deal.

    HE’S GONNA GET US ALL KILLED!

    Happy now?

  37. Crusty Juggler

    It Was the Week Trade Wars Went From Uncomfortable to Scary

    China promised to retaliate against “blackmailing” if Trump goes ahead with more tariffs.
    From slapping on more tariffs to shunning U.S. soybeans, here are ways Beijing could retaliate.
    Trump’s growing impatience risks denting American consumers’ wallets to break the deadlock.
    Consumer goods are the targets in the latest tariff barrage, with Apple among the most exposed.
    White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow suggested Beijing could strengthen the case for avoiding tariffs being applied next month if they bought U.S. agricultural products.
    The slowing global economy faces a stronger headwind, challenging central bankers to respond.
    Goldman Sachs sees a greater chance the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates next month.
    Wall Street is warning about the consequences of a lengthy trade fight.
    China has a heavy arsenal of monetary and fiscal policy to counter the damage from new tariffs.
    Bloomberg’s Trade Tracker index got another nudge down after an ugly month for U.S. exports.
    The U.S.’s merchandise trade deficit with China widened slightly in June to a five-month high.
    Trump and Boris Johnson spoke for the second time since the British prime minister took office last week, agreeing to cooperate on trade and global security.
    Japan and Korea swapped export control measures, risking chaos in tech supply lines globally.
    South Korea’s Financial Services Commission said it will give “swift and sufficient” financial support to companies affected by Japan’s export restrictions.
    Oil finished down for the week as positive U.S. jobs news wasn’t enough to erase a plunge triggered by the escalation of the trade war.
    Copper fell to a two-year low in after-hours trading in London and mining shares plunged.
    Trump ribbed an EU trade delegation at the White House, joking that he was poised to impose crippling tariffs on German cars.

    I picked the wrong week to quit smoking.

    1. Suthenboy

      Uh huh. And who are they going to sell all of their shit to? Look…look at my boots…I am literally quacking in them.

      1. So filling out the medical forms as an otherkin turned you into a duck! :-p

        1. Suthenboy

          Oh FFS.

          *facepalm*

  38. Crusty Juggler

    Cassettes Are Back, and It’s Not About the Music

    And yet the cassette is back. In the U.K., sales were up 112% year on year in the first half of 2019, even if that means only 36,000 cassettes were sold. Sales in the U.S. are growing, too.

    One even reads nice things about the way cassettes sound, like in this Medium post from Aubrey Norwood: “The sound tape gives is warm. Saturated. It promotes a degree of imperfection, and creates an underflow of infamous tape hiss that leaves the format feeling nakedly honest, which is gold dust for the sincere-inclined musician.”

    In part, the cassette phenomenon is driven by the various mixtapes related to the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, in which a cassette tape plays an important, emotional part in the plot; they’ve stayed on bestseller lists for years. In a similar way, the movie Baby Driver, in which the protagonist listens to music on iPods, drove up the sales of the retro devices in 2017. (The movie was nominated for Academy Awards in sound mixing and sound editing.)

    As Goran Bolin of the Sodertorn University in Stockholm wrote in 2014, people “develop specific, sometimes passionate, relationships with reproduction technologies such as the vinyl record, music cassette tape, comics, and other now dead or near-dead media forms.” The passion, as Bolin put it, “is activated by the nostalgic relationships with past media experiences, the bittersweet remembrances of media habits connected to one’s earlier life phases.” That means an attachment not just to a record, but to a specific record, which hiccups in a specific place and has a specific rip on its sleeve; not just to a song but to a cassette on which it was recorded as an afterthought.

    I mean Polaroid pictures are still the shit.

    1. Rhywun

      In unrelated news, hipsters exist.

    2. I mean Polaroid pictures are still the shit.

      When I first moved in, I found some polaroids in box in the back of a deep closet. The box had a date of 1987 on it. It was of a young lady . . ummm . . .checking to see if something was in her naughty area.

  39. Not an Economist

    Powerline’s pictures of the week are good this week.

    1. Rhywun

      LOL @ Ferris Mueller

    2. Suthenboy

      Best of the lot: “If I see one more person texting and driving I am going to roll down my window and throw my beer at them!”

    3. DEG

      The Al Sharpton picture and the last picture are the best.

  40. Crusty Juggler

    On Set With Louise Linton: Inside Her “Homicidal Sociopath” Character, Three-Way Sex Scene in New Film

    ou slipped into this character very easily you said because you wrote it, but tell me who she is?

    Catherine — with a “C” as my homage to Catherine Tramell, played by Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct — is completely and utterly uninhibited. I like that, because in my life, I do feel inhibited because of politics, I guess, and what I really wish people would understand is that I’m not a politician. I am a filmmaker. I have nothing to do with politics. I’m not a Democrat and I’m not a Republican. I’m a filmmaker and I’m not interested, really, in politics. I don’t really want it to be associated with the stuff that’s going on politically. However, Catherine is uninhibited in the most beautifully freeing way, in a way I’ve never seen a character in film. This film is a very aesthetic film, it’s very stylistic, it is about money, it’s about cars, it’s about sex — she’s sexually uninhibited.

    Are there sex scenes?

    Yes, yeah. Very tastefully done, no nudity. And, yeah, there’s a threesome …

    With your character?

    Oh, yeah. With my girlfriend, who is played by Shuya Chang, and Ed Westwick.

    So, before you try to kill him you have sex with him?

    Definitely. He says, “Why didn’t you just kill me? Why have sex with me? Was that just some twisted preamble?” And she’s like, “No, I think you’re very sexy.” I mean, why put that twice — she’s like, “No, I think you’re sexy. Oh, yeah, dead sexy.” We break the fourth wall a lot. And it’s got a lot of fight sequence elements like Mr. and Mrs. Smith. And stylistically, it’s got a bit of Tron. We have a massive, throbbing soundtrack with so many of the real songs from the ’80s that are really anthems of that decade.

    Can you name any of the songs?

    We have “I’m So Excited” by The Pointer Sisters. In some ways, the movie’s an action movie, and in some ways it’s really just an outlandish, farcical comedy. In some ways, it’s a rom-com because there is a lot of romance in it. At other times it’s musical because we all have our musical moments when Shuya Chang’s character arrives. She enters the house and has sort of like her own music video moment if you will. We’ve also got “Let’s Hear It for the Boys” by Deniece Williams. This movie is really designed to be a feast for the eyes and to make people laugh. I took the opportunity to play on my reputation — which is completely off-base — by making my character a self-absorbed, narcissistic, homicidal socio-path. And it’s kind of funny.

    A true hero for our time.

      1. Crusty Juggler

        Travolta is way sexier.

      2. Suthenboy

        I knew and yet I could not resist.

        *searches for eye bleach site*

      3. Rhywun

        Oh my God.

      1. Crusty Juggler

        Gross

    1. AlmightyJB

      Ooooohhh that looks really good.

  41. Not an Economist

    This kid has used of 8 of his 9 lives.

  42. Crusty Juggler

    Brooklyn woman, 20, is charged after she is ‘caught on nanny cam forcing her housemate’s dog to perform oral sex on her’

    Danielle Hui, 20, was arrested after Taylor Goldenberg, 24, told police that she witnessed the shocking incident on a motion sensor nanny camera, according to a criminal complaint seen by New York Daily News.

    She allegedly forced the pooch called Colton, which is a Pomeranian Shiba Inu mix, to perform oral sex on her in her housemate’s bedroom at their Smith Street apartment in Carroll Gardens.

    Hui claimed that she wasn’t wearing any trousers but did have underwear on. She also claimed that she did not receive any pleasure from the sickening act when confronted by her housemate.

    She also branded it a ‘bizarre accident.’ She claimed that she would never engage in a sexual act knowingly with an animal.

    I too often smear peanut butter around my genitals before climbing to my roommates bed…

    1. Urthona

      I don’t know about “forcing”.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Dogs eat their own shit. Like they care.

        1. Suthenboy

          My grandfather: “See that dog licking his owner in the mouth? You know what he has been eating if he has been out where he can get it.”

          1. Suthenboy

            Oh, and he also said his dog thought cat turds are tootsie rolls.

          2. MikeS

            My dog likes nothing better than a cat turd or two before bed.

            SMDH

          3. If you get three or four cats, you’ll never have to remember to feed the dog again.

      2. blackjack

        Did you see the pic? Yeah, poor dog was obviously forced or very drunk.

        1. Sean

          It was woofied.

    2. Suthenboy

      A bizarre accident. That is all it was. Who among us hasn’t fallen back pantless with our legs spread with a dog tongue firmly in our crotch…for five minutes? C’mon, give the chick a break.

      1. I’m glad someone understands. And to think that people didn’t believe me when I told them this was a common occurrence.

        1. Heroic Mulatto

          Your avatar plus your comment is the funniest thing ever. It as if your dog is speaking, particularly since it looks like he has a 1,000 yard stare in that picture.

      2. Tres Cool

        Then, in a bizarre plot twist, she licks the peanut butter off the dog!

    3. AlmightyJB

      What I don’t get is why they need to waste taxpayers dollars punishing her. Her picture is all over the internet next to that story. That seems adequate.

      1. Suthenboy

        Rule 34 man. When she gets out she will have no shortage of requests for dates.

    4. Isn’t the real crime here that she was using peanut butter in her roommates bed? That stuff sticks to everything and I doubt she washed the sheets afterward.

  43. Crusty Juggler

    He says the things people believe are afraid to say!

    Many women nag men for 50 years straight about patriarchy and oppression and rape culture.

    TOTALLY HEALTHY!

    Man makes suggestion to women based on biology.

    MISOGYNIST!

    Nope.

    The con is over ladies.

    Men will now speak.

  44. Crusty Juggler

    Private contact information for over 2,000 journalists and popular YouTube creators was leaked on a popular gaming conference’s website

    Private contact information for over 2,000 game industry journalists, analysts, and YouTube creators had been accessible online in plain text on the website of the popular gaming conference, E3.

    Notice of the leaked data was first made public on Friday by YouTube creator Sophia Narwitz.

    The information — which had mistakenly been accessible on the E3 website via a downloadable link — included names, home addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers of 2,025 press members who attended the annual conference this June.

    GamerGate will never end!

    1. Suthenboy

      Geez, talk about a tempest in a teacup. Actually I suppose all of the leftist causes are just that.

  45. Crusty Juggler

    Dozens Storm The Gates At Lollapalooza, Cops Only Manage To Stop Kid With One Leg

    Nonetheless, officials claim that no one actually managed to storm their way into the festival: “Statement re: the attempted breach of an exterior perimeter fence at Lolla today. Our robust security plan, which includes multiple layers of fences worked. No one gained entry. Note to anyone who’s thinking about trying it: offenders will be charged with criminal trespass.” Multiple fences? What is this sorcery?

    1. Rhywun

      Are we sure they weren’t desperate to get out?

    2. BakedPenguin

      Like the “superglue” protestors at the Congressional building who were able to stop a woman in a wheelchair.

  46. Crusty Juggler

    Texas Man Facing Six Months in Jail for Sending Chocolate Penis to Sheriff’s Department Worker

    It has been almost two years since Thomas Roy Gourneau anonymously mailed a chocolate penis to his former girlfriend’s ex-husband, and that candy dick has been creating trouble for him ever since.

    According to the Waco Tribune-Herald, Gourneau mailed the edible genitalia to Tracy Chance’s office at the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office in December 2017. Chance responded by subpoenaing Gourneau’s financial records—presumably to prove that he was the dick-sender—and Gourneau was arrested and charged with misdemeanor harassment in December 2018. He was released from jail after posting $2,500 bond.

    Gourneau has turned down a plea deal and the offer of a “pretrial diversion program,” so the two men are going to court, where Gourneau could still face six months in jail and another $2,000 in fines.

    1. Was the chocolate penis filled with cream?

    2. MikeS

      Despite the fact that his client could face jail time, Cleveland seems to be really looking forward to hearing what Chance is going to say in court. “Was it the size of it? Was it that it was chocolate and he prefers vanilla? I don’t know, but he will get to tell the jury and explain to them why he feels like this is a crime,” he said. “I think a jury is going to think this is a complete waste of their time. If there has been other harassment, [Gourneau] isn’t charged with that. They have charged him with sending a candy bar.”

  47. Crusty Juggler

    Cheap Cruises Have ‘So Much Cocaine And Group Sex’, Former Worker Shares

    “The Brits were always the ones who took full advantage of all-inclusive drinks packages,” the ex-cruise staffer commented.

    If people aren’t fighting they must be in the bliss of sedation “as they are taking drugs.”

    The regular reports of cocaine being found ceased to have any surprise value.

    Claire also mentioned the menace of a rising penchant for open sex and indulgence in open nudity outside the cabin.

    Recalling a cruise around Australia and Fiji, where a couple got married on board, Sanders said they were “put off at the next stop” for doing sex on the deck.

    We had fancy-dress crew parties once a month and that’s when people would couple up. The Brits are very promiscuous. Everyone wanted to bed an officer because they had better cabins.”

    One ex-employee revealed that many ship employees keep “ship wives/husbands” despite their marital status.

    Meanwhile, the following statistics about sex on cruise ships reveal 98 percent of the 1,000 people considered a cruise as the most romantic vacation.

    The poll by Royal Caribbean showed that 99 percent admitted the sex was their favorite cruise activity.

    Some of the key findings of the poll include the following.

    • 90 percent rank asserted sex is the top cruise activity.

    • 75 percent of respondents said a cruise vacation improve their relationship.

    • 62 percent said sex is superb at sea.

    • 52 percent said it is more likely to be intimate on a cruise than land.

    • 31 percent feels night time is the right time to get risky,

    • 28 percent said sex is fine on any time of day –morning, noon or night.

    1. DEG

      So… what you’re saying is is that I vacation in the wrong places?

      #cathynewmanquestions

    2. Suthenboy

      I don’t think I would book a cruise on the good ship HMS Herpes.

      This does explain the wildfire spread of cruise ship sickness.

    3. Gustave Lytton

      Everyone wanted to bed an officer because they had better cabins

      Yeah, bigger cabin is the reason.

      1. Not Adahn

        It’s the epaulets. Chicks can’t resist them. Which is why Member’s Only jackets sold so well.

  48. Crusty Juggler

    CORRECTION: Kamala Locked Up More People for Weed Than We Thought

    The Washington Free Beacon’s finding that Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) had locked up at least 1,560 people for marijuana-related offenses while she was California’s attorney general was off, according to California’s Department of Corrections, which now says at least 1,974 were admitted to prison under Harris.

    The February report came under renewed scrutiny after it was cited by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D., Hawaii) in an attack on Harris during Wednesday night’s Democratic primary debate. The Harris campaign responded by labeling the statistic a “lie,” but a fact check by the San Francisco Chronicle found that even more people were put in prison for marijuana-related offenses than initially estimated.

    “The [Free Beacon article] cited statistics from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that said ‘at least 1,560 people were sent to state prisons for marijuana-related offenses between 2011 and 2016′ during the time Harris was the state AG,” wrote the Chronicle’s Joe Garofoli. “On Thursday, a department spokesman told the Chronicle that 1,974 people were admitted for hashish and marijuana convictions during that period.”

    The law is the law, and she was just doing her job enforcing the laws – isn’t that what we want out of our prosecutors?

  49. Crusty Juggler

    I’m a U.S. Marine, and this Isn’t the Freedom of Speech I Served to Protect

    It’s time to take a long hard look at free speech and at ourselves, with some personal self-reflection on how we’ve been using that right. At the very least, we each need to figure out what role, if any, we are playing in its debasement. If not for our own sake, maybe for our kids, who are more than aware of the utter hypocrisy of how we want them to behave verses how the adults in the room are actually behaving.

    So no, Mr. President (and all others blindly in agreement,) free speech is not about you uttering every senseless, debilitating, dehumanizing, inciting thought or word out of your mouth. It was meant so you could be an individual, choose to offer a disciplined opinion and contribute towards the well being of a democracy without fear of retaliation.

    And when you’re indulging yourself in the former, you’re eroding the very foundations of the latter. If your vitriol becomes all that free speech is about, who knows if future generations will still see it as sacrosanct.

    One of the stupidest things I have ever read.

    1. Rhywun

      Grow up, loser. Maybe buy a pair of ear-plugs to protect your tender sensibilities.

    2. Suthenboy

      “It was meant so you could be an individual, choose to offer a disciplined opinion and contribute towards the well being of a democracy without fear of retaliation.”

      I will decide what that is and isn’t.
      If you don’t pass muster then shut the fuck up. That is what free speech is.

    3. blackjack

      Free? What the fuck does that mean?

  50. Crusty Juggler

    Bring back America, democracy and freedom — Make China tariffs permanent

    That’s quite the headline.

    If we truly want a cleaner planet then we should start at home. Bring back the supply chains and build products according to standards that make sense, with incentives that make investments profitable. We can do it under U.S. rules, which ensure it is done according to environmental principles that are sound, and with hard-won worker protections.

    It’s long past time to rebuild America. The conditions are in place to have a great resurgence in manufacturing. The communities that have been devastated are begging for it. This path doesn’t need a strong-arm totalitarian government. It merely needs the president to make tariffs on China permanent, ensure manufacturing does not go elsewhere in search of lax rules — then get out of the way. American entrepreneurs will do the rest, as they always have.

    lol okay

    1. Suthenboy

      We have people who are scared of garbage disposals because they don’t know what they are wanting to rearrange the entire country’s economy. Talk about Dunning/Krueger. Seems to be a lot of that going around.

  51. Yusef drives a Kia

    Yeah I’m late, but I had Chicken killer in Las Cruces, too easy to drink!

    1. MikeS

      I wish I could go back in time and have a stab at her.

      1. That’s the kind of joke for a man, son!

      2. Suthenboy

        *Portal opens beneath MikeS’ feet and he falls straight into hell*

        I laughed. Save me a spot please.

        1. Gustave Lytton

          Me too.

          1. Gustave Lytton

            Might as well put this here too

            https://youtu.be/6MPoAUDKEs8

          2. MikeS

            Ha! That was funny stuff.

      3. I hope you’re proud of yourself.

      4. blackjack

        Better dress sharp.

  52. leon

    TW Expletive Laden Rant:

    Fuck the Supreme Court, Fuck the State of South Dakota. For those who don’t know I’ve been working on a side project, and am getting to programming a payment system in so i can rake in some sweet sweet cash. But before i go my partner asked me to look at the taxes. This is where my frustrations begin. South Dakota v Wayfair is an absolutely atrocious ruling. Fuck the conservatives in the court for making this terrible decision. To make things even worse my product is not a tangible item so i have to dig even deeper into rules or pay some other service that only exists because of this horrendous ruling. Nothing but a pure cash grab.

    /rant

    1. Yusef drives a Kia

      That’s fucked……

    2. Suthenboy

      A government cash grab? That cant be right.

      You <——— "We are going to tax the hell out of the rich!"

      *envious morons flock to polls to pull the lever on their own guillotine*

    3. grrizzly

      I had a friend who worked as a programmer on the product that calculated all the state and local taxes for each location. It was in 2000. Yes, businesses were supposed to pay those taxes even before 9/11.

    1. BEAM’s not a team player

      I’ve always been under that impression, yes.

    2. mikey

      It’s also the most literate and reasonable discussion of the topic I’ve read.

      1. Rhywun

        The funny thing is that the “generational wealth” thing is actually a reasonable argument in favor of reparations – if one I don’t support – until you remember that the same people tend to argue against passing your wealth to your kids in every other circumstance.

        1. Suthenboy

          This. Rhywun wins.

          It isn’t about reparations. It’s about looting, plain and simple. They are thieves and the argument changes at their convenience to keep the cash flowing in one direction only.

    3. DEG

      Is the reparations uncle named Tom?

    4. DEG

      From their “About Us”:

      The first and only satirical women’s magazine, Reductress was founded in 2013 by Beth Newell and Sarah Pappalardo. The mission of Reductress is to take on the outdated perspectives and condescending tone of popular women’s media, through the eyes of the funniest women in comedy today. Also, we want people to think we’re pretty.

    5. Crusty Juggler

      Maybe you should ask Snopes to fact check that for you.

  53. Not Adahn

    Back from the shooting match. I think I did much better this time, but the competition was also a lot better. Except for the one U.S. Marshal that was cop-typical.

    One dude was rocking a Colt Python. Crap times, but he looked good doing it.

    1. LJW

      Finally took my python out the other day. Fun gun to shoot.

      1. BEAM’s not a team player

        Finally took my python out the other day.

        Phrasing?

        1. LJW

          Oh wait we’re talking about revolvers?

    2. Suthenboy

      I swear I have mentioned this before when asked how I did in comps.

      “There is always that one guy. You practice and practice and the next time you think you have it in the bag only to find out he has been practicing too.”

      That is ok. I never thought of it as competition against others but with myself. It was always an effort to do better each time no matter who won the competition. Plus, win or lose it is just fun.

  54. With each new mass shooting, I cringe, awaiting the moment when somebody decides to make me a felon.

    I fully expect the 2a to be a dead paper within my lifetime.

    1. LJW

      Yup we have some crazy fuckers in this world. When they ban it the crazies will still be here and get more creative.

      1. I do wonder what causes this sort of thing more often than in the past. I have my theories, but the reality is that this is becoming a new normal, even though the grabbers have the exactly wrong set of solutions to the problem.

        1. MikeS

          I subscribe to the theory that it’s the modern media. Quit splashing these assholes names across every screen in America. It won’t stop it completely, but I think it’ll help a lot.

          1. LJW

            Add in social media too.

          2. BEAM’s not a team player

            I actually think the social media mentions/retweets/(whatever) are the dominant driving force here.

          3. I think it’s either video games, Dungeons and Dragons, or Heavy Metal music.