I was going to write a small blurb about this for ¡Enlaces! earlier this week, but as it turns out I had more come to mind than a blurb. Sorrey.
This is my review of Brewdog Practise What You Preach:
The talk of the alt-right/libertarian/AnCap online infotainment continuum last week was Javier Milei vs. The World Economic Forum. On the off chance you were unaware, Milei was invited to speak at the WEF annual conference in Davos, Switzerland. So he flew on a commercial flight and to everyone’s dismay called them all a bunch of dirty communists!
Okay, he was much more subtle than he normally is. He probably doesn’t want to be assassinated during the first year he is in office.
Naturally, the response from the usual subjects was, “BASED,” and “who needs Dave Smith when we have this guy, right?”
“No Mr. Bond. I expect you to eat the bugs. They’re delicious.”
At the risk of being called a tinfoil hat wearing weirdo, my theory on this is WEF invited him to do exactly that—call them out. Keep in mind the conspiracy theories surrounding this group of dystopian SciFi overlords all are debunked on the idea they are operating in plain sight, therefore it cannot be a conspiracy, right? In other words, this is all intentional on their part. The guy that started this thing looks like a James Bond villain, dresses the part, and speaks with a thick German accent. Marketing their “young leaders” program through Justin Trudeau, someone nobody takes seriously because he’s a weenie that shit himself in the mere presence of Xi Jinping. If they were taking over the world wouldn’t they be less obvious about it and wouldn’t they use someone scarier than Trudeau to make their plots known to the English speaking world?
Well, thanks to our very own prodigal Glib (HELLYEAH GORD!) we know that Trudeau isn’t just some weenie. He’s a Orwellian weenie drunk with power.
Which means the reason they brought Milei to speak was they were expecting him to call them all a bunch of communist assholes. The soccer player turned economist and tantric sex advocate that refuses to comb his own hair while running around Buenos Aries with a chainsaw in an AnCap Avenger costume was going to say something so outlandish the conspiracy debunks itself because the messenger is a clown. Thankfully it appears he merely stepped in, but did not get stuck in the trap.
I’ve had Brewdog before, but its a brewery out of Scotland so I don’t get a ton of selection from them. This one does not disappoint and thankfully doesn’t have a long French name for me to type out. Although, anyone that’s ever read Arthur Herman knows French-speaking Scots are not all that weird. Its a high level Trappist ale, complete with the thick body, lacing on the glass, the lovely scent of dark fruit and light bitterness. Made with Scottish heather honey, its a wee bit sweeter than normal and Rare Beer Club actually makes the suggestion to pair this with Baklava (?) along with their usual suggestion of slow cooked meats. I didn’t go that route but it paired well with the lamb shanks my sons and I devoured. Brewdog Practise What You Preach: 4.4/5
“The talk of the alt-right/libertarian/AnCap online infotainment continuum last week was Javier Milei vs. The World Economic Forum. ”
Dave Smith just did a video.
“The Media Vs Javier Milei Part Of The Problem 1084”
I might watch or listen to it later. I subscribe to POTP but rarely get around to it.
I caught it earlier. Its a pretty standard “Dave responds” video to another podcaster.
I thought his speech was great. I think it will be remembered for a long time. IDGAF that his live audience likely tuned him out within a millisecond. There were lots of people listening that matter more than Dr. Evil and his minions
Agreed
Absolutely KK. Let’s hope the US doesn’t need to reach Argentinian crisis levels before he gets an audience here.
That’s the black pill. It took them over a century to consider voting for a guy that promised to end free shit..
Its a high level Trappist ale, – so like all Trappist ale, crap
I liked brew dog dead pony club but i can no longer get it in Romania
like all Trappist ale, crap
C’mon Pie, it can’t be all bad.
it is really not my style
Sad. Trappist ales are some of the best beers there are.
I’m going to be a flaming hypocrite, but Sensei asked me to pull this forward from the deadthread.
As I recall, a bunch of people had dropped off because the constant focus on politics was a drag.
too much fiction, not enough philosophy or meaty topics
I’ll make a few observations.
First, good on people for providing content, regardless of what the content is. It’s a sacrifice to devote hours of your spare time to creating content for free for this site, and the people who do it on the regular are awesome. TPTB are also very much to be thanked for keeping this place going. They’re good folks and they had all the reason needed to pull the plug multiple times, but kept this site running.
Second, the meaty content doesn’t get and never got engagement. The usual suspects would engage with the topic, and then after 5 minutes start the porn (outrage, doom, and actual) , tabloid and Twitter hot take links. Over the years, I cut down my article drafting time from multiple hours per article to 1 hour per article to 30 minutes per article to not submitting articles because what’s the point if 5 people are going to engage and 20 people are going to post “hubba hubba” to the latest teacher screws 14 year old tabloid link? The market spake, and meaty content won not.
Finally, I have been candid in the past about my reduced engagement and departure being tied to what I perceived as a decreasing signal to noise ratio in the comments. I think that problem is getting worse as people peel off, not better. There are some great people in this community, which is what draws me back in time after time, but I don’t get much out of the normal course of conversation anymore.
Disclaimer: I’m not trying to bitch about things to make people change or to make a noisy exit. If and when I decide to end this current try at reengagement, I’ll quietly go away. However, I wanted to give the perspective of somebody who was heavily engaged 3 or 4 years ago, but finds himself drifting in and out of the periphery now.
Hence why we’ve been begging for new users to be able to sign up for ages. That’s the whole point.
“people are going to post “hubba hubba” to the latest teacher screws 14 year old tabloid link?”
I only post those on links posts, and even then I usually wait thirty minutes.
I’m not pointing fingers at you directly. I just picked a topic that I remember getting tons of engagement in the last few days as an example of something that is posted on a regular basis and tends to exert a gravitic pull on the conversation, to the exclusion of just about all other conversations. Not harshing you for posting the links.
Thanks, I didn’t take it as an attack. I also often post links to new stuff that has no pull on the conversation. Just like I often read articles here, but don’t comment.
Personally, honestly I ran out of patience to create to much philosophical content… It also depends how black pilled i am in a particular time and sometimes do not see the point of rehashing some things that never escape the bubble.
Comment wise, though I comment plenty, as a non american it seems sometimes too focused on day to day US politics and the same sarcastic bitching abut it (which I do myself about certain topics). But it is all to clear politicians lie and say vile things. And wokeness runs amok. The comments keep pointing this out over and over again. But these topics also get a lot more engagement than say something about science or art.
Most of the links are also a bit to heavy on a few conservative politics websites. But it is what it is. I still come here almost every day,
Pie, just wanted to say I appreciate your presence here to add your thoughtful, non-North American perspective.
Seconded. I don’t get that kind of perspective elsewhere.
Same here!
Plus I admire anybody with the fluency to engage well in difficult discussions in a second language.
Something I can’t do well.
“Plus I admire anybody with the fluency to engage well in difficult discussions in a second language. ”
Ditto, especially considering he doesn’t live in an English speaking country.
Thirded.
I also love his dry humor.
Indeed! Humor is hard enough in one’s first language, so managing it in a second (or third or fourth?) language is impressive!
Sophia Vergara said “Do you know how hard it is to be funny in a foreign language?”
I welcome different kinds of content of course, but damn I frequently need to let off steam at the latest stupidity.
I don’t have anyone to talk about that stuff with.
#MeToo
Finally, I have been candid in the past about my reduced engagement and departure being tied to what I perceived as a decreasing signal to noise ratio in the comments.
I’ve found myself scrolling quickly through comments on many posts whereas in the past I’d take time to read them all.
For me, it’s the combination of stuff that I don’t find interesting plus work/life taking priority.
I have no meaty content. I have only beer.
Wouldn’t an oyster stout cover both? Or do I need to hunt down one of the cow heart infused beers for you?
🤨I’m good.
Indeed. I only have movies. I am one step above a caveman. I love you all and contribute because I believe our blend of content is unique. I believe there will be others coming when the site is fixed. They lurk.
Build it and they will come!
Field of Screams could make a decent zombie flick.
Beer has sufficient umami to be meaty
I appreciate your input. Hopefully you will choose to remain.
I welcome any serious critique and continue to count Trashy in the top half, a more serious Glib.
meaty content doesn’t get and never got engagement
I leave it to others to rule on the wider, recent situation, but I found the response to my how-I-became-a-libertarian to fill a good 80% of the comments that time: it was a fabulous volume of quality comments. I think the heavier content like Stocism is well-done and well-received; it’s not entirely my bag, but I always scan it, take a little something away, and much prefer it to schlock-of-the-day When I post dreck as filler, I fully expect it to go OT fast and don’t care how others fill the time: Over-Rated is a half-step below Movie-of-the-Week, but this year I only posted it as silly filler, and the engagement was congruently silly, but I felt like that was better than a half-dozen open slots a weeks.
after 5 minutes start the porn….decreasing signal to noise ratio
I find a good quarter of Glibbing is just identity politics: rationalization and sanctimony. But that’s 80% of life outside of Glibs, so it is extremely tolerable. I’m 100% okay with team-A-sucks-for-these-reasons, but too much of it is cover for why-I’m-voting-for-slimy-Team-B-in-spite-of-basically-similar-reasons-and-am-going-to-lecture-you-meanwhile….okay, everybody, do what you like and vote how you wish, but it’s a complete turnoff to think this is a philosophically-centered board and then be met with ad hominem if I point out something about team B (and I’m certainly not Mr Whataboutism: I’m Mr PoxOnBothTheirHouses because I absolutely am not voting for an unprincipled clown of any flavor). At its worse, it’s like going to one of my hillbilly re-unions: just the facts when they work and 5D-chess conspiracy theories when they don’t. That said, I’m not sure what the ideal posture is in a country that was approaching its founding ideals and fixing a few things and then spun off its axis into competing rationales for expanding autocracy. I wish it was all for one and one for all in Glibs, us against this very crazy world.
I’ll quietly go away
JB tried to explain how he felt. I think I have felt the same way and just made our case one more time. He begged for clarity and decency, and then he left. I still think it is better to stay in touch. I’ve been testing the waters on Discord, but it is not better for any of the reasons they claim (on-topic policing, threads dying…six of one, half dozen of the other).
My plan is to enjoy what I can and ignore the rest.
My plan is to enjoy what I can and ignore the rest.
That’s where I’m at, too. If it comes to be that I drift back out in a different direction, y’all know how to find me. Many of you have reached out in the past for various reasons and that kind of community, where you’re gone but not forgotten, is what brings me back.
Trashy, thanks for saying what many of us here have been thinking. TPTB have noticed a drop-off in site participation both from commenters and contributors, and realize how each of those things accelerates the other.
We’re open to ideas, and content, to revitalize the site.
We also realize there are myriad site technical problems, including registration issues, and are hoping that the forthcoming and long-awaited upgrade (Tue, Jan 30) will fix some of that.
Thanks to everyone who has stuck with us.
That guy dresses like an extra from a (original) Star Trek episode. And I don’t mean Milei.
Where do you even get clothes like that? Is there a Dr. Evil boutique online somewhere?
To me, that’s the crazy part. He had the outfit made, wore it at a WEF event, and is so far up his own ass that he does not think everyone sees a Bond villain.
He aspires to be a social media influencer?
I honestly wouldn’t rule it out. The guy is maximum creepy.
“Yes, but it is a true one. Just because reputational damage is done doesn’t mean liability should accrue. As suthen mentioned, intent matters. Also, the obviousness of the fake comes into play. It’s a spectrum.
A video of some porn star who looks kinda like TS engaging in a threesome with a pair of guys who kinda look like the Kelce brothers is very different from a deepfake video showing a convincing TS taking it from a convincing Jason Kelce in the Arrowhead bathroom while Travis is down on the field playing.”
As far as I can tell the only intent here is porn. While I wasn’t surprised to find deepfakes of famous singers and actresses, I was a bit surprised that people bothered to make them of people like Shoe0nHead and Tulsi Gabbard. Rule 34.
At the current level of technology, a convincing video would require a Hollywood budget, or at least professionals working with very expensive equipment. All the videos I found were badly faceswapped porn. For still images, there are programs that can generate pictures from verbal prompts, “Taylor Swift Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader locker room”, and the results look fake. Eventually, there will be programs that can generate realistic video from verbal prompts. When that happens, I’ll be more concerned about fake news than fake porn.
As far as I can tell the only intent here is porn.
Using the likeness of unwilling participants. Porn isn’t exempt from NIL concerns any more than the NCAA is.
Agreed. But NIL concerns are civil matters not criminal matters.
I agree to an extent. However, two points.
1) efficient infringers are a thing. It seems profoundly unjust to me that a porn co could decide that the risk of paying money damages is outweighed by the likely revenue and nick some girl’s Instagram pics without her consent and turn her into an AI porn star. Injunctions need to be part of the conversation.
2) there is a different character to this than to the NIL stuff in the NCAA. The players are doing the same thing in public that their likenesses are doing in the video game. It’s not like they’re being put in first person shooters or dating sims. Theyre football players in a football game. Putting the likeness of a 20 year old girl into a porn scene when they’re not in the sex industry strikes me as fundamentally immoral in a way that isn’t fixed by mop-up action in civil court.
Porn companies aren’t making fakes. They are making the porn the hobbyists are using to make the deepfakes.
That adds points in the direction of efficient infringement. When you’re judgmentproof, there’s not much downside from a civil law perspective to making porn of that girl from high school who never gave you the time of day. What are they going to do, bankrupt you?
judgmentproof
That affects all matters of torts. Nothing new here.
Nothing new here.
No, but it’s a “chewy” problem. I wrote about it in the context of environmental issues in 2019 (https://www.glibertarians2019.link/2019/06/06/standard-libertarian-disclaimer-episode-2-epa/)
but it’s a “chewy” problem.
The kind of problem that draws the “we have to do something!” response from most people. The problem is the response always leads closer to totalitarian government.
So, I always lean towards do nothing.
If there is a solution to deep fakes, my guess it lies in the area of NIL rights for private citizens and libel laws for putting fake and demeaning content out in a public forum.
But has to come with some notion that if you put a photo into the public sphere (via social media or whatever the future holds), then you loose some rights to control that image.
The wild card is media recorded by third parties whenever you are in the public sphere. Public photography laws are already pretty clear on when you can and cannot be photographed in public without a release.
Well, “judgement-proof” is relative. Sure, you can’t stroke a check to cover the verdict, but I can (and will) pursue you and take a hefty chunk of your earnings the rest of your life via garnishment.
The biggest issue, of course, is that doesn’t pay the lawyers to get me to that verdict. Piss me off enough, though, and you’re be paying me the rest of your life regardless.
But has to come with some notion that if you put a photo into the public sphere (via social media or whatever the future holds), then you loose some rights to control that image.
This is very true at a practical level. My prediction is that within 5 years this will come to a head. How? There will be a ThotGPT where you can enter any social media handle into the system and describe the sex scene, and it’ll pump out a deep fake video of that person engaging in whatever you describe. You want to watch a video of your high school girlfriend de-aged to 17 and taking it from a horse and 1984 Bill Cosby at the same time? It’s 3 minutes of prompt engineering away. Maybe it’ll still be obviously fake, but my money is on it becoming indistinguishable enough to be mistaken by the average person as the real deal. All the laws in the world aren’t going to protect people with their pictures out on the internet when that happens.
That said, from a legal perspective, people have fewer rights to just yoink photos on social media and do what they want than is currently accepted. There are simply a ton of practical hurdles keeping people from enforcing their rights.
I completely agree on the need for an injunction. When there is a defendant with money and intentional conduct is proved the SC may need to revisit their restriction on punitive damages. Alternatively, they could find this to be one of the exceptions to their cap.
Deepfakes are the definition of “knowingly publishing false and misleading content”. There’s no NYT v. Sullivan issue with deepfakes. I couldn’t say whether there is an issue with punitive damages, but the recent 8 figure verdicts against Trump seem to indicate you can get as big a verdict as you want for the most trivial “defamation”*, so I’m not sure what limits there really are on verdicts in defamation cases.
*In what universe did Carroll have more than $80MM in direct damages? Hell, if Trump put a bullet in her lying head, the wrongful death damages would be nowhere near that (probably two literal orders of magnitude less).
Under current precedent, the jury can render any punitive damages award they want. It will be incumbent on the trial judge or appellate court to cut it back. I agree damages are insane.
Cartoons, impressionists, sketch comedy, etc. use the name, image, and likeness of unwilling participants all the time. Not sure why porn would be any different.
Anyway, my point is that the intent of people making these videos isn’t to harm or defame the celebrities, endorse products, or misrepresent their opinions.
To condense the argument, Public exposure of a public figure’s public aspects is different than public exposure of a private figure’s private aspects.
You said that much more succinctly than I could.
I’m not so sure this isn’t a form of defamation. It also sets up an ugly discovery process if truth is asserted as a defense. Imagine the deposition in which Taylor Swift is asked if she had sex with boyfriend’s brother in a stadium.
“No, I did not.” Also, the same answer from the brother. I’ve testified in worse depositions than that ,and I’m a fucking lawyer who you would think would be basically immune from being deposed.
And no, this wouldn’t be an open door to ask her about her entire sexual history – the issue is “did you fuck this guy at this time in this place”. Contrary to common belief, discovery isn’t (quite) a blank check to extract whatever information you want regardless of its bearing on the claims at hand. Asking her to prove somehow prove a negative mistakes where the burden of proof lies in the affirmative defense of truthfulness.
Civil.
Fucking, regulatory, state and federal discovery is a trip to the proctologist.
Correct. This would be a civil case, and the discovery would be around the affirmative defense of truthfulness. If I was her lawyer, I’d be quite comfortable instructing her not to answer any question that strayed beyond “is that you in the video”. Hell, I’d like my chances at getting the subpoena for her testimony quashed.
Maybe this varies by state. I don’t think you would get that limit in California.
I look forward to the beer reviews every weeks.
Thanks MS.
Thank you
I second that as well. We are close to be a beer desert for quality products, so it is nice to read what is out there.
Thirded
Juris, answering per dedthread:
I think, pursuant to your last line, that one huge problem with this admin is that, no, no one person is running things, and it shows in how they cannot let Joe ride off into the sunset because 1) Kamala is abjectly horrible at any job, while 2) losing her would cost them the black vote.
The D’s would love to put Newsome in, but, Kamala is officially designated at the replacement. To get him in, they have to kick her to the curb, and there is no way to do that in this period of Black Power without looking racist.
Immigration is just an example of what the activist base wants vs. average voters want. Activists run the gov’t, but they need the average voter. This is the pickle of not having a single strong hand on the tiller, so to speak. Activists wont go anywhere, but if they are steering things, well…
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/01/we-dont-have-a-president.php
They could probably convince Kamala to voluntarily step aside to spend more time with her 8-figure book/netflix series/podcasting deals, opening the door for Stacy Abrams to be Newsome’s VP.
I would love/hate her being offered a SCOTUS seat…imagine the Dr. Suessian rhetoric in her oral arguments
My liver couldn’t handle that.
While Harris as a Nazgul would be a nightmare I would impatiently wait for the photo of Brown looking at Harris with the classic “What the fuck did you just say nigga?” look on her face.
Sorry, but SCOTUS is a very distant second to VP, never mind President, to a career politician. There is literally nothing they can offer her that is worth more (to her, definitely) than being teed up as the next President, as few VPs ever have been.
Harris is off the ticket when she’s in the ground, and not before.
Kamala could be replaced by Spartacus, all good black Dem voters are happy to stay on the plantation. Oh sure, you’d piss off some arch-feminists – so what are they going to do, vote for Trump? Booker is as empty a suit as Newsome. This of course brings us back to who in the hell is actually running things? Normally, I’d be one to accept chaos and the answer “no one runs things” and that may be the case here, but somehow that doesn’t seem plausible even to me.
Imagine Harris having to defend her last 3 years as Border Czar – it would be hysterical. It’s the perfect excuse to dump her and yet no one is suggesting it (outside of us squirrels).
That sets aside the fact that Kamala is in the hot seat; ie she has been promised the presidency if something happens. Biden stepping aside IS THAT SOMETHING.. The reason you don’t hear about it is that It. Isn’t. Going. To. Happen. No matter how you get rid of her, to keep the same dynamic in play you have to pick another black person. And that just screams Affirmative Action. “Look at us, keeping the blacks happy.” See how the D’s aren’t talking about CA’s pick; it was so blatant that they want to keep it sub rosa. Like I said, Kamala puts the dem’s between a rock and a hard place.
And that just screams Affirmative Action.
Which does not offend the constituency being bought-off with it. You’d be offended if you were pandered to like that, as would I; but it seems a large, very large, number of black voters are quite content with that.
No, it doesn’t offend that constituency, it offends all the other groups. And it just makes it plain that it is what AA is, no cover any longer (not that there is much left, but still). Also, everyone mentioned, except Spartacus, is a loser. Abrams? Girlfriend, please, she cannot even cover her own state, and is an election denier to boot, and you can bet that will go over like a lead zeppelin since it is the battle cry du jour. There is a reason she is off the center stage.
Like I said, its a shitty spot to be in, and one they worked angles to get.
Except Spartacus is from NJ.
Is there somebody of proper color from a swing state?
Stacy Abrams.
Stacey Abrams.
Stacy Abrams it is!
Woman, POC, less competent than Kamala – perfection!
Also, a Woman of Size, guaranteed to pull in votes from the Corpulent-American community,
Abrams is proof that fat, drunk, and stupid ARE the way to go through life.
is there evidence that she drinks?
That’s fair. I just assumed.
thanks to our very own prodigal Glib (HELLYEAH GORD!)
🙂
I’ve had Brewdog before, but its a brewery out of Scotland so I don’t get a ton of selection from them. This one does not disappoint and thankfully doesn’t have a long French name for me to type out. Although, anyone that’s ever read Arthur Herman knows French-speaking Scots are not all that weird. Its a high level Trappist ale, complete with the thick body, lacing on the glass, the lovely scent of dark fruit and light bitterness. Made with Scottish heather honey, its a wee bit sweeter than normal and Rare Beer Club actually makes the suggestion to pair this with Baklava (?) along with their usual suggestion of slow cooked meats. I didn’t go that route but it paired well with the lamb shanks my sons and I devoured. Brewdog Practise What You Preach: 4.4/5
Available through that beer of month site you linked a while back?
Yes, I got it from Rare Beer Club.
https://www.beermonthclub.com/the-rare-beer-club
Thanks!
I have it bookmarked. That other beer you reviewed from the club: I bought a bottle, tried it. It was excellent.
I didn’t know that existed.
“stands and salutes*
Bookmarked, but I gotta admit, the price is . . . steep. Much as I love beer (which is a lot), not sure I’m that committed.
Shipping beer ain’t cheap. It’s heavy and fragile.
It is pricey, I don’t go this route too often. It is however an easy outfit for others to buy me gifts. Like many adult men I am considered “impossible” to shop for.
… they cannot let Joe ride off into the sunset because 1) Kamala is abjectly horrible at any job, while 2) losing her would cost them the black vote.
The D’s would love to put Newsome in, but, Kamala is officially designated at the replacement. To get him in, they have to kick her to the curb, and there is no way to do that in this period of Black Power without looking racist.
This statement immediately conjured up a vision of what I refer to as the “tar baby(!)” genre of movies, which features a cascade of bad decisions and bumbling which eventually lead to a climatic tragedy. In the movies, people occasionally earn from their mistakes. In politics, they don’t.
LOL politicians always earn from the mistakes.
I see Milei doing an experiment in real time. This sort of “take a chainsaw to it” thing has been talked about but not seriously implemented in my lifetime. So I’m really curious to see how this is going to play out. How successful will the opposition be? Will the economy really improve? How long will it take? What compromises will he have to make? If any? He’s doing us all a huge favor. And to me, he’s about the only person at that level who’s showing true leadership.
How long will it take to turn things around and does he have enough time?
Will Judge Nap sue the site for stealing his schtick?
See? SO MANY QUESTIONS!
My fear is, it will take too long. The counterforce is the amount of resentment the populace has for their rulers. If they can be mollified for long enough by the spectacle of petty autocrats being brought low, even if their lives don’t immediately improve, he has a chance.
I keep saying the same about blue states teaching the rest of us how not to make your economy swirl down the drain but it doesn’t seem to be working. The ideas are spreading and the blue states and cities are doubling down.
While this is true, blue states are also losing population to red states. People are expressing an opinion by moving. I’ll be doing the same when I retire. It’s a slow, grinding process that will take years to make a difference.
One place it will make a noticeable difference is Congress. The census projections show California losing 5 house seats. NY and IL will also lose seats, as per usual. The southeast, Texas, Idaho, and Arizona will pick up seats. That’s not a solution but it is going to impact the losers.
Sadly, I thought when I moved to AZ ten years ago I was moving to a sane state.
That is becoming no longer the case. I never thought I’d sell the Casa Dean and move, but I’m starting to give it consideration.
Iowa will welcome you with open arms.
It will take years but I expect the Red states to turn Blue eventually. All those refugees aren’t moving to red states to be farmers – they’re moving to the suburbs and turning them purple. It might not be them doing it but it will be their children.
That hasn’t been borne out by recent elections. Ted Cruz was +14 with Californians who moved to Texas. That doesn’t mean Team Red can’t screw it up. Only that recent trends are favorable for them.
That implies he was minus with the rest of TX.
And now for something completely off the wall . . . . Guitar Music
I had no idea Ernst Blofeld played guitar.
I see Milei doing an experiment in real time. This sort of “take a chainsaw to it” thing has been talked about but not seriously implemented in my lifetime.
Politicians, as a species, are gutless. They want to be loved, which s why they crave the political spotlight in the first place. Intentionally putting themselves in a position of being the bad guy who kicks the puppy and steals the candy from the baby is not what they do.
BrewDog is based out of Scotland, but they do brew here in the US as well, main campus is outside of Columbus (and has a hotel). They have several bars spread out through the US (and even more through the world).
I’ll have to ask about that one next time I’m at the local outpost.
Sounds interesting. Please report back.
I marvel at people’s (in general) ability to ignore the obvious and flagrant lies they are told every goddam day by politicians, media, thought leaders and civil society advocates. It’s nothing but willful obdurate ignorance. But, to paraphrase somebody or other, if their happiness and mental well being depend on not seeing, they will remain blind.
I tried it, but it didn’t work.
It’s particularly frustrating to me because while the lies have always been there, it’s just so flagrant now. In the last thread someone posted stories about how the economy is doing great. Everyone goes to the store or the gas station and see the high prices. Everyone who’s borrowed money sees how the interest rates have gone up. Yet they persist.
Because reasons, we were able to save some money this year. We have a regular ol’ savings account with Smartypig, who’s paying ~4.25%. It was nice/awful to get my 1099 this year and see the miracle of compound interest benefiting me this year instead of killing me.
Yeah, but look at the level of media trust these days:
Trust in media is so low that half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them
https://fortune.com/2023/02/15/trust-in-media-low-misinform-mislead-biased-republicans-democrats-poll-gallup/
I’ll say it” Only half? It could hardly be more blatant.
But the secret superpower the media has is what they don’t report. Lies of omission are much harder to grasp than lies of commission. While they tell plenty of the latter, it is the former that is the true One Ring of Power.
Everyone who’s borrowed money sees how the interest rates have gone up.
The other day, I saw something saying credit card rates are back to ~20%. The article was about the sudden and completely baffling popularity of (interest free) “buy now pay later” purchase options, which are an existential threat to democracy, or something.
The TD card I never use is like 26% or so. Fuck those people. I think my Discover is 18 ish. Zeroed that one out. My Amex is down at 9.99%. I’ll let that one rotate a small balance. I have no idea what my Capital One is at, as I haven’t used it in a while either. Those are with top tier credit score.
I have a fixed rate card at 13% that I hang on to as a last ditch personal loan if shit goes sideways. I don’t carry a balance on my cards, so I don’t know what the rates are on the other ones. I divvy up our expenses across them based on their cashback rates.
I’m not carrying much of a balance on the one I use and I’m shoveling money at the SUV I bought last June. I’m on track to pay it off pretty fast. The loan rate was 6.49%. Ick.
Totally GlibFin.
No idea what rate my card has, because I pay it off every other week.
Unless I need it to pay for food or utilities, I will never ever carry a balance on my credit card. And if I do need it for that, I will have much bigger problems than the fact that I’m racking up interest.
Same. I haven’t carried a balance in decades. It took me ten years to get another card after defaulting on one when I was in college and stupid and I vowed that won’t happen again.
Brewdog has a location in Vegas, on the strip near MGM. Because it’s on the strip and has a nice view it’s super expensive – IIRC the beers were around $12/pint, and weren’t as good as I had hoped. The chicken strip appetizer was impressively large, but sat in my gut like a rock, and I spent the rest of the day trying to walk it off. I think I stopped at the brewpub in the mall attached to the Venetian, but only had one beer because I was still too full, then continued on to the Sahara for a second beer before walking back to New York New York.
Anyways, I don’t recommend the Brewdog in Vegas.
Better breweries in Henderson and you aren’t paying Strip/Fremont Steeet prices.
Brewery Row in Vegas is a pretty good spot too.
Because it’s on the strip and has a nice view it’s super expensive – IIRC the beers were around $12/pint
I remember when Vegas was dirt cheap. Before they turned into a theme park.
Yeah, they don’t seem as focused on reeling in gamblers anymore.
Pivoted to sports for past 5 years and quite successfully. Sports books are making a killing there I bet.
Sports books are making a killing in most places. Ohio alone had more than $6 billion bet in 2023.
Yeah, the moral opprobrium against gambling that used to prevail sure fell by the wayside pretty quickly for reason$.
Gamblers aren’t family oriented.
You can gamble online in many states and the Indians set up craps tables a couple years ago in AZ, which was about the only thing Vegas had they didn’t. Market is suddenly saturated for degenerate gamblers.
s0000000000000000per nice people, great clients — till it comes time to pay the bill. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to pass on this next project” is the only appropriate response when it takes 3 months to pay the bill.
Mrs OBE once let a client slide on payments for dog grooming and once monies were received after a couple weeks they never called back. Lesson was learned
Absolutely correct.
Cash in advance.
I get half up front.
In any case, this client has collaborators in many different countries, mostly Europe, from which decisions are made and the bills are paid, and I don’t operate on Europe time. I’m tired of the project-by-committee when my part is so easily dealt with.
They have another project in the pipeline and I’m going to turn it down because I’m tired of being dragged into their collaboration. I work for myself for a reason, which is that I am not a team player.
Tell them “You know I’m good for it. 100% in advance, or no deal. Any change orders, pay them in advance or I send the half-finished project back to you.”
If they turn you down, eh, who cares. But they might agree.
When I built websites in the long ago I wanted 1/3 to start, 1/3 to show the completed site and 1/3 before it went live.
I have had a couple clients that I have to send a collections note to each time, but they kept coming back for more.
OT: Rev in Peace. Regular Car Reviews on cars we lost.
Great article and review MS. Let me help with a music link.
https://youtu.be/FQfgET6TxDY?si=2TsvBCrbRyvZFQMk
🤘🤘
🔥YES 🔥
🤘🤘
Just saw this vid promoted on The [ADV] China Show: https://youtu.be/OUjDh7d64uo?si=-Hwm5i71SpxWQ9C4
MV by a Malaysian chinese rapper (all english subtitles). This is about as epic as you can get. Very hard trolling. Highly recommended.
Some of it is going by me but he is definitely dunking on Xi.
Tragic
Since the 2020 election, state and local officials have faced a surge of violent threats, harassment, and intimidation. A new report published Thursday by the Brennan Center for Justice lays out how this abuse is reshaping the way public officials across the U.S. do their jobs, making them less likely to engage with constituents, hold public events, advocate for policies that could lead to blowback, or run for re-election.
More than 40% of state legislators surveyed reported being threatened or attacked in the past three years. Nearly 90% said they had suffered less severe abuse, including harassment, intimidation, and stalking. Almost 40% of local officials, including 50% of women, said the ongoing harassment made them less willing to run for re-election or to seek higher office. This tally includes many state and local election officials, who in 2020 bore the brunt of the anger of former President Donald Trump’s supporters, who falsely accused them of rigging that race and subsequently hounded many out of office. The resulting turnover means that more than 1 in 5 election administrators will be doing the job for the first time in 2024, according to the Brennan Center’s data.
Weep for democracy. Political dissent is now harassment and intimidation.
It’s not fair when people who believe incorrectly try to make themselves heard. That’s not how democracy is supposed to work.
How many?
“making them less likely to engage with constituents, hold public events, advocate for policies that could lead to blowback, or run for re-election”
Giving them an excuse to not engage with constituents and hold public events. They are still advocating for policies that could lead to blowback, just not publicly (because, really, why should they? The public doesn’t really matter anyway.). And just how many, exactly, have decided to step down by not running for re-election?
“Since the 2020 election, state and local officials have faced a surge of violent threats, harassment, and intimidation.”
What is 2016, chopped liver. And who started that shit ?
Left throws the rulebook/rule of law out the window. Left then cries like a little bitch when those tactics are used against them.
You today, me tomorrow motherfuckers.
opening the door for Stacy Abrams to be Newsome’s VP.
Caramba.
Public officials have always faced some level of anger from constituents who disagree with them. But the severity and scale of this “constant barrage of intimidating behavior is now [having] an impact on the way that they do their jobs,” Gowri Ramachandran, the deputy director of the elections and government program at the Brennan Center, tells TIME. “It’s made people less willing to lead and legislate on so-called ‘contentious issues,’ and all of those things are having really severe impacts on the democratic system.”
What we need is more power to claim a winner-take-all mandate to write scorched earth legislation on “contentious” issues. That is, after all the essential promise of democracy.
Nnooooo…it’s fear of loss of power and influence that makes politicians into pussies and pap-sucking weaklings
I hope that the Nazgul completely blood eagle the Chevron Doctrine, including Agency administrative judges. Congress do your job. The political class from both the evil and stupid parties looked at what happened to their brethren who believed they were owed their jobs and suffered from the signing of Obamacare into law, and more recently from the Dobbs decision.
Stop it. I can only get so hard.
These elected/public officials all seem to have forgotten that they are mere temp employees of the citizens. The left bent ones also forgot the classic rule of thumb, “Payback is a medevac.” The left got away with political temper tantrums for so long that they forgot the other sides get to use your rulez as well.
A regular rotation of public office holders was designed by the Founders as a feature and not a glitch. “You want to leave because people let you know that they don’t agree with you? There is the door.”
Because nothing says “democratic system” like ramming unpopular/“contentious” policies through, public be damned.
Our new favorite place is the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store store. Donated and bought from them for our ‘speakeasy’ bar vibe we are creating downstairs.
I love Habitat for Humanity and I love their Re-Store.
I’ve donated some stuff. They seem like a good outfit.
My dad did a lot of tax write off work for them when we has a contractor and generally ame home feeling good rather than it was a tax write off. Said something special seeing folks work on their own homes they were being gifted.
“If they were taking over the world wouldn’t they be less obvious about it“
Thy have too many narcissistic attention whores who think they are all powerful to keep it on the downlow. They were too busy sniffing their own farts to grok that an anti-Davos speaker would get a lot of attaboys.
Davis is a collection of sociopaths. They cannot possibly cooperate enough to take over the world. It’s the last gasp of old Euro money, and Powell (not to mention reality) is in the process of snapping their spines. This collection of the rich and powerful burning cycles on the failed Davos project is a good thing.
Hope she at least got a bite or two of the cupcake. I’m sure she got some bruises and possibly burns from the seatbelt and airbags.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/1ac8rmd/driver_dropped_her_cupcake_and_reached_down_for/
I’ve been in a few accidents. Including one that was well beyond the “fender-bender”category. The only injury I’ve ever had was from an airbag. In a parking lot fender-bender.
Seat belts save lives. If you’re wearing one correctly, the airbag adds nothing. I had a near head-on collision at a combined speed of close to 100 mph in a 1990 Honda Civic (for you kids, that’s a lot smaller car than Current Day Civics). No airbags. Everybody was wearing a seatbelt in both cars, and everybody walked away. The rear axle in the other car came to rest probably 100 yards away, if you’re wondering how bad the collision was.
My mechanic (who is a great guy) OTOH, won’t wear a seatbelt because a buddy of his got decapitated by a seatbelt (technically, the shoulder belt part) in a nasty accident.
Life is trade-offs. I’ve decided that the people who refuse to accept this are the source of most of our problems.
Newer airbags are two stage. They deploy with less force if you are belted.
Even with that if give the choice I’d opt out and opt in for seatbelts as you mentioned below.
Honda Civic
It’s practically an Accord now.
I learned to drive in a 1979 Accord. I think today’s Civic is bigger.
Sharing popcorn with this dog on a rainy Saturday is kinda what I need
👍👍
Yet another BS “best states” analysis.
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-to-retire/18592
You can swing these however you like. However, with just about every survey except one that I can remember NJ almost always ranks bottom 5. This is no exception.
Iowa is 36th for affordability and 31st for healthcare. This is horseshit. 9th for quality of life. Apparently, not much penalty for Iowa weather in January.
California is somehow 33rd for affordability, even though if you scroll down a bit it’s 48th for cost of living and 47th for cost of “in-home services”.
They’re probably factoring in the massive CA welfare state. Which makes it much more affordable for some, but does nothing (at best) for normies.
Yet another BS “best states” analysis.
There was one the other day about grocery prices. Nevada second most expensive. Well, duh. Nothing grows in Nevada.
*I didn’t bother to see who’s number one. Alaska, maybe?
Huh, I would expect Hawaii and Alaska to be the top 2.
I’m sure she got some bruises and possibly burns from the seatbelt and airbags.
A friend in Phoenix got the first hand airbag experience when some moron stopped in front of him on an on ramp instead of accelerating to traffic speed. He was wearing a t shirt, and his forearms looked like somebody had gone after him with a 36 grit body grinder disk.
Airbags are powered by an explosive charge roughly equivalent (I’ve heard) to a 12 gauge shotgun pointed at your face. If they were optional, I would never buy one. The only injury I’ve ever had in a car was 100% due to the airbag.
Airbags routinely break the driver’s forearm from gripping the wheel.
Logo of note
It?
I tossed some boneless country style pork ribs in the crockpot the other day with beer and chili seasoning and chunky salsa. They’re coming around nicely. Like carnitas, but no chili verde, unfortunately.
Other day? They gonna be mush my man
He made them “Presidential Style”.
They gonna be mush my man
Tender and tasty.
Airbags are powered by an explosive charge roughly equivalent (I’ve heard) to a 12 gauge shotgun pointed at your face. If they were optional, I would never buy one. The only injury I’ve ever had in a car was 100% due to the airbag.
The bags themselves are made of a material not dissimilar to chain mail.
Also, I read a while back about a new type of arm break common among drivers attempting evasive turns as the bag in the steering wheel detonates.
LP welcomes another lead balloon? Will TOS swoon?
He is the perfect old site candidate.
Jesus H
No. Go make your own party.
Well, then he can cry if he wants to, cry if he wants to.
You would cry too, if it happened to you.
If RFK Jr. can keep us from another 4 years of “Biden her time Harris administration” I don’t care what Party label he runs on.
Could be his candidacy will be the only thing keeping the LP from irrelevancy yet again.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. signaled he is open to running as a Libertarian Party candidate in 2024
Maybe the Libertarian Party will merge with the Greens and Socialist Workers.
I have seen Libertarians hop in bed a few times with groups whose values and ideas are the inverse of their own professed ideas and values. Given past slight mask slipping I think of it as them just coming out of the closet. See: TOS
The ol’ stated vs. revealed preferences thingy.
Re: Articles – I write, think I hit it out of the park. Wait a week, reread and wonder who snuck onto my computer and wrote that shit.
Also, my musings upon later reflection seem sophomoric to me. Thus the dearth of my subscriptions for some time.
It ain’t easy putting yourself out there to write content. Anyone who has written anything for this site is very much appreciated
I do that from time to time. We’re all our own biggest critic.
Since one of you a-holes sent me to motortrend earlier, Ive been wading through that cesspool. And look that the giant turd that floated to the top.
EV Startup Offers Truck Fleets a Range-Extending Semi for Their Rigs
Seems like the “electric assist module” is a giant battery. Who knew?
How much diesel does it take to generate a full charge for base and supplemental batteries? How far will it haul a full trailer?
How much diesel does it take to fill up the ICE truck? How far will that haul a full trailer?
EV – Stupidest idea since the square wheel and strong indication of the credulity people have when a lie pushes them towards a beautiful fantasy.
Didn’t some guy invent a perpetual motion machine a few years back? Why dont we just put those in vehicles?
one of you a-holes sent me to motortrend earlier
Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk.
Here’s the way to think about it: it’s like adding a second semi tractor to the rig. Up front is the regular diesel tractor. Just behind it, hooked up to the fifth wheel plate, is the Revoy module. Behind that, hooked up to the Revoy fifth plate, is the trailer. The Revoy vehicle has its own 525 kWh battery pack and a large electric motor powering a single axle. While specs are minimal (and likely optimistic—reflecting ideal circumstances and loads), the company claims its add-on vehicle adds 250 miles of range.
Here’s another way to look at it- there’s a sucker born every minute.
Re: The geographical demographic shift and urban vs. rural populations.
I am skeptical about blue state residents moving to red states. My skepticism is because the mentality of the movers. Living on a farm, working in a factory, having to build and make useful things puts one into direct contact with the realities of economics. That spills over into every aspect of thinking. Urban dwellers are far out of touch with reality. Even when one suffers from poor policies to the point of moving to another state they take their flawed logic with them. They were wildly mistaken before. Moving closer to reality won’t help them. They cant shake that mentality, thus the ‘locust’ analogy. See: Colorado
They shit on the living room floor of their old home, they are just going to do the same in their new home.
Anyone remember when the Seattle teen wrote a letter to the paper saying “Hunting should not be allowed. People should get their meat from the grocery store where no animals are harmed.”?
Wondering if it was genuine or trolling I asked a few urban teens here “Where does milk come from?” and out of ten only one did not say “grocery store”. Even the one that didn’t said hesitantly “Cows?”.
One of the worst things about brainwashing people into leftists is that it kills trolling, parodies and sense of humor.