A Tale of Two Moms
Posted On: Wednesday - January 9th 2019 8:46AM MST
In Topics: Feminism
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, but more importantly, it was the Peak of Stupidity ...
After the post yesterday which discussed Presidential candidate Warren's 16 year-old book about the economics of motherhood, it's time for this short post of pondering about it.
It's not like the economics discussed in Chief Warren's book are that hard for any decently-numerate working Dad to figure out that the 2-income set up is not that big a plus for the family, just financially speaking, never mind the social aspects. When looking back just now, I was surprised that Peak Stupidity has not covered this subject more, in fact. (I can see another post coming on details.) There are the 2 reliable vehicles required, the higher tax bracket (often making the 2nd-earner Mom's taxes, that the Dad pays, only pay off at 55 - 70% on the dollar earned!), and the child-care (most likely the biggest financial sink), just for starters. I'm sure that The Two-Income Trap covers that all pretty well, albeit with slightly different numbers.
The social costs are another thing, and the (apparently) MOST-important detail of the Mom' happiness and fulfillment is the subject here. This is about 2 Moms that live on the same block near me.
(A tail of one Mom! This is a file photo that I couldn't resist - wheewww!)
I've thought some about these two ladies that live about equidistant, have pretty much the same size and style of nice houses, both with working husbands. The Mom in one direction has 3 little ones and stays at home (or around with the kids at the parks, social events, etc.) The Mom in the other direction has 2 little ones and works at a decent-paying medium-level white color job.
Mom # 1 seems pretty happy when I talk to her about her kids, and a bit about the house and neighborhood. The main thing I get is that she seems very relaxed. Though not quite as hot as the file photo, she does keep herself in good shape, and has a nice smile. Their house is kept up very nicely, as the husband, who's not around much, must make good money - I never have talked to him.
Mom # 2 is rushed most of the time I see her, so there's not much talk to get anything out of. I cannot say if she's happy or fulfilled or what-have-you. I guess the feminists would say she "has it all!" Does she like that? I don't remember for sure what her husband does, but I thought it was a pretty good white-collar gig. Their house is also kept up nicely, on par, in my estimate with the expenses put into Mom #1's house.
OK, there's not much of a big conclusion here, as, even from this anecdote, the reader may well wonder, WTF is the point? (Knowing this blog, I'm sure you expected the results a certain way.) As I wrote, this is just pondering, or speculation. So here goes a bit of that:
Regarding the economics, I can see the use of the word "trap" in that book. Mom and Dad # 2 may be caught in a position where, as most Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck (a bit more here), no matter how much they make, they feel that they need the money from Mom #2's job. The kids can get the best of everything, except for, of course, the most attention from Mom. As Peak Stupidity wrote in our review of another book The Nurture Assumption, the time spent with the little ones will have long-lasting effects due to the build-up of trust - the more and longer, the better.
Mom #1's kids have all the attention from a relaxed Mom. She can spend time organizing things with the other home-Moms in the area for even more fun and learning for the kids. The total time spent with them could be 2 to 3 X that spent by Mom #2. Maybe her husband makes just a metric shit-ton of money. I dunno, but remember that the economics may not leave them with but 20% - 30% (my rectal extraction here, for now) less discretionary spending money even if Dad #1's pay = Dad #2's pay.
However, it's supposed to be all about Mom's happiness and fulfillment, per the feminists. They don't care quite so much about the kids, I suppose, as most serious feminists don't have many. I can't tell for sure, as I wrote already, whether Mom # 1 or Mom # 2 is happier, and I doubt I could get a straight answer about it from Mom #2 anyway. The buzzword, though, has been fulfillment. As far as fulfillment goes, I doubt either one of them knows how fulfilled they are without having Cosmo magazine tell them how fulfilled they are.
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More Doctor Humor
Posted On: Tuesday - January 8th 2019 7:12PM MST
In Topics: Humor
From the comments section under a post on unz.com, while totally unrelated to the topic, a comment contained the hilarious video presented here. We have written some doctor-humor posts before, in Docs on Bikes, Addendum, Doctor Talk, and Send in your payment - STAT! (more doctor stories). This commercial beats it all though. I truly LOL'd.
I guess TV is good for something after all.
(No, I don't know what the ad is for. I seem to have mysteriously cut off the end.)
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Another Native American succumbs to alcoholism
Posted On: Tuesday - January 8th 2019 7:02PM MST
In Topics: Elections '16 - '26 Humor Political Correctness Feminism Books
I am so, so, sorry, Mr. Shepface XL, for stealing your top-of-the-line youtube comment under the video below of Chief Warren's bender! That was just perfect for the title of this post, though, of course Peak Stupidity doesn't really care for the euphemism for the downtrodden
I'm not sure I see the fakeness that most have noticed from this instagram stunt from the Demo-Presidential candidate. However, I'm off TV, so that may be the reason. Others may have seen a lot more of this lady in action or inaction, hence some inauthenticity in the scene below. It just seems kind of juvenile, as, no, Chief Warren, you are no 14-year-old young squaw who may use smoke signals and twitter for frivolities. Peak Stupidity has discussed Chief Warren before, but never really got our digs in on her regarding that DNA-testing fiasco... maybe later.
For the Democrat Party presidential candidate picks, 2020 will be pretty much like Custer's last stand in terms of the chances for the white man (this includes the squaws here too, of course). From what I've read of her recently, Elizabeth Warren could have been a great candidate in, say 1992, even up through 2004, I'd say. She is truly a thinker who has tried, most often erroneously, but still tried to come to grips with the social and financial problems in America over the last 2-3 decades. This is no endorsement by any means, but just a look at how intelligent (without the pure evil of a Hildabeast) she is compared to the juvenile, tribal, diversity crowd that will probably produce the D-selection.
this lady can really accomplish something:
As reviewed back in 2003 by Steve Sailer, with more discussion today on unz with Elizabeth Warren on Why 1970s Feminism Was Best for the Bosses, the book shown above is downright conservative. From the admittedly short excerpts I read from Mr. Sailer and the editors' review on the amazon page for The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are (Still) Going Broke, this could have been written by Phyllis Schlafly! (She's died, unfortunately but the pro-family Eagle Forum lives on.) Here's the amazon.com editors' review:
In this brilliantly argued book, Harvard Law School bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren and business consultant Amelia Tyagi show that today's middle-class parents are suffering from an unprecedented and totally unexpected economic meltdown. Astonishingly, sending mothers to work has made families more vulnerable than ever before. Today's two-income family earns 75% more money than its single-income counterpart of a generation ago, but actually has less discretionary income once their fixed monthly bills are paid.How did this happen? Warren and Tyagi provide convincing evidence that the culprit is not "overconsumption," as many critics have charged. Instead, they point to the ferocious bidding war for housing and education that has quietly engulfed America's suburbs. Stay-at-home mothers once provided a financial safety net if disaster struck; their move into the workforce has left today's families chillingly at risk. The authors show why the usual remedies--child-support enforcement, subsidized daycare, and higher salaries for women--won't solve the problem, and propose a set of innovative solutions, from rate caps on credit cards to open-access public schools, to restore security to the middle class.And you want to be the 2020 Democrat candidate for US President?! I don't think so! After the Indian gaffe, you'd think this lady would have learned to fit in to the diversity, gender-stupidity, and other feminist bullshit that that basically IS the Democrat party of today, and keep her
Now that I've thought about this conservative book, I'd like to write a post tomorrow on its subject that I'd meant to write a year ago.
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The Shutdown and the Flags
Posted On: Monday - January 7th 2019 11:58AM MST
In Topics: Curmudgeonry US Feral Government
Or, is this just an essential government position?
Apparently, the US Gov't is still shutdown, as far as non-essential personnel goes. My life hasn't change a whole lot ... or any, come to think of it. I only know about this from the news coming through the internet tubes. What I have seen, though, at least up through < 1 week back, is flags still at half-mast. That's getting ridiculous.
I had a thought about it: For the US Feral Gov't "public" buildings at least, is it that the employees responsible for raising and lowering the flags are out on un-paid time-off? I don't think this job is too essential, really, as I just don't have much respect for that flag as I have in the past (even just going back 10 years). Leave them where they are. We'll get used to it. Enterprising thieves will climb up and get the top halves for us once the price of aluminum goes back up.
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Tucker Carlson's Monologue
Posted On: Monday - January 7th 2019 6:58AM MST
In Topics: Trump Pundits Globalists Liberty/Libertarianism
It's not The King's Speech, but Peak Stupidity's favorite
Read or watch Mr. Carlson: Mitt Romney supports the status quo. But for everyone else, it's infuriating It's about a whole lot more than the worthless cuckservative Mitt Romney. Now, per Steve Sailer's valued opinion, Mr. Tucker combines ideas of the left and the right, as also can be seen in his book Ship of Fools. No, he's no Socialist.
First of all, I’d rather read than watch (it's much quicker), so after that good read of Mr. Carlson’s very powerful monologue, I’d like to comment on it a bit as a Libertarian and no fan of any ideas of the left. The folks on unz.com have some kind of problem with Libertarians due to the fact that they don't understand who Libertarians are, for the most part (they see them all as the Reason magazine open-borders retards, for which the animosity is completely understandable.)
This latest out of Mr. Carlson is definitely amazing stuff that you won’t find bandied about on infortainment TV. Tucker’s criticism of Libertarians is justified if Mitt Romney and his political and corporate followers could be considered Libertarians. Big-Business markets are not the only markets and they are not free anyway, so crony capitalism is not really about free markets and libertarianism.
Tucker’s talk about first the social devastation in the big cities is fine. He did, for reasons of avoiding the name-calling, leave out the Nature side and only include the US Feral Gov’t Nurture as a cause of the disasters that modern American inner cities are. He states that Big Gov is NOT a cause of the ills in modern rural America, though. Here’s where I disagree with him. The influence of Big Gov may not be as direct in this case, but they still are the cause.
Did you note that, when talking about the importance of families, Mr. Carlson left out anything about family businesses? (I know, I know, it was a TV monologue, not a 50-page manifesto, so I’m not complaining.) Those are very important, as without family and small businesses, everyone is just a “wage slave” to some big corporate or gov. entity. When the Big-Gov/Big-Biz crony capitalism that people call “Capitalism” exists, family and small businesses are actively marginalized and destroyed. Regulations are made FOR, but also BY, Big-Biz in hand with Big-Gov to strangle any competition.
The latter is one thing that I give President Trump praise for not just talking about, but actively working for, the trashing of the huge burden of unnecessary, small-business-strangling regulation. It's something he cares about due to a whole lot of his experience with it in his real estate businesses.
I could see lots of confusion by people reading this post, and others by Libertarians, arguing “hey, we need MORE regulation of business, not less. We have to stop entities like Romney’s Bain Capital and (the movie versions) Blue Star airlines being broken up, and let guys build big ships again (end of A Pretty Woman).” You’ve still got to understand that with the Feral Gov’t so large and powerful, any regulation will be made to be accommodated for by Big Biz. It doesn’t matter how you write it – they have the departments of lawyers and accountants that Joe’s Finance or Joe’s Flying Service DOES NOT.
Why rural America is suffering is that manufacturing might has been shipped to China and elsewhere around the world. Tucker understands this part. Big-corporate manufacturing, as Tucker states nicely, does not give a damn about the Americans that could be working for them to maintain themselves and families as middle class. With help from Big-Gov, they’ve shipped most of it out. The extremely heavy regulation on small business has made them noncompetitive. They may have liked to keep the plants here, but it doesn’t pay. Are you going to force them to lose money? Mr. Carlson left off his talk with a warning about Socialism, and I appreciated that greatly.
Back to rural American, to add insult to injury, Wal-Mart and Amazon (Wal-Mart II), along with the 3 dollar-store chains for the really low-end, have eviscerated family retail business. These are Big-Biz giants, and they will work hard to prevent any upstarts from getting competitive.
What are people left with? They can fix-up their, or flip other, houses as one remaining investment vehicle and place to put their labor. We see what happens when government lays down the moral hazard in that industry (see Housing Bubble 1.0, and recently, it’s current instance).
Almost all of the financial pain has Big-Government plans, whether evil or just stupid, as the basic root cause. It doesn't seem like Tucker Carlson gets ALL of that, but he's a real truth-seeker and may come around to that understanding.
Even though Peak Stupidity doesn't agree with Mr. Carlson 100%, were he to get into politics, it could only be a good thing. We wish him well, and appreciate hearing some truth from a guy that is inexplicably still on TV! As for Mitt Romney, the less said about him, the better.
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Full Moonbeam in Sacramento
Posted On: Saturday - January 5th 2019 8:35PM MST
In Topics: Lefty MegaStupidity California Movies Global Climate Stupidity Trump Environmental Stupidity
Just to get off the subject right away this time, the post title is taken from the wonderful 1988 movie Full Moon in Blue Water, with Gene Hackman and the beautiful Teri Garr. I don't know what it is about it, but this one gets a Peak Stupidity two thumbs up.
Now, here's the moonbeam still "serving" the people of California a crock of lefty BS in Sacramento:
California was called "the land of fruits and nuts" even back in its Paradise days, and who knows what they call it now? What do you call a people who have kept Jerry Brown in and out of office since 1975, as he bounced from Governor to Mayor of Oakland to Attorney General, then back to Governor in 2010 and ever since. In some ways, per the wiki page on him, Brown was a pretty decent guy, being more of a fiscal conservative than Ronald Reagan, pushing for a US Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment, and presiding over a $5 Billion budget surplus - yes that was long, long ago! Spell-check was under the quite-reasonable impression that this blogger was drunk and kept trying to change this to deficit. Surpluses in California?! Hahahaa, you're one of those nuts, aren't you? Hey, I'm no fruit, so, you know, there's that.
However, Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown was down with the usual causes that are documented here as the various and sundry flavors, if you will, of stupidity. The environmentalism is one, which, originating as a very good cause, largely out of California, morphed into pure stupidity by the 90's or 00's. Moonbeam was at the forefront of all of it. The latest major bout of out-of-control environmental stupidity is the Global Climate DisruptionTM, of course, as well-documented here.
A Lyin Press (warning) article from a week back features another piece of stupid out of this guy, with Jerry Brown: Climate change challenges as serious as those faced in World War II. Yeah, that's the ticket. Those extra hurricanes, as wrongly-predicted by those beautiful climate models, are like Nazi U-boats, sinking, well, condos and 2nd homes, and stuff. (I guess and Tsunamis could be seen as the modern-day equivalent of the Japanese Imperial Navy.) Who would be the Hitler and the Waffen SS in all this? I believe it is you the SUV driver, and you the user of propane and propane accessories. From the article:
In an interview for Sunday's "Meet the Press," the outgoing governor called on President Donald Trump to take the lead in addressing the issue. "Instead of worrying about tariffs, I'd like to see the president and the Congress invest tens of billions in renewable energy, in more-efficient batteries, to get us off fossil fuel as quickly as we can," Brown said.Oh, I see, all about the money again. Yes, California needs more of our money, with that big
"I would point to the fact that it took Roosevelt many, many years to get America willing to go into World War II and fight the Nazis. Well, we have an enemy, though different, but perhaps, very much devastating in a similar way.Yes, a 1 C rise in the average temperature compared is like the blitzkrieg of Poland and France and bombing of Pearl Harbor. Devastating! Speaking of this, it's kind of a slip that Governor Brown says it took Roosevelt "many, many years" to get Americans to want to fight overseas. Hmmm, but I thought we were neutral until Pearl Harbor? His statement kind of jives with many historians' opinions that Roosevelt dragged us into war, and who knows how much he knew about an attack coming.
No, America ramped up its military forces and transition to economic wartime footing over only a couple of years. Could we not do the same, if we actually saw a WORKING! MATHEMATICAL! MODEL! OF! THE! ENTIRE! EARTH'S! CLIMATE!? Why not give it a rest, Moonbeam, until we have a serious clue about causes of climate differences over time over the whole world?
Oh, we've badmouthed President Trump enough recently, so read this:
President Trump has repeatedly downplayed the importance of addressing climate change during his presidency.Donald, I forgive your lack of any success on the immigration invasion for the evening, as this part just warms my heart. As the older Californians probably still say "Right on, Mr. Trump!"
Last month, he brushed aside a federal climate report that warned of a “cascading effect” from climate change that could hurt both the planet and the economy, telling reporters “I don’t believe it.”
Last year, he pulled America out of the international Paris Agreement meant to align the world’s nations toward reducing emissions and curbing the effects of climate change.
And his administration has also rolled back a handful of Obama-era environmental regulations aimed at reducing the impact of climate change.
Let's leave along the left coast for a bit, and note what the ex-Mayor of NY City has to say. No fruit or nut he, but just a gun-grabbing, soda-stealing tyrant, Mr. Bloomberg chimes in, in the article, thusly:
"It would be a lot more helpful, if we had a climate champion, rather than a climate denier, in the White House," Bloomberg said."This world is in trouble." Yeah, come to think of it, with people like you and the Moonbeam, that is indeed a fact.
"You know, I've always thought, Trump has a right to his opinions. But he doesn't have a right to his own facts. And the truth of the matter is this country and this world is in trouble.
What about that comparison of Global Climate DisruptionTM to WWII (the big one) again? How'd it end? Oh yeah, does that mean we're gonna have to bring out the nukes to finish off these imperial Kamikaze Carbon Dioxide emissions?
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Cats not allowed to drink milk - is it the end times?
Posted On: Friday - January 4th 2019 8:02PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Curmudgeonry
Milk being cats' favorite food has been a little bit more than a meme, over the last, what, 5 or 20 centuries? It'd have been the case since people kept both cats and cows, I imagine. Imagine my surprise when some information from an animal shelter tells us pets (pets, period) shouldn't be fed milk. Is it the case that everything we know is wrong? Have the Commies, Socialists, SJW's, Globalists, Neocons, the ctrl-left, even the antifa, and the AntiChrist right all along? I mean, yeah, cat's like milk and that is no mere meow meme!
As an aside, let me tell you about an animal shelter as a place to adopt a pet. Good intentions aside, these people live in a bureaucratic nightmare, at least on our end. Just to compare to pre-stupidity America, or modern-day China ( with my pretty-good imagining on the latter), think of the situation then or there. "Oh, there's a cute kitty that needs a home." "Sure, you look like nice people. I'm glad you're here, as he would have to be put down by the end of the week otherwise. Here's a box, take him home. Thank you so much for giving him a good home!" Now, there were 10 pages of paperwork to be first messed with on the lady's computer. "Oh, sir, he's already licensed and neutered." "Whoa, wait a minute ..." It took us damn near 1/2 hour to get out of there. It was likely the last time, too.
At home, the boy looked over the paperwork for me, as I don't care - I know cats. Then, he surprised me with the milk warning, since we'd given him a small bowl already. How ridiculous it was to give a blanket statement that goes against the common sense of millions and millions of cat
OK, sure, new things can be learned. I felt foolish looking up "feeding milk to cats", but found out a little about lactose intolerant cats and too many calories from "unbalanced sources". Fine, you don't feed him solely on milk, but a few ounces in the evening as a treat - that's gonna continue. You would think evolution would result in cat's eating and drinking what they need (dogs are another story!), so I don't expect him to get sick to his stomach. If so, we'll cut his milk treat.
This kind of abandonment of all common sense by those "in the know" makes me wonder if Dave Letterman's line about the End Times will come true. As just an example, the last sentence being his: "The Federal Reserve will be shut down next week for the purposes of sound money. Next thing you know, they'll be cats and dogs living together!"
Just because they probably comprise the single biggest category of videos on the net*, so there's no problem finding one, Peak Stupidity presents "CATS will make you LAUGH YOUR HEAD OFF". No, the slow posting recently has absolutely NOT been due to the perusal of dozens of youtube cat videos. Why do you ask?
Oh, in answer to the question up top - nope, the Commies, Socialists, SJW's, Globalists, Neocons, the ctrl-left, even the antifa, and the AntiChrist have always been stupidly wrong, and will be right through the End Times?
* With the usual exception of porn, of course.
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Bodhisattva by Steely Dan
Posted On: Thursday - January 3rd 2019 8:23PM MST
In Topics: Music
According to a great guru who lives on a virtual hill sitting perfectly still, and goes by the name of Wiki, Bodhisattva is a state of being that can result in obtaining buddhahood in one lifetime. That's buddhahood, not bruddahhood, for our differently-ethniced readers.
You may or may not have to be on some strong drugs that can only be made in a laboratory to obtain these goals of higher conciousness (ask these guys). Steely Dan, however, made Bodhisattva with a great melody, excellent guitar work, and a great bebop jazz sound. The lyrics are a reminder that we must apparently get rid of lots of our stuff to get into the Buddhism thing. Indeed, I could see a much higher state of consciousness in myself were I to get rid of certain time-consuming vehicles.
Peak Stupidity has featured Steely Dan before with their title song from the album Aja, Black Cow from that same album, and Dr. Wu from the album Katy Lied
Here is Bodhisattva, off of Countdown to Ecstasy, from these musical geniuses as played 45 years ago:
Bodhisattva,
I'm gonna sell my house in town.
Bodhisattva,
I'm gonna sell my house in town
And I'll be there
to shine in your Japan,
to sparkle in your China.
Yes I'll be there.
Bodhisattva,
Bodhisattva.
Got distracted today from the serious posting, but I did want to get that Rocky Horror pic off of the top, Peak Stupidity being a family site and all.
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Can Male to Female Transexuals have Periods?
Posted On: Wednesday - January 2nd 2019 7:43PM MST
In Topics: Genderbenders Music Humor Healthcare Stupidity Female Stupidity
See, that stuff above was just a movie (with GREAT rock music, BTW) and all in fun. That time was still far removed from the Peak of Stupidity, hence people took it all in fun, and, you know, threw rice and bread around, squirted water guns, dressed up, and shouted stuff at the screen at the movies (yes, they did). People are taking this trans-sexual stuff ENTIRELY TOO SERIOUSLY these days. That's what the astute social scientist would expect when society is nearing Peak Stupidity, and this blog is nothing if not full of experts in Stupidity Theory. We feel nothing if not vindicated in our predictions made via our sophisticated mathematical modeling techniques.
Some commenter the other day brought up the question posed in this post's title. What exactly is done in this trans-gender surgery, at least that one can write about on a family blog... well, anywhere really, without invoking feelings of disgust and loss of website status as a FAVORITE or BOOKMARK?
If you really want to do this thing, and become a woman the right way, would you not want to be able to have a period once in a while, at least, uhh, periodically, say, once a month? What kind of new equipment is involved? Bio-engineering has come a long way, baby. Though normally concerned with things that are more of an improvement, such as stents, non-rejectable skeletal parts, etc., that crowd ought to be able to hook up some extra plumbing for this increasingly-common scenario. How about a peristaltic pump to keep things clean, no wait, we don't even need that, just an old 50's Chevy fuel pump and a few feet of 1/4" ID rubber fuel line, a nozzle of some sort, and, what, solar power? You tap into the main artery down there, merge that with a tube from the ovaries, aaah crap, wait, ovaries too?
OK, it's gonna be some work, but the part that will take the most engineering effort will be the electrical system for monthly feedback to the nether parts of the ... brain. How exactly does one induce artificial bitchiness for a sustained length of time? Peak Stupidity has recently divulged our theory of the cause of this bitchiness, but can it be reproduced electronically? It sounds like a hellacious task, maybe something for the likes of Sexy Cyborg - Miss Naomi Wu (much more here!). I really hope that, in addition to having this state-of-the-art transformational surgery plug-in added to the list of required coverage by our wonderful State health plan, total reverse transgender surgery will also be added. Just brainstorming here, but I think a lot of former guys are gonna want it.
Yeah, listen, this video scene with music from The Rocky Horror Picture Show is not my thing by any means! It's a good rock song though. Remember, it was all in fun back then, least far as I know.
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Litterbugs in China
Posted On: Tuesday - January 1st 2019 9:06PM MST
In Topics: Humor Treehuggers China
Peak Stupidity's number one
With only 200 million people on this same 3 million square miles, as the 350-odd million now, America wasn't litter-free 50 years ago, about the time littering became "a thing", but it wasn't China either:
Yeah, the Chinese are hard-working, smart, and numerous, but they are not particularly orderly. The littering story here is from some time I spent deep into the heart of China.
In the house where we stayed, the Dad was on the porch (such as it was) and yelled something in Chinese (of course) to a kid who had just thrown a bottle down in the road. OK, it was a 5 ft. wide alley, but it was a road to them! I am no expert in Mandarin, but something tells me what he said was “pick up your garbage!” The kid, being a somewhat obedient sort, picked it up and put it on top of a big pile of trash about 50 ft away. It was a pile meant to be collected, but as un-orderly as China is, it was just a big damn mess itself. “What’s the difference?” I said, in English.
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Fireworks from China
Posted On: Tuesday - January 1st 2019 8:40PM MST
In Topics: US Police State China Liberty/Libertarianism
(As translated from the original Mandarin)
The Chinese invented a whole lot of stuff way before the West's time, and supposedly invented a lot more than that. (I want to do a book review on The Man who Loved China regarding the latter.) We can all probably agree that fireworks, made partially out of gunpowder, came from old Cathay, at least if we don't feel like doing 2 hours' research on it tonight. It's the fireworks from New Years Eve that reminded me about some China stories.
The Chinese have a real love for fireworks, as I found out in China, when some people would just randomly set off some medium-intensity (not M-80's but not your small standard ones either) ones outside a restaurant for the hell of it. In many of the States, there are all kinds of laws for sales of them, and, as I wrote last evening, I'm just glad to still have Roman Candles and small rockets.
This small freedom notwithstanding, one may note that in their 5,000 year history, Chinese NEVER had an era in which the people threw off the yoke of government to be DONE with it, as the forefathers of America did. I don't think it's much in their genes to do such a thing. Sure, dynasties came and dynasties went, but you read nothing about a group of Chinamen rejecting having authorities rule over them, period, rather than just a smarter guy next time. There is no precedent there for rights of the common people to keep firearms without strict regulation, and considering the history of gunpowder, you'd think they'd have been the first.
Even so, and with all the Mao-era Communist control, the Chinese people seem to have still kept a lot of spunk and oftentimes impress me more than Americans in their resistance to government encroachment. One big-ass encroachment is eminent domain used abusively. The idea of land takings with compensation for building of communal property such as roads is well understood and was by our Founders. However, it probably should have been explained better at the end of Bill of Rights Amendment V ("... nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.", a stipulation on US Feral Gov't takings), as it's been used to transfer people's property to private companies. All manner of excuses such as "urban blight" have been let, by our 9 robed old-farts, to rip the intent to shreds. One of the most egregious examples is the Kelo vs. New London, Connecticut case from 13 years back.
Americans don't seem to be organized enough to fight this stuff, but I'm surprised armed individuals haven't done more (I'm not sure if the Bundy standoff out in Oregon a few years back qualifies as an eminent domain issue.) I've seen numerous examples from China, however, in which individuals raise holy hell to keep governments and powerful business from taking their homes. The guy in the picture above, one Mr. Yang Youde, is shooting fireworks out of a pipe, a poor-man's home-made cannon, to protect his home.
As written about in The New American, Mr. Yang had one thing going for him that American don't in this modern Police State of ours. The local cops were on his side (very much as in the true story related here on Peak Stupidity in A China story and Chinese vs. American police states).
Whereas in New London the police were prepared to evict Kelo if she refused to move, when Yang was attacked by an eviction team in February after he ran out of rockets, Reuters reports that “local police came to his rescue” and apparently allowed him to remain on his land, which he successfully defended against 100 people in May. Yes, in Communist China the local cops are on the side of average people, while in supposedly free America they side with the government, probably seeking their share of the increased tax booty from the promised new development."... after he ran out of rockets" - I like that! If he had had an SKS, rather than just the ubiquitous Chinese fireworks, who knows how much farther he'd have gotten.
Hold that thought. I looked up the man, and he won! He got > $20,000 per acre, for his single-story house with a fish pond. What happened to the Americans, such as Kelo who went to court against a private company, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals taking their property? Not only did they lose, but after everything was demolished, some years went by, and Pfizer decided they didn't want the land anyway. Yeah, this land was in "the land of the free" ... right!
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They still let you use Bottle Rockets and Roman Candles
Posted On: Monday - December 31st 2018 7:44PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity
On Independence Day a few years back we were able to get a red ball from a Roman Candle to set a squirrel's nest on fire. It smoked them clean out of there while we got the hose ready just in case the whole tree canopy came under the influence of the conflagration. It was a blast, but really just a lucky shot. These things are not just toys, you know.
We can just be thankful, I suppose, that our governments have not yet prevented us from having fun with fireworks, for our own good, of course. The Chinese have a big love for fireworks having (legitimately) invented them, so I'll include something about that in an upcoming post with some short China stories.
Thank you readers, for keeping abreast here with the ramp-up toward Peak Stupidity. We hope to keep increasing the writing quality and the coverage, along with the number of readers. Happy New Year!
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The internet of
Posted On: Monday - December 31st 2018 7:29PM MST
In Topics: Internets Curmudgeonry Artificial Stupidity iEspionage
I'm hoping: everything else but start the damn car.
One of big ideas in Artificial Stupidity (modern electronics, that is) has been "the internet of things" for some time now. Everything, your car, your appliances, and then the little stuff (kitchen sink? belt buckles, I don't know) should all be on the internet. That's the plan. What for?
Hmmmm, but what happens to the information besides just going to your app to make your life "easier"? Maybe the toaster manufacturer in Shenzhen, China would like to keep up with part breakages, you know, with their great Quality Control and all. They need to know when you'll be heading to the store to buy a new one, so they can increase production accordingly. However, that may take a day or a week, so they may want to ask one of your other things that are on the internet. Maybe they can ask your car to tell them when it is headed to Wal-Mart to buy another
I thought about this while looking a one of the modern expensive electronic car keys this morning. No, it probably isn't for now, but when will it be made to be on-line and tell someone something about you? I mean, you have to pay a few hundred bucks for a new key, rather than the $4 for a copy from the hardware store for your old Toyota. It ought to damn well do something cool, the manufacturer is very liable to figure, say next year.
Right now, though, I'm really happy with my stuff just laying there doing JACK SQUAT until the next time I pick it up ... uhh, if I can find it at all ... clap, clap.
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People don't trust Facebook, yet still use it
Posted On: Monday - December 31st 2018 6:56PM MST
In Topics: Internets Artificial Stupidity Orwellian Stupidity Big-Biz Stupidity
Zerohedge wrote a couple of weeks back that Facebook Has Officially Lost The Public's Trust. Yeah, there's no reason to think that an organization that makes money off of selling information about you (that you give them freely) will draw the line anywhere. Facebook is going to monetize whatever it can, and there are undoubtedly certain organizations of the US Feral Gov't that support this effort wholeheartedly.
As Statista's Sarah Feldman shows below [above, here], five times more people place Facebook as the least trustworthy company to handle their personal information when compared to Amazon and Twitter.Here's the question I've got: Why do you people still use a "service" that is nothing but a user-voluntary spy program? Yeah, convenience, I get it. Your friends invite you to stuff on there, you share recipes, it's SO HARD (NOT!) to make your own website to show your vacation pictures on ... As discussed here in The F.A.G.S. space and new competition, there is power in being first and having large numbers of users in this "space" of the internet. However, I've seen neighborhood apps, photo-sharing sites, etc., and one can get and share information in so many ways other than this spy network.
How about you 40%-ers, that don't trust Mr. Zuckerberg and his vast information-grabbing network put your money, or lack thereof, where your mouths were during the poll? This graph shows 68% of American adults being users:
Keep in mind that some of those adults are at an age where they physically can't or mentally can't even use Facebook. I think that'd make the number of adults who choose to use it even higher. Even without that correction, there are 8 percentage points worth of lazy bullshitters here. "Yeah, I don't trust these people, and they have all the goods on me now, but, hey, how am I gonna know when my nephew hits his first home run?" You know those computers that you keep in your hands day and night, people? They have a PHONE function! Use it.
I guess this post is nothing new, but Peak Stupidity feels a need to comment more on the Orwellian stupidity embedded in today's world, or at least the stupidity of those who blindly follow. There'll be lots more to come on this.
As usual, Zerohedge has some hard-core commenters who tell it like is, and more:
Fireman: 1 week agoI couldn't have said it better myself!
Any idiot using Faecesbook, Twatter, Goggle and the rest of the USSAN diet of "smart" phone jabbing zombie electro filth deserves to have their pea brains fried with radiation as they peruse mindless garbage in the prurient interest.
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Poor Feral workers living paycheck-to-paycheck
Posted On: Saturday - December 29th 2018 9:12PM MST
In Topics: Global Financial Stupidity Economics US Feral Government
... yet still unfortunately living paycheck-to-paycheck:
As a nice tie-in to our previous post on the sad, yet uplifting (to us!), plight of US Feral Gov't workers being off work (who knew?) for a while, we have this: The Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News bemoans the condition of "our" Feral Gov't families living paycheck-to-paycheck. Yeah, we're all broken up about those family's tax-payer funded budgets.
Feral Gov't workers/shutdown notwithstanding, this living paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle by all kinds of Americans has been a sore spot for the Peak Stupidity blog. In Credit? Forget it! You got it? You get it!* we bemoaned (lots of bemoaning goin on ..) modern-day Americans' terrible spendthrift ways and the living on credit cards, school-loan money, and other debt that pretty much mirrors what happens with the US Federal budget. The voter's permissiveness in allowing the US Gov't to act in this way is very much like the way a son will follow in the footsteps of his spendthrift Dad, since it's the only way he knows as he grows up.
Beyond the obvious problems that Feral and Private American employees will have due to this lifestyle, it also results in a big dampening of any flames of freedom and pushback against the STATE and Big-Biz. With regards to a specific example of a slightly-outspoken Google employee getting fired, Peak Stupidity wrote (in the posts linked-to):
The closer you are bound to your job via your tight month-to-month budget, the less likely you will quit, speak-out, or even push-back a slight bit, when you are harassed with all the mass stupidity. You are not a free agent if you live like this - you are much more beholden to your employer and must be more of a suck-up, a kiss-ass, whatever it entails, to the dieversity and PC-crap than if you had a year or two's salary put away to find a new job or even a new career and leave the stupidity behind!Now, that doesn't apply very well to Gov. workers anyway, who are not usually the type to WANT any freedom. Therefore, let's get back to the subject of the US Feral Gov't temporarily-laid-off workers, as discussed in the article, with first a quick look at this graph:
(Note: I DO NOT LIKE this graphs due to the y-axis not starting at 0.
That's wrong, but it's the best I've got on short notice.)
With their health benefits and promised pensions (haha, ahahaha!) the gov't workers do pretty well for themselves when compared to employees in private business doing the same jobs, well OK, same job descriptions but actually working most of the day. No, I don't think they'll all see those pensions, but the point is that decently-paid private employees normally save some money in 401K's that the Gov employees have available to spend.
An amazingly-responsible Congressman from Pennsylvania made one comment about the shutdown that's got folks atwittering:
These and other #ShutdownStories took off online after Rep. Scott Perry (R., Pa.) suggested last week that a gap in wages wouldn’t be so bad.Exactly! That's WTF I want to know.
"Who's living that they're not going to make it to the next paycheck?" he asked reporters, adding that most of those impacted would qualify for back pay.
They're not immune to the harsh reality of living paycheck to paycheck, according to dozens of people who responded to a Washington Post inquiry on Twitter.I don't believe it, not when I see the bar/restaurant scene the biggest thing going in the economy (besides our expanding tweet-infrastructure). I do understand the difficulty in trying to live off a the low-pay service jobs that are much of the economy now, but the same people are the ones who frequent the industry. Peak Stupidity's thoughts on the coffee shop scene appear in Thoughts from the Coffee Shop and Starbucks vs. the Viennese Kaffeehaus. Listen, when people are still buying 4 dollar fancy coffees at least once per day, then they are not doing their best to avoid living paycheck-to-paycheck.
They’re millennials, Gen Xers, and baby boomers. They work in big cities and rural towns. They’ve tried to save — but rent, child care, student loans, and medical bills get in the way.
"My husband is a Park Ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and he had to sign his furlough papers," one woman tweeted. "We have a 4 yr. old and a 4-month-old, and we don't know when his next check will come. Mortgage is due, Christmas 2 days away."What you do is not buy anything you don't immediately need until you've saved up for emergencies. Hey, not everyone gets Christmas presents, and this is just one year. We are a spoiled bunch in this country. Hey, go find a camping spot. The park's closed, so who's gonna complain? Sorry, I have no sympathy.
“Broke my lease to accept new fed job for which I have to attend 7 months of training in another state,” wrote another Twitter user who later deleted the tweet. “Training canceled with shutdown. Homeless. Can’t afford short(?)-term housing/have to work full-time for no pay/returning Christmas presents.”Again, there's that Christmas present talk. How much money would I spend on Christmas presents with nothing in the bank. Check out the US Marines' Toys for Tots. Now wait, you're HOMELESS? Bad planning on your part does not constitute
Lest the reader think I'm picking too hard on the Feral employees, the article has many more stories from the private sector. Actually, the next guy is a Professor, so, though not US Gov't, he is most likely supported by California taxpayers to some extent.
Sol Smith, chair of liberal arts at a Southern California college, said he landed his job after earning three degrees. But with four daughters and mounting health-care costs, he said, saving just isn’t possible.In 17 years, including before the kids, you haven't saved up any money? This guy's a Professor, in fact, the Chairman of the Department, so one can see that the financial stupidity goes right up through the PhD level.
“I see no way out,” he wrote in an email to the Post. “I am 40, have built a strong career, have 17 years experience, and if something were to happen to me, my wife and kids would be homeless within a year when my life insurance ran out.”
Nope, Peak Stupidity is in agreement with Representative Scott Perry here. This is no way to live, people! The middle class lifestyle is indeed being slowly wiped out, but you people make it worse by trying to live the lifestyle you are not able to pay for. That seems to be the American way now. That makes our problems even worse, as people are too soft, and in no position, to fight against the changes that are being forced upon us.
* Addendum here
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Feral Gov't Shutdown ... is that a threat, or a promise?
Posted On: Friday - December 28th 2018 7:57PM MST
In Topics: Humor Liberty/Libertarianism US Feral Government
What do we want, Government Shutdown!
When do we want it? We want it now,
and we'll get back to you later on the restart!
It's nice to be in a position not to even care or hear about it, such as the Peak Stupidity blog finds itself, so we just learned about this latest US Feral Gov't shutdown. The Libertarian in all of us would indeed wish this were permanent, or at least a crash of the whole deal with a chance to do a complete re-boot. Could we just start with the same Constitution with the quick Amendment to the bill of rights - 10-A: We mean it this time?
I note, as I just dug up our "Wheww, Feral Gov't shutdown narrowly averted" post from about a year back, that it's the same crap with the most visible, touristy parts of the immense Feral Gov't being threatened as closed to the public vs. the other 99.9% of the budget (indeed, the National Park Service is allocated about 3 1/2 billion bucks, just under 1/1000th of the budget).
The Congresscritters threaten those living off of the other taxpayers, or just collecting their "due" in the SS Scam (see also Part 1) with not getting their transfer payments on time. Now that is a big chunk of the budget, but it it doesn't take much work on the gov't's part to actually send money from the taxpayers' account to a bunch of individuals. Nope, that's not what the Beltway Bandits are themselves worried about. They want to make sure they can keep their power to dole out the money to potential voters, such as those below, who've taken personal time off of their taxpayer-supported activities for their heartfelt requests, as seen here:
A friend had a good point a coupla' days back when he informed me of this latest shutdown promise, errr, I mean threat. The talk is all about the suspension of work by the non-essential US Gov't employees. Wait a minute, if they're non-essential, by definition, we don't need them, so
a) what's the problem?
and
b) they should all be terminated on the basis of non-essentiality.
Let's see, that's 1,600 reams of hot pink light-weight paper ... with our government discount .... Really, let's just round this up to a million, for ease of back-of-envelope calculations, pick a number of $100,000 each average in salary, overhead, and bennies (when you count pension obligations, well, oh shit... let's not and say we did), and get $100,000,000,000 (one hundred billion bucks) to keep these people employed. It really doesn't sound like much compared to the $4,000,000,000,000 total expenditures - it's 2.5%. However, the transfer payments and the military (with it's own tremendous waste) are a much bigger chunk. Look here for the breakout by the green-eyeshade boys. You'll also notice that EVEN WITH the low, low interest rates being paid on Treasury bonds, interest alone is 6% of the budget, more than 2 X the support of a million employees!
It's not just the money in paying these people, it's the harm that they do to us all in doing their jobs. For the non-Affirmative-Action folks among us, I've always found that people DO want to feel that they are getting something useful done in their jobs. Therefore, there are lots of people at the lower levels that want to be productive in their work, even if that means screwing us harder. There are also the mid-level managers who want something to be proud of and will create programs that screw us not harder but in new creative ways.
What I'd suggested long ago, is that we find a way to let the US Gov't employees, first, as that old Hippocrates suggested, do no harm. We need to develop a program to take these 800,000 people out of the offices and into the pool halls. Can you tell that I thought of this pretty long ago? OK, it could be Mario Cart now for you youngsters ... OK, OK, Minecraft, but just something to keep these people busy for 8 hours a day. Sure, we'd have to spend extra on rolls of quarters, or power cards for Dave & Buster's, but the tremendous savings from being able to live freer lives would pay off immediately, just in reductions in pharmaceutical needs alone!
the Peak Stupidity "Offices-to-Pool-Hall-Pipeline" plan back in his day!
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Happy Christmas from Peak Stupidity
Posted On: Tuesday - December 25th 2018 5:44PM MST
In Topics: Music Bible/Religion Holiday from Stupidity
"Happy" vs. "Merry" must be the British way, per the song below. Peak Stupidity has featured the music of the late Mr. John Lennon before, in this and this post already, and this very same song in a this post from just after Christmas of our first blogging year (already ragging on the so-called Pope).
As I wrote in that post (on the long marches and everlasting revolutions), I am conflicted about where I stand with regard to the politics of this guy, even 50 years later. This great song can't be beat though, whatever you think of the man.
Even with all the stupid, I'll try to keep peace in my heart. Merry Christmas from Peak Stupidity!
Hey, this happened to be post #900. We'll have some more posts this year but it'll probably be only 2 - 4 more, as the season is keeping me busy.
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Christmas and Communism
Posted On: Monday - December 24th 2018 9:23PM MST
In Topics: Commies Music Humor ctrl-left Bible/Religion Socialism/Communism Holiday from Stupidity
There's nobody yet stopping Americans, including "your" Peak Stupidity blogger, from saying Merry Christmas. It's almost gotten that far with the ctrl-left's long-running War on Christmas, but we should still feel grateful that it's not the case so far. We are not in the same position of having religious worship in secret as in Chairman Mao's (and still somewhat on-going) Red China or in the long dark days of the USSR... so far. However, the ctrl-left is not exactly lightening up either in their campaigns against Christianity and all things American. In fact they seem emboldened lately and have been doubling down.
Many readers of Peak Stupidity may be a bit miffed about all the writing on Commies and Socialism/Communism ( > 60 posts with these 2 topic keys ). As we've written in regard to The Neocons and their apparent lack of understanding of the facts with respect to modern-day Russia, the Cold War has been over for almost 3 decades now. Yes, we do know, and that was a hell of a relief too.
We've used the term "Commie" with respect to people who may be known by other just-as-derogatory (to us) terms. There are lots of "-isms" out there to describe lots of stupid philosophies of economics and government. Yes, it's most likely the case that most people in that Ctrl-left crowd have never read a book by Marx, Lenin, Engels or Mao. They haven't been using the phrases "from each according to his ability ..." or forming communes either. They are evil and stupid in their own way, but are they really Communists, as per Peak Stupidity's bandying about of this term?
Well, I'll tell you, the old-time Commies of the USSR, Red China, Viet Nam, and even Cuba, are not what they used to be. However, America is indeed beset by a new crowd with this same evil, stupid, contrary-to-human-nature ideas, as a few points here will illustrate:
1 ) It's been a long time since hard-core Communism was first implemented on a large scale by the first set of instigators and, as we've written, Commies [are] crawling out of the woodwork... it's about that time. Maybe the evil ones behind the scenes haven't really forgotten the ills brought on by this sick philosophy, but their newest useful idiots have either forgotten or never knew the history.
2) Bad economic times are in store, and have already been creeping in for a few decades in American at the formerly middle-class level. This is a great thing for those wanting to "change the world", just as it was in 1920's - '30's Germany. There is plenty of talk nowadays of how "capitalism is not working" so we should just try this other thing, as if we have anything like free market capitalism in this day and age. There are plenty of young people who know no different or better and take in this stuff.
3) Though the external Cold War was won by Ronald Reagan, with help from Maggie Thatcher, Konrad Adenauer, the old (REAL) Pope John Paul II, Lec Walesa of Poland, along with millions of American soldiers, sailors, airman, and engineers and technicians, the long march through the American institutions, the internal front of the Cold War, has been nothing but a retreat for America for 5 decades running.
A pretty big similarity with the ctrl-left of today and the old-time Communists is their disdain for religion. See, their Commie and other "isms" themselves are a religion for them, and a religion that does not tolerate blasphemy and worship of other gods. This explains the current War on Christmas by the left in this country.
Looking back this Christmas time at 24 years ago, we find a humorous (as usual) Seinfeld episode named The Race. As the brilliant writers of that show had one story about Jerry Seinfeld, there was also the hilarious part about Elaine's Communist boyfriend Ned. What I remember about this is realizing that the winning of the Cold War, only 5 years back at this point, was so thorough that even New Yorkers could laugh and make fun of Communism. A most serious threat had been reduced to Seinfeld humor in 1/2 a decade:
Again, this episode was right in time for Christmas, which could be mentioned without worry on TV back in 1994 even by New Yorkers. The best lines, to me are at the end of this scene:
Mickey: "I knew that Commie stuff was going to get us in trouble!"
Kramer: "Yeah, well I didn't realize it was such a sensitive issue."
Mickey: "Communism? You didn't realize Communism was a senstive issue! What do you think's been going on in the world for the last 50 years?! Wake up and smell the coffee!"
What a great time that was, 1994, just before I realized that the Feral Government was going completely out of control. That was 24 years ago, and my, have things changed! It's also been a century since the start up of this evil last go-around, and as The Who sang, "people forget".
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Finally good news out of the White House, and Steve Sailer Snark
Posted On: Saturday - December 22nd 2018 11:34PM MST
In Topics: Trump Pundits The Neocons
Things regarding the Trump Presidency looked pretty bleak when Peak Stupidity posted this about Ann Coulter's getting impatient and fed up with him 2 days back. Besides possible good news (that I'll believe when I see it) about the "wall", the President is confounding the Neocons, by planning a withdrawal of American troops from Syria, another in a long list of places they have no business being. He's hinting at extricating the military from other locations too. It is riling up the Neocons to no end.
One commenter under one of the unz posts to follow suggested that possibly this is a bargaining move by Trump to get funding for the wall. He could hold this chip (being the Commander-in-Chief with no judges able to interfere) for ransom. That means the plan would be, if he got his way on the wall funding, to hem and haw on the troop removal, giving the Neocons this back. To me, that might be the case, but it's a bad move, as the border funding, and more-importantly, building CAN be held up by just about anyone. In the meantime, get US the hell out of the middle east, and Korea, and Germany and etc, etc.
This is why, even though not much has been done, the President seems to be on our side. He is worrying and pissing off the usual right people again, Senator Grahamnesty from SC being an example. It seems Peak Stupidity was right that Miss Lindsey was not going to stay on our side for long - see The Coming Out of Lindsey Grahamnesty - Part 3 (Part 1 and Part 2).
Bring these troops home and deploy them at the southern border. Kill 2 birds with one stone that way. It all sounds good now, keeping this roller-coaster ride of hope going, but I'll believe it when I see it. In the meantime, Mr. Steve Sailer, in 3 snarky posts (so far!) pokes fun at those who are sorely dissapointed that these overseas wars won't go on forever:
1) Disappointed Soldier Was Looking Forward to Hanging Out In Syria for Another 20, 30 Years
2) NYT: Crazed Trump Doesn't Understand That Forever Wars Mean Forever
3) Trump Is Irresponsibly Worrying About American Border Rather Than Syria
It's been a busy time, but hopefully we'll move onto something new and different in the world of stupidity on Monday. Good evening, readers.
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Lügenpresse - German for Lyin' Press
Posted On: Saturday - December 22nd 2018 10:55PM MST
In Topics: Humor Media Stupidity
(not the same issue with this story, BTW)
As a matter of fact, the Germans have been using that term way back, since the mid-1800's, per Wiki,, well before Donald Trump coined it independently(?).
The Wikipedia article on lügenpresse talks about various political factions using the term to diparage the written press on the other side. (I am surprised no lefty has edited it out, but there is even a fairly-written paragraph on the use of the term to refer to the lack of coverage of the Cologne sexual assaults 2 years back on New Years.)
The man in this latest episode of the Lyin' Press revealed is on Claas Relotius, coincidently named like another man who is a complete fake. (Ooops, any 5 y/o Peak Stupidity readers, so sorry, but you were bound to find out someday.)
Lügenpresse: German Journo Invented Stories About Racist Minnesotans, Border "Vigilantes"— Was CNN Journalist Of The Year!. VDare quotes from the original Der Spiegel confessional article below:
The first suspicions emerged following the publication in November 2018 of the article "Jaeger's Border" about an American vigilante group that patrols the border between Mexico and the United States.Let us not jump to assumptions that Mr. Relotius was JUST a complete liar. There may very well be some simple stupidity involved. Note, that he writes about these vigilantes. We did have some regular citizens at the US border looking to spot illegal immigrants, but they were not out to shoot them, and, oh , yeah, it was only about 12 years ago. That was the Minuteman patriot groups that I fully supported (only work obligations prevented me from making an effort to join up). Did Mr. Relotius read a 10 - 12 year old article off the web and miss the date? Things like that happen.
Juan Moreno, who reported the story together with Relotius for DER SPIEGEL, grew distrustful of his colleague. Moreno also reported his concerns to DER SPIEGEL. He didn't relent, and he took advantage of a trip to the U.S. for reporting on another story to gather incriminating information about Relotius -- and also in order to take steps to protect himself, given that his byline had also appeared on the article.
After initially denying the allegations, Relotius finally confessed at the end of last week. It has emerged that he invented entire passages -- not only in the article "Jaegers border," but also in a number of other articles.
It's hard for American to think of Germans as dumb, as we are more likely to picture wire-rimmed-glasses-wearing Dieter from Sprockets:
So, though modern Germans may be weird to us, their intelligence is not usually questioned. After all, anyone who can pronounce Goethe and Nietzsche correctly, much less read their writings, has gotta have something on the ball, right? However, what we've got to remember is that we're talking JOURNALISM here, the mainstream of which contains graduates of one of the easiest majors in college, most of them innumerate, some with no knowledge of history. Why'd this Relotius Claas make up stuff out of whole cloth? Did he think no one in Germany, reading Der Spiegel, could/would see through his BS, or did he really just come up with this view of Americans out of laziness and stupidity?
It is good, but maybe a little surprising, to read that Mr. Claas' colleague did the leg work to debunk Mr. Claas. Behind every one of these fake journalists ratted out, though, how many more are making things up as they go along, and not being found out?
"e's makin' it up as he goes along!":
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