For Everything there is a Season ..
Posted On: Monday - July 27th 2020 7:04PM MST
In Topics: Music Bible/Religion Poetic Stupidity
..turn, turn, turn.
(Like a number of other days when I get fixated on unz.com commenting, I didn't leave enough time for a period to right up a good post. I have plenty in the works, as stupidity is not winding down anytime soon, from what I see.)
The Biblical book Ecclesiastes contains some poetic writing that most of us have heard. It's Chapter 3, verses 1 through 8:
To every thing there is a season,If you recall this from somewhere else beside the Bible, it is from the 1960s rock band The Byrds. There wonderful song Turn, Turn, Turn comes almost directly from the Book of Ecclesiastes, with only slight changes to the poetic wording. I heard the song first, myself.
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.
Where does America stand? What time is it?
The Byrds has the sound of a 1960s band, and it was in the middle of that decade when they had their heyday. I love that bright guitar sound.
The Byrds
Roger McGuinn – lead guitar, banjo, Moog synthesizer, vocals
Gene Clark – tambourine, rhythm guitar, harmonica, vocals
David Crosby – rhythm guitar, vocals*
Michael Clarke – drums
Chris Hillman – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, mandolin, vocals
Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, and Chris Hillman formed the aptly named McGuinn, Clark, and Hillman in the late 1970s. They had the same sound.
* Famous also, of course, from Crosby, Stills, and Nash (and sometimes Young), featured on Peak Stupidity with Teach your Children Well and Southern Cross. David Crosby left the Byrds in 1967.
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F.U. Money, F.U. Skills, and F.U. Attitude
Posted On: Saturday - July 25th 2020 7:49PM MST
In Topics: Music Political Correctness Economics ctrl-left Big-Biz Stupidity
(Peak Stupidity couldn't justify 3 of the same cuss words in the title of a post for fear of cancellation - not enough Fuck You money. Yeah, it's OK in the body. Wait, but we've got the attitude, at least.)
You've likely heard the term "fuck you money" before, meaning one has accumulated enough assets to have no fear of losing employment or even ability to make more money in what is now called a "cancellation". With F.U. money one can then speak his mind more freely, do the job the way he would like to with low regard for the HR weenies or even customers, and just feel more his own man in his workaday world. It would be a really nice thing for any conservative writer whose purpose in life involves pissing off the kind of people who like to cancel him.
Ron Unz, proprietor of the site with his easy-to-type-in-the-browser-bar own name, is an example. He features some writers who are just whacked-out, but some of them, along with the many non-whacked-out writers are those that trouble the Establishment greatly. Steve Sailer is a great and prolific example, being just too truthful and too far off the narrative. Mr. Unz is just not worried about not being able to pay his rent, mortgage, insurance, eat well, etc.* (He made a lot of money in the finance and finance-software business way back. I listened to a good over hour-long interview. He came across well, BTW.)
Most Americans just don't have quite that much money. Hell, most Americans don't save enough to be able to go 2 months without a paycheck without being in arrears on stuff. Peak Stupidity has discussed this problem multiple times. It's not the obvious problems of financial stress, insecurity, etc, that are the results of this financial stupidity but also the effect of causing American wage workers to be forced to act like obedient cucks and suck-ups to the SJW policies and environment on the job - see Credit? Forget it! You got it? You get it!, More on living paycheck-to-paycheck, and Poor Feral workers living paycheck-to-paycheck. They don't have "Fuck You" money - they have "Fuck Me" debt.
The ability to be free to speak one's mind and ignore the SJW narrative in this country is not just a function of money, however. Even if you don't make a killing and haven't saved a bunch, you can have this ability or status if you have some mean skills. This could be at the top end or at the lower end, so I'll explain each in a couple of paragraphs.
Let's say you're some kind of business consultant or engineering/technical type who has been around a long time and is considered an expert this one area. Sure, the customer can get another consulting firm, but they really don't have anyone else that they can really trust to do it right. If they've got a plant that loses a million dollars an hour when the production lines are down, they don't want to screw around with anyone else. You tell them when you're coming, and they get everything ready for you. Some of these guys like this could quit anytime, and get other customers that they haven't had time for, in a day.
Yeah, sure, you don't want to purposefully rip down the BLM sign in front of the plant (though even then, the HR ladies will make sure there is a fuss, but then they'll have to just "hug it out" with you, because, dammit, the lines cannot go down!) You can say what you want. If they don't like it, they don't have to call you again. In fact, some of these guys do have F.U. money in addition to F.U. skills, but they either enjoy it, have nothing else to do with their time, or even just feel obligated to make sure this production keeps on, just out of integrity.
At the lower end (but no insult intended here), there are the skills that are called "the trades" by many. I just never used that term much, but hands-on craftsmanship, wood-work, mechanical, electrical, plumbing work, etc. is what I mean. There's another post coming in agreement with many conservatives who, for reasons of both the stupidity of the modern university educations, and the financial aspect of it, encourage young men to go into this kind of work instead of going to college. I will agree for this other reason in the upcoming post: one can obtain mad F.U. skills.
Illegal (and some legal) Mexicans and Central Americans have been hired for cheap - because the true costs are socialized - for residential roofing, framing, and such by the millions over the last 20 years. That's not a good thing, of course, but there are the precision skills that these people don't in general have that are still in demand. A guy who does a good job with millwork, or kitchen jobs, or wiring, is someone who will remain in high demand, especially in high-end neighborhoods, just by word of mouth after a while. People do want jobs done right.
A good and trustworthy car mechanic is pretty rare, and customers know that. The shops of the car dealers, with the huge overhead, the bureaucracy, and the high rates and parts prices, are to be avoided if possible. The big worry with anyone you don't know, including the guy at the dealer, is that he will make some more work for himself or the shop, sometimes good for you in the long run and some times just fraudulent. You can't know easily though. You'd better not piss off a good mechanic.
Imagine, if you will, a good shade-tree car mechanic who has said the wrong thing in the wrong place, and has local SJWs up in arms. Facebook and Twitter are crawling with comments. The hard-core twitterers and FBers with nothing better to do than to try to enforce Political Correctness, have called for him to be fired .. from like ... what ... by whom? OK, they will tweet for a boycott then, yeah, that's it, shaming all the current and potential customers with the threats of being called names like racist, xenophobe, oh and that he is "creepy".
As a customer, what do you do? I mean, you don't want to be known by any of those names all over Social Media. What if your boss sees that? But, well, you really like your Beemer, and the guy said you'd better get the timing belt done within 10,000 miles or so. You don't want to get stuck by the side of the highway with an economically totaled Beemer**. It's a real dilemma, and perhaps the solution will be to get the work done surreptitiously by getting your lawn guy to bring the car into the shop, maybe at night, through the back. You can be cancelled if you're not careful.
A good mechanic will not lack for work, and can't be cancelled. It's the same for a good handyman. Political Correctness is one thing, but ... So, there are F.U. skills too, and in times like these, it's got to be a good feeling to have them.
If you want to have that F.U. attitude, having F.U. money and/or skills will help you attain this. Or, you may have the attitude because you're fed up and just don't give a rat's ass anymore - this works for the fairly young and the fairly old. Otherwise, watch your mouth constantly or be ready to live off the grid till this Cultural Revolution is over, one way or another.
No doubt it was easier in the 1970s, during Johnny Paycheck's time:
* Now, it's another story about whether he can maintain his ability to "broadcast" the views of all these alternative writers with these "interesting, important, and controversial perspectives" (per the banner up top). I would like to comment in another post about his interesting "Lord Voltemorte Effect", which you can read from him here.
** I was told by my mechanic that most of the modern cars have interference engines. That means during the time when the cam shaft is not turning, but the engine is, starting in a fraction of a second after the failure, your pistons will hit the valves. A timing belt failure on a non-interference engine will just result in tow charges, but otherwise the engine is toast. (I've seen both happen.)
Comments (8)
Tales from two pundits
Posted On: Friday - July 24th 2020 8:57PM MST
In Topics: Pundits Liberty/Libertarianism
This post is just a little bit of commentary on the latest columns from Peak Stupidity favorite pundits, Ron Paul and Ann Coulter. The long-term reader should understand by now that, here at Peak Stupidity, we got BOTH KINDS of ideologies, Libertarianism AND Conservatism.
Uhhh, yeah, where were we? Dr. Paul has been doing a bang up job documenting the totalitarianism of the Kung Flu Panic-Fest, especially now during Season 2. His latest writing on this is Big Holes in the Covid 'Spike' Narrative . Here's the first 1/3 or so of the column:
Motorcycle accidents ruled Covid deaths? In the rush to paint Florida as the epicenter of the “second wave” of the coronavirus outbreak, government officials and their allies in the mainstream media have stooped to ridiculous depths to maximize the death count. A television station this weekend looked into two highly unusual Covid deaths among victims in their 20s, and when they asked about co-morbidities they were told one victim had none, because his Covid death came in the form of a fatal motorcycle accident.I've hardly had any real disagreement with Ron Paul. It's not a disagreement really to think that he is just a bit naive on the immigration issue, perhaps thinking that a significant number of new arrivals to America will be the Libertarian Ron Paul-voting type. That's because I never really read anything from him pushing the immigration invasion. He just does not come across as understanding the existentially of the problem.
Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. In fact the “spike” that has dominated the mainstream for the last couple of weeks is full of examples of such trickery.
Washington state last week revised its Covid death numbers downward when it was revealed that anyone who passed away for any reason whatsoever who also had coronavirus was listed as a “Covid-19 death” even if the cause of death had nothing to do with Covid-19.
In South Carolina, the state health agency admitted that the “spike” in Covid deaths was only the result of delayed reporting of suspected Covid deaths.
I did have an unz commenter give me a pretty convincing argument that Dr. Paul wasn't exactly straight honest, covering his ass regarding accusations of his being associated with the alt-right, in the '12 primary campaign. I do remember some of that. Other than these two problems, I've agreed with the man 100%. In reading his words on the COVID-19 stupidity, he comes across as the sanest man in the room ... any room. Please take the couple of minutes (if that) to read his latest.
Next, our favorite literary pundit, discussed too many times under the Pundits topic key to list links, we have Ann Coulter. We noted 3 1/2 years back New Column by Ann Coulter proves she is a Libertarian. Miss Coulter bats a .980 by our estimation. This one brings her average down.
The column is Dems Are The Party Of Antifa .
In Portland, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Atlanta and elsewhere, children are not merely being blocked from the schoolhouse door—they’re being killed. They’re being maimed. Citizens are having their property looted and their public spaces destroyed, all with the connivance of local Democratic officials.Miss Coulter points out the left-wing's hypocrisy (4th paragraph), as she always does so well, but it's just that I happen to agree with the policy the left is being hypocritical on here.
And once again, the Democrats are championing states’ rights to protect domestic terrorists.
“Trump & his stormtroopers must be stopped.”—Nancy Pelosi
Democrats and the media want the federal government to brutally crack down on people who don’t wear masks—whatever the states say—but faced with an actual violent rebellion, the feds are supposed to stand back and let the governors lead!
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler called the federal officers protecting American citizens “an attack on our democracy.” Yes, Orval, Portland is “occupied territory”—just like Little Rock in 1957!
Sorry, maybe it's too hard-core a Libertarian position even for Ann Coulter, but just as with the segregated school houses in Arkansas 63 years back being none of the Feral Government's business, neither are the riots in Portland, Oregon and elsewhere today. OK, one can pick the loophole that the destruction of Federal property should be prosecuted by the Feds. That's a good foot in the door.
Sure, we'd probably all like to see President Trump send troops into Portland to kick in some heads. Other than in defense of piece of Federal property, however, no, the left is right, even if for their own evil reasons. The people of Oregon should petition the Governor, or their State Reps. With no help there, it is up to the people themselves to stop this destruction. That's whose business it is.
Peak Stupidity has bad-mouthed the President to no small degree lately for not doing things that ARE the job of the US Chief Executive. Other than the use of the bully-tweet, to encourage the people of Oregon to do something, sorry, it's not the President Trump or any part of Fed-Gov's job. This is a good example of the American people thinking the one guy is supposed to do it all.
Still, you may want to read Ann Coulter's column for her description of what's been going on in Portland over the last 7 weeks or so. You probably can't get all this from the Lyin' Press.
Enjoy these two tales from these two favorite pundits.
Comments (8)
To IRS: One hundred million and 00/100 ~~~~~_ Dollars
Posted On: Friday - July 24th 2020 10:28AM MST
In Topics: Humor US Feral Government
You probably should put in a squiggly line so the IRS can't fill in a few extra hundred dollars for themselves. [There it is! You're welcome. - Ed] Still, I'm sorry, but your check will be declined due to your failure to adequately read the 1040 Instruction packet (in convenient .pdf format). There may be some interest accrued during the correction period, and no, we don't charge the FED discount rate, but our normal 8% ...
I spent a lot of damn money on these people a week ago, so I may as well get something else* out of this income tax business. I was ctrl-f'ing (not the cuss word, the short-cut key) for "check" in the IRS 1040 on-line tax instruction .pdf when I ran into the little gem above. That's right, make sure you don't write any checks for over "Nine hundred and ninety-nine million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine
Does anyone imagine that there are rich guys around who, first of all even look at the IRS 1040 tax instructions, even have accountants that look at the 1040 tax instructions, or, much less, just pay the, let's see, Taxable Income x 37% (0.37) - $35,012.50? (Oh, but if you're married still you can subtract off $61,860. Whew, what a break!) This is the system for the middle class in that .pdf, maybe more like the lower- and middle- middle-class. Check out Peak Stupidity's Americans' attitudes on the income tax for a thorough speculative run-down of the income tax system as it applies to 4 classes of Americans. (I spent a lot of time on that one, so ...)
The tax system set up for the people who actually pay anything in the neighborhood of $100 million is one arranged by the Feral Gov't regulators with the help of the people who end up paying nothing near the neighborhood of $100 million when it's all said and done. The whole thing is an art that requires as much creativity as, you know, one of those guys from the Renaissance. You know, the fancy hotel downtown where the accountants of these money-makers stay.
The people who should be paying $100,000,000 in income tax have accountants who make so much money saving them money that these accountants have their own accountants to do their taxes. Who does those OTHER accountants' taxes, you ask? Listen, I don't kn... it's just ... it's accountants all the way down.
So, please, Mr. IRS publications man, don't try to bullshit me and make us all think that the system is the same for everybody. The middle class gets screwed as is the usual thing these days. That's why I was the one cntr-f'ing around your .pdf looking for information on who to cut a check to, not the guy who is required to cut 2 checks. Maybe you have this text in there to rope in that one occasional naive nouveau rich guy. Good luck with all that.
Most Americans are going to find the next paragraph slightly more relevant: "What if You Can't Pay?"
* We ran into and posted about one interesting tidbit during the tax calculation process before.
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Scenes from the Kung Flu Summer re-Panic - Part 7
Posted On: Thursday - July 23rd 2020 8:52PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Humor Big-Biz Stupidity Kung Flu Stupidity
It's been just about another week since the last COVID stupidity, at least anything new for me and worth writing a post about.
We've been to the bank a number of times since the Kung Flu Panic-fest started. They didn't want anyone going into the actual bank building for a spell. I come from a family that never adopted the drive-through lifestyle, so, if you can believe this, it was a new thing to put the paperwork into the canister and watch the air blow the thing over to the tellers and see it come back with money and receipts. Kids LUV it!
During the Panic-Fest intermission, or break between Seasons 1 and 2, the banks opened up. One was supposed to wear a mask and stay apart from others (uhh, I can't see how much she's counting out from 6 ft away, so, just sayin', "please... don't ... stand ... so ... far from me.") They also controlled how many people could get in at a time. That was especially applicable to any bank robbers, cause, you know how they can be sometimes.
The face mask wearing has been enforced with a Stalinist intensity since Season 2, "Return of the Panic", started. I was putting one on as I entered the main lobby, and the lady was already on my case. "Where's the little podium thingy?" (where you get the slips of paper and use one of the chained-down pens - they must be very dear) I asked. Gone for the duration or something, she told me, due to, what now? Therefore, not only are you supposed to stay apart, keeping people out once a crowd forms, but the process is slower since anyone waiting can't do anything till he's at the teller window. Stupid, it seems, but then this virus... I mean it's so deadly that you don't even know you've got it until you get your test results back.
I recognized the teller girl, even with her nice designer face mask on. It was all friendly enough, as usual, and I tried to keep in good humor. I did have the thought, "hey, how are they supposed to ID robbers nowadays?" The girl did ask me to lower my mask as I showed her my driver's license to take out money, along with the other transactions. At that point we were 2 1/2 feet away, so ... OK, I'm just sayin'... That's even more silly, as it was just procedure and not necessary at all, since she DID know me.
I guess she knew me pretty well to have not hit some red button behind the counter (or do they use an app now) when I asked "what are you going to do about bank robbers now that we all are wearing these masks?" By "we" I didn't mean "we bank robbers", but more, "we people forced to wear these stupid masks." That COULD be taken the wrong way, but then, again, she knows me and had ID'd me, after all.
It's very hard to have a really original idea, it seems, as there is nothing new under the sun. During the H1N1 flu epidemic in 2009, there was a bank robber in San Diego - that's the gentleman in our photo above - who made a special effort to not spread the swine flu during his un-surprisingly successful heist. Per this Baltimore Sun article,
The FBI and San Diego police are asking for the public's help to identify a man who robbed four bank tellers Friday while wearing a surgical mask with the letters and numbers "H1N1," the swine-flu virus designator.Now that's some good citizenship, warning your robbees about a very contagious disease, even when very busy with a job. Oh, the article was from 2009, so I'm guessing the FBI and San Diego PD did not get the help they needed.*
I'm telling you, between the Anarcho-Tyranny that used to only let antifa Commies wear masks but put the hammer down on anyone
* I couldn't find anything on-line saying the case was solved. However, I did learn just a little bit about the Geezer Bandit who performed a string of many bank robberies around southern California. Man, I tell you, even in retirement, Californians really stay active and don't just sit around collecting their Social Security checks!
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Jeff Sessions, Tommy Tuberville, Trump, The South, and worship of Football
Posted On: Wednesday - July 22nd 2020 8:40PM MST
In Topics: Trump Bread and Circuses
Peak Stupidity urges our readers again to not regard this site as a primary new source (haha!), as we can be weeks behind sometimes. In this case, it's just over one week, but we read a few days ago about the loss of prospective returning immigration patriot to the US Senate, Mr. Jeff Sessions. Mr. Jeff Sessions lost in a GOP primary race for Senator from Alabama to former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville on July 14th.
This loss of the great immigration patriot Jeff Sessions was due in part to support give by President Trump, acting like a bitchy, on-the-rag 15 y/o schoolgirl out for revenge. I looked back just now and am very surprised I haven't mentioned this at all on the blog, not even anywhere in the Trump-bashing posts of late. I feel bad for having written the one post, Good night, Sleepy Jeff, taking Trump's side in Sessions dismissal 1 2/3 years back.
Peak Stupidity is nothing if not self-referential most of the time, so if you don't feel like reading that post, I'll just say that my beef against Mr. Sessions was not about his gentlemanly self-recusal from the Russia-hoax hearings. It was about the Justice Department not coming down on the Anarcho-Tyranny of the Charlottesville, Virginia travesty and other pro-White America stuff the the DOJ could have gotten involved with. Things did not get much better on this score after Mr. Sessions' dismissal anyway.
VDare had numerous posts/articles about the AL primary, coming down squarely on Mr. Sessions side. He is a staunch immigration patriot, as greatly opposed to Coach Tuberville. This is why Trump's little hissy fit, turned a year and a half later into a prissy, revenge-filled effort to work against an immigration patriot like Jeff Sessions was so #SAD. No Ronald Reagan master strategist is he.
Mr. Tuberville won the primary election. An unz.com commenter the other day brought up a very good point the other day. (I'll link to it if I can find it again soon.) Tommy Tuberville was the head coach of Auburn University's football team, one of the 2 biggies, Auburn and 'Bama itself (Univ. of Alabama in Tuscaloosa). It is very likely that for most Alabamans, the rivalry between Alabama and Auburn in football is more important than the primary race, or any election held anywhere, for that matter.
The South takes college football very seriously, much too seriously in my opinion. Sure, pro football is just not as big, and there used to be not much of it around. People LUV LUV LUV the tailgate parties and spending the big bucks to SUPPORT THE TEAM! Rah, fucking, rah... I mean, there are people that fly in from around the area, drive in caravans down the interstate with their four flags flying, and even many housing units that one can BUY (not rent) to have a place to hang out during those 6 or 7, tops, home football game weekends. There are people that never even graduated from the institutions that know more about their football team's plays than the best engineering students know about Newtons' laws of motion.
These coaches get paid the big bucks and are more widely known and talked about than anyone's US Congressman.
This aspect of the Bread & Circuses really wouldn't bug me in normal times, say the 1980s (and, granted, I went to a number of games back then myself). These aren't normal times, though. There are things going on and decisions to be made that are much more critical to our future as a country and a people... than who's got the best passing game.
Yet, the Coach won the primary, albeit with help from President Trump, if he is of any help anymore, his mojo seeming to have vanished up Jared Kushner's ass. As this country goes even more to hell, I wonder if the good people of Alabama will think about how important having an immigration-cuck Senator that was the famous Auburn football coach really was.
PS: From the Fox News article on the election result, we read:
On Saturday, after Trump tweeted that “Jeff Sessions is a disaster who has let us all down. We don’t want him back in Washington!” – Sessions returned fire – calling Trump’s tweets “juvenile insults” and emphasizing that “Alabama does not take orders from Washington.”No, Alabama takes orders from cucked-out football fans. I'm so sorry, Jeff Sessions and America.
Comments (7)
From the "You can't make this shit up!" department
Posted On: Wednesday - July 22nd 2020 4:13PM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity Humor Movies Educational Stupidity
Without the one cuss word in there, this was Dave Barry's bit, wasn't it? I confuse him a lot with P.J. O'Rourke, but I believe it was the very humorous Dave Barry of the Miami newspaper. That and "that'd be a great name for a band" were my favorite lines.
From across the pond, on an island of stupidity, call it the Stupidity Annex, comes this laugh-a-sentence story from the Beeb, which is what the Dweebs there call the BBC (Government British Broadcasting Company). The humor starts in the title - Hakim Sillah death: Teen stabbed at knife awareness course. First, we read:
The 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named*, knifed Hakim Sillah, 18, twice in the chest at the west London centre on 7 November last year, Isleworth Crown Court was told.Yes, isn't that ironic, like ray-ay-ain on your wedding day ... but bloodier? I can't skip a single paragraph, as the irony just keeps on ...
Prosecutors said there was "a cruel irony" that Mr Sillah was stabbed while attending a weapons awareness course.
The teenager denies murdering him.He stabbed him in the chest with a knife multiple times and the guy died, but still, he denies murdering him (maybe the other "gentleman" dies of the COVID-one-niner - "Chalk up another one, Liam!") You just can't get a good Barrister these days.
He also denies two counts of wounding with intent and one count of unlawful wounding.
Sorry, this is not a fisking here. This post simply contains people-of-color commentary.
Michelle Nelson QC, prosecuting, said all participants at Hillingdon Civic Centre had been risk assessed before the session, which was run by the Youth Offending Teams (YOTS), and "those classified as high risk were precluded from attending".Yeah, we're all assessed in here, I'm assessed, he's assessed, my grandmama's assessed. None of us would think of bringing our knives, but, well, this one guy may not have been perfectly assessed, so I'm gonna bring just the one knife in case he starts anything.
"Both the young men must have been risk assessed, but the sad reality is that both attended that course carrying knives," she said.
Then comes a few words about the DNA evidence and the "Rambo Knife" found in the woods near the defendant's home.
"He says he did not intend to kill or to cause really serious harm and told the police in his caution interview that he had acted in lawful self-defence. [He] had intended to stab Hakim Sillah in the arm, but he moved.FIFY, Beeb. Heh! Defence? My spell check bill is gonna be intense this month.
"The prosecution say the defendant took a deliberate decision to stab the deceased to the chest twice, we say, lawful self-defence does not arise."
Thetrialstupidity continues.
I don't know how much guys like these two knife awareness students had kept up with Western culture, what with being in England and all, after all. You'd think they might have watched a little Indiana Jones at some point in their lives. Never bring a knife to a knife awareness class when you could have brought a gun.
Peak Stupidity included this scene before in one of our other 2 posts about stabbings in formerly-Great formerly Britain, Knife, immigration policy Clash on the streets of London. The other post was an earlier one, Knife control in London - some well-forecast stupidity.
It's one thing to have to deal with this violence from black thugs in America. They've been here a while. It's the utmost in stupidity to import them in large quantities after you already (should) know better! "Madness!", as the man said.
* I dig, I dig. Some of those names are hard enough to pronounce, but spelling them correctly is not worth the trouble. I don't blame The Beeb for not even trying.
Comments (10)
Pictures from the end of America?
Posted On: Tuesday - July 21st 2020 7:25PM MST
In Topics: Economics The Future Peak Stupidity Roadshow
Yeah, I realize that the post's title sounds like unz.com writer Mr. Lin Dinh's column title, "Postcards from the end of America". For whatever reason, I have not read but one of Mr. Dinh's columns, and didn't like what I read. Is it because he is anti-all-things-American, as the proprietor, Ron Unz, seems to be? I read a lot from young people who have no idea of the country this used to be. I can't blame them for that, but I can blame them for writing on what they no nothing about. It doesn't help that I see Mr. Dinh (obviously Vietnamese) as a foreigner writing about America, though perhaps he has lived here his whole life (until his recent traveling, going by his titles that I see). I have not bothered to check.
That initial digression completed, this view of a seemingly disintegrating America presented here is of the runways, taxiways, and ramps of the northeast side of the Minneapolis airport, one of the hubs of Delta Airlines from a while back. To get these nice views shown here, I'll give the airline traveler some advice here, at least for those spending some time at the MSP airport.
If you have extra time beyond what it takes to get to your next gate and perhaps get something to eat from the Somalians, go over to the D-concourse. You may not know there IS one, as it's smaller than the stretched out C and G ones, and the fairly big E and F, and the A/B complex. From the main "mall" area, go as if you're heading to the C concourse, but go straight instead of hanging a right toward the first C-gate (and that white tram). You'll see a McDonalds (wasn't very busy) on the left, and you can go through a door to your left right after the McD's that says "restricted, blah, blah" (ignore the sign) or a stairway with no door on the left that's just at the entrances to the D-concourse.
Either way, you must lug your luggage (pun? unintended) up about 30 steps, or 1 1/2 flights of stairs, I'd put it. You'll find yourself in what must have once been a ramp tower, that is, not an air traffic control tower, but one used to direct traffic in the ramp areas. It's an observation area that obviously most passengers don't know about, as it's nice and quiet up there with nobody else, or a TSA guy on lunch, and an occasional other passenger. Classical music is playing. Is that to keep away the riff-raff, and/or Somalians? Nah, I think the music is playing throughout the airport, but it's drowned out usually by too much noise elsewhere.
While at peace up there, I noticed how dead the airport really was. With only 2 parallel and sometimes an angled-off runway normally used for landings and take-offs, it'd normally be a great view for kids that like airplanes. Don't they all? There would be one after another, rolling out or taking off, and the view, even though from only 50 ft high or so, is very nice, though it's only of this runway on the NE side (12R/30L) and the ramp/gate areas of E, D, and C concourses. Nope, I think I saw 2 or 3 take-offs and the same number of landings, in about an hour and a half. This is not normal*.
In the sunshine, the huge expanses of concrete were bright and clean, the planes looked beautiful, and ground vehicles and planes just occasionally did what they do. The terminal, the parts that were open, had a few restaurants open, and things were clean enough. People were perhaps extra friendly with the extra time due to low levels of business. This huge airport terminal**, however, costs a lot of money to keep like this. The airport itself costs lots and lots of taxpayer money of various sorts too - FAA, surcharges on tickets, etc. - to keep the cracks in the pavement fixed, keep weeds out, clean the signs, paint markings, chase out critters, keep the many fire trucks in good shape, and lots of things I've probably missed.
This running of < 25% of the flights compared to normal out of there, with them < 1/2 filled, and the loss of revenue that goes with that is not, errr, sustainable. It can't go on like this. If it can't be paid for long term, this nice hub airport would eventually have to go to rot. That's all there is to it.
I sat there and imagined the hard work in building the runways, taxiways, and terminals, the setting up of jet bridges, laying of fuel pipelines, and all that being ignored by hordes of ignorant masses taking over this weed-overgrown place for shelter, farm land, and scrap metal, in a Planet of the Apes sort of way. The engineering of flying machines, and the art of flying them are long forgotten. "You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!"
Looking due north, one can see a gleaming city about 10 miles away, with the larger buildings poking out over the horizon and trees. It looked nice and peaceful from 10 miles and a couple of months after the Kung Flu Infotainment intermission rioting. I was imagining how it would have looked for those few days when the thugs and Commies were setting things alight. Could one have seen the smoke rising in the distance from my same vantage point? Come to think of it, Minneapolis has already experienced a Planet of the Apes moment.
Anyway, it's quite nice out there right now still. Business better pick back up, though.
* Granted this was on a Sunday, but it was Sunday afternoon. The slow time for the passenger airlines is Saturday afternoon through Sunday noon-time. Business travelers mostly travel home on Fridays, not the weekend, and don't go out until Sunday afternoon. The short-term vacationers are where they want to be in the middle of the weekend, but many are traveling home (in normal times) on Sunday afternoon.
** It's one out of 2, as there is a Humphries Terminal (Hubert? Nah.) completely separate on the SW side where Southwest, Sun Country, and few other airlines park. The big one, where mostly Delta, but also United and American too, park, is called the Lindbergh Terminal.
PS - specifically for commenter Adam Smith: Per our conversation on the iSteve thread regarding image meta-data, I'd like to experiment on this one, if you could help. Could you let me know which if any of these 3 images has meta-data? (I know you used a different term, but I'm sure you know what I mean. You have the program that you downloaded to display the values. I'd rather you not give all the values, even the dates, but there really is nothing much anyone could get out of them to track me. I'm a little bit careful.
You could just write in what you found quickly in the comments - just referring to image 1, 2, or 3, I suppose. Thanks. This will be kind of fun.
Comments (12)
Reason-TV: People will die!
Posted On: Monday - July 20th 2020 1:25PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Websites Humor Liberty/Libertarianism Poetic Stupidity Kung Flu Stupidity
Peak Stupidity has done its share of disparagement of Reason magazine. I used to read the print version about 15 years back, but quickly got sick of their ridiculous support for open borders for the US. How many of the writers there were/are stupid enough to not understand that the 50 million or so people who have come here over the last 50 years do not lean in any way Libertarian? (It seemed like most of them, but I don't know now because I quit reading Reason - paper and website - cold turkey long ago.) This is not the way to get greater market penetration, if that was all that this pro-immigration-invasion writing was about.
However, we give credit where credit is due here, and I came across this video in an unz.com comment thread. This very humorous rap-style political skit is not just big laugh at the Kung Flu Panic-Fest, but about lots of the stupidity seen in recent American politics and culture. I take it that Reason magazine doesn't think so much of this Kung Flu situation, but maybe it's just this guy Remy that doesn't.
OK, with no further comment, here's one of the funniest videos I've seen in a while - People Will Die!
Comments (2)
Boogie On Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder
Posted On: Saturday - July 18th 2020 6:28PM MST
In Topics: Music
Wasn't it great when black people made great music regularly? There was plenty of good music to go around in the 1970s, but guys like Stevie Wonder added a lot to the pop music scene. There may be some black musicians playing great music right now, but I sure don't hear any of it. Is this rap or hip-hop crap what people really want to hear most? That doesn't say much for the audience, if that's the case.
This is my favorite song by this artist, though I have ~ 10 others I'd feature here too. Wiki says that, song title not withstanding, this song is neither boogie(-woogie) nor reggae. I think the extremely funky bass sound, created on the Moog synthesizer by Stevie, does have a missing-beat reggae sound to it. Yeah, you'd call this funk, though, with that fuzzy sound.
Except for one other guy playing conga drums, all the instruments were played by Stevie Wonder. Boogie on, Reggae Woman has a great melody and a great sound. The lyrics are good too, but this is unimportant, as Peak Stupidity noted long ago.
Comments (4)
The long arm of the Infernal Revenue Service
Posted On: Saturday - July 18th 2020 5:56PM MST
In Topics: Globalists US Feral Government
This is at the top of the 2019 tax-year 1040 form.
I noticed a number of things while filling out the income tax forms on or about the 15th of July. (You can't prove I didn't finish on the 15th, not in a court of law you can't!) I think there are 2 more posts coming on this, but today I just want to point out one small change.
I saw the last line in the graphic above, a place for one's foreign country and such. Something clicked, so I checked. That was not on the form last year.* Very interesting! What's the deal here? Have enough tax-paying Americans gotten the hell out to where this line needed to be added? Was it an oversight before. Was this line added for the Globalist elites?
Although commenter Adam Smith is someone I think may have a great handle on this too (be glad to hear about it), from a website that reads fairly straight-forward and knowledge-full on this issue, Premier Offshore**, I got information that fits in with what I'd heard before about our lovely IRS: From their page on taxing of foreign income by different countries:
The only major nation that taxes its citizens (and green card holders) regardless of where they live is the United States. So long as you hold a U.S. passport or green card, the Internal Revenue Service wants its cut of your profits and capital gains.With the exception of the Philippines, I see we're in with a great crowd there!Some lists of countries that tax citizens and legal residents on their worldwide income include Libya, North Korea, Eritrea and the Philippines. The tax systems of these countries are not well developed and data is limited.The United States taxes all U.S. persons on their worldwide income. A U.S. person is a citizen, green card holder (who is a legal resident but not necessarily present in the United States), and residents. A resident is anyone who spends more than 183 days a year in the United States.
There's more to it, One can stay out of the US for 11 out of 12 months of a year (not on a monthly basis, but one must be away 330 days) and have ~ $102,000 excluded, which may suffice for lots of ex-pats.*** Failing that, one can obtain residency to avoid this same amount of money.
I'm no tax man or ex-pat advisor. My point here is that the IRS, as instructed by the US Congress, acts with an unmitigated gall that's not the norm throughout the world. They will not leave you alone unless you:
a) Renounce citizenship. It's not as simple as, say, getting a divorce in Islam-land, such as "I renounce thee, I renounce thee, I renounce thee!" One must pay an over $1,000 fee, and fill out paperwork.
OR
b) If you don't plan on ever coming back, it's a lot easier. Just leave no phone number or forwarding address and blow them off. Above all, don't let them sucker you into filling out that last line on the top of the 1040!
* I pull out the previous ones to see if I'm missing anything that will save me money, and more importantly, keep some money from flowing to the Feral Government.
** I just found this one with my duckduckgo search on this question. I am not fixing to move to S. America at this point in time or anything like that.
*** Don't confuse the >183 days (1/2 a year) in America - with the 330 days (as in < ~ one month in America). The former is for definition of a "resident", while the latter is about the exemption on that $102,000.
Comments (8)
Trump Fail
Posted On: Friday - July 17th 2020 9:01PM MST
In Topics: Trump US Feral Government
Before I get too far with this post, let me categorically state a few things: Yes, I will vote for Donald Trump in November, if I vote at all. Yes, Joe Biden would be a whole lot worse. Yes, President Trump is pissing off the kind of people that I'd like to piss off, as they are our enemies. That all said, this continuation of our disparagement of the President in yesterday's post is warranted. He has been a severe disappointment.
(Thanks. commenter Adam Smith for the meme suggestion.)
OK, this meme is perhaps too harsh. I can't really say that President Trump has been lying with his promises. As Elwood explained to his brother Joliet Jake*, "It wasn't a lie; it was just bullshit". Yes, Trump is a real bullshitter, an art that I guess he honed in his high-level real estate business. When a man doesn't keep his word, though his intentions may be good, do you call that a lie? Nah, but it just doesn't say much for him as a man.
Here's what I wanted to add to that last post: I realize that the President is not, and should not be, anything like a King, with absolute powers. It's good that he can't just do ANYTHING. What he IS supposed to be, however, is Administrator of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government**. Congress writes the laws that enable the powers of the various Departments, bureaus, and offices of the Executive Branch, tasking them with certain functions. How things are carried out within those functions are up to whoever runs things in each of these, with everyone eventually reporting to the President.
There are Federal judges all over the country ready to stop every little move by the Trump Administration, to be sure. They cannot directly block actions by the bureaucrats and other employees of the agencies of the Executive Branch though. By that, I mean legally, possibly they can, but practically they cannot. ICE, as is this example, can just keep on doing its job, with the details left to the employees and lower-level managers. There is nothing stopping President Trump from simply telling high-level managers that if this new visa policy doesn't get implemented, they will be fired. In turn, the middle and lower level people are motivated in the same fashion.
The revoking of foreign student visas for those enrolled in now-remote-learning universities is/was not some new law passed by Congress. It was just going to be the way the visa offices were to handle things now, based on this change in university policies. There are a myriad small decisions that have to be made within these agencies. Under the last I don't know how many Administrations, many asylum seekers, for instance, have been let into the country, from Africa, by way of Ecuador, then Mexico, or something, with any BS story about people hot on their heels ready to persecute them. That was not based on law, but based on men (and women), who operated based on the will of the Administration, all reporting up to the Chief Executive.
Many times, the Chief Executive, the President, that is, may not care about day-to-day bureaucratic decisions, or let the status quo continue. However, if he wants things to change, he has every right to administer it his way. The key word is "administer", and that means having people loyal to you at the top, and letting them know they won't be there long if the word doesn't get sent down, and changes don't start happening. Every single employee can be fired by the President, and that's no business of the US Congress!
The left knows how to handle these things. Even when laws do get passed to stop their policies, they seem to get the bureaucrats to just keep on keeping on in the direction they desire. Why can't our side do the same? Ignore the pesky Nancy Pelosies and the "rulings" by judges. Administer the Government. Unfortunately, we don't have an Administrator - we have a Bullshitter.
* Wow! The Blues Brothers movie is 40 years old. What a different world America was then! I can't find the scene on youtube, but the quotes are on the IMDB page.
Elwood : Well, what was I gonna do? Take away your only hope? Take away the very thing that kept you going in there? I took the liberty of bullshitting you, okay?
Jake : You lied to me.
Elwood : It wasn't a lie, it was just bullshit.
** Speaking of which, there are things he's NOT supposed to be, one of them being top "General" of the armed forces when there is no declared war ongoing. This Commander-in-Chief role is only supposed to be put on the President during a war declared by Congress. Maybe they wrote up an open-ended declaration of war, with the enemy and cause left "TBD" while we weren't paying attention.
Comments (18)
Scenes from the Kung Flu Summer re-Panic - Part 6
Posted On: Friday - July 17th 2020 10:12AM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Kung Flu Stupidity
It's been a whopping 4 days since we at Peak Stupidity got upset enough about the Kung Flu (Season 2!) stupidity to write a Scenes from the Kung Flu Summer re-Panic post. Here we go...
It really is sad, what you see in that picture. You don't have to be a out-of-control full-of-compassion women voter to feel bad for the kids. What kind of life is this for them? It's been 20 years since the helicopter parenting has been big, meaning kids just don't run outside to play with friends and get told to come back for dinner*. They've had to have their parents arrange "play-dates".
That's bad enough, but over the last 4 months, they've had to get their parents to lend them their phones or computers just to talk with friends or see them on zoom. That's no way to interact, just on a screen, not for months at a time! (We've been lucky enough to deal with some other parents that don't mind the kids all being out together ... no masks, no muss.)
Can you imagine what the little ones are thinking, though? If you are a 2 y/o toddler, you may have solid memories only going back 1/2 a year or so. You will think this is the way the world has always been. Adults don't show their noses and mouths in public, in the same way that they don't show their pee-pee's and ass-cracks... OK, well, some of them. If this goes on for, well what will it be, another year, two(?), what kind of impression of the world will this be?
The kid on the right below might have an obsession with not showing his face when he grows up. He may have the same dreams about leaving his face mask at home, you know, like those dreams where you go to the office and realize you forgot to put your pants and underwear on. (Usually it's just the pants, unless it's one of THOSE dreams... with Ivanka working in the same cube as me ... Jared is my reporting manager with his web cam... we've all probably had this one ...)
We went to an outside deck at the restaurant/bar nearby, so I could do a little training with a friend in a field we both work in. I and my boy went up the wooden stairs straight up to the deck, outside the whole time. "Oh, you have to wear a mask", the waiter said. "What? We're outside, and look, they don't have any masks on." "They" were 6 20-something people having a good time about 8 ft. away. "No, you don't need a mask here, but you have to come in through the inside, with a mask on." WTF?!
OK, I know part of this is about being carded, something they all feel obligated (more like, pressured by THE LAW) to do to anyone, no matter how old or young**. They want you to come through the door that would have the bouncer, were it not daytime in the COVID-19 era. "Yeah, well, we're already out here, so ..." I should have added "and I don't want to take a chance on my boy picking up the Kung Flu walking through the crowd", but I'm just not that quick on my feet. The guy let us just sit down.
Next, where's the friend? He thinks the same way as I do on this whole business (and really a whole lot of my co-workers do too, from my informal surveys). I was looking forward to some fun when he showed up! It turned out he was parked, down below the deck, ready to also go up the wooden stairs. "Hey, Joe, here's a mask! Put it on!" I yelled from up top, as I pulled out a balled-up face mask from my pocket and threw it down toward his car. It ended up on the asphalt, and, then the waiter told him to head around the front. He didn't want too much trouble so he came through the inside unscathed. What a country!
* There are lots of reasons for this that may or may not have been discussed in a previous post, but would be good for another.
** See "You need to know how to pick your battles."
Comments (16)
Amazing prescient Peak Stupidity prediction that Trump will renege on policy
Posted On: Thursday - July 16th 2020 11:27AM MST
In Topics: University Trump US Feral Government
(This one was from the last weeks's article by Federale, with the original good news.)
Yes, you heard it here first, readers, President Trump's promises are not to be trusted. This goes for almost every single one of them, even small pieces of immigration policy, as per the link to the story about yet another type of visa that leads to non-immigration visitor "students" staying here for good.
I'd really thought Peak Stupidity had already posted something about this, but I it must have been only in a blog comment on unz.com where I specifically mentioned the latest encouraging little tidbit, as reported by Federale at VDare, Trump To Expel 3000 Chinese Graduate Students For Espionage—Why Not ALL Chinese Students?. Yeah, the excellent idea was to at least use the Kung Flu re-Panic as an excuse to cut down on the Chinese student visa numbers. I mean, if you're going to be learning remotely on Zoom, you can learn just as well from China. What's the point in even being here, right?*
Though Federale noted that the anti-American Kushner crowd was already trying to soften this ICE policy, per:
Sadly, it appears that Jared Kushner and openly anti-Trump university lobbyists are working behind the scenes to soften the blow, instead of expelling all Red Chinese students and prohibiting all future students from Red China, only a select few will get the chop.... he was still ebullient about it, after noting the original NY Times article (written by one Ed Wong - no conflict of interest there! - and a Julian Barnes) admits this is all about the Benjamins for the U's:
American universities are expected to push back against the administration’s move. While international educational exchange is prized for its intellectual value, many schools also rely on full tuition payments from foreign students to help cover costs, especially the large group of students from China.Federale again:
But aside from the direct national security threat of Red Chinese spies, the more damaging threat is the American jobs Chinese students steal through Optional Practical Training, Curricular Practical Training, mass numbers of H-1B NIVs, employment visa fraud, and illegal employment, not to mention those who stay illegally after graduation.There's that ebullience for ya'. Those VDare guys and gals are nothing if not hopeful.
More than 3,000 Red Chinese need to be expelled, all 360,000 should be expelled. Imagine the fury of the pointy headed intellectualoids in the universities who all hate President Trump! Just for political reasons alone the President should order all Red Chinese deported. This will also cause a fury in Red China, undermining the implicit agreement between the Chinese and their Red government; the government gives the population prosperity and a chance to study in America in exchange for the tyranny and corruption, but if the Reds can’t deliver prosperity and a ticket to America, things get hot. But the best part is the financial impact on leftist universities losing hundreds of millions of dollars in tuition.
I was not at all very hopeful. In an unz comment 3 or so days back, I predicted with great confidence that President Trump would renege on this small, but worthwhile, step in immigration enforcement. Now, I know what you're thinking. How can Peak Stupidity have this much insight? How did we know that President Trump would change his mind within a week? Just to put to to rest the hope that this Peak Stupidity blogger is the 2nd coming of Nostradumbass, let me put it this way:
President Trump is full of shit most of the time! That doesn't even mean that he doesn't WANT to put this small ICE policy into effect. It means that he said that he would go this without having an idea of how you get things done as the damn head of the Executive Branch of the US Government! The employees of ICE work for Donald Trump, period, judges, rulings, and BS from Congress notwithstanding. I'm gonna elaborate on this in a 2nd post, but for now, let me point you to the let-down that was amazingly prognosticated by this blogger.
I just understand that President Trump's word is worth absolutely nothing. A man is as good as his word, so what does this say about Donald Trump?
VDare writer James Kirkpatrick, in a post about another subject, (OK, no more Polish jokes out of this guy - time for American jokes out of the Poles.), notes in passing:
Depressingly, in the face of Establishment opposition, the Trump Administration has just backed down from a policy that would have banned foreign students from receiving visas [A link follows to an article that I just don't even feel like reading. WTF is new?]There you go. Not a week later, the weak non-leader Trump has let us down again, even on just another small piece of what could have been encouraging policy.
No, it didn't have to go this way. Again, that's another rant for another post.
* We know the real reasons, a chance to live in a better environment, get the kids immersed in English in one of the good schools (you know, with the white and other Asian kids), and work on staying permanently.
Comments (5)
The new cruelest month and day
Posted On: Wednesday - July 15th 2020 9:18PM MST
In Topics: US Feral Government
Peak Stupidity noted the cruelest day of the cruelest month last April 15, the date by which income tax returns are normally due.
We really need a few new topic keys here, one being "Taxes", but the reader can find a number of posts on the income tax under the US Feral Government topic key for now. That post linked-to above was written last April 15th, as I inserted my tax return into the middle of the big pile of procrastinators. (I'm not a procrastinator on this, but I have my other reasons, as explained in Tax withholding and Leverage and Another reason to owe the IRS money.)
This evening has not become a lot of fun, as the 3-month extended time limit for filing the tax forms has run out today, and I had much better things to do the rest of the day. There's also the fact that some quick and surprising calculations done in late January resulted in the knowledge that I would be writing out a decent sized check this time. It's not that I don't have the money, but his is by far not my favorite way to spend money.
I don't let the IRS run my life, though either, so I'm just not that awfully concerned about getting this stuff in the mail exactly on even the new date. With all the other cancellations and postponements due to the overreaching Kung Flu response, this seems like another thing that people are probably not "getting around to" so much in 2020.
Trying to get a certain book or movie at the library? Sorry, COVID-19. Want to send the kids off to school? (WHY?!!) Sorry, COVID-19. Planning on taking a girl to dinner and movie? Sorry, COVID-19. All this business has rubbed off on me just a bit after 4 months. Income tax return due on July 15th? Sorry, COVID-19. I owe the IRS 2,100 dollas? Fuck me, pay you? No, fuck you, COVID-19!
Now, if I could only say this with the accent of one of the Goodfellas, or like Joe Pesci, at least:
Comments (6)
Peak Constitutional Amendment - XIX, Part 3
Posted On: Wednesday - July 15th 2020 8:39AM MST
In Topics: Female Stupidity Morning Constitutional
Continued from Amendment XI, Amendment XII, Amendment XIII, Amendment XIV, Amendment XV, Part 1 on Amendment XVI, Part 2 on Amendment XVI , Part 3 on Amendment XVI, Amendment XVII, Amendment XVIII, Part 1 on Amendment XIX, and Part 2 on Amendment XIX.)
OK, I'm not even thrilled about writing this anymore, but a morning Constitutional is always a good thing. (We've just got some recreational stuff to do today that I'm looking forward to more. It'll leave the madness behind for 1/2 a day, at least.)
Where we left off on the previous post was some discussion of big elections and the women's vote. No, we can't expect women to have the logic and principles that men are expected to exercise in attempting to steer society in the right direction via government. Sure, we fail at this too, often because others before us have failed to limit that government, and it comes to a choice between different evils.
The problem I see is that men do know that women are going to show mercy over justice and show compassion in the short term. These are two ideas that I promised to get back to in Part 1.
Regarding the latter, do you remember the deal with the washed up dead kid on the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea that, not quite started, but greatly exacerbated, the push for letting millions of "refugees" into southern Europe (and subsequently all over Europe) a few years back? There are loads of other examples I could give. The German Chancellor Merkel, maybe not due to any compassion of her own (not inherent in evil Commies), used this dead kid to invoke compassion in the German population to get these society-destroying young African men into Germany.
"Oh, that poor little dead kid!" How can one not feel sad upon seeing the pictures? However, as Peak Stupidity has written before, compassion + stupidity = evil. It's not that compassion is bad. This is just short-term compassion, though. Is it that the Conservative Germans (the men more likely) are not compassionate people? No, it's that they can think ahead. They have compassion for plenty of people. They care about the German people, including their own and others' children and grandchildren who will live in much worse of a society in the future due to the millions of foreigners being allowed in. They probably have some compassion even for those invaders, especially the little ones. They just may have the smarts to understand that if you discourage those dangerous sea voyages, they will quit being attempted. This is simple stuff, but only if one thinks rather than feels. We don't need that "my feelings" crap in the voting both.
Regarding the former point, women's preference for mercy over justice, this is the reason there is but one woman, Deborah (thanks, commenter Federalist!) to be found among the Kings and Judges in the Bible. The Old Testament has a lot about justice, but not much mercy at all! That comes in the New Testament, but Jesus does not tell us that justice is to be overruled by God's mercy. Even his "turn the other cheek" teaching has its limit. How much do you take from your enemies, before we've had enough? The number is 7 x 70. I think most of us have hit that magic 490 with the people who hate us. 491 is the point at which it's time to kick some ass!
Justice tempered with mercy is one thing, but there is no justice at all when mercy overrules it. Some women may only learn that when they or their children become victims.
It'd take numbers that I don't have on me right now to prove that the women's vote is what pushed the Socialism on this country over the century during which States have been forced to let women vote. However, once Socialism WAS implemented, starting in earnest in the 1930s with Roosevelt's Raw Deal and being ramped up greatly by the scumbag Lyndon Johnson, women have been the one to get the most out of it. Socialism, due to its incentives toward irresponsibility, have made it easy for women to depend on this alt-husband, the State, if things aren't going swimmingly with the first. They also allow women to let the State be 1st husbands to them and fathers to their children.
You can't run a Constitutional Republic like this, with large groups of people dependent enough on the governments to vote for free shit over principles. The women's role in this behavior is huge.
With a thank you to blogger Steve Sailer, and his many posts and mentions of the "marriage gap", I will note the following: Many polls have shown that married women vote pretty Conservatively. The influence of an actual husband can be big. I don't know the break-down between those married women with or without kids, but that could be a 2nd factor, that women with kids may realize that Big Government is not going to be a friend to their children.
Hell, it was just a really bad idea, and it's too bad that the men of 100 years ago let their wives and the activist harpies push and push them, until they figured "what the heck? I'm tired of suffaraging from this nagging. OK, here's your suffrage, bitches. Happy now?" If nothing else, why wasn't this issue just left to the various States? Peak Stupidity agrees with our #1 literary pundit Ann Coulter, who is against voting rights for women. Two thumbs down for Amendment XIX.
Comments (4)
Peak Constitutional Amendment - XIX, Part 2
Posted On: Tuesday - July 14th 2020 11:36AM MST
In Topics: Feminism Hildabeast Morning Constitutional
Continued from Amendment XI, Amendment XII, Amendment XIII, Amendment XIV, Amendment XV, Part 1 on Amendment XVI, Part 2 on Amendment XVI , Part 3 on Amendment XVI, Amendment XVII, Amendment XVIII, and Part 1 on Amendment XIX .)
Part 1 of our Amendment XIX discussion contained a few details on the history of Amendment XIX to the US Constitution and its proposal and ratification in 1919-1920, a century ago. In this post Peak Stupidity will explain why this one was another really bad idea.
I looked up some data on voting patterns during Presidential elections, such as that below from the Pew Research organization from exit polls.
I couldn't get but so far back a whole century (perhaps exit polling is a fairly recent thing), but this is opinion here, not a Sociology papers, and we feel our common sense is just as good as one of those. It's back to the I know what I know, if you know what I mean. meme. Here's what I know, if you know what I mean:
There is evolutionary psychology. It's an interesting subject, one that I had never even though about until reading comments on the internet a decade ago (now, there's some scholarly work!), but one that has to have some truth to it. Like most of evolutionary theory/hypotheses though, such as what could help in the Evolution vs. Intelligent Design debate, nobody seems to have any numbers.
There's no doubt that women and men are different creatures is more ways that just external features, and didn't the difference in mindsets come from our different roles in ancient history (hunters vs. gatherers, etc.)? One would think there would have to be an evolutionary element that persists in the present day, just as with race or the difference between the mindset of dogs and cats. You'll find this kind of thinking all over the internet comment threads when any mention of women's bad behavior is discussed. However, it's easy to explain almost ANY kind of behavior with evolutionary psychology - "yeah, they are like this, because the opposite behavior would have gotten them killed or reduced their chances of mating due to this .." You can come up with an EP explanation for about anything.
Presidential voting exit polls aside, we all know that women, as nurturers, have a different attitude about, say justice vs. mercy, and are supposedly more compassionate than men (more on both), etc. Then, there's the point that women use their feelings rather than logic or principles much of the time to make decisions. Speaking of polling data, though, the old story from the 1960 Nixon vs. Kennedy election, that those who saw the debate on TV (the beginnings of TV's involvement) favored Kennedy's having won the debate, while it was the opposite for those listening on radio. Is there any doubt that this would apply to women more than men. "Oh, he's so charismatic, that young JFK!"
Yeah, I know, one could say, what about the alt-right men's fixation with Tulsi Gabbard, early-on possibility for Blue-squad candidate, pretty much because she has a nice rear end?* What about Sarah Palin, VP candidate with John McCain in 2008**. When it comes down to it, though this may help visibility of a female candidate, men will vote more on logic than their feelings of lust, most of them knowing that their one secret ballot will not get them laid with a particular candidate. (Honking the horn when she's crossing the intersection is a better bet than that!) Geraldine Ferraro, the first female VP candidate, running mate to Walter Mondale against Ronald Reagan, was no hottie at all. And then there's
Voting for the big cheeses on the TV debates is one thing, but all the local/State stuff is important too. For voting of all sorts, the problem comes in that the candidates will pander to the whims of the voters, rather than any Constitutional principles. We're going to continue on this topic tomorrow.
* There IS more to this, of course, as Miss Gaddard was one of the only of these politicians of either squad to come out strong against America's war-mongering around the world. They seemed to forget that she was a complete Socialist SJW type otherwise though.
** Sure, she had a nice rack. Was that the cause of her popularity? For me, it was simply that she was a real Conservative at heart, and about the only reason I might have voted for John McCain, hoping he'd kick it in the first few months.
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Scenes from the Kung Flu Summer re-Panic - Part 5
Posted On: Monday - July 13th 2020 6:07PM MST
In Topics: TV, aka Gov't Media Media Stupidity Healthcare Stupidity Kung Flu Stupidity
It was supposed to be time for my next Morning Constitutional today, as I'd written on Saturday, but this latest piece of stupidity just threw me off my schedule. I've never been as pissed off about the Kung Flu panic-fest, even the first season, as I got from listening to just a 15 second snippet of the Infotainment this morning.
I'd thought that the amount of CNN penetration (yes, it's a kind of penetration) in the airport terminals had been decreased greatly over the last few years, due to both the fact that people are too busy on their phones to watch, and that many of the screens hanging down are used for displaying lists stand-by or 1st-class seating. Well, it's baaaackk! Perhaps due to the COVID, with still fewer people in the terminals (though increasing quickly), making it quieter, and different methods of seating people, CNN is around and penetrating their captive audience from behind. See, I moved far away from the screen to sit looking the other way for a few minutes, but the speakers are spread out to keep the sound loud enough to be difficult to get away from.
It was something like this: "Mr. Whomever, we have these new policies in place, but how many lives could have been saved if we'd done blah, blah, blah?" She brought up the over 135,000 number, of the people who are said to have died FROM(?) the COVID-19 over, what 4 months now. (Keep in mind that 700,000 or so Americans die in 4 months normally, and perhaps many of these people are dying a half-year earlier.) Mr. Whomever hemmed and hawed, and the the lady repeated this, like she was just outraged.
I'm sure the TV lady was outraged. With a lack of perspective* that might lead one to ponder "well, lots of people die of all sorts of things, and we donate to the Heart Association, we support medical science, there are safety people of all sorts in all industries working to prevent needless deaths, and we never talked about needless deaths during other flu seasons", sure, one might be outraged. Do talking heads go on and debate or berate the "black community" for continuing to serve and eat the most heart-unhealthy foods in the country? How many needless deaths have there been? Do talking heads freak out about the slow progress in cancer treatments or how many people visit tanning beds? How about diatribes and big loud discussions about diabetes, or high blood pressure? More people still die from these causes than the Kung Flu, here in the middle of this "pandemic".
The line between stupidity and evil is not always easy to determine. I lean very much toward the side of stupidity when it comes to the journalism "profession", though, from experience. These people are very, very stupid. This outrage was likely real, due to the woman's complete lack of perspective and the constant hype she's been receiving from her whole Infotainment world that she lives in.
It's very unfortunate that many Americans subject themselves to this idiocy from the Government Media Department. The reason I got so outraged myself today, is that I've really never heard any of this stuff off of the TV, as I simply haven't watched for 20 years. I tried to stay away from it, but it got me today, if only for those 15 seconds. It took that much time to realize what bullshit I was hearing and get out of range.
When I got to a part of my job that requires the wearing of a mask since this re-Panic, I refused to wear it. I'd just had it, and I'm just glad nobody confronted me about it. Keep yourself away from the TV as much as possible, readers, it's a non-silent killer ... of intelligence.
* See also "Perspective vs. Hysteria"
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Scenes from the Kung Flu Summer re-Panic - Part 4
Posted On: Saturday - July 11th 2020 7:19PM MST
In Topics: Humor Female Stupidity Kung Flu Stupidity
Peak Stupidity
What are strippers supposed to do during this pandemic? This is not something that I need feedback on right now, mind you. No one in our family is employed or associated with the stripping, errr, exotic dancing, errr, industry, luckily, but, yes, I've been a customer long ago. It was a different time, you understand ... There were, and probably still are, some weird-ass rules created by local and State governments to regulate the industry.
See, in this one particular place where the girls were very decent looking, at least under the low luminosity in there (I guess they were simply watching their carbon footprints), the girls could take it all off. But, and this is a big butt, unlike those in the establishment, they could not sell you beer. They charged a few bucks to get in, and then the ladies get tips. Some State legislator worked out the logic of this, probably while at a different club that did sell him beer. It makes sense: if they take off all their clothes, you have to go across the street to the grocery store and buy your own beer. If they leave something on, I'm not sure what exactly, then, the establishment can sell beer, well, they will pretty much demand you buy it. No, really, it doesn't make any sense, but it worked out great. Beer at the store was $3/6-pack then, versus $5 each at the other places. The girls got naked.
The 2nd time we went to this club, we were told we needed shirts with collars to get in. We had T-shirts on, which obviously do not fit in with the girls with tiny bikinis or nothing on. No, this one had us stumped too, but the bouncer must have understood the logic behind the rule. We didn't get in there.
With the laws on Social Distancing, what is the protocol now? Must they wear masks even when they take their bikini tops and bottoms off? In that case, will we now save a trip to the grocery store, but be coerced by a big guy to "buy a freaking beer or get out!". I mean, if they have a piece of clothing on, the mask that is. For some of the strip joints, maybe the masks on the girl's faces would be a plus for all involved, oh, and stymie the Kung Flu pandemic too.
Can one really get a good lap dance from 6 ft. away? (Well, some of us can!) Perhaps the
Well, Peak Stupidity will have to speculate for now, as we've heard absolutely NOTHING out of the CDC or Dr. Fauci about this. We have zero guidance or policy recommendation regarding Stripper Social Distancing. I don't know what
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Peak Constitutional Amendment - XIX, Part 1
Posted On: Saturday - July 11th 2020 7:06AM MST
In Topics: Feminism Liberty/Libertarianism US Feral Government Morning Constitutional
(Continued from Amendment XI, Amendment XII, Amendment XIII, Amendment XIV, Amendment XV, Part 1 on Amendment XVI, Part 2 on Amendment XVI , Part 3 on Amendment XVI, Amendment XVII, and Amendment XVIII .)
It's been a month and a half since Peak Stupidity's last Morning Constitutional, so we've got a lot to get out of our system here. For today's post seeking the peak of the series of 27 US Constitutional Amendments, there won't need to be much legal discussion other than our stating that here was yet another gift of power from the States to the Federal government. The rest will be purely opinion, opinion that this site has steeped in since we started our Feminism Topic Key in the 3rd month of our blog.
Yes, you can read it above and weep, or here in blockquotes, if there is some problem reading the graphic:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.Peak Stupidity doesn't usually have great timing with some of our "it was a hundred years ago today, when Socialists took the freedom away" post (sorry for the terrible Sergeant Pepper reference!). However, in this case, let's just reflect on the fact that it was just over a year and a month ago last century that Amendment XIX was proposed* by Congress. In this case, as with possibly all of the Amendments, it was via using method 1 for the proposal and method 1 for ratification**. That ratification occurred on August 18th of 1920. Should we post something that day in remembrance? It would not likely be pretty.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
To start off with, yes, Amendment XIX was another transfer of power to the Federal government, and another involved with the States' voting process, after Amendment XV. I hadn't mentioned in the A-XV post, but interestingly, these two do not specify that this voting law is only for Federal elections either. This makes it a power giveaway in two ways, getting into how State operations work along with the Federal election process. I don't like either one.
After all, looking back at it on Wiki, there were a number of States that had allowed women to vote well back before the proposal of Amendment XIX. The sordid history of this idea goes way back before 1920, at least 70 years for serious efforts, protests, and the like by the kind of women that appear on those dollar coins you occasionally get out of the Coke machine and are often confused with Chuckie Cheese money. This history is in that Wiki link just above, but this post can't cover all this stuff. (It's supposed to end up a polemic, dammit!)
Well, I LUV LUV LUV maps, after all, and this map from the Wiki link shows us which States were really conservative and which were not, in the year 1920, at least on this critical issue:
Because the legend didn't come with the picture, you may look on the Wiki page, but let me add it here:
Dark Blue - Full suffrage
Medium Blue - Presidential suffrage (vote only for President)
Light Blue - Primary suffrage (vote only in Primary elections) My note here: Would this not be more a political party matter than a government matter at all?
Very Light Blue/White - Municipal suffrage (vote only in city elections)
Tan - School, Bond, or Tax suffrage
Orange - Municipal suffrage in some cities
Reddish Orange - Primary suffrage in some cities
Red - No suffrage (Hmmm, why this color scheme?)
The Deep South was by far the most conservative, which one would expect, but the Eastern Seaboard in general had the lid on things, other than, of course, New York. Look at the West though. Was it the pioneer spirit and pioneer women being not so much a problem? I don't know, but it'd be a good subject for a Steve Sailor or Audacious Epigone post. (For the latter, we can't promise a bar graph!)
The geographic differences aside, suffice it to say that this issue could have been left up to the States. That's not because "it was going to happen anyway", but because they seemed to have a handle on what they wanted, and well, if voting was that big a deal to you as a women, you could move West, young spinster, or, yeah, New York. From what I'll write more about, I really can't see that this would be a big factor in where an American woman would have wanted to live and any big deal in their lives. It was those agitators that take up the large history section of the Wiki post that spend a century ramming this stuff through, and ramming America in the ass in the process.
As with a lot of history, some small beginnings happened way before anyone though very much about it, and the "Interactive" Constitution Center comes through with a humorous bit on its Interpretation page:
Alas, New Jersey’s early experiment with women’s suffrage didn’t last. After a few hotly contested elections in which rampant voter fraud was alleged, there were calls to tighten voter qualifications. In 1807, amid allegations that men dressed as women had been going to the polls to cast a second ballot, the right of women to vote in New Jersey was withdrawn. If there was much opposition to this act of disfranchisement, history has failed to record it.It sounds like a scene out of Monty Python!
Per the reasonably unbiased C-center interpretation - till the last 2 paragraphs, that is - the continual efforts for women's voting rights were put on the back burner during the lead-up to the War Between the States, the war itself, and then into Reconstruction. By the early 1870s, things cranked up again, in a long push toward 1919.
As for ratification, it was no easy win. (That doesn't mean they would not have tried, tried again, as it always goes now - there is usually no compromising or settlement. When the left/authoritarians push for something, they are never accepting of a no vote.) Tennessee was the last State to ratify Amendment XIX. From the same page:
Ratification was nevertheless hard fought. Tennessee was the state that put the Amendment over the top in a 49-47 nail-biter vote in the Tennessee House of Representatives. The decisive vote was cast by 24-year old Harry Burn, who had intended to vote against, until he received his mother’s letter urging him to “be a good boy” and vote for ratification.That's how it ends, not with a bang, but with some young kid listening to his mother. Too bad his mother was not named Ann Coulter, as things may have turned out differently for us. More to explain that one, and our whole polemic, for that matter, are going to have to appear on a Part 2 post, Monday morning. It's something to look forward to, right?
* The Constitution Center site drops the ball on this with the use of "passed" instead of "proposed". I understand that they mean that the proposed Amendment was passed, as in voted "yea" on, by the required 2/3 of both Houses of Congress. It would be confusing to the laymen, those not Constitutional Scholars such as a couple of people left in the country, including Øb☭ma, supposedly.
** See, I don't think we've ever gone over this, so straight from the document itself (Article V), here are the rules for creating Amendments. The language is not of the style we use today, but one can make out easily that there are 2 processes available for proposal of Amendments and 2 for ratification:
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.Were any of the Amendments proposed and/or ratified with the alternate methods? I don't think so. Holding conventions on the Constitution could have been dangerous things, and Americans are only prone to convene for sportsball and Trump rallies so far.
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