"We aren't even 60 years removed from politicians being assasinated."
I want to... tiptoe... into the idea that maybe this immunity from the heckler's veto is PART of the problem. Remember the parable about the king who walked among his people once a year? Biden wouldn't get five feet out of his Cadillac. But since he has absolute protection, he can do what he likes. And he, like Mr. Obama but NOT like Mr. Trump, will have legal immunity as well.
As horrifying as that might be, it would at least make the de facto immunity of Messrs. Biden and Obama a de jure fact that could then be -- and would be -- immediately legislated out of existence.
Oh I’m sure it’s rank garbage. I was hoping saltburn meant something to do with vampires or witches but I feel I’m going to be severely let down and or disgusted .
In my case, I mean that rich people literally suck blood from children to prolong their lives. Sometimes I joke about conspiracies but I am not joking about this. We know for a fact that the Chinese sell the organs of prisoners. We know for a fact some subset of extremely wealthy people went to Epstein's island and may or may not have been raping kids. We know for a fact that Bryan Johnson, a mere millionaire, got transfusions of his son's blood. Frankly the disregard that a Bezos or Gates, let alone an Asian or Eastern European or an heir like a Hilton or Forbes shows for the lives of ordinary people, Occam's razor would suggest it is more likely that they try weird shit like transfusions from children or even babies than that they don't.
There haven't been any Nazis since no later than '46, because a Nazi was a member of the National Socialist German Worker's Party.
"Nazi" just means "someone I don't like."
Calling somebody a Nazi in Modern America is no different from when I was 8 and called Jason Miller a fag because he wore a light blue shirt to school that day - an insult. Only this, and nothing more.
I'd argue there were Nazi members well into the 50s or early 60s in central and south America.. but you're right on the point that it has become a catch-all for "people I don't like".
I'd amend my comment to state that there were no Nazis OFFICIALLY at that time.
I believe that by '46, the Nazi Party had been outlawed and any fugitive ex-Nazis were considered criminals on the lam, rather than members of a dissolved political party.
If you just go down the checklist of Nazi-ism... most of these dorks check 80% of the boxes off while proclaiming we all should fall in line with THEM.
All of them would have been proud Nazis in 1936. Supporters of The Current Thing are indistinguishable from Nazis in everything except fitness, familiarity with the outdoors, and the ability to engineer a decent plane.
I was thinking the exact same thing during the 2020 "Summer of Love" where they burned everything down and talked about how they were speaking truth to power despite all the corporations and gov't bureaucratic structures having their backs.
As I’ve opined in other threads here, my opinion is that some of this unchecked street disorder started in Nawlins during the Katrina riots. If the cops would have had the canastas to hit a few of the looters square in the kneecaps, perhaps things might’ve been different.
Let's hold judgment on your bigotry until we get a picture of the shirt. Once, as a 10 year old, I contrived to wear a blue western shirt with orange thread to Catholic school instead of the regulation blue button down. I was roundly assaulted for this, and properly so!
I’m confident that the declaration of fag was correct. Wasn’t super uncommon for anyone wearing a dumb shirt to high school to be properly and roundly decried as a fag
I would disagree. There were plenty of Nazis before WWII, and still plenty after. In fact, the United States government hired a bunch of them. We didn't just get German rocket scientists, we got all manner of players in the Nazi state...including Nazi intelligence and diplomacy types. The US government's "intelligence" agencies had already made common cause with organized crime as it proved extremely beneficial in moving money, people, drugs, and guns around the globe. And now we add to that a number of players in the Nazi state.
There were Nazi sympathizers throughout the elite of American society prior to WWII. Eugenics, social darwinism and similarly morally abhorrent ideas were abundant in academia and government. That didn't just all vanish because of the war in the same way that communism didn't just vanish because the USSR collapsed under the weight of its own inability to manage the most basic aspects of proper government.
The problem is that all became massively inconvenient to the aims of what Thomas Sowell termed "The Anointed"...and so it became politically useful to redefine anyone standing in opposition to unaccountable authority wielded by what Jack has previously aptly described as "the selected" to be a "Nazi".
In much the same way that it has become convenient to simply redefine history so that a party who is campaigning on the idea that a child born today should be harangued for slavery never gets even the slightest bit of blowback for Jim Crow. Because reasons.
I live in Austria, just a couple hours from Adolf's birthplace, with extended family and much business in Germany over the decades.
After WWII only the high level Nazis ran away. Low and mid-level ex-Nazis weren't members of the Nazi party because it was illegal. Nothing else much changed for them.
Sure there were a LOT of people who wanted to join the Nazis in the 30s and 40s to get ahead politically. There were a LOT of Nazis who were true believers. Those people didn't stop being Nazis anymore than a member of a religion stops being a member just because the religion has been banned.
Huge numbers of Nazis went on with their lives because they were in government and knew how to run the country. The US forgot that lesson when we threw out all Baathists in Iraq after toppling Hussein.
Here in Austria, the FPÖ (Freedom Party) was started by a group of hard-core ex-Nazis. Every. Single. Member. That is why there was such a freakout in 2000 when the FPÖ got into government for the first time. Unironically, the story of who founded the FPÖ was NOT talked about, because so many people believed (maybe like you) that Austria and Germany were purged of Nazis after WWII.
The FPÖ STILL has a lot of rhetoric that would make Peter Seller's arm twitch in Dr. Strangelove.
All that being said, in the US and US-based social media calling someone a Nazi has gotten ridiculous. Also, I'd have to see Jason's shirt to know if he was a fag or not. One glance would let me know. No need to talk to him or anything.
My favorite Rosamund Pike movie, as of late, is “I Care a Lot.” I thought the plot was deliciously sinister, as was her character.
As for the rest of it, I agree that there’s something troubling about trying to codify--either in law or in policy--the censorship of certain groups...even if I personally find their beliefs reprehensible. There’s a good argument to be made that companies have the right to disallow certain kinds of “hate” speech on their platform, but when your platform is a major source of news and discourse, that starts to get murky.
I will also note that everyone, even people very far on the left side of the spectrum, eventually reaches a point where they’ll say, “I’m pretty tolerant, but I won’t accept or adhere to *that*.” For some people, it’s the toleration of non-heterosexual sex. For others, it’s referring to people with gender-neutral neopronouns like “cat/catself.” The end result of blanket censorship is that eventually everyone finds themself on the “wrong” side of bigotry...and I say that as an openly gay, left-leaning man.
Anyway, I’m on a flight to go and get that 2018 G90 5.0 Ultimate AWD now. I’ll report how that goes later on. Should be a smooth, cushy drive back.
"I will also note that everyone, even people very far on the left side of the spectrum, eventually reaches a point where they’ll say, “I’m pretty tolerant, but I won’t accept or adhere to *that*.”"
I think thats a great summation of it, and unfortunately in a society of shock, we're only going to keep pushing those boundaries for attention. With the group think that's appended to it, we then get these situations where the groupthink keeps shifting that window because they just want to be shock jocks and keep the edgy reputation...
More importantly, I'm excited to hear how your G90 pickup and drive goes. I had been poking around an LS460/600 as a bad idea, but your experience put me off a bit.
Terrific (dark) comedic edge, great casting, evolving plotline, excellent soundtrack (it’s set in 2006), etc. It recalls The Talented Mr. Ripley, of course, but it reminded me of Withnail & I quite a bit, and not just because Withnail himself is in Saltburn. Finally, Murder on the Dancefloor was a great choice for the final scene.
I have a premonition that Barry Keoghan (Oliver Quick) will make an appearance on How Long Gone - the world’s best podcast - soon.
Isn't it basically just a modern over educated, midwit's fantasy though?
Just find a way to get back at those unworthy rich types, and take their money and wealth because you're more deserving... Is it really that good for its art, or more of a throwaway popular consumption piece for those trying to look fancy?
Honestly, I wouldn't watch anything that deviant because I see it all done as shock/awards value rather than art or advancing the plot. Like a few others I saw the trailer, and thought to pass on it.
I rarely read into the themes of any modern movie, because I know they will clash with my sensibilities and philosophy of life; I just take them for what they are - entertainment.
I think we just approach it in opposite ways. I avoid the modern "art" because I always want to ask why it exists and what value it may add to my life?
I prefer my entertainment a little more lighthearted, or thought out. The whole premise of being ripped out of your home and it taken from you also hits a bit close, even if none of my family was actually killed for it
It kind of ends up being a "chasing the dragon" mindset though.
Drug guys chase a high, PUAs chase better pussy, gay men become bugchasers -
At a certain point, seeking more becomes something resembling mental illness
For me and for those I care about, there's no level of quality / entertainment value that could justify self-brainwashing with morality-inversion, property-theft porn.
My guess will sound cruel but don't take it judgmentally. Certainly many/most republicans, and even geniuses (guessing the Regal Cinemas guy) can be normies
Normies are mostly inoculated to what's going on. This same group probably unironically enjoyed Inglorious Basterds.
Note I am not calling you a normie, which would be ridiculous. I think you could easily interact with this film on any of many levels, but simply do not care to. Unlike being a contrarian, taking things lightly is a healthy, adaptive trait ;)
What do they have in common? They all know me, and they all possess a fairly subversive sense of humor. Beyond that, not much.
1 is a college classmate; 3 is one of my best friends; I know 2 through 3; I know 4 through cigars, and I am doing some work for one of his portfolio companies (mostly helping them establish a foothold in an adjacent industry).
I never saw Inglorious Basterds, so I can’t comment; I am not a huge Tarantino fan.
Your mid 30s friends probably came out of puberty jerking off to alt.sex.stories on Usenet. It sounds like the script was pieced together from various cut and pasted favorite scenes.
The movie is superb, and as Bryce noted with a degree of wisdom uncommon for his years, it will end up as part of the zeitgeist going forward - a “cult classic.”
It made me think of Withnail & I more than once; incidentally, Withnail is one of my favorite films.
Going purely off of Jack's summary of the movie and several scenes mentioned, it sounds like if you like this movie, the logical next step would be to simply start watching gay porn.
Can't remember the movie/show but didn't someone try to make a "horror dystopia" in which America became Nazi-adjacent, then got mad at how many people wanted to live in such a place. Guess they couldn't deal with the fact that a stable, clean, orderly America was worth being full of Nazis.
They're pushing me closer and closer to wanting a Christofascist state. (this is sarcasm.. but, wouldn't a black lab run the country better at this point?)
Make no mistake...they insist. Harder than you can possibly imagine. We got a glimpse of it during covid, but an uncomfortably large percentage of the country would start up concentration camps tomorrow if they could. Unashamedly. BAMN, ANTIFA, etc...they are insisting on that.
And if they insist on it hard enough, then all of politics becomes an argument over who is in control of the guest list for the camps. Because they will shred the Constitution to the point that it will guarantee there's no alternative.
I'd rather not see society devolve to the point where we're fighting over who, exactly, gets loaded on the rail cars.
"And if they insist on it hard enough, then all of politics becomes an argument over who is in control of the guest list for the camps. Because they will shred the Constitution to the point that it will guarantee there's no alternative."
What scares me more is that we have a large and vocal minority who desires to go the Canadian route and it's only growing.
I had to watch after picking up COVID at a trade show, how my Canadian colleague got locked in a hotel after testing positive on his way home. All I could think was to repeat my parents and think, "I didn't leave Cuba for this." Thankfully it's not here just yet
Don't even get me started on Canada. In 2022, they finally opened the border to let non-Canadians in but you needed a special app. They wanted us to list where we would be staying in case of a Covid exposure, the dates when we would visit and what have you. One time, two weeks after I got back to the US after passing through Ontario, i got a call from their Ministry of Health or some such thing, that apparently I had been "randomly selected" to be Covid tested in Canada, and failure to do so could result in a massive fine or jail time. I explained I was an American citizen, and would have left Canada by the time my "random" test was scheduled. Well, maybe that was a sufficient excuse, they allowed.
I remember that app from my trip to our corporate HQ in Ottawa for a holiday party in December 2022. I was just glad it was finally gone this year.
I had a US based, former Canadian colleague joke that COVID would never end in Canada because the population is so conservative (in a classical sense) and docile that they had to ask the British kindly for their independence, unlike us.
FWIW I drove into Canada Jan 2023 and there was no covid checking of any kind thank goodness.
As for COVID crazyness on our side of the border in that aforementioned NY (this is *deep* rural NY btw): during spring/summer of 2020, my buddy's dad somehow tested positive and the local sheriff would drive by the house once a day and honk his horn and you had to wave from the window to prove that you weren't traveling anywhere. A good lesson that even in rural places where "our local Sheriff is BASED guys" there's still always the risk of them towing the line of higher levels of government (NY State in this case).
It all rolls downhill. Especially in places like NY with such a strong, corrupted central government. Everyone is looking over their shoulder thinking their next.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the actual UK -- they all seem to embrace authoritarianism with shocking zeal. All the former Commonwealth nations just *looooove* having their government tell them what to do... except the USA. Just look at the recently enacted "hate speech" laws in Ireland.
There was a comment thread on a previous article about America's love of guns. And again, it's part of our independent streak that we have in our Nation's DNA having wrested our independence from the Commonwealth by force.
When you consider that you could've been born anywhere in the world, in any year, historic or prehistoric and you were born an American in the 20th Century like me, you realize you don't have any problems.
That's true, but it's more like the US is on a 20ish year delay from those other countries. We may resist but oftentimes it still ends up coming down the line. And much anymore I believe the line "but we got muh guns" is kind of a cope. I respect the Europeans actually going out and protesting en masse (kudos to the French in particular), hell the Canadian Freedom Convoy was an impressive showing.
It's not "we got muh guns" so much as the strong independent streak and unrelenting optimism that has worked it's way into the American psyche. The guns are an effect, but not the cause.
We had vast territories to tame. In the 19th century, you could hitch up your wagon, go somewhere past the edge of the map, claim it as yours, plant some crops and make a life. This can do attitude carries over to today. We start businesses, invent things, try, fail, succeed, and generally blame nobody but ourselves. Maybe that's what's different.
In spite of our problems I *still* believe that America's best days are ahead. And 15 million illegals walking across the border this year would seem to argue for that.
"Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the actual UK -- they all seem to embrace authoritarianism with shocking zeal." For the UK, yes we did. We are (sorry!) a bit too polite and law abiding for our own good sometimes, aided and abetted by the relentless propaganda of the BBC. But I am not sure we would be so obedient next time. As The Who sang "Won't get fooled again!" Oops! Shame we'll all be dead in 8 days...
I don't remember a convoy stretching from Montana to Washington like the one in Canada. And I do remember Biden was very close to getting every American who refused the vaccine to be tested at work every week. That was Communist if I ever saw it during Covid.
It's Citizens vs Subjects, plain and simple. The US is unique among all (most?) countries in that its roots aren't in the King granting "rights" to his subjects, but the Citizens granting "rights" to the government.
No, I mean the Common Law tradition exported to the US. Anything that isn’t banned is legal, rather than the Napoleonic system in Europe that is the exact reverse. The US and its constitution didn’t emerge in a vacuum.
There were people in my office, a Canadian among them, who had no idea why the truckers were upset. Uniformly they get their "news" from NPR or the NYTimes.
Those 'protesters' were professional trouble makers. Ostensibly union members but unions and criminal organisations are intertwined over here.
Most of the population were very happy to see this happen. It was seen as comeuppance for the people that had voted bad government in and then couldn't understand why the state was being governed poorly.
Yes, our police have no authority so they have to resort to authoritarian tactics, but both sides were the 'Nazis' here. Put them in a cage and let them fight to the death.
First time rubber bullets have been used against Victorians Was that use of force really justifiable?
Now that rubber bullets have been used protestors against twice. What’s to stop them from used against ALL future protests the government doesn’t like.
I think the initial use of force was justified, as outlined above. I can't remember the second instance so I can't speak to that but this first instance was not a peaceful protest. If you're going to wreck havoc expect consequences. Otherwise the communist mobs of Melbourne (they flew red hammer and sickle flags in Voice protests) become the communist mobs of Weimar Germany and all of a sudden, ordinary people are interested in National Socialism.
Thanks for saving me for not even starting Saltburn. Your description explains why it sits at the top of every current/recommended page. Weimar, indeed.
My opinion is informed only by the clip on YouTube covering the Battle of Austerlitz, but based on that I'm prepared to do a bit of enduring and perhaps a lot of fast forwarding, eventually.
AppleTV+ seems to stream at higher bitrates than the other services; it looks noticeably better. If you haven't yet watched Slow Horses, I highly recommend it. It's Gary Oldman playing the washed up spy leader of a department where MI5 dumps all it's rejects. It's a perfect mix of office comedy and spy thriller, where the jokes make the plot hit harder and the thriller part makes the jokes funnier. Also the clear leader for "Most Fart Jokes in a Serious Television Series."
I wish I had time to read a fiction book for pleasure.
I made the comment about Apple TV+ being a great streaming service with the knowledge that Jack hates everything about the company, and for some reason believes that iPhones are “for women.”
Finally, as is obvious, I am a confirmed Anglophile, likely because I spent my formative years - age 8 or so until I was able to drive - devouring British magazines.
It’s a movie less about Napoleon, the singular figure who most shaped modern Europe, and more some weird maybe-comedy about him and a wife who clearly hates him. Just watch a 20 minute supercut of the battle scenes.
I think you’re missing the point. Or, you’re making it subtly enough that my dumb ass didn’t catch it. To be fair, I’m not sure the Casey’s of the world know the point, even though they are practicing it.
The point is not the fact that Nazis are bad; as you demonstrated, they’re basically acting exactly like Nazis now, right down to marching in the streets celebrating the death of Jews.
No, what they’re afraid of is losing the ability to label people Nazis (or racists or transphobes or MAGA people or whatever) and kick them out of society. That’s the point. They are starting to see a world where they’ve worn out the taunt of Nazi/racist/etc and people are now immune to it due to their fatigue, and the magic cancel wand isn’t working as well anymore. So they are vacating to places it still does, and clapping their hands over their ears and trying to pretend places it doesn’t (which no one in their social circle visits anyways) don’t exist anymore.
The Anointed...as Sowell calls them...are often wrong, but never in doubt. They have absolute certainty about their central tenet: They are Our Betters. Therefore what they think, say, and do are right.
This makes them many things, but blind to the consequences of their actions is top on the list.
...and if you ponder just how prevalent that vision is among the Great and Good of Their Democracy, you might understand why Afghanistan, Iraq, Enron, the housing crisis, our current economic situation, and cities covered in shit and aliens came to be.
"The point is not the fact that Nazis are bad; as you demonstrated, they’re basically acting exactly like Nazis now, right down to marching in the streets celebrating the death of Jews."
Sure, but I'm more worried about how they want to destroy our fundamental protections against absolute power. If they want to be cosplay Hamas jerkoffs, that's their right. It's when they want to code Hamas jerkoffism into the Constitution that I get nervous.
It’s just a logical extension of “everyone I disagree with is not just wrong but evil.” If people only hold contrary opinions because they are evil, obviously it’s just to shut out those opinions. You’re not against evil, are you?
1. Angel Studios is doing a movie and then series about preppers and people of faith in an "after" situation. I'm interested to watch it if only because it does feel as if we're getting closer and closer with news like "brain death after contracting the virus 100% of the time". Society doesn't survive something like that.
2. I don't like to use language as a follower of Christ but WHAT THE FUCK.... there is zero percent chance I ever watch Saltburn. All of those pornographic scenarios don't even sound appealing. They, in fact, sound like a cry for help from someone with a very messed up mind.
3. I was forced out, kicked off, a very prominant Detroit Red Wings blog for believing and saying the Nazis didn't deserve to be punched "just because". In fact, the day I had the argument with my boss there was the day of the congressional baseball game shooting. There is no limit as to what people like that will convince themselves of. They want to SAY the Republicans had it coming. The "nazis" had it coming. Absolutely despicable. I'm just glad they are alive to see Patrick Kane as a Detroit Red Wing. (a long time favorite target of the blog back in the day)
Yeah, it was after Vox bought them and JJfromKansas had been booted from a ton of other comment sections. Well, he decided to apply that level of scrutiny to everyone.
Second City? Nice!
I was at Nightmare on Helm Street first and them WiiM next. Even wrote scout reports. Look where they are now. Hahaha
I'm at least encouraged that the stomach for this kind of trash is going away. Even if the media isn't showing it, I do have a belief that people have a line they don't want crossed.
WiiM literally got sold off TO the guy that I helped bring into WiiM. He bought it for pennies and it now has a paywall. He was responsible for the most wokification of the blog by convincing the "boss"(none of us were paid until Vox was forced to pay for at least the social media being run) to head in that direction. Pretty wild. Now there's zero Wings fan blogs with any commenting or relevant news and I'd argue the Wings are more exciting than they've been in ages.
TLDR: My fault. Should have never encouraged him there.
What a garbage web network run by jerkoffs. Perfect example of what tech turned into, take something fan-created by people with genuine interest and love for a subject, offer a better platform and more resources, then after a honeymoon period enshitify it, pay the contributors nothing or almost nothing, then fire them and bring on new people to turn out vapid #content.
Ummm seems like he was preaching to drink the good stuff first, then when drunk, go to the crappy stuff which has been true since time immemorial. Also, swearing still ok, just not the lords name.
I confess to enjoyment of sharing this viewpoint with Baptists, who of course abhor all of the Deadly Sins. Possibly excepting gluttony - oh, the potlatches!
There's that whole thing in Revelations where it's all woe to those who are looking forward to the rapture. Having no idea (and maybe a bit of dread!) is probably the best way to be!
The time to "throw civil liberties out the window" is NEVER.
The time for government to shut down businesses and take away livelihoods is NEVER.
The time to cower indoors and cry out for government to save your life is NEVER.
I can't figure out people's political thoughts these days. They unironically call you a Nazi if you support Israel's right to eradicate the threat of Hamas. Strange days indeed.
The Wilsonian instinct in American politics has only grown over the last 100 years. It's supremely ironic that Princeton removed his name from their school of public policy, given that those who desired it were the biggest exponents of his philosophies of technocratic governance by experts...
It would be one thing to surrender sovereignty to a totalitarian state that was actually competent at doing things, but instead we don’t even have that to look forward to.
The thing I always find funny is that Nazi's were socialists. They are hard core lefties. Just like Fascists. NONE of those groups are right wing in any sense of the word, other than that they're just slightly to the right of communists.
The greatest bit of propaganda ever foisted on the American public is that Nazi's are 'on the right'.
Even though the word 'Socialist' is in their name. :-D
...but isn't it awful convenient to define Nazis as "right wing"? It rather distracts people from taking too much time to examine what, exactly, Mr. Hitler and company were up to. That way when you propose, say, confiscating people's guns they don't know that the Nazis did the exact same thing to populations they intended to genocide.
Problem is right wing in Europe means dictator, whereas right wing in US is just no government. People use the European one way too much to describe US politics.
Yeah, it's funny how the Euros have NO CONCEPT of having a limited, out-of-your-way government. All their governments are continually evolving towards Airstrip One.
You’d be surprised. Europe’s socialism is papered over by the fact that the US funds their defense essentially. They fear the US leaving NATO because they wouldn’t be able to afford a thing nor free healthcare. Trump understood this, he played the card that he knew would get them to do what we want. Also, they still have the feudal mentality over there which is why they always veer towards authoritarianism. One of the great mistakes is that Americans travel at a youngish age and think that Europe is better when they live there like kings and don’t see the underbelly of europe. Looking to Europe for any political intellectual inspiration is an act of stupidity.
I am probably biased a bit with having a European passport and successful middle and upper middle class family there in Spain, but I see Europe more as having a higher floor and a lower ceiling than in the US. Granted many of them did go to Cuba too, just went back there rather than come here, so they also pushed their kids to go to college or open businesses the same way me and my parents were here. I think the difference is that this is less common and there’s more acceptance of just living the basic life. Americans tend to see themselves as “fallen rich” while Europeans are more likely accept being just another shopkeeper in town with his VW Polo or Ford Fiesta to put around the village and local area.
"I am probably biased a bit with having a European passport and successful middle and upper middle class family there in Spain,"
Being rich in Europe is absolutely fantastic, probably better than being rich in the US. Once you experience that lifestyle, you're so far away from the reality of Europe, you can't comprehend how shit it is. Europeans do not accept poor people and it's laughable that you make that suggestion. Americans like to believe they're all blue collar and the euros absolutely look down on the "lower" classes. Comes form the 'ol aristocratic mentality.
I was listening to a podcast (I can't remember which one) but it was on the discussion of the French Revolution, our Revolution, our Constitution, and where do rights come from.
Our Founders believed rights came from God(or are natural) while the French seemingly believed they came from the government.
While I realize France isn't all of Europe, its revolution and government and influences reached far and wide.
Oh God, me again! I didn't mean it, really!
It's always you!
"We aren't even 60 years removed from politicians being assasinated."
I want to... tiptoe... into the idea that maybe this immunity from the heckler's veto is PART of the problem. Remember the parable about the king who walked among his people once a year? Biden wouldn't get five feet out of his Cadillac. But since he has absolute protection, he can do what he likes. And he, like Mr. Obama but NOT like Mr. Trump, will have legal immunity as well.
As horrifying as that might be, it would at least make the de facto immunity of Messrs. Biden and Obama a de jure fact that could then be -- and would be -- immediately legislated out of existence.
in the most friendly way, i ask what's wrong with you?.....no....i guess i mean what do you mean?
As long as it gets leaked to all the alphabet companies first, I’m fine with it. I’d at least like a solid chuckle before I go.
Had to skip past the Saltburn part as I’m supposed to watch that with a few people then discuss. Tying to go in totally blind. So far so good.
without giving too much of the article away: you'll come out blind, or at least wishing you were!
Oh I’m sure it’s rank garbage. I was hoping saltburn meant something to do with vampires or witches but I feel I’m going to be severely let down and or disgusted .
The preview strongly suggests a vampire aspect to it, yeah.
Vampires definitely exist. Look up Bryan Johnson. You think Queen Elizabeth made it to 100 because of good (inbred) genes?
Are they really actual monsters, or simply extreme characterizations of what we are fearful of that don't actually exist?
In my case, I mean that rich people literally suck blood from children to prolong their lives. Sometimes I joke about conspiracies but I am not joking about this. We know for a fact that the Chinese sell the organs of prisoners. We know for a fact some subset of extremely wealthy people went to Epstein's island and may or may not have been raping kids. We know for a fact that Bryan Johnson, a mere millionaire, got transfusions of his son's blood. Frankly the disregard that a Bezos or Gates, let alone an Asian or Eastern European or an heir like a Hilton or Forbes shows for the lives of ordinary people, Occam's razor would suggest it is more likely that they try weird shit like transfusions from children or even babies than that they don't.
A vampire has been described as an immortal monster that survives by drinking the lifeblood of innocents.
That not a vampire, that's government.
How is a high-end drink tumbler in charge? 😂😂
Vampires are just make-believe. Like elves, gremlins and Eskimos.
I’ve seen nothing but the marquis image on Netflix (Amazon ?)so I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic. Sounds like I’m horrendously off base lol.
Marquee...* sheesh iPhone
Markee
theres some sucking goin on
Sounds like I’m watching the trailer and sending the decision to the burn pile 😄
Ok, so I gave in and watched the trailer. It’s a gay Harry Potter, vampire / cult like an somehow impossibly worse version of twilight.
That’s the end of my sarcastic input here.
There haven't been any Nazis since no later than '46, because a Nazi was a member of the National Socialist German Worker's Party.
"Nazi" just means "someone I don't like."
Calling somebody a Nazi in Modern America is no different from when I was 8 and called Jason Miller a fag because he wore a light blue shirt to school that day - an insult. Only this, and nothing more.
I'd argue there were Nazi members well into the 50s or early 60s in central and south America.. but you're right on the point that it has become a catch-all for "people I don't like".
I'd amend my comment to state that there were no Nazis OFFICIALLY at that time.
I believe that by '46, the Nazi Party had been outlawed and any fugitive ex-Nazis were considered criminals on the lam, rather than members of a dissolved political party.
I'll allow it. ;)
If you just go down the checklist of Nazi-ism... most of these dorks check 80% of the boxes off while proclaiming we all should fall in line with THEM.
All of them would have been proud Nazis in 1936. Supporters of The Current Thing are indistinguishable from Nazis in everything except fitness, familiarity with the outdoors, and the ability to engineer a decent plane.
My sole relief; I know I'm a midwit!
I was thinking the exact same thing during the 2020 "Summer of Love" where they burned everything down and talked about how they were speaking truth to power despite all the corporations and gov't bureaucratic structures having their backs.
As I’ve opined in other threads here, my opinion is that some of this unchecked street disorder started in Nawlins during the Katrina riots. If the cops would have had the canastas to hit a few of the looters square in the kneecaps, perhaps things might’ve been different.
Are you familiar with the 1930s parlor game, "Who would turn Nazi?"
The answer is, sadly, a lot of people who think they wouldn't.
Can't wait till we do that to the Greens, I said, proving that I don't understand the point of my own article!
you mean the blue eyed blonde argentinians that spoke german werent native
You were right about the shirt, don't let anyone rain on that parade.
Light blue on THAT DAY? He was a fag. Fuck him.
It was LIGHT blue.
god that is such a fag thing to do
I know, right?
Let's hold judgment on your bigotry until we get a picture of the shirt. Once, as a 10 year old, I contrived to wear a blue western shirt with orange thread to Catholic school instead of the regulation blue button down. I was roundly assaulted for this, and properly so!
I’m confident that the declaration of fag was correct. Wasn’t super uncommon for anyone wearing a dumb shirt to high school to be properly and roundly decried as a fag
I got called a fag several times in high school. Everyone once in a while my friends would go nuclear and call me faggot.
I would disagree. There were plenty of Nazis before WWII, and still plenty after. In fact, the United States government hired a bunch of them. We didn't just get German rocket scientists, we got all manner of players in the Nazi state...including Nazi intelligence and diplomacy types. The US government's "intelligence" agencies had already made common cause with organized crime as it proved extremely beneficial in moving money, people, drugs, and guns around the globe. And now we add to that a number of players in the Nazi state.
There were Nazi sympathizers throughout the elite of American society prior to WWII. Eugenics, social darwinism and similarly morally abhorrent ideas were abundant in academia and government. That didn't just all vanish because of the war in the same way that communism didn't just vanish because the USSR collapsed under the weight of its own inability to manage the most basic aspects of proper government.
The problem is that all became massively inconvenient to the aims of what Thomas Sowell termed "The Anointed"...and so it became politically useful to redefine anyone standing in opposition to unaccountable authority wielded by what Jack has previously aptly described as "the selected" to be a "Nazi".
In much the same way that it has become convenient to simply redefine history so that a party who is campaigning on the idea that a child born today should be harangued for slavery never gets even the slightest bit of blowback for Jim Crow. Because reasons.
I live in Austria, just a couple hours from Adolf's birthplace, with extended family and much business in Germany over the decades.
After WWII only the high level Nazis ran away. Low and mid-level ex-Nazis weren't members of the Nazi party because it was illegal. Nothing else much changed for them.
Sure there were a LOT of people who wanted to join the Nazis in the 30s and 40s to get ahead politically. There were a LOT of Nazis who were true believers. Those people didn't stop being Nazis anymore than a member of a religion stops being a member just because the religion has been banned.
Huge numbers of Nazis went on with their lives because they were in government and knew how to run the country. The US forgot that lesson when we threw out all Baathists in Iraq after toppling Hussein.
Here in Austria, the FPÖ (Freedom Party) was started by a group of hard-core ex-Nazis. Every. Single. Member. That is why there was such a freakout in 2000 when the FPÖ got into government for the first time. Unironically, the story of who founded the FPÖ was NOT talked about, because so many people believed (maybe like you) that Austria and Germany were purged of Nazis after WWII.
The FPÖ STILL has a lot of rhetoric that would make Peter Seller's arm twitch in Dr. Strangelove.
All that being said, in the US and US-based social media calling someone a Nazi has gotten ridiculous. Also, I'd have to see Jason's shirt to know if he was a fag or not. One glance would let me know. No need to talk to him or anything.
There's actually was a connection between the Nazis and the Baath party, which was founded in part to fight the British during WWII.
I'm pretty sure the Nazis were founded before WWII. ;-)
My favorite Rosamund Pike movie, as of late, is “I Care a Lot.” I thought the plot was deliciously sinister, as was her character.
As for the rest of it, I agree that there’s something troubling about trying to codify--either in law or in policy--the censorship of certain groups...even if I personally find their beliefs reprehensible. There’s a good argument to be made that companies have the right to disallow certain kinds of “hate” speech on their platform, but when your platform is a major source of news and discourse, that starts to get murky.
I will also note that everyone, even people very far on the left side of the spectrum, eventually reaches a point where they’ll say, “I’m pretty tolerant, but I won’t accept or adhere to *that*.” For some people, it’s the toleration of non-heterosexual sex. For others, it’s referring to people with gender-neutral neopronouns like “cat/catself.” The end result of blanket censorship is that eventually everyone finds themself on the “wrong” side of bigotry...and I say that as an openly gay, left-leaning man.
Anyway, I’m on a flight to go and get that 2018 G90 5.0 Ultimate AWD now. I’ll report how that goes later on. Should be a smooth, cushy drive back.
"I Care a Lot" definitely left a mark. Terrifically scary and well acted.
Yeah she was great and I still wanted to sleep with her no matter what she was doing to the old people.
I take your oft stated admiration for the posh English bird as a sign of civilisation!
I can't say I'd get the attraction, even if I were straight and into women. She's very...severe-looking.
I adore severe-looking women. My ideal woman would glare icily at everyone in the world but me. I had that once, but she was also clinically insane.
It's about melting the Ice Queen
"I will also note that everyone, even people very far on the left side of the spectrum, eventually reaches a point where they’ll say, “I’m pretty tolerant, but I won’t accept or adhere to *that*.”"
I think thats a great summation of it, and unfortunately in a society of shock, we're only going to keep pushing those boundaries for attention. With the group think that's appended to it, we then get these situations where the groupthink keeps shifting that window because they just want to be shock jocks and keep the edgy reputation...
More importantly, I'm excited to hear how your G90 pickup and drive goes. I had been poking around an LS460/600 as a bad idea, but your experience put me off a bit.
They'd say it was.... a Nazi film.
Just like the video for ZZ Top's "Legs!"
Which is ironic, because that video alone could win most wars without a shot being fired.
For the first time for both of them!
Hey, my pronouns are me/meow am I a cat? Joking aside I agree 100 %with your comment. Hope the G90 is the cat's meow.
Oh, it's wonderful.
"a virus that kills its host in 24 hours has a mild statistical possibility of not wiping humanity off the face of the earth."
had to pause there to say you've essentially described Captain Trips and "The Stand." I will resume reading now.
edit after reading: pangolins are kinda cute in a prehistoric / primordial way
M-O-O-N, that spells pandemic!
Saltburn is an excellent film.
Terrific (dark) comedic edge, great casting, evolving plotline, excellent soundtrack (it’s set in 2006), etc. It recalls The Talented Mr. Ripley, of course, but it reminded me of Withnail & I quite a bit, and not just because Withnail himself is in Saltburn. Finally, Murder on the Dancefloor was a great choice for the final scene.
I have a premonition that Barry Keoghan (Oliver Quick) will make an appearance on How Long Gone - the world’s best podcast - soon.
Isn't it basically just a modern over educated, midwit's fantasy though?
Just find a way to get back at those unworthy rich types, and take their money and wealth because you're more deserving... Is it really that good for its art, or more of a throwaway popular consumption piece for those trying to look fancy?
Honestly, I wouldn't watch anything that deviant because I see it all done as shock/awards value rather than art or advancing the plot. Like a few others I saw the trailer, and thought to pass on it.
Interesting point of view.
I rarely read into the themes of any modern movie, because I know they will clash with my sensibilities and philosophy of life; I just take them for what they are - entertainment.
I think we just approach it in opposite ways. I avoid the modern "art" because I always want to ask why it exists and what value it may add to my life?
I prefer my entertainment a little more lighthearted, or thought out. The whole premise of being ripped out of your home and it taken from you also hits a bit close, even if none of my family was actually killed for it
It kind of ends up being a "chasing the dragon" mindset though.
Drug guys chase a high, PUAs chase better pussy, gay men become bugchasers -
At a certain point, seeking more becomes something resembling mental illness
For me and for those I care about, there's no level of quality / entertainment value that could justify self-brainwashing with morality-inversion, property-theft porn.
"Drug guys chase a high, PUAs chase better pussy, gay men become bugchasers"
ew
Several of my friends watched Saltburn and enjoyed it; I have not heard a negative word about it (yet), other than here, predictably.
These friends are all conservative / Republicans:
-Mid-30s, Lobbyist
-Mid-30s, Heritage Foundation employee (!)
-Mid-30s, Fortunate Son / Trustafarian
-Mid-60s, Regal Cinemas Co-Founder & Venture Capitalist (who adored Saltburn)
They all strike me as robust against the threats of self-brainwashing.
What do they have in common?
My guess will sound cruel but don't take it judgmentally. Certainly many/most republicans, and even geniuses (guessing the Regal Cinemas guy) can be normies
Normies are mostly inoculated to what's going on. This same group probably unironically enjoyed Inglorious Basterds.
Note I am not calling you a normie, which would be ridiculous. I think you could easily interact with this film on any of many levels, but simply do not care to. Unlike being a contrarian, taking things lightly is a healthy, adaptive trait ;)
What do they have in common? They all know me, and they all possess a fairly subversive sense of humor. Beyond that, not much.
1 is a college classmate; 3 is one of my best friends; I know 2 through 3; I know 4 through cigars, and I am doing some work for one of his portfolio companies (mostly helping them establish a foothold in an adjacent industry).
I never saw Inglorious Basterds, so I can’t comment; I am not a huge Tarantino fan.
Your mid 30s friends probably came out of puberty jerking off to alt.sex.stories on Usenet. It sounds like the script was pieced together from various cut and pasted favorite scenes.
ACF is a witty bunch sometimes. Wish I could do a 10x like on the Stack.
Or via cybersex in chat rooms on ICQ.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but all those conservative republican dudes might be gay.
Double (!!) on the Heritage Foundation fellow. Can’t imagine any of my friends there or at similar (usually Koch-backed) orgs being enthusiasts!
Is this the first mention on ACF of bugchasing? If so, kudos.
You're right. A different analogy would have been less unsavory
i wish he hadnt
Look, I already know what a Fat Elvis is. I DO NOT want to know about bugchasing.
Okay, so I'm adding "bugchasing" to the ever-growing list of things I will never look up.
There's different levels of being able to handle the "horrors beyond your comprehension" of modernity
You once again are top level, sherman [Pepe_smoking_cigarette.jpg]
"Terrific (dark) comedic edge, great casting, evolving plotline, excellent soundtrack (it’s set in 2006), etc."
Your taste in art is like my taste in food: indistinguishable from that of a Doberman.
The movie is superb, and as Bryce noted with a degree of wisdom uncommon for his years, it will end up as part of the zeitgeist going forward - a “cult classic.”
It made me think of Withnail & I more than once; incidentally, Withnail is one of my favorite films.
Jack’s description makes it sound completely awful and reinforces why I rarely watch any movie that isn’t on Turner Classic Movies.
Probably because you drink the finest wines available to humanity, Sherman.
We want them here and we want them now!
With reference to my comment a little way above, "indistinguishable for a Doberman" won't cut it with Rosamund Pike and her ilk. Just a tip!
I'm a little like a Doberman in another way, so I think Rosamund and I will be fine, assuming we get together before I'm too old for it.
Woof woof!
Going purely off of Jack's summary of the movie and several scenes mentioned, it sounds like if you like this movie, the logical next step would be to simply start watching gay porn.
avant garde in the sense that it doesnt have women in it
very art house
Anybody who nonironically enjoys the film is one short leap from watching gay porn or trying some sort of "Eyes Wide Shut" silliness.
Saltburn is to deviant sex what Heat is to squad-level street shooting.
"Because you’re literally creating them out of thin air. Right now, as we speak."
I said much the same on Twitter dot com to someone worrying themselves about Christofascists.
Yeah that's not a thing unless they insist on making them manifest.
"oh so this is what utopia was supposed to be"
Oh my God, it's like 1890, when people had intact families and there was work for everyone! How will we live without our cummies porn!
what if rdr2
but no cholera
Can't remember the movie/show but didn't someone try to make a "horror dystopia" in which America became Nazi-adjacent, then got mad at how many people wanted to live in such a place. Guess they couldn't deal with the fact that a stable, clean, orderly America was worth being full of Nazis.
Was that Man in the High Castle?
I was curious, but never got around to watching it.
Maybe? I never saw it either, but I think that could be it.
BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEUICE! BEETLEJUICE!
They're pushing me closer and closer to wanting a Christofascist state. (this is sarcasm.. but, wouldn't a black lab run the country better at this point?)
My mom's stupid-ass chihuahua probably would at this point...
Franco's Spain? Be careful what you wish for!
Make no mistake...they insist. Harder than you can possibly imagine. We got a glimpse of it during covid, but an uncomfortably large percentage of the country would start up concentration camps tomorrow if they could. Unashamedly. BAMN, ANTIFA, etc...they are insisting on that.
And if they insist on it hard enough, then all of politics becomes an argument over who is in control of the guest list for the camps. Because they will shred the Constitution to the point that it will guarantee there's no alternative.
I'd rather not see society devolve to the point where we're fighting over who, exactly, gets loaded on the rail cars.
"And if they insist on it hard enough, then all of politics becomes an argument over who is in control of the guest list for the camps. Because they will shred the Constitution to the point that it will guarantee there's no alternative."
I wish I'd said this in the above article.
You write for us. If you were short and to the point it wouldn't be fun.
"an uncomfortably large percentage of the country would start up concentration camps tomorrow if they could."
The did unironically set up quarantine concentration camps in Australia.
The most insidious aspect of a bad idea is that there's always a good reason to do it.
how abut making movies of a bunch of anais nin's stories--put 3 in 90 minutes like a few people did in the '50s/'60s.
Well thank you Jack, I looked at the Saltburn trailer and thought “nope, not for me. “
The wife and I did recently enjoy Next Goals Wins. Going in, we knew it was a Taika Waititi film. It was worth the 104 minutes.
On Nazi behaviour. ... imagine police firing rubber bullets on protesters. Northern Ireland during the 70s you think?
Nope, Melbourne Australia 2021, during the Covid lockdowns. Left wing government too.
https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/21/victoria-covid-update-rubber-bullets-fired-on-second-day-of-construction-protests-which-block-freeway
Canadian truckers and their families bank accounts.
What scares me more is that we have a large and vocal minority who desires to go the Canadian route and it's only growing.
I had to watch after picking up COVID at a trade show, how my Canadian colleague got locked in a hotel after testing positive on his way home. All I could think was to repeat my parents and think, "I didn't leave Cuba for this." Thankfully it's not here just yet
Don't even get me started on Canada. In 2022, they finally opened the border to let non-Canadians in but you needed a special app. They wanted us to list where we would be staying in case of a Covid exposure, the dates when we would visit and what have you. One time, two weeks after I got back to the US after passing through Ontario, i got a call from their Ministry of Health or some such thing, that apparently I had been "randomly selected" to be Covid tested in Canada, and failure to do so could result in a massive fine or jail time. I explained I was an American citizen, and would have left Canada by the time my "random" test was scheduled. Well, maybe that was a sufficient excuse, they allowed.
This was in 2022, I repeat.
I remember that app from my trip to our corporate HQ in Ottawa for a holiday party in December 2022. I was just glad it was finally gone this year.
I had a US based, former Canadian colleague joke that COVID would never end in Canada because the population is so conservative (in a classical sense) and docile that they had to ask the British kindly for their independence, unlike us.
The other Anglophone former colonies are examples of The Last Man.
The American frontier was won. The Canadian frontier was negotiated.
Explains a lot.
FWIW I drove into Canada Jan 2023 and there was no covid checking of any kind thank goodness.
As for COVID crazyness on our side of the border in that aforementioned NY (this is *deep* rural NY btw): during spring/summer of 2020, my buddy's dad somehow tested positive and the local sheriff would drive by the house once a day and honk his horn and you had to wave from the window to prove that you weren't traveling anywhere. A good lesson that even in rural places where "our local Sheriff is BASED guys" there's still always the risk of them towing the line of higher levels of government (NY State in this case).
Your governor is a menace. She should be stamping parking tickets and building permits in some Buffalo suburb.
It all rolls downhill. Especially in places like NY with such a strong, corrupted central government. Everyone is looking over their shoulder thinking their next.
I've thought the same thing for a while.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the actual UK -- they all seem to embrace authoritarianism with shocking zeal. All the former Commonwealth nations just *looooove* having their government tell them what to do... except the USA. Just look at the recently enacted "hate speech" laws in Ireland.
There was a comment thread on a previous article about America's love of guns. And again, it's part of our independent streak that we have in our Nation's DNA having wrested our independence from the Commonwealth by force.
Saw a statistic that says that 46% of the world's privately owned guns are owned by Americans. And my only thought was "we can do better."
Cop: "Sir, you say you saw five men attack that cyclist. Why didn't you help?"
Man: "Well, I figured five was enough."
We Americans are a race apart, regardless of our individual ethnicities.
When I say my prayers at night I should really start thanking Him for letting me born an American.
When you consider that you could've been born anywhere in the world, in any year, historic or prehistoric and you were born an American in the 20th Century like me, you realize you don't have any problems.
That's true, but it's more like the US is on a 20ish year delay from those other countries. We may resist but oftentimes it still ends up coming down the line. And much anymore I believe the line "but we got muh guns" is kind of a cope. I respect the Europeans actually going out and protesting en masse (kudos to the French in particular), hell the Canadian Freedom Convoy was an impressive showing.
It's not "we got muh guns" so much as the strong independent streak and unrelenting optimism that has worked it's way into the American psyche. The guns are an effect, but not the cause.
We had vast territories to tame. In the 19th century, you could hitch up your wagon, go somewhere past the edge of the map, claim it as yours, plant some crops and make a life. This can do attitude carries over to today. We start businesses, invent things, try, fail, succeed, and generally blame nobody but ourselves. Maybe that's what's different.
In spite of our problems I *still* believe that America's best days are ahead. And 15 million illegals walking across the border this year would seem to argue for that.
"Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the actual UK -- they all seem to embrace authoritarianism with shocking zeal." For the UK, yes we did. We are (sorry!) a bit too polite and law abiding for our own good sometimes, aided and abetted by the relentless propaganda of the BBC. But I am not sure we would be so obedient next time. As The Who sang "Won't get fooled again!" Oops! Shame we'll all be dead in 8 days...
I don't remember a convoy stretching from Montana to Washington like the one in Canada. And I do remember Biden was very close to getting every American who refused the vaccine to be tested at work every week. That was Communist if I ever saw it during Covid.
it was not fun up here during that time
but it was funny hearing people complain about the honking
It's Citizens vs Subjects, plain and simple. The US is unique among all (most?) countries in that its roots aren't in the King granting "rights" to his subjects, but the Citizens granting "rights" to the government.
Hmm. Any room in your thinking for the Common Law? A thing you got from England?
You mean their unwritten Constitution that was SUBJECT to the King's approval? Sorry, but it's not worth the paper it isn't printed on.
No, I mean the Common Law tradition exported to the US. Anything that isn’t banned is legal, rather than the Napoleonic system in Europe that is the exact reverse. The US and its constitution didn’t emerge in a vacuum.
There were people in my office, a Canadian among them, who had no idea why the truckers were upset. Uniformly they get their "news" from NPR or the NYTimes.
When I attempted to shed some light they immediately changed the story. They do that almost every time they hear something unacceptable.
That little stunt moved a lot of people to conservative. It was insanity.
Still four of those Freedom Convoy guys locked up (two years and counting) with no bail set, on very dubious charges.
Some context:
Those 'protesters' were professional trouble makers. Ostensibly union members but unions and criminal organisations are intertwined over here.
Most of the population were very happy to see this happen. It was seen as comeuppance for the people that had voted bad government in and then couldn't understand why the state was being governed poorly.
Yes, our police have no authority so they have to resort to authoritarian tactics, but both sides were the 'Nazis' here. Put them in a cage and let them fight to the death.
Well that’s a view.
First time rubber bullets have been used against Victorians Was that use of force really justifiable?
Now that rubber bullets have been used protestors against twice. What’s to stop them from used against ALL future protests the government doesn’t like.
I think the initial use of force was justified, as outlined above. I can't remember the second instance so I can't speak to that but this first instance was not a peaceful protest. If you're going to wreck havoc expect consequences. Otherwise the communist mobs of Melbourne (they flew red hammer and sickle flags in Voice protests) become the communist mobs of Weimar Germany and all of a sudden, ordinary people are interested in National Socialism.
"It was seen as comeuppance for the people that had voted bad government in and then couldn't understand why the state was being governed poorly."
I feel the same about New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. (And their respective states to a certain extent.)
Thanks for saving me for not even starting Saltburn. Your description explains why it sits at the top of every current/recommended page. Weimar, indeed.
Also, 'Napoleon' sucked.
"Also, 'Napoleon' sucked."
God damn it. I was looking forward to.
My opinion is informed only by the clip on YouTube covering the Battle of Austerlitz, but based on that I'm prepared to do a bit of enduring and perhaps a lot of fast forwarding, eventually.
I am waiting to watch Ridley’s director’s cut, which will only be available on Apple TV+, which is an excellent streaming service!
AppleTV+ seems to stream at higher bitrates than the other services; it looks noticeably better. If you haven't yet watched Slow Horses, I highly recommend it. It's Gary Oldman playing the washed up spy leader of a department where MI5 dumps all it's rejects. It's a perfect mix of office comedy and spy thriller, where the jokes make the plot hit harder and the thriller part makes the jokes funnier. Also the clear leader for "Most Fart Jokes in a Serious Television Series."
Slow Horses was enjoyable; I have watched all three seasons.
Seconded! But DO read the books as well. Mick Herron's descriptive weighting is a gem.
I wish I had time to read a fiction book for pleasure.
I made the comment about Apple TV+ being a great streaming service with the knowledge that Jack hates everything about the company, and for some reason believes that iPhones are “for women.”
Finally, as is obvious, I am a confirmed Anglophile, likely because I spent my formative years - age 8 or so until I was able to drive - devouring British magazines.
The Critical Drinker’s review helped me to decide to skip Napoleon. It would be the sort of film I’d normally catch.
https://youtu.be/uvIoMvPUhxQ?si=_uPZYvtrTgYPDP4I
It’s a movie less about Napoleon, the singular figure who most shaped modern Europe, and more some weird maybe-comedy about him and a wife who clearly hates him. Just watch a 20 minute supercut of the battle scenes.
I think you’re missing the point. Or, you’re making it subtly enough that my dumb ass didn’t catch it. To be fair, I’m not sure the Casey’s of the world know the point, even though they are practicing it.
The point is not the fact that Nazis are bad; as you demonstrated, they’re basically acting exactly like Nazis now, right down to marching in the streets celebrating the death of Jews.
No, what they’re afraid of is losing the ability to label people Nazis (or racists or transphobes or MAGA people or whatever) and kick them out of society. That’s the point. They are starting to see a world where they’ve worn out the taunt of Nazi/racist/etc and people are now immune to it due to their fatigue, and the magic cancel wand isn’t working as well anymore. So they are vacating to places it still does, and clapping their hands over their ears and trying to pretend places it doesn’t (which no one in their social circle visits anyways) don’t exist anymore.
"I was willing to be reasonable until I needed to be unreasonable"
The Anointed...as Sowell calls them...are often wrong, but never in doubt. They have absolute certainty about their central tenet: They are Our Betters. Therefore what they think, say, and do are right.
This makes them many things, but blind to the consequences of their actions is top on the list.
...and if you ponder just how prevalent that vision is among the Great and Good of Their Democracy, you might understand why Afghanistan, Iraq, Enron, the housing crisis, our current economic situation, and cities covered in shit and aliens came to be.
Ice Age's Rule Number One: "The world would be a better place if there weren't so many people trying to make it a better place."
"The point is not the fact that Nazis are bad; as you demonstrated, they’re basically acting exactly like Nazis now, right down to marching in the streets celebrating the death of Jews."
Sure, but I'm more worried about how they want to destroy our fundamental protections against absolute power. If they want to be cosplay Hamas jerkoffs, that's their right. It's when they want to code Hamas jerkoffism into the Constitution that I get nervous.
It’s just a logical extension of “everyone I disagree with is not just wrong but evil.” If people only hold contrary opinions because they are evil, obviously it’s just to shut out those opinions. You’re not against evil, are you?
Also gives them an internal dopamine hit of being 'good'.
I am getting a whiff of "Deplorable" here?
In order:
1. Angel Studios is doing a movie and then series about preppers and people of faith in an "after" situation. I'm interested to watch it if only because it does feel as if we're getting closer and closer with news like "brain death after contracting the virus 100% of the time". Society doesn't survive something like that.
2. I don't like to use language as a follower of Christ but WHAT THE FUCK.... there is zero percent chance I ever watch Saltburn. All of those pornographic scenarios don't even sound appealing. They, in fact, sound like a cry for help from someone with a very messed up mind.
3. I was forced out, kicked off, a very prominant Detroit Red Wings blog for believing and saying the Nazis didn't deserve to be punched "just because". In fact, the day I had the argument with my boss there was the day of the congressional baseball game shooting. There is no limit as to what people like that will convince themselves of. They want to SAY the Republicans had it coming. The "nazis" had it coming. Absolutely despicable. I'm just glad they are alive to see Patrick Kane as a Detroit Red Wing. (a long time favorite target of the blog back in the day)
Yessir.
Yeah, it was after Vox bought them and JJfromKansas had been booted from a ton of other comment sections. Well, he decided to apply that level of scrutiny to everyone.
Second City? Nice!
I was at Nightmare on Helm Street first and them WiiM next. Even wrote scout reports. Look where they are now. Hahaha
I'm at least encouraged that the stomach for this kind of trash is going away. Even if the media isn't showing it, I do have a belief that people have a line they don't want crossed.
WiiM literally got sold off TO the guy that I helped bring into WiiM. He bought it for pennies and it now has a paywall. He was responsible for the most wokification of the blog by convincing the "boss"(none of us were paid until Vox was forced to pay for at least the social media being run) to head in that direction. Pretty wild. Now there's zero Wings fan blogs with any commenting or relevant news and I'd argue the Wings are more exciting than they've been in ages.
TLDR: My fault. Should have never encouraged him there.
Is that the SB Nation one? I gave up on SB Nation a long time ago.
Vox ruins everything.
Just wait until their forthcoming play to move everything to WordPress goes through, then they will be just as shit as the rest of the internet.
What a garbage web network run by jerkoffs. Perfect example of what tech turned into, take something fan-created by people with genuine interest and love for a subject, offer a better platform and more resources, then after a honeymoon period enshitify it, pay the contributors nothing or almost nothing, then fire them and bring on new people to turn out vapid #content.
Hey Jesus never said anything about cursing or drinking….
Ummm seems like he was preaching to drink the good stuff first, then when drunk, go to the crappy stuff which has been true since time immemorial. Also, swearing still ok, just not the lords name.
I confess to enjoyment of sharing this viewpoint with Baptists, who of course abhor all of the Deadly Sins. Possibly excepting gluttony - oh, the potlatches!
I don't get preppers. Isn't Armageddon the end of the world? If it's the end of the world there's nothing after that!
As Christians we can trust God entirely for the end of times. There will be suffering but any believer will be taken out of it.
Most people in NZ and Aus have no idea of this possibility. We're like Ukraine in WW2. If we make friends with the Nazis, they'll look after us.
(This is why Russia calls them Nazis BTW)
Bunkers definitely worked in Israel but only cos they had an excellent army to back it up. Your guns would only make you a target tho.
If I had a billion dollars I'd be building up onshore manufacturing and getting on the board of as many defence manufacturers as possible!
If you were a Californian soldier, which would you shoot at first, the person who is or who isn't shooting at you?
More likely to be the boys from Illinois invading California though, if I'm honest.
Every generation of Christians has had its members who thought the world was going to end next Tuesday.
Are you ready?😄
Truthfully, no idea.
That may be the idea.
There's that whole thing in Revelations where it's all woe to those who are looking forward to the rapture. Having no idea (and maybe a bit of dread!) is probably the best way to be!
Even if I make it into Heaven, I'm not looking forward to the after-action review.
I'm sure that'll make an NTSB plane crash investigation look like an exercise in broad strokes and nonchalance.
Only 8 days, sounds like the beginnings of a zombie apocalypse, at least I won’t linger.......
Just read Yarvin's piece (thanks for sharing) and this piece from the NY Post:
https://nypost.com/2024/01/13/lifestyle/why-the-us-needs-a-pentagon-for-disease/
The time to "throw civil liberties out the window" is NEVER.
The time for government to shut down businesses and take away livelihoods is NEVER.
The time to cower indoors and cry out for government to save your life is NEVER.
I can't figure out people's political thoughts these days. They unironically call you a Nazi if you support Israel's right to eradicate the threat of Hamas. Strange days indeed.
The Wilsonian instinct in American politics has only grown over the last 100 years. It's supremely ironic that Princeton removed his name from their school of public policy, given that those who desired it were the biggest exponents of his philosophies of technocratic governance by experts...
It would be one thing to surrender sovereignty to a totalitarian state that was actually competent at doing things, but instead we don’t even have that to look forward to.
Selective application of laws or campus codes against Jews. Nazis indeed.
The thing I always find funny is that Nazi's were socialists. They are hard core lefties. Just like Fascists. NONE of those groups are right wing in any sense of the word, other than that they're just slightly to the right of communists.
The greatest bit of propaganda ever foisted on the American public is that Nazi's are 'on the right'.
Even though the word 'Socialist' is in their name. :-D
...but isn't it awful convenient to define Nazis as "right wing"? It rather distracts people from taking too much time to examine what, exactly, Mr. Hitler and company were up to. That way when you propose, say, confiscating people's guns they don't know that the Nazis did the exact same thing to populations they intended to genocide.
Problem is right wing in Europe means dictator, whereas right wing in US is just no government. People use the European one way too much to describe US politics.
Yeah, it's funny how the Euros have NO CONCEPT of having a limited, out-of-your-way government. All their governments are continually evolving towards Airstrip One.
You’d be surprised. Europe’s socialism is papered over by the fact that the US funds their defense essentially. They fear the US leaving NATO because they wouldn’t be able to afford a thing nor free healthcare. Trump understood this, he played the card that he knew would get them to do what we want. Also, they still have the feudal mentality over there which is why they always veer towards authoritarianism. One of the great mistakes is that Americans travel at a youngish age and think that Europe is better when they live there like kings and don’t see the underbelly of europe. Looking to Europe for any political intellectual inspiration is an act of stupidity.
I am probably biased a bit with having a European passport and successful middle and upper middle class family there in Spain, but I see Europe more as having a higher floor and a lower ceiling than in the US. Granted many of them did go to Cuba too, just went back there rather than come here, so they also pushed their kids to go to college or open businesses the same way me and my parents were here. I think the difference is that this is less common and there’s more acceptance of just living the basic life. Americans tend to see themselves as “fallen rich” while Europeans are more likely accept being just another shopkeeper in town with his VW Polo or Ford Fiesta to put around the village and local area.
"I am probably biased a bit with having a European passport and successful middle and upper middle class family there in Spain,"
Being rich in Europe is absolutely fantastic, probably better than being rich in the US. Once you experience that lifestyle, you're so far away from the reality of Europe, you can't comprehend how shit it is. Europeans do not accept poor people and it's laughable that you make that suggestion. Americans like to believe they're all blue collar and the euros absolutely look down on the "lower" classes. Comes form the 'ol aristocratic mentality.
"Why are we fucking this up with all this political shit?"
Because we're rich enough we can afford to be foolish.
Seriously, only a nation with a military as powerful as the USA can afford to take a "stand down for diversity" day.
We're so rich, we make capital intensive purchases of renewable energy sources that will never pay off.
We're so rich, we have so much food we can burn it in our cars.
We're so rich we can afford organic food and feed the bugs/pests while it's growing.
We're so rich we can pay people not to work.
Whatever our poorest state is in America has a higher standard of living than Europe's average.
Higher GDP per capita =/= standard of living.
I was listening to a podcast (I can't remember which one) but it was on the discussion of the French Revolution, our Revolution, our Constitution, and where do rights come from.
Our Founders believed rights came from God(or are natural) while the French seemingly believed they came from the government.
While I realize France isn't all of Europe, its revolution and government and influences reached far and wide.
Right Wing in America means Constitutionalist.
Fascists are right wing only within the greater context of totalitarianism. Fascism is Socialism Lite, just as Communism is Socialism Heavy.