James

Self-identifiying as a diesel Prius.

[James @Smartaleck99]

@ingelramdecoucy

[James @Smartaleck99]

@ingelramdecoucy Mandatory celebration is neither inclusive or tolerant and forcing people to wear anything that goes against their belief system is hypocrisy in so many ways. If its truly not a big deal, then a person deciding to wear their normal uniforms shouldn't be a big deal.

[James @Smartaleck99]

@s_chad @TheMuppetPastor Why do we have to say anything? The fact they can go with no repercussions or persecution should be more than enough. If there was outright hostility, then different story but the reverse is happening against anyone who doesnt prostrate themselves before the 'pride' alter.

[Flopping Aces @FloppingAces]

The No Kings movement just pulled off the dumbest fucking self-own in recent memory and they’re too stupid to even notice.

These jackholes spent weeks rounding up eight million people, throwing concerts, waving signs, and jerking themselves off about fighting a “king” ... all while the system they claim is already a dictatorship handed them permits, stages, court victories, and the freedom to scream in the streets without getting their doors kicked in at 3 a.m.

If Trump actually had king-level power, this shit would’ve been shut down before the first megaphone came out of the box. Real tyrants don’t let you organize 3,300 cities worth of protests and then win injunctions against them. They just disappear you.

But no. These clowns get to play revolutionary dress-up in the safest, most protected political environment on earth and still have the balls to act like they’re living under King George.

Jefferson listed twenty-seven actual abuses. These dipshits are crying because the president they hate still has to follow the Constitution, lose in court sometimes, and deal with public backlash.

It's nothing but expensive, well-lit political theater for people who want the drama of 1776 without any of the actual fucking risk or sacrifice.

If this is what “tyranny” looks like, then tyranny comes with way too many court wins and policy retreats for my taste. The whole goddamn movement is a joke.

They’re not fighting a king. They’re just throwing a tantrum because the guy they hate isn’t rolling over and dying like they wanted. Pathetic.
(article below)

[James @Smartaleck99]

@RockChartrand @grahamformaine Or could it be more of an equity argument in that, ok there are more billionaires, but are there more millionaires, 100 thousand aires, and so forth? The problem is these people seem to think that the middle class should be richer than it is or something equally illiterate.

[James @Smartaleck99]

@ChrisMartzWX Even if he did, ultimately the rest of the monkeys do NOT have a right in his bananas. The higher principle to apply is that he keeps what is rightfully his as opposed tk the rest of the monkeys stealing.

[Rock Chartrand @RockChartrand]

The outrage today is essentially:

"An African immigrant came to America, built multiple companies, became one the richest person in history, and achieved more success than we find acceptable."

For people who claim to celebrate opportunity, diversity, immigration, and the American Dream, it's a remarkably strange thing to be angry about.

The objection isn't that he failed.

It's that he succeeded.

[James @Smartaleck99]

And yet his words ring hollow as he still continues to vote for the same people that keep adding more and more taxes.

[Teddy - PolyBackTest.com @Bitcoin_Teddy]

Bill Maher asks how the government is “failing the poor so badly” when he pays “60 PERCENT” of his earnings in taxes.

“Last week was tax day… I paid the government probably almost 60% of what I earn. That’s a lot.”

“And I… wouldn’t mind if Bernie Sanders would stop saying the rich don’t pay taxes.”

“The top 10% pay 72% of all federal income taxes. And the bottom half, 3%.”

“The Democratic Socialists talk about socialism like we don’t already have a lot: Social Security, unemployment, Medicare, nutritional assistance, Medicaid, Obamacare, disability, housing subsidies.”

“How can you be soaking the rich and failing the poor so badly? How can it be that the federal government alone took in over 5 trillion in taxes last year, and we still need that?”

“Are we really this incompetent and corrupt?”

[Rock Chartrand @RockChartrand]

Socialists never ask, "Can I earn a living wage?"

They ask, "Can I have one?"

And after spending years describing work as exploitation, oppression, and wage slavery, they wonder why "because I exist" isn't considered a compelling argument for higher pay.

If you want more, earn more. If your argument is that someone else should be forced to provide it, you've already abandoned the moral high ground.

[James @Smartaleck99]

@TheMuppetPastor @SkyTheViking

[James @Smartaleck99]

@CBHeresy I do not understand this whole concept of, either you accept AND approve of everything I believe OR, you reject me entirely. It is an all or nothing argument with no room for nuance and unfortunately is prevalent on both sides of the political isle.

[James @Smartaleck99]

@TheMuppetPastor This is an unfortunate bad example of how many Christians do not live up to their theology, meaning they either dont fully understand it or take it to heart - living like Jesus - as they should.

[James @Smartaleck99]

Another successful government operation that focuses on the long term good as opposed to the short term greed of politicians. Oh wait, nope...

[Yogi @Houseofyogi]

Chicago lost the Bears this week. A team that's been in the city since 1921.

They didn't lose them to a bigger market or a better deal. The Bears decided they'd rather be a tenant in Indiana than deal with Illinois for one more year.

Think about how badly you have to run a place for that to be the smart move.

They lost them for two reasons.

The people running Illinois would rather villainize a builder than keep one. And they're bad at their jobs.

In 2021 the Bears spent $197M on the old Arlington Park racetrack.

Before they could break ground, Cook County valued the empty lot at $192M (Bears said $60M). They were salivating at the chance to extort a building that didn't even exist yet.

That fight dragged on for years.

The Bears were ready to put $2B into the stadium. All they wanted was a promise the county wouldn't reassess them into oblivion, plus $855M for infrastructure everyone uses. Roads, transit, utilities. A $3B project, two thirds of it private money pouring into Illinois.

Springfield had since 2021 to get this done. They dragged it to the final night of session, passed it through the Senate at 3:39AM, and the House went home without voting.

So now it's all gone.

The funniest part? This started because Cook County tried to grab the tax early. They knew a built stadium would pay $53M a year. Now they get under $4M on a vacant lot. No jobs, no buildout, no new anything.

Congrats on fighting for scraps and losing the whole prize.

Pritzker: they're "an $8.5B valued business" that doesn't need propping up.

But be smart for a second. Almost every NFL city throws in public money for a stadium. Not charity. The return is real. Tourism, hotels, restaurants, jobs, game days, property tax on a huge development. The math works.

Indiana did the math. While Illinois sat on it for years, Indiana passed a bill in months, put up $1B, and took the team.

And the Bears took a worse deal to get there. In Illinois they were going to own their stadium. In Indiana they rent it from the state. A team that wanted to build its own home gave up ownership just to escape Chicago.

Nobody won but Indiana. The Bears lost their stadium. Illinois lost the team, the $2B, and $53M a year in taxes.

Pritzker after they left: "I wasn't willing to give up billions of dollars of taxpayer money to give it to a billionaire-owned family or team."

There it is. "Billionaire-owned."

That's how Democrats talk about any business right before they run it out of town. Call them a billionaire, act like you're saving working families, take a victory lap while the tax base drives across the state line.

Meanwhile they're running the whole state into the ground. And you already know how this ends. You're living in it.

Pensions are $143B in the hole, worst in the country and not close. You pay $6,285 a year in property taxes, double the $2,969 national average, for a city that's $1.15B in the red. The mayor called its finances "the point of no return."

When you run things this badly, you sell what's left.

They leased the parking meters for 75 years to Morgan Stanley and a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi. Took $1.15B and burned through it in two years. The investors already made it all back, with 58 years left to collect.

Sold the Skyway. Sold the downtown garages. Every asset that made money, gone for one check.

But a fixed property tax rate for a team that's been here 106 years? That's "propping up billionaires."

Companies are leaving. Boeing for Virginia. Caterpillar for Texas. Citadel for Miami. In 2023 alone Illinois lost 56,000 people and $6B in income to other states. The ones who left earned a third more than the ones who moved in.

Indiana didn't outbid anyone. AAA credit, 16 years straight. A $676M surplus. Fourth-lowest debt per person in the country. They just weren't a disaster.

Illinois could have collected $53M a year. It chose zero. Ignore all the bad management but make sure to stick it to those evil, pesky billionaires.

[James @Smartaleck99]

@NolanWhite1971 @MichaelFKane Not at all, but how long was the empire on Endor for the Ewoks to design and build defensive things like that to specifically counter AT-STs. The origin for this post is to nitpick, not have deep philosophical discussions....(Le sigh).

[Skeletor 🧼🧽🫧 @TheMuppetPastor]

Until we meet again!

[James @Smartaleck99]

@ShitlibSupreme Frankly, what's more unbelievable is that the tiny Ewoks could haul those massive loggs up and support them using homemade ropes that the damage they would cause to an AT-ST.

[James @Smartaleck99]

@AnnieAgar

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

There is an animal that:

- Walks to her own food on her own legs
- Eats grass humans cannot digest
- Drinks rainwater that falls whether she's there or not
- Needs no pesticide, herbicide, irrigation, factory, or refinery
- Builds topsoil 30 to 50 times faster than nature
- Fertilises the ground that grew her dinner
- Supports dozens of wildflower, insect, and bird species
- Reproduces herself once a year, free of charge
- Produces meat, milk, butter, cheese, cream, leather, tallow, suet, bone, and broth
- Delivers complete protein, every fat-soluble vitamin, haem iron, B12, zinc, and choline
- Has done all of this, on the same hillsides, for ten thousand years
- Runs on sunlight

And we have spent thirty years being told this animal is the problem.

The fermentation tank in Singapore, drawing power from a fossil fuel grid, fed on monoculture soy from a deforested Brazilian plain, producing a beige paste with twenty-two ingredients, is the solution.

The audacity is breathtaking.