Prelude to the Apocalypse

[BulletMagnet]

On that note, is there a funny Republican?

Not an unbiased source, but....

[Rob]

Not an unbiased source, but....

Cringe.

[BulletMagnet]

To append a couple of previous posts:

First, for anyone who seriously thought otherwise, here you go.

More importantly, for anyone who seriously thought otherwise, here you go.

[GaijinPunch]

Rand is pretty funny in a meta way.

The progression on the face of this normal lady in the background as she listens to his opinion on healthcare always cracks me up.

JFC on a pogo stick... that was painful. So I guess 7 cuntries in the G8 are pro-slavery.

[BryanM]

Veritas doesn't deserve having her name constantly being abused like this.

Should be video of the budget protests soon. People were arrested.

Rand is pretty funny in a meta way.

The progression on the face of this normal lady in the background as she listens to his opinion on healthcare always cracks me up.

JFC on a pogo stick... that was painful.

That's not just you. It's a truism that I keep repeating itt that republican voters don't vote republican in order to give tax cuts to our six zillionaires, but that the Trumpy culture stuff is core. Otherwise the Pauls would perform much better in primaries, but they never do.

Forcing self sufficient people into participating in a wage economy sounds more like slavery to me than nationalizing health insurance, but what do I know.

[gameoverDude]

Trump is trying to sabotage the CFPB from within. If his stooge Mick Mulvaney (Mick the Mole) gets in, you can bet on him nerfing it totally to hell from inside. It was Mulvaney who called it a "sick, sad joke". Mick The Mole has told CFPB staff to disregard orders from Leandra English.

Yes, let's put rats in the refrigerator to guard it.

[Rob]

You're being trolled, MM

A little bit more trolling about ANWR. Was reading a fine book yesterday and came across some passages that reminded me of something. ANWR is not like DAPL. Natives, the Inupiat specifically, stand to profit from it. Natives like money too. They like indoor plumbing, nice schools for their children and all of the things that we enjoy, which are made possible by resource extraction on land they have rights to.

ANWR worshippers fail to consider the Iñupiat

(edit: typo)

[BareKnuckleRoo]

You really shouldn't generalize the opinions of native americans based on one opinion piece in a newspaper written by an irresponsible mayor who was ousted over her abuse of the borough's funds (her brother-in-law was somehow voted in as mayor after, why they'd elect someone else from her family immediately after that is beyond me).

So yeah, aside from a corrupt, unimportant politician who abused her authority to spend money that didn't belong to her, what do people who live there actually think?

The Alaska Inter-Tribal Council (AI-TC), which represents 229 Native Alaskan tribes, officially opposes any development in ANWR.[51] In March 2005 Luci Beach,[52] the executive director of the steering committee for the Native Alaskan and Canadian Gwich’in tribe (a member of the AI-TC), during a trip to Washington D.C., while speaking for a unified group of 55 Alaskan and Canadian indigenous peoples, said that drilling in ANWR is "a human rights issue and it's a basic Aboriginal human rights issue".[53] She went on to say, "Sixty to 70 percent of our diet comes from the land and caribou is one of the primary animals that we depend on for sustenance." The Gwich'in tribe adamantly believes that drilling in ANWR would have serious negative effects on the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd that they partially rely on for food.[54]

A part of the Inupiat population of Kaktovik, and 5,000 to 7,000 Gwich’in peoples feel their lifestyle would be disrupted or destroyed by drilling.[55] The Inupiat from Point Hope, Alaska recently passed resolutions[56] recognizing that drilling in ANWR would allow resource exploitation in other wilderness areas. The Inupiat, Gwitch'in, and other tribes are calling for sustainable energy practices and policies. The Tanana Chiefs Conference (representing 42 Alaska Native villages from 37 tribes) opposes drilling, as do at least 90 Native American tribes. The National Congress of American Indians (representing 250 tribes), the Native American Rights Fund as well as some Canadian tribes also oppose drilling in the 1002 area.

In May 2006 a resolution was passed in the village of Kaktovik calling Shell Oil Company "a hostile and dangerous force" that authorized the mayor to take legal and other actions necessary to "defend the community".[57] The resolution also calls on all North Slope communities to oppose Shell owned offshore leases unrelated to the ANWR controversy until the company becomes more respectful of the people.[58] Mayor Sonsalla says Shell has failed to work with the villagers on how the company would protect bowhead whales, which are part of Native culture, subsistence life, and diet.[58]

Via: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Re ... ontroversy

Citation #54 on that Wikipedia page does bring up some pretty compelling reasons why many Inupiat are pro-oil when it comes to wanting oil companies to go there:

The favorite past time of the Inupiat children is to ride around in their ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) up and down the roads. Oil money has enabled families to supplement their diets with mail ordered foods that arrive daily at the new airport in town. While the Inupiat still perform their traditional whale hunts, whale and other local animals have become a supplement to their diet, not the mainstay. Thus, the Inupiat standard of living has improved and is maintained by the money they receive from oil production, and consequently the Inupiat are pro-oil development. Without the oil money, they would go back to living without heat, running water, or any source of viable income. Now that they have had a taste of the comforts of modern life, who could blame them for not wanting to return to the traditional Eskimo lifestyle? The Inupiat believe that oil development will not interfere with the wildlife, and development and nature are not mutually exclusive. They also maintain that they depend on the health of the land, not only the money that it provides them, and have self-appointed themselves as "guardians of the land," promising to alert the public if oil development does indeed harm the refuge.

Sure, the idea that oil production will magically make them all rich and vastly improve standards of living is certainly an appealing idea, but it's a fleeting one. The reality is that though the presence of oil producing companies will boost the community's economy temporarily, fossil fuels eventually run out. Alaska is a harsh, remote environment to live in, and as soon as oil production dries up, the oil industry's going to make a hasty getaway, leaving the remote community's source of funds a distant memory, while also leaving behind whatever impact to the local environment their oil production had. The same thing happens to any community where the local economy is helplessly dependent on harvesting/processing of natural, limited resources such as fossil fuels or ore mining. It sounds heartless and cruel to argue a community shouldn't be offered a chance to improve their standard of living, even if it's only for the space of a few decades while oil production lasts, but on the other hand there's a serious concern that allowing drilling in that particular Alaskan region is going to be another story of a native community that got taken advantage of in the long run...

[BulletMagnet]

Yes, let's put rats in the refrigerator to guard it.

Quit your complaining, they're the pioneers of a long-overdue pushback against oppressively anti-rodent policies by the Soros-funded Big Cleanliness cabal; we deserve the freedom to choose the bubonic plague without some sissy bureaucrat telling us that they know better.

On a related note, to pivot back to net neutrality for a moment, can anyone out there still believe that the suits aren't salivating at the imminent chance to screw us over in even more exciting ways?

@Roo - If you think he was actually attempting to make a serious, fully-considered argument there, try again.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

@Roo - If you think he was actually attempting to make a serious, fully-considered argument there, try again.

There's a serious argument to be made against wasting time trying to convince people who argue from absurd positions, but I think it's still important to put up a decent rebuttal now and then. Not to try and convince those arguing, but more for the sake of trying to convince any casual observers who may otherwise be fooled...

[Mischief Maker]

@Roo - If you think he was actually attempting to make a serious, fully-considered argument there, try again.

There's a serious argument to be made against wasting time trying to convince people who argue from absurd positions, but I think it's still important to put up a decent rebuttal now and then. Not to try and convince those arguing, but more for the sake of trying to convince any casual observers who may otherwise be fooled...

That's the curse of this thread.

Do you leave it be and let people on the sidelines think your silence equals assent?

[BryanM]

They obviously didn't spend those $millions to not make themselves $trillions.

"Sixty to 70 percent of our diet comes from the land and caribou is one of the primary animals that we depend on for sustenance."

Tsk. Lazy freeloaders. They'd be much happier getting a job and joining the wage economy, making $2.50 an hour waiting tables at the local truck stop's Denny's.

[Rob]

If you think he was actually attempting to make a serious, fully-considered argument there, try again.

It's not an "argument". I'm only pointing out the Inupiat point of view on this matter, which I think is more worthy of consideration than that of the lower 48 urbanite who has never been anywhere near the land and thinks he knows better than they do. Yeah, I'm aware that not every tribe is for it. The ones that aren't getting anything.

but I think it's still important to put up a decent rebuttal now and then.

Dude, I've been living with and reading about this stuff my entire life. You are a 1 minute Google expert.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Dude, I've been living with and reading about this stuff my entire life. You are a 1 minute Google expert.

You "cited" an anti-abortion propaganda media outlet as a journalistic source and posted an opinion piece in a newspaper from a corrupt mayor who abused her people's funds as if she spoke for all native americans in the area.

I'm a "1 minute Google expert"? When you appear to barely spend a tenth of that time before deciding "YUP THAT'S THE ARTICLE I'M GONNA POST"?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Rob]

This is why I ignore posts.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

This is why I ignore posts.

Is the answer "Because I'm lazy and intellectually dishonest"?

edit: I went back a few pages to read and jesus what the fuck is this fucking dumpster fire

You're happily raising non-Canadians [he's referring to Canadians who aren't white/caucasian - BKR] with Canadian resources. Doesn't make much sense to me, but if you like it.

How do you get to be so... so... I can't even think of a word negative enough to describe what this ignorant racist bullshit amounts to. I'd rather live around immigrant Canadians like the lady at the local Ethiopian restaurant or the Sikh folks who live around here than some pasty white caucasian fucker who spouts this sort of nonsense.

This explains why you were referring to natives in a tonedeaf way like they were some kind of space aliens earlier. "Why golly, they like money and indoor plumbing, just like we REAL AMERICANS do!"

[Rob]

This explains why you were referring to natives in a tonedeaf way like they were some kind of space aliens earlier.

I was referring to them like they are people who would like the same comforts liberal urbanites enjoy.

[Rob]

"Thus, the Inupiat standard of living has improved and is maintained by the money they receive from oil production, and consequently the Inupiat are pro-oil development. Without the oil money, they would go back to living without heat, running water, or any source of viable income."

Missed this edit as it dawned on you that what I said was correct.

It's kind of like the bit in the other thread where you went on and on and the conclusion was a recapitulation of the headline I posted. Utterly pointless, childish screeching.

[Mischief Maker]

I know you're extraordinarily dim and I've pointed this out to you before, but Alaska has the highest percentage of natives in the U.S. Natives have a rape problem.

I was referring to [natives] like they are people who would like the same comforts liberal urbanites enjoy.

Spoiler

[BryanM]

CNN notes store closings this year will reach a record high, beating the previous slaughter they took back from the 2008 meltdown.

For some reason our commander in chief, who often admitted we're in a bubble during the primary, is still using the screwy Establishment Numbers to deny the situation.

Trump taco bell bowl.jpg

This is one of the grosser things. Only one step away from eating a bowl of literal feces.

Spend less money and buy real food at a different restaurant, damnit.

[Mischief Maker]

Well it looks like the alt-right is using the same ginned-up advertiser boycott tactics that were claimed to be the tactics of the left earlier in this thread to go after Sam Seder for his mockery of Gorka and Cernovich.

I guess they weren't that into the whole "free and open exchange of ideas" thing after all.

[Giest118]

It's almost like that's a tactic of dangerous assholes in general.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

It's kind of like the bit in the other thread where you went on and on and the conclusion was a recapitulation of the headline I posted.

Does it feel nice pretending anything you didn't bother to read or didn't understand agrees with you all the time? Does illiteracy leave you feeling warm and fuzzy inside?

[Rob]

...

That's cute, but do you now acknowledge the complexity of the ANWR situation? That it isn't just a good guys vs. bad guys issue? That's all I'm aiming for.

[Rob]

I guess they weren't that into the whole "free and open exchange of ideas" thing after all.

@ Mike Cernovich as an "Alt-Right Nazi", but I do think there are times when it is legitimate to get people fired for what they say. A funny one from a few days back:





Yah, not smart.

[jonny5]

Hey Rob, How about you start posting like you do here on a public account with your name and employer showing, see how long you have a job.

Rob's twitter feed:

So today I'd like to talk about native whites, and our obvious intellectual superiority to all other races - here, let me show you some stats. Go home foreigners, quit mooching off the native whites and go back where you came from. I'm not racist by the way, just pointing out truths.

[BulletMagnet]

That's cute, but do you now acknowledge the complexity of the ANWR situation? That it isn't just a good guys vs. bad guys issue? That's all I'm aiming for.

Like hell that's "all you're aiming for".

News flash: everything has exceptions and buried complexities to be seized upon should you so desire, and ignored if inconvenient (they're criminals and rapists that are ruining our country...but some, I assume, are good people!). Thing is, the "but you're not acknowledging the whole picture" line is also a convenient way to draw attention away from a more important issue: if you really want to improve the lives of this tribe, that's great, but is continuing to delay a much-needed clean break from fossil fuels at an ever-increasing cost to the environment really the best way to go about this (as if the fate of this tribe was even a momentary blip on the radar of the people who drew the plans up to begin with)? Especially coming from someone for whom environmental issues are supposedly of major importance? How the hell is anyone supposed to take this sudden, inexplicable spate of strain-out-the-gnat shit seriously?

(While we're in the neighborhood, if you want to give middle-class folks a tax break, that's great, but is making said cuts temporary while exploding the debt, slashing social services they depend on, and throwing millions of them off of health care in order to stuff billionaires' pants ever more densely really the best way to go about it? And again, looking at the bigger picture here, is this really the end goal the authors had in mind [and, since it can't be said enough, fuck you, McCain. And to those who still insist that what's good for Wall Street must be good for the rest of us, fucking spare me ])?

You're not posting stuff like this to get folks to "acknowledge the complexity" of the situation: you're doing it to throw ever-thicker clouds of gorilla dust in the air as your ever-knottier and more contradictory positions (and/or "positions") on issue after issue become ever more indefensible.

[Rob]

and our obvious intellectual superiority to all other races

The cartoonish things you invent for me are still not as bad as things like this, which was apparently fit for a university paper:

You're not posting stuff like this to get folks to "acknowledge the complexity" of the situation: you're doing it to throw ever-thicker clouds of gorilla dust in the air as your ever-knottier and more contradictory positions on issue after issue become ever more indefensible.

Point out a contradiction for me so I can correct my thinking.

[Giest118]

<YOUR DNA IS AN ABOMINATION>

I will never understand this dumbass strategy they've adopted where they intend to defeat white supremacy by making it look like white supremacists might actually have a point.

I mean, what the fuck. They just keep one-upping each other at this.

[jepjepjep]

Hey alt-righters,

What do you make of this foreign, non-European immigrant trying to fuck up one of our most precious American institutions?