Guard Dog
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Posts posted by Guard Dog
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Every time you think you've seen the worst it gets worse. I just want to find 11,780 votes’: In extraordinary hour-long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor
Good riddance
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On 12/29/2020 at 7:18 PM, Gromnir said:
we were thinking same thing as we reflected 'pon our recent paid property tax bill(s). am knowing ca is relative reasonable for property taxes, but doesn't feel reasonable when am writing a check with so many digits.
HA! Good Fun!
Two words my friend: agricultural exemption. Collectively I own over 300 acres all told and pay about $2k per year in property tax. And my state has no income tax. All my lessee's ask is that I keep the fences fixed and the roads graded,
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Happy 2021 everyone. I hope this year treats all of you better than last. Love, light, and happiness to all you crazy characters that make reading this board fun.
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All this is in Massachusetts. If it’s going on anywhere else I haven’t heard about it. But it seems like the kind of thing that can spread.
you are right of course. I think I am highly qualified to teach some subjects but certainly not others and homeschool kids miss out on a lot of socialization. But on the other hand the way they teach math these days I could probably save them a life time of calculator dependency By showing them the old fashion way. You know, actually memorizing multiplication tables and what not
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By the way this subject has piqued my interest a great deal as I’m sure you’ve noticed. After some subsequent web searches I found out Orwell is also on the banned list. Small surprise there. After all how can you mold the minds of the poor little dear is if they happen to read a book that teaches them how you are molding their minds. I bet Machiavelli is going to be a no go also. For highschoolers I mean
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This is a big reason why I am so anti-government. Too many times the government is used as a cudgel to hammer one point of view over another. “I” don’t like this so “you“ can’t do it. I don’t like this kind of language, these books have this language therefore you can’t read it. I don’t like guns therefore you can’t have guns. I don’t like cigarettes therefore you can’t smoke. Now it is perfectly reasonable for people to enjoy these vices in such a manner that it does not impose on the comfort or freedom of other people. It’s perfectly reasonable that tell people they can’t smoke in restaurants. It’s perfectly reasonable to tell me not to walk around with a 45 on my hip. But that’s not what we’re talking about in this instance. We are talking about literally removing access to these works for all future generations. This is nothing short of an attempt to mold future minds by limiting their experience. And it stinks.
there is another point here. One that has not been hit so far. Classics are called that for a reason. They are a cultural touchstone that all of us share because even if we haven’t read them we know about it. If I were to say Ahab is hunting his whale you know I’m talking about a man seeking revenge. When the expression comes up “a face that launched 1000 ships” everyone knows you’re talking about Helen of troy. These expressions and themes show up in movies, songs, other books. Hell just listen to a two hour Dennis Miller routine and you’ll get at least two dozen references to classical literature that you would never laugh at the joke if you weren’t familiar with the reference. And now the present day moral busybodies imagine it is their place to deprive future generations of those experiences.
sometimes I wish I had had kids. Sometimes I wish that very much. And sometimes I’m glad I didn’t. I’m genuinely worried future generations are going to be left a joyless and grimly materialistic world where the truth is only what other people tell them it is. I can tell you one thing for sure if I did have a child they would be homeschooled.
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8 minutes ago, Skarpen said:
And this should apply to everybody not only US citizens. Every person around the world should get it from US government
That sounds like a plan! In the moment we do it I am re-cashing out and retiring. No income equals no taxes.
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6 hours ago, Achilles said:
That's fairly "present-day". I fear my beloved Walden wouldn't make the cut though
THAT would be a shame. Walden is on the Guard Dog U required reading list for all life students! Of course I can see how the thought police would want that one banned. Thoreau discusses the importance of reading the very works the want banned. And a simple life, unencumbered by things and obligations is a non-starter to the people who fancy they run the world today. Consumption and debt are as essential to keeping people docile as are bread and circuses (internet, TV, and other distractions).
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4 minutes ago, ShadySands said:
Probably socialism
Nah, wasn’t that when it was being done for religious objections. It’s just the sick and twisted desire that exists in 33% of the population to control the actions and minds of the other 66%. That the 33% today is different than the 33% of years past is irrelevant. The methods and outcome are the same
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27 minutes ago, Hurlshot said:
Never apologize to these censoring fascists!
Banning stuff rarely has much to do with the content itself. Instead it is just a way of controlling people through their access to information. You know, instead of teaching them to think critically about what they are reading. It is the laziest form of manipulation, I guess.
edit: Also, bit comical to hide an article on censorship behind a paywall. Certain articles should just be easy to read.
“Beware the man who would deny you access to information. For in his heart he deems himself your master.”
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9 minutes ago, Amentep said:
Can we still read Fahrenheit 451?
I'm also wowed that people read THE SCARLET LETTER and think it wasn't an indictment against the attitudes on display vis a vis Hester Prynne...
Sometimes I wonder if they have actually read the books they want banned. Shakespeare was called out as having “hate speech” but The Merchant of Venice also has one of the first and best soliloquy’s about anti Semitism.
BTW sorry about posting the whole text. I knew that was a no no but just didn’t think.
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The words "banned" and "books" should NEVER be used in the same sentence. But, here we we are again.
Even Homer Gets Mobbed A Massachusetts school has banned ‘The Odyssey.’ It's paywalled but I have a subscription so here is the text:
QuoteA sustained effort is under way to deny children access to literature. Under the slogan #DisruptTexts, critical-theory ideologues, schoolteachers and Twitter agitators are purging and propagandizing against classic texts—everything from Homer to F. Scott Fitzgerald to Dr. Seuss.
Their ethos holds that children shouldn’t have to read stories written in anything other than the present-day vernacular—especially those “in which racism, sexism, ableism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of hate are the norm,” as young-adult novelist Padma Venkatraman writes in School Library Journal. No author is valuable enough to spare, Ms. Venkatraman instructs: “Absolving Shakespeare of responsibility by mentioning that he lived at a time when hate-ridden sentiments prevailed, risks sending a subliminal message that academic excellence outweighs hateful rhetoric.”
Political correctness is a disease. One we are like to die from. It's practitioners are every bit as insidious as the "moral police" who wanted books banned because they were "sinful". It's a short step from banning them to burning them.
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47 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:
I want to be born 100 years from now. My primo cyborg body, with adjustable dong, would no longer be a slave to the ravages of time/illness/disease and I could explore the cosmos.
LOL that’s a far more optimistic vision of the future than one I would come up with!
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4 hours ago, ShadySands said:
I don't think I'd be able to get along in times much beyond maybe the 1970s. Beyond modern comforts I'd need a time and place where I could speak the one language I know and my race wouldn't be a factor.
I think even the 70's might be too far back on that last count.
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2 hours ago, Hurlshot said:
For me, I really need a time period with decent plumbing and toilet paper. Also, antibiotics are nice.
1929 checks those boxes LOL! Actually here’s how I know there’s no such thing as time travel. Nobody was short selling US steel and Standard Oil in August of ‘29.
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Vacationing Trump Says Afghanistan Better Than United States
Referring to their election security.
You know what he should do? Go buy an island and declare it an independent country. Make himself President for life and then open it up to immigration for any of his fans here in the US. The proverbial two birds with one stone solution!
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I watched Wonder Woman 1984 last night. It was a decent 90 minute movie spread out over 2 and a half hours. And Cheetah kind of got the short shrift didn't she? I'd give it a B-.
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5 minutes ago, Raithe said:
I actually watched the Bruce Willis remake a couple of months back. Aggressive, some oddly placed moments of humour, but Willis still struggling to actually give a damn about acting.
Ugh. That was an abortion of a movie. It actually made the sequels to the original Death Wish look good. And they were terrible.
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Why We Can’t Stop Longing for the Good Old Days
WSJ but no paywall on this article for some reason. @Gromnir has hit this point a few times and it made me think. I was reminded of it again reading this piece. People pine for a "good old days" that, objectively speaking, were not all that good. But, individual frame of reference goes a long way to color your idea of what the "good old days" were. Especially if it's within your lifetime.
Just curious though. If you could live anywhere and at any time other than this one, where do you go and why? For me it's a no brainer. I'd choose the life of a free trapper in the pre-civil war American west. Settlers had been drifting west the entire 19th century but after the end of the Civil War Manifest Destiny really hit the gas and f----d the whole thing up. I'd have loved to have seen it before that.
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I watched Death Wish (the 1974 Charles Bronson version) for the first time in years today. It was better than I remembered it but misses a pretty big point: self defense and vigilantism are two different things. Not saying all his killings WERE justifiable as self defense because a couple of guys were shot in the back while fleeing and one got a second shot while down to make sure he was dead. That isn't self defense. But aside from the fact that it took place in New York where it is illegal to even think about owning a firearm (more so in the 70's than now even) most of his shootings would have been justifiable.
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1 hour ago, Achilles said:
This is the original video of a shrimp on a treadmill that became an Internet sensation and continues to serve as an example of fake news. Repeatedly cited as a waste of government spending, the treadmill was actually built from spare parts costing less than $50, paid out of researchers pockets — and it helped scientists examine the impact of ocean pollution on America's food safety.
The treadmill bit was one small part of a $600k+ grant that was a squandered on a mostly irrelvant study. I do not give a f--k how economically important shrimp are. If studies like that need to be done they can be funded by interested parties. Not the taxpayer.
This so called stimulus bill also set aside $2M to study whether or not hot tubs can reduce stress. Speaking of treadmills according to the WSJ it set aside $1.5M for a study on how quadiped reptile joints work and part of that will pay for THEIR treadmills so they can be 3D imaged while using them. You are a pragmatic guy. Does that sound like a good use of taxpayer dollars in a country that is $27T in debt AND dealing with record unemployment (meaning revenues are dropping as spending skyrockets)? We are one crisis away from hyperinflation of the dollar bur we just gave Tunisia $48M to help "disconnected youth" get internet access.
I'd go sit in my hot tub to reduce my stress but I don't f-----g HAVE one because the DC Rats are giving away 28% of my salary every year.
As far as changing the government rather than being mad at it, change it into what? A responsible economic manager? Which political party would that be? This bill was bi-fu---ng- partisan. That means we need to get rid of BOTH the Democrats AND the Republicans. Well, I'm trying to do just that by my voting habits. Which, I believe, several people have tryped a great deal of text expaining to me how I was wasting my vote that way.
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26 minutes ago, Gromnir said:
the question is, "why?"
who here believes trump gives a darn about economic suffering of americans, present or future? so, the more vital and pertinent question is, how does this move benefit a soon-to-be ex-President? what is trump 'bout to do which he believes necessitates drumming up popular support?
as @BruceVC observes, demand $2000 stimulus puts pressure on trump Congressional allies as 'posed to democrats. petty mischief and wanton vandalism is motivations enough for trump, but one would expect such to be directed at those he deems enemies.
$2000 stimulus is not the goal.
eye on the ball.
HA! Good Fun!
Any idea what it can be? In 27 days he’s out of office and there is absolutely nothing anyone anywhere I can do about it. Whether or not he gets prosecuted for anything he did before after his term as president is not up to anybody that he can influence. This is a man with very little leverage over anyone. And he certainly isn’t going to get any this way. What do you think his endgame could be here?
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Look at it on the bright side. At least Sudan get 700 million, Pakistan gets 10 million for gender studies, AIDS workers a broad get to buy brand new cars at taxpayer expense, and the office of budget analysis gets to have $1.5 million for a reception. Nothing like partying on the taxpayer dime. You guys wonder why I hate the f——-g government. I wonder why you don’t. When the unwashed ignorant plebeians start getting restless about the way their money is being squandered the sewer rats throw them a little bone. Here take your $600 and shut up.
QuoteExhibit A: "Of the funds appropriated under title III of the Act that are made available for assistance for Pakistan, not less than $15,000,000 shall be made available for democracy programs and not less than $10,000,000 shall be made available for gender programs." Yep. $10 million. For gender programs. In Pakistan.
Exhibit B: Funds for "Resource Study of Springfield (Illinois) Race Riot." That riot occurred in (checks notes) 1908.
Exhibit C "Statement Of Policy Regarding The Succession Or Reincarnation Of The Dalai Lama." We'll just leave that one there.
Exhibit D There's actually a commission tasked with educating “consumers about the dangers associated with using or storing portable fuel containers for flammable liquids near an open flame."
Exhibit E: Another $40 million will be allocated "for the necessary expenses for the operation, maintenance and security" of The Kennedy Center, which received $25 million in another COVID-19 relief bill earlier this year. Also in a related story, the Kennedy Center has been closed.
Exhibits F, G, H, I, J: $86 million for assistance to Cambodia; $130 million to Nepal, $135 million to Burma, $453 million to Ukraine, $700 million to Sudan.
Exhibit K: The bill creates a Women's History Museum and an American Latino Museum as part of the Smithsonian. Overall, the Smithsonian gets (checks notes again) $1 billion. Congress's 5,593-page porky 'relief' bill is essence of the swamp | TheHill
Now, take your $600 and stop questioning what your betters do with "their" money you dirty ignorant pesants.
Never forget... your tax dollars that you worked to earn paidfor this:
Life at Pacific | The Original Shrimp on a Treadmill - YouTube
Oh, by the way, before anyone gets on their goddamned partisan high horse, both parties wrote and backed this BS bill. And while we're on the subject I'll just leave this here: www.usdebtclock.org
In April of 1775 a militia of pissed off and resolute men started a war with the most powerful nation on earth over less. If we were even one quater the men they were the rats in DC would never even attempt this kind of bulls--t.
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What you've done today - One Life to Live
in Way Off-Topic
Posted · Edited by Guard Dog
I sold my travel trailer yesterday. I only used it 3 or 4 times. Seemed like a good idea when I bought it. Making 15 Bean soup in the crockpot for dinner.
Remote work is definitely going to come to an end for me later this year if vaccine delivery continues on schedule. Although I'd have to be near the botttom of the list of people who get it. I've already decided I do not want to back to office work. What that means exactly for my career, well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. My office near Fort Pillow has been closed peemeneately and the new one is close to Memphis down in Shelby County. Not interested in making that commute again.