You better keep your toys inside a locked drawer, otherwise this happens:

https://twitter.com/klara_sjo/status/1096496231222857729

Virginia Lawmaker being called upon to resign based on anti-LGBT comments, including likening the LGBT community to the KKK. Leaving aside the fact that this man looks like he accessorizes with Princess Leia on the end of a chain, I don't see him as anti-gay, per se.

He appears to be more against the LGBT community as a whole, pointing out that the community is quick to ostracize their members who don't toe their political line.

Quite possibly, he is homophobic, but this article is not making the case for that very well. Perhaps he's made other statements that aren't covered here.

Well, there's his mistake. They're not the KKK, they're the Mafia.

Question asked. I understand that blondes are telling Ocasio-Cortez jokes. Big, if true. One wit suggested that BU refund her tuition.

How Dumb Is Ocasio-Cortez?

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/02/how-dumb-is-ocasio-cortez.php

Bait & switch is so 1980s. But it seems to work.

To illustrate, when I did my Masters degree in management, I recall our class visited a clothing factory. A production line was churning out identical women's dresses. At the end of the line, the last thing to be done before they were packed and shipped out was to sew a label into the neckline. The dresses - all identical, remember, using the same materials and coming off the same production line - were shunted onto five "label rows". The first - very few dresses - got an upmarket label, destined for high-end boutiques. The second - a few more dresses - got a less upmarket label, but nevertheless one with "snob appeal". They'd go to the "better" department stores. The next three lines - the majority of the dresses - received middle-class to lower-class labels, and were destined for mass-market clothing stores and major supermarkets, where dozens of them would be hung on racks to be pawed through by all and sundry. The prices charged for the high-end label would be twenty or more times higher than for the lowest-level label, but the dresses were identical. It was "con the consumer" from beginning to end.

https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2019/02/bait-and-switch-prices-are-still-going.html

IRA Darth Aggie: Well, there's his mistake. They're not the KKK, they're the Mafia.

While I'm technically part of this community, I agree with you. You either agree with their entire agenda, or they will do their best to ruin your life. They do not forget and never forgive.

It's terribly ironic that they would become the Mafia, since the LGBT community has a lengthy and hostile association with the Mafia. When Dwight D. Eisenhower famously produced an executive order that forced individuals out of their government jobs merely for being suspected of being gay, gays became far more closeted than they were in previous years. The only place where gays had a place to socialize at all (since, believe it or not, it was illegal to serve gays in bars) were the Mafia-run gay bars, such as the legendary Stonewall Inn. The cops had an ongoing war against the gay bars and were closing them down. While there were many in New York City, the Stonewall was the only one that allowed dancing.

While you might think that the gays should be grateful that someone was creating establishments for them, the relationship with the Mafia was less symbiotic and more predator-and-prey. The Mafia overcharged for watered-down drinks (which were actually created with their own stills and poured into brand-name bottles. The Smirnoff Vodka was not Smirnoff; it was cheap, manufactured hooch poured into a Smirnoff bottle.

Moreover, the more affluent members of the gay community who worked on Wall Street (which was known among gays as "the world's biggest closet") were subject to blackmail. Pay up, or we expose you, which will cost you your marriages (as many were married) and your jobs.

And the sanitation was horrific. A health inspector would close such an establishment down tout suite. There were no sinks; the glasses were simply run through tubs of water and used again. (There was at least one outbreak of typhoid among the patrons of Stonewall.)

While the police raids were frequent, because the Mafia paid off the cops, they usually got advanced warning. The black lights were turned off and the house lights turned on, which was the cue to the patrons to keep it cool. And you could be arrested for not wearing at least three pieces of gender-appropriate garments, and the police women were on hand to bring the "ladies" to one side, and make sure the women were really women.

But there was one overzealous police chief, Seymour Pine, who was determined to close them all down. During a raid, one of the bartenders smugly informed him that after the raid was over, they'd just open right back up again. And so Pine took that as a challenge and conducted another raid.

This one wasn't done early in the evening, as they usually were, but in the wee hours of the morning, when Stonewall was most packed. Pine decided to cut up the bars, remove them, confiscate the cigarette machines and all the other stuff. And this time, no one was tipped off.

This, however, was not going according to plan. Gays could usually be counted on to simply go home once the police closed the bar; this time, they chose to hang around outside. Could be a variety of reasons. A plausible theory is that since the Stonewall was so packed this evening, the patrons were simply waiting to see if their friends made it out or were arrested.

And some people just weren't in a good mood that evening. One transvestite was shoved roughly by a cop. So he turned, and hit the cop over the head with her purse, and got a billy club to the head in response. Which prompted some outraged responses from the patrons at hand.

Then a woman described as a tall, mannish lesbian (identity not certain) was resisting. Despite having four cops on her, she apparently acquitted herself well. She was forced, handcuffed, into the police car, where she slipped out...twice.

Finally, as she was being forced back into the car (for the third time), she screamed in exasperation, "Why don't you guys do something?"

The patrons, by this time, were already thoroughly pissed off. At first, they simply camped their way through the incident, making fun of the cops with exaggerated salutes and giving pageant-style exits from the club as the cops forced them out. Then, apparently finally realizing their vastly superior numbers, started to riot. The cops barricaded themselves inside the Stonewall, and gays began throwing burning rags inside of it.

The cops simply didn't anticipate resistance. And apparently someone had found their radio signal, because when Pine called for help, another voice was heard over his radio countermanding the previous order. Usually, gay people, not interested in losing their careers and having their lives ruined from being on the front page of the paper, could be counted on to just walk away.

Another possible explanation from the sudden decision to resist was Judy Garland. The legendary singer and actress had died that week, and her funeral (over the course of two days) had been held the previous day. Judy was adored by the gay community. Moreso when, at a press conference in 1965, when she was reminded (again) that so many of her fans were gay men, responded, "I couldn't care less. I sing for people."

Sorry for the wordiness. I had just been reading about this and I've been trying to understand what prompted this to happen when it did.

I will never accept transgenderism as anything but a mental illness. And non-binary isn't a thing.

I also have my own self-centered reasons for despising this community. Many organizations have been refusing to allow gay white males in leadership positions, with the utterly braindead assumption that white males are so privileged. A look at the statistics of which demographic is on the receiving end of the most anti-gay violence would quickly show how "privileged" gay white males are.

I remember in College when the LBA voted to bring in the T. I was one of only a few who voted nay. TERF wasn't an acronym then...

We should stop saying, as the Powerline piece does, that the inducements and benefits offered to Amazon for HQ2 "do not exist."

Because for all intents and purposes, the really do exist… The reckless offers from idiot community leaders were sincere, and there's no doubt Bezos would have expected full delivery of the value and wealth described in these offers.

It would be a glorious if pointless exercise to sum the totality of offers collected, even though only one or two could be selected. It would clear a hundred billion easily. Might it cross a trillion? Maybe not, but given the market and demographic information that was collected even from the failed bids, this "contest" may prove to be one of the most lucrative and sinister scams in the history of business.

The guy on the street, eve the best-of-the-world American, is not a financial sophisticate. Assholes, and not just socialist ones, will of course see their fondest and most corrupting fantasies of business & government machinery affirmed in the H2Q debacle. But it's not enough to say people are stupid.

The senior players in these communities taught the guy on the street that it's all a scam.

The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.

—Lenin

Because for all intents and purposes, [they] really do exist… ~ Crid at February 16, 2019 7:18 AM

But they do not really exist - not as cash money in an account right now. They were tax breaks on future tax payments; foregone future tax revenues.

Those inducements "exist" only as foregone taxes Queens would have collected from Amazon had they not agreed to forego them in order to get Amazon to build its HQ2 in Queens. They do not exist today as money that Queens can spend on schools, roads, etc. instead of "giving" it to Amazon.

That Bezos and his accountants expected actual tax savings of $3 billion is probably true. And that they would have demanded an accounting from the city toward those promised tax savings is probably true, too.

That Queens civic leaders were already spending the remaining taxes they would have collected from Amazon does not make that money any more real either.

In the minds of taxpayers and voters, the funds may be real; the taxpayer anger at the government for "giving away" $3 billion in potential tax revenue may be palpable. However, "real" and "existent" are often two very different things.

With a minor in economics, AOC should know that. So, she's either very stupid or craftier than she appears.

"We could have spent that money on roads and schools, but they gave it away to corporate fat cats" is a spurious allegation designed to stir up resentment in people with a limited understanding of where civic money comes from.

> But they do not really
> exist - not as cash money
> in an account right now.

I'm not even saying you're wrong. But on a basic, animal level... You're quibbling, and the ninny-children know it. That wealth was *going* to happen for Amazon.

Yow could they not expect it to now be made available for their own idiot daydreams?

"All we need now is a compelling, compassionate leader, like that gruff old Bernie, or that smokin' sexbunny Alexandra."

You can't make the truth pretty enough to flatter the vanity of such people.

[How] could they not expect it to now be made available for their own idiot daydreams? ~ Crid at February 16, 2019 8:56 AM

Yes. And that's the duplicity in which AOC is engaging - whether intentionally or through stupidity is still up for grabs.

I see fake people.

The website uses an implementation of machine learning known as Generative Adversarial Networks, or GANs. These programs “learn” from a large number of training inputs—say, real human faces—in order to produce new examples.

https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/

"...cash money..."

Redundant.

Redundant. ~ Patrick at February 16, 2019 11:52 AM

Not necessarily. Depends upon liquidity.

Also, Get better Amy.

I (also west l.a.) had a cold for two weeks in late January before making a doctors appointment. Even with not-one not-two but three different drugs, it still took a week to bring to the point where the only thing left is a frogish voice.

If your usual regimen for such things doesn't bring quick results, go to a pro.

I never get sick because I'm a bachelor. We live surrounded by filth, but we never interact through cleaning, etc. So there might be something especially tough going on out there, and this has been the wettest few weeks in the zip code for many years.

Smollet just wanted to start a conversation.

Two brothers who were questioned and released by Chicago police investigating the Jussie Smollett attack did play a role in the crime.

Sources say at least one of the brothers bought the rope used in the incident at Smollett’s request. The sources also say the “Empire” actor paid for the rope, which was purchased at the Crafty Beaver Hardware Store the weekend of Jan. 25.

The brothers were paid $3,500 before leaving for Nigeria and were promised an additional $500 upon their return.

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/02/16/sources-brothers-released-bought-rope-used-in-jussie-smollett-attack/

Police murder innocent people after invading their home on bogus warrant. They are somehow still described as "suspects". Fuck cop unions and the shit journalist boot-lickers that write about their murders this way.

https://twitter.com/NonWhiteHat/status/1096884222839717888

Not necessarily.

Yes, necessarily. Cash is money.

Smollet just wanted to start a conversation.

Isn't it an amazing coincidence that these two thugs just happened to recognize Jussie Smollett while carrying a rope, bleach, wearing ski masks with MAGA hats, but didn't happen to be carrying weapons?

Wow, Crid. Sorry you went through that. It is better today. Relieved.

But not all money is cash. Credit cards are money but they aren't cash. Which is why some offer cash back options. There are other forms of money that are not cash.

But not all money is cash. ~ Ben at February 17, 2019 6:30 AM

Yes Ben. And not all money is liquid. Money in real estate or timed deposits, for example, cannot be easily converted into cash.

The Amazon incentives were rebates from future tax revenue. Future earnings can be used as a form of money. You can get a loan using projected future revenue, but you cannot pay off a debt with it. Creditors want cash.

But this was not about the redundancy in my comment. it was about Patrick's sad and pathetic need to take unprovoked shots at me, nitpicking everything to try and get a cheap victory. Let him have it.

Smollet just wanted to start a conversation. ~ Sixclaws at February 16, 2019 5:50 PM

Ah yes, starting a conversation, the last line of defense for people caught lying or behaving in a way that earns them social opprobrium.

• Colin Kaepernick was not disrespecting the flag. He was "starting a conversation."
  
• Jussie Smollett was not lying and filing a false police report. He was "starting a conversation."
  
• Serena Williams was not being a sore loser and pitching a temper tantrum by disrespecting the umpire. She was "starting a conversation."
  
• Tawana Brawley and Al Sharpton were not lying and intentionally ruining a man's life. They were "starting a conversation."
  

> There are other forms of money

But Ben, Wait!!… Do they have a centralized clearinghouse???

"which was purchased at the Crafty Beaver Hardware Store..."

Now there's the Irony of the Week.
c

I believe cash is considered self clearing Crid. As a physical object you either have it or you don't.

"I never get sick because I'm a bachelor."

You didn't really have to say that...

"When Dwight D. Eisenhower famously produced an executive order that forced individuals out of their government jobs merely for being suspected of being gay, gays became far more closeted than they were in previous years."

There are a lot of things that went on that Eisenhower is not suspected of knowing - or even directing. Nuclear material manufacturing sites were built in a hurry; hundreds of actual nuclear weapons tests went on. The Interstate system went in, with serious Teamster support.
J. Edgar Hoover & company were heavily involved in pursuing J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Trinity project people because of their voiced and tacit support for Communism; this was apparently confirmed by investigation of the first Russian atom bomb. So, any behavior suggesting either emphasis on one's personal life above the requirements of the State or a vulnerability to blackmail was pursued.
Sorry about that.