Insects and other less-photogenic varmints like have refreshing, slow-moving sources of water next the homes of people… Who, this year, are having problems with cleanliness and infectious disease anyway.

Biden's richer than Trump, and Trump paid a lot less taxes than you did last year. Presumably some voters will be changing their plans....

To paraphrase: I've Tweetled something brilliantly woke. My job is done.

Not you, Crid. I mean liquid sidewalk guy there on the Tweety.

What they don't show you in that picture is the extended family living in the 4-room apartment behind that nice couple.

“Forget the damned motor car and build cities for lovers and friends.”

— Lewis Mumford

#GoodUrbanism #Kyoto

Translation: It would be a lot easier to design these urban utopias if it weren't for all those damned people who want to do stuff.

I stayed in one of the picturesque historical Japanese row houses in Kyoto once.
It was the most uncomfortable two nights I think I ever spent.

It is enough to make you long for a trailer park in Alabama with a decent bed.

I stayed in one of the picturesque historical Japanese row houses in Kyoto once.

Seems like I remember you saying you were at Misawa at some point. Is that right?

I stayed in one of the picturesque historical Japanese row houses in Kyoto once.

Seems like I remember you saying you were at Misawa at some point. Is that right?

Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at September 28, 2020 5:17 AM

Yep. Seven years at Misawa for my husband. He retired in January and came home. I spent about half that time over there.
Japan has its charms but a few months at a time is about my limit.

"Yep. Seven years at Misawa for my husband. He retired in January and came home. I spent about half that time over there."

Yeah, we were there 1995-1998. Three wing commanders in that timeframe as well.

Old guy.

For forty years, I've dreamt of coming across a copy of this book in a yard sale. And now those dreams are lost, like tears in rain.

Don't trust anyone who compares Trump's taxes to an average person's tax payments. Anyone who makes that comparison is trying to dupe you or doesn't understand finance at any useful level. I will explain at Coffee with Scott Adams today 10 AM ET.

https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1310573198413410304

> liquid sidewalk guy

He links some neat stuff sometimes, but yeah.

Another favorite account is Zuegel, a brilliant young engineer at Github. She has an eye for attractive designs and art pieces... And an almost drunken adoration of quaint village imagery, where everyone rides bicycles over cobblestones to buy single loaves of bread. She spends her life pushing bits & emails. I think she could rule the planet if she could spend a year working in a truck-stop diner by the interstate, learning about the forces that bring people things like food and medicine.

Hey Raddy!… Trumps a BILLIOINAIRE!!! So he probably has special knowledge about money! He has a special cell phone!!!

Don't trust anyone who compares Trump's taxes to an average person's tax payments.

Does anyone really expect Trump not to have taken advantage of the tax laws of the country? Do you willingly pay more taxes than you owe? Don't you take advantage of every exemption and write-off?

The fact that he gets better exemptions than you do is a function of the tax laws, not of Trump's greed or mendacity.

Hollywood pulls the same stunt. Return of the Jedi earned $475 million at the box office against a budget of $32.5 million, but has yet to earn a profit.

Several studios have been sued by parties promised a share of movie profits that never materialized, despite massive box office success.

Sure, it's whimsical and romantic. Impractical too. Love and friendship are not building components.

Yes they are, Spidey... You just don't understand.

> Does anyone really expect Trump
> not to have taken advantage of
> the tax laws of the country?

No, I expect his voters to see that they're being played like fiddles, and that expressions of 'loyalty' to him are merely desperate squeals of resentful neediness, anemic feints at irony from second graders who've only just learned about sarcasm.

Radwaste wasn't kidding. You can go back and read the comments. Because of the teevee show, because of the magazine covers, whatever... He sincerely believed Trump was a rich guy whose insights about wealth creation were going to lead our country to better footing.

Which is why he torpedoed the TPP.

No, I expect his voters to see that they're being played like fiddles.... ~ Crid at September 28, 2020 8:39 AM

Likewise his detractors who insist he pay proportionately as much, or more, in taxes as they did in their worst year when they did their own taxes and had no deductions - the ones who hold that his taking advantage of the tax laws then in existence are, by default, proof of his corruption.

Not all of Trump's voters idolize him. Some chose him over an equally repugnant, incompetent, and probably more corrupt choice.

That Trump is a lousy candidate does not, in and of itself, make Biden an ideal one. Hold your nose and vote for the candidate who will usher in less disastrous results. And remember, you're not just electing a president, you're voting in the interest groups and voting blocs that your choice of president will empower.

The Babylon Bee reports on Trump's tax avoidance.

Libertarians across the country paid tribute to Trump's accomplishment by firing their AR-15s into the air and doing hard drugs, though this is what they were already planning on doing anyway.

Jo Jorgenson's poll numbers have plummeted as a result of the revelation, with both of her supporters saying they're switching to Trump.

That Trump is a lousy candidate does not, in and of itself, make Biden an ideal one. Hold your nose and vote for the candidate who will usher in less disastrous results. And remember, you're not just electing a president, you're voting in the interest groups and voting blocs that your choice of president will empower.

Conan the Grammarian at September 28, 2020 9:07 AM

And Judgeships, especially Supreme Court appointments. I supported Cruz in the primary. Crid mistakes my admiration for Trump’s court picks and foreign policy as some sort of rock star groupie adoration.

I’m just voting my interests. Not sure that at this point that Cruz would have been able take the pounding that Trump has and remain standing.
Gotta hand it to my 91 year old mother. In 2016 her instincts were better than mine.

Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden both turn my stomach. Some of the sleaziest grifters ever to run for office, representing a party that has lost its collective mind.

> Not all of Trump's voters
> idolize him.

Gotcha. Comprende-mundo. Totally agree. And those who don't carry my sincere recognition, if not quite respect, for offering an almost psychedelic jolt of clarity to a polity made moribund by entrenched interests and careerist torpor.

But perhaps because of those who do, that offer hasn't been accepted, or compelled; history will record that it — and Trump — failed, and their infantile cynicism has instead brought the tawdry 'civics' of Bogota & Buenos Aires & Sucre up here to Nortee del 'Mericanno.

We're back to seventh grade now. Trump, and his reflexive defenders, couldn't be happier.

You will need to point out those 'reflexive defenders' Crid. You are certainly a 'reflexive derider'.

Also what is your obsession with grade school?

CNN Reports Amy Coney Barrett Attended Bizarre Ceremony Where She Ate Flesh, Drank Blood Of Jewish Guy

https://twitter.com/TheBabylonBee/status/1310621578607157248

> Hold your nose and vote for the
> candidate who will usher in
> less disastrous results.

Whoever your adversary is, I'm certain that's how they do things, by taking the lowest available road… And here we are.

No. It's demeaning, pathetic and ultimately debasing to endlessly vote against things, no matter how sincere your personal inner hurt. We are here to be for things, to affirm the better path.

Florence King repeatedly described a particular example of the power of negative thinking, of how casual & popular rhetoric nourishes impairment:

The South’s favorite accolade, “If you’re half the man your daddy is- you’ll be all right,” is the locus classicus of the dynastic novel that tempts so many Southern male writers. The halving process fills the author with dark fascination. He must show a long line of men, each of whom was half as good as the daddy before him, until he gets to the autobiographical character who, by definition, has undergone the most complete mathematical reduction of all. 

Negative feedback loops are far more stable than positive ones.

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/negative-feedback-part-4-introduction-to-stability/

No. It's demeaning, pathetic and ultimately debasing to endlessly vote against things, no matter how sincere your personal inner hurt. We are here to be for things, to affirm the better path. ~ Crid at September 28, 2020 11:24 AM

I haven't found a politician I can be for in years, at least not one who survived the primary process; or was willing to submit to it. I'll keep looking. In the meantime, I'll vote for the lesser of the weevils in the race - and yes, the reference to voracious, destructive insects was intentional.

We put up with politicians not because we're for them, but because politics is where they can do the least damage, at least so we thought:

The Constitution contains a plan for representative democracy that has, over the years, been successful at luring some of our most egregious national characters out of the private sector, where they would have done no end of damage to industry and commerce, and into public office, where they can be watched. ~ P.J. O'Rourke

So, what am I for? I'm for small government and individual freedom - within a reasonable societal framework. I'm for a balanced budget. I'm for civilization, the canon of literature, proper grammar, capitalism, aspiration, and cats.

"I meant," said Ipslore bitterly, "what is there in this world that makes living worthwhile?" Death thought about it. CATS, he said eventually, CATS ARE NICE. ~ Terry Pratchett (Sourcery)

> Love and friendship are not
> building components.

To wit, this gives me a semi—

At the Q3 all hands meeting this past week, I shared with the company the above clarification of our culture and mission. These types of clarifications are needed periodically, as almost every year there will be some sort of event which tests the culture. My goal is to create clarity for all employees going forward about how we’re going to operate. I suspect the vast majority of people will be excited to proceed in this direction — after all, the mission is what we all signed up for and is what Coinbase is uniquely positioned to achieve as a company. But for some employees, working at an activism focused company may be core to what they want, and we want to prompt that conversation with their manager to help them get to a better place. Life is too short to work somewhere that you aren’t excited about, and we’re happy to make that a win-win conversation.

“If you need to injure someone, do it in such a way that you do not have to fear their vengeance.”

"He has a special cell phone!!!"

Which infuriates you, because there is no way you can personally tell him what to do with it. You've made it clear that this is what bothers you.

I'm truly sorry about that part. You must be so unhappy and unfulfilled.

Now, don't miss IRADA's offer to explain why that tax report is beyond, not beneath, you.

I've made it clear!!! It's what bothers me!!

There's nothing he can do, there's nothing he can fail to do, which could tarnish your admiration in the slightest respect. The Times publishes the well-sourced story last night, and though it's contentions are being challenge, five or six people rush to say why it doesn't matter. Nothing matters. No criticism, ever, no deviation from your spotless devotion.

Chavismo!!

I've made it clear!!! It's what bothers me!!

There's nothing he can do, there's nothing he can fail to do, which could tarnish your admiration in the slightest respect. The Times publishes the well-sourced story last night, and though it's contentions are being challenge, five or six people rush to say why it doesn't matter. Nothing matters. No criticism, ever, no deviation from your spotless devotion.

Chavismo!!

Crid at September 28, 2020 6:03 PM

I watched this with Obama for nine long years. And yet, Trump is the only one that seems to live in your head.

Any criticism AT ALL, no matter how grounded, and it's said that the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES "lives in your head," earning accusations of mental illness.

Odious enough as a posture for politics, but after a person is too old for Ninja Turtles, there ought be no other human being on the planet for whom one's ego should bleed so defensively.

No Crid. I've criticized Trump. Rad has. Isab too. Plenty of others. Those you accuse of blind devotion don't have it. You have blind hatred. Which is why you keep bringing up irrelevant issues no one but you care about.

For the love of GOD please bandage your soul and stop your over inflated ego from bleeding out over this guy. You lost a primary fight and an election. Get over it.