Recent Comments

1. 22 days ago on Non Sequitur

   You completely underestimate our ‘talent’ for destruction….

   The Ozone Hole at the south pole was created by humans, and due to human action, is showing signs of lessening.

   Humans caused Acid Rain that killed off aquatic life and caused the “melting” statues in Europe. Yet, removing the sulfur and lead in internal combustion engines has made a huge difference.

   Human made plastics are found, literally, on the top of the highest mountains, at the bottom of all the oceans, in orbit around the planet, and even on / around other planets.

   Humans pumping underground water have changed the rotational axis of the Earth.

   We know that around 100 city destroying atomic bombs would cause a nuclear winter in about 2 weeks. There are around 12 thousand of those in existence. So less than 1% of the world’s arsenal. What might 10% of that arsenal do?

   But, according to the (oil industry financed, using tobacco industry advertising tactics) deniers, humans couldn’t possibly have increased the rate of climate change from many 1000s of years to a couple of hundred years….

2. 25 days ago on Rabbits Against Magic

   . . .via Trebuchet.

3. about 1 month ago on Prickly City

   Of course, the Vietnam war did not end when Nixon cut and ran from the war in 1973. The war itself ended in 1975 when Saigon fell.

   1975 was when Gerald Ford was President because VP Spiro Agnew had resigned due Agnew’s corruption.

   And of course, Gerald Ford turned around and pardoned Nixon, who had installed Ford as VP (and then President), giving at least the appearance of a corrupt Quid Pro Quo bargain.

4. about 2 months ago on Grand Avenue

   I suspect you already know that “toilet”, “loo”, or almost any other term for the place where bodily waste is deposited is a euphemism or slang term.

   Toilet’s meaning is to groom / dress oneself. (Might as well call it "the place one goes to powder one’s nose”.)

   Loo is most likely from the French phrase “gardez l’eau,” which translates to “watch out for the water.”

   In English, there is no proper term for that place/device. The euphemism “Toilet” was merely pressed into service to function as a proper name for the device.

   I suspect there isn’t a language does not use slang or euphemism when referring to that subject.

5. 2 months ago on Dog Eat Doug

   It’s part of the “Staying Alive” lyrics:

   Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother

   You’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive

   Feel the city breakin’ and everybody shakin’

   And we’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive

   Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive

   Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive

6. 3 months ago on Prickly City

   The ‘insane’ inflation was, and is, world wide.

   Not something that America could do on it’s own.

   Much of which was due to the Covid-caused supply chain breakdown.

   Here in the States, Trump made it worse, because of the critical first few months after Covid reached our shores, Trump ignored it and trusted Xi_Jinping to deal with it over there.

   Here in the States, about 50% of the inflation was a corporate (many of which are multi-nationals) business decision to raise prices because of the belief that people wouldn’t notice because of everything else going on.

   While Biden’s policies may have somewhat exacerbated inflation here in America, it did so without causing a recession / depression in this country.

   Compared to the other “Western Nations”, we did far better.

   But that is looking at the past.

   Trump’s 2025 policies are guaranteed to Make Inflation Great Again!

7. 3 months ago on Prickly City

   So… You would prefer Trump’s ‘Pro-inflation’ policies?

   (Repost)

   Trump’s proposed 2025 policies literally will Make Inflation Great Again.

   ~

   Step 1: Reduce the value of the U.S. dollar

   ✁

   Yet even if one supports Lighthizer’s priorities and proposals, an inescapable fact remains: A plan to devalue the dollar is — quite literally — a plan to make products more expensive for American consumers.

   .

   Step 2: Apply a 10 percent tariff on all foreign imports

   ✁ ✁ In practice, this would almost certainly mean that US consumers would pay roughly 10 percent more on all the foreign-made cars, electronics, toys, and other goods that they purchase.

   .

   Step 3: Enact massive, deficit-financed tax cuts

   If you increase Americans’ post-tax incomes by hundreds of billions of dollars, they will suddenly be able to dramatically boost their purchases of goods and services.

   If the economy’s capacity to produce goods and services does not increase at the same pace, then demand will outrun supply and consumers will bid up prices.

   .

   Step 4: Shrink the American labor force

   As scholars at the Brookings Institution noted last fall, the upsurge in immigration since the pandemic is one major reason why the US managed to bring inflation down without suffering a recession: Foreign-born workers increased the economy’s productive capacity, helping supply to catch up with rising consumer demand.

   Conversely, if America abruptly deported all undocumented workers, labor shortages would devastate myriad industries, from housing to agriculture to the care economy, and prices would soar.

   ~

   Trump’s team keeps promising to increase inflation

   Vox

8. 4 months ago on Prickly City

   Trump’s proposed 2025 policies literally will Make Inflation Great Again.

   And the President does not need Congressional approval for tariffs.

   ~

   Step 1: Reduce the value of the U.S. dollar

   ✁

   Yet even if one supports Lighthizer’s priorities and proposals, an inescapable fact remains: A plan to devalue the dollar is — quite literally — a plan to make products more expensive for American consumers.

   .

   Step 2: Apply a 10 percent tariff on all foreign imports

   ✁ In practice, this would almost certainly mean that US consumers would pay roughly 10 percent more on all the foreign-made cars, electronics, toys, and other goods that they purchase.

   .

   Step 3: Enact massive, deficit-financed tax cuts

   If you increase Americans’ post-tax incomes by hundreds of billions of dollars, they will suddenly be able to dramatically boost their purchases of goods and services.

   If the economy’s capacity to produce goods and services does not increase at the same pace, then demand will outrun supply and consumers will bid up prices.

   .

   Step 4: Shrink the American labor force

   As scholars at the Brookings Institution noted last fall, the upsurge in immigration since the pandemic is one major reason why the US managed to bring inflation down without suffering a recession: Foreign-born workers increased the economy’s productive capacity, helping supply to catch up with rising consumer demand.

   Conversely, if America abruptly deported all undocumented workers, labor shortages would devastate myriad industries, from housing to agriculture to the care economy, and prices would soar.

   ~

   Trump’s team keeps promising to increase inflation

   Vox

9. 4 months ago on Prickly City

   June 9, 2023:

   Within minutes of Trump’s indictment, supporters lit up social media platforms with violent threats and calls for civil war.

   In what is becoming a now all-too-familiar trend, former President Donald Trump’s far-right supporters have threatened civil war after news broke Thursday that the former president was indicted for allegedly taking classified documents from the White House without permission.

   ~

   ‘We Need to Start Killing’: Trump’s Far-Right Supporters Are Threatening Civil War

   Vice

10. 4 months ago on Reality Check

    Unrefined olive oil.

    (I refuse to speculate regarding Popeye’s girlfriend.)