Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

I got mine in 2021 at 0.99%. Sure glad I pulled the trigger when I did.

That would be the same Trump who charged the Secret Service exorbitant rates to stay at his hotels while protecting him? I'm not seeing any ethical high ground here.

 

Trump was in many ways a complete douche
fixed that for you

the utter and shameless corruption and venality of our current crop of (most) R and (virtually all) D pols
fixed again.

But I am possibly willing to give the benefit of the doubt to someone only 1 term in... although they've almost certainly sold out just to get that initial term...

it is unusual for the "ruling class" to have any ethics... low, high or anywhere in-between. They got to where they are by playing every trick, taking every advantage/loophole, and/or being born into it and learning from day 1 that ethics and integrity are second to "getting theirs".

 

You'd be surprised. Walked through some ~3,000 sq. ft model homes this summer and many of them felt really cramped. I'm realizing layout is more important than overall square footage.

Plus people's needs are different after COVID. People working from home, kids being home-schooled, wanting a separate music and/or theater space, home gym, 2-3 car garage. It all adds up. Sweet spot for our family of three felt right around 4,000 sq. ft, but I'm also sensitive to noise and want enough space that my family doesn't drive me insane while I work from home.

 

I find it extremely funny when people complain about some shadowy cabal of government officials bilking Americans out of their hard-earned money for their own power and fortune, then hold up Trump of all people as exposer of this conspiracy when his administration was one of the most egregious examples of self-serving corruption in modern political history. Trump wasn't trying to clear the swamp, he was trying to re-populate the swamp with his own supporters instead. The man tried to steal an election to stay in power for fucks sake, he's not trying to end corruption or bring anyone to account.

And while yes, there's a shit-load of corruption and exploitation in our political system, specifically involving politicians, lobbyists, corporate interest groups and donors, there is no real "deep state" beyond just the usual momentum of giant, ponderous, entrenched organizations. 99.99% of people working for the government are just normal, average people doing a job.

 

Here's a case likely to create some controversy here. Yesterday, SCOTUS heard arguments for SEC vs. Jarkesy.

In short, Jarkesy was a hedge fund asshole who got busted stealing from his clients and fined. Now he is suing the SEC has no right to levy fines or conduct their own judgments because it violates trial by jury.

The conservative SCOTUS justices opened the door for someone to make this argument awhile ago, and while there's a lot of material against, it's conceivable they rule against the SEC.

In the event they did, it's highly likely you'd see immediate challenges to the independent judgment powers held by other federal agencies, like OSHA, the EPA, and the National Labor Relations board. If Trump wins also it'll be the far right master stroke as I'm sure he'd love nothing more than effectively deregulating the entire government all at once.

To me, I do not believe this would be remotely a good thing. This entire initiative is reportedly funded by the Koch brothers and the billionaires around the world like Elon and Mark Cuban love it, so we know who it benefits.

 

Key word is "want" versus need.

Not referring to the the above quote in this message, but this thread starting to have all the hallmarks of a massive 5 alarm dumpster fire, lol.

 

agreed, Its the politicians, lobbyists, donors (corporate & individuals) that form what I call the "ruling class". Many of whom have never been anything other than a career politician, ruling over the peons and deciding how to best stay in power and "knowing" what's best for everyone else.

Although, I will also include the high-level lifetime federal employees in this group. They get appointed, survive thru multiple administrations, and they hold the real administrative power to shape and mold policy (eg., tell the politicians what they should vote for because the politician can't read the shit-ton of stuff in any given bill or policy).

I do not include the vast majority of govt employees in this group... they are simply hard working people like us.

Now there is a valid discussion to be had as to whether govt has outgrown and whether the "giant, ponderous, entrenched organization" needs trimmed... but that also means trimming services... not just poeple.

The biggest issue I have with D & R is that neither are willing to face up to the fact that they're both correct. Yes, taxes need to go up and yes, services need severely cut back. That is the only way that the country can start to go back in the right financial direction, but neither side is willing to make the hard/unpopular choices needed to move us in a better direction.
------edit------
bad grammar

 

I think a few of you are exposing the KEY difference between “sides” in all of this:

The only individual that gets to decide what that same individual “needs” is that exact individual. Others need not apply.

That is the fundamental difference between those who prefer liberty and those who prefer (for whatever reason) tyranny (of whatever degree.

I.e. it’s none of anyone’s business whatsoever what house I should buy, car I should drive, food I should eat, medicines I should take, schools I send my kids to…. You name it.

Ok, how about this: America doesn’t need 20+ million workers for the Federal government, a subset (unfortunately usually around 51% apparently WANT it to based on their voting over the years.

Now, for bonus points, please explain why there’s a critical DIFFERENCE in those two?

Now, per @purr1n instructions, I’ll make it PERSONAL once again.

We had far, FAR too MANY “regulations” in Massachusetts (just like the feds). I lived in a house (in Mass) in a neighborhood of 24 homes sharing 6 shared, 1/2 mile long driveways built back in the early 90s. Our particular driveway (6 families) was over 1/2 mile long, went downhill by about 150 feet, was gravel, and crossed two streams. We needed it to be regraded to prevent erosion (a bad thing all around). But before we could conduct a regrading, we had to have a Town Conservation Commission (locals on a board who “care, CARE about the environment more than anyone else CAN, mind you, so WE are experts”).

Their inspection *decided* that before we could regrade the driveway to as-built specifications, we would have to install hay bales all along the driveway and protective fencing, etc. And that we MUST restore to original As-built. This boosted our cost by over $10,000 alone.

Then when we were DONE, they inspected again, and issued a finding that they no longer LIKED as-built (which they had previously approved) and demanded a complete re-grading (that, btw, was hyrdologically UNSOUND, as it’s reversed the tilt AWAY from the designed/as-built drainage snails and downhill towards the pond and streams. Yes, these government nitwits apparently thought that water could be prevented from flowing downhill. We appealed to the State, they backed the Town ass-hats. Poof! Another $30K GONE.

They PHUKKING changed the rules, multiple times. But hey, EPA says “wetland” and all the environmental crazies go, “time to f**k people over in the name of…. Something”.

Sorry, we suffer from far too many regulations, and petty bureaucrats that use them to *justify* their creeping totalitarianism. At every level of government. Every regulation creates two things: 1) a new class of people who must be employed (costing taxpayers) to “police” such regulations, and 2) yet another new opportunity for influence-peddlers to corrupt said politicians and bureaucrat involved in regulation/law creation and administration. And that, folks, is how the government has become (by far) the largest “employer” in the country AND why ALL our politicians and the hangers-on class (lobbyists, media, bureaucrats, etc.) are getting wealthy off OUR money.

The answer to fighting corruption is NOT MOAR regulations. It’s less and better ones.

The government IS the problem. One “side” believes this. The other either doesn’t, or is avoiding reality.

Don’t believe me? The prosecutor in ONE of the banana-republic “trials” against Trump just subpoenaed the identities ad personal info of EVERY single American that responded to, or liked one or more of his Tweets. Think about that. 10’s of millions of Americans… If it doesn’t scare one… then one’s trust in government (any government) is disturbing

 

While I'm wary of the government making ideological lists in general given the history of programs like COINTELPRO, I'd also hardly consider information that people willingly feed into an ad-delivery/data brokering machine private or sensitive enough to worry about. If the government wants to put your name on a list, it's already on a list.

 

My main problem with American “libertarianism” (so, not classical libertarianism) is its often wholesale ignoring of corporate power and government power being one and the same in 2023. They’re indistinguishable. Corporate power won, they’re driving the car. This isn’t the Reagan years anymore.

 

Holy crap, a 4000 sq ft home here is probably pushing into $3M...

 

The government IS the problem. One neither “side” believes this. They other either doesn’t, or is are avoiding reality.

fixed that for you

 

Agree that layout makes all the difference. Also agree on want vs need.

Some very well laid out 1600 sq ft homes that I toured across the country that utilized space + garage + backyard + driveway + etc. felt much better and more usable than some other 3400 sq ft homes also across the country that felt like 80% unusable dead space, etc.

 

In the Netherlands there is a literal shortage of houses (from studio to villa). This shortage has its roots in post-war Europe and the economic boost caused by the Marshall Plan. Between 1945 and the 60-ties the population in the Netherlands grew and grew. Not enough house were built.

Society changed and more people over time opted to live on their own. Thus a higher demand for houses (for individuals and families) kept increasing. In the past decade the liberals promised to solve a lot of problems: one of those problems was insufficient houses everywhere.

There still is a shortage of houses and people who used to make enough income to finance a house thus a mortgage have been struggling on the housing market. In the aftermath of the credit crunch (you know the sub-prime mortgage credit crunch a.k.a. Big Short) many people who wanted to buy their first house were severely obstructed (by banks once considered too big/important to fail). Many people my age are worried because we see the clusterfuck spreading and we all want a future of some sorts.

In the past elections for the Dutch parliament this whole problem has been largely ignored. For many Dutchies it no longer matters that much who is in power. Just build houses.

It amazes me how left-wing, middle and right-wing parties have all kinds of ideas and ideals but they forget to address basic needs and there are not enough houses.

In a country like the Netherlands a basic need has been neglected for too long. Too much bull-shit about green energy and immigration drama (because the EU is spineless in that regard, yeah really) and not enough attention for the people on the streets.

If society is to change into haves and have-nots then our democratic system will crumble. I honestly detest how aware I am of all this.

That is enough. More music...

 

Re: the state of the world and other things: I fall into despair a lot these days, and force myself out of it as fast as I can because it's an ineffective state of mind for clarity of action and also because despair is contagious and no one needs more of it.

 

Try 50 push-ups. If that does not do it, do 20 on your bare fists.

Just do something and work on something worthwhile. A small step forward is still a step forward.

 

Thanks, but I don't need advice, just a friendly ear.

 

I'm proud that I can say I swore an oath to my country and can be considered by Bowmoreman to be part of the problem. I'm not a politician, but I work every day to prove Bowmoreman wrong because I take my oath to heart. I don't work to increase shareholder value; I work to serve my country by the laws and executive orders enacted by politicians regardless of "side". If I ever meet you IRL Bowmoreman, your next wee dram (or two) of Bowmore 18 is on me with the hope that we can share something other than vitriol and animosity.

 

So, firstly, thank you for your service (whether in past, or continuing), and let me be quite clear: I hold no “animosity” whatsoever; I don’t even know your “politics”… I wanted to answer you (mostly because I think you misunderstood me or missed a key part of my post), but wanted to sit and think on it for a few days… so, here goes.

I believe you swore an oath ON the Constitution and to uphold and defend it from all enemies, foreign and domestic. That is different than swearing an oath to “govermnent” (to automatically and always obey every fiat and dictate regardless of type and source. I was (I thought) quite clear that the problem with our current government is that it is far, FAR too huge, with so many rules and regulations that it has CREATED a fetid swamp of influence peddling which has indeed (as others here have pointed out) corrupted MOST of our current politicians of either R or D “flavor”. This is exactly how and why we have the utter and now brazen (witness Biden crime family) venal corruption we see. Obamas becoming multi-millionaires, Bernie with 3 luxury homes, McConnell… you name them, they all got rich IN and from politics.

Our original constitution has been utterly corrupted by extremely poor decisions made under the worldview of “more federal government is better”. Examples?

1. Passage of the 17th Amendment (done in the name of fighting corruption - look up Teapot Dome, etc sometime) removed the States ability to STOP the federal government assuming powers that would be anathema to the states, turning the Senate into a glorified house with far more power. The senate was supposed to DELAY and PREVENT too much government. The states legislatures were the instrument. But, we now have popularly and directly elected Senators, And thus more “bribeable”…

2. Passage of the 16h Amendment (to allow for direct levy, personal, income taxes - which were forbidden under the constitution) enabled the federal leviathan to now have a HUGE “food source”; one it could, and would and did, and still does, dramatically increase the growth of government.

Both were driven by Progressives, look it up. Those were the constitution protections our Republic had against a leviathan Federal government, which was a huge concern of the Founders; having studied long human history.

3.Social Security, the ultimate in politically shameful Ponzi schemes, was also driven by Progressives; now the bill is come due. (I believe I previously detailed my personal story here of how the Feds PHUKKED my family after my dad died when I was young).

4. Don’t even get me started on Healthcare, or Education, and what the “more government” crowd hath wrought there. Let’s just say it’s all far more expensive, far bigger gaps between have/get-nots and have/get quality for both of them.

5. The EPA started for a good reason (anyone remember the Cayahoga river catching on fire in the early 1970’s)? But it has now grown into a power-mad leviathan, pushing its regulato tentacles far down into local government (I cited MY personal example there, earlier.). And now, under progressive/leftist administrations, it has decreed CO2 to be a regulatable “pollutant”. Think about the power that gives them: literally the power to regulate the LIFE of every single human. I, for one, don’t trust them; and believe anyone that does, isn’t consider history.

6. Our border patrol has been ordered to NOT do their job. Is that a constitutional order that must be followed? Who decides. What about the people murdered by illegal aliens in the meantime? The explosion in housing costs driven by massive/sudden “demand” for 3 MILLION new people?

@purr1n wanted us to make this Personal, so here’s another one:I had an employee working for me who had been trying to get pregnant for many years, she and her husband FINALLY got pregnant, and she celebrated by resigning (alas) and then taking a vacation out to Arizona. She and her husband were killed by an illegal alien in a drunk-driven head-on crash on the interstate outside of Tucson. I was actually in Tucson with my family at the time and heard about the crash, but no details. When I got back to my office (then, in Massachusetts), my employees told me about it. What about THEM? Who cares for THEM?

Now SUPER personal: my youngest/kid sister died because of illegal fentanyl trafficked from China via Mexican drug lords through our border. (She was in Arizona) Yet one “side” still refuses to control our border… Intentionally!

The list goes on. Having a 50+ year review to work from, it’s easy to see it everywhere. Or, one can be like that dog meme: sitting at a table in a room on fire with a coffee mug “it’s FINE”.

It’s NOT fine, it’s killing people, bankrupting people, and destroying younger peoples FUTURES! And it’s intentional. the Covid lockdowns not only didn’t SAVE people, they severely damaged a generation of young people, and the ones hit the hardest are the poorest and most disadvantaged!

My sons are now grown and have launched in life. Oldest was just (barely) able to buy a house before the Bidenomics-caused almost doubling of housing prices the last 3 years. He’s newly married and expecting my first grandchild. My youngest is just launching (Engineer at Toyota). The other day, he was like: Dad, I’m darling almost $90K, but I can’t afford anything, how am I ever going to get a house?

I want them and their kids to have a future and will fight like made to ensure it’s possible.

The globalist corporate oligarchs don’t CARE about *which* “side”, they care that there ARE (and will always BE) “sides” to distract everyone from what they are really up to. (I’ve often wondered at the strange agreement on underlying principles of the Bernie-bro crowd and those of us advocating cleaning out the corruption of the deep state). The globalists own (most of) the media, basically EVERY “D” (that hasn’t bolted the party recently), and far too many “go along to get along and get rich, so-called “R”s as well.

My point on “sides” is NOT (intrinsically) R’s versus D’s. It is about those who believe MOAR government (regulations, agencies, rules, bureaucrats, etc.) and the concomitant increase in influence peddlers, lobbyists and those throwing ever more money AT the congress to create more “special rules” etc, only makes the corruption of our government even bigger… that is one SIDE. The OTHER side is those, like me, who KNOW from lifetime experience now that every time we ramp up government, we go further in dept, create more problems than we solve, break things (whether energy independence, or our insane health care system, or Ponzi schemes like social-security… it makes things WORSE.

It is the dividing line of our times. Now, the irony is that one “political side” (the left/democrats) have LONG championed the MOAR government worldview. The republicans have long shrieked about the opposite. But, the R hypocrites never DID anything about it. That makes them just as bad. And THAT is why the R establishment has such issues with Trump, because he’s exposed everyone on both sides of the aisle in terms of corruption and hypocrisy. Trump’s an AZZ-hat extreme, but he DID serve as a useful catalyst exposing all the corruption of both parties and their shills in the media. Of that there’s no doubt (and it explains the insane levels to which the globalist-puppets are pulling out all the banana-republic stops.

The answer is to downsize and re-implement any/everywhere possible. Ideas like: for every one new regulation, a department must eliminate, say, 5 regulations, etc., we need some type of (likely 50 year long) phase-out of the insanity of SS, etc. Dunno. But it is quite certain that we cannot keep going down the MOAR government path; it’s a doom loop. Either one sees that, or one doesn’t. but I’m always gonna shout about it. Those who disagree I will always engage in dialog. They aren’t my “enemy”, but until they figure out that MOAR government most assuredly IS the problem. I’m not going to back down from trying to persuade them

I, too, work to serve my country, my friends and fellow citizens; while simultaneously and always legally working within the system. I didn’t (when in Massachusetts) violate any fire-arm laws despite knowing their unconstitutionality, I simply worked within the “system” to change it as best I could, then I *left* that socialist/taxed to death state.

Perhaps @yotacowboy you actually ARE on the “MOAR government is good” side, I can’t tell. If not, great. But, if you are, we can raise tipples (many will likely be required) so we can try and educate the other. I promise you, there’s no animosity aforethought with me, ever. I don’t play those games. Heck, I’m still best of friends with my lefty-co-workers from 1980… Some have (finally) figured it out; alas a few are going to take a bit more persuadin’….

It’s also better in person, as trying in fora is notoriously bad wrt: S/N ratio (likely the exact reason @purr1n wanted us to cite personal examples…

 

@Bowmoreman , I'm so sorry to read about your sister. How terrible...