All the usual garbage: uncompetitive, high costs for employers, blah, blah, blah. (This comes after raising the retirement age.)
Here’s the actual sick leave situation:
Hey, it suddenly increased after 2020? Is anyone surprised? Bueller?
Anyway, doctors and clinics are a fixed resource. Forcing people to go in and see a doctor (normal wait times in Germany are two to three days) mean taking more time with the patient. That means pushing other patients back. So wait time will increase.
Second more sick people will go into work. Some of them will be infectious. More people would wind up sick than if you just let people stay home.
Sub voce this is “we don’t trust people, we think some of them are lying” plus “people really should work when only slightly ill. Suck it up sunshine.”
But the increase in sick time is clearly Covid related, presumably long Covid, so it isn’t likely there’s a sudden epidemic of malingering. And while you can’t pass on long Covid directly, it still means that other people who do have diseases they can donate to their co-workers will come in.
Governments rarely seem to think thru these second order effects and ask if they’re worth it. The City of Toronto has been forced by the Province of Ontario to shut down supervised injection sites.
Now if you’re a normal human person you’re probably thinking “oh no, people will die!”
And that’s true. But Premier Ford doesn’t give a damn about that. There is another effect, however, that he should give a damn about, because voters care, and the Conservaties do have seats in Toronto.
Average wait times in emergency wards are a bit over an hour thru the province. But they’re much higher in Toronto. As of this writing the closest emergency department to me has a wait time of a bit over five hours.
According to ER doctors overdoses can drive those times up significantly. Overdoses require priority treatment, after all. So if more drug users are overdosing (or their drug wasn’t what they thought it was, because the supply is so adulterated), then wait times will go up more.
And voters care about this. A lot. (Last time I went to an emergency department I waited over eight hours. I needed stitches, it was overnight, but I was in no danger, so I got to wait a very long ) People have in some cases died because of wait times, since it isn’t always obvious how bad something is, and while the number may not be large, the bad publicity often is.
This is something Ford and the Conservatives should care about, but it’s rarely mentioned. Bleeding hearts (which I mostly am) tend to lead with “drug users will die”, not getting that to Ford that’s probably a good thing. But “regular citizens will wait longer in the ER and some of them will die” is not something he wants. He may not personally care (I doubt he cares about anybody but himself), but he does care politically.
As for Merz, he’s the worst German leader of my lifetime, trying to run military Keynesianism and letting Germany’s industry be destroyed while he fiddles with marginalia. A few extra sick days aren’t why Germany’s losing its industry and it won’t make the least bit of difference. What is required is innovation and driving down energy prices, but that would require making peace with Russia and Merz is a warmonger.
Ruled by fools.
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Feral Finster
Sure, ordinary germans will suffer, but why should Merz care? He’ll personally be doing just fine.
This is helped by germans being the most authority-trusting, rule-following sheep in europe, a continent that makes Japan look like an anarchist punk squat by comparison.
Mark Level
Agree with Finster, 100%. Most Germans are goddamn Authority Dependent Robots, his comparison to the Japanese is apt.
It so happens I’m reading a July, 2026 Harper’s Cover Story on “OCD Nation” USA, post-Covid. The author, Andrew Kay, is a lifelong sufferer, attending a San Francisco Conference in July, 2023. Major Categories of OCD:
VIOLENT HARM OCD;
SEXUALITY OCD;
CONTAMINATION OCD;
Specific neurotic obsessive fears of “phobias of rabies and AIDs”, smaller # of victims.
A young woman who believes that her normal-looking face has a tint of premature death in it, evident to others. She “treats” this by “drinking peroxide,” until reaching a state of Suicidal Ideation and checking herself in to a hospital in Massachusetts.
The author’s case started in youth, he calls himself an “anti-Proteus,” seeing toxic male behavior of classmates created a fear he had this Mr. Hyde inside of him, private rituals to keep the Killer Inside Me (Classic Jim Thompson Noir) in the box.
Moms who fear they will kill their infants. Is this a now outmoded Darwinian behavior, in the wilderness those who regularly swung around fearing an attack from behind, mothers who checked infants obsessively less likely for an animal attack to kill them?
He notes that his fellow sufferers are not homeless, comfortable bourgeoisie, with 401-Ks, etc. And then he gets to the Mother Lode insight, our Late Capitalist Nightmare is what ramps up this self-torture, a system that cannot be Changed, Obama the Prophet, No Hope, No Change, Biden’s “Fundamentally Nothing Will Change.” OCD is Gen-Z Cohort’s 5th most common malady, Depression generally #1 chart-topper, Depressed people can only barely hang on, they will never resist.
Since the turn of the Millenium, US Suicide rates up “a breathtaking 36.5%”.
Plenty of prophets of profits selling SSRIs, other Big Pharma Miracle Cures. Oddly, Scientologist Nut Tom Cruise correct years back, Serotonin Levels are not the source of the Anxiety and Private Repetitive Rites, studies by respectable authorities shows in fact this is true. But hey, money to be made, in 1 case of every 5 the Placebo Effect could create temporary succor.
Crap like MAHA an insider scam, invest in the Snake Oil you’ll sell to the morons. Jordan Peterson on a steep decline, his attractive daughter in her 20s did an all-beef Carnivore Diet, lost weight and gained muscle mass, etc. Jordan decades older tried it, gets very sick and goes into a Coma, hospitalized for months and never the same afterwards. (Well, Character is Destiny, that smug asshole was always headed for a rough landing.)
Concisely stated, conclusion is, rejected by the MDs and quacks profiting wildly, “that the (late Neolib/NeoCon) zeitgeist was incubating this in people, that we had created a culture so profoundly conducive to it that everyone now lay at the lower frequencies of the OCD continuum.” Context for Ian’s main point.
Blackrock Merz a hereditary Nazi, like Van der Leyen and his pals, and a Globalist’s Globalist. The Sheep are to be killed off, they have no value, kill the weak, they deserve it. Klaus Schwab ousted from the WEF when he tore off his Reptiloid Mask (metaphorically), “You will eat bugs, own nothing, and be happy” as you are in the entryway to the abbatoir. An abbatoir for the less violent and toxic humans, staffed by the Top Dog Epstein Class.
Coincidentally, today the first day of the Ankara NATO Security Conference. Poor Zelensky not getting the $70 million he was shaking European taxpayers down for, there will only be a $10 million sop for him, to be thrown away on cocaine, golden toilets, and Villas for his family members far from Ukraine.
As noted on an earlier thread & now by this post, first crashing your citizens’ economic future, then killing them off with an expensive and time-consuming medical scam-bureaucracy good clean Elite fun in the short term. Not so good in the long-term for the Nightmare wished-for “Defeat of Russia.”
Back on the day when LAS & Tallifer’s NAFO brethren swarmed the site, I challenged them to list even ONE piece of Territory taken by Ukraine in the last 6 months- 1 year. I got not one response, other than crickets.
Meantime in recent months, Russia took Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka. Putin offered the Z-Man a 5 hours’ truce to return 13.5 thousand captured Ukrainian troops and cadavers, Zelensky refused, bad optics. Let their brave soldiers languish in Russian prisons, not reunite with their families, bad optics for this to happen at this time. Daddy Trump forced to meet the Green Goblin and sink another sum of Taxpayer $$$ into the drowning man “Big Israel” Failed State today or tomorrow. But it matters not, Ukraine is sinking beneath the waves. Might as well kill off the inferior Germans, they asked for it!!
“To the last Ukrainian!!” Tallifer and LAS and Merz’s dream here soon. I hope they’ll be happy at last. But they won’t; in a year or so, they’ll be chanting “Ukraine Will Rise Again”, just like the Lost Cause Confederates of Alabama and Mississipi do now.
spud
the fusion of neo-liberalism, conservatism, and libertarianism has produced fascism once again. its never worked. its roots run deep, the inevitable outcome of oligarchies.
merz thinks he is right, because he gained his wealth through theft. he worked hard for it.
this backfires every single time,
“Arbeit macht frei,” meaning “Work sets you free,” was used as a slogan at Nazi concentration camps, ironically suggesting that labor could lead to freedom, while in reality, it often led to death. The phrase has come to symbolize the cruel deception faced by prisoners forced into labor under horrific conditions.
Wikipedia escape2poland.co.uk
Meaning of “Arbeit macht frei”
The phrase “Arbeit macht frei,” which translates to “Work sets you free,” was used as a slogan at Nazi concentration camps. It suggested that through labor, prisoners could achieve freedom. However, this was a cruel irony, as the reality was that forced labor often led to death rather than liberation.
Historical Context
Origin of the Phrase
The phrase originated from an 1873 novel by Lorenz Diefenbach.
It was later adopted by the Nazi regime in the early 1930s as part of their propaganda to combat unemployment.
Use in Concentration Camps
The slogan was prominently displayed at various concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau.
It served as a psychological tool, misleading prisoners into believing that hard work could lead to their freedom, while in truth, it often resulted in exhaustion and death.
Symbolism and Impact
The phrase has become a powerful symbol of the deception faced by concentration camp prisoners. It highlights the stark contrast between the promise of freedom through work and the grim reality of their situation. The slogan remains a poignant reminder of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust.
escape2poland.co.uk Wikipedia
Deceptive slogans in totalitarian regimes serve to manipulate public perception and control narratives, often rewriting history to justify authority and suppress dissent. This propaganda undermines trust and can lead to widespread acceptance of false realities, enabling the regime to maintain power.
hi-storylessons.eu
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https://buddyhell.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/from-hayek-to-rand-a-short-stroll-through-neoliberal-thinking/
“He ignores the methods by which the British idea of freedom was exported throughout the world: by the barrel of a gun. The Road to Serfdom was published in 1944. Hayek, an Austrian economist had taken a position at the London School of Economics.
In Vienna he had been influenced by Ludwig von Mises, the founder of the Austrian School of Economics whose name has gone on to grace the title of a US right wing libertarian think tank. Interstingly enough for a self-confessed ‘liberal’, von Mises gave his support to Englebert Dollfuss’s Austrofascist regime. Von Mises served as economic advisor to Dollfuss until the latter was assassinated by the Nazis. The Jewish von Mises would have found it difficult to live under a Nazi regime because of its racial purity laws.
The von Mises Institute ‘scholar’, Lew Rockwell has a selective take on fascism here.
He completely rewrites history by airbrushing out von Mises involvement in Dollfuss’s regime. Indeed apologists for von Mises will brush aside any suggestion of his collaboration with the “it was a lesser evil [than communism]” defence. We can see the start of a pattern here: those who would describe themselves specifically as classical liberals would go on to offer their support for authoritarian regimes. Hayek and Friedman both lent their support to Pinochet’s Chile – Hayek visited there in 1984.
The libertarian rhetoric obscures the reactionary and authoritarian tendencies that are present within their strain of classical liberalism. Von Mises left Austria for the United States and together with Hayek and Friedman they founded the Société du Mont-Pèlerin, which became a sort of anti-Kenynesian think-tank; a hothouse for neoliberal thinkers. You can read their Statement of Aims here.”
————-
Bill Clinton has referenced Friedrich Hayek’s ideas, particularly emphasizing that many political and economic decisions are made by people who lack a true understanding of the complexities involved. This reflects Clinton’s acknowledgment of the limitations of centralized planning in economics.
Cato Institute gregmankiw.blogspot.com
Bill Clinton’s Reference to Friedrich Hayek
Acknowledgment of Economic Complexity
Bill Clinton has drawn on Friedrich Hayek’s ideas to highlight the challenges of economic decision-making. He emphasizes that many political and economic decisions are often made by individuals who do not fully grasp the complexities involved. This perspective aligns with Hayek’s critique of centralized planning in economics.
Friedrich Hayek: “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.”
Bill Clinton: “Do you know how many political and economic decisions are made in this world by people who don’t know what in the living daylights they are talking about?”
Clinton’s references to Hayek suggest a belief in the limitations of government intervention in the economy. He acknowledges that effective economic solutions require a deep understanding of market dynamics and the incentives that drive human behavior. This reflects a broader acceptance of Hayek’s views on the importance of decentralized knowledge in economic systems.
Cato Institute gregmankiw.blogspot.com
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Steve Keen has criticized austerity policies, including those associated with Bill Clinton’s administration in the 1990s, arguing that such measures can harm economic growth and increase inequality.
Wikipedia Acast
Steve Keen’s Critique of Austerity Policies
Overview of Austerity Policies
Steve Keen has been a vocal critic of austerity measures, particularly those implemented during the 1990s under Bill Clinton’s administration. Austerity refers to policies aimed at reducing government deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both.
Economic Impact of Austerity
Keen argues that austerity can have detrimental effects on economic growth and exacerbate inequality. Key points include:
Harm to Economic Growth: Austerity measures often lead to reduced public spending, which can slow down economic activity and recovery.
Increased Inequality: Cuts to social services disproportionately affect lower-income individuals, widening the gap between the wealthy and the poor.
During the 1990s, the Clinton administration focused on reducing the federal deficit, which Keen believes contributed to long-term economic challenges. He suggests that these austerity measures were shortsighted and did not consider the broader implications for economic stability and social equity.
Keen’s critique highlights the potential negative consequences of austerity policies, advocating for a more balanced approach that considers both fiscal responsibility and the welfare of the population.
Wikipedia Acast
Austerity policies during Bill Clinton’s administration contributed to a significant reduction in the federal budget deficit and helped create a budget surplus from 1998 to 2001. However, critics argue that these policies, along with deregulation, may have set the stage for future economic instability.
Wikipedia americanprogress.org
Steve Keen argues that mainstream economic theories underestimate the destabilizing role of private debt and overestimate the effectiveness of austerity, while post-Keynesian and Minsky-inspired views emphasize endogenous money creation and the risks of excessive private credit driving instability.
bondeconomics.com WordPress
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The Austrian school of economics is often criticized for its reliance on methodological individualism and praxeology, which some consider to be less rigorous than empirical methods used in mainstream economics. Critics argue that its theories can lack predictive power and empirical validation, leading to the perception of it as “crank science” by some in the academic community.
Wikipedia inomics.com
Overview of the Austrian School of Economics
The Austrian school of economics is a distinct school of thought that emphasizes methodological individualism and the concept of praxeology. This approach focuses on the motivations and actions of individuals as the primary drivers of economic phenomena. However, it has faced significant criticism.
Criticisms of the Austrian School
Methodological Concerns
Reliance on Individualism: Critics argue that the Austrian school’s strict adherence to individualism may overlook broader social and economic dynamics.
Lack of Empirical Methods: The Austrian school is often criticized for its minimal use of empirical data and statistical analysis, which are central to mainstream economics. This reliance on theoretical constructs can lead to a perception of the school as less rigorous.
Perception in Academia
Predictive Power: The theories proposed by Austrian economists are sometimes viewed as lacking predictive power. Critics contend that without empirical validation, these theories may not hold up in real-world applications.
Labeling as “Crank Science”: Due to the above factors, some academics label Austrian economics as “crank science,” suggesting that its methodologies and conclusions are not taken seriously within the broader economic community.
While the Austrian school has made notable contributions to economic thought, its methodologies and theoretical frameworks have led to significant criticism, particularly regarding their empirical validity and predictive capabilities. This has resulted in a contentious position within the field of economics.
Wikipedia inomics.com
Critics argue the Austrian school’s rejection of key neoclassical tools like utility functions and indifference analysis limits its analytical rigor, while its reliance on thought experiments over empirical data weakens its ability to test or validate theories.
George Mason University inomics.com
The Austrian school of economics emphasizes individual decision-making and subjective value, contrasting with mainstream theories that often rely on mathematical models and data-driven methods. Austrian economists advocate for minimal government intervention, believing that economies are dynamic and shaped by individual choices rather than predictable systems.
ebsco.com inomics.com
The foundational principles of praxeology in the Austrian school of economics include the study of human action based on the idea that individuals act with intention and logical reasoning. It emphasizes that economic theory should derive from basic axioms of human action rather than from statistical analysis.
coevera.com Wikipedia
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Neo-liberals often emphasize the idea that work is essential for individual freedom and economic success, reflecting a belief in the value of personal responsibility and entrepreneurial spirit. This concept can be linked to the phrase “Arbeit macht frei,” which historically has a darker connotation in the context of forced labor in Nazi concentration camps.
Wikipedia
Neo-liberals often emphasize the idea that work is essential for individual freedom and economic success, reflecting a belief in the value of personal responsibility and entrepreneurial spirit. This concept can be linked to the phrase “Arbeit macht frei,” which historically has a darker connotation in the context of forced labor in Nazi concentration camps.
Wikipedia
Understanding the Phrase “Arbeit macht frei”
Historical Context
The phrase “Arbeit macht frei,” which translates to “Work makes [one] free,” has a complex history. Originally, it was used in various contexts to suggest that work leads to freedom and virtue. However, its most notorious use was by the Nazis, who displayed it at the entrances of concentration camps, including Auschwitz. Here, it took on a grim meaning, implying that prisoners could only achieve a form of freedom through forced labor, often leading to death.
Neo-liberal Perspective
Neo-liberals emphasize the importance of work as a pathway to individual freedom and economic success. They advocate for personal responsibility and the entrepreneurial spirit, suggesting that hard work can lead to personal and societal advancement. This belief aligns with the idea that work is essential for achieving one’s goals and improving one’s circumstances.
Comparison of Concepts
Concept Neo-liberal View Historical Use of “Arbeit macht frei”
Work and Freedom Work is a means to personal freedom and success. Implies freedom through forced labor, often leading to death.
Personal Responsibility Emphasizes individual effort and initiative. Used to manipulate and control prisoners.
Economic Success Belief in work as a driver of economic growth. Represents a false promise in a horrific context.
While neo-liberals advocate for the positive aspects of work, the historical use of “Arbeit macht frei” serves as a reminder of the darker implications of this phrase when misappropriated in oppressive contexts.
Wikipedia
Neoliberal beliefs emphasize economic and political freedom, promoting free markets and individual responsibility, which can lead to increased economic growth but may also result in social inequalities and a lack of support for workers’ rights. This ideology often prioritizes deregulation and privatization, potentially undermining collective bargaining and worker protections.
rooseveltinstitute.org Wikipedia
The phrase ‘Arbeit macht frei’ translates to “Work sets you free” and has historically been associated with forced labor in Nazi concentration camps, where it ironically mocked the prisoners’ suffering. In modern contexts, it can be seen as a critique of neo-liberal ideologies that emphasize work as a means to personal freedom and success, often overlooking the exploitative conditions that can accompany such labor.
Wikipedia museum-zwangsarbeit.de
The phrase “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work sets you free”) originated from an 1873 novel by Lorenz Diefenbach and was later popularized in early 20th-century Germany as a slogan addressing unemployment. It was adopted by the Nazis and displayed above the entrances of concentration camps like Auschwitz, where forced labor under horrific conditions mocked the idea of liberation through work.
escape2poland.co.uk Wikipedia
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the tag team of thatcher/carter/reagan/clinton/blair/schroder/rogernomics, and other assorted cranks and charlatans, have killed tens of millions of innocent people. how many more will die to try to achieve economic nirvana, based on degradation?
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What is the deal with the beyond-the-pale, inappropriate capitalization? It’s atrocious grammar. Egregious violations. I have to stop reading if not for the nonsensical content of the commentary certainly for the abuse of rules of grammar from someone who should allegedly know better.
I know I’m not the only one, but I am the only one brave enough to call it out. It reminds me of Trump’s social media posts. Maybe you are the same person who authors that garbage. It’s the Russians, hence their lack of understanding in regard to proper grammar and it would explain the flurry of posts in the early, early morning hours just after midnight. 2am EST here in America is 9am in Russia. My guess is the Russian authors start writing and publishing Trump’s social media posts just as they log on at 6am Russian time or 11pm EST in America.
Please, have some mercy, enough with the unwarranted capitalizing.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. L n S
Jefferson Hamilton
Lots of people with minor illnesses will go to work and spread them there, but people will more serious sickness will, thanks to the “in person” rule, congregate in (presumably, I’ve never been to a German doctor) tiny, poorly ventilated waiting rooms. Surely nothing bad will come of that.
Purple Library Guy
I feel the mistrust is the point. Right wingers want what used to be society to become a war of each against all. Because in those conditions, the ones with the firepower (that is, money) will take the spoils.
cc
Related to the comments from Feral Finster and Mark Level:
If Germans are the most authority-trusting, rule-following sheep in Europe, are Canadians their counterparts in North America? In fact, are Canadians probably not the most authority-trusting, rule-following sheep in the entire Western Hemisphere?
Apparently in today’s news, Carney is pouring still yet more hundreds of millions of Canadian taxpayer dollars into the Empire’s proxy war using Ukraine, with munitions specifically highlighted, in order to get yet more Ukrainian (cannon fodder) and Russians killed.
Ukraine and Latvia are nowhere near Canada, but are right on Russia’s border. We are the aggressors and warmongers, but our brainwashed and indoctrinated think the opposite. Canada helped overthrow the elected government in 2014 (allowing the use of the Canadian embassy by the coup insurgents.) We’ve had our military troops in Latvia – just a few hundred kilometers from Moscow and St. Petersburg – for 9 years now, with announced plans to stay at least another 3 years.
I tried to search Google News for today’s numbers, and apparently it’s a whopping $900 million this time – going toward killing and destruction on the other side of the world from Canada, instead of being invested in Canadian infrastructure, healthcare, education, etc. How much more again in a few months?
https://www.google.com/search?q=carney+ukraine+ammunition&tbm=nws&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:d
Using that search, what I found rather strange is that every single one of 16 of the links returned by Google News was a Ukrainian outlet, with zero articles from any Canadian news outlets at all.
Only one result (united24media.com) was not obviously Ukrainian, but looking it up, Google AI showed “UNITED24 is the official, government-run fundraising platform of Ukraine. Launched by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in May 2022, it channels global donations into three main areas: Defense and Demining, Medical Aid, and Rebuilding”
Carney serves the same Empire as Merz. One from BlackRock, the other from Goldman Sachs and Brookfield. We are ruled by servants of the Empire. Work more, even if sick, so your tax dollars can go toward the Empire’s wars.
different clue
I am not a EuroCultures expert. It may be that Germans are the most obedience-oriented people in Europe. But it may also be that Merz is not quite sure of that his own self, so he ( and his Merz-class advisers and supporters) want to combine running-a-test and re-teaching obedience in one policy. ( Economic competitiveness is not the goal. It is just the cover and the excuse. The goal is sadism and control). Running a test on German workers to see if they will take it and running a refresher course in obedience to make them take it and like it.
Will they take it?
Decades ago I read in Acres USA a possibly apocryphal story offered by the Publisher-Editor Charles Walters Jr. to illustrate the belief in authority above common sense self-knowledge and personal experience.
In occupied Norway, a Germanazi Overseer was overseeing a bunch of Norwegian peasants doing various labor projects. One of the peasants went missing for three days and then returned to work. The Overseer asked: ” Where were you?” The peasant said ” I was sick”. The Overseer asked: ” Are you a doctor?” The peasant said: “No.” The Overseer then said: ” Then how do you know you were sick?”
different clue
Meanwhile, Americans have long had their own Obedience Training Zone . . . ” Sexual Scandal”.
Platner of Maine has again been “sex-scandaled”. Videos about it are showing up all over. They can be found without my help.
The sadly predictable thing is how all the Democucks, Social Democucks and Democratic Socialisticucks are all calling for Platner to drop out. Sanders has called for Platner to drop out. And, in the one video I will link to, Mamdani has called for Platner to drop out. What a Democratic Socialisticuck.
“Mamdani says Platner should ‘drop out’ of Maine race after sexual assault allegation”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p60auy33mkw
Here’s what I wish Platner would do. And if , by the Grace of Fate, Chance and Random Luck, there are any Platner contacts and/or operatives reading this comment, and you think this is of any benefit to Platner himself; please feel free to send it to him.
Anyway, Platner should deny it all. Platner should reFUSE to drop out or off the ticket.
Platner should dare his enemies to charge him and put him on trial for this. Platner should promise that IF he is tried AND convicted while in office, he will resign from the Senate. If it is true, it is as bad as it sounds, and Platner should feel the full wrath of every level of punishment. But meanshile, MY watchword is: No compromise with Toxic Feminism or Happy Clappy Sex-Scandal Cucks.
If Platner drops out, I promise that the DemParty will re-install that miserable creature and Schumer’s pet Mills to the ticket and the ballot.
mago
Elide, elite delete. The oppressor Epstein war monger class is not elite even though in positions of power. It pays to be born on third base. You can be smug and dumb and the rest takes care of itself. You didn’t exit from a golden womb? Tough shit, sucker. Eat some and die.
Yeah, well, all you golden boys and girls with dental floss between your ears, your time is gonna come. In the meantime suffer all you little ones.
Don’t know how it ever to this, but here it is. The end of the civilized world.
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Platner needs to stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone. The problem with Mangione’s strategy is, he didn’t shoot the United Healthcare CEO with a bare chest and a beaver hat waving an Confederate flag and carrying an insurrectionist poster. Had Mangione used THAT strategy he would be free today to rape little kids if that was his desire.
Mark Level
spud correct, great detailed data as always, Hayek and von Mieses beyond Fascist-Adjacent, are leaders in the field. Austria had a really great free school for its youth, which had a Libertarian focus, now don’t get me wrong, they are Austrian so it wasn’t whole-scale Waldorf, follow your Bliss, study what interests you, but it was good. Hayek on gaining political power made sure that was liquidated ASAP, not just closed but leveled to the ground. That whole “Nazism is a little bit bad, but better than Russkie Bolshevism” a Ruling Class Obsession always centrally pushed. Chuck Toad on Beat the Press in 2022 had at least the minimum integrity to admit, “Yeah, the post-Maidan Ukraine government is full of N@zis, which is pretty bad, but Russianism is worse.” And mago calls it correctly, the Idiocracy is made up of people born on 3rd base, they are for the most part anything but smart or capable. But that has an upside, the Fascist Eternity tends to crash as the waves hit rocks of reality on the beach.
Jeff Ham makes a good, and relevant, point this time, but yes, the spreading of Disease and Cultivation of Excess Deaths is exactly what Merz desires, so within his own purview, and set of goals, Merz somewhat “smart.” Short-term only though, his dream of a resurrected 4th Reich with EUrope’s largest Military is qiboshed by his homicidal mania. And Russia will not be invaded, subsumed, broken up and starved, Sor-eee!
cc, yes, hits the nail on the head. Though the Canadians fought against Nazism 1939-45, there was a 5th column in Canada that created the Vatican-linked ratlines that filled it with Nazi Scum like Yaroslav Hunka, LAS’s “Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Love”– well, not Love really, more like Murder, Rape, Torture. Chrystia Freeland Nazi Kitsch, Waffen SS troops, volunteers were the “real victims” in WW II, fuck those stupid Jews they deserved to be slaughtered, to ramp up a future Zionist Project against actual Brown People in Palestine. (Not my ideology, but Chrystia’s, also LAS’s and Tallifer’s. Tallifer once did a post on here asking, Why can’t we kill more Russians, and why aren’t we more supportive of the ZE, Zio-Entity? But no skin in the game, it’s all just posturing.) Staying with cc, yes, that’s why these Monsters think Proxy Wars are so great– you steal from and immiserate your own middle and lower classes to destroy a successful civilization (the real Crime, caring for one’s own domestic populace) 1,000s of miles away, you just provide the Capital, others are the Blood Sacrifice, “to the last Ukrainian!!”
Due Dissidence did some great coverage of the Ankara NATO Insecurity Conference Day 1 yesterday, but I think Colonel Daniel Davis was the one who covered the Speech by the Latvian Cue-Ball Head Prime Minister/ President speaking. Shining white head hairless as a baby’s bottom, looked like a Bond Villain from Central Casting, “We have killed so many, I am so proud!!” Close-captioning didn’t like his accent, “Latafian”, a country smaller than Alameda County, California.
DD covered Daddy Drumpf shitting all over NATO, whining that those Big Meanies denied him Greenland!! Denmark’s not doing anything for them (a fair enough point), We Need It, there are Chinese and Russian Ships harvesting the economic booty in the far North of “Our” Hemisphere, not fair!!!!!! Why doesn’t Carney grow a pair if he’s really semi-Independent of his Giant Southern Neighbor, and say it should be Canada’s? Geographically it’s far closer to Canada than U.S.
Oh, no Navy that could take on USA, nor Air Force either, got it!! At least Alberta not doing a CanExit yet.
Diff Clue, brilliant observations, thank you. DD covered this as well; Platner a pretty good fighter when he was killing brown people, or drunk enough, or getting a N@zi tattoo, but not when it comes to keeping his campaign alive, the despised Susan Collins polling under 40% in Maine, but he’s “doing some reflection”, which means pussy-hatting out of the Race. They bought up a serving R. scumbag, assaulted and raped a girlfriend while cheating on his wife, while blackmailing an ex-gf with nude pics at the same time, abusive to the wife as well. But that is perfectly acceptable in the GOP, not just acceptable but praiseworthy. Dude’s in office 6 years after all the dirt shared. Daddy “grabbed ’em by the pussy”, Matt Schlapp, top GOP Adviser, grabs young men by their junk. (He didn’t blame alcoholism a la Gavin Newsom either, they had some Catholic Priests do a full-scale Exorcism of his house, he and Mercedes, the wife, know that Evil always from Satan lurking in a corner.)
Epstein Class far from exclusively R, how many women did Bill Clinton molest or outright rape? Donald’s BFF and Harvard’s best Epstein himself. Biden (G)raped Tara Reade, when this came out in March, 2020, the Dimmie Overlords including nearly every woman declared “Woke is Dead, #MeToo we will flush down the Crapper”, a little Rape is the prerogative of the Powerful!! And Joe Will (not) be “the Next FDR,” amrite?
A bunch of Actual Lefties, Women mainly, came out of the woodwork to say Platner should not surrender, killing another 600,000 Palestinians is not worth the words of one woman who has changed her story at least once. Jeanine Younis, a Left/Right hybrid Libertarian, fired from a prestigious Women’s Rights job for opposing the Gaza Genocide, then becomes a Covid Forced Jab skeptic, hired by a Right-Wing R-adjacent group, then purged for . . . not supporting the Gaza Genocide. Gen-X Girl the same on Twitter, big following.
Probably doesn’t matter, if you are pro-Zionist and pro-Genocide, you could organize a giant Gang-Bang Rape Festival on 5th Avenue (to echo LAS in the very rare clever post) and it’d be hunky-dory, filmed for posterity. To LAS’s point, yes, gesturing MAGA at that point would’ve created a Left-Right Populist Horseshoe, he would’ve been even more popular than he remains. Yet he’s still only one voice crying out in the Wilderness.
Diff Clue joins Younis and Gen-X Girl, is it enough? Not if Platner is at heart a coward and equivocator. Which he evidently is. And will the Dimmies allow another seemingly actually anti-Genocide Dimmie in to oppose “I killed Roe” Collins? We all know the No answer to that. Evil wins again, Merz is cackling somewhere like a Bond villain.
Rinse, Repeat. Late Stage Capitalist Collapse, Yay!! Spectacular, Guy DeBord Spectacular.
Marc
Wow, lots of scholars of German people in the comments. Presumably non of you ever visited Germany. *lol*
Actual German here:
-I’ve once (1) seen a badly ventilated waiting room at a German doctor. Hence I’ve changed doctors immediately and last I checked that doc is out of business now.
-Guys, Nazi Germany is 80 years in the past! Since then we got thoroughly indoctrinated, or lets better call it reeducated by the Allied powers (thats a good thing!). Lets not forget, even the kids who were raised in Nazi Germany are dying away.
Ian wrote:
“As for Merz, he’s the worst German leader of my lifetime, trying to run military Keynesianism and letting Germany’s industry be destroyed while he fiddles with marginalia. A few extra sick days aren’t why Germany’s losing its industry and it won’t make the least bit of difference. ”
True.
“Ruled by fools.”
Thats unfortunately true, as well.
“What is required is innovation and driving down energy prices, but that would require making peace with Russia and Merz is a warmonger.”
Making peace with Russia and buying their oil and gas again would put us in more or less the same situation like before the Ukraine war. We tried keeping Russia close and do business, but US “interests” killed that policy. In my view (might be wrong) we have to work on emancipating ourself from the US and Russia. I hate to say it, but getting friendlier with China seems like the much better option in the long run.
Not with Merz obviously, he is too stupid to shut his mouth when its appropriate.
You know the word “fremdschämen”? Thats what I often feel when reading about his newest stunts.
Our current economics minister Reiche is deep in gas company pockets (she was a gas company manager right bevor joining the government), so she doesn’t help either.
btw, yesterday (overcast, raining the whole day) electricity generation was 79% from regenerative sources (mostly wind energy). Today (sunny, light breeze) its 82%. 😉
spud
Marc:
slavery was beaten back well over a century ago in the U.S.A, only to see it come roaring back starting on 1993, till its out in the open today for all to see.
so why do you think the nazi punks running germany today, are any different then the slavers running the U.S.A. for the last 30 plus years?
people like that are in every country, just below the surface, waiting for their chance.
Merz is in, even if he loses, you will have a really tough time reversing his path he sent you down.
you have the same problem america, well any western country has,
“We must name our enemies this Fourth of July. They are the fascists who have seized power. And they are those who, selling us the con of neoliberalism, put them there.”
you had gerhard S. and all that followed him, and here you are.
different clue
@Mark Level,
Don’t start expecting too much of me now. Because I am certain to disappoint you at some future point, not on recreational purpose but simply through the random course of views and events.
There are so many people to be known, more than one can know. I don’t even know who Younis and Gen-X Girl are. I suppose I could say . . . that’s only fair, because they don’t even know who I am either. No one can know everyone, and no one does.
The Platner thing is leaving me sad and disappointed. Because if Platner was always as bad is coming to be suspected now, and some people suspected it right from the start, then I am still deprived of info-input from those “we suspected it right from the start” sources. Maybe people in general should find and follow those right-from-the-start sources harder and more thoroughly and think about why the Louder Voices are so often wrong wrong wrong. Whose loudest and proudest support did Platner have? And does this point to deeper truths about those loudest and proudest peoples’ taste in bright shiny squirrel objects?
Anyway, based on pure intuition, I think the MaineDems will bring back Governor Mills and run her after all. It would be too perfect. And if I were a Maniac living in Maine, I would vote for Mills as my best hope for deleting Collins. But if Mills won, I would be still be bitter.
Feral Finster
@cc:
“Related to the comments from Feral Finster and Mark Level:
If Germans are the most authority-trusting, rule-following sheep in Europe, are Canadians their counterparts in North America? In fact, are Canadians probably not the most authority-trusting, rule-following sheep in the entire Western Hemisphere?”
Yes.
Purple Library Guy
Canadians are certainly more “rule-following” than Americans. But Americans are more “power-worshiping” than Canadians. Americans are willing to sit still for cops doing almost ANYTHING to them, where Canadians would be “Excuse me? That cop wasn’t following the rules!”
Jan Wiklund
There is a debate war in Europe about what are the causes of this shit. One faction blames increasing incompetence among the elites, for example https://aurelien2022.substack.com/ and https://chrisdillow.substack.com/ (particularly the post https://chrisdillow.substack.com/p/unbusinesslike-government). Another think they are just lackeys of extractive billionaires, for example https://worldlinesletter.substack.com/p/incompetent-or-imperial-rethinking.
For my part, I prefer both. Even if they are lackeys of extractive capitalists they should know that increasing extractivism/rentierism is a sure sign of an economy’s decay. Meaning decreasing power and increasing poverty generally, not only among the poor.