Philosophy, politics, and religion from behind the bar.

Is the current GOP the NAZI party of our time? How would we know before it's too late? Most of Germany didn't know in the 1930's. Or rationalized what was happening around them. Or blinded themselves to it. "These NAZI's have some rough rhetoric, but look at the good they're doing. The nasty parts? I don't think they really mean it. They'll distance themselves from the uglier parts of their supporters. Don't believe the rumors, the nay-sayers, the negative people. We're making progress! We're bringing glory back to the Homeland!" Really. How would we know? Once it becomes our new "normal", how would we know what we have become? A seed planted by William F. Buckley and Barry Goldwater, sprouted as Ronald Reagan, and coming to flower today. We never had a chance.

What is the value of our fossil fuel subsidies? Adding in all that we allow them to take. All we allow them to use. All we let them to get away with? What is the value of a stream? A harbor? The Gulf of Mexico? An ocean? The air? The climate? I would think we would start somewhere around one hundred trillion dollars, just start , conservatively. Just to make a few billion for a very few people, and give us the illusion that it's progress. And by what right? Commerce. Commerce trumping everything else. Tax breaks and government contracts? They're not even a speck on the tip of the pile. This is robbery on an unprecedented level. And it's all "legal", when we also subsidized their rights to write the laws. Ultimately, we have given the oil, gas, and coal industries our future, and how we are going to live it. Imagine the value of that.

The Mafia are/were amateurs. Cheap street punks. We got to watch how it's done by the professionals yesterday. Donald Trump was unpolitic, undiplomatic, and his usual shoot-from-the-ass-before-thinking self when he took on the drug industry. Was he wrong? In strategy, style, and within the dictates of his own party, yes. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe part of the plan. Probably not. Just a serendipitous patsy falling into line. But the response was pure "Mega-"Cosa Nostra. The industry stock as a group, in unison, in moments, fell precipitously. Probably over one hundred BILLION dollars in stock value disappeared in the blink of an eye. Sell orders went out to all the brokerage houses, and the stock fell that much, that quickly, BUT NO MORE.... Not only did the Pharma industry send a message, a threat, a million times more powerful than any fish wrapped in newspaper, but they (and their "soldiers" on Wall Street) got to raid every retirement account i...

I'm going to say this once. You can reply, if you want. Here, or in person. But I'm not going to engage in the argument. I may not even read the responses here. (Not sure.) I know where you stand, almost entirely, and as much as you will deny it, I understand your argument. I just reject it. Entirely. I'm going to piss off a lot of friends. Even close ones. But so be it. Here goes. I voted for Jill Stein. I did not affect the results by doing so. The math proves us out on that. I got the most vicious attacks and vitriol from the Hillary camp for this. Mostly, pro-Bernie people that switched their allegiance for perceived pragmatic purposes. They blame us. Here's where it gets ugly. I'm not angry for your choice. But I do switch the blame to you. Huh??!!!! It is our contention (the %10 of Bernie people that refused to go along) that Hillary was not and never was an acceptable candidate. Worse, that the people that switched to her were too forgiving of...

Okay. We've shuffled the cards tonight. It's a whole different card game.  Here's how it should all go down. Sunday's debate should be delayed for a few days to work out the details. It should be the three remaining realistic candidates, Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein, and Gary Johnson. None of this one hour bullshit. Take 5 hours, six, ten, whatever it takes. No holds barred. They stand up there and answer questions until ALL parties are satisfied that they have all the answers they need. The candidates, the moderators, the audience, and the American public at large. Fact checking done throughout in real time. (Pause the fucking thing until we're happy that all the bullshit has been weeded out.) I don't care if the town drunk from bum-fuck Arkansas has a problem. Let him ask. Get it all out. Then, we do it again. Four or five times in the next month. Meantime, let the GOP have their own series of debates to sort out who they REALLY want to embarrass them...

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Got a pro-Hillary thing in the mail today that listed all the horrible things Trump has been saying about women. No doubt, they're atrocious. They sound very much like the derogatory things Hillary supporters have been saying to us that supported Bernie, and now support Stein. Meet the new boss...

Again. The stupidity of people. Who the fuck did you think you endorsed? And what the fuck did you think he would do? He's your guy. Choke on him. JUST IN: Days After Endorsement, Police Union Turns Against Donald Trump Although the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed the Republican candidate, Donald… bipartisanreport.com | By Sarah MacManus

Bye the way. This mess with cop shootings has a lot of blame to go around. But pretty near the top of the list has to be the NRA (guns, this time, not restaurants, though VERY broadly speaking, I suspect they're not clean either.) In our gun culture, everybody is armed. Every sudden move looks like reaching for a gun. Every unknown object looks like a gun. And every right-wing billy-bob thinks they can support the thin blue line and "gun rights" at the same time. If there's anyone to sue for the damage to communities and lives that has the money to pay the fine, look no further than the gun lobby.

No one would do one, so I did. Took 5 minutes... ATTENTION , KISS ARMY! http://thefifthfloorrestaurant.com/ The Fifth Floor Restaurant, the closest full service restaurant to the Covelli Center, still has reservations available for dinner before the KISS concert tomorrow night! Come see us after the show as well. We're fully booked for the pre-show dinner before Lionel Ritchie's show Saturday, but will offer food and drinks after the show. Just a two minute walk from the venue, (Bar is open.) The most beautiful and unique room in the Mahoning Valley featuring a full bar and terrific wine and beer list (we're featuring Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA, and Great Lakes Brewery's Monster IPA both on tap). Feature cocktail- Woodford Reserve Manhattans (with Carpano Antiqua sweet vermouth) and Old Fashions for 9$. Call us at 330-744-9556 for reservations, or just stop by after the show. Top of the Commerce Building. Downtown Youngstown. We look forward to seei...

There is no bigger piece of lying horseshit sold as philosophy in the world. This makes so much sense, if you don't think about it. At all. This is one of the main problems in the world today, that people think this has any bearing on reality. This is the shit being sold to us as "moral food". This is wrong on every objective level. It's blessing the comfortable and blaming the downtrodden. It ignores history, genetics, geography, cosmology, politics, war, economics, and EVERYTHING. Neuro-science itself isn't even sure how, or even IF, we make "choices". We're a product of our time and place, and all that went before us. How or why we make choices is entirely dependent on things we have no control over. While you THINK you're making choices on your own, you're wrong. And, not only are you wrong, but you're having to react to "choices" made by billions of people around you every second who are wrong as well. You are no...

Just a short list of the things the United States is currently leading the world in: Credulity, obesity, polluting, boasting, denial, greed, theft, medication, murder. Prisoners, and the slave labor that goes with it. If you think of any more, let me know. We'll add them to the list.

So, Vin Scully says that if you give free stuff to poor people, you will run out of food, while commenting on a Major League Baseball game, in a stadium costing hundreds of millions of dollars, built from taxes on poor people to give millionaires a place to play a game to make billions of dollars for billionaires. John Oliver tears a new one to sports stadiums: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcwJt4bcnXs Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Stadiums (HBO)

First, stop believing bullshit fairy tales. If you buy the stories in your "holy" book, (and they all derive from the Old Testament, and that evil monster in it), you can be convinced to believe ANYTHING, and do anything you're told because of those beliefs. Second, people get rich on having others believe that bullshit. There's your capitalism. (In this particular case, they also sell a hell of a lot of weaponry...) Third, nationalism teaches that you have righteousness on your side and DESERVE to win the argument by any means necessary, almost always with your god on your side. Your "tribe" is better than their "tribe" and that means your god and your traditions must be protected and advanced, foisted, on others. And that their resources are put to better use for your wants and needs. And lastly, but most importantly, we all feel a bit crowded. So, let's expand our land into those people's lands. That will increase our mar...

                 A Few Thoughts on President Obama's Visit to Hiroshima and the Rise of Trump    There are four mindsets, or attributes of humans, currently, that are holding us back and will ultimately wipe us out, or at best, make us live lives unworthy of existence as we know it now. If we cannot rise above these conditions (and I'm fairly sure it's already too late), we run the risk of making the planet unlivable. They are all interconnected, and must all be eradicated, since each one will ultimately give rise to the others.    The real kick in the crotch?    We're not ready to even consider getting rid of them. And it's impossible to accomplish in the time frame we have left. 1. Overpopulation 2. Religion/credulity/ignorance 3. Capitalism/greed/over-consumption 4. Nationalism/patriotism/borders   Four (relatively) simple things we must overcome or cease to exist. ...

All things considered, I almost gave Hillary a pass, until the blinders came off during the Bill Clinton interview on Late Night w/ Stephen Colbert. And we then knew, with no doubt, that the Clinton Foundation and CGI were nothing more than a money making machine that sold PR to horrible actors on the world stage. If you're Nestle', or the royal family of Saudi Arabia, or a foreign dictator, or a multi-national corporate thief and/or polluter, just hand over a huge "donation" t o the Clinton "charities" and they will tell everyone what good work you do. She is not the lesser of two evils. She's in a dead heat. And if she was, I would rather vote for the greater evil and let our country deal with the disaster we asked for and deserved. Bernie's campaign is likely toast by now. That being said, so are we. http://www.salon.com/…/bill_clintons_odious_presidency_tho…/

Here's how the Presidential race is going to go down. Mark my words. Watch this space: http://wildassguesses.blogspot.com/2016/02/in-wake-of-new-hampshire.html

Paul Hayne 10 hrs · Just a question but can someone give me an example of murderous criminal obeying a gun law? Like Comment Share Matt Palmer likes this. Comments Alex McDowell All of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the rest of the "civilized" world. Like · Reply · 9 hrs Hide 15 Replies Paul Hayne How about Paris? Like · Reply · 9 hrs Alex McDowell How about Paris? Fewer gun deaths by far than in the US, regardless of the recent attacks. Fewer gun deaths in a decade than most American cities half that size in a week. Like · Reply · 9 hrs Paul Hayne Like I said give me an example of a criminal obeying the gun laws in place. It is not about the gun it is about the culture. Like · Reply · 9 hrs Alex McDowell Here we have a culture that glorifies and fetishizes guns. Not for our freedoms to own ...