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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 19, 2018 - 08:52am PT
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The Audacity of Saying “Shitholes”
by Jim Good/Taki Magazine
Right at the moment when I was ready to flush all hope down the toilet, along comes Donald Trump with a comment about shitholes.
At a White House meeting on Thursday with a handful of congressional reps who are trying to push an immigration bill that would let the Dreamers stay in exchange for axing the Diversity Lottery, an unnamed source claims that Trump uttered the following words:
Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They’re shithole countries.…We should have more people from Norway.
Trump denies saying “shitholes” but admits to using “harsh” language in describing such countries during the meeting. The congressional reps who attended the meeting give wildly different accounts of whether or not he said “shitholes.” In this case, I would rather he lied about not saying it than having him not say it at all. It’s simply too Trumpian for him not to claim as his own.
Lindsey Graham, that suspiciously swishy Republican Trump-hater from South Carolina, says that Trump said “shitholes” and publicly condemned him for it. On Friday he solemnly declared that “America is an idea, not defined by its people but by its ideals.” On Friday Graham neglected to mention that in 2013, he was filmed saying “The people coming across the southern border live in hellholes.”
“Prediction: Not a single loudmouthed virtue-signaler who’s publicly wetting themselves about Trump’s alleged comments will ever move to Haiti or Somalia.” (Although Ted Kennedy didn’t use the word “shitholes” while he was pushing the 1965 Immigration Act, he did imply that large swaths of the Third World were shitholes when he promised that the bill “will not inundate America with immigrants from…the most populated and deprived nations of Africa and Asia.”)
In keeping with the scientifically verifiable fact that everything that is said against Trump is far more hyperbolic than anything he’s ever said, his alleged comments caused the predictably retaliatory shitstorm, with CNN in particular vying to get into the Guinness Book for most times the word “shithole” was used by news broadcasters in a 24-hour period.
Sean Penn, whose only positive contribution to our national welfare may have been that time he allegedly bound and gagged Madonna, called Trump “an enemy of the state” and “an enemy of mankind.” Ten bucks says he’s repeatedly referred to the rural American South as a “shithole.”
Political pundits, apparently thinking this would deter rather than delight Trump’s supporters, variously referred to him as a “terrorist sympathizer,” a “white supremacist,” and “someone who could lead the Ku Klux Klan in the United States of America.” MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch offered this highly sober and loftily intellectual assessment:
He is an evil man. We don’t talk about that a lot. We talk about he’s insane, he’s crazy. That’s evil. This is just an evil, evil man.
Reasonable people—you know, the kind that build the world rather than tear it down—deal with facts and don’t use the word “evil”; it’s only pearl-clutching church ladies with perpetual PMS who toss around such emotion-laden and deeply unquantifiable terms like tear-soaked Kleenexes.
Haitian officials, who oversee a nation where dirt cookies are a delicacy, said they were “deeply shocked and outraged” by Trump’s “racist” comments, even though Trump didn’t say a word about race in those comments.
Senegal’s president also said he was “shocked” by Trump’s comments, adding that “Africa and the black race merit the respect and consideration of all.” (In case you weren’t aware, Senegal’s per-capita GDP is slightly over $200 a month and its average life expectancy is 57.5 years.)
In comments that were made during a Thursday speech on migration and were likely not a response to Trump’s comments, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the First World should drop the hate shtick and embrace migrants as a positive thing. How might they go about doing that? Why, by focusing on “facts not prejudice,” but of course.
So what are the facts? Let’s examine some basic facts about Norway, the USA, Haiti, and Somalia. I chose Somalia as a representative African “shithole” because America seems to be getting a lot of “migrants” from there these days.
In terms of life expectancy, Norway leads the pack at 81.8 years. Then comes the USA (79.3), with a sudden drop to 63.5 years for Haitians and a mere 55.0 years for Somalians.
Norway also wins the blue ribbon when it comes to per-capita income, which is a staggering 38 times that of Haitians and 173 times that of Somalians.
The noble Norsemen also win when it comes to their nation’s mean IQ, which is 100 compared to the USA’s 98. Somalia (68) and Haiti (67) both suffer a mean IQ that is below the commonly accepted cutoff line for “retarded.”
The only category where the USA comes out on top is the percentage of the population with access to improved sanitation facilities—one index claims that 100% of Americans can find a functional toilet if they try. Next comes Norway at 98.1%. Haiti (27.6%) and Somalia (23.5%) are far, far worse. According to Wikipedia, “Sewer systems and wastewater treatment are nonexistent” in Haiti, which would mean the country is a literal shithole.
Prediction: Not a single loudmouthed virtue-signaler who’s publicly wetting themselves about Trump’s alleged comments will ever move to Haiti or Somalia.
Furthermore, if these are such great places—as the progressives insist they are under threat of calling you a “racist” as if you’d care—why do they howl at sending people back to these shitholes?
Last week’s events only underscore the sad fact that by and large, most people tend to get far more outraged at unpleasant truths than at comforting lies.
http://takimag.com/article/the_audacity_of_saying_shitholes_jim_goad/print#ixzz54eMvCRmn
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 19, 2018 - 09:05am PT
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^^^^^^. Norwegians go outta their way to avoid toilets. Not hard finding AirBnb’s there
with only a shithole, and a steep price!
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Lennox
climber
in the land of the blind
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Jan 19, 2018 - 09:35am PT
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The writer of mouse’s article, Jim Good, is just another idiot that just doesn’t get it—what shithole did he come from to have such a low IQ?
This is what he quotes Trump as having said (my emphasis added):
Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They’re shithole countries.…We should have more people from Norway.
Then the writer goes on to dispense with the idea that this comment is racist by simply ridiculing it.
He then spends most of his time arguing how absurd it was for progressives to be offended at the word “shithole” being used to describe Haiti and countries in Africa.
He provides examples of how impoverished they are, and then contrasts that against a description of how wonderful Norway is.
But he forgot to mention that Norwegians eat a lot of herring, which is odd because this writer obviously is very fond of red herrings.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 19, 2018 - 09:38am PT
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Reuters:
VILNIUS
Tobacco smugglers are using river iceflows and GPS technology to transport their goods into Lithuania, where an estimated one in every six cigarettes smoked in 2016 was illegally imported.
The Baltic country's border guard said on Friday it had found thousands of packets of cigarettes attached beneath blocks of ice on the river Neris, which runs into Lithuania from Belarus, since the ice began flowing two weeks ago.
Around 1,000 packs were found last week and another 1,500 packs on Friday. The iceblocks carried GPS trackers to aid retrieval.
"This is the first time we find cigarettes underneath the ice. However, smugglers continuously attempt to use that stretch of the river," border guard spokesman Rokas Pukinskas told Reuters. "The imagination of these people knows no limits."
The cigarettes, which are about four times more expensive in Lithuania than in Belarus, were worth an estimated 8,000 euros, Pukinskas said.
KPMG came up with the one in six figure for smuggled cigarettes in a research report last year. That was the highest ratio in the European Union after Latvia, Greece and Ireland, the auditing firm said.
Most come from Belarus, where taxes on tobacco are far lower than in Lithuania, and some are then sold on for even larger profits in countries such as Britain and Ireland, KPMG said.
The Lithuanian government has said it lost 50 million euros in unpaid taxes in 2015 alone due to tobacco smuggling.
(Reporting By Andrius Sytas; Editing by Niklas Pollard and Catherine Evans)
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dirtbag
climber
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Jan 19, 2018 - 10:55am PT
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takimag is a bastion for racist writers
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 19, 2018 - 11:37am PT
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I read the Joe Bob articles, mostly.
This one caught my attention because it seemed german to the topic. :0)
Lennox, Lennox, Lennox...
Just cuz Mr. Good is an idiout (by your lights, anyway) you gotta call him on it, thus demeaning yourself?
Labels, name-calling, & stereotyping are a form of ad hominem argument and not worthy of you, in my opinion.
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Lennox
climber
in the land of the blind
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Jan 19, 2018 - 11:55am PT
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Thank you mouse. I will endeavor to hold myself to a higher standard by including more euphemistic terminology in my writing instead of just clumsily labeling idiots as idiots and racists as racists.
. )
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 19, 2018 - 12:38pm PT
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I readily admit that the rest of these out and out racist xobs are such.
I've only been reading the thing because I go way back with Joe Bob, who is a reformed drive-in movie critic.
He points out the obvious in a clear manner, and there may be some humor that offends, but his thing is let them ("them" being his subject matter, naming a few groups--a failing many of us share--racists, queer, tards of whatever color and creed) show how dumb and badly-behaved they are.
It's satire. That's all I see in his writing. He is a GOOD DAMNED TEXAS WRITER, sez me.
St. Molly I would be proud.
edit: Is there is a go fund me page for Norwegian herring loss?
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Bad Climber
Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
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Jan 19, 2018 - 01:34pm PT
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Yeah, tRump's an ass and shouldn't be president, IMHO, but can we all agree that some countries are, indeed, sh*tholes? Somalia, South Sudan, and Haiti all fit the bill. You can bet that a sh*t-tonne of journalists and left-wingers on the coasts delight in calling the middle of the country a sh*thole. I saw one meme on the FB that depicted a map with all the red-leaning states labeled as "Dumbfukistan," which has got to be AT LEAST as bad as sh*thole, yes? There is so much grotesque virtue signalling going on about all this. The problem is that the dumb-ass prez shouldn't say this stuff. The rest of us can get away with it in private conversations. A prez cannot, plain and simple.
BAd
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jan 19, 2018 - 01:43pm PT
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The problem is that tRump makes everything worse. He does nothing to bring people together. He loves to denigrate to pump up his fragile ego.
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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Jan 19, 2018 - 04:11pm PT
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Sure he could get away with it...but his is not smart enough.
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Social climber
Wilds of New Mexico
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Jan 19, 2018 - 04:20pm PT
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Plus I bet the only thing Trump knows about Norway is that it is full of white people. Besides that I'd put down money he couldn't find it on a map.
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 19, 2018 - 04:24pm PT
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Oh for fux sake you people are so st00pid with your st00pid boring same bullsh!t everyday Trump comments.
Your brains are sh!tholes ....
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i-b-goB
Social climber
Wise Acres
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Jan 19, 2018 - 04:33pm PT
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 20, 2018 - 12:26pm PT
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REUTERS:
Comoros says abuse of passports-for-cash scheme worries Gulf allies
By Ali Amir Ahmed | MORONI
Comoros has sold citizenship to nearly 52,000 foreigners since 2009, the government said in the first official statement on the scale of a passports-for-cash deal with Gulf states.
Most of the documents had been sold under an approved scheme but there had been abuses that led to some Iranians buying passports, which had sparked tensions with Gulf allies, the country's foreign minister said.
Comoros struck a deal with the United Arab Emirates in 2008 to sell economic citizenship to stateless Bidoon people living in the Gulf in exchange for cash for the poor Indian Ocean nation. However, the Comoros parliament is investigating complaints of corruption and procedures not being followed.
The previously undisclosed tally for the number of passports sold means Comoros – a nation of some 800,000 people – should have received more than $260 million in revenues, a sum equivalent to over 40 percent of its gross domestic product.
However, Comoros investigators say large amounts of cash cannot be accounted for.
Shocking, isn’t it?
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Lollie
Social climber
I'm Lolli.
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Jan 20, 2018 - 06:52pm PT
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If I lived in Norway I could afford to go out to eat out about once a month.
donini, if you lived in Norway you would live by Norwegian standards with a Norwegian salary. You'd also have universal health care, 5 weeks of paid vacation, 1 year parental leave, tuition free university, pay equality, free birth control and gun control. You most certainly would be able to afford to eat out quite a lot more.
Ed, when I started out on internet a little more than 20 years ago, one wasn't supposed to use one's real name. Certain forums even forbid you to use your real name, especially stockbroker's forums. I also think that one's inner moral compass has nothing to do with using one's real name or not. If that's the only reason for behaving decent, one can be rotten inside but behave because the mistress looks over your shoulder - and quit doing so the moment noone sees.
(I would never use my real name on an Unitedstatian forum. You've got way too many really crazy people.)
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Jan 20, 2018 - 07:05pm PT
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Lollie! Thank you once again for sharing your thoughts!
Per your mention:
I would never use my real name on an Unitedstatian forum. You've got way too many really crazy people.
I agree! Over the last 10 years on ST, I've been blessed in meeting many of those who post here, & they know my real name & much more. I'm sure as hell not going to share my name & location with the Russian spy-bots & conservative crazies who blight this website.
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Lollie
Social climber
I'm Lolli.
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Jan 20, 2018 - 07:37pm PT
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We've had our debates about that ad from HM. (You're also sneering at it from a sole Unitedstatian view, Dingus.)
One side says it racist because it is a black kid, because of historical reasons in the USA, when black people weren't considered people and could be called monkeys. HM ought to have known that.
The other side says it's a kid? Kids are called a lot of funny things: "my little rascal" "my little monkey" (epecially if they like to climb on things), etc . "Kid" itself is one of them, it means a young goat. This group of people do not think about which skincolour somebody has, it's as irrelevant, same as if someone has red hair or brown eyes. I believe this to be the majority.
As we haven't had slavery in this country, well, at least not in a millennium or so, and there were very few black people before approx 30 years ago, there's low sensitivity to such matters. A lack of knowledge what might be hurtful.
(We have our own racial slurs. One cannot say anything about black hair, that's very disparaging. Black haired people were strangers, not like us...)
On the other hand.
But as HM do have stores in the USA, there ought to have been somebody responsible being able to stop the ad. Different cultures have their own sensitivities and it's important to respect that, especially if one wants to have customers there. HM made a huge mistake with that image.
I don't think this matter changes anything, Norwegians won't move to the USA anyway.
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Lollie
Social climber
I'm Lolli.
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Jan 20, 2018 - 07:39pm PT
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Fritz! :-)
I have told my real name to those I have met in person, in real life. So, actually there's a lot of Supertopians who knows it. Ed too, if he remembers it. ;-)
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