Chesterton’s bicycle. || It’s a chair, it’s an earthquake helmet. || A shovel is used. || Tiling issues. || Three sizes, five colours. || Incoming. || I’m not entirely clear on the rules. || Another fun way to pass the time. || It’s an alternative approach. || Giving it to the man. || Big mirror. || “Best new artist.” || I want all of the loveliness in one big injection. || More joys of public transport. || Pulse detected. || Provider and role model. || Critter of the sea. || Car relocation. || Close enough for showbiz work. || Conservatism in an idealised nutshell. || Noise reduction. (h/t, pst314) || Street scenes, godly edition. || Attention, all heterosexual menfolk. If you think she’s hot, you’re gay, apparently. || It’s her way of life. || And finally, because you look like you need this, a “freeing and detoxifying” project for the weekend.
Oh, and while I have your attention, today is this blog’s seventeenth birthday. Yes, seventeen chuffing years. Which is a pretty good excuse to remind patrons that this rickety barge is kept afloat by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to help it remain buoyant a while longer, and remain ad-free, there are three buttons below the fold with which to monetise any love. Debit and credit cards are accepted.
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For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last seventeen years, in over 3,000 posts and 200,000 comments, the reheated series is a pretty good place to start – in particular, the end-of-year summaries, which convey the fullest flavour of what it is we do. A sort of blog concentrate. If you like what you find there… well, there’s lots more of that.
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Oh yes. The buttons:
Or psychologically. (“Look how compassionate I am, unlike you heathens.”)
The 21st Century grift is ‘identifying as’. Used to be you at least had to look plausible.
Because they are the prime magnet that draws the invaders.
I suppose the remaining 17% could be solved by learning how to calculate percentages?
Yeah. You added that as an edit. My reply was to your original post of just that first part. Either way, the criminal is not the employer, the criminal is the illegal alien and the government administration that fails to enforce the law. The employer is dealing with a problem forced upon him by the government. Criminalizing the employer creates opportunities for the government employees who have the ability to enforce or not enforce the law to selectively look the other way either for cash or even possible political leverage, depending upon the employer. This is especially evil a a local level.
Given it’s against the law to hire illegal aliens, they’re all criminals.
Indeed.(TM)
Per year, if you let one kid go each year you’re at least on the road to solving the problem. Maybe the other two get a clue. Unlikely but still possible. By year 3 those three are gone but after that…?
Between the employer and the government, it’s the government committing the greater crime. Entrapment is a crime as well. Have you people ever run a small business or spent considerable time dealing with those who do? A lot of lawn maintenance and roof repair and similar light construction would be affected by going after the employer. Again I, probably more so than anyone here want the borders secured and the illegals sent home. But I also firmly believe in the fundamental principle of fighting problems as far upstream as possible. Criminalizing the employer, and demonizing the illegals plays right into the leftists hands. The problem here, the BIG, BIG, BIG problem here is a government that is unwilling to enforce existing laws yet your solution is to give that same government even more power over otherwise law abiding people. It’s madness when you understand it.
Don’t be too sure of that.
The government has long had that power to punish illegal employers.
To reiterate: I want to return to the status quo ante, which involved both deportation of illegal immigrants and punishment of those who employed them and/or helped them evade the law.
Attn: Karl: Bill Post, inventor of the Pop Tart, has passed away.
Someone who kills his neighbour but does nothing else criminal is ‘otherwise law abiding’.
I’m not particularly interested in which of the lot bears the most blame. Government has handled the situation poorly but they have done so, at least partially, at the behest of those ‘otherwise law abiding people.’
I’m not particularly interested in which of the lot bears the most blame. Government has handled the situation poorly but they have done so, at least partially, at the behest of those ‘otherwise law abiding people.’
There are three chief interest groups behind the open borders crisis:
All are guilty and all deserve punishment. How to prioritize the reintroduction of the old system of law is a complex question which deserves thought, but it must be reimposed. If it could be proven that executives at the Salvation Army were facilitating the travel of illegals to our border, I would love to see them sent to prison.
Comparing someone who is trying to keep a business going in an environment of chaos created by the government to murder is flat out absurd. His livelihood and that of his other employees, not allof which are likely to be illegals is on the line. He’s in a position of significant responsibility. Arm chair QB’s making him out to be a criminal is classic leftism.
No, apparently you’re not. And that right there is the problem. You can pick up an issue like this, express this attitude, put it back down and move on. You’re not in the position of responsibility. You can keep your hands neat and clean. Meanwhile, out in the real world…
Government is rarely the solution to most problems. As in this case, it is the cause. Milton Friedman said much in this regard but one that comes to mind is, “The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right things”. Except in this case, the employers are not necessarily evil or wrong, they’ve just had a corrupt system thrust upon them. The greater evil here, as bad as the illegals situation is, is the potential to slowly create more and more legislation and government power so as to essentially establish a form of selective anarchy such that arbitrary use of government power becomes the norm. The sort of thing you see in many Eastern European and similar countries.
No. The people running the government are guilty and deserve punishment. What corporations, specifically, do you think are guilty here and how are they able to do the evil that they do without the government helping them? This is a…GOVERNMENT problem. Holding other people accountable via the…GOVERNMENT will not resolve the issue.
I submit that of the three entities you listed, this one is the greatest problem. Culturally people are afraid to speak up against it. Recently a remote in-law in Chicago posted a picture of the John Hancock building (or wtf it’s called today) in which he lives. A friend of his felt the need to point out that it was designed by a Pakistani and thus she looooves our immigrants. Who will speak up in response to that sort of idiocy?
This is the problem right here. You cannot fix problems that you don’t even care to understand the root cause of.
Popped his clogs eh?
They would probably taste better.
I knew I could get a response from you. 😀
In truth, I was never fond of Pop Tarts, thanks I suppose to my parents’ efforts to train us kids to like healthier foods–unsugared cereals, whole grains, fruit juice instead of soft drinks, fruit instead of cookies, and so on.
Thrust upon them? It was created at the behest of corporations and chambers of commerce who bribed those politicians–who readily do whatever the money men wish.
Still getting my head round “Think U The Sh*t (Fart)”.
Have one yourself, barkeep.
Here’s the other thing. What is it with the word ‘corporations’ that makes people stop thinking and start spouting talking points? What corporations, specifically. Name the three largest corporations employing illegals and how many they employ. From what I have found this seems moderately accurate, depending on how you define those terms. The “construction” component near as I can tell are small businesses roofers, lawn maintenance workers, etc. A good number in the “hospitality” business but I highly doubt that as being big potential political targets like Disney and Holiday Inn we would hear more about that. Presumably. In the corrupt information environment we rely on for information. Smaller franchises or subcontractors perhaps. And that there is the mess with going after the “employers”. Who specifically would that be? And AGAIN, who will do the enforcement? The very same government that is the root of the problem. Fix the bloody government first. This isn’t hard to understand.
Didn’t watch, don’t care but if I’m wrong it being about Biden, I don’t want to be right. I don’t need to know.
It’s a lot to process.
Bless you, sir. May you know of a way to make cabbage more interesting.
Dude, bacon. You’ve tried bacon, yes?
I was going to suggest sautéed with onion, peas, and a little chicken stock. But I should imagine bacon would also enliven the humble cabbage.
No, you feed the cabbage to the pigs, who turn it into bacon. 😀
Wife uses olive oil and garlic to saute it. Bacon was what Mom would put in there. Just a few strips. Generally with corn beef for St. Paddy’s day.
[ Orders Rolodex for rapidly growing collection of cabbage recipes. ]
A quick search turned up these companies:
Yes, government has made a mess but these companies hired the illegals without the government ‘helping them’. What’s absurd isn’t an evidently hyperbolic analogy but the notion that companies don’t make their own decisions, some of which may not be in keeping with the law.
You have misunderstood, intentionally or no, what was said. Not being interested in parceling out blame at this point doesn’t mean a lack of knowledge or understanding.
You aren’t going to be putting any of that in the bar snacks, are you David?
[ Shops Amazon for bulk deals on simethicone. ]
JFC the rabbit hole I asked for…so, relevance, how many people do these companies employ in the US? A few thousand. And again, to my point, eliminate them and another company pops up doing the same thing. Even if you eliminate these big, huge toilet cleaning conglomerates they the illegals will just work for someone else with less of a political footprint (not that these are all that big to being with). The problem is the illegals are here. And we’re talking about focusing on getting rid of the ones who actually do something? I don’t approve of them being here at all but they concern me much less than the randos coming across the boarder. This isn’t hard to understand unless you don’t want to understand.
Excuse me? From the guy who compared the employers to murderers?
Again, explain how you fix a problem caused by the government, by expecting that same government to enforce its existing laws by giving that same corrupt government the OK to fine (imprison?) those whom you expect them to regulate.
I’ll bet you’re even more fun in person.
Anybody got other topics to post here?
I’m going to be spending the next couple hours resisting the temptation to constantly look for updates on the active shooter situations at the Kansas City Chiefs parade and at the Palm Beach Gardens shopping mall: Random lowlifes or something worse? Hoping the former but you never know.
Maybe a little Roger Scruton will be calming…
Heh. You have no idea. Relevance? Or are we playing the I-Know-You-Are-But-What-Am-I game?
You have a tendency to get argumentative and even somewhat insulting.
Do you want to allow a baby murderer to wear clothing that conceals her face and hands? I don’t think so. Also: Trans.
And at what point did that start? After you accused me of not seeing your entire post because you edited it between my response and your edit? Did you acknowledge that? If so, I missed it.
Accused? Oh for God’s sake. I shut up when you said you replied to my comment before I updated it. I took it on good faith that I must have updated it after you commented and assumed that was the end of it. Furthermore, that cannot explain your getting short with other commenters in this thread.
You do have a tendency to get very acerbic with people here, more like someone on “other” social media, and I am tired of it and have been wondering for a while if I should just never interact with you, making all my comments replies to other people.
NatGeo’s 2024 “travelers of the year” is topped by a man I wouldn’t trust taking my dog for a walk.
Like when one compared hiring illegal aliens to being a murder? Both of you are dancing around my main point that you cannot fix a government problem with government action until you fix the…government. Again, not hard to understand. It’s the obtuseness and the borderline elitism that really gets me. There are people, good, hard working people who are put into a situation of hiring illegals because that’s the market and they cannot compete otherwise. You seem oblivious to the realities of the real world where government employees “get a bad cough”. You seem unconcerned with the dilemma that puts these people in. They don’t want to hire illegals, but they have no real choice. There are real people in this world who have to do hard, dirty work. I used to be one. People who go to work after a nice shower and cup of coffee from their downtown office cafe have no bloody idea how any of the stuff that makes their easy life possible gets done. In the real world. It’s all hypothetical, abstract, just-make-a-rule-and-move-on BS, unconcerned with the consequences for the great unwashed.
Dude, bacon. You’ve tried bacon, yes?
Careful, you have to specify “American bacon AKA real bacon” as they or else he’ll use back bacon or “streaky bacon” which also isn’t real bacon but closer to real bacon, but not much.
I mean, it wouldn’t be awful, would be the same as adding ham, but greens and bacon is always better than greens and ham.
We might have to make him a CARE package.
That was really charming: Disagreement = bad faith.
Good night.
In an episode of All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot has to force himself to eat a thick slab of pure-fat back bacon after telling a farmer that he’s famished. All while the farmer rhapsodizes about eating fat and enjoying the grease running down his chin. It was painful just to watch. I’ll try to remember your warning for the next time I’m in the UK.
NatGeo’s 2024 “travelers of the year” is topped by a man I wouldn’t trust taking my dog for a walk.
Hey, easy now, his drag style is “sustainable” after all.
I made the mistake of listening to a bit of the video and did not feel at all well, aside from Yo-Yo Ma, the other two are only identifying as musicians.
On the subject of toxic or damaged personalities: Rachel Dolezal, who lost her position at the NAACP when it was revealed that she was not black after all, then changed her name to Nkechi Diallo and got a job as a school teacher. Now she has fired from that teaching job because she also has an Only Fans account. Stranger and stranger.
I really miss the days when NatGeo just published straightforward articles about geology and anthropology and archaeology. I grew up in a house with a complete run going back to before 1900, and enjoyed browsing random issues.
Another of Nat Geo’s travelers
Of course, couldn’t visit one run by yte men, no, brown men.
As they build a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude. You have our gratitude.
Strictly medicinal or ceremonial, yeah, that’s the ticket.
I am so old I remember when Nat Geo was a serious mag.
An absolute treasure.
EDIT: I learned a lot from NatGeo–so much that I was way ahead of what my school taught.
How do they rank on the Yoko Ono pain scale?
Some Heart for Valentine’s Day. Charming.
The energy of the guards is astounding.
Another upstanding citizen.
This is a sick society:
Grandpa gets in fender-bender. Gets out to apologize. Is shot dead.
IIRC, he went through rather a lot of piccalilli to cover up the taste of the fat. I can’t be certain but I think the bacon was boiled. (Never saw the show, but loved the books.)
Given the massive numbers, I don’t know how that happens. They came here on foot, drawn by incentives, but they’d have to leave in much the same way, and unless you make it illegal to rent to or give a mortgage to or sell a car to or provide gubmint funds to or any of those auxiliary supports, it’s difficult to see how they’re literally driven out.
We’d be better off trying to flip the script: the Dems think they’re getting grateful voters, but after awhile the migrants will notice that the Dems are absolutely out of their minds on the social issues. Some conservative Spanish-language talk radio (and Chinese and whatever else) can go a long way to changing minds. People often prize their social values over handouts.
Another upstanding citizen.
Another face that needs the smug slapped out of it..
Except we aren’t seeing families. The waves of huge illegal numbers post 2020 are made up of single, military age males from all over the world. e.g. 30K Chinese at least. I don’t think they care one bit about “social values”.
Ahem.
[ Orders larger Rolodex. ]
Of course, as we are driven to being a less civilized society, it becomes simpler to have some large men “remove” such problems for you.
Hopefully a permanent removal from society.
That’s right. But still rather sick to his stomach when he left. And, of course, they gave him a more bacon and jar of piccalilli to take home because he liked them so much.
That’s what Victor Davis Hanson hopes will happen.
Good grief, can no one differentiate between ‘defuse’ and ‘diffuse’ any more?
“We commend our Crew and Customers for their professionalism in diffusing this situation.[…]”
Timely.
Don’t loose you’re cool, Man!
You’d better tow the line on proper grammar!