Althouse: "It's the most... evocative."

July 23, 2019

"It's the most... evocative."

Favorite curse word
Pete Buttigieg vs. Andrew Yang 😂#YangGang #yang2020 pic.twitter.com/qJJkEWG96y
— PHONEBANK FOR YANG (@sail0rsc0ut) July 22, 2019

136 comments:

Ralph L said...: Mary Pete says "Expletive Deleted!!"; 7/23/19, 6:22 PM
tcrosse said...: Who steals my purse steals trash.; 7/23/19, 6:24 PM
J. Farmer said...: Can it really be anything other than "fuck?" Although "cunt" is pretty high up there, too, probably because it was the most taboo growing up. But speaking of Yang, I was just writing back and forth with mockturtle in an earlier thread about how we were likely heading for some form of universal basic income. I've been semi-onboard with the idea since reading Charles Murray's often ignored 2006 book In Our Hands.; 7/23/19, 6:25 PM
gilbar said...: I thought that Mary Pete's favorite curse would be something like:
"You go to hell, you GODdamned faggot!"

But, i guess that they were asking his favorite curse WORD; not the whole phrase; 7/23/19, 6:27 PM
The Bergall said...: As Greg Gutfeld once said on Red Eye, "Twitter is like writing on the bathroom wall in High School"................; 7/23/19, 6:29 PM
gilbar said...: J. Farmer said...
Can it really be anything other than "fuck?"

I've always preferred: JesusMothingFuckingGODdamnMotherFuckingCHRIST!
i suppose someone could say that those two are the same word... They'd be Wrong, but they could say it; 7/23/19, 6:29 PM
gilbar said...: oops! Mothing is supposed to be written Mother; 7/23/19, 6:30 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: "...we were likely heading for some form of universal basic income."

You think that's a good idea, Farmer?

Oy vey, what would John Derbyshire say....; 7/23/19, 6:30 PM
gilbar said...: the Confederate States had a sort of universal basic income; guaranteed employment too, i think; 7/23/19, 6:32 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Bay Area Guy:

You think that's a good idea, Farmer?

Given the alternatives, yes. Of course it could only be done under a strict immigration regime. Open borders and universal basic income would obviously be a nightmare scenario.; 7/23/19, 6:33 PM
J. Farmer said...: @gilbar:

I prefer the alliterative "fucking faggot" to the more awkward "god damned faggot."; 7/23/19, 6:33 PM
n.n said...: It's spelled: FUCT.

The most evocative, probably: principle. It's a Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice, Pro-Choice country (i.e. Chamber and State).; 7/23/19, 6:35 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Open borders and universal basic income would obviously be a nightmare scenario.

ooo - but that's the D sweet spot. Especially if illegal entrants can drive and vote.; 7/23/19, 6:36 PM
Ralph L said...: Shouldn't Yang's be "Ying?"; 7/23/19, 6:38 PM
J. Farmer said...: @BleachBit-and-Hammers:

ooo - but that's the D sweet spot. Especially if illegal entrants can drive and vote.

As best I can tell, the Democrats seem to largely favor the welfare state and all its related perverse incentives.; 7/23/19, 6:40 PM
J. Farmer said...: The UBI is kind of a libertarian idea (e.g. Milton Friedman proposed a version), and it's one of the reasons Democrats seem to be skeptical of it. And are skeptical of Andrew Yang generally. They see him as some kind of libertarian stalking horse.; 7/23/19, 6:42 PM
Quaestor said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/23/19, 6:46 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Mayor Pete is fighting way above his weight class. Should try running for Mayor of Indianapolis next..; 7/23/19, 6:49 PM
madAsHell said...: Buttgeig - "My favorite curse word is asshole.....oh, wait!"; 7/23/19, 6:50 PM
traditionalguy said...: As Candy’ taught us, the right way to cuss is a salvo of the oldies but goodies: “shit damn piss fuck “ said with feeling; 7/23/19, 6:50 PM
tcrosse said...: Buttgeig - "My favorite curse word is "fudge".; 7/23/19, 6:51 PM
stevew said...: Fuck it is as it is the most versatile of words, can be a verb, a noun, adjective; “fuck you you fucking fuck”. h/t Blue Velvet; 7/23/19, 6:54 PM
stevew said...: And, come on Pete, no one in public life is that squeaky clean, really.; 7/23/19, 6:57 PM
Quaestor said...: Just responding to the question and then trying to defend the choice of expletive, should be a strong hint that the aspiring candidate is inadequate to the times.

I find myself trying to imagine the session in the office of Now This News that produced the list of twenty questions. The Slough of Despond would be a more uplifting experience.; 7/23/19, 6:58 PM
n.n said...: Buttgeig - "My favorite curse word is asshole.....oh, wait!"

In the politically congruent dictionary it is "back hole".

Buttgeig - "My favorite curse word is "fudge".

Brown matter... it's the complement to black matter, and the missing link in forward and backward-looking scientific prophecies, and models or hypotheses based on incomplete, and, in fact, insufficient characterization, or liberal inference, and unwieldy computational requirements.; 7/23/19, 6:59 PM
Quaestor said...: It's generally a wise policy to avoid people who lard their insipid notions with words like evocative.

(typo fixed); 7/23/19, 7:00 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: oh shit--Time to pack it in, Peto.

is he getting Geffen $$$ ?; 7/23/19, 7:01 PM
Gahrie said...: Given the alternatives, yes. Of course it could only be done under a strict immigration regime. Open borders and universal basic income would obviously be a nightmare scenario.

We already have a status quo where one of the major parties attempts to bribe the electorate every two years with ever increasing promises of more free stuff. What do you think is going to happen if we institute UBI? It would immediately become Danegeld. Every election there would be demands for, and promises of, an increase in the UBI. Pretty quickly your going to reach a point where the productive members of society are no longer willing to support the unproductive, despite threats of unrest and violence. Then everyone goes on strike and the economy collapses.

I agree that we are quickly approaching a crisis where a significant number of people will be unable to find productive work to support themselves. This will be made worse by the racial component. I don't have an answer that I'm willing to live with. I just believe UBI would make a bad situation worse.; 7/23/19, 7:01 PM
Ralph L said...: I said "frigging" in front of my mother, once, when I was in HS, and then apologized. I'm pretty sure she didn't know what it meant, and I wasn't entirely sure.; 7/23/19, 7:01 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/23/19, 7:02 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: Poor Pete Buttiplug. He's so uptight it's like he has a stick up his . . . ah, well.

Butt all jokes aside, he did well to avoid the trap, at least until Yang stepped into it and is now using his answer to contrast how cool he is and how uptight Buttiplug is.; 7/23/19, 7:02 PM
gilbar said...: J. Farmer correctly points out that we all should...
prefer the alliterative "fucking faggot" to the more awkward "god damned faggot."

point taken J Farmer! it does roll off the tongue more better than mine.; 7/23/19, 7:04 PM
Gahrie said...: As best I can tell, the Democrats seem to largely favor the welfare state and all its related perverse incentives.

Isn't UBI the ultimate perverse incentive?; 7/23/19, 7:04 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: isnt 'frigging' the rigging on a frigate?; 7/23/19, 7:04 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Gahrie:

I don't have an answer that I'm willing to live with. I just believe UBI would make a bad situation worse.

There isn't going to be a perfect solution. But some solution is going to come. I just think UBI is probably the least bad of all the options. As I said earlier, Charles Murray makes a fairly persuasive case in In Our Hands, and Yang's The War on Normal People is similarly persuasive, even if it does assuage every potential criticism.; 7/23/19, 7:05 PM
Gahrie said...: I said "frigging" in front of my mother, once, when I was in HS, and then apologized. I'm pretty sure she didn't know what it meant, and I wasn't entirely sure.

I got in trouble in high school for saying something sucked at the dinner table. Now my 74 year old Mom cusses like a sailor.; 7/23/19, 7:06 PM
bagoh20 said...: No able bodied person who lives off an unearned guaranteed income could respect themselves enough to act respectfully to others, and of course those paying for it would have little but resentment for them. A recipe for a deeply disrespectful society, full of resentment, sloth, and crime among both the makers and the takers.

What would ants, bees, or any other social animal do without work? Answer: Kill each other. We need real challenges, or we will make them up, and game shows won't hack it for the feistiest among us. Besides, we have a guaranteed income now in most inner cities and everywhere else that's a virtual war zone. The experiment is generations long now and the results are universally bad. Work is what gives people purpose, and it has to be a challenge to get and keep, or it is like a participation trophy: insulting and counterproductive, providing the recipient nothing. If you look at what separates the productive and honest from the destructive and criminal it is mostly the will to work. Take away the need, and you take away the will from those who lose it easiest.; 7/23/19, 7:07 PM
J. Farmer said...: Isn't UBI the ultimate perverse incentive?

Well there is no requirement for it other than age and citizenship and there is no monitoring mechanism. Most welfare state policies reward illegitimacy, since single mothers are the primary beneficiaries, and benefits often cease if you get married. And the situation we have now is large parts of the population dropping out of the workforce all together and going on disability.; 7/23/19, 7:07 PM
madAsHell said...: "My favorite curse word is "fudge".

It's really sad when I knew that I was racing with you to make such a comment. By the way......FIRST, biyatch!; 7/23/19, 7:07 PM
Crimso said...: "I do still curse and damn when I am indignant but I never blaspheme the name of God." William S. Rosecrans; 7/23/19, 7:09 PM
J. Farmer said...: @bagoh20:

No able bodied person who lives off an unearned guaranteed income could respect themselves enough to act respectfully to others, and of course those paying for it would have little but resentment for them. A recipe for a deeply disrespectful society, full of resentment, sloth, and crime among both the makers and the takers.

Under a UBI, everybody would get it, Bill Gates included. And the issue is specifically addressed by making the UBI sufficient to prevent absolute poverty but not really a substitute for work.; 7/23/19, 7:09 PM
Quaestor said...: Isn't UBI the ultimate perverse incentive?

The express lane to autocracy has no off-ramps.; 7/23/19, 7:11 PM
Gahrie said...: Well there is no requirement for it other than age and citizenship and there is no monitoring mechanism.

So anyone and everyone qualifies. And if you think it would be restricted to citizens, in a world where we aren't even allowed to ask if someone is a citizen, you're dreaming.

Most welfare state policies reward illegitimacy, since single mothers are the primary beneficiaries, and benefits often cease if you get married.

I agree. My solution to this would be to change things to reward two parent families instead.

And the situation we have now is large parts of the population dropping out of the workforce all together and going on disability.

Don't you think this problem would explode under a system in which you don't have to even fake a disability?; 7/23/19, 7:12 PM
Meade said...: Efuckative.; 7/23/19, 7:12 PM
Gahrie said...: Under a UBI, everybody would get it, Bill Gates included. And the issue is specifically addressed by making the UBI sufficient to prevent absolute poverty but not really a substitute for work.

The government redefines poverty literally every single year, always in an upwards ratchet. If we gave everyone in the United States a million dollars in December, the poverty level in Jan 2020 would be a million dollars. The real measure is standard of living. In the U.S. today, you can have quite a comfortable standard of living at the poverty level.; 7/23/19, 7:15 PM
h said...: Early in his career, baseball player Bryce Harper answered a reporter's question by saying: "Clown question, bro." And I expected at that time that is would become a standard answer for all public speakers. I was wrong. But I would recommend it to Mayor Pete (and any others who might be subjected to this kind of question). Clown question, Bro. (or just shorten to CQB).; 7/23/19, 7:16 PM
bagoh20 said...: A guaranteed income is like most collectivist ideas. It is in direct conflict with human nature and consequently human culture. What forced transfer of wealth was has ever been sustainable? Whatever the payout, it is never enough, and a guaranteed income would immediately become people just voting to steal and disincentive both the strong and the weak, which would make all of us weaker individuals and a weaker society.; 7/23/19, 7:18 PM
Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...: Given that expletives represent the full scope of the Democrat (SHOCK!) vocabulary, this is a worthwhile question.; 7/23/19, 7:18 PM
Gahrie said...: In the U.S. today, you can have quite a comfortable standard of living at the poverty level.

Which is precisely why millions of poor people are desperately trying to get here.; 7/23/19, 7:18 PM
Birkel said...: UBI is coming?
And after it worked so well elsewhere?
When that happens I plan to leave the degenerate country we will have become.

You want UBI?
Get a job and work 40 hours a week.
Need more?
Get a part time job.

There's your UBI.; 7/23/19, 7:19 PM
MikeD said...: How deep was the barrel the donks had to scrape up this bunch off the bottom?; 7/23/19, 7:21 PM
Gahrie said...: I believe that in a U.S. with UBI, the U.S. would quickly become the monster that Sanger and Holmes Jr. dreamed of.; 7/23/19, 7:22 PM
bagoh20 said...: "And the issue is specifically addressed by making the UBI sufficient to prevent absolute poverty but not really a substitute for work."

See above. All this stuff is always sold that way, and it never even gets out of the gate without being corrupted into theft by politics. It's like listening to people describe how fish could use a bicycle. People just don't think or function that way in the real world. That's why no such thing has ever really existed, or ever will.; 7/23/19, 7:24 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Universal. ugh. Universal basic income is right up there with universal health care. A disaster waiting turn our once great nation into a pile.; 7/23/19, 7:24 PM
Gahrie said...: When that happens I plan to leave the degenerate country we will have become.

The problem is, there is no where else on Earth for us to go to.....which is one of the reasons I'm so in love with Musk. (and to a lesser extent Bezos); 7/23/19, 7:24 PM
Crimso said...: "And I expected at that time that is would become a standard answer for all public speakers."

I thought the same thing about "Stuck on stupid."; 7/23/19, 7:24 PM
Friendo said...: Mayor Pete: what a doosh.; 7/23/19, 7:24 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Queer Ass Fock; 7/23/19, 7:27 PM
bagoh20 said...: To get back on topic: FUCK THAT!

Our favorite insult in our home is "douche nozzle", because we love.; 7/23/19, 7:27 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Gahrie:

So anyone and everyone qualifies

That's what makes it "universal."

And if you think it would be restricted to citizens, in a world where we aren't even allowed to ask if someone is a citizen, you're dreaming.

Then the program would fail. I'm more than open to the idea that the program couldn't or wouldn't work. But it is an option worth exploring.

My solution to this would be to change things to reward two parent families instead.

Such as?

Don't you think this problem would explode under a system in which you don't have to even fake a disability?

One of the reasons people fake a disability is to get money and thus stay out of the (legal) work force since being employed would eliminate the benefit. The benefit would not be tied to a particular job or location, which would also make it easier to move for work. Will some subset of the population stay on the dole? Yes. But we have that problem already. Could the potential benefit outweight the potential negatives? I think perhaps.

As you said earlier, "I agree that we are quickly approaching a crisis where a significant number of people will be unable to find productive work to support themselves." I think that's probably true, and given the available options, I think UBI is likely to be the least bad.; 7/23/19, 7:29 PM
bagoh20 said...: I had a friend who didn't speak English, and one day he just blurted out "fucking gay ass nigger" at a straight white guy. He had no idea what he said, so I informed him he should just forget that English completely.; 7/23/19, 7:30 PM
Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...: I really wasn’t that concerned about this kind of stuff. Then I heard the WILD applause to Obama’s line “... You can stay on your parents’ health plan until you’re 26!” and I became very, very afraid.

For all the talk about evolution and the “Party of Science,” it’s pretty clear that Democrats are in the business of delaying any semblance of human adulthood. The long childhood gets longer, and parents aren’t able to progress with their own (fully human) lives. My God, there’s no retirement with all this ennabling and pandering going on.

It’s all sucking up to women and their anxiety-obsessed concern about their children’s future. The men I know give an eyeroll and say, “Can we just get on with this?” (Meaning, adulthood).

Women are fully in charge, and men don’t want to deal with the bullshit that comes in the day of “Always believe the woman.” It’s just north worth it.

Feminism, fully realized, at the family level. No responsibility, just as you’d expect.

Something’s gotta give.; 7/23/19, 7:30 PM
J. Farmer said...: @BleachBit-and-Hammers:

Universal. ugh. Universal basic income is right up there with universal health care. A disaster waiting turn our once great nation into a pile.

What do you think the country will look like when automation and competition from abroad will lower the value of low-skilled labor to the point where people cannot afford to sustain families? I think Steve Sailer's notion of affordable family formation is largely a correct one.; 7/23/19, 7:31 PM
LA_Bob said...: I have a pretty good idea what Yang will say when he realizes his campaign is really, truly over.

And, when it's his time, I'll bet Buttigieg says exactly the same thing.

It'd really be fun to hear Tulsi say it.; 7/23/19, 7:35 PM
bagoh20 said...: "...we are quickly approaching a crisis where a significant number of people will be unable to find productive work to support themselves."

That was said early on in the industrial revolution too, and a number of times since, but it never seems to materialize. Maybe some day, but not soon. We always think we are more advanced than we are. 95% of the world still has a lot work to do, and most of it is labor.; 7/23/19, 7:35 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Universal = everyone in the known universe will siphon off of you.; 7/23/19, 7:36 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: If it might fail, we should try it.; 7/23/19, 7:37 PM
bagoh20 said...: I don't know if anyone has noticed, but we are at the most automated in history and have the lowest unemployment at the same time. Us employers can't find enough hands and minds to run all these robots. I hire people every week, and they are constantly leaving for better paying jobs. I think that's great, and it certainly isn't a problem for them.; 7/23/19, 7:40 PM
J. Farmer said...: @BleachBit-and-Hammers:

If it might fail, we should try it.

So we should only try things we know will succeed? How does that work?; 7/23/19, 7:42 PM
Birkel said...: Smug thinks if we're going to fail we ought to fail BIGLY.
Seems legit.

The great thing about Smug's plan is everybody will have a job.
That's what happens when civilizations collapse.; 7/23/19, 7:42 PM
J. Farmer said...: @bagoh20:

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but we are at the most automated in history and have the lowest unemployment at the same time.

One of the things that statistic does not capture is the number of people who have dropped out of the work force completely.; 7/23/19, 7:44 PM
J. Farmer said...: Smug thinks if we're going to fail we ought to fail BIGLY.

Milton Friedman, Charles Murray. They all want us to FAIL!; 7/23/19, 7:46 PM
Birkel said...: They wouldn't have dropped out of the workforce if we didn't provide such generous support.
Let's give them more.
-Smug; 7/23/19, 7:47 PM
Birkel said...: Let's do bald appeals to authority.
My dog says you should eat your vomit.; 7/23/19, 7:48 PM
Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...: Once y’all start to look at television as the psycho-delivery vehicle for all this nonsense, you’ll understand what you’re up against with UBI.

Television hasn’t reflected a middle class lifestyle since “All In the Family” and “Sanford and Son.”

People watch what they see on TV, and believe it’s real. They want THAT. See: “Friends” — top-shelf NYC lifestyle as a barista!

And they hear the Democrat and tech oligarch prognostications about UBI will believe Dems will give it to them.

Seriously, once you see TV as the delivery vehicle for all this shit, life makes a lot more sense. You can give up your full/part-time job nonsense. It does not compute. “Friends” is the definition of 20-something middle class. The Cosby Huxtibles is “upper-middle” class. You know... doctors.

Just in case you were wondering...; 7/23/19, 7:50 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "And, come on Pete, no one in public life is that squeaky clean, really."

Believe it or not, he coulda been more dork:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=gwyneth+paltrow+favorite+swear+word&&view=detail&mid=CE0F758862DB5D6BD19DCE0F758862DB5D6BD19D&&FORM=VRDGAR; 7/23/19, 7:51 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Birkel:

If it weren't for welfare, how would you have eaten as a child? Were your parents lazy, or just dumb?; 7/23/19, 7:54 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Next time someone tells me that it's not good to eat vomit, I'll tell them that Birk's dog likes vomit, so it must be tasty.

That sorta conversation is real common.; 7/23/19, 7:55 PM
Lucien said...: I’m partial to “You ol’ goat feltcher you” — as a term of endearment, of course.; 7/23/19, 7:57 PM
Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...: J Farmer @7/23/19, 7:44 PM:

“One of the things that statistic does not capture is the number of people who have dropped out of the work force completely.”

No unemployment statistic has ever captured that — or improved on it — so please educate us on a better figure that doen’t ptove Your core premise (i.e., that people are not intentionally hanging outside the labor market, hoping for a mystical better... or utopia).

On top of it all, the Democrat Party demeans their labor as “bolt-pushers” or “hamburger-flippers.”

What a great rah-rah for entry into the labor force... maybe they can be baristas on “Friends” instead.; 7/23/19, 7:58 PM
Birkel said...: See, there?
Now that's the sort of thing a guy like you says knowing nothing about another person.
Smug captures it so nicely.
Your type is easy to spot.; 7/23/19, 7:59 PM
Birkel said...: Are children now part of the population that has left the workforce?
Good news.
Under Smug's plan they'll have jobs too.
Just like they do now in Venezuela.; 7/23/19, 8:00 PM
Gahrie said...: I don't know if anyone has noticed, but we are at the most automated in history and have the lowest unemployment at the same time.

As Farmer explained above, UBI is not a form of unemployment payment. You'd get UBI if you had three jobs.; 7/23/19, 8:00 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD:

No unemployment statistic has ever captured that — or improved on it — so please educate us on a better figure that doen’t ptove Your core premise

The point is that a low unemployment does not ipso facto mean that we do not have a problem with automation. Plus, automation has been a major factor of driving out factory jobs and the resulting demise in places like Ohio and Michigan. One of the reasons Trump won was his promise to "bring those jobs back."

On top of it all, the Democrat Party demeans their labor as “bolt-pushers” or “hamburger-flippers.”

What a great rah-rah for entry into the labor force... maybe they can be baristas on “Friends” instead.

I agree. The way low skilled labor is demeaned in our society is atrocious.; 7/23/19, 8:01 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Birkel:

The government shouldn't have given your family food to feed you with. Your parents should have gotten off their lazy asses and gotten jobs to feed you instead of asking the tax payers to do it. Right?; 7/23/19, 8:02 PM
J. Farmer said...: p.s. And you shouldn't have gotten free lunch at school, either. Your parents should have paid for that. Right?; 7/23/19, 8:03 PM
Birkel said...: The assumptions are great.
You don't have to keep proving you're a hate filled SOB.
We both know you wouldn't act this way in person.; 7/23/19, 8:04 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Birk,

He's doing questions.

Like Fox News does. Sorta like: "Is this that or another lib a communist who hates America and loves terrorists?"; 7/23/19, 8:06 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Birkel:

The assumptions are great.

They aren't assumptions. They're what you told me. Unless you lied.

You don't have to keep proving you're a hate filled SOB.

Only hate little antagonistic fuckwits like you.

We both know you wouldn't act this way in person.

I use my photo, my real name, I've given you my phone number, my email address, and told you where I live. You're the one hiding behind a keyboard and a pseudonym tough guy.; 7/23/19, 8:08 PM
Birkel said...: adSs,
Your unblemished streak of useless word vomit is appreciated.; 7/23/19, 8:08 PM
Sprezzatura said...: So yur dog likes it?; 7/23/19, 8:08 PM
Birkel said...: Yeah, Smug.
I said I was self-made.
And I grew up rough.
The Smug is a fun stance.; 7/23/19, 8:10 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Farm should switch from the Fox News question format to the DJT 'a lot of people are saying' format.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-lot-of-people-are-saying-how-trump-spreads-conspiracies-and-innuendo/2016/06/13/b21e59de-317e-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html?noredirect=on; 7/23/19, 8:11 PM
J. Farmer said...: And I grew up rough.

That must've made you feel so inadequate. Well, Birkel, if it's any consolation, I think you're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it people like you. Hugs and kisses.; 7/23/19, 8:15 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: "I think Steve Sailer's notion of affordable family formation is largely a correct one."

Love ya, Farmer - but you gotta get away from Derbyshire and Sailer. These are right wing theoreticians leading you astray with bad, utopian ideas. No, we don't want a universal basic income, unless it's attached to a universal basic job, preferably in the private sector.

And, there's always gonna be a market for low skilled labor, even in the advent of automation. Cut the minimum wage and let 'em work, I say.; 7/23/19, 8:15 PM
Ralph L said...: Meade said...
Efuckative.

For the last 20 odd years, it's been eFuckative.; 7/23/19, 8:16 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: if you ask Ilhan Omar, she might say "Effjiemme"; 7/23/19, 8:22 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Bay Area Guy:

Love ya, Farmer - but you gotta get away from Derbyshire and Sailer.

The nationalist conservative intelligentsia is a rather small club. There's Pat Buchanan, too. And outlets like Taki's, VDare, and The American Conservative. Much preferable to the GOP Inc nonsense we get from National Review and other supposedly "conservative" organizations. What "bad, utopian ideas" are you ascribing to John Derbyshire? And given that Sailer laid out the exact strategy that led to Donald Trump's victory, I'd say he's a bit more than simply a "theoretician."; 7/23/19, 8:23 PM
nbks said...: Universal Basic Income is a good idea but it will only work if it REPLACES the dysfunctional patchwork of overhead-heavy social programs we currently have. If all the individual pieces of the welfare bureaucracy continues, you don't have enough $$ for UBI and you are saving nothing. You're just adding another benefit on top of the others.; 7/23/19, 8:29 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: I agree that National Review is bad now, but it was great under Buckley.; 7/23/19, 8:31 PM
J. Farmer said...: @jk:

Universal Basic Income is a good idea but it will only work if it REPLACES the dysfunctional patchwork of overhead-heavy social programs we currently have.

I agree. As I understand Yang's proposal, the UBI would be opt-in. And if you did, you would not be eligible for any other cash-type programs (e.g. food stamps, TANF, SSI).; 7/23/19, 8:35 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Bay Area Guy:

I agree that National Review is bad now, but it was great under Buckley.

I was never much of a Buckleyite. I prefer paleoconservatism.; 7/23/19, 8:35 PM
Birkel said...: Inadequate?
In your imagination that was probably biting.
But, then, you do not understand me.

But I called you Smug nearly immediately.
I get what you are.; 7/23/19, 8:39 PM
J. Farmer said...: Blah blah blah...wake me when it's over. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.; 7/23/19, 8:43 PM
gspencer said...: Pete's phone bank is sited down at headquarters for the Fudge Packers Union.; 7/23/19, 8:55 PM
Michael K said...: Sorta like: "Is this that or another lib a communist who hates America and loves terrorists?"

The best part is how they keep proving it.; 7/23/19, 8:58 PM
Gahrie said...: I was a big fan of Pat Buchanan until he went isolationist. The world is too dangerous to ignore.; 7/23/19, 9:04 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Gahrie:

I was a big fan of Pat Buchanan until he went isolationist. The world is too dangerous to ignore.

Buchanan has never been "isolationist." In fact, the Buchanan platform of suspicion towards unfettered immigration, "free" trade agreements, and foreign interventionism are the core of Trumpism. And I'd say that Buchanan's suspicions of the wars we've fought in the Balkans and the Middle East over the past 30 years have been vindicated. And I think he would agree that they have certainly not resulted in a less dangerous world.; 7/23/19, 9:08 PM
rcocean said...: "I was a big fan of Pat Buchanan until he went isolationist. The world is too dangerous to ignore."

Yeah, Pat wanted to cut the US Army and US Air Force back to 150,000 men and withdraw from NATO and abandon every US military base around the world AND tell England they were on their own. He was an Isolationist, just like Hoover!; 7/23/19, 9:08 PM
rcocean said...: It hilarious that if don't want 1.5 legal and illegal immigrants coming into to the USA you are a "Racist" "Xenophobe". And if you don't want a US military base in every Goddamn country in the world and ready to go war if Paraguay invades Uruguay or Russia invades Kazakhstan then you are ISOLATIONIST - just like Herbert Hoover.

It reminds me of dumbshit McCain who knew ZERO about economics - but would bring up the Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930 every-time anyone wanted to redo a trade treaty to favor the USA.; 7/23/19, 9:13 PM
rcocean said...: OMG the Russians have marched into South Ossetia! Its Hitler all over again!

And y'know who wasn't upset? "Isolationist pat Buchanan". Meanwhile, McCain was calling it the "Greatest foreign policy crisis since WW2". What a foreign policy genius. McCain - an unrecognized American Churchill.; 7/23/19, 9:18 PM
J. Farmer said...: And even Hoover wasn't an isolationist. Prior to his presidency, he had supported the ratification of the Versailles Treaty and American entry into the League of Nations. As president, he supported international arms reduction negotiations. During the 1930s, he refused to join the America First movement that had grown in response to Roosevelt's foreign policy. Non-interventionism is not the same thing as isolationism.; 7/23/19, 9:25 PM
William said...: I think if we subsidized a basic UBI for the citizens of Central America it could work out for the benefit of all concerned. They'd be spared the dangers and travail of the long trip to the USA, and the USA, in turn, would be spared the enormous expense of housing and feeding them upon arrival in the USA. Probably save a lot on health care costs too. Win win for everybody.; 7/23/19, 9:38 PM
J. Farmer said...: @William:

There's actually some conspiracy theories that the removal of subsidies from Puerto Rico was meant to cause people to leave the island and move to Florida, where the increased Puerto Rican presence is helping to make the state purple. I don't think I believe it, and I get your point, but it is food for thought.; 7/23/19, 9:41 PM
Known Unknown said...: I think neither of them would make a good president, but they seem like okay guys. '
Their ideas are each terrible and destructive.

Has anyone used the term "Yangbang" yet?; 7/23/19, 9:58 PM
Known Unknown said...: "...we are quickly approaching a crisis where a significant number of people will be unable to find productive work to support themselves."

Robot repair technicians?; 7/23/19, 9:59 PM
J. Farmer said...: Robot repair technicians?

Learn to code; 7/23/19, 10:03 PM
Known Unknown said...: " just think UBI is probably the least bad of all the options."

Do you honestly think the Dems would trade all the other mechanisms of welfare (which they control) for a single UBI.

That's laughable. A UBI-only proposal destroys the levers of control and perverse incentivization built into the current system that our resident totalitarians can't resist.; 7/23/19, 10:09 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Known Unknown:

Whether it would actually pass is a separate question. The closest example would be something like Clinton triangulating on the 1996 welfare reform. But no, generally, I am never optimistic about anything in politics. Always expect the worst, and you'll never be disappointed.; 7/23/19, 10:20 PM
The Gipper Lives said...: Shouldn't he be at the Sewer Board meeting?; 7/23/19, 10:29 PM
narciso said...: I think it's more in keeping with thoughtless fiscal and monetary policy like removing the deductibility of interest on real estate which the s&l portfolios were based on, or hiking interests rates that would collapse tranches in investment pools; 7/23/19, 10:36 PM
Narr said...: My normal, unconscious curse reaction is "fuck shit." When delicate ears are about I try for "dognabbit!" or the like.

Isolationism is a fucking unicorn in phlogiston. It has never existed as a real option at any time in the nation's history. The closest was probably Jefferson's policy of disarming while pissing everyone off, and it was desperate lack of ideas rather than an ideal of Isolationism that motivated it.

There are tendencies and preferences in our foreign policy for or against this or that engagement (economic, political, military, cultural, medical, sexual or whatever) but the category of Isolationist is in reality so small as to be mythical--and they have no influence. It's not a useful term of analysis, precisely because it's always used as a term of simplifying abuse.

Narr
Fuck shit it's late!; 7/23/19, 10:37 PM
Fen said...: UBI, sure.

Because I'm curious what happens when you bring an EBT card into a Gold Rush town.

Can we add some bleach and ammonia in there too?; 7/23/19, 10:47 PM
Fen said...: Sophomoronic is a fun curse that satifies both topics in this thread.; 7/23/19, 10:52 PM
narciso said...: Oh

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/169273; 7/23/19, 10:56 PM
Ken B said...: UBI > government agencies

The choice isn’t UBI vs nothing. We don’t and won’t and shouldn’t have the nothing option. What we have is a huge bureaucracy that is wasteful, perverse, and the core of the nanny state. UBI becomes the prime form of welfare, replacing umpteen agencies.It seems clearly better than what we have.
I think you still need legal aid and some form of catastrophic health care coverage.
It cannot work with open borders. No generous welfare state can but especially not that one.; 7/23/19, 11:06 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: "Do you honestly think the Dems would trade all the other mechanisms of welfare (which they control) for a single UBI."

Not a snowball's chance. As someone observed UBI would just be the start. All the other Free Shit would eventually be heaped back on for one simple reason. There's not enough money in America to protect people from their own shitty choices. I've seen it first-hand in all it's wondrous fucked-up variety.

Distillers and drug dealers would be the primary beneficiaries of any UBI scheme.; 7/23/19, 11:25 PM
n.n said...: UBI could not be a single, monolithic replacement of the welfare industrial complex. It could be used to reduce the overhead of its service, but would likely progress the attendant corruption. The first step is to mitigate progressive prices that are uncorrelated with underlying costs.; 7/24/19, 12:55 AM
Narayanan said...: Fransisco, what's the most depraved type of human being?

-The man without purpose.

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged; 7/24/19, 4:37 AM
MadisonMan said...: As if Yang is important.

There are inane questions asked of politicians ("Boxers or Briefs?") and they should be called out as such, every time. It's a good skill to recognize stupidity in a question.; 7/24/19, 6:33 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: Yang didn't even know that Cunt is the best swear word in the English language. Well that is assuming that the N-word isn't a curse word and just a terrible slur.; 7/24/19, 8:38 AM
Craig Howard said...: Just responding to the question and then trying to defend the choice of expletive, should be a strong hint that the aspiring candidate is inadequate to the times.

I suppose it's the "boxers or briefs" of the new millennium.; 7/24/19, 9:22 AM
Bilwick said...: UBI would be a great idea, if paid for by the rich "liberals" who advocate it.; 7/24/19, 9:26 AM
Doug said...: Buttgeig - "My favorite curse word is asshole.....oh, wait!"

Second try: "Oh, FUDGE!"; 7/24/19, 11:02 AM
Skippy Tisdale said...: "Well there is no requirement for it other than age and citizenship and there is no monitoring mechanism."

How do you suggest we determine whether someone is a citizen?; 7/24/19, 1:03 PM
Bunkypotatohead said...: How about we pay Latin Americans to take in our homeless?
Solve 2 problems for one low price.; 7/24/19, 7:55 PM