November 20, 2021

"The Blue States are the problem."

 

Meade sent me that after seeing the link at Maggie's Farm.  

If you see The New York Times as a Democratic Party mouthpiece, that video — “Liberal Hypocrisy is Fueling American Inequality. Here’s How" — might leaven your criticism.

102 comments:

Michael K said...

"Leaven"? As it make it rise ?

farmgirl said...

I’m halfway through this video. This is nothing new. I’m thankful you blogged on it- but- it’s not new and isn’t news. It’s blue…

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"people are not living their values"

That Palo Alto re-zoning example is the perfect example of the white democrat left acting like hypocrites.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

After watching that - someone please explain to me how the left are not greedy with their capitalism?

tim in vermont said...

So a video that attempts to hold the Democratic Party's feet to the fire on an issue like housing somehow proves that the New York Times is not a DNC mouthpiece? The purpose of the video is to attempt to push the Democrats to the left. There is never a question but that if only the Democrats practiced what they preached more purely, things would get better.

For instance, how can you talk about issues like lack of housing, lack of water, lack of reliable power in CA without talking about the massive illegal immigration that the state, and the New York Times, actively encourages? Well the New York Times finds a way.

If anything, perhaps this demonstrates that a couple of the useful idiots at the NYT have become dimly aware of their status.

gilbar said...

does Wisconsin have open enrollment across school district lines? Like iowa does?

does Any Blue state have open enrollment across school district lines?

Amadeus 48 said...

Well!

I expect changes in policy in all 17 states immediately...well, maybe after the next election cycle in some states, maybe.

You know, affordable housing could be manufactured housing. Some energy should be put into making manufactured homes esthetically pleasing. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns Clayton Homes. I'm sure he'd make San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area a great deal on some Clayton manufactured houses to help with their homeless problem.

Kevin said...

If you see The New York Times as a Democratic Party mouthpiece, that video —
Liberal Hypocrisy is Fueling American Inequality. Here’s How" — might leaven your criticism.


You think a plea for Moderate Democrats to move farther left supports your thesis?

Hmm.

Loren W Laurent said...

I have lived in red states and blue states, and can verify that many of the most hypocritical lesbians I have known corresponded with high urban density.

It is as if the uncomfortable proximity of others forces you to create a self that can insert distance, at least psychologically.

And -- since this self is the outer self -- the shell, the carapace, the cylinder -- it protects all kinds of Inner Thought from self-inspection. Indeed, it lets Inner Thought ferment in the dark, clouding any thought with emotionally drunk bravado.

Except the Inner Self slips out, and the Outer Self has no awareness of what that fermentation has wrought. Sorry, urban lesbians and the men just like you: your thoughts are not finely-aged wine. It is more akin to prison hooch, a distillation of shame and dirty secrets.

You. may think I'm wrong, but I have heard you fart in bed, so sit yourself down.

-Loren

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Democrats talk a good game but they are full of shit.

Yeah.

Be nice if another party could fight that.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Progressive decry Washington State's uniform taxation. All taxes must be levied equally on the same class of property in a jurisdiction, so says the state constitution. That means, for instance, that property taxes rate is the same no matter what a person's income is. Richer people tend to own more expensive houses, so they pay more in real estate taxes. Same for sales tax with food being exempt from taxation.

What progressive won't say is that welfare benefits go primarily to the poor. They won't show a bar chart showing state spending as a percent of income like they do taxes.

hombre said...

Democrats are hypocrites? Who knew?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The fact That big wealthy democrats like Bezos and Gates do not pay their fair share in taxes as BILLIONAIRES... Well.. NANCY is OK with that, because she and her family are Billionaires too.

Roger Sweeny said...

I cringed during the education part. At least since the Coleman report in the 1970s, it has been found that above a certain threshold (which 99% of America is above), spending on schools has no effect on student achievement. The reason that kids in poor areas generally do worse than kids in rich areas is that the kids in rich areas are generally smarter. Much of intelligence is hereditary and smarter parents tend to be more successful.

It's a nasty fact.

Browndog said...

"Liberal hypocrisy" does not exist. Your morals and standards do not apply to them.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

What this video didn't say is that the Washington State budget has been rising incredibly fast, much faster than inflation and population would dictate. We had a budget surplus at the start of the 2021 legislative session, but the legislature raised taxes anyways. The state government believes that the ideal taxation method would be for everyone to just send in 100% of their income to the state. That way, they wouldn't have to mess with such niceties as sales taxes and real estate taxes. After all, your income doesn't really belong to you, the state owns it and just lets you pretend to own it.

The state budget is bloated. What we need is to cut the state sales tax rate from 6.5% to 4.5% so everyone will have more money in their pocket. The budget surplus needs to be returned to the people and the state budget cut back.

rcocean said...

A nice video. Why do think all the Billionaires are Democrats? why do you think the massive income inequalities exist in many blue states? Why do you think the Democrats constantly snark about Corporations and "THe Rich" but never actually tax the rich when in power?

The fact is the big Donors have captured BOTH Parties. that's why they both hated Trump so much. He was the only one who seemed to be (as opposed to actually) in favor of enforcing the immigration laws, negotiating better trade deals, taxing/regulating Big Tech, and doing something that the average American wanted and would benefit from.

The first thing the D's have done under Biden is implement energy policies that have sent GAS prices soaring, plus they're spending $trillions on pork and graft, bascially fueling inflation and printing more money, and opening our borders to millions of illegals.

If you're Jeff Bezos or Mitt Romney (who has 12 houses) you don't really care. The people hurt are the working and lower middle class and those on fixed pensions.

rcocean said...

Mike has stolen my thunder on washingon state. The reason people in washington have always voted down a state income tax is because they know if they get a income tax, it will just be ADDED to the sales tax. Just like it is in calf, ny, etc.

Years ago, the Pols promised that the income tax would REPLACE the sales tax but everyone knew that was a lie. Sooner or later there would be some hokey EMERGENCY, and presto chango we'd get a sales tax AND an imcome tax.

Washingon state is full of libtards, but its lucky to have no Detroits, Altantas, or LAs. you don't have a large minority which votes 86% Democrat NO MATTER WHAT. So the Ds can be wacky and crazy but they can't go too far in pissing off the middle class soccer moms.

Gahrie said...

The purpose of the video is to attempt to push the Democrats to the left. There is never a question but that if only the Democrats practiced what they preached more purely, things would get better.

True. However if nothing else it is a sort of Kinsley gaffe, an own goal. It confirms what we on the Right have known for decades, and will be ignored by most of those on the Left, but it could have a positive effect on those in the middle.

I know that if I was to show it in my 11th grade US History classroom when we go back to school, I'd probably be suspended by the end of the day, and my kids are the ones who need to see this the most.

Wince said...

A good report, but the implication they didn't point out is how the issue of "anti-racism" has been intentionally co-opted by Democrats specifically to distract from their hypocrisy on fundamental economic and quality of life issues affecting the lower classes, specifically by attempting to turn them against one another on the basis of race.

Gahrie said...

"Liberal hypocrisy" does not exist. Your morals and standards do not apply to them.

I'm OK with that actually. What pisses me off is the fact that THEIR morals and standards don't apply to them.

Koot Katmandu said...

Nice to see the times do something like this. I wonder why they did not use any New York examples? The times can still be a D mouth piece and occasionally critic the left.

I also wonder why they needed to do this. The hypocrisy could not be any clearer.

Severely Ltd. said...

This doesn't make me think more highly of the Times the least little bit. They aren't admitting or even exploring the problems of leftist policy, they're just trying to shame their own into living up to them.

While I enjoy the hypocrisy being exposed, the Time's implied correction wouldn't do much to remedy the problems pointed out. For instance, the answer to poor public schools isn't more funding; doing away with teacher's unions and allowing school vouchers would go much further toward improving education. And on down the line...

Gahrie said...

The reason that kids in poor areas generally do worse than kids in rich areas is that the kids in rich areas are generally smarter. Much of intelligence is hereditary and smarter parents tend to be more successful.

While there is some truth to this, (think Ben Carson not raising his children in the community he grew up in for instance) and lower average IQ is certain populations is real, the largest factor is culture.

If you are born into a culture that glorifies thugs and criminals, justifies men having multiple children by multiple women and being responsible for none of them, condemns academic success and other positive behaviors like punctuality and productivity as "acting White", (Not to say has a clear understanding that whatever "acting White" is, it's bad) and is constantly telling you how oppressed you are and that you can never be successful; you are going to be less successful than those who aren't.

chuck said...

And the solution is... more government?

AZ Bob said...

Why is there no mention of values? The NY Times wants you to think that the homeless will all go away if we just change zoning or more money for poor neighborhoods will solve social ills. Many of us, including Ann, went to public school before the use of computers. Did we receive an inferior education?

Mr. Sheufelt said...

It would have been nice if they had included the state and local tax deduction debate. Democrats are repealing the cap so that those folks living in the 5 million dollar house in Palm Alto don’t have to pay as much federal tax because they own such a valuable asset. The Democrats federal policy are as hypocritical as their state policy.

Drago said...

"If you see The New York Times as a Democratic Party mouthpiece, that video —
Liberal Hypocrisy is Fueling American Inequality. Here’s How" — might leaven your criticism.


Wrong lesson learned.

What you are seeing is that the right/left R/D splits of the past are morphing as the major realignment we are experiencing continues to accelerate.

Focusing for just a moment on the dem/left/liberal portion of the realignment, this video represents what we have seen with Bari Weiss, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, Tim Pool, Michael Tracey, lately with Andrew Sullivan and others who are agreeing with a Tucker Carlson, for example, and a large portion of the republican base that has become much more working class/America First/populist, that its no longer about Rep/Dem at all.

As rcocean above described well, its about the completely and irretrievably corrupted "leadership" classes and their faux "expertise" which has been fully exposed as galactic incompetence and openly working against the interests of their own people.

You'll get more honesty and truth from 15 minutes of listening to a Glenn Greenwald talking to Tucker Carlson than you will in a couple of years listening to National Review or The Bulwark or any of the other grifter talking heads.

The video presented is interesting and is just the thing Dean Baquet or Bari Weiss might have done at the NYT.....before they were shown the door.

And they both were.

So this video and its editorial slant made it thru the woke filter at the NYT. The proof will be in whether this continues or it too is shown the door in time.

The eye of mordor can't look everywhere at once.....

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Glad the NYT is finally figuring out things that I figured out back in 1983.

Original Mike said...

The taxes vs income graph can't be right. What are they defining as income?

The housing problem? Yeah, Dems own that.

Education; I believe Wisconsin deals with that by shoveling a lot of general tax revenue to the poor districts. Should they do even more of that? I don't know. Like Roger says, poor education in the US is not a consequence of not enough money.

Rabel said...

He's so dreamy!

Like, I thought I was having some sort of MTV flashback. Or like maybe reliving a Saturday morning cartoon binge. Was that Optimus Prime in one of the quick cuts?

But the point of the video is that the locals are not living up to the dictates of the national party as demanded by the Party Platform on a couple of specific issues.

And they're using this guy to sell those unpopular issues to the youngsters, so, they are very much speaking for the Party.

Also, quite a bit of propagandistic bullshit mixed with the few facts presented (note the slick transition to a focus on state and local taxation as non-progressive).

Liars lie.

M said...

They were doing well until they had to fall back on “poor and immigrant families do better in blue states”. No they do not. I am from Florida and have known thousands poor and/or immigrants during my life. I worked in social services for a while. Poor people and immigrants as a whole do better in red states because they have more opportunity to advance on their own initiative. This gets them out into the world interacting with American citizens and learning American mores. Blue states give them welfare and they congregate in their own little enclaves with “people like them” where they perpetuate the behavior and practices that kept their own cultures from advancing into the 21st century. They do not embrace becoming American. This works the same for inner city welfare blacks and white trash as it does for Somalis and Bosnians.

No matter how hard Democrats try to see their own faults they just can’t bring themselves to accept the fact that their entire ideology and world view is incorrect. Democrat policies are NEVER best practice for any situation and haven’t been for a long time. I can’t think of any Democrat policy that was better than a Republican policy in the last twenty years. And Republicans are weak and ineffectual. What does that make Dems?

The Crack Emcee said...

The Blue States are all NewAge strongholds. Leave that out and your analysis makes no sense. They're the people who buy what Oprah's selling - racism and mysticism - but you guys ignore it. Which allows it to continue, unabated. Millions of people, doing yoga and meditation - which science says makes you a jerk - making themselves into jerks. People who don't know water from medicine. People who buy GOOP's advice. The authors of the anti-vaccine and flat Earth ideas.

How you guys are missing it, at this point, boggles the mind - and makes me wonder about the rest of you as well.

JK Brown said...

So the New York Times is now a mouthpiece for the Leftists in the Democratic Party and are going after the old school Democrats.

It's good that Roger Sweeney brought up the Coleman Report ['Equality of Educational Opportunity'] of 1966. The findings then and reaffirmed in a 2016 50 yr symposium is that family, and neighborhood, background is the controlling predictor of school achievement. But then, there's no opportunities for money in that like infrastructure and increase pay for teachers or increased high-paid administrators.

=======
"Altogether, expenditures and facilities have much smaller associations with secondary and postsecondary outcomes than many scholars and policy advocates assume. The overall conclusion of the Coleman Report—that family background is far and away the most important determinant of educational achievement and attainment—is as convincing today as it was fifty years ago."
https://conversableeconomist.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-coleman-report-n-equal-educational.html
========

And just recently the Democrats have been coming out hard that parents should have no input in their child's education. Some are now on the economic level mixing after the desegregation. But their theories keep failing. The theory is that if you have 75/25 middleclass to poor economic class mixture, like they did with white to black in the 1970s, that the 25% will rise up to the majority. But that only works, if you forcibly maintain the middleclass discipline and achievement culture/environment, which activists now use the Dept of Education to subvert.

In many ways those small school districts, divided by income, are indicative of parental involvement and prioritization of educational achievement, which makes the use of the better facilities. School choice is solution, no slush funds of tax dollars.

Lars Porsena said...

Yeah, it's the zoning that's causing a steep rise in housing prices in CA. Inviting millions of illegals (3.1 million est.) can't have any impact on housing.

Gospace said...

Mike of Snoqualmie mentioned property tax rates. IIRC, there are a handful, ;possibly less then a handful, of jurisdiction in the USA where land is taxed. Just land. You pay property taxes by the acre or part thereof. Improve the property? Make it worth more? You still pay the same. Why should you be penalized for improving the property? Build a million dollar home on a quarter acre lot? You pay a quarter of the taxes that a modest bungalow owner on 1 acre pays. IMHO, immanently fair. Have talked about this a few times with others who yell about how unfair it is! Amounts to- "I'm jealous of the well to do! They should pay more!" Another advantage of this is- let's say your parents built their house in the 1960s- and their income stayed modest and their retirement is equally so. But home prices in their well kept neighborhood exploded! They won't be forced to sell and move because taxes are not more then their house payments ever were.

The same comes up with fire taxes. I live in a fire district in NY. Pay taxes to them- fire districts don't always follow town boundaries. If I fail to pay taxes, my house can be sold out from under me at a tax auction. In SC where i Lived the VFD came around yearly for a "donation". I cold choose not to donate. And then under state law incorporating VFDs there- if my home caught on fire they would show up, and if there were people in the house, not animals, people, they would be required to attempt rescue. If not, they were there to keep the fire from spreading to my neighbors who donated. Again. completely fair. In NY if I fail to donate, um, er, fail to pay taxes- I lose my home. In SC if I failed to donate, I risked losing my home. Why can't I take that risk here?

The Crack Emcee said...

You guys just want to attack liberals, or the left, or Democrats - someone in a political context - when it's a spiritual battle they're fighting. That's why it permeates politics, celebrity, sports, science and medicine - all of it. Only religion can move through society like smoke. Remember my wife's closing words:

"We're in the hospitals - we're getting 'legit' - you'd better 'get it' before it's too late!"

That was in 2005.

It's waaay too late, Folks.

tim in vermont said...

Basically, the only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from this video is that the New York Times has been a very successful propaganda mouthpiece which has greatly redounded to the benefit of the billionaire class which, surprise, surprise, comprises the power elite of the Democratic Party.

Why did the billionaires want Biden? Because the foremost quality that a class swimming in money wants from a politician is that that politician be nakedly for sale. After all, each of them gets but one vote, and where is the justice and fairness in that? So they buy mouthpieces like the New York Times and Washington Post, newspapers which drive the agenda of news reporting in the United States.

Yancey Ward said...

At 6:18 in the video, Appelbaum displays his obtuseness when he says, "People aren't living their values," (talking about Palo Alto's voters changing the zoning back to what it was- single family homes). People always and everywhere live their values- it is how we know what their values are. What he needed to say was, "People aren't living what they claim their values are." Sure, I am nitpicking this to some degree, but his false framing is fucking important, and he seems not to know this.

The Crack Emcee said...

If y'all focussed on NewAge, the way they focus on Evangelical Christians, you'd win your political battles. Instead, you're allowing them to run over us all.

In 2018, Seth Macfarlane pointed out Oprah can't run for President, because she spreads misinformation and pseudoscience, and what has the right made of this information? NOTHING. No expose's of her many lies on Fox News. No take-downs on The Five. No protests - no further examination, of what she's done to us, of any kind. As she pours her billions into whatever causes she wants. Tells whatever lies she wants. Elevates the careers of whoever she wants. And she's supported rapists and murderers.

THAT'S the problem.

Original Mike said...

Maggie's Farm is on my "every day" list.

tim in vermont said...

Did they even get to the part where one of the costliest single items in the BBB bill the House passed was a tax break for the wealthiest among us? You know, clawing back the SALT deduction over $10K that almost exclusively benefits the "One Percent." I kind of skipped around after listening to the first half, so I could be wrong that they never mentioned how the Democrats are attempting to ram through a giant tax break for their wealthy donors.

Imagine the New York Times, a fair and honest news organization, forgetting to mention that... It's.... inconceivable.

The Crack Emcee said...

The next time you're watching TV (or movies, or advertising, etc.) count how many times they're showing us something NewAge (people doing yoga, meditating, etc) and ask yourself: when and how did THAT happen? Who decided we need to be constantly exposed to non-Abrahamic spiritual practices in public - and that we're all in on this? And why is there NO counter-argument, or discussion of the dangers, anywhere?

Americans are allowing our nation to be consumed by a foreign idea, and it's called NewAge.

Rollo said...

There is no "them" in charge in the blue states, but Democrats can do what they like there because they can scare voters with visions of the red state meanies. So the red staters do play a role, if only in the imagination of the blue states.

Politics is a game where one uses the Feindbild of the opposition to gain power and then do nothing because one's coalition and financing will fall apart if one seriously tries to change anything.

I didn't watch the whole thing. I don't have a good data plan, and somehow the guy didn't seem "personable" enough to put up with, but it seemed like the message could just as well be Sandersite socialist as moderate.

Autocorrect turned "meanies" into "Melanies." How long before that becomes a thing?

Rollo said...

Was "hypocritical lesbians" autocorrect for "hypocritical liberals," or did I miss something?

Yancey Ward said...

Their list of non-progressive taxed states mirrors exactly those without income taxes- Washington State has no income tax, for example, and neither does Texas, Florida, Tennessee, New Hampshire (earned wages income), Wyoming, Nevada, South Dakota, and Alaska (there may be others, but these I know off the top of my head).

I tell people I know in CT how much I pay in total taxes here in Tennessee, and they don't believe me. We have a high sales tax- 9.75% for where I live- but no income taxes of any kind, and very, very low property taxes. I lived in Newtown, CT before moving here to Oak Ridge, and the sales tax there was still 6.3% along with the state income tax of about 5% for the income I had at the time, along with what was a $7,000 yearly property tax bill on a $400,000 home at the time (2014 when I moved here permanently).

Drago said...

The Crack Emcee: "You guys just want to attack liberals, or the left, or Democrats - someone in a political context - when it's a spiritual battle they're fighting."

Its as if you don't even read what others are writing.

effinayright said...

"Millions of people, doing yoga and meditation - which science says makes you a jerk - making themselves into jerks."
************

Really? Point us to the science.

Because tens of millions of Indians need to be...enlightened!!

♪ Have a nice day! ♫

pious agnostic said...

Rollo said...
Was "hypocritical lesbians" autocorrect for "hypocritical liberals," or did I miss something?

11/20/21, 12:05 PM


Someone wants us to know she's a lesbian.

stlcdr said...

Unfortunately it’s ‘well, duh!’

Mr Wibble said...

Mike of Snoqualmie mentioned property tax rates. IIRC, there are a handful, ;possibly less then a handful, of jurisdiction in the USA where land is taxed. Just land. You pay property taxes by the acre or part thereof. Improve the property? Make it worth more? You still pay the same. Why should you be penalized for improving the property?

Land Value Taxes are an old idea and one that is generally accepted by economists as the closest to a "perfect" tax, in the sense that it doesn't have any of the problems you find with other types of taxation.

I'd personally love to see the US switch to a LVT and modest tariffs as a means of financing the federal government. The LVT would likely have to be modified to deal with the Constitutional issues, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

Skippy Tisdale said...

"does Any Blue state have open enrollment across school district lines?"

Minnesota.

Joe Smith said...

If blue states aren't, then blue cities certainly are.

What a mess...hell holes all run by Dems...

'does Any Blue state have open enrollment across school district lines?'

That sounds suspiciously like crossing state lines, which is clearly bad...

Mary Beth said...

If you see The New York Times as a Democratic Party mouthpiece, that video — “Liberal Hypocrisy is Fueling American Inequality. Here’s How" — might leaven your criticism.

Why? It's just an illustration of what the video is talking about. The NYT gives voice to meaningless support for liberal ideals while it also continues to support the politicians and policies that undermine those ideals. The Democrats in those blue cities and states know that news outlets like the NYT will continue to support them even if they never follow through on their promises. They will never say, maybe we should give the Republicans a chance to see what they can do, they will always have a reason why the Democrats are the better choice, no matter how much they may disappoint.

Achilles said...

If you see The New York Times as a Democratic Party mouthpiece, that video — “Liberal Hypocrisy is Fueling American Inequality. Here’s How" — might leaven your criticism.

How did the New York Times get a hold of Project Veritas protected legal counsel communications?

Pretty funny since the New York Times is in a lawsuit right now with Project Veritas.

If someone sues you and you are the NYT's just have you FBI buddies go raid and assault your enemies.

The FBI, the NYT's and this illegitimate regime are all evil.

Anyone who pays any money to the NYT's supports this kind of gestapo bullshit.

Someone posted one insightful video. You are still supporting an absolutely evil organization.

R C Belaire said...

"does Any Blue state have open enrollment across school district lines?"

There are some districts in Michigan that allow this, but not many.

0_0 said...

>If you see The New York Times as a Democratic Party mouthpiece

No, I see it as a woke mouthpiece.

Roger Sweeny said...

@ Gahrie If you are born into a culture that glorifies thugs and criminals, justifies men having multiple children by multiple women and being responsible for none of them, condemns academic success and other positive behaviors like punctuality and productivity as "acting White", (Not to say has a clear understanding that whatever "acting White" is, it's bad) and is constantly telling you how oppressed you are and that you can never be successful; you are going to be less successful than those who aren't.

Certainly. But no one in America gets only those messages. Not even close. Everyone also gets lots of messages that directly contradict those. The big difference when it comes to school achievement is the smarts you are born with (and perhaps how conscientious a temperament you have and how much of an ability to defer gratification).

tim in vermont said...

The SALT deduction clawback for wealthy Democrat donors is the most costly individual item in the BBB bill. If that is not front page news on the NYT, then the New York Times is covering for the Demcrats.

Look at the numbers.

Eric said...

But this is a special case.

Quaestor said...

[This video] might leaven your criticism.

The NYT is sly enough to make conservative noises from time to time. The turkey call is meant to deceive the turkey.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I remember hearing about a rejected "Tiny Homes" development here in Georgia recently.

From the story in a local paper: The variance of 610 feet less than the minimum floor area of 1,150 requested by Tiny House Hand Up Inc. for a development off Beamer Road and Harris Beamer Road died without a motion following a public hearing.

“Nationwide, two out of three people who own a tiny home are either senior citizens or first-time homeowners.” Tiny House Hand Up Chief Executive Officer Haley Stephens. “They will allow the free enterprise system to help where government has been unable to, and they will interject the pride of ownership into each unit.”

Several citizens turned out to speak against the variance Monday night, including Butch Layson, who said his family has been developing a nearby subdivision and worries about property values in the area.

“I’m all for affordable housing,” Layson said. “I think it’s the wrong way to go about it. Seems like it’s out of the realm of the variance and that’s not the way to do it.”


link to story

Rockeye said...

Liberals in NYC who write for the NYT asking liberals in NYC and elsewhere to be more liberal does little to lead me to believe that their credibility should be better thought of.
When the Westboro Baptist Church tells it's members to double down on their peculiar brand of advocacy, well, I'm not seeing much difference.

Bruce Hayden said...


“Their list of non-progressive taxed states mirrors exactly those without income taxes- Washington State has no income tax, for example, and neither does Texas, Florida, Tennessee, New Hampshire (earned wages income), Wyoming, Nevada, South Dakota, and Alaska (there may be others, but these I know off the top of my head).”

Good friend is a resident of WA, but spends most of his time across the border in IS. Why? No income taxes in WA.

States with no state income taxes are, almost by necessity, going to look a lot more inequitable and regressive than the states that charge esp high state income taxes. The money has to come from somewhere, and that typically means, besides income taxes, also property taxes, sales taxes, and corporate taxes. Corporate taxes aren’t usually factored in in determining equity and regression of taxes (probably because it would make the rich look like they are paying a much bigger share). Sales taxes tend to be highly regressive, since the poor have to spend a much higher proportion of their income on necessities, as well as some quasi-luxuries. How many Navy blue blazers does Bill Gates need? I have a dozen, with much less than 1% of his net worth. After several houses, several jets, and a mega yacht, what else does he need to spend money on? And, a number of these can be purchased in states with lower sales or real estate taxes. MT, for example, has no sales tax, so I make my big purchases there.

Gunner said...

Do we really need a 14 minute video to confirm that lefties don't make their states into progressive utopias and instead blame their shortcomings on the few remaining Republicans in power there or in other states?

wildswan said...



Who really believes the premise of this video which is that there is some easy, simple thing to do after which we'd all be happy and free? Justice would rain down on earth if I would just stop glazing over when someone reads from the Dem Party Platform? I think not. Just as one can want police reform but not want the plans of the BLM to defund the police so one can want better lives for the people in big cities without thinking that there's an easy cheap way to get them to those better lives. This video is advocating destruction of suburbs (single family homes) and defunding of the good schools characteristic of suburbs. And the Dems states aren't "living-up" to this plan of progressive planners to destroy suburbs and suburban schools because, as the video makes clear, the Dem voters don't want that. Their hearts are in the right place and so are their heads but their hearts and heads aren't in the same place. Realizing this many are moving, literally and figuratively toward Republican states in which what the people actually want and what the politicians are actually trying to get for them are in touch with each other. What a concept! Government of the people, by the people, for the people. Maybe run a country on that principle someday. Gimmie the beat and free my soul ... Might lead to a civil war. Not easy.

RBE said...

Vermont has legislation where so called rich towns send part of their money from property taxes to so called poor towns. This was to equalize school funding across the state. Unfortunately, there was no equity between schools so a less than up to date school in a sending town had less money for improvements than receiving schools. I can see if schools are all brought up to date at the beginning then giving each district the same money per pupil might work but it has not worked as well as hoped here in VT, where it should have been easy.

Mary said...

Well I can tell you a lot of what’s said in this video is true. We moved from NYC to SF about 10 years ago and took our time looking to buy a place, when we started looking, about a year and half in, it was game over, too late. All cash buyers, paying 30% or more over asking price. A lot of buyers from China. We couldn’t compete. So we moved to Portland because it was the last city on the west coast that was somewhat affordable. We didn’t waste any time and bought a house within 6 months. And it’s a good thing we did because prices continued to climb, with a lot of people coming here from CA because they were priced out.
Now getting more to the point about the NIMBYs (Not in my backyard) yep, that’s real here too. Although in my neighborhood which is a lot of small single family homes (5k sq ft lots), mixed with some apartment building around, developers have been tearing down corner lots (10k sq ft lots) and building taller skinnier houses, so 3 houses on that one corner lot that have very little yard space, just a small deck and some side landscaping. Some people are complaining but it’s happening just the same.
Sorry I still got off track. I’m a nimby because there has been talk and a real possibility of creating a homeless camp a few blocks from where I live, and it’s adjacent to a neighborhood park that has a running track, off leash dog area, children’s playground. It would house about 60 homeless people in tiny shelters, with bathroom facilities, supposedly pre-screened homeless, the whole thing is pretty unclear. Big discussion on NextDoor and for the most part we don’t want it in our residential neighborhood. But there are some that seem to welcome it! I’m terrified it’s going to happen. Nothing good will come of this. One of the commenters on NextDoor was a homeless person, and she moved here to Portland, from Michigan, to be homeless! This is not the first time I’ve heard of this happening, people are coming from all over the country to be homeless here. I think the same thing is going on in CA because the weather makes it easier to live outdoors. Ah, dining Al fresco! It’s one thing for people to be mentally ill, can’t hold down a job, etc. And another for people to just be giving up and moving to Portland to be homeless.
And I do worry about our property value, we should care about that because we worked to be able to buy the house and maintain it.
Although maybe that’s not quite the same as people in Palo Alto wanting $5 million dollar homes built, but I think we feel it at all levels, it just seems more absurd in CA because it is!
Also people in WA state don’t pay state income tax, since we’re 15 minutes away they drive here and shop in Oregon because there is no sales tax. lol.

The Crack Emcee said...


Blogger effinayright said...

"Really? Point us to the science"

I'm at work, so this will have to do for now:

https://bestlifeonline.com/meditation-yoga-jerk/

The Crack Emcee said...

"If you are born into a culture that glorifies thugs and criminals, justifies men having multiple children by multiple women and being responsible for none of them,.."

That was the culture for a lot of the Founding Fathers.

who-knew said...

Very late to the game but can't resist adding my two cents worth. I agree that the NHT pushing Dems to the left doesn't really subtract much from their DNC mouthpiece reality. It's just them siding with the AOC wing of the party. Also, the problems identified are limited to those where they can plausibly claim (at least to themselves) that the problem is Democrats not doing what they say they want. It ignores many bigger problems that are instead the direct result of Democrats actually implementing their desired policies. For example, in California the extreme environmental regulations that the Dems support wholeheartedly, make life much more difficult for the poor they claim to champion. The high price of gas in California is a direct and desired result of the states environmental policies. Try being poor and paying 5 or 6 dollars a gallon for gas. And while the NYT wants to blame single family zoning for the high price of housing they conveniently ignore the environmental regs that keep significant areas of land off limits to new housing development. The same with education. It isn't unequal spending that has destroyed the public schools in the US, it is the educational theories coming out of the university ED schools. A return to actually teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic and actually enforcing school discipline instead of pushing identity politics would do more to improve poor schools than more funding.

Enlighten-NewJersey said...

When it comes to public school education the "progressives" have been living the dream for over 40 years in New Jersey. Rich communities pay for their schools through local property taxes and poor communities with the state's income tax. The NJ Supreme Court demanded NJ enact a state income tax and by law, the revenue from the income tax may only be used for "property tax relief. Worked like a charm.

New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation and the "poor" school districts spend about 2 times more per student than the "rich" school districts. For example, the poor city of Camden spends $43,611 per pupil. The richest town in NJ, which also has the highest property taxes in the state, Millburn-Short Hills, spends $24,433 per student. So how has this 40-year education spending spree worked out? Camden public school students have an average math proficiency of 8% and a reading proficiency of 14%.

Lurker21 said...

I guess we're lucky that politicians don't mean what they say and voters don't really want what they say they want. Honesty and consistency and real perseverance would bring the whole thing crashing down on us.

Lurker21 said...

And maybe we can add "leaven" to the list of words that mean both one thing and its opposite. I guess the metaphor is that unleavened bread is like dry, pure, hard politics or opinion and leaven makes it milder, more moderate, and more palatable, but the fact that leaven makes the mixture rise and grow can't be wholly ignored.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

The biggest problem with the California single-family house market is Proposition 13, passed in 1978. It severely limits the growth in the property tax on a house as long as that house hasn't been sold. So, people don't want to move because the taxes on the new house will be much greater that those on the old house. So the number of homes on the market is limited to those who need to move rather than to those who want to move. The limited supply of houses for sale vs. the demand for house drives up prices.

J Melcher said...

So the New York news media thinks the Democratic control of California, Illinois and Washington state is a problem? There are no examples in New York?

Paul Krugman who once in a while writes for the New York Times once described how economists as a profession have the least voice when they are most agreed among themselves. Controversy earns coverage. But when everybody is in consensus, it makes no news. As an example, Krugman says every economist of every faction, right or left or planned economy or free-market anarchist all agree that "rent control" destroys housing. What major US city exemplifies the issue of rent control? Can't the NY Times figure that out?

As a news organization, the Times is not living up to its own professed mission and values.

M Jordan said...

I’m gonna be honest, I prefer the hypocrite Dems to these two sincere (maybe) progs doing the video. The sincere ones are the ones who wreck communities with their Bolshevik ideals. A friend used to joke about the difference between Clinton and Gore, both of whom we detested (I’ve since changed in Clinton). “Clinton,” he said, “is a liar, a hypocrite, and a sleaze bag but Gore scares the bejesus out of me. Gore really believes his B.S.”

M Jordan said...

I must add that great quote that somebody somewhere once supposedly said: “Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue.”

effinayright said...

Yeah, Crack: yoga, mysticism, meditation and Oprah ...they all make people loot, riot, burn, kill....

Everyone knows that the peeps burning down Kenosha had just come from yoga parlors. Ditto Portland. Minneapolis, Seattle..... if you look closely at the videos you'll see them still carrying their mats under one arm, with their skateboards, hammers and firearms under the other!

I mean, it's obvious....right????

S N O R T

Narayanan said...

is this an acceptable premise for discourse in a civilized society : what is moral should also be legal

is USA maintaining / living up to this?

do the political parties subscribe to this?

is this the difference between blue v red states?

The Crack Emcee said...

effinayright said...

“S N O R T”

That snort is the exclamation point on how dumb you sound. Let’s examine the evidence:

“Yoga, mysticism, meditation and Oprah ...they all make people loot, riot, burn, kill….”

I’ve already given you a link to the science on yoga and meditation. They turn practitioners into jerks (Can we all agree liberals, etc., are being jerks right now?). Mysticism should be a self-evident no-no for any society realizing the dangers of misinformation. And Oprah? Do I think the woman who executive produced a series for Netflix, that made whites out to be the devil and turned five convicted rapists of a white woman into exonerated heroes, could be helping to cause riots? Yeah - put them all together - and I think it’s safe to say they add up to a cultural stew no healthy society is capable of swallowing without gagging.

“Everyone knows that the peeps burning down Kenosha had just come from yoga parlors.”

I said the problem was, specifically, the NewAge Movement - it’s been with us since the ‘70s - warping reasoning to the point where it doesn’t exist for the “spiritual but not religious”. It’s very likely some rioters would fall into such a category. People who defy reason. Whether they do yoga is irrelevant. NewAgers go to Whole Foods. NewAgers use homeopathy. NewAgers use chiropractors and the psychics on every corner. NewAgers are defying reality itself. Every cult uses yoga as a tool for control. But it’s not all of NewAge.

“if you look closely at the videos you'll see them still carrying their mats under one arm, with their skateboards, hammers and firearms under the other!”

When Gwyneth Paltrow was called out by scientists for saying things that weren’t true, she didn’t say “Wow, Y’all, you know more than I do and I’ll try to do better”. She said something to the tune of “Fuck you, if you come after me, you better bring your A-Game.”

That’s what NewAge does to people.

Gahrie said...

"If you are born into a culture that glorifies thugs and criminals, justifies men having multiple children by multiple women and being responsible for none of them,.."

That was the culture for a lot of the Founding Fathers.


Bull fucking shit.

Drago said...

J Melcher: "As a news organization, the Times is not living up to its own professed mission and values."

Those professed "mission and values" were developed and refined during the ancient, Pre-Wokified Paleo-White Supremacist Epoch and as such are only window dressing until such time as they are fully and completely expunged from all human memory in the coming Glorious People's Revolution.

I mean, obviously.

Dave said...

The Federal Government wants to take over zoning. This is a classic example of government causing a problem in order for government to solve it.

It's good rhetoric to use the blue states as an example here.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2021/04/14/zoning-biden-infrastructure-bill-would-curb-single-family-housing/7097434002/

I will admit I did not watch the entire video, nor did I read all the comments.

Joe T. said...

This video is a pretty good illustration of why so many people dislike progressives. They preach and condescend, then do exactly the things they accuse conservatives of doing.

Achilles said...

The Crack Emcee said...

"If you are born into a culture that glorifies thugs and criminals, justifies men having multiple children by multiple women and being responsible for none of them,.."

That was the culture for a lot of the Founding Fathers.

This is such a powerful argument. Good job Crack.

You have solved all of the problems of poor people in the country with this witty and totally constructive argument. Poor people everywhere should just follow your advice.

In fact they should apply it to every aspect of their lives.

It will make all of their lives immensely better by just avoiding all responsibility for every decision.

I am also positive that you will make the lives of all those kids much better by convincing their fathers to avoid all responsibility.

Jamie said...

"If you are born into a culture that glorifies thugs and criminals, justifies men having multiple children by multiple women and being responsible for none of them,.."

That was the culture for a lot of the Founding Fathers.


Cute bumper sticker. Even true, for some definitions of "thug," "criminal," and "being responsible" - but not for any contemporaneous definitions, only for postmodern ones.

I'm with the side that wonders why we who don't like the NYT would find our opinion "leavened" by this video. The issue I have with the NYT and those who love it is not primarily their failure to live out their stated values but the values themselves.

It was interesting to hear them go after their own, I suppose, but that's how purity tests work, and that's how leftist movements tend to roll.

gadfly said...

Or perhaps Fox News is the problem!

gadfly said...

MyPillow CEO and 2020 dead-ender Mike Lindell has announced plans to organize a protest outside Fox News’ New York City headquarters. “We are going to do something out in front of Fox News, I think we should have — you know, if people want to go down there, maybe we should give out Frank Speech [frankspeech.com] signs,” Lindell stated on his Friday evening broadcast. “They (Fox News) are a big part of our country being taken from us,” he continued, before calling the network he built his pillow empire by advertising on “controlled opposition,” which he said is the “worst” he has “ever seen in history.”

So Lindell thinks Donald Trump agrees with him about Fox?

Lee Moore said...

I only managed to last a couple of sentences into "Housing." It seems I can't even listen to the basic Democrat policy ideas, without my eyes rolling the full 180 back into my skull, never mind getting as far as any discussion of them.

No. The problems of the poor will not be solved if they get "affordable housing" in nice areas. Nice areas are correlated with unaffordable housing, because...they're nice areas. Astonishingly, well off people prefer to live in nice areas rather than nasty areas, and are willing to pay a premium to do so. Who'da thnk it ? Unaffordable housing is also correlated with well educated inhabitants, better cars, and a low concentration of sewage farms and chemical factories. How hard is this, really ?

Malnourished children in Africa live in households without induction cookers. Buying their parents induction cookers will not solve the malnourishment problem.

Freder Frederson said...

For example, in California the extreme environmental regulations that the Dems support wholeheartedly, make life much more difficult for the poor they claim to champion. The high price of gas in California is a direct and desired result of the states environmental policies.

Of course strict environmental regulations also benefit poor. Do you want cheap gas or clean air? Lead poisoning or clean water?

The Crack Emcee said...

Just because you guys want to put the actions of slave owners out of your minds, doesn't mean everyone is capable of such self-deceit.

effinayright said...

Freder:

"Of course strict environmental regulations also benefit poor. Do you want cheap gas or clean air? Lead poisoning or clean water?"
********************

False Dichotomy, call your office!

Freder, it utterly escapes you that two years ago California (aside from LA and Bakersfield) had clean air when gas was half the price.

Poor people hardly benefit from having to pay twice as much for gas as they did two years ago, w/o any improvement in air quality.

And what's this crap about lead in water? Leaded gasoline hasn't been sold in the US for more than thirty years. Where's the lead coming from? Household pipes haven't been made of lead for more than FIFTY years.

I'm sure Khan Academy offers a "Remedial Critical Thinking 101" course for dopes like you.

Titus said...

Boston and mass are very blue but are rarely mentioned in these type of articles. It’s always California, Portland and Washington.

Yes Harvard is awful, but we want more hate for Boston and Mass. thanks dolls!

effinayright said...

The Crack Emcee said...
Just because you guys want to put the actions of slave owners out of your minds, doesn't mean everyone is capable of such self-deceit.
**************

How does self-deceit enter this? Every adult white in America knows that some people owned slaves, particularly in the South, until about 150 years ago.

But for the vast majority of all white Americans, they weren't OUR ancestors, so....why should we obsess about long-dead people we never knew?

Aside from you demanding that we give you money (because that's all you really want), what's the point?

Achilles said...

The Crack Emcee said...

Just because you guys want to put the actions of slave owners out of your minds, doesn't mean everyone is capable of such self-deceit.

Crack is solving all of the worlds problems today.

Obviously what we need to do to help Poor Black people in inner cities is take money from mostly poor white people and give it to government bureaucrats to spread around to all the poor black people.

I am sure the government will make sure at least 10% of that money actually gets to Black people.

They don't need solid families, better educational systems, better jobs or anything like that. That's stupid talk.

They need white people to accept their guilt and start paying up.

Keep it up Crack. Everyone is totally hanging on every word you type here in this vein.

Gahrie said...

Just because you guys want to put the actions of slave owners out of your minds, doesn't mean everyone is capable of such self-deceit.

Apart from the slave owners themselves (and not even all of them) everyone thought slavery was evil and unjust. One of the strongest arguments against slavery was the rape of slaves by their owners. Slavery was accommodated, never celebrated, in order to create and preserve the Union, the entity that eventually did free the slaves.

Chris Lopes said...

"Of course strict environmental regulations also benefit poor. Do you want cheap gas or clean air? Lead poisoning or clean water?"

Ah yes, the either/or fallacy. You know the other guy doesn't have a reasonable argument when he pulls that one out. It's a weak argument made by lazy people.

Freder Frederson said...

Freder, it utterly escapes you that two years ago California (aside from LA and Bakersfield) had clean air when gas was half the price.

So have California requirements changed significantly changed in the last two years? Gas is more expensive everywhere and that has nothing to do with environmental regulations.

And what's this crap about lead in water? Leaded gasoline hasn't been sold in the US for more than thirty years. Where's the lead coming from? Household pipes haven't been made of lead for more than FIFTY years.

Apparently, you haven't heard about flint, MI. There are still lots of lead water lines out there, because we have neglected upgrading our infrastructure.

Drago said...

The Crack Emcee: "Just because you guys want to put the actions of slave owners out of your minds, doesn't mean everyone is capable of such self-deceit."

Nonsense! We were just discussing NFL team owners yesterday along with how much black NBA stars and others like yourself actively support the ChiComs enslavement of Uyghurs.

I have to admit, your incredible and over the top support for the enslavement of people of color in China today is very disappointing.

I guess you just dont see them as your equal with your superiority complex.

Shameful and despicable.

You should spend some time working on your empathy.

walter said...

Wait till the Yoga mandates hit. Crack will long for good ole days of racist whiteys exercising from a distance. Under new orders he will have to stare past white fat asses...or at them. Because..you know the thing!

Drago said...

Field Marshall Freder: "So have California requirements changed significantly changed in the last two years? Gas is more expensive everywhere and that has nothing to do with environmental regulations."

LOL

Tell me you know nothing about boutique and/or reformulated gas requirements, by state, which is driven by state/regional political policies without telling me you dont understand any of it.

We'll just take those requirements, which create unnecessary scarcity by market, add them to Biden's Earpiece's war on oil and gas, and reckless fiscal policy and voila! "Unexpected" gas price increases.

"Unexpected"....(wink wink)

Even though that is also the specific and desired result of Biden's Earpiece's administration.