I read once that Chappelle pays off-duty police for security.

And I couldn’t help thinking that he’d become a character from his show: A black American who’s mind is so captured by wealth, so out of touch, that he actually pays the pigs to follow him around.

Comedy comes from being able to see the world clearly, and Dave stuck his head in a bag of money and hasn’t pulled out to look around once.

what Ad Patrick is describing is not tax fraud. It’s called fine art. And there are industries that support this scheme including duty-free storage at international airports so you don’t have to pay duties on your tax shelter. Many works of art never leave these warehouses, never viewed by anyone, even the owner. They simply exist to hold value and get a new label when sold.

Fonzi and “Grease” greaser stereotypes that were popular at the time

Isn’t it funny how we look back to 80s as nostalgia, but so much of that was recycled 50s nostalgia. Has anyone ever lived through and authentic era?

Rent-seeking middlemen. This is the pinnacle of capitalism. Taking revenue while providing nothing is maximum efficiency. You can tell because it raises prices invisibly for everyone.

This is just a baby version of how credit card companies have placed a 1%-5% sales tax on the global economy. You might say “at least the CC companies provide a service”, but that tax get’s added no matter if your using a CC or not.

Superman is perhaps the most boring character in all of fiction. It’s not even a character really, it’s is a brand.

Student loans have dulled price-point as a major consideration for choosing a school. So they compete on other non-academic stuff that tends to raise the tuition like sports, amenities, and prestige.

If a genie told me I could erase all land-mines or two-stroke leaf-blowers, I’d choose landmines, but the silence while I considered would be uncomfortably long.

Grade school grammar is not a proxy for intellect or education. I’ve never read an author who had half the respect for grammar that Chat GPT does.

These are not the same person. They fit the description, and where near the scene. Police would want to talk to both regardless.

Nevermind the Tax stuff. I was soooooo looking forward to his gun charge going to court.

if you don’t know, he was charged with perjury because when you buy a gun you have to check a box that says you haven’t abused drugs in 90 days or some shit. With this SCOUTS, it would be hard to imagine this provision surviving a challenge. After all, if we accept that buying a gun is a right, then some government agency can’t deny you that with an arbitrary rule.

The gun nuts would be forced to choose between persecuting Trump’s enemies and gun rights.

The first half of your comment is an acknowledgement that you don’t understand American culture and the second half is you casting declarative judgement upon it.

I don’t know which one of your minds to respond to.

Consumer goods become cheaper through innovation and economies of scale. Freeze drying is a mature technology with limited appeal.

It’s a good point that competition can drive animals to areas they wouldn’t choose. But it’s also true that pioneering a new niche can lead to animals thriving rather than just surviving.

Negative Income tax could operate like UBI. The hero of neoliberalism Milton Freedman supported a scheme to transfer wealth like this.

Of all the narratives around Harris’ loss, misogyny and racism are the factors that fit the data.

The simple answer to your question is no. Language is as much about distinction and exclusion as it is about description. The word “circle” stands for the description and properties of the circle, but would be incoherent if it did not also exclude straight lines.

You can often find examples where some things are considered premium or desirable not for the properties is has, but for what it lacks. Just think of all the products marketed to not have something like BPA, fat, sugar, Carbs, gluten, asbestos, lead, and even cruelty.

The short answer is you don’t. Even in philosophy, a leading model of “truth” is something like “a statement is true if it’s true”. We humans are doomed to be confused and unsure.

Ted is a forum for reassuring rich liberals that they’re good and smart.

What’s learning good for?

I had an anatomy instructor who insisted that neural activity was a purely chemical process and that the electromagnetic stuff was just a byproduct that got all the attention because it was easy to detect. His central argument was that nerve transmission speeds are no faster than 150m/s which is somewhat slower than the speed of light you’d expect if neurons were little wires transmitting signals.