Ha, just doing my part. I genuinely believe China poses the biggest threat to the U.S., the world, and our entire way of life, so I'll do whatever in my power to help change that. I'm only one guy, but if it turns into a larger trend in our society, it'll have a profound and positive impact.
Yup, was just looking at one of those web graphics myself. It's really useful, and has really helped me avoid crap products from crap companies. I've recently moved to a place that has a ton of farmers markets, and food co-ops (instead of grocery stores) that sell mostly local food (from farms, etc) and smaller brand items, so that's been great.
I've moved on from Amazon and the like (for the most part), and have been buying all U.S. made products (with some exceptions, but nothing from China anymore). All my kitchen appliances are now U.S. made, have switched clothing to all U.S. made, some great U.S. boots and sneakers, and the only area that isn't fully U.S. made is my hi-end HiFi/Stereo as well as home theater system. But even there, nothing from China. Have some Canadian speakers, a british turntable and preamp, a U.S. owned and designed but assembled in Taiwan power-amp, and a few products from a Danish company. My home theater is all Japanese, except the T.V. which is an LG (Korean, I believe, but I think they are now using screens built in China -- however, mine is a 4K OLED, and while I believe they are now only made in China, mine was purchased just before LG stopped using OLED screens made in Korea). And all my music/guitar equipment is U.S. made, right down to a handwired amp, and handmade boutique effects pedals, all made in U.S.
All in all, it's not easy, but it's doable... and while more expensive, you're getting quality products that last, and/or are easily fixable. My stereo pre and power amp, for instance, are build in such a manner that not only should they last for years, but can be easily fixed (or maintained, like recaps, etc) myself if needed. Done with chinese junk that's meant to break and be replaced
Make sure you look into everything Nestle owns. The grocery store is comprised of (food wise) probably about 80% of products made either by Nestle, Pepsi Co, Modelez or Coca Cola (might be missing one or two), and they all make a ton of brands you'd never know were owned by them (for instance, no more garbage like hot pockets or DiGiorno )
Oh wow, I knew John Wayne was vocal about it (and obviously Reagan) but didn't know Walt was part of it. I've been saying it for a while (since I was in a history program, even before Trump ran for office): McCarthy was right
and not even just cartoons. He was behind a lot of the news reels run before movies, too. Then it continued after WWII, when he used to run [forget the name of TV show] where Von Braun would explain NASA's newest technologies and how we were going to get to the moon, etc
To be fair, it had a weird "surveillance state" vibe when my friends and I went in January 2018 (well, to disney world in FL). They had dogs when you enter, and they also had eye scanners to get in. Mine would never work, and they'd start taking pictures of me and running fingerprints.... just to get into a theme park.
Then, they knew where we were the entire time. We'd be walking around, and there'd be random signs saying things like "Welcome [my name, friend 1, 2 and 3's name.") Same when we were on rides, they'd have personalized messages and whatnot. The sniffer dogs, thankfully for us, are not sniffing for anything except explosives, which is fair -- but it was still creepy on a number of levels.
Yea same, FedEx is stellar for me -- their cheapest shipping option takes 2 days max to my house from anywhere in the country. Except USPS is definitely the worst for me. I hear a lot of complaints about FedEx, but for me, they've been great (and I receive packages almost daily)
Appreciate your input. Yeah I've been in academia (for work and as a student) for over a decade so I've seen a lot, and watching the changes over time has been... interesting. Working at the business school and being in those classes regularly isn't too bad, but leaving every single class/lecture, symposiums, workshops, etc from my own program angry and frustrated every day has left me kind of jaded -- not to mention, being genuinely ostracized and persecuted for anything ranging from well-argued (but not "woke") positions, to simply being a straight, white male (literally have had students tell me I only got an A because I was a white male, and having nothing to do w/ my hard work) has gotten tiresome... these are not my people (so long as they're going to be so closed-minded and full of hate and intolerance).
I still enjoy the real aspects, doing legitimate (and not politically biased w/ an ulterior motive) research, writing papers, teaching (and as you said, not on an ideological foundation, but instead encouraging debate, teaching how to think over what to think, etc), but dealing with admin/faculty, genuine and open marxist and communist professors, dept heads dictating, in too many ways, what the professor can and can't teach or assign, and having a better understanding of the politics of academia that happens behind the scenes, has just left a really bad taste in my mouth and I don't know that I want to have to navigate it much longer. Serving on the editorial board of our academic journal has been incredibly eye-opening as well (and not in a positive way, outside of it at least helping me better understand the legitimacy of peer-reviewed sources).
Yup. Not the school I'm at, but there is no shortage of insanity across the board in academia (ranging from responses/policies regarding the virus, to their bread and butter race-baiting, propaganda/indoctrination, spewing hateful ideologies that turn well-meaning but naive children into hateful and intolerant bigots who think they're pious, moral and tolerant, etc. Being a bit older, non-traditional student, having worked full-time and laborious jobs in the real-world, and just having real world experience and the capacity to think critically or with common sense, has made being a grad student a downright dreadful experience.
I initially wanted to finish a Ph.D to become a professor and help bring about change, and actually... you know... teach (properly), but I'm starting to think no amount of people like me can make enough of an impact in academia -- the once great American institution is too far gone, sold out to the globalists, and serving more as social-engineering and indoctrination centers (along with gatekeeping to ensure "research," is only allowed, published, and/or taught if it neatly fits into their narrative and broader agenda for society)
Welcome to the side of happiness, sanity, patriotism, tolerance, and diversity of thought!
We don't care about your skin color, your sex, what "boxes you check," what your pronouns are, who you're attracted to (so long as they're consenting adults), or any other identity marker the left uses to divide, sow division and breed hate, so long as you care most about America, individuality, freedom and liberty. We don't care if we have some disagreements on policy, and we're happy to debate ideas with an open-mind that's willing to change when presented with hard facts and evidence.
Yeah that's kind of my plan. I'm just going to ignore the mass-spammed e-mails and wait to see if they actually directly contact me demanding I get tested... then I'll make some noise, but for now I'm hoping to just fly under the radar and slip through the cracks. I'm not playing into their fear-mongering
edit - I'm also wondering if there's any kind of medical exemption I could get? My brother's a doctor so he can definitely... help me out, if need be. I'm not going to put him in an awkward position to lie or anything, though, so I'm not sure what I could have him do that could help me get exempt, but there's gotta be something
2nd edit - or maybe some kind of religious exemption? I'm not religiously Jewish, but I'm technically Jewish since my mom is, so I wonder if I can play their game on that front and start calling them anti-semites? lol
If things continue as they are going, with as much distrust in everything (add in mail-in voting), it almost seems inevitable, with the election as the spark that ignites it. Regardless the outcome of the election, I see it happening, unfortunately, and pray I'm wrong and we're somehow brought together. The only way I see us coming together, though, is if something far worse/more tragic than civil war happens (say, a hot war w/ China that starts with their provocation), or something like full disclosure and aliens suddenly appearing lol
Agreed. Says 'group by christians against disney," or something, too; page doesn't add up, not buying it, not sharing it (unless more info comes out to change my mind)
We're there actually shootings at other casinos?
I haven't heard of any, but it wouldn't surprise me. My dad was actually in vegas when this happened, and right in the vicinity (he said he was between Mandalay and NYNY -- I haven't been to Vegas in forever but I'm pretty sure that puts him pretty much right next to where this happened), and he didn't see or hear of anything from other Casinos. Though I have seen some evidence of multiple shooters from Mandalay
Yup, this picture looks like it could be of my friends and me growing up in the 90s in typical U.S. suburbia. Was watching some home videos recently and one was one of my birthday parties, and it was great being reminded of all the friends I had in elementary school. Best friends were: black, a white Jew, a half egyptian half S American Jew, a Japanese kid, a puerto rican, and a catholic white (I hate how this sentence sounds, but we're talking about race, so... kind of necessary to phrase/describe it this way). Those were my best friends, then a number of other less close friends. Of those best friends, I'm still close to this day, ~25 years later, with 3 of them. Racism was (almost 100%) dead, and that terrified TPTB, so they brought it back
I'm peaceful as they come, and never ever in my life thought it could ever come to this, but I'm fully prepared -- mentally, physically, and logistically -- to go to war this November if they try and steal the election from Trump
Attempted delivery, recipient was not home - except I was home, in the kitchen, less than 10’ from the door making coffee... at 9AM on a Sunday...
Ha! I love this one -- had it happen to me on a day when I was literally on the front porch drinking coffee while the mailman was in the complex delivering. So, not only was I home, I was outside, visible, watching the USPS truck and carrier delivering mail and packages. We also have a common mail-room, too, so I've had a ton of similar experiences to you. They also have lockers for larger packages (if they don't want to drive to my unit/porch, and they also know they can leave packages w/ the property manager, whose office is located right next to/connected to the mail-room in the common/public building -- so there is genuinely never a reason to say someone wasn't home, or no access to delivery location, etc)
The main one I referenced (with the ~$200 in shipping costs with all their fuck ups), I remember calling my fiancee after I picked it up, while driving back home, giving a similar rant to her, and going off on "this happens so fucking often, I'm getting so tired of this bullshit! This is why our education system blows, this is why the DMV is a nightmare, and yet people still think universal healthcare run by the government is a good idea?!" I was going OFF lol. But yea, long story short... USPS quickly topped Comcast (my only option for internet) in being the worst company to deal with, worst customer service, most screw ups, most taking advantage of their customers, and least likely to ever own up to any mistakes they've made (and I'm sure I'm missing some/could add to that list lol).
Private sector always delivers better, cheaper, on time, more efficiently, better quality, etc, than the public sector. Even the "mUh RoAdS," argument doesn't hold up. Our public highways and roads suck, potholes everywhere, etc -- and repairs and any construction takes forever (because why not milk them for all the $$ they can make? No incentive not to). Meanwhile, the private/toll highways and bridges are pristine, maintained perfectly, a delight to drive on. I'd much rather just pay the $1-$2 toll and take the private highway, as opposed to using the shitty public highway that my taxes pay for, only for it's poor quality to cause damage to my car (which I've paid taxes on), to then have to get it repaired (and pay taxes on, at least parts), using money I earned that has, naturally, already been taxed. So when I'm foolishly asked "don't you like your roads!!?? ReeeeEEE!" in a tax argument, my response is always "I sure do, my private roads are fantastic. The public/tax funded ones? Not so much"
Can anyone provide any more information, particularly anything that could be used as evidence? My brother's a doctor and he could file a complaint or violation (I forget the exact phrasing/words, but a doctor carries a lot more weight; he was able to get an investigation and some serious charges brought against a local rehab for not providing proper/legal care by filing some kind of complaint to the medical board)
Someone call Juicy Smelly Air, I hear he's got the plug for rope and nooses.
Could try Bubba, too, but his stock is currently in use; wouldn't want to strip any mechanics of their ability to close the garage door when closing up shop
Yeah it's gotten so bad for us. I know FedEx is kind of spotty and a lot of people rag on them, but at least my location they've been great so I've been using them whenever I have the option. We've had the same sketchy stuff going on with USPS, with stuff marked delivered when it wasn't (assuming it's just so they don't get in trouble or meet some kind of quota or deadline), stuff going to other people's houses, and some just never showing up at all. Tracking often shows weird/non-applicable reasons for why something isn't delivered (entrance blocked, or something about an animal/dog, which we don't have, and no way for entrance to be blocked lol). Even had at least 5 express/overnight (which is the only "certified" USPS service that "guarantees" 1-2 day delivery... at a minimum of like $30 for shipping costs, outrageous!) either show up late, or get lost and never show up at all. If I call the local post-office the phone just rings endlessly. If you call the 1800 number, you sit on hold for 2 hours only to have your situation go unresolved anyway (they just tell you the same thing your tracking info says. "It says it was delivered, so it was delivered." Umm... well it wasn't, and that's why I'm calling, but thanks), and if you go in to talk to someone... well... you pretty much already outlined how that goes. USPS is the only company/service I've ever dealt with where the customer is always wrong, they will never apologize or take ownership of an issue, and always place blame on you or someone else, never owning up to their own mistakes.
Recently, I even had this issue happen: I ordered a really expensive stereo component overnighted, paid almost $100 in shipping (on a Wednesday) to guarantee it delivered by Friday because I was going out of town Saturday morning. Friday comes, and tracking info shows that, while at my local P.O early in the morning, it'll still be "arriving late," and that it won't be getting delivered that day, so obviously I'm incredibly pissed off. My mail is inconsistent, always coming at a different time (anywhere from 10am to 7pm), so I can't risk taking the chance that it gets delivered before I leave around 11am on Saturday (don't want an expensive product sitting on my porch for a few days), so I log in online to do a "package intercept" since it was already at my post-office on Friday/that day (but they wouldn't let me pick it up... also bullshit). So, I do the "package intercept" which cost around $15, that way I can grab it from the post office Saturday morning/the next day, before I leave town. Nowhere is there any fine print, or anything saying I'll have to pay more, it just says it costs $15 for them to hold it for me to pickup, so -- pissed off enough already -- I enter my CC info and pay the $15 online and it says it's ready to pickup the next day. So now, I've paid the almost $100 in shipping, plus that extra $15 to pick it up (because of an error THEY already made by not meeting the guaranteed delivery date), and get this: I go in Saturday morning, they grab the package for me, check my ID to make sure it's me, and as I'm about to grab it and leave, they tell me "ok, that'll be $88." They couldn't give me a reason, but it was the exact same amount that I had already paid to have it shipped. I'm still fuming over this despite a few months having passed lol. I legit spent almost $200 bucks in shipping on this item, about $100 of it being solely due to USPS fucking up and failing to own up to it. I've worked in retail for a lonnnnnnng time, in supervisor/managerial roles, too -- had something this bad happened, I'd have owned up, apologized, and refunded the costs in full. USPS, instead, decided to double the costs for their customer/me, because of their error
Sorry for the rant lol, I've just had so many bad experiences lately. Obviously this isnt a condemnation on every USPS employee before someone replies all butthurt, but it is a pretty broad condemnation, and at least a very strong one against my local P.O
edit - also worth noting: this is definitely a wider and bigger issue that many are experiencing, as I hear about it being spoken by people across the country. Further, there are a number of smaller companies I purchase stuff from regularly online, and almost all of them, in the past month or two, have stopped using USPS, many of them even noting on their website all the shipping issues they've been encountering, and/or rising costs, and that they've been forced to switch to UPS and/or Fedex -- so local and smaller businesses/shippers are experiencing this as well on the other end. I'm more than happy with it -- standard/cheapest shipping option with FedEx usually has the package to me by 10-11am 2 days later (legit faster than when amazon and USPS were capable of 2 day delivery... that's vanished, leaving me wondering why the hell I'm paying for amazon prime)
Same, but it's just anecdotal. My brother's a doctor, cousin's a doctor, dad's a pharmacist, another cousin a dept head in public health, and I'm in public health myself -- all conservative. The two doctors of the bunch (my brother and cousin), while both conservative, are also both very... I guess balanced, non-controversial, rational, neutral, and don't really talk politics with anyone -- I just know they're conservative because I'm close with them, but they don't share it with anyone else really.
Genuine question/not being snarky:
If the logistics aren't an issue, then how come USPS has gone to absolute shit, with crazy shipping times, packages getting lost regularly (at least for me), and mail generally taking significant longer, ever since March when the country essentially went to lockdown and everyone started relying more on the postal service to get their goods to them? Seems to me a major surge in items requiring processing and delivery through USPS has already been a logistical nightmare during Covid, and a second major surge in the way of election ballots would only further strain the already strained and struggling system
Society did not construct my dick. I am deeply offended
Agreed. Obviously my numbers look nothing like these, but if I were to do the same with my savings and investments, using the same dates, I'm worth more than double today than what I was worth in March (and it is a somewhat sizable amount/not like I went from being worth $500 to $1000 or something lol, just not talking millions or billions like theses guys obviously)
Don't underestimate the safety-net shit teachers like this one have by way of the teacher's union
source: taught for one year before getting the fuck out of the public education system, getting graduate degrees and no longer working for a communist institution that encourages mediocrity, doesn't reward good teachers, doesn't punish bad teachers, and gatekeeps to where the truth can't be taught, and ideas can not even be debated -- one narrative allowed, teach them what to think, not how to think, and prepare their minds to be even more malleable for when they enter college