If it’s no longer possible to “speed” – if cars become automated and drivers become passengers – won’t the government lose all the money it currently mulcts from “speeding” drivers?
Of course not.
The revenue will simply be collected via other means. Which means will probably involve much more than merely the collection of revenue.
Distance, for instance, will probably be the replacement tax – applied generally. And emissions per distance. Too much of either – as decided by the government – and we’ll probably be more than merely mulcted.
The car – automated, remember – simply won’t motorvate.
That is, it won’t move once you’ve exceeded your allotted monthly/weekly/annual distance or emissions allowance. Those who control its movement – not you, remember – will decide when it does and doesn’t move as well as how far it moves, in addition to how it moves.
Your automated car’s movements can be programmed in our adjusted as it moves, according to its movements.
And all these movements known in fine detail by those who control the automated car.
It is not generally known – yet – but a large percentage of current cars still nominally controlled by us and so autonomous already have embedded within their electronic systems the means by which they can be controlled automatically.
The necessary tech is being added right under our noses – made part of the standard equipment package and marketed to us as “assistance.” Watch out for that word. It is a danger word – like saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety.
Once a critical mass of cars have this capability it will not only be possible to implement tax-by-distance and taxes on emissions per distance but inevitable.
In the first place, how else to raise the revenue – especially that lost as the result of automated electric cars, which consume no gas and therefore pay no motor fuels tax at all. A federally applied distance tax has already been proposed on exactly this basis and several states, including Oregon, have their own “pilot programs” in the works.
It is inconceivable that the government – whether federal or state – will do without the revenue “lost” to electric cars. Create a problem – then offer a solution. Read up on Hegel; bet your bippie that Urban Planners have.
Once the numbers of EVs increases to more than a sliver of the total pie – at the moment, EVs constitute about 1 percent of all vehicles in service – it is certain a distance tax will be more than just proposed.
Once enacted, the government will have acquired power over distance – implicitly at first.
Exercised inevitably.
Then expanded upon.
If the government acquires power over distance via the power to tax it – why not limit distance? This has already been proposed, too – e.g., “congestion pricing” – and it has been put into practice via variable tolls and so on. It will be much easier to put into practice generally when all – or a certain percentage – of the cars in a given area are automated and so controlled by the government-corporate nexus.
An “update” can be transmitted to the automated car telling it to brick today. Or tomorrow – or for a week.
Or forever.
Perhaps because you posted something “dangerous” or “derogatory” online. Bear in mind that the same entities which are suppressing speech on that basis are also the same entities not just pushing for automated cars but developing them.
Which will give them the power to suppress mobility.
It’s not just distance that will be taxed – and thereby, controlled – in this manner either.
Why control “emissions” via regulations on the manufacture of vehicles when you can control the use of vehicles?
If the distance driven by all the cars on the road were to be halved, think of how much “cleaner” the air would be. And the air can never be too “clean” for the regulatory/technocratic apparat’s tastes – even when it isn’t “dirty” to begin with.
It would certainly be much “cleaner” than it will or ever could be be via the fractional per-car shavings of emissions achieved via engineering.
Someone – AOC, for instance – will surely notice this (or be told to notice this) and propose that “meaningful” reductions be achieved by flipping the proverbial Off switch. Which switch will be under the control of people such as AOC, not you – even if you’re the one making the payments on the automated car.
If one accepts the premises – that carbon dioxide is an “emission” and that its release by human activity such as driving is “changing” the climate in a cataclysmic manner that must be arrested before it is Too Late – it is very hard to come up with a compelling counterargument to the idea of limiting distance for the sake of saving the Earth.
Which is why this will likely be the argument used to justify the limiting of distance – as well as the taxation of it. Both serving the same end goal of limiting and ultimately completely controlling our mobility.
By now, the endgame ought to be obvious even to the usually oblivious. Even a drunken hobo asleep on the train tracks usually wakes up when he feels the tracks vibrating, the herald of the impending train.
Will enough of us wake up in time?
When this regime of limiting distance is imposed upon us, it will make us look back with fond nostalgia upon the era of the radar trap and the speed cop. When it was still possible to “speed” – even if you sometimes didn’t “get away” with it and when the only thing which limited your mobility was how much gas you had in the tank and how far you wanted to go.
…
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Sadly, I agree with all this, and have almost come to accept it as the fate of those in the United States.
The real freedom solution to the problem of “no speeding” would be for the LEO’s to just find something else to do, instead of devoting their efforts to extracting funds from people committing victimless crimes. Like speeding. Or making a right turn on red. And this alone explains the difference between a police officer and a law enforcement officer.
Just think how much violence inflicted upon citizens would be eliminated if these victimless crimes were abolished. And the proportionate reduction in confrontations between the LEO’s and civilians.
But back to the main topic.
Government never recognizes itself as the problem; it always says it’s the only solution to the problem. Never mind that most problems are creating by their befuddling interference into our daily lives. Their solutions always involve some type of force to limit what can be done by those under their bailywick.
Another thing: With their lame ideas for a “green” economy, people may resort to having charging stations inside their garage. And the taxing regime will not know the difference between what is being spent for charging a car vs what is being spent to provide air conditioning to the home. So there will also be limits placed on the amount of electrical power a house can generate, in the name of “fairness”.
Sometimes I hate if these ideas are original, since there may be busybodies who have nothing better to do than to have some government entity impose these ideas.
But that won’t stop me from talking about them.
a request for my fellow travelers…
PLEASE STOP REFERRING TO ALEXANDRA OCASIO CORTEZ BY HER INITIALS…this just legitimizes her au-courant bona fides when she is in reality a self-impressed blathering simpleton with HIGH SOCIAL MEDIA skills. the new age of media lives for her shit and the a-o-c moniker lets them be even LAZIER
I prefer to refer to her as “that stupid spic”.
I only use AOC because she has THREE long names! Even though I can type fast, I don’t like typing out Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez multiple times-hence, AOC…
She has two short last names…find the time and help us rid the Congress of the nutty kid
Morning, Mark!
As an aside: I’ve often wondered how the progeny of the hyphenated-named will name themselves when they get married. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez meets Hidalgo Monterey-Jackson. Does AOC become AOCMJ?
It reminds me of a bad sci fi movie from the Eighties…Enemy Mine. The lizard recites its lineage… for hours…
Eric,
I wouldn’t get INVOLVED with a woman who wants a hyphenated name. Liberal feminazi (redundant?) do that, and they’re the LAST people I want to be involved with…
Eric,
I am glad someone else here is sickened by that hyphenated last name crap, huzzah! The first time I ran into that was a former high-school teacher who had added the fictitious hyphenated last name in order to add credence to the claim that she got married during a 1 year hiatus from teaching to have a baby. This was to disguise the fact that she was still single and had been knocked up by an assistant principal at the school who was already married and had several children himself. To me, it symbolizes the phony identity that these people are pretending to conceal in their daily lives. I say that because they don’t actually hide anything, they just want the pretense of whatever they are trying to legitimize by using a hyphenated name. It is the same as terms such as Democratic-Socialism, which, when combined, are neither one, nor the other, but give the false appearance of both. In other words, it’s just another con-job in flashy duds!
Hi Mike,
Ok; I hear you… how about The Equine One?
Good point, Mike. I just call her Commie Cortez. In a similar vein, I call the Democrats the SPA — Stalinist Party of America. The Republicans are still the Stupid Party, though other descriptors would fit well also: worthless, useless, clueless, etc.
I like the name occasional cortex better
Alexandria Occasionally-Coherent
if you ever hear that someone punched alexandria ocasio-cortez in the nose, it was me
Hi Mike,
If you do it, holler – I’ll bail you out! And the beer’s on me, too!
you’re a good friend eric peters!
January 17, 2019 at 9:30 pm GMT • 200 Words
Meanwhile, for those of us who live in the real world, here’s what the global warming scam is all about:
http://www.investors.com/po…
“At a news conference last week in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity but to destroy capitalism.
“This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution,” she said.
Referring to a new international treaty environmentalists hope will be adopted at the Paris climate change conference later this year, she added: “This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model for the first time in human history.”
and
http://www.cfact.org/2017/0…
“Ottmar Edenhofer, lead author of the IPCC’s fourth summary report released in 2007 candidly expressed the priority. Speaking in 2010, he advised, “One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. Instead, climate change policy is about how we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth.””
Thanks for another great article.
I was talking with a buddy of mine who lives in Hawaii the other day, he fixes commercial refrigeration and cooling for one of the only big name company on the big island. He was all ticked off about their new proposal, he drives an ungodly amount each year. Not just from store to store but because all the working class people live on one side of the island and have to drive an hour just to get to work anyway, then he’s got tons of travel on top of it of course.
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2019/03/12/breaking-news/hawaii-dot-seeking-public-feedback-on-proposed-new-charge-for-highway-fund/
“The Hawaii Department of Transportation is seeking the public’s feedback on the concept of a road usage charge system, or RUC, to fund the upkeep of the state’s roads and bridges at 14 community meetings in the next few months.
According to transportation officials, the RUC system would have vehicle owners paying for actual miles driven.”
The only thing moving on the roads in HI that might cause damage are trucks. Cars don’t wear out roads. Freeze/thaw cycles, poor construction, and trucks, esp. overloaded ones, are what cause road damage. So, if we really want to tax for maintenance and construction, everyone would share cost of the build, but trucks would cover the lions share of maintenance and repair in a place where it doesn’t freeze.
Todd, how much more do you want to tax trucks? They pay the lion’s share of fuel tax, then added on state tax that varies from shithole state to shithole state. And then pay Federal Road Tax on top of that. The cost of licensing is phenomenal…in every state. But ignore that everything that keeps you alive is because of trucks.
Maybe they’ll have that unobtanium powered flight vehicle soon so the roads with be perfect….as if govt. could make anything perfect.
hawaii is balls deep in a commuter rail system boondoggle that is a debacle of typical cost overruns…they were sold a bill of goods and will eat the shit pie like it was a plate lunch w ith 2 scoops
hawaii is THE poster child of democrat nanny state waste and the folks there NEVER met a tax they couldn’t take in the ass and call it a massage
Even on the Big Island, commuter rail is not justified! When I was stationed on Oahu, they had TheBus, which was pretty good; it had good schedules, fares, and routes. I don’t see why they’d need anything more than TheBus on Oahu-SMH…
Mike,
Being a little rough on dakine aren’t you?
I thought it was the mahu tax that had the massage.
Hang loose brah.
Tell me I’m wrong the…i pay $408 to register my 99 Cherokee in Hawaii and $62 to reg the ram 3500 diesel in oregon. They tripled my Hawaii property tax last year. The chumps pay tax on food and doctor bills. They take being taxed like it was gods plan. Niw the rail .is going to add another sales tax increment for a retarded train that will be of NO use to about 90% of oahu
SUCKERS…
One thing that will probably happen once these automated speed systems are commonplace is that they’re going to default to use the map database. So that means you’ll need to keep your maps up to date in case the speed limit changes. And because it will be more difficult to override the automatic control, or at speed differences will be more pronounced as more people get in line, cops will tighten up the “allowance” for overage. So a 5 MPH change in speed limit could trigger a ticket. When you tell the cop you had the smart cruise enabled, and the maps weren’t up to date, that might be considered not maintaining your vehicle, another infraction. Map updates are only available from the manufacturer. In the case of my Cherokee, I can pay them $149 for updated maps that aren’t really up to date. Imagine those updates will happen in real time once an automatic speed adjusting cruise is in place but only for a monthly fee that will probably work out to be about $50/month. Or you could takes your chances…
don’t be silly Ready-Kil…the maps will update themselves whether you like it or not…the daily software updates will also include where you went and when, who you spoke with while in transit, what you searched for or did while in transit and it will be WITH YOUR BLESSING. the matrix will become more and more complete daily with THE FULL COOPERATION OF THE SHEEP. present company excluded of course
With the gas tax, those who drive vehicles that get less mileage pay more because they have to buy more gas. I don’t believe for a second that if these power and money hungry bozos in government get the chance they won’t rake in much more money from taxing distance and other things when you drive. They will have complete control of your vehicle. They might even find a way to tax you if you don’t drive enough…like a minimum alternative driving tax. All this because of fake global warming and the politicians who have made numerous socialist promises that they need money to pay for…that money will come from taxing you to death. You won’t be able to breathe or move without it costing you a tax or fee of some kind. Go jogging…you are expending more carbon dioxide so you will pay a tax just for running. It will never end.
but they will NEVER tax the 160 billion sent out of the country every year
How handy it will be for the government once cars are under explicit control! Anyone the government doesn’t like can be bundled off to prison, official, or unofficial, the moment he sets butt into a car. Tyrants of the past could only dream of such convenience.
This article really sets me off !
Some of us, our ancestors that is, fought this yankee tyranny.
They killed over 300,000 of us for opposing them, but our leaders could see what was coming.
We stood up to them.
This is why our monuments and flags are so vilified.
“There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind…”
Say or think whatever your masters have told you, but see the present for what it is !
DEO VINDICE
It’s too bad you all didn’t win, Jack. I say that as a Yankee…
Hey Mark,
Do you remember when faux confrontational, establishment gatekeeper, Tim Russert, had Ron Paul on Meet the Press? He refused to discuss any current events or policy and ambushed Dr. Paul by focusing the discussion on the Civil War (of Northern aggression). Of course, Dr. Paul told the truth about the war; it was unnecessary, destructive and hugely detrimental to the idea of limited government. Russert was appalled and blurted out, “We’d still have slavery”. Dr. Paul tried to point out how ridiculous that was. Russert soon cut the promised full length interview short, having achieved the goal of smearing Dr. Paul as a “racist”.
This episode made it clear that the “press” was a joke. Russert was a master, his role was to appear to be confrontational, ask tough questions and hold the powerful to account. What he actually did was to ask seemingly tough questions, that were likely scripted, allow the establishment pol to spin some self serving yarn, then move on. He was only truly confrontational with outsiders. When he died, the press engaged in a weeks long self congratulatory orgy; praising themselves and the vital role of checking the powerful that they pursued with such integrity and rigor. It was sickening.
Cheers,
Jeremy
I remember Russert, but I didn’t see the Ron Paul interview. I seldom watched Russert or other establishment TOOLS…
Robot cars at their finest:
https://youtu.be/tP19WuyY3IY?t=428
(if the time in the URL doesn’t work 7:08)
“Will enough of us wake up in time?”
In time to do “what??”
“In time to do ‘what??'”
Thank you sir, exactly. As Caitlyn Johnstone pointed out, everything we’ve been doing to fix the problem(s) so far is how we got here. This is exactly why I tried to get someone, anyone, here interested in an idea to fix everything by going straight to the power center of the beast, it’s fiat money. In short, for We The People to settle up Our existing bankruptcy in gold dollars, and adopt a new dollar, I’ve been calling an entropy dollar because it consists of entropy that has been removed from our world by the living critters and plants.
This new dollar would be scaled so that Our national lands print all the money needed for the centgov budget, thus eliminating the hated IRS while simultaneously getting us all closer to the new money spigots by way of private land owners, and all this while making our living world worth money both dead and alive. It gets us quickly to our science fiction future because We would have to hedge our bets by eliminating legal tender laws, in case the new dollar failed.
This would improve everything because we use money to make our lives better, such as by buying shelter and food, which equivalently means buying time. When money is free to improve by market competition, there will always be better mouse trap sellers trying to sell better money, making our lives better. Just take a look at the Decentralised Ledger scene to see how incredibly and prolificly inventive people can be.
All I got was crickets, plus someone who complained that it involved printing money. No s**t Sherlock, you don’t get any money at all unless someone prints it. If you dig up some gold on your land and manufacture a gold coin and spend it into circulation you’ve printed new money. We The People are already in the money printing business, and we have the need and opportunity to use that power for good.
On another autos website I have gotten into this very same discussion again. These people complain about the wealth concentration, the wage stagnation, and so on but fundamentally do not want to do away with what drives it, the federal reserve. Why? Because they want the welfare, the warfare, and everything else it makes possible.
I argued some guy into a corner and then he claimed I made strawmen when all I did was respond to each every one of his arguments and challenges. Logically showing he can’t have what he wants without what he complains about.
They all want to ‘fix’ the problems with the system with more interventions like those that created the problems.
There is very little hope Eric. Driving to the store,,, people talking on phones,,, walking in store,,, people talking on phones. Watching idiots using self checkout….At least when boomers went to self serve gas they got a price cut… Not today! You do their work, put 10-20 people per store out of work and you pay the same price. I swear the average IQ has dropped 20 points or more since the advent of digital controls and ‘smart’ phones. I watch the new ASS equipped cars lurch off the starting line. The delay to start the engine make people push more on the gas. When it finally does start it leaps off the line. Funny as hell to watch the faces of the low IQ clovers when this happens.
Getting on the interstate is fun,,, Most everyone here does 80-90. It’ll be funny watching the road rage when the speed, lane, brake, think ‘assist’ kicks in and becomes mandatory.
Hi Ken,
I also sigh audibly in re the self-checkout. Not because of self-checkout, per se. But because – as you note – the fact that we now get to do the work but don’t get the discount for the employees who no longer get paid because they’re no longer doing the work.
I still debate with myself whether to have kids if the opportunity arises… is it a moral imperative? Or a moral failing?
Eric,
“I still debate with myself whether to have kids if the opportunity arises… is it a moral imperative? Or a moral failing
Human livestock farms are always looking to increase their yields.
Hi T,
Indeed. But, there is also the opportunity to transmit the heresy of liberty down the line. If I found a simpatico chick, I think I’d be open to it.
Exactly. I have 3 who know now what it took me 40 years to discover.
Eric,
Let me bring you back from “the before time in the long, long ago” to the reality of today.
http://southpark.cc.com/clips/152504/the-parents-return#source=473fef35-48a7-434c-afc6-207874c7f1a3:a796c2a2-ed00-11e0-aca6-0026b9414f30&position=15&sort=playlist
Any simpatico will already have had her tubes tied.
Hi T,
Prolly… but you never know. I have a niece… I suppose I could pass the Orange Barchetta on to her…
You’d be better off leaving it to a stranger that actually appreciates the car.
My parents decided not to leave my brothers and their children anything. They don’t care about them, nor do they have any actual interest in their possessions that isn’t monetary.
Hi Handler,
The jury is still out for me on this question. My niece is still very young. But you’re right. I would absolutely bequeath my stuff to deserving non-family over undeserving family. My niece already has competition from my protege – my buddy’s nephew, the kid I helped get on old Beetle up and running. He’s virulently anti-authoritah, too. I like to take credit for some of this!
Good kid!
My neighbor inherited his grandmother’s pristine Plymouth Fury and let it ruin in the weather for about 25 years. He even had an empty stall in his 3 car garage to keep it in. There’s no rational explanation for what he did to that car.
Good luck with that,,,
IMHO Liberty / Freedom isn’t a learned concept,,, it cannot be taught. It has nothing to do with knowledge,,, in fact knowledge tends to extinguish it,,, It is experienced. It’s in the heart, the soul like an Eagle flying above.
Just saw a school bus drive by filled with children whose hearts and souls are being methodically ripped out. And I am paying for it! So sad!
Am unaware of any place where real liberty can be experienced today.
“IMHO Liberty / Freedom isn’t a learned concept,,, it cannot be taught. It has nothing to do with knowledge,,, in fact knowledge tends to extinguish it,,, It is experienced. It’s in the heart, the soul like an Eagle flying above.”
Very true, Ken!!!!
I tell people no matter how much they spoil their kids and make like they care about them they really do not care one bit for them. they will hand off to the kids a bankrupt country where as a white you will be a hunted minority every move you make will be recorded no freedumb of driving or just living. it will be a crowded expensive 3rd world sewer pit.
why the heck do I have to type my name and email for every post???
Anon, we’re right there at Idiocracy. We’re on the lethal edge of what you describe. When they come after me they’d better be ready to shed lead.
Austrailians may not have many gun rights but they surely make some great ammo. You can scroll to the top and use Sign In/Join to pacify TurdPress.
Self checkout?
Since I was never trained and not an employee, I think I can be excused for occasionally scanning a pack of gum twice but missing the odd porterhouse……
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/stealing-from-self-checkout/550940/
Just remember, most are complete morons. People expect morons so play the part to your advantage.
I used to work at Wally World on the floor maintenance crew. We only had 30 minutes for lunch and most employees buy items for their lunches at lunch time. We had to stand in line with the customers to pay. This sometimes cut our lunch time very short, so we really liked when they installed self-checkouts. Thankfully, I no longer work there. It was a terrible place to work.
Those are the exact same rules that existed when I worked at a unionized grocery store in the 80s. Which doesn’t surprise me. Every Walmart is horrible to workers article I read leaves me with ‘and so?’ because their work rules and conditions seem to come right out of the late 1980s UFCW contracts.
Ken wrote:
“I swear the average IQ has dropped 20 points or more since the advent of digital controls and ‘smart’ phones.”
And you would be right.
https://neociceroniantimes.wordpress.com/2016/08/21/why-the-decline-of-americas-average-iq-is-a-cause-for-concern/
But it is not just the mind numbing technology responsible.
The aggregate number is falling because, instead of allowing a limited number of the world’s best and brightest to come here, we instead insist on importing millions and millions of idiot Sub Saharan Africans and peasant dirt farmers from South and Central America.
The welfare state rewards low IQ and short time preference and punishes high IQ and long time preference with little exception. The exception being those with high IQ with political influence and power. They gain by getting to manage the welfare state.
IQ dropped at the same rate whites have declined as a % of the population. do not fall for the Talmud Bolshevik propaganda
Please show us where the Talmud states anything about relative the intelligence of different races, or for that matter, perhaps you can quote some specific Bolsheviks on that issue. Frankly I would put the IQ of Negroes such as Walter Williams or Thomas Sewell up against that of ignorant White Trash any day of the week.
Hey Jason,
I’d put two up against either Sowell or Williams and still probably win.
Cheers, Jeremy.
Same here, it would be no contest! (Apologies to Sowell for the error in his name. We really need a feature here like many other sites where we can have a few minutes to go back and fix typos.)
Hey Jason,
Yes, it would be great to be able to fix our typos. Sowell’s book “Black Rednecks and White Liberals” is amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J92gQDZ4dL8
I hope people at least listen to the preface.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Democrats- Proudly destroying America since 1824 !
On self checkout. First the discount went to those who benefit inflation. Second at many stores the cashier staff is slow and/or incompetent. It becomes one of those things you do yourself simply because its faster and gets done right.
I remember when I worked in a grocery store in HS. The cashiers were fast. Some would take pride in going faster than the baggers could bag. It didn’t take long before I was keeping up with the fastest cashier. She didn’t seem to like it much. Also few seem to understand how to bag groceries properly. Recently at times it was so bad I unbagged and rebagged my groceries myself.
BrentP, that was motivation enough for me as well. Generally for the time it takes to go through the cashier’s line I can be checked out, packed and back on the road when I self-checkout. I’m also more careful about how I pack items in the grocery bags, and I don’t have to deal with an employee who may be distracted or justed annoyed that you went through their line. It’s just less hassle. I will say it’s not entirely the employee’s fault though, as I’m certain there were techniques that were taught to baggers working with paper bags, now that everything is plastic it just gets dumped into the sack. I doubt any managers take the time to teach them proper handling.
One store I go to uses paper bags. That’s also where I simply have rebagged the groceries. They don’t have self checkout though. Put all the cold stuff together. Build a structure. It’s not difficult. It was on a video I had to watch when I was hired at a grocery store in the 1980s. Ug. Simple stuff.
The best one was this cashier who was spreading my stuff across three bags. I rebagged it comfortably into two. Sorted to put the cold stuff together.
I normally go to Aldi or Lidl, so all the cashiers don’t pack your stuff. At Aldi, they’ll put your stuff in a cart, then you wheel it to the bagging table to pack your stuff. At Lidl, they just ring up your stuff, and you bag up right there.
If I have to go to a full service supermarket, then I try to arrange my things on the conveyor so they’ll be packed together. The cashiers are normally in a rush, so they just bag up whatever is next. IOW, if I want cold items bagged together, then I put them on the conveyor this way.
“I swear the average IQ has dropped 20 points or more since the advent of digital controls and ‘smart’ phones.”
Indeed, it has. So much so, that the sheep actually think that putting number signs before words or phrases is not only the coolest thing ever, but “essential” for communication. I swear, if all of the social media platforms were to go down for about a month…well, let’s just say that overpopulation would no longer be a concern. 😉
Hi Blue,
I sometimes feel like an alien sent here to observe… When I first heard about Twitter, my immediate reactions was: This is for 12-year-old girls, right? What grown man “tweets”?
Apparently, all of them.
It kinda reminds me of when MySpace came out when I was in high school about 15-ish years ago. I’m the one who really feels like an alien since 99.99% of my generation (millennials) are a bunch of lib-tards who have been trained to despise freedom and privacy.-
#NoMoreHashtags
UGH! Including that one! Everytime I see those things, it makes me wanna go strangle that idiot Chris Messina (the mastermind behind those dreaded concoctions). Doesn’t surprise me since apparently he used to work for “Goo-guhl”, as Eric likes to style it.
It’s no accident that smartphones are controlling people.
Morning, Handler!
I read an interesting study a few weeks ago about the psychologically addictive nature of cell phones and the stress/anxiety they generate in many people as a consequence of being constantly immersed in them. I’ve noticed this myself as a relatively new cell phone owner. Formerly, I spoke on the phone perhaps once a day and often went a day or more without being on the phone at all. Now I am on the phone several times each day – mainly replying to all of the people calling – and texting – me. I’d say my time spent on the phone has increased by an order of 10 or more. It is like a rip tide that cannot be resisted. I could ditch the phone, of course – but then I’d be effectively retiring from modern life. It would be analogous to giving up electricity.
Sometimes, the thought appeals to me – but then I think about the taxes I’m forced to pay to be permitted ongoing use of the house I paid for 15 years ago and the insurance I’m forced to buy for the harms I haven’t caused and realize I have no choice but to continue to work – and that means electricity and cell phones.
I think the addictive quality is less when you use a simple phone that does nothing but act as a portable telephone. (No text, no internet, no camera.) I just use it when needed to talk to someone when out of the house and leave it off the rest of the time.
Agreed, Jason –
But, the problem for me is that everyone else texts. And so I need to be able to receive them. I mean work-related texts as well as personal.
I don’t have much choice about dealing with texting – unless I just retire. But I’m not looking to retire – and even if I were, I can’t afford to. See the earlier post in re “rent” on my long-ago paid-for house…
My cell phone,
I put tape over my camera lens.
I turned off all notifications.
Uninstalled or deactivated everything that could be uninstalled or deactivated.
Turned off the ringer, vibrate only, always.
I set up whitelist rules for contacts so that ONLY those I choose will vibrate my phone, and even then I only answer if I am alone.
It appears I am the only person in the world who does not emulate Pavlov’s dog regarding their phone. People are now simply mindless slaves when it comes to their phones. I have not had a conversation with anyone in the last year that was not interrupted by their phone and the inability to delay checking it. Apparently it is not even considered rude to answer a call mid-real world-conversation today. Apparently it IS now rude to call out someone who does so. Nuts.
Anon, I feel your pain. But my phone is always needed for work and since I’m almost always in a loud piece of equipment, I use a bluetooth headset(Blue Tiger Elite)with my phone encased in an Otterbox Defender Pro since it wouldn’t live long as a bare phone.
I answer via headset and never know who it is. When it’s a bs call I go back when on break and block the number.
I admit I can get bent when expecting an important call and it’s a bot or even human just selling something.
I think I have the non-NSA backdoor beat now, or at least, soon. Check this out. It ain’t cheap but has nothing to do with G or A either one and runs a Linux OS. If it doesn’t have the camera I wanted on a new phone i’ll just buy a damned camera and be done with it.
Here’s happy talking for your future: https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/
That’s what I do. I have a pay-as-you-go flip phone that I use for portable communication and absolutely NOTHING else. When I shut it off, it’s off — it doesn’t transmit my GPS coordinates to a government satellite in outer space every five seconds.
When the Bendix on the starter motor on my truck went without warning in a Walmart parking lot last year, I called my wife to bring some tools, walked to the nearest Autozone, got a replacement and fixed it on the spot. Phone came in handy for that.
That’s the best way to do it. Granted, these days most people are so lazy that actually talking into the phone is considered to be an imposition and they all want to text and expect immediate response.
I just make it known that I don’t accept texts, not even for business, and people need to call and leave a message if I don’t pick up. (Which is most of the time since I normally leave the phone off with the battery removed.) Or they can send email with the proviso that I do not have mobile access to it.
I’m not on board with the modern idea that one is supposed to be reachable anywhere at any time under any circumstances. Excepting real emergencies my philosophy is that there’s nothing that can’t wait.
I had a few women threaten to defame me for not responding to their messages immediately.
I really miss the ’90s. *Sigh*
I used the modern forms of communication for my kennel business for about 2 years and had nothing but trouble from people. It was stressful and time-consuming the entire time. It’s like having a nagging wife except she’s inside your pocket at all times.
It’s pretty evident that these “technological wonders” are changing human behavior. Common courtesy is almost non-existent these days.
If people want a dog or my services, they can simply call the kennel or email. I have zero patience for self-important imbeciles.
if we consider it A PHONE, and use it AS A PHONE…the things are a profit center and a good way to communicate like we have for eons…using our senses. we can gauge tone, grammar, courtesy, vocabulary, the sophistication (or lack thereof) of the counterpart…all the things we have developed a sense for as we determine who it is we are dealing with. texts have their place too…”confirming our 3pm mtg @ the brewery”. it’s when people SUBSTITUTE the phone for genuine interaction that the disconnect occurs and the communications break down. i have coined the term “MONO-munication” for the texter’s and emailer’s…you lob out your words and they may or may not fall on understanding eyes or might EASILY be misconstrued. YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW IF THEY GOT TO WHERE YOU WANTED. the benefit of a conversation is that we can clearly
CO-mmunicate and be confident that we got the message to the intended party. your thoughts?
Clockwork Orange Alert¹: Chevrolet’s new safety mode blunts teen spirit
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2019/05/21/chevrolets-new-safety-mode-blunts-teen-spirit/3696578002/
This is how it gets started: target a specific group and introduce this schlock in the name of “safety” and “peace of mind” and then inevitably it expands to the rest of us.
Note the comments on the article from c̶l̶o̶v̶e̶r̶s̶ people who are mad that at the title of the article stating: “This is a pathetic heading: Why take a positive feature, aimed at improving teen drivers survival and put a negative spin on it.” Well if your idea of safety and ‘survival’ is a condescending lecture from the radio (which you can’t use until you put the seat-belt on.) But hey, Logan’s/Mackenzie’s/ mom & dad will have “peace of mind” that their kid will exhibit no symptoms of growing up or desire for freedom (& then wonder why 20 years from now they still live in the basement, can’t [or won’t] hold a job, spend all their time playing online video games, & have no interest in growing up.) Even the Finklestein Shit Kid won’t be able to help in these cases: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9vA-5iavlY
Expect the same thing with revenue replacement, it’ll target some group or thing that everyone can nod their heads (bobble-headed group-think) to, and then slowly and quietly make its way into everything else (how else did we end up with auto-start/stop, backup cameras, and beeping, blinking and flashing every other second, making one feel like William Shatner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1WemnsB98o )
¹ Clockwork Orange Laws = anti-teenager laws. Pippi Longstocking Laws = anti-children laws. (in both cases taking all the fun out of being young in the name of “safety” and “security” [or as they sell it to parents: “peace of mind”.], also prevents a person from growing up.)
Pippi Longstocking laws?!? But she really didn’t have many laws to follow; she seemed to live a life of freedom.
Eric,
I think this scheme will take a decade or so to fully implement. Why? Because people are simply keeping their cars longer; people keep their cars, on average, for 11 years. Plus, there are those of us who don’t buy new cars, so it’ll take longer for these ‘tech mobiles’ to constitute a majority of the car population. Ergo, I think it’s at least 1.5 decades away from mobility limits.
If the gov’t tries banning whole swaths of cars outright, they’ll face pushback. Unlike TSA patdowns or DUI checkpoints, limiting mobility will impact people economically. If people can’t use their cars (on which they have huge, long term loans), they’ll be paying for something they can’t use. If they can’t get to work because some ‘genius’ turned off their car, they won’t be able to pay their bills. When you hit people in the wallet, they react differently vs. when they’re not.
Marky,
“Unlike TSA patdowns or DUI checkpoints, limiting mobility will impact people economically.”
You really think checkpoints DON’T limit mobility? Have little to NO economic impact?
Let’s forget about the value of shampoo and toothpaste. How much cash is removed at the airport and the side of the road?
I didn’t say that DUI checkpoints don’t limit mobility; they do, in that they, at best, inconvenience you and it takes longer to get where you’re going. As for the shampoo, yeah, it’s a few bucks; however, it’s not a $500-$600 a month car payment for years. If someone has to FORFEIT an asset on which they’re paying $6,000 or more PER YEAR, people are going to notice that, and they will not be happy.
When I have to fly, I don’t pack shampoo or any of that stuff; I simply get it at my destination. At least the TSA gives you fair warning, because they TELL you what sizes are ok and what sizes aren’t.
Marky,
“If someone has to FORFEIT an asset on which they’re paying $6,000 or more PER YEAR, people are going to notice that, and they will not be happy.”
I was referring to the $163,000,000 mentioned in this article. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailysignal.com/2016/01/21/how-the-tsa-and-drug-enforcement-administration-joined-forces-to-seize-cash-at-airports/amp/
Only 8.3 million returned. Not much of a pushback IMHO.
And when “terrorists” disrupt the new safety features Eric tells us about, I doubt it will take 15 years to ground all but official/approved vehicles.
Well, you didn’t say that to begin with! As for only 8.3 million being returned, if the amount seized isn’t big, then it’s not WORTH IT to fight the gov’t in court-even if in the right. If they took $10,000 and it would cost $15-$20K minimum to begin a case, what are folks going to do? There is some pushback against these civil asset forfeiture laws, but the media is keeping it quiet.
Another thing with the civil forfeiture is this: it’s not affecting many people-not enough to where everyone gets up in arms about it. Your typical person is going to think that people shouldn’t be carrying much cash in the first place; only dummies carry lots of cash with them. I know I never do. One, I don’t want to be robbed. Two, I don’t want to misplace or lose it. If I have to make a large expenditure (like buy a car), I get a cashier’s check for the purchase made out to the seller. Anyway, if you tell millions that their cars cannot be used, then it’s a different story vis-a-vis the other guy losing a large amount of cash.
I still think it’ll take more than a decade before today’s present fleet of cars can be sufficiently turned over to implement mobility restrictions. And when they do, it’ll be incremental. For example, with the Real ID, if you don’t have a compliant license, then one will need a passport to even board a domestic flight. But to reduce mobility in cars? They can’t do that much, that fast.
First of all, what ALTERNATIVES will people use? I don’t know about anyone else, but the public transit options in my area aren’t that great; how will folks get to work when most jobs are not along a bus route? What about personal travel? How will folks get to their destinations when public transit won’t get them there? Then, you’re going to tell them that they have to pay $500 or more a month-FOR YEARS-on something they CAN’T USE?! Good luck with that! For most of us living outside the big cities, a car is a NECESSITY.
In the late 1980s there was a push to ban all pre 1980 cars for the environment. It failed because people fought back not because it was plainly stupid.
People were smarter in 1980 and more accustomed to freedom.
Marky,
It will surely be incremental.
“I still think it’ll take more than a decade before today’s present fleet of cars can be sufficiently turned over to implement mobility restrictions.”
I think everything is in place. I’m sure the prototypes are in place. https://youtu.be/C93aCdHth00
And the first year or so it will only be a minor inconvenience. Say, you can’t drive for 15 minutes. Enforced by the present day system with AGWs being able to shut you down with a button in the squad car or armored vehicle.
You’ve probably never heard of Mel Farr the Super Star. After he retired from football he was one of the 31 metro Detroit Ford dealers.
He hustled used cars at 25% interest. If you missed a payment the car shut off. Didn’t matter if it was traveling down the road or in your driveway. The car shut off until Mel got his money.
That was 20 years ago.
You think Mel’s “On Time Device” might be standard equipment on vehicles produced in the last decade? I’d bet there’s an ISO standard for it.
“But to reduce mobility in cars? They can’t do that much, that fast.”
How long after 911 until the porno scans were being used?
Come on Marky, relax that sphincter, and plug in the OBDII adapter when you get your new smart plate from the DMV.
I agree, T –
All it will take is the right pretext, properly delivered. Just like 911. Anyone who remembers the world before that day remembers a world in which the suggestion that people would be routinely fondled by government workers or forced to pass through a scanner that enabled government workers to view their naked bodies in the name of “security” would have been considered absurd, the stuff of bad Stallone sci-fi movies. And then, just like that – here we are.
Now imagine a sudden “climate crisis” that requires people to accept that they just can’t drive on Thursdays and Sundays. Or an “energy crisis” – an electrical generating crisis – that requires distance rationing.
You are absolutely right to be worried. I certainly am.
I remember the absurdity of fuel rationing in the 70’s, when one could only buy gas on specific days depending on one’s license plate. Everyone knew it did little to nothing really. But most everyone obeyed nonetheless.
Humans really are herd animals.
Pretty sure the only reason dad didn’t switch plates on odd/even days was because he had a couple of jerry cans full of fuel in the back of the garage.
Jason, that’s fine if you can get by with that….and I applaud you if you can. OTOH, I’m expected to, wait, required to have a smart phone. I had a flip smart phone. Problem was the screen was so small maps and such couldn’t be seen.
Bill, I was an independent trucker so that bs and 55 speed limit just bent me over and fucked me in the ass, no other way to put it.
What made it even more maddening, working in the patch I’d see a hundred tankers waiting off the coast at N.O. waiting to unload.
I had friends who drove fuel trucks that had a running joke of not leaving the window open after you left the bathtub or you’d come back to a tub of fuel. They stashed it everywhere they could find.
When I hauled Ag products I had to run the gauntlet of so much fuel per truck at the truck stop but when I switched to hauling oilfield equipment fuel was no problemo.
In certain places, like west Tx., there were refineries every 100 miles and you can’t change the amount produced at one by any real degree. It wasn’t uncommon for tankers loaded to simply disappear. Of course the driver would be waiting his off time out at the house and had no idea what happened.
Eric,
Those actions didn’t have the ECONOMIC IMPACT that taking away people’s cars would have! Unless someone lives in a major city, they need their cars. The porno scans didn’t take $500 a month or more out of people’s wallets for years; that’s what would happen if people’s cars were banned. Most people can’t ABSORB that kind of economic hit, so I think there would be pushback.
If people couldn’t drive on Thursdays, then they couldn’t get to their jobs. This would not only impact the employees who can’t get to work; the EMPLOYERS would be impacted too when their people can’t get to work. Do you think businesses, especially the big ones who donate buku bucks to political campaigns, would STAND for that? I don’t think so!
Hi Mark,
I hope you’re right; I suspect you’re wrong. Consider the hysterics of the “climate change” cult. Imagine a contrived and well-organized incident of some kind which could be leveraged to scare people into accepting limited mobility, regardless of the economic impact.
There’s no cost too high to save the Earth, is there?
What gives me hope are the Yellow Vest protesters in France. They’re pushing back over similar issues. Wasn’t the Macron gov’t trying to limit French mobility for the same, spurious reasons? Weren’t they trying to limit mobility by jacking up fuel prices? Didn’t this cause economic heartache amongst the French populace? If the gutless, spineless French can push back like they have, then there’s hope over here… 🙂
Marky,
“Those actions didn’t have the ECONOMIC IMPACT”
What was the economic impact of this?
“All persons are hereby required to deliver on or before May 1, 1933, to a Federal reserve bank or a branch or agency thereof or to any member bank of the Federal Reserve System all gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates now owned by them or coming into their ownership on or before April 28, 1933,”
We both know the answer to your question. That said, how many people living TODAY would remember this? How many people alive today know this, let alone understand the impact of FDR’s gold confiscation? I heard about it because my grandparents were alive then, but I only heard about it.
Having said all that, simply going back to the gold and silver standard won’t cure what ails us; returning to ‘honest money’ isn’t the magic bullet.
Here’s why: a money supply based on precious metals can be debauched just as easily as our fiat money system. In fact, it’s already happened.
When, MM? Try Ancient Rome. During Roman times, copper was a precious metal like gold and silver are today. Their coin, their money, was the As. The As was made of copper. With me so far?
Sooo, how did the Romans debauch their money? Why? Like us, Ancient Rome engaged in excessive foreign adventurism. As is the case with us, the bill came due for the Romans; they couldn’t pay it. What did they do? They HALVED the copper content in the As, effectively doubling their money supply overnight.
What’s that got to do with us? What does that have to do with using gold and silver for ‘honest money’? Well, just as the Romans did, if our gov’t still used gold and silver, they could reduce the content of those metals in our coins. If gold and silver were backing our paper money, the amount backing it could be reduced. Sooo, even though the METHOD was changed, the end result was not; at the end of the day, the currency can STILL BE DEBASED-even when gold and silver are used. Using gold and silver would not prevent debasement of our money; all that would change is HOW it could be done.
What was it Santayana said? Those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it. Or as the Bible says in Ecclesiastes, there are no new things under the sun…
What amazes me is that apparently most people complied with FDR’s gold grab. I guess people were sheep back then as well.
Marky,
“Do you think businesses, especially the big ones who donate buku bucks to political campaigns, would STAND for that? I don’t think so!”
Yes I do!!
As Spock said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.”
What I don’t understand is this – “What gives me hope are the Yellow Vest protesters in France.”
The mandated yellow vest.
While our government doesn’t mandate specific clothing in our cars and trucks, they do mandate something far more dangerous. I don’t remember hearing about SRS or airbag movements.
How long will we wait until people are marching in the streets wearing an airbag chained around their necks?
I’ll be around the corner with Twisted Sister all cued up https://youtu.be/V9AbeALNVkk
They are slowly taking away independent motorized transportation by making it more and more expensive for the sake of making it more and more expensive to achieve that end. It’s the slow boiling of the frog.
Employers are slowly moving to the big cities and areas nearby served by transit. I live where I am now because I moved here for my first job out of college. You know where that company is now? Very close to where I lived when I got the offer letter.
Agenda 21/2030 is moving forward but slowly. The new urbanists are trying to remove cars from cities.
Old cars are being kept more and rebuilt. Cars are being taken out of junkyards. Little by little resistance is building.
The question is how many frogs notice before it is too late. Enough to stop the door from being closed.
I think that if our cars are taken away, it’ll be by stealth; it’ll be by making it too EXPENSIVE to have one. They won’t outright BAN them though, because that crap wouldn’t flush here.
It’s no different than with political parties. In China, they simply have ONE party, and that’s it. Here, we have the ILLUSION of choice, but we don’t really; they’re two sides of the same, Uniparty coin. That’s because TPTB couldn’t do here what they do in China, because folks wouldn’t stand for it.
MM, I agree with Jesse Ventura. There is only one party in this country, the Republocrats and it makes enough laws to ensure there won’t be another viable party.
I was having a conversation with a guy my dad’s age just recently divorced from the Air Farce and the CIA. We discussed the upcoming election of either Bush 1 or Clinton.
I asked him what he thought each would do. He said “They’ll do the same thing.” No truer words were ever spoken in my mind.
Clinton got elected and one of the things he ran on was to make sure Bush 1’s newly crafted NAFTA would be passed. And so it came to be, the Colonel was correct and there was so little difference between BC and B1 you couldn’t have stuck a needle in the space.
Morning, Eight!
It’s not just both parties being the same creature. Most people are the same creature. Coercive collectivism is agreed policy; the disagreement is only over how the coercion will be applied and to whom.
They attempted porno scanners not long after they put in the TSA. It didn’t go over well. Then they allowed the underpants bomber to travel, to get on the plane, with no passport or visa. He got special dispensation from someone for that. Then we got porno scanners.
Chertoff.
Thank you and goodnight.
Wasn’t he was of Shrub’s DHS secretaries?
Hey Mark,
He was the secretary of “homeland security” who went on to lobby for RapeScam. Funny how that always happens.
Cheer,
Jeremy
Eric,
“If one accepts the premises – that carbon dioxide is an “emission” and that its release by human activity such as driving is “changing” the climate in a cataclysmic manner that must be arrested before it is Too Late – it is very hard to come up with a compelling counterargument to the idea of limiting distance for the sake of saving the Earth.”
And how much more CO2 do you emit by walking or riding a bike as opposed to sitting?
It is a wonderful thing, the smart phone. With the built in pedometer an an app to monitor heartbeat and respiration.
We will truly be able to pay our fair share.