If a man has a right to be treated as a woman simply by “identifying” as one then I see no reason why I haven’t got a right to “identify” as old enough to collect Socialist Insecurity. After all, if a man can steal scholarships and awards in competitive sports from women, then surely it is at least as much my right to claw back some of the money stolen from me by “identifying” as 62 – the minimum age one must be in order to claw some of it back.
I worry there might not be any Socialist Insecurity left for me to collect when I am 62, which is still a ways away for me.
But why should it be?
I often feel old.
Isn’t that essentially the same thing as feeling one is in fact the opposite sex? The fact that one isn’t does not seem to matter – at least, to those insisting that one’s sex is a matter of how one decides to “identify.”
Mark that.
Precision with meaning matters. These “trans” people (they were in more linguistically honest times referred to as transvestites – meaning they dressed up as and pretended to be the sex they weren’t) insist that they aren’t just dressing or that they are pretending. They insist they are the opposite sex – the facts of biological sex notwithstanding. It is on the verge of becoming a crime to – as it is styled – “misgender” a man dressed up like and pretending to be a woman (and vice-versa). It is already the case that anyone who “misgenders” a man dressing like and pretending to be a woman is guilty of “hate” and subject to vituperation as a moral defective.
Well, fine.
If a man can dress up like and pretend to be a woman and others are obliged to accept him as such – to include all the perks of actually being a woman, such as being eligible to compete with women for scholarships and awards – then I demand acceptance of my assertion that I am a man old enough to collect Socialist Insecurity.
The logic is unassailable.
Unfortunately, the politics aren’t tenable.
This is so because the only varieties of “identity” that are acceptable – and enforceable – are those approved by the Left.
That is to say, the Woke.
For them, objective reality is selectively fungible. They will insist that we must accept as a “man” a woman who dresses like a man and acts like one. Just as they insist they favor “choice” – but only the “choices” they favor.
They will almost certainly insist it is acceptable for a man in his 60s to “identify” as an adolescent, so as to be able to take a 15-year-old girl to the prom. But they will never abide a straight white man “identifying” as old enough to collect back some of the money stolen from him.
Because it would be helpful to the straight white man – and the whole point of all this selective “identifying” is to demoralize, undermine and attack him. If you disagree, if you think it is not so, then let’s see how it goes when I “identify” as old enough to collect a check. Even if I get and show up wearing a really top-shelf costume and act the part convincingly.
We don’t have to wait to see, of course.
We know exactly what would happen if I were to show up at the Socialist Insecurity office insisting I am in fact older than it says I am on my driver’s license; that I am in fact old enough to collect a check. In fact, it is certain that if I were to state what I feel my age is on a Socialist Insecurity form in order to collect a check, I would be pursued criminally for lying about my age.
Let that one sink in a minute.
Objective reality does exist – but only when it is (per Orwell) necessary for it to exist. When it suits the needs of those who insist it is fungible – when they say it is.
It is sometimes necessary (per the explanation of the matter given by O’Brien, the Inner Party Member who befriends and then tortures Winston Smith, the novel’s main character) that two-plus-two equals four. But then, there are times- when the Party says it is necessary that they equal five.
And that there is no contradiction in believing both are true – when the Party says they are.
The point is who gets to define what objective reality exists – not objective reality, itself. If the latter, then there is an arbiter of things that stands above the exercise of power that can be appealed to. There are standards. There is truth. Things are knowable because things can be . . . identified, irrespective of how anyone feels about them.
But this undermines the Party – that is, power – because it makes it possible to question it.
What is wanted, then, is not merely that all of us pretend to agree that a man who pretends he is a woman is a woman in the literally true sense. That is a superficiality, just the same as “masks” – as such.
What’s demanded is that we agree to not even think about questioning whatever we are told.
If we do agree, then objective reality becomes whatever power says it is and at any given moment. It can be something entirely different a moment later. This is what Orwell meant by Doublethink. It is a form of conscious and unconscious derangement, agreed to by people who at the same time know perfectly well what they believe isn’t true yet also believe that what is true is whatever they are told they must believe is true.
Such people have come to a kind of intuitive understanding of what is expected that changes with the fluidity of a turbid stream yet has the power of absolute truth for as long as people are told it is the truth.
This is how it is possible, on the one hand, to maintain that a man who pretends he is a woman actually is one – and has a right to be treated as one – and, on the other, to deny that I have a right to collect a Socialist Insecurity check because I am not old enough in fact, irrespective of how old I “identify” as being.
It holds no water to “identify” as having paid taxes, either – as opposed to actually having paid them. Nor to “identify” as “vaccinated.” But a kid who insists she is a cat must be meow’d too and given a litter box to do her business in. Rest assured – it will hold water – when it suits to discover that a 60-year-old who “identifies” as an adolescent – or a German Shepherd – not only has a right to date adolescents and German Shepherds but that we must acknowledge, must accept, their right to do so.
Such calculated and selective enforcement of feelings over facts serves the interests of power by turning objective reality not merely into a matter of whim, ever-shifting – but a reality determined by those who have the power to transform their whims into “truths” that cannot be questioned, that must be immediately and supinely agreed with and obeyed.
It is how it will become acceptable to do the unthinkable – if enough of us don’t start thinking again and stop worrying about how others feel about it.
. . .
f you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.Â
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!Â
Our donate button is here.
 If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $20 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
My eBook about car buying (new and used) is also available for your favorite price – free! Click here. If that fails, email me at [email protected] and I will send you a copy directly!
Supposed to identify as not injured…..
Damaged and forgotten
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_Pa2nnvVpU
Damaged and ignored….
Playthings of the satanic death cult aristocracy davos monsters….
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7599146/
Hmm…
What if a 62 YO identified as a child. Would he/she/they/it still be eligible for SS?
Teachings from the Pleiadians
“The ultimate tyranny in a society is not control by martial law. It is control by the psychological manipulation of consciousness, through which reality is defined so that those who exist within it do not even realize that they are in prison.”
Well-said, Gwyneth!
We all live on a kind of plantation. It may not seem like one because we are (more or less) free to wander around it. But we are free to do little else. And even the wandering around is hard to do without permission.
I identify as Amish.
Ta-daaa! No more SS tax!
I identify as vaccinated. Can this be any more damning? Amish kids don’t get vaccinated, and thus Amish don’t have an epidemic in autism, diabetes, or cancer:
New Study Finds Zero Amish Children Diagnosed with Cancer, Diabetes or Autism
“A new comprehensive study has found that no Amish children have been diagnosed with chronic conditions, which widely impact the rest of America.
In a new comprehensive study, presented by VSRF founder Steve Kirsch to the Pennsylvania State Senate, it was calculated that for Amish children, who are strictly 100 percent unvaccinated, typical chronic conditions barely exist, if any at all.”
Eric, you need to identify as a woman, an OLD woman. Maybe you could get a SS check then.
Social Security recipients need to have their paid benefits cut in half or more.
I waited until I was 65 to retire, could have worked until 67 or 70, but the chances are nip and tuck you will make it to 66 years. At 71, the days are a gift, borrowed time.
Actuarial tables tell the real story. If you die before you are 65 or retirement age, your survivors will receive benefits.
It won’t be long and it will all be gone, you better get it while you can – Steve Goodman, You Better Get It While You Can
White Sun of the Desert is a good movie.
SS is still solvent. Billy Bob Clinton robbed all the SS cash and returned IOU’s to the fund so he could say he balanced the budget. They spent the cash on the wars but the bonds remain. When SS needs cash they “cash in” the bonds. It is said there is enough until 2035 but you cannot trust the mafia. Right now they’re spending 2-3 trillion on war toys. Very little bitching about that from the Americans.
They’ve given our 51st state Ukraine enough money and weapons to cover a year or more of SS,,, no bitching there. Those F16s Russia is going to shoot out of the skies aren’t exactly cheap! And Israel is buying 25 F35s but if you check into it the money is from US Aid to Israel.
Maybe a little realignment of our priorities would be a nice thing!
I imagine the scenero is already happening through the use of fake or stolen credentials. It isn’t discussed much right now but there’s no reason to believe the various government computer systems haven’t been hacked to bits aside from the lack of COBOL programmers willing to work for the bad guys. It would be a trivial matter to build millions of fake SS accounts, backdated to 1940, and start the checks coming.
And that would be the justification for UBI. Never let a crisis go to waste.
I really wish they would make SS voluntary so I wouldn’t have to hear the sobbing from my son. This is a man that never saved a penny in his life of 45 years. He is a truck driver and says the 15% robbery would make him whole again. Oh, the things he could do.
If SS was voluntary he would not save a penny nor would he be ‘in the system’. When it comes time for retirement, he could not. But he will find few will employ he. He will slowly go broke. He will reach an age where he unable to work or cannot find any one stupid enough to hire him and he is totally broke. Millions like him would be screaming for gov help. Please, Please Mr. Gov, help me! (lol)
A lawsuit going to the Supremo’s,,, finding the gov was reckless in making SS voluntary knowing full well that most would never save enough money to cover for retirement and inflation and force the gov to pay them as they would those that stayed in the system. Do you think any of them would not take the free money? Neither do I.
Anyways, the rate this country is devolving socially and economically, itching for WWIII,,, SS will be the least of our problems!
Ken, do you think his behavior would have been different if there never had been Social Security, Medicare, or welfare?
Then there would be no discussion and the subject would be moot.
My mother grew up in the time period when FDR managed to get SS passed. There was no talk of all the areas SS now covers. No medicare, no medicaid. Only old folk. According to her the reason was due to the change over from an agriculture based country to a manufacturing nation. It seems many of the time deserted their parents moving hundreds of miles away for yobs. I have personally seen this from two neighbors that recently passed. The ‘children’ appeared too busy to help the parent,,, in fact seemed waiting for them to die divvying up the loot.
Using myself as a model,,, earning a decent wage,,, I did in fact save a bit of money as the financials in the time period suggested treating SS as just a small addition to overall savings. This turned out devastating for us mainly due to inflation. Don’t believe their numbers! The money saved over 50 years reduced in value by 70-90%. So our going without to save was a waste of time and money. As a result we have to be fairly skimpy handling our present expenses.
One of the reasons I had no problem with SS was I always wanted ‘options’. No one has any idea of what will happen to them in the next 20-40 years of their life so options must be available. SS was my option as the money I saved would not last me more than 10 years at most due to government mismanagement. No way could I afford the medical costs caused by government interference. Medicare, Medicaid and especially Obama Care.
As a man and a husband I had to look out for my wife and myself. Especially if I pass before her. The SS option worked out and provides us with a minimal income,,, at least for now.
The problem now is the country is tearing itself apart due to stupid divisions, stupid ideologies, and stupid wars. I should have left when younger but didn’t and now it is too late and as Carlin mentions, few seem concerned and it all perfectly explains the Deagle forecast of only 100 million people in the USA in 2025. I personally find that way too optimistic if in fact nukes are real. (Some say they are not) There are no options here for most.
So here’s a toast to that bright flash of light! May the resulting deaths be quick and painless.
You also benefitted from the myth of Keynesian economics. There was so much excess wealth generated by the technology of the 20th century it was almost impossible to not make money. Then with the rise of Keynes and subsequent financialization of everything in order to anticipate growth, it fed on itself for a time. Problem now is that time is over and since the beginning of the millennium borrowing your way to prosperity has led to margin calls of epic scale.
https://www.oftwominds.com/blogjuly23/keynes-collapse7-23.html
Well, personally I had little to do with that…. but I see what your saying. You do what you have to do in your time period.
Personally I liked the 1920s. Plenty of freedom, little government interference and where inventions were common from men/women you never heard of. Today,,, it is all govt grants. The 1930s changed all that. FDR and Chamberlain initiated WWII and it was all govt all the way after that. After the war when govt was supposed to stop/reduce taxing it continued on and the thieves are still at it.
They claim Keynesian but it wasn’t really. They used the deficits part of the theory but paid very little if anything back in the good times.
The money wasn’t being inflated so one could save enough for retirement. In fact if memory serves the money was worth more at the end of the 19th century than the beginning mainly due to a real monetary system with gold/silver backing. Now people like Martin Armstrong would differ but I stick to it. He says its all about trusting the system and I agree. But it is easy to trust a system when you can exchange paper for species. Not so in a fiat system.
The govt has been broke since 1971,,, it claims it has gold but refuses to audit it,,, it doubles the printing almost every year,,, 2001 started the big downward spiral when govt took down the towers,,, and the wars after.
Who knows what will happen when the dollar loses its international shine. C Smith calls it as right as anyone else. He starts off with a century of cheap energy… it’s still cheap if govt gets out of the way. He speaks of globalization but doesn’t mention that was the beginning of the end for the American worker when govt assisted corporations to go offshore. Now the end is being hammered down by all the illegals coming in to take any yobs that are left and robbing the treasury of welfare goodies while they last. Add to the con is that the country most yobs went to is now considered an enemy.
Good luck to our children,,, especially those of europeon descent.
We are at the same stage as the German Wiemar Republic where a certain “tribe” dominated its society and had an “anything goes” attitude which infected the civil society of the day. This same “tribe” was responsible for the social upheaval of the time. LGBTQXYZ mental illness was “normalized” in the Wiemar Republic.
According to this “tribe”, there are six “genders”. This “tribe” is quite powerful, dominating media, government etc. and imposes its own “societal norms” which are quite destructive to “normal” society. This parasitical “tribe” was (and still is) responsible for most of the social upheaval throughout history and has a habit of interjecting itself in societies while distancing itself from said societies, claiming that it is “spiritually elevated” compared to us “normal” people. It’s all in their holy texts, the talmud.
I will leave it to the gentle readers of this tome to figure it out. That being said, this “tribe” has been kicked out of 109 countries throughout history.
History does not only “repeat itself” but actually “rhymes”.
The Cleveland Indians? That Tribe? We already got rid of them. They’re the Guardians now. Problem solved.
Here’s a dirty little secret about Social Security, revealed by the WaPo in 2015:
‘A recent watchdog review found that at least 6.5 million active Social Security numbers belong to people who are at least 112 years old and likely deceased.
“It is incredible that the Social Security Administration in 2015 does not have the technical sophistication to ensure that people they know to be deceased are actually noted as dead,” Senator Ron Johnson said.
‘Auditors proposed that the Social Security Administration take action to correct its death records, but the agency disagreed, saying it doesn’t want to divert resources away from efforts to improve payment accuracy with benefits.’ — WaPo
https://archive.ph/55op5#selection-1203.0-1203.229
Many, perhaps most, of these implausibly old but active SSNs involve identity theft. But some don’t.
If you or a relative die in a hospital, your death will be reported, along with your SSN, to the Social Security death records. A funeral home will do the same. But some who die peacefully at home, to be interred in the back yard, never get reported.
Consider, though, the several million Americans who live overseas. If a relative dies abroad and the body is not repatriated to the US, those government checks could just keep on flowing to the survivors for another half century.
Big Gov really ain’t very smart. To quote the Social Security Administration: “The recommendations [to correct death records] would create a significant manual and labor-intensive workload and provide no benefit to the administration of our programs.”
The same philosophy applies to voter rolls. That’s how we got the spectral scarecrow “Joe Biden” identifying as POTUS.
So, tell us, O wise one, how do the survivors cash the checks?
If a check is made out to Ragnar Nowdead, how is Suzy Q. Ragnarssdottir (Icelandic patronymic) going to cash it?
In fact, the majority of payments are likely made via direct deposit. In the normal course of events, heirs would most likely close all accounts of the deceased, which would render the benefit payment undeliverable, AFAIK. In that case, I expect that even the U.S. Government would twig to what was going on, and remove the deceased ‘s name from the payment list.
One sister-brother household of my acquiantance lives in a developing country. Both have pension and Social Security income direct-deposited into US bank accounts.
The brother is in poor physical and mental health. Sis has power of attorney and password access to his accounts. If the brother dies and Sis chooses not to notify US authorities, then his income will continue flowing to her benefit.
Yes, and that is called fraud, AFAIK.
God help you if get caught defrauding the U.S. Government.
Then again, I suppose your point is that some people are willing to take that risk, based on the belief the U.S. Gov’t. hasn’t got the resources to track them down. May be.
For years “The Left” screeched “My body, my choice!” when it came to abortion, but they exposed themselves as a bunch of PHONIES when it came to COVID jab mandates, even going so far as to advocate severe punishment for people who refused to take part in this mass Pharma experiment. I’ve seen such people claim COVID jab mandates were NECESSARY because COVID was contagious unlike pregnancy, but that argument crumbled when it became increasingly obvious that these “vaccines” not only DIDN’T prevent infection,
they DIDN’T “Stop the spread of ‘Rona” either. They even CHEERED the Biden Thing at a town hall 2 years ago when he advocated that municipal workers who didn’t comply with local jab mandates be FIRED. And after having bleated for years about the evils of Big Pharma, these people have effectively become Pharma’s biggest shills the past few years.
And now they’re also supporting EV mandates, claiming it’s necessary because of climate change, but stories keep coming out that these EVs, along with the massive mining required for the rare minerals necessary for making the batteries, are actually WORSE for the environment than regular gas vehicles. Have these people become useful idiots for globalist organizations such as the WEF & WHO? Given some of the stuff they’ve been advocating, it makes one wonder.
I don’t wonder at all. It’s an obvious fact.
There is a recently released book, “Cobalt Red”, which documents the horrible conditions associated with cobalt mining in the Congo, including the use of child labor in the cobalt mines. Cobalt is an essential element used in EV batteries.
I wonder just how many people driving around in their EVs, feeling all morally righteous about how they are saving the environment, are aware of these conditions? Perhaps every new EV should come with a free copy of “Cobalt Red”, sitting right on the driver’s seat.
“The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”
That’s because the dildos just do as they’re told by their overlords, plain and simple. They’re so far gone now, that they would wear the heaviest down jacket on the hottest summer day, if Bill Gates “recommended it” to “prevent skin cancer”. After all, he’s a billionaire software mogul who “identifies” as a philanthropic doctor. lol
Yes the rules are obvious and clear. Ok to pretend to be or do whatever is woke. Illegal and unacceptable to do what is not woke.
All anyone is required to do is stay uo to date on the current wokeness levels. Just watch the View and CNN or MSNBC once a week. Easy peasy!
Remember when Klinger from MASH was funny because he was, umm, outwardly abnormal yet fully aware of who he was?
Then, he was trying to get out of the army. Today, they’d make him a general.
Col. Potter meets Klinger. Funny as heck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad3qEFJCTew
Hi Mike,
And here are, 40 years later – and Colonel Potter would be the one wearing the dress.
If I do hit “retirement” age within the next decade, I may or may not be able to cash in. Who’s to say the government “worker” in charge of enrolling you will not identify me as being too young for the benefits? To ad more insanity to the mix, my “white privilege” may require me to work til I’m 72. Or that border jumper the month before in line behind me automatically qualifies without age certification. Crazy as it sounds, the powers in charge will be sure to hire the wackos for every position in government as possible to cement their power grip. Call me pessimistic but I have a better chance to win the Power Ball than to collect SS with the way events are unfolding.
I agree, Allen –
I’d happily accept a one-time payout of $50k (equivalent to maybe 4-5 years of benefits) in exchange for forfeiting any future SS claims. Better something than nothing. And it would be enough to make our place largely self-sufficient in terms of providing for our food and energy needs. I could get a solar array sufficient to provide basic electrical power; build the year-round greenhouse I have wanted to build for years and leave enough to buy a small herd of cattle and fence the field, build a barn, etc.
Of course, all we’re going to get is just that. Nothing.
Why do you think you will get nothing? It’s not much but it will still pay out.
Hi Cashy,
Socialist Insecurity is already insolvent or nearly so. Do you believe it will be solvent ten years from now? I don’t. It is why I would happily accept the $50k pittance one-time-payout right now, in exchange for agreeing to forego future “benefits” that will be nonexistent by the time I am old enough to qualify for them. Probably, they will raise the age of eligibility, too – so as to keep us paying for these “benefits” most of us who aren’t old enough to collect will never get.
Twenty years ago or so, when I was in my mid forties, got a statement from SS showing my total “contributions. I calculated that if I were immediately reimbursed my “contributions” along with the “contributions” of my employers, I could have retired immediately, and fairly comfortably. 20 years or so later, I’m “getting by” OK on my “benefits”. I haven’t been able to work for about 5 years now. Over the last 3 years I’ve gotten a $300 a month raise in my “benefits”. At that rate I will do well if I can collect benefits myself until I no longer need them.
Ten years ago Martin Armstrong recommended opting for a lump sum payment for state/municipal employees for places such as CA. The pension systems are a mess.
There is a risk that private pensions will be merged with public to bail out the public pensions.
Fleming v. Nestor established that SS checks are issued at Congress’ discretion. The House and Senate could simply pass a bill to end the distribution of the money to some or all of the recipients.
Assuming enough support exists to override a veto, even the President would be unable to stop a determined Congress.
Eric, I ran across an interesting commentary a few weeks ago when the latest iteration of the “debt ceiling” freakout was in progress (can’t remember where; maybe mises.org). It contended that contrary to popular belief, failure to raise the ceiling by the deadline would not bring the entire government to a screeching halt. There is plenty of revenue coming in daily to pay for SS and Medicare, along with all of the Constitutional functions of the government. It would simply force politicians to prioritize. They would know there would be hell to pay if they sent money to Keeeeev instead of retirees.
People having been saying Soc Sec. will be going insolvent soon for the last 40 years. i know several people that were doomsayers about never getting their SS now collecting checks. Since the FedGov does not have to cover any of its expenses anyway it will just continue to create dollars to send to recipients. Considering the huge voting block of SS recipients and soon to be recipients I don’t know how they could not continue to pay out.
Now if the whole system crashes it might be different but governments a lot worse then the USA have managed to keep trudging along.
That’s true, Cashy – and I concede it’s possible you’re right. But I’ve always thought it smart to assume that’s wrong (no offense intended) and operate on the assumption that every cent they stole is gone forever. And to plan for your own future accordingly.
And, there is the fact that 40 years ago – ten years ago – the federal debt wasn’t 30-plus trillion.
Would you take the payout if it were offered?
As I have said, I would – because (a) I prefer something over nothing and (b) I could use the money to assure O’ll need less money in the future – something more valuable to me than a pathetic monthly dole.
The $50K payout you mentioned earlier? That’s about 3 years of SS which is not much. I’d take that over nothing and roll it into an annuity which would be okay. But considering what I’ve paid into so far and what I’d expect to get it’s not a good deal. I think they would have to set up a buyout based on years of contributions.
I would be in favor of “means testing” to save SS as it is nothing but charity anyway. That’s not fair but govt redistribution never is.
Means testing cannot work because people would quickly figure out how to pass the test. Maybe they look at your income over a period of X years, so you work out with your employer to front-load your pay for -X years. Or get more benefits, like a very large discount on groceries if you shop at a preferred chain, or access to fleet pricing on vehicles, etc. And of course there’d be connected groups who would get exemptions for fully logical and reasonable reasons, like the chronic lack of school teachers and nurses.
The type of means testing I refer to is for the government to base it on your net worth, which they work very hard to monitor. And then have a cut off, very high, for people to receive it, if your net worth drops below the limit you can collect again. Why should people like Bill Gates, and Elon Musk get SS checks?
The entire FedGov is 32 trillion in debt. In the real world that’s called bankrupt. The only way they could pay out SS is to inflate the dollar until it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on. Hence to big push for CBDC. No paper.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. ~Philip K. Dick
Do you think everyone on Social Security Disability is acutally … you know … disabled?
Just ask Joe Manchin’s constituents.
But, to be fair to Manchin, that culture of dependence grew slowly under the representation of Senator Grand Kleagle Byrd.
Boy, wouldn’t that be nice, Eric. As it stands I won’t get a damned dime that I paid into the social slave system. And speaking of the insane trans word, they now want to call a woman’s vagina a “bonus hole”. You know, so as not to offend the transgender people.
Eric, you’re picking low hanging fruit. Go for the gusto, and identify as the POTUS. It worked for Biden.
No, in Biden’s case,enough people identified as “voters” who were either poorly informed — I’m looking at you Georgia Libertarians — or ineligible to actually cast a ballot. The fraud worked in the close election in places.
God forbid anyone actually show up at the polls, stand before a check-in clerk, and prove their identity. The cases! The cases!