Culture Wars fought in the media.

[Aragorn]

They used to be safer here. Since our immigration laws have become so lax they are not safe at all. They are the easiest people to meet some mishap and just as easily disappear and never be missed. Since we can no longer interview the incoming their enemies whomever caused them to flee in the first place can follow them right in. Musn't discriminate.

Wealthy Syrians find opportunity in our lax laws and suck up funds meant for those Syrians seeking refugee or asylum. The suffragettes ignore that because as much as they squeal about it they don't like diversity and they want to cater to the elite. The New Age BS trickled into policies that used to work and now they don't. See, everyone coming over the border is full of love and holiness merely because they are in debt, poor, and homeless. And the suffragette faction of the US will fight to the death to keep these lax and dangerous policies in place because they are 'nice'. Full of love and light.

Ah, but many countries in Europe are the same, Belgium included. Belgium is trying really hard to make our little handkerchief's worth of land in Western Europe appear like the Garden of Eden to foreigners, and especially those from outside of Europe.

And mind you — just as a disclaimer for the Wokemons™, lest they misinterpret my words — I am not criticizing people of different ethnicity here, but I am criticizing the hypocrisy and delusions of grandeur of the Belgian government itself. Because that is the actual root of the problem: the delusion of grandeur.

And certainly now, because it has recently been stated that Belgians are the wealthiest people in the world. Of course, that's just statistics talking, because this very wealthy average income in the stats all comes from our own local one-percenters. The sad truth of the matter is that the average Belgian citizen is actually struggling to make ends meet, and that disabled people here have to make do with an income that sits €300 per month under the official European poverty barrier, and that the Secretary of State for Equal Chances and Combating Poverty bluntly shrugged off her responsibility with the line "There's no money, so I'm not even going to make an effort."

And of course, due to Belgium's indiscriminate hospitality, the city of Antwerp has in the meantime become the European center of human trafficking, drug trafficking, illegal weapons trafficking, police force corruption and drug gang wars. But those are the big guys, whom the authorities are afraid to touch. The little guys get booted out of the country faster than they got in, courtesy of the fairly right-wing administration of the Antwerp metropolitan, with several of said administration's members having come over from the far-right Vlaams Belang party.

[Emil El Zapato]

I was in a convenience store earlier...CircleK...I hate them, they stole my Valero...anyway. I ran into this lady that was buying tons of candy for her grandchildren the other day and today I kidded her about being back for more candy. She said she was buying on sale chips (potato) for her yard workers. I remarked that that was a really nice thing to do. She said, "Well, that's why here to spread love (without a doubt a former 60's hippie). I said that so many people forget that and she said, well let them as long as we don't. I, in turn, said yeah, that makes sense.

She then suggested, no, insisted I read this newspaper publication. I said I would but not today as I was busy doing stuff. She paid 4.50 for the newspaper and gave it to me. She then went on to say, if I ever read it I would never stop. I'm confused, senile perhaps. This is the newspaper she bought me...and this is nothing but the truth:

From Wikipedia:
The Epoch Times is an ardent opponent of the Chinese Communist Party. Since a shift in the newspaper's approach in 2016, the newspaper received significant attention for its favorable coverage of the Trump administration, the German far-right, and the French far-right.

According to NBC News, The Epoch Times "generally stayed out of U.S. politics" before 2016 "unless they dovetailed with Chinese interests". Ben Hurley, a former Falun Gong practitioner and Epoch Times writer until 2013, said the paper was critical of abortion and LGBT people and that Falun Gong practitioners "saw communism everywhere", including in internationalist figures like Hillary Clinton and Kofi Annan, "but there was more room for disagreements in the early days."

Since 2016, according to NBC News, The Epoch Times has promoted favorable coverage of Trump's campaign and presidency, and emphasized topics like Islamic terrorism and illegal immigration to the United States. It has also emphasized "what the publication claims is a labyrinthian, global conspiracy led by [Hillary] Clinton and former President Barack Obama to tear down Trump."

[Diabolical Boids]

Ah, but many countries in Europe are the same, Belgium included. Belgium is trying really hard to make our little handkerchief's worth of land in Western Europe appear like the Garden of Eden to foreigners, and especially those from outside of Europe.

And mind you — just as a disclaimer for the Wokemons™, lest they misinterpret my words — I am not criticizing people of different ethnicity here, but I am criticizing the hypocrisy and delusions of grandeur of the Belgian government itself. Because that is the actual root of the problem: the delusion of grandeur.

And certainly now, because it has recently been stated that Belgians are the wealthiest people in the world. Of course, that's just statistics talking, because this very wealthy average income in the stats all comes from our own local one-percenters. The sad truth of the matter is that the average Belgian citizen is actually struggling to make ends meet, and that disabled people here have to make do with an income that sits €300 per month under the official European poverty barrier, and that the Secretary of State for Equal Chances and Combating Poverty bluntly shrugged off her responsibility with the line "There's no money, so I'm not even going to make an effort."

And of course, due to Belgium's indiscriminate hospitality, the city of Antwerp has in the meantime become the European center of human trafficking, drug trafficking, illegal weapons trafficking, police force corruption and drug gang wars. But those are the big guys, whom the authorities are afraid to touch. The little guys get booted out of the country faster than they got in, courtesy of the fairly right-wing administration of the Antwerp metropolitan, with several of said administration's members having come over from the far-right Vlaams Belang party.

I would say the same thing. I can't blame the people wanting to come in nation, I blame the lame arsed polices we have.

[Diabolical Boids]

I was in a convenience store earlier...CircleK...I hate them, they stole my Valero...anyway. I ran into this lady that was buying tons of candy for her grandchildren the other day and today I kidded her about being back for more candy. She said she was buying on sale chips (potato) for her yard workers. I remarked that that was a really nice thing to do. She said, "Well, that's why here to spread love (without a doubt a former 60's hippie). I said that so many people forget that and she said, well let them as long as we don't. I, in turn, said yeah, that makes sense.

She then suggested, no, insisted I read this newspaper publication. I said I would but not today as I was busy doing stuff. She paid 4.50 for the newspaper and gave it to me. She then went on to say, if I ever read it I would never stop. I'm confused, senile perhaps. This is the newspaper she bought me...and this is nothing but the truth:

From Wikipedia:
The Epoch Times is an ardent opponent of the Chinese Communist Party. Since a shift in the newspaper's approach in 2016, the newspaper received significant attention for its favorable coverage of the Trump administration, the German far-right, and the French far-right.

According to NBC News, The Epoch Times "generally stayed out of U.S. politics" before 2016 "unless they dovetailed with Chinese interests". Ben Hurley, a former Falun Gong practitioner and Epoch Times writer until 2013, said the paper was critical of abortion and LGBT people and that Falun Gong practitioners "saw communism everywhere", including in internationalist figures like Hillary Clinton and Kofi Annan, "but there was more room for disagreements in the early days."

Since 2016, according to NBC News, The Epoch Times has promoted favorable coverage of Trump's campaign and presidency, and emphasized topics like Islamic terrorism and illegal immigration to the United States. It has also emphasized "what the publication claims is a labyrinthian, global conspiracy led by [Hillary] Clinton and former President Barack Obama to tear down Trump."

Must be true since mainstream media outlets like NBC and Wikipedia where anyone can post are absolute paragons of truth. The Epoch times was credible fodder for all alt news outlets having had a reputation for research ...until the T word dropped. It's funny how sources are the reliable version of God's own truth, unquestionably, until something is said that someone doesn't like to hear. Then its all full of shit.



Circle K has awesome coffee.

[Emil El Zapato]

lol, I haven't read it yet and won't until I get really bored and think that I need brushing up on the works of the enemy... I hope I don't see that lady for a long time, at least not before I get around to reading it because I don't want to need lying to her to keep her happy...and living in the world she has constructed for herself. It is a very bad thing to do that to people that are obviously fragile.

[Aianawa]

Nice, sometimes you attack me funny bone, others me happy, some my knowings best friend.

[Diabolical Boids]

lol, I haven't read it yet and won't until I get really bored and think that I need brushing up on the works of the enemy... I hope I don't see that lady for a long time, at least not before I get around to reading it because I don't want to need lying to her to keep her happy...and living in the world she has constructed for herself. It is a very bad thing to do that to people that are obviously fragile.

It's by subscription. I ended up with a free subscription to it, somehow or another. It's not really a conservative rag, it had the usual aliens and psychic and skinwalker fodder. Hardly Ronald Reagan territory. It's no worse than most outlets and better than some. Its a little classier than the usual alt news because they bother to deliver it, and if people are paying for it after all these years it must have something to it if people are paying for it. Like anything else they respond to demand and the demand was T. Just like Huffington post responds with all fluffy feel goody stuff about Biden post election (pre election it was outrage over his grabiness which suggests a lack of principles) fem victimization, and other expressions of extremism which always seems to have delirius tremors. .

Epoch times I'm referring to. Not Circle K. They jsut have discount cards. Their coffee is really very good for a gas station. I have dual residency and find myself living in three different locations these days and only one has Circle K . Bucees will have to step up their game.

[Diabolical Boids]

It occurs to me more and more these days ...mostly because everyone hates Trump and for a variety of probably valid reasons but just. can't. let. him. go.

I see it with Putin too. When people cling that much to the 'abusers' it makes me know there's some sort of emotional bonding going on there. Unhealthy of course.

Trump IS a Democrat. He's always been a Democrat, he's never been a conservative. He was Dem all the way up to about 2012 or so. He's the older sort of Democrat back before they all went into self destruct mode into extreme liberalism of today so they mostly do not exist anymore or rather they have been squelched. I include myself in those numbers. That sort of Democrat is seen as pro conservative. He simply had to run as a conservative because that is the closest you can get to a moderate liberal or Democrat these days, to be now that politics and social engineering killed the voice tradition Dem that was more like the JFK variety. That Democrats and liberals hate him that badly says more about how they see themselves and their politics than it does about him.

The only one resembling a moderate Dem today is RFK. Trump is actually a bit more extremists and I think that's what today's Dems hate. That's getting mirrored back at them and they don't like it.

[Emil El Zapato]

It occurs to me more and more these days ...mostly because everyone hates Trump and for a variety of probably valid reasons but just. can't. let. him. go.

I see it with Putin too. When people cling that much to the 'abusers' it makes me know there's some sort of emotional bonding going on there. Unhealthy of course.

Trump IS a Democrat. He's always been a Democrat, he's never been a conservative. He was Dem all the way up to about 2012 or so. He's the older sort of Democrat back before they all went into self destruct mode into extreme liberalism of today so they mostly do not exist anymore or rather they have been squelched. I include myself in those numbers. That sort of Democrat is seen as pro conservative. He simply had to run as a conservative because that is the closest you can get to a moderate liberal or Democrat these days, to be now that politics and social engineering killed the voice tradition Dem that was more like the JFK variety. That Democrats and liberals hate him that badly says more about how they see themselves and their politics than it does about him.

The only one resembling a moderate Dem today is RFK. Trump is actually a bit more extremists and I think that's what today's Dems hate. That's getting mirrored back at them and they don't like it.

[Diabolical Boids]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tri...ei=16#image=11


These things are tiresome in how they repeat themselves.

#1. Tipping culture.

Why giving a gratuity (gratitude) to people who serve you is a bad thing is beyond me. Maybe people want a slave state after all.

# 4 Huge Portion sizes. Wait for it.

#5 Small talk with strangers. Essentially what we are doing here .....? Yes?


#8. Sales tax . It often changes and what is subject to sales tax and what isn't often changes, and some places have no sales tax at all so there is no fixed price including tax. There any number of things in a store that people cannot be charged tax for so there's no central or fixed pricing system.

#9 To Go Boxes. I know Europe has the take away culture so its probably not too much for them to figure out that To Go Boxes is a kind of Take Away. It has to do with number 4. The Huge Portions. We take them home and finish them later as another meal.


#10. Excessive patriotism or love of country. It seems those who can't stand American's love of Country really don't seem to like their nations very much at all. You seldom see them saying anything laudatory or loving about their cities, fixtures, buildings, monoliths, cultures or people. I don't see anyone in Europe really ever loving on their nation.

Love of nation in the US starts with love of state which varies. I noticed that Ohioans don't have as much love of state as like people in Michigan or Kentucky all of which are a days drive of the other but totally distinct cultures. Ohio isn't really a loveable state (IMO), it doesn't revere Lake Erie enough to truly be a Great Lakes state, its all flat and 95 percent farmland. Michiganders on the other hand (Michigan being considered southern Canada culturally being divided only by a river and lakes) is deliriously in love with their state, probably taking this from their close neighbor Ontario. For its unique beauty, its cultural blend of Native American, Scandanavia, Prussian, and French. How it has everything, desert, Islands, sand dunes, ocean like lakes, forest, mountains, snow, heat and sand and seems to be a blend of every other state. It's bridges and ships have their own fan clubs and websites. Texans love their state, so does Californians, and Floridians.

#11 Drive In Theaters

Hmm. Beats me. Cars were mass produced in Europe the same as here. Granted I wouldn't compare a Morris Minor with a 69 Mustang Fastback, but I know car culture is not contained solely to America or the Motown. We don't get in wad about car jumble or boot sales. We just call them flea markets.


#12 Personal Space. It's considered polite not to stand inches from someone breathing in their face. That may be an ingrained psychological thing with Europeans to line up standing on top of each other. I know it makes things neurotic for Europeans here trying to get on a bus and they can't explain why but we are just very casual about getting on busses, ships and trains because there is no stringent social hierarchy on the bus stop level of existence nor is there anything going on really that merits stress.

[Emil El Zapato]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tri...ei=16#image=11


These things are tiresome in how they repeat themselves.

#1. Tipping culture.

Why giving a gratuity (gratitude) to people who serve you is a bad thing is beyond me. Maybe people want a slave state after all.

# 4 Huge Portion sizes. Wait for it.

#5 Small talk with strangers. Essentially what we are doing here .....? Yes?


#8. Sales tax . It often changes and what is subject to sales tax and what isn't often changes, and some places have no sales tax at all so there is no fixed price including tax. There any number of things in a store that people cannot be charged tax for so there's no central or fixed pricing system.

#9 To Go Boxes. I know Europe has the take away culture so its probably not too much for them to figure out that To Go Boxes is a kind of Take Away. It has to do with number 4. The Huge Portions. We take them home and finish them later as another meal.


#10. Excessive patriotism or love of country. It seems those who can't stand American's love of Country really don't seem to like their nations very much at all. You seldom see them saying anything laudatory or loving about their cities, fixtures, buildings, monoliths, cultures or people. I don't see anyone in Europe really ever loving on their nation.

Love of nation in the US starts with love of state which varies. I noticed that Ohioans don't have as much love of state as like people in Michigan or Kentucky all of which are a days drive of the other but totally distinct cultures. Ohio isn't really a loveable state (IMO), it doesn't revere Lake Erie enough to truly be a Great Lakes state, its all flat and 95 percent farmland. Michiganders on the other hand (Michigan being considered southern Canada culturally being divided only by a river and lakes) is deliriously in love with their state, probably taking this from their close neighbor Ontario. For its unique beauty, its cultural blend of Native American, Scandanavia, Prussian, and French. How it has everything, desert, Islands, sand dunes, ocean like lakes, forest, mountains, snow, heat and sand and seems to be a blend of every other state. It's bridges and ships have their own fan clubs and websites. Texans love their state, so does Californians, and Floridians.

#11 Drive In Theaters

Hmm. Beats me. Cars were mass produced in Europe the same as here. Granted I wouldn't compare a Morris Minor with a 69 Mustang Fastback, but I know car culture is not contained solely to America or the Motown. We don't get in wad about car jumble or boot sales. We just call them flea markets.


#12 Personal Space. It's considered polite not to stand inches from someone breathing in their face. That may be an ingrained psychological thing with Europeans to line up standing on top of each other. I know it makes things neurotic for Europeans here trying to get on a bus and they can't explain why but we are just very casual about getting on busses, ships and trains because there is no stringent social hierarchy on the bus stop level of existence nor is there anything going on really that merits stress.

well, I can give you one example...my daughter worked at Starbuck's and had coffee thrown on her, been spit at, etc. And I know how dedicated to service she is...if I even joke about not tipping she goes nearly ballistic... many people can only make a subsistence wage through tips. Myself, I've often felt that waiters and waitresses owed me a tip...but I never short shrifted them.

[Diabolical Boids]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/...a79b4a4a0&ei=9

Boomers traditions then, ruin weddings today.

Somehow.

My daughter wanted a non traditional wedding. In her effort not to be Bridezilla she turned into Bridezilla by savaging anyone who mentioned anything remotely tradition like roses on the wedding cake. She had a ton of traditional stuff (like, you know, the cake!), and lots of stuff spoken of so dismissively in the link like high heels. I thought I would be sad or something but it was more of a relief to have the stress and high drama over with. The cake is good, I've eaten several pounds of it. For 300 hundred dollars it out to be.

[Emil El Zapato]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/...a79b4a4a0&ei=9

Boomers traditions then, ruin weddings today.

Somehow.

My daughter wanted a non traditional wedding. In her effort not to be Bridezilla she turned into Bridezilla by savaging anyone who mentioned anything remotely tradition like roses on the wedding cake. She had a ton of traditional stuff (like, you know, the cake!), and lots of stuff spoken of so dismissively in the link like high heels. I thought I would be sad or something but it was more of a relief to have the stress and high drama over with. The cake is good, I've eaten several pounds of it. For 300 hundred dollars it out to be.

genetics Boids...in an effort to not be compliant to tradition, they become compliant to non-tradition. That kind of need for 'compliance' is the driver and something I've always found ludicrous in my own life.

[Diabolical Boids]

well, I can give you one example...my daughter worked at Starbuck's and had coffee thrown on her, been spit at, etc. And I know how dedicated to service she is...if I even joke about not tipping she goes nearly ballistic... many people can only make a subsistence wage through tips. Myself, I've often felt that waiters and waitresses owed me a tip...but I never short shrifted them.

Well it is a service job, traditionally reserved for students and retirees. They were never meant to make a career out of, hence the low paying wage. Why Starbucks is of the social group that everyone needs to be making 15 to 30 dollars an hour handing someone a plate of food or a cup of coffee, I'm puzzled why they are not paying their own employees a living wage that doesn't require gratuities to survive.

[Emil El Zapato]

Well it is a service job, traditionally reserved for students and retirees. They were never meant to make a career out of, hence the low paying wage. Why Starbucks is of the social group that everyone needs to be making 15 to 30 dollars an hour handing someone a plate of food or a cup of coffee, I'm puzzled why they are not paying their own employees a living wage that doesn't require gratuities to survive.

my daughter IS a student for starters and WAS when she worked at Starbucks and living on her own. Why don't they pay? Dare I say it...It is the American way...all for those that are in a position to take it.