Given my background in history and political science, I have a fascination with North Korea and its wacky Communist/Cult government, and Vice does some of the best/most interesting reporting on North Korea. The Caller has an interview with Shane Smith of Vice regarding his visit to these camps. Absolutely read the article, then watch the videos.
And can I just say this about the DC’s commenters? Seriously? You fucking mouthbreathers are whining about the fact that there are a few f-bombs being dropped by Smith and quoted by DC? Grow the fuck up, this Vice guy brings us absolutely brilliant original reporting, I, someone absolutely fascinated by North Korea (given my history and political science background) had no fucking clue about these Siberian labor camps, and you’re bitching because he drops a few f-bombs and used phrases like drunk-y and murder-y to describe his various run-ins with violent drunken Russian hoodlums? On top of the original reporting on yet more human rights violations that are routine with this absolutely sick, bizarre regime…and you’re bitching about a journalist using the word fuck in said reporting? Get over your fucking selves you goddamned immature puritans.
I’m totally humming No Motherland Without You right now.
That’s what they’re saying, I’m inclined to think there’s been a modest increase, based on my current enslavement stint in retail hell, the top line is positive certainly, but the retailers top line has pretty limited meaning, bottom line is what counts, but I do think you’ll see a modest increase in the bottom line. I would agree with Ed’s conclusion that higher end electronics were pretty flat, that was certainly my experience this year, and competition is fierce on electronics, especially on Christmas. One thing to keep in mind is that big ticket electronics are never moneymakers, and if things are rough, often retailers will take a hit on the big ticket item, it’s the consumables or accessories that are the moneymakers, this is why retailers have salesmen on the floor trying to sell you accessories and warranties and home setups for your big-screen and home entertainment system and all this sort of thing, because those are the moneymakers. If electronics sales are flat, it’s because everyone had to cut down to the bone on big ticket shit, and the backend moneymakers that went with it were mediocre. Most of you morons probably already knew all that, but you’d be amazed how many people have not a fucking clue.
Of course the worst are the smarmy little fucks and resellers that do know this and buy their big ticket shit with nothing else, all with a shit-eating grin on their mug the entire time. Resellers you can fuck with right back though real easy, just stick a few “sold only at (retailer name here) stores” stickers on the item, they’re usually a royal pain in the ass to get off the box without ripping it to shreds, which of course looks bad when you’re trying to resell said item. Also, if you have packing tape with your company logo, run that along one or two edges for good measure, regular customers don’t care if there’s a sticker or tape on it, it drives resellers fucking crazy, it’s a blast to see them turn red with rage. Mwahahahaa.
The other guys you can fuck over with silence, a decent customer is likely to find out what genuinely good deals are available, a really good customer might find out that there are coupons available to salesmen in the office to take the edge off all the stuff a customer is buying, or that yeah, it’s $20 cheaper over at the competitors, but we do price match. Don’t be the douchemallet that gets fucked by omission, I’ve watched more sales walk out that could have been tens, even hundreds cheaper because the guy felt it necessary to talk down to the lowly retail monkeys, or just be a dick in general than I care to admit.
Any excuse to post clips from Are You Being Served?, in this case, Mr Humphries being his fabulously gay self,
So, most cities have a nuisance vehicle ordinance, which allows the city to tow and impound a person’s vehicle if it is parked where parking is prohibited, or if it has been left parked for too long in a space or hasn’t been feeding the meter over a long period of time. Denver on the other hand has taken things to an extreme, and is very aggressive about towing and impounding people’s vehicles. Not only are they aggressive, unlike most cities who will dismiss fines and impound fees if a person is found not guilty of the nuisance vehicle ordinance,Denver does not, and their impound fees are brutal.
“They told me my truck was going to be held under something called nuisance abatement,” said Robin McAnally.
McAnally was found not guilty of the misdemeanor charge Denver cited when it took his work truck, but Denver officials told him that it doesn’t matter; he still has to pay $5,000 to get his truck out of the impound lot.
McAnally doesn’t have the money, so the nuisance ordinance gives Denver the authority to sell his truck at auction and keep the proceeds, and then garnish his wages, including interest.
“My life was just over with from that point on,” McAnally said. “It was a nightmare and still is really.”
They pull this shit on the wrong person and it’s gonna get real ugly in a hurry, a guy can make one hell of a statement and mess with much less than $5000.
Gay men, lesbians and bisexuals who self-identified to exit pollsters made up 3 percent of those casting ballots in House races on Tuesday, and 31 percent of them voted Republican. By itself, that number is amazing, especially when you consider that way too many people think being gay and voting Democratic are one in the same. But that percentage is ominous news for a White House viewed with suspicion by many gay men and lesbians, because that’s four percentage points higher than the change election of 2008.
If given a rare and precious gift, more valuable than life itself, how would you react? Would you brag about it? Hide it? Flaunt it? Sell it? Or, would you protect it with everything you had or could ever have? Would you walk through hell with a gas can (as a now Congressman-elect famously said) to protect it and keep it safe and viable for the future? And how far would you go to make sure that your gift is never lost, knowng how difficult it would be to ever regain it or return it to its original luster?
Well, I have been fortunate to have been given such a gift in my life. This gift is my freedom as an American, as defined and protected by the Constitution I have sworn multiple times in my life to defend. This is the freedom to know that the tyranny, oppression, interference, and despair that has gripped far too many people throughout human history will never make it to my homeland. This is the freedom sanctified as the birthright of all Americans, born, naturalized, or yet to come, from the sacrifices of those before us, those in our midst, and those yet to come. And this is the one gift that we all can pass down to those who are mere sparkles in the universe, waiting to come alive. This is the freedom that, while I never took for granted, has been under assault the last two years and threatened. And this is the one gift that I can pass on to my daughter, knowing that if she is free, she can never be tarnished or completely damaged, and that she will always be able to control her own fate.
Well, freedom was under assault. That was, until yesterday. I went out and did what I could to protect it. I voted. I voted to make my voice heard. I voted to let those who wished to imprison my future and myself that they are sorely mistaken. I let the political class know that I will do everyhing legally available to me to make sure they never take that gift from me. And I told those who wish to take my rights and freedoms away that I too would walk through whatever they threw at me to pass that threatened gift down to my daughter, the same daughter to whom I swore the first time I held her that I would never let her down, so that she would be able to live as free as I could. That is what I did yesterday. I finished the race. I fought the good fight, knowing that a new fight, one that could potentially throw statism into the sea, will be coming in a few months.
And I told, in no uncertain terms, those who wish to harm my family, my future, and my freedom the following: (more…)
doubleplusundead 