Joementum posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCZ9S9xF5IY

Ray and Shirley posted:

Every time I listen to Alex Jones he claims he's been losing a ton of weight. Every time I see Alex Jones he's fatter than ever.

Radish posted:

I like how to these fundie types there's always this huge untapped market of people that desperately want banal, Christian themed pablum but Hollywood is just too dedicated to promoting sin that they don't want that easy money.

Slightly Toasted posted:

Rush Limbaugh- Liberals are adding germs to morning after pills so that they won't work on fat women!

Lycus posted:

If there are honest libertarians out there, I haven't met one. All the libertarians I've talked to are hypocritical in some way. Maybe the wealthy ones are honest.

bobservo posted:

Libertarians see the slightest problem with a complicated government-run-or-subsidized system as a fine reason to throw the whole thing away, especially if it personally inconveniences them. I know a dude who angrily tweets at the mass transit union whenever his bus is late -- instead of, you know, thinking about the many variables that can affect traffic in a massive city not really designed for cars.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Of course the USPS cuts are entirely a result of funding cuts,

poor nose posted:

Friday as I was driving home I was listening to Hannity like I always do but this episode he had Rick Santorum who was promoting his new Christian Christmas movie, "The Christmas Candle". You see after America wasn't ready for a Christian candidate like Rick he moved on and became CEO of a Christian centric movie studio to fight back against the Devil in Godless Hollywood. He went on to explain to Sean while they verbally stroked each other off that people don't want to see this garbage and filth but there just aren't good wholesome movies available to them to watch with their families.

Sean took over at this point and was talking (bragging) about how he has all the movie channels at home (because of how well off he is) and when he sits down to find one to watch he gives up "Because it's all just sex, sex, sex, sex, violence, sex sex..."

Well apparently the devil won because the Christmas candle was a total loving flop.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/25/christmas-candle-movie-flop-rick-santorum

Popular Thug Drink posted:

Actually, the USPS service cuts are because the USPS was mandated by Congress to shovel billions of dollars every quarter into a gigantic pension/healthcare plan. I don't have a link on me but I remember last time I checked that the amount USPS was obligated to remove from operational funding every year was larger than the combined yearly net profit of both FedEx and UPS.

Popular Thug Drink posted:

Actually, the USPS service cuts are because the USPS was mandated by Congress to shovel billions of dollars every quarter into a gigantic pension/healthcare plan. I don't have a link on me but I remember last time I checked that the amount USPS was obligated to remove from operational funding every year was larger than the combined yearly net profit of both FedEx and UPS.

Popular Thug Drink posted:

Actually, the USPS service cuts are because the USPS was mandated by Congress to shovel billions of dollars every quarter into a gigantic pension/healthcare plan. I don't have a link on me but I remember last time I checked that the amount USPS was obligated to remove from operational funding every year was larger than the combined yearly net profit of both FedEx and UPS.

Hasters posted:

Yep, Congress is making them throw $5.5bn annually into a pot that is already overflowing, while at the same time mandating they continue the same level of service. It's a naked attempt to get rid of them once and for all.

That Irish Guy posted:

But yeah, I guess what I'm saying is: at least (actual, internally consistent, and not simply conservatives hiding under a lovely guise of "neutrality") Libertarians find problems with conservatives, at least they have enough critical thought to not be drawn in by that ideology.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

An actual ideological libertarian is a lot closer to socialism than they are to the modern Republican party, just because they're already thinking about politics in economic terms. Some of them come to realize the flaws of the libertarian economic model and others don't.

BrotherAdso posted:

I dunno, it's worth noting that Libertarians, especially young libertarians, do have a leg up on traditional conservatives. Their media (Personal Liberty, various PaulTard sites) is better, too. For only one simple reason: their libertarianism usually extends in a consistent way to social and personal issues.

Joementum posted:

Ah, but it sounds like neither you nor your friend know the actual Libertarian argument for abortion rights: evictionism! Here's Walter Block explaining it at the Ron Paul rally in Tampa last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnWlWdl-Dq0

beatlegs posted:

This has been public knowledge for years. The Dems have been horrible at getting the message out.

Install Windows posted:

It'd be pretty fair to say the pension requirements are a way to cut the USPS's effective funding.

Hasters posted:

To be fair "Everyone hates the post office, they suck!" is probably the original meme and has been absorbed by almost everyone in America, regardless of political affiliation.

Hasters posted:

To be fair "Everyone hates the post office, they suck!" is probably the original meme and has been absorbed by almost everyone in America, regardless of political affiliation.

SnakePlissken posted:

Not to mention that mass mailings (I.e., junkmail) are heavily subsidized by ordinary people who pay full price for services, who probably don't even want damned junkmail anyway. Yet another instance of corporate welfare depleting the public purse and nobody saying a word.

SnakePlissken posted:

Not to mention that mass mailings (I.e., junkmail) are heavily subsidized by ordinary people who pay full price for services, who probably don't even want damned junkmail anyway. Yet another instance of corporate welfare depleting the public purse and nobody saying a word.


Which is idiotic. The USPS is one of the best services the US government offers. A postal service that works, and doesn't routinely steal your mail is a mark of a civilized nation.

SnakePlissken posted:

Which is idiotic. The USPS is one of the best services the US government offers. A postal service that works, and doesn't routinely steal your mail is a mark of a civilized nation.

Article 1, Section 8 posted:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
...
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
...

Install Windows posted:

Haha what? No, it's the other way around. Those junkmail companies get discounted rates but provide consisntent, predictable, and large flows of mail, all of which is perfectly sorted and addressed and coded before hand if the companies want to get the discounts, and the discounted rates they pay are still a lot more than what they actually cost the USPS, they're the USPS' cash cow.

Meanwhile, a lot of regular person letter mail is susceptible to being of unpredictable demand, rarely is addressed and labeled in the precisely sortable standardized ways the USPS requires for bulk mailers to get discounts, and so on. That stuff really can often cost much more than the base postage rate to actually send, particularly if it gets rejected by the machines and instead has to be person-sorted.

poor nose posted:

Well apparently the devil won because the Christmas candle was a total loving flop.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/25/christmas-candle-movie-flop-rick-santorum

SnakePlissken posted:

I just recall the director of the USPS being interviewed on public radio a number of years ago citing both the pension fund and the bulk corporate mailers being heavily subsidized as the main handicaps against his agency. I'm not pulling it out of thin air.

I think there's probably a lot to your argument here though, and maybe more nuance to argue, too, than I can delve into given my time considerations. How does it compare, what a piece of junkmail costs to send, compared to a single letter? When any residential mail truck is more than half full of junkmail, which I imagine they are often as not, the time saved on it being presorted seems like it may only be one of the smaller offsets to its overall costs. May reduce work for the manual sorters but puts more work on the deliverator, IMO, and more wear and tear on equipment to transport it. But I'm not an expert and it's probably a rather complex argument. Maybe somebody has discussed it more fully already elsewhere.

Install Windows posted:

Junk mail senders are required by the USPS to essentially do as much of the USPS' work themselves before the mail enters the mailstream. Obviously if there was no discounts at all, the USPS would make even more off the arrangement, but the discounts exist in order to encourage the senders to do that work for them. Bulk mailings in general, of junk mail but also magazines, bills and so on constitute the vast majority of their profitable stuff, in addition to parcel sendings from major shippers.

SnakePlissken posted:

Well maybe it's just conventional wisdom that I've "inherited" from my dad or just absorbed from the media but the way I've heard it the postal service is subsidizing bulk mail senders, rather than the way you put it. I'd be willing to hear arguments to the contrary.

radical meme posted:

Mark Levin has become totally unhinged lately. I think the guy is close to a nervous breakdown. He bounces from "the evil Obama is forcing his will upon the people" to "Obama is an idiot and completely incapable of doing anything right". It's truly amazing. His most recent talking point is that Obama has destroyed America's historic support and application of the Monroe Doctrine. loving really? The Monroe Doctrine of all things. In Levin's world, reaching an agreement with Iran and letting China declare military flight restrictions over some lovely islands in the China Sea are both examples of pissing on the Monroe Doctrine.

radical meme posted:

Mark Levin has become totally unhinged lately. I think the guy is close to a nervous breakdown. He bounces from "the evil Obama is forcing his will upon the people" to "Obama is an idiot and completely incapable of doing anything right". It's truly amazing. His most recent talking point is that Obama has destroyed America's historic support and application of the Monroe Doctrine. loving really? The Monroe Doctrine of all things. In Levin's world, reaching an agreement with Iran and letting China declare military flight restrictions over some lovely islands in the China Sea are both examples of pissing on the Monroe Doctrine.

radical meme posted:

Mark Levin has become totally unhinged lately. I think the guy is close to a nervous breakdown. He bounces from "the evil Obama is forcing his will upon the people" to "Obama is an idiot and completely incapable of doing anything right". It's truly amazing. His most recent talking point is that Obama has destroyed America's historic support and application of the Monroe Doctrine. loving really? The Monroe Doctrine of all things. In Levin's world, reaching an agreement with Iran and letting China declare military flight restrictions over some lovely islands in the China Sea are both examples of pissing on the Monroe Doctrine.

Install Windows posted:

We are in fact subsidizing them, they're also the USPS' biggest profit center at the same time. The discounts they get encourage them to send large volumes of mail, and the requirements they have to meet to get the discounts ensure the USPS is still getting more money from them they would if they were sending things like regular people.

Just take a look at the next piece of junk mail you receive. Notice that the postage on it was pre-paid under a specific permit number, where the sender pays as much as months in advance for all of their mail. Notice it has that POSTNET barcode preprinted by the sender as well as an address in perfectly formatted for automated mail sorting format. All of these things both help the USPS plan out when things are gonna be sent, as well as do much of the work for sorting the USPS otherwise has to do.

You can get access to some of the discounts yourself by simply arranging to send mail online with preprinted labels. For regular people, this discount doesn't apply to plain letter mail, but most other services will have it vs. buying the postage and getting it set up direct at the post office.

quote:

Fox News reported that the Cleveland Clinic was instituting "massive layoffs" due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, but when asked about the reports, a Clinic spokesperson told Media Matters, "We're not."

On November 25, The Daily Caller published an article titled, "Top U.S. hospital laying off staff due to Obamacare." On Fox Business' Markets Now, host Connell McShane reported on the "massive layoffs." America's Newsroom host Bill Hemmer claimed that the Cleveland Clinic was going to "shed workers." Later, during the America's News HQ, Fox reporter Chris Stirewalt claimed that the layoffs "rocked the community there in northeastern Ohio."

But there's one problem: the Cleveland Clinic is not laying off any employees. Eileen Sheil, Cleveland Clinic's Executive Director of Corporate Communications, said in an e-mail to Media Matters, "There have been several mis-reports and they keep mentioning that we're laying off 3,000 employees. We're not." Sheil explained that Cleveland Clinic is offering voluntary retirement to 3,000 eligible employees and that the Clinic is also "working on many initiatives to lower costs, drive efficiencies, reduce duplication of services across our system and provide quality care to our patients." Sheil continued, "Many of these initiatives do not impact our employees."

Sheil told Media Matters that Fox had been notified of its error and that the Cleveland Clinic requested Fox's future reporting on the issue more accurately present the Clinic's plans. According to a Media Matters search, Fox had not corrected its mistake by the time of publication.

Despite Fox's reporting, Sheil reiterated the Clinic's support for the Affordable Care Act, stating:

We believe reform is necessary because the current state is unsustainable. The ACA is a step toward that change and we believe more changes will come/evolve as there are still many uncertainties. Hospitals must be responsible and do what we can to prepare and support the law.

Fox's continued focus on the Cleveland Clinic is due, presumably, to President Obama's frequent praise of the hospital. In September, host Greta Van Susteren acknowledged the network's flawed reporting on the Cleveland Clinic after it was cited by U.S. Sen. John Barasso (R-WY) on her program.

Rexicon1 posted:

Wow, it's really weird when you see something published that's 100%, no loving around, fingers-crossed-behind-the-back lying.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/11/25/fox-blames-obamacare-for-fictional-layoffs-at-c/197048


For the record, I work with the Cleveland Clinic often and while they can be some money-grubbin jerks sometimes they are honestly one of the more respectable private institutions I've ever been associated with. A while back I recall their CEO suggested we should tax tobacco out of existence which tickled me. Still though, how the gently caress do you get "We are offering retirement packages to older employees" = " we are laying off grannies due to ACA" gently caress conservative media in its loving weird varicosity-dense rear end in a top hat

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

I once spent a good half hour standing in line at the post office listening to a tax attorney complain about how all the post offices were closing and running shorter hours and he couldn't get his client's filings submitted properly, and how he never had those problems with FedEx or UPS. Of course the USPS cuts are entirely a result of funding cuts, and his entire practice consisted of people paying him hundreds of dollars an hour so that they could pay as little in taxes as possible . . .

Dr.Zeppelin posted:

Install Windows posted:

We are in fact subsidizing them, they're also the USPS' biggest profit center at the same time. The discounts they get encourage them to send large volumes of mail, and the requirements they have to meet to get the discounts ensure the USPS is still getting more money from them they would if they were sending things like regular people.

Just take a look at the next piece of junk mail you receive. Notice that the postage on it was pre-paid under a specific permit number, where the sender pays as much as months in advance for all of their mail. Notice it has that POSTNET barcode preprinted by the sender as well as an address in perfectly formatted for automated mail sorting format. All of these things both help the USPS plan out when things are gonna be sent, as well as do much of the work for sorting the USPS otherwise has to do.

You can get access to some of the discounts yourself by simply arranging to send mail online with preprinted labels. For regular people, this discount doesn't apply to plain letter mail, but most other services will have it vs. buying the postage and getting it set up direct at the post office.

Smile posted:

This guy is right. I used to work at a print shop a couple years ago and I'd prepare the stuff for companies wanting to send out bulk mailings. The amount of sorting and weighing that you have to do beforehand is insane, but when the mailing is submitted to the post office all they have to do is load it up for delivery. Now they also have the EDDM stuff, where you can blanket all the addresses in a certain zipcode for even cheaper than standard bulk rates.
I hate getting junk mail, but I kinda accept it as the cost of having the postal service.