Ron Jeremy posted:

The north had industry but the south, at least the planter elite, had shitloads of money. Cotton was king and planters had a very nice trade going with Great Britain to Fred its textile mils. Slavery was very healthy as an institution in 1860, especially compared to the British West Indies where slaves had been freed and decided, to everyone's amazement, not to want to work on plantations for poo poo wages.

Part of the calculus for the south was to get Britain into the war on their behalf, much like the French did in the revolution. Unfortunately the anti slavery sentiment in the U.K. kept them away politically and Egyptian cotton stepped in to replace southern American cotton economically.

TinTower posted:

RagnarokAngel posted:

Seems legit thanks George Carlin.

Dejawesp posted:

Asking England to come save them, not even a hundred years past the Revolution? That's some double traitor bingo right there.

Dienes posted:

Whole Foods was selling apricot kernels as a health food, despite the fact that just 2-3 can have unsafe levels of a precursor to cyanide for a healthy adult. They advertised it as a superfood.

People really just want the freedom to poison themselves in peace.

DarkHorse posted:

The South had... lots of crops and a huge population of largely hostile or indifferent slaves to keep control of? If they didn't win immediately it was not going to end well for them at all.

RenegadeStyle1 posted:

Is there any historical record of England even being interested in helping the CSA? I always got the impression that besides the spat in 1812 that the US and the British had a pretty good relationship, even soon after the revolutionary war.

Dienes posted:

Whole Foods was selling apricot kernels as a health food, despite the fact that just 2-3 can have unsafe levels of a precursor to cyanide for a healthy adult. They advertised it as a superfood.

Mystic Mongol posted:

The South had cotton, a tremendously valuable crop with huge international demand, especially from Britain, the world's sole superpower. The confederacy thought that Britain would bow to the power of "King Cotton" (real phrase from the period) and also be happy to take a chance to bloody the USA's nose, which would help make up for the industrial and financial imbalance. In practice, Britain sent a small number of guns and mercenaries, but when the flow of cotton to Europe was slowed by, you know, the war, instead of investing heavily in the slave owning American dirtbags they just started a bunch of cotton plantations in India, which they basically owned at the time. To this day, India is the second only to China in cotton production, and it's a close thing.

Basically all of the South's plans to keep their slaves indefinitely were impractical, although my favorite ones were the attempts to increase the number of slave owning states by invading Central American countries, liberating them from their probably tyrannical governments, and then introducing slavery to them.

quote:

A bill introduced by an oil patch lawmaker would provide an exemption for the driver of a motor vehicle if they unintentionally injured or killed a pedestrian obstructing traffic on a public road or highway.

“It’s shifting the burden of proof from the motor vehicle driver to the pedestrian,” said Rep. Keith Kempenich, R-Bowman, who admitted the bill is in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in southern Morton County.

He said a response, in the form of House Bill 1203, was needed after groups of protesters blocked or gathered close to roadways and caused problems as motorists tried to drive by.

“They’re not there for the protesters,” said Kempenich of public roadways as a staging point. “They’re intentionally putting themselves in danger."

Kempenich said his mother-in-law, on a few occasions, was traveling south of Mandan and came upon groups of protesters gathered on and near roadways.

He said, on one occasion, about 100 cars were parked along a road in Morton County and his mother-in-law was passing through and slowed down. He said at one point an individual jumped out in front of the vehicle and was waving a sign.

Kempenich said one should consider what might happen if someone panics when coming upon a group of people gathered along a public roadway. He said an unintentional tragedy may occur “if they’d have punched the accelerator rather than the brakes.”

No committee hearing has yet been set for HB1203. Kempenich said some adjustments may be needed to clarify language but called the bill a reasonable move even if it may rarely, if ever, be applicable to occurrences outside of the protests.

“Our involvement in this would be very minimal and limited,” North Dakota Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson said of the agency’s involvement with HB1203.

Iverson said the highway patrol could provide information to the committee when HB1203 is heard, such as how frequently pedestrians are struck by motor vehicles on public roads and highways.

He didn’t have numbers readily available but estimated that the number of instances of pedestrians obstructing traffic on record likely was much less “prior to Dakota Access.”

House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, said he wasn’t involved in HB1203 but lawmakers do need to weigh making potential changes in law enforcement capabilities in response to things such as the protests.

“The role of the Legislature is to work with the professionals,” Carlson said. “We won’t violate the right to peaceful protest."

Defenestration posted:

https://twitter.com/GaryRidesBikes/status/820050859568472064
[more info in twitter thread]

Macros wet dreaming about running over protestors are having real consequences. Here's assemblyman Keith Kempenich of North Dakota proposing a law that would make motorists not liable for anything if they run over someone blocking traffic.

sweart gliwere posted:

this is one of those things you hope to learn is a troll bill, but turns out to be a no-poo poo registry of fascists holding office.

Shadin posted:

People who have nothing to hide wouldn't, uh, be in the road I guess.

Shadin posted:

You underestimate how much Europe loved that sweet southern cotton. Lincoln and his generals were so certain the CSA would receive massive amounts of aid (and because of the plantation industry, could afford it) that blockading the entire coastline was part of the three part strategy they considered 100% crucial to winning the war. The other two were controlling the Mississippi River to divide the CSA, and capturing the capital.

Dienes posted:

Whole Foods was selling apricot kernels as a health food, despite the fact that just 2-3 can have unsafe levels of a precursor to cyanide for a healthy adult. They advertised it as a superfood.

People really just want the freedom to poison themselves in peace.

darthbob88 posted:

You mean cancer-curing levels of vitamin B17.

Guavanaut posted:

Cyanide ions interfere with cancer cells' respiration, making them unable to use oxygen and eventually killing them.

Well, cells in general, but

Defenestration posted:

yeah my favorite response to this nonsense is that bleach kills cancer too

sweart gliwere posted:

In the glorious future of 2018, lone pedestrians using wheelchairs or walkers or seeing-eye dogs will finally be dealt with rather than appeased... no more of this economic terrorism inflicted on Real Americans by forcing me to arrive late to work.

Dienes posted:

So YOU'RE the one responsible for MMS.

18 Character Limit posted:

18 Character Limit posted:

Serfer posted:

I guess my mom isn't into reading text on pictures or looking at pictures...

PJOmega posted:

Well, don't leave us hanging. How are the kitties??

Serfer posted:

Have some Marley

Serfer posted:

Misty is such a pretty, tiny little lady

Dienes posted:

Whole Foods was selling apricot kernels as a health food, despite the fact that just 2-3 can have unsafe levels of a precursor to cyanide for a healthy adult. They advertised it as a superfood.

People really just want the freedom to poison themselves in peace.

jivjov posted:

I honestly can't tell at this point if the people celebrating about repealing Obamacare while simultaneously praising the ACA are seriously that ignorant or if it's some kind of performance art.

VideoTapir posted:

Got any more examples of it in the wild? Preferably ones where they go on and on about it unopposed?

Ashcans posted:

You have to sell people something new and interesting if you want to convince them it's a magic fruit the government doesn't want you to have. You can't tell them that potatoes cure cancer because we've all been eating them forever. So you have to hunt up some fringe food, and it turns out there is usually a reason we're not eating it already.

ToxicSlurpee posted:

A lot of people also for whatever reason believe that non-Western cultures are both ignorant and backwards but also magical. It's one of the cores of naturopathy; America relies too much on technology and that is bad because it is unnatural! The X people might live in mud huts and shacks but they have Y fruit that makes them all live to be like a thousand. The medical industry wants to be super rich so they obviously just ignore these people and let them do their thing and focus on banning Y fruit in America so they can take your money by selling you bullshit treatments.

Far too many people read about things like the promised benefits of chiropractic stuff or traditional Chinese medicine or whatever and take it at face value. Natural remedies and alt medicine just sound so much better but the promises are very frequently utterly unfounded.

I wish I saved a copy of it but there was a great image on Facebook circulating about this. It was a picture of a guy that said something along the lines of "This is Tyler. Tyler was diagnosed with cancer. The doctor offered him some very expensive treatments so he went to the naturopath instead. The naturopath told him to change his diet to a paleo one based on natural foods. The naturopath promised that some specific foods, eaten in large amounts, would cleanse toxins from his body and cure his cancer. Now Tyler still has cancer, he feels worse, he went to the doctor for the treatment anyway, and he just wants some drat pizza rolls."

darthbob88 posted:

I got you friend.