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"A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."

—John F. Kennedy

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Here’s a longer, even more relevant excerpt from the original speech (https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkvoiceofamerica.htm):

“In 1946 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution reading in part, ‘freedom of information is a fundamental human right, and the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated.’ This is our touchstone as well. This is the code of the Voice of America. We welcome the view of others. We seek a free flow of information across national boundaries and oceans, across iron curtains and stone walls. We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”

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Thanks for the link. I've been sharing it. That is one heck of a speech. That is was made a mere 60 years ago, by a Democrat no less, is remarkable. John F. Kennedy was a prescient guy. He was also considered so dangerous to certain interests, that they assassinated him.

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They don't make Democrats who will argue for programs on their merits any more.

These days they want laws dictated by their Merritt.

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Leftists think meritocracy is overrated, and Merrittocracy is underrated.

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I see what you did there.

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With garlands for participating!

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👍Good job!

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🙌

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I'm not sure about this Karen curve...has it been peer reviewed?

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of course it has!

this is a prestigious university, not some cobbled together nonsensical regulatory agency...

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In that case, I accept it without question. Hail Science!

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Or Harvard …

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While Neil is great given the whiny Neil of the last few weeks, Nigel just seems to fit better.

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Thank You, professor gato... taking notes, that’s the back of my head front row , middle seat.💕🐱🙏🐱💕.

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Preferably, peer reviewed by large universities that are heavily reliant upon funding by corporations that fund research into the very products the paper treats or by foundations and government agencies largely funded by the same entities?

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thumbs up for your user name.

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Isn't free speech the ultimate peer review? Open debate allows sunshine to be the disinfectant against bad ideas.

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I think the axis labels have been flipped. I would think success at winning an argument would be the x-axis (independent variable.) At the low success end, near the origin, the desire to censor would, as depicted, be very high. As success at winning increased, the desire to censor would be small.

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i think the causality is actually bidirectional.

ceteris paribus, anyone losing an argument becomes more likely to censor.

but also, anyone engaging in more censorship becomes more likely to lose the argument.

there's an interesting symmetry there.

i suspect it generates a feedback loop.

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As I pointed out in a comment above, el gato malo, the Shrillness of the Censorer approaches infinity as the chance of winning the argument approaches zero.

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Propaganda (+ f.b.) is a necessary condition for #Faucism to coalesce into #MassPsychosis; & in turn it requires narrative (– f.b.) to narrow it down so #sheeple can bleet it (4 legs good, 2 legs bad!)

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the pandemic certainly seems to have brought about a new equilibirum of karenism.

perhaps an interesting study for one looking to get their phd in karenology would be to test the idea that the two could be treated like supply and demand curves and the intersection of the two curves. is there an equilibrium? how does one of the curves shift? what happens to arrive at the resulting equilibrium?

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Good suggestion.

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RCT or bust!

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I can offer free “Pier Review” as I am a graduate cum laude of NYUK

https://youtu.be/_hgZ6ogGOyQ

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of course once peer-reviewed it must face the FactCheckers!

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Feb 1, 2022
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best comment ever

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I’d like to see the manager about this article..

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It took me a second or two but I clued in...great comment!

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"winning an intellectual argument and being able to force [I'd use "persuade" instead of force - ¡AtG!] others to submit to your viewpoint have little to do with one another, especially in the short run"

This may be TL;DR but I have a real-world example. And although this is one example, it's representative of many others I have had with Leftists over the past 15 years.

About ten years ago my Leftist sister was in a FB conversation with 5 or 6 women friends of similar political persuasion. I watched the conversation unfold, as they discussed Gabby Reece's appearance on a daytime talk show. (Gabby was a lithesome, beautiful volleyball player, and was engaged to be married.)

On that talk show, Gabby expressed the view that she might, at some future point, hypothetically, maybe just maybe forgive her husband-to-be if he were to have a single, solitary indiscretion in a moment of weakness. One discretion, maybe forgiven, totally noncommittal but open to the hypothetical.

The gaggle of women went ballistic over that hypothetical. It's been a while, so I can't quote them, but paraphrasing them, they said things like "she used to be my hero, now she's dead to me" and "made me want to vomit" and "worst person on the planet", y'know, that kind of measured approach...

So then I weighed in.

I observed, "All you women who are ripping into Gabby, you are aware, I take it, that she only posited a hypothetical, AND, that hypothetical only involved ONE indiscretion. And yet Hillary Clinton - a woman ALL of you support and admire and respect, etc. - Hillary has spent a LIFETIME doing that very thing over and over and over. Hillary has done many, MANY times the very thing Gabby only suggested she MIGHT do ONE time.

And yet Hillary is your hero, and Gabby is persona non grata.

Can you please square that circle for me?"

That was literally the end of that conversation thread. Not even ONE of them had enough character or intellectual honesty to admit their intellectual dishonesty. Not even ONE of them could bring themselves even to walk back their vilification of Gabby. They had NO rebuttal, and, they had no integrity to admit as much.

No, the conversation ended with my observation.

So yeah, gato, "winning an intellectual argument and being able to [persuade] others to submit to your viewpoint have little to do with one another, especially in the short run". It happens ALL the time.

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If that happened now, they just might accuse you of “mansplaining.” 🤮🤢🙄 Good on you for pointing out the hypocrisy.

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iAndrew the Great! could reply: "While I am a man, all my explaining identifies as a lady."

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It's an excellent response to "that sort" of people.

"For the duration of this conversation, I identify as a woman. Why are you trying to dictate my gender identity to me, bigot?"

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Well if we're going to start pointing out the hypocrisies of the left, we'll be here a very long time!

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It's more than just pointing out hypocrisy per se. Yes, that would be a 24/7/365 undertaking.

What's worse, and more important, is the systemic intellectual dishonesty WHEN THEY'RE CALLED ON IT. I mean, those women stopped the conversation cold when I called them on it.

Hypocrisy can at times be unrecognized by those practicing it. So secure are they in their views that their brains don't conjure up past actions or opinions of theirs that contradict their current view. (Every hypocrite can experience that, on whatever side of the aisle.)

It's when they essentially cover their ears when confronted from the outside with the contradiction that is the window into who they really are.

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It appears to me that you both won the argument AND persuaded (or compelled?) them to submit to your viewpoint. You stuffed a cork into each of their mouths, and silencing the wrongheaded, even if on just one topic, is an important accomplishment.

True, none of them were made humble or contrite, but such transformation would require a great change of character. This change won't be effected with a few words on one occasion. It's more likely that only their deaths will be sufficient to eliminate their worst flaws.

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Disturbing prospect that lefties favor censorship. Like the disturbing prospect that they favor gun confiscation or some other onerous restriction on 2A rights. Like the disturbing prospect that they favor election fraud. Like the disturbing prospect that they favor organizing to cancel and financially destroy non-leftists.

Like the disturbing prospect that, once they achieve these things they favor, they then favor incarceration and extermination of everyone who questions their agenda.

Hold the line.

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Amazing that I used to be one, when I thought we were fighting for better schools & to stay out of wars. I guess I'm maturing.

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My bro here has been using the term “Neil” to indicate a male Karen since summer 2020 thx to Ferguson.

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Churchill said that, if you’re under thirty and are not liberal, you have no heart—but if you’re over thirty and aren’t conservative, you have no brain.

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TBH, if ur ever a leftist/socialist/progzi (I don't know what "liberal" means anymore) ur less smart than a kindergartener and more misanthropic than many psychopaths. Tho acknowledging that drugs and hormones can temporarily induce such derangements.

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I think the problem is that "left" can now mean two different things. The old definition, what might be called "social liberals", who want things like better schools, better treatment of women, more tolerance of gays, etc, but who are now just as likely to be called "right wing extremists" if they protest against using government force to achieve those goals... and then there are the "new leftists", otherwise known as "authoritarians".

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QTR Fringe Finance, on substack, has a good article about the 'left'. It looks like they're becoming more aware that there is a radical left that is exactly what you've described and they're distancing themselves from it. JP Sears did a good video on YT about his change of mind with respect to 2A rights (used to be against, now is pro).

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"The First Amendment is first for a reason. Second Amendment is just in case the first one doesn’t work out.” —Dave Chapelle. #MedicalTyranny

J P Sears, Why I Was WRONG About Guns, AwakenWithJP, accessed 31.1.2022,

https://youtu.be/7fKO1-hE2Wg

For an example of how the right bear arms works, look no further than Athens, TN, 1946. Lones Seiber, Feb/Mar 1985, The Battle of Athens, American Heritage, https://www.americanheritage.com/battle-athens. American Story - The Battle of Athens - 1946 Athens, Tennessee, https://youtu.be/6c-Dsg4X4Dk

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I have changed my opinions and points of view along the years. One of the thing that remains is that leftists are the worst.

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Over the years I've tried to keep a healthy distinction between classic liberals and leftists.

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Few today know what a 'classic liberal' is. The left has so badly hijacked the term that to most today, 'progressive' and 'liberal' mean the same thing. Just like they hijack the term 'democracy.' The USA is not a democracy and never was, but every time the left talks about e.g. elections it's all about 'saving our democracy.' As in, 'we had to destroy it in order to save it.' It's amazing that people buy this noise -- but many do.

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On top of that, people don't know that the word "progressive" from the 1950s and early 60's was code for communist. They also don't know we are a democratic republic, not a pure democracy, which would actually be a tyranny of the majority.

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“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” Mis-attributed to Franklin; nobody seems to know where this came from -- but it is true nonetheless.

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Hell, back in 1988 when beetle browed bureaucrat at heart Michael Dukakis was bludgeoned with the term "liberal" and ran away from it, a libertarian asked, after the election "If you guys are done with it, can we have it back?"

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And keep your powder dry. Also...stock up on it!

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It is coming back on the shelves... finally.

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They're going to pack a gaggle of unneutered Trostkyites into El Supremo.

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Feb 1, 2022
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I listened. What a dreadful time we’re in.

Thanks for the link.

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Nothing makes a source seem more trustworthy than a feverish, single-minded insistence on censoring those who question it.

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That sounds like a corollary to the Karen Principle!

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As someone who has pretty much always been independent politically, I could at least respect, and sometimes agree with, views from the left. That has been completely destroyed over the last couple of years. I can barely even listen to the utter insanity that comes from the so-called "left" anymore. There's no coherence or logic in anything I hear from them. It's sad in a way... they are really just digging their own graves by their lunacy.

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I have a shovel. Can I help?

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School board Karent apparatchiks have destroyed public education. Enroll at el gato u to mock them with memes! https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-appoint-a-commissar

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I wonder how many delusional people of the 60’s can see the irony of Neil “Ohio” Young protesting free speech by taking his protest songs off a medium that promotes free speech?

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Conservative Man don't need Neil round anymore!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

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Aw, more examples of the effects of long-term drug use.

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Yes, Joni Mitchell.

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So is it Neil or Kneel? Asking for a friend.

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If it was Kneel, it would have been a picture of Justin Trudeau (who signalled his virtue by taking a knee at a BLM protest in 2020).

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Truck Fudeau!

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Can someone please meld this with the meme above? I need it and am failing " Paws On Photojournalism " at uni...

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Put Kneel Young’s head on a photo of Colin Kaepernick during the national antenna

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The National Antenna? 5G, of course, right?

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Damn spell check. Good catch and phrase turn though

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I absolutely despise spell check. I feel your pain.

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Over in the UK the government health minister has just backed down over mandatory jabs for healthcare workers. The deadline for vaccination was rapidly approaching & his bluff had been well and truly called. He’s now pretending new data on Omicron, just in, shows it is a cold. The rest of us knew this in December from data in SA. You overreached Javid, you overplayed your hand and got called out. Do the decent thing and resign.

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They're still on board with the surveillance thing though. Are you?

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“surveillance thing”? You mean passports? No that has gone too. I’m not in the UK though so others may have a more accurate perspective.

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It was like the passports, but for tracking everyone. I don't remember what it was called in the article, I'm sorry. (Not chips.)

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Track & Trace perhaps? That monumentally expensive centrally planned fiasco of epic proportions. Flawed from the start, at least insofar as its purported purpose is concerned.

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It's entirely possible. It was in a separate article, the next day, from the one where it was announced that they were cancelling all the mandates. I was appalled. I thought they had gotten smart.

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I’ve been doing Fauci memes, but maybe it’s time for Neil. Thanks, cat.

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You can also add Neil "The Modeler" Ferguson to the reference pile.

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I was starting to think of Trudeau memes, but maybe I skip straight to Neil (Young).

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Or as my partner Benjamin says, “Trudette” 🙄😅

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Truck Trudette

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I see the Lefties and the damage done!! 👀👀

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Really, do these and more. You'll want plenty of stock for your graduate thesis, and also variety for your portfolio.

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Truck Frudeau.

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#Faucism, because nothing speaks to the ❤️ like murdering #beagles and experimenting on #children (oh, and gays.)

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So you've met Neil Fauci and his lovely wife Karen, eh?

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THIS ☝️Is brilliant!🤩. My favorite part is this, “the side seeking to stifle debate is NEVER the side of science”

This should be memorialized by etching it in stone.

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Nor never the side of philosophy, theology or rationalism. Usually when I'm winning an argument with a lefty I get the "this conversation is over" huff and puff and the ensuing storm out.

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I laughed out loud. Love this - all male Karens will now be known as Neil. Brilliant, bad cat!

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And, of course, there's the double entendre value.

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El gato's comment section is quickly turning into one of my favorite places to just hang out and absorb.

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"It's the best, Jerry, the best." 😎

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There is a lot of wisdom here presented in a much, much better format than Tweater.

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I was unsure about the use of “Neil” as a male Karen. Partially, Karen works well as a verb such as “to karen” or “karening”. Then I realized that with Neil we have “to neil” or “neiling”. Now I think “Neil” might have some legs.

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I actually think there are two relevant verb forms at play here. The submissive Neil forms are definitely "to kneel" and "kneeling". Then of course you also have the nazi salute forms "to neil" or "neiling", with pronounciation [naɪl].

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I'm starting to feel a little foolish for having majored in Critical Feminist Studies. Where was Gato U when I needed it?

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as long as you did not minor in basket weaving or drama, You do have the skill set to whiz through Karenology.

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Tho basket weaving is truly a practical skill. Baskets have the ability to change the world by improving organization of stuff thereby allowing the mind to be free of visual clutter. And most importantly, cats love them for napping.

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TOTALLY agree. Weaving of all sorts is wonderful.

I am sure you get my point though -- not a college degree worthy skill.

My daughter #1 majored in computer programming and minored in psych (good enough and she did grow up to be a useful productive citizen. Daughter #2 majored in business and minored in international relations. Both of them have friends that majored in "drama" ... seriously, drama. At present, those persons are not making any money toward paying off their college loans, much less paying a rent. My daughters procured employment immediately following graduation, and paid off their loans quickly.

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I definitely get your point. I have one son studying business. The other is studying music. Sigh. He is very good but he will be a drain on our resources I suspect. At least he took my advice to minor in instrument repair. Hopefully other musicians make enough to at least hire him to fix their instruments.

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Start reading the Great Books.

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Well, they will perhaps have a record of which lot number it was that give them autoimmune disease.

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fitting. hahaha

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Oh my gosh. Horrifying! 😱

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Neil Young, what a bloody disappointment. I grew up loving his music, and now he's become just another poster boy for leftist hypocrisy and fascism.

Remember when he was protesting about "four dead in Ohio"? Now he wants the same government to mandate jabs that have, and will continue, to kill people.

Remember when he was defiant about how "singing for Spuds" would "make me look like a joke"? Then he sells out to Blackstone.

Remember when was celebrating "keep on rocking in the free world"? Now he wants to silence people he disagrees with.

Just beyond pathetic.

Shame on him.

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Think about it - tens of thousands of Canadian truck drivers rolling down the highway to Ottawa for Freedom to protest the Man and Neil is pissing his pants somewhere over Covid Fear. This is seemingly what he was born and known for: Canada, cruising in big cars, health freedom, working class people (Farm Aid), the underdog. I have always loved his music but realized long ago he is not a deep thinker. Side note: NY with Booker T and the MG's with Chris Cornell and Soundgarden summer '93 one of the best shows I've seen.

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Yea, definitely not a deep thinker. People who advocate censorship rarely if ever are.

That '93 show sounds like a total blast.

Never saw Booker T., but sure as hell would have like to have seen this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB5VD_Z5Zvg

Saw Soundgarden twice, once in Seattle. Awesome.

Let's hope the ferryman helped Chris on his way to the superunknown.

Requiescat in pace.

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Great music, thanks!

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Not sure if it is true but Chris Cornell was allegedly working to expose a ring of high profile pedophiles when he apparently 'suicided' himself. But his wife said he wasn't suicidal. I have to wonder. . .

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There is the total possibility that at his age, he is being "handled."

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Cat, you are a ray of light and joy in these dark times. Thank you 🙏

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Bravo. Especially the Neil picture

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Just what I needed this morning, Mr Gato...a good share of snark.

We can always laugh at these people, can’t we?

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Consensus is where science goes to die.

Anyone appealing to forced consensus and unearned authority deserve naught save scorn.

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"and this is what drives this fundamental relationship (proven by lots of research of at least ostensible reliability) known as “the karen curve... it’s the fundamental building block of the science of karenology."

You are priceless!

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Can we get an update on the vax cases/hospitalization splits that you posed a few weeks ago?

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"The truth is like a lion. It does not need defending. Let it loose and it will defend itself." -someone other than me. Are there any seats left in this course? #GatoUniversity #BadCats

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What a great article! Not to mention completely hitting the bulls eye.

2 points:

A Canadian city that I'm very familiar with, Hamilton, Ontario, has a football team named 'The Hamilton Tiger Cats' and everyone always yells, 'go, cats' just like in the article here.

2nd point, you actually made Neil look better. I'm impressed.

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Don't know if anyone here is familiar with this but it sure explains a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww47bR86wSc

Also, if I recall correctly one of the Popes (Pius X?) said "Error has no rights."

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I just watched the video. Thanks for posting, I'm going to book mark and share it as it explains a lot.

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The difference between red/blue 2018/2021 are stunning.

I would like the same graph with a question that measures the trust in big companies. I guess the lines would cross!

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I worry about all of the Karens in the coming months. The past 2 years has turned the caterpillar Karens into full moth Karens. It seems impossible that there is a way to de-Karen them. I am probably not using the best terminology, but I forsee a big problem once all of the wheels fall off of the Big Pharma bus.

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The Neil Young thing is disappointing. Of course a lot of great rock artists have turned into curdled leftists, so not surprising. This doesn't detract from the fact he's one of the absolutely greatest rock artists ever. This is simply objectively the case. Listen to Like a Hurricane or Powderfinger -- absolute transcendent brilliance.

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Will you include field studies classes, so we can observe Karens in the wild?

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We've been observing them for the past 2 years. The paper will be published on a preprint soon.

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You're a modern day Jane Goodall. :). I look forward to your paper.

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Have we a motto and graphic yet for our august university? go fighting badcats!! ( im having Red Dawn flashbacks, and I'm OK with that)

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#GoNADS, go Neutered Academically Doctored Scholars!

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A name for male karens - seems appropriate. Quite a few of the Covid crazies are male. Justin would be a good name too.

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Careful Gato; "Karenolgy" could soon qualify as an accredited University degree with built-in 'forgiveness' for associated 6-figure student loans. ;)

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I love this so much.

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misinformation is the new heresy...

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Zaktly: Bow to the temperature scanner

Fauci => The Prophetic one

Lockdown => Sanctification

Masks => Priestly garb

Hand Sanitizer => Holy water

mRNA shot => Baptism

Children => the unclean

AntiVaxxer => Leper

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LOL .. an alternative horizontal axis of the "karen curve" is the retreat to various ISMs and name calling as a sign of loosing the argument and cognitive surrender. "Karenology" seems 2 b the true "women studies" - and the very 1st of its kind worth attending among the filthy rest of harmful "soft science" studies!

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Weird how acceptance of tech company censorship was much higher across the board than gov't censorship, though they amount to the same thing.

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So, that R vs D chart would be more informative if it took into account the significant shift in party affiliation over this three-year period. How many "leaned" each way, when? Doesn't say. We might just be looking at a mud puddle getting muddier as it dries up.

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Neil! Makes me think of the young ones

https://youtu.be/xJytqvwZR34

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You make me laugh and cheer. So few things make me laugh 🙏

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Thank you for such a lovely chuckle with my morning tea. I especially liked lecturer's concluding remarks/meme.

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Can any kitty enrol at Gato University? I’d like to meet the fighting bad cats.

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The whole vaccine-based totalitarian takeover is based on voluntary hypnosis.

The media do not present any evidence for their claims. They say follow the science - but the science says the opposite of what they claim. What people really hear is just "follow the authorities." The people want to go along, they want to follow the authorities. If they must decide things for themselves, then they are lost.

All that governments and media put forward are hollow, science-free suggestions. There's no evidence for their suggestions. There doesn't need to be, because so many people want to just believe the suggestions. To let that happen, it's not necessary to provide evidence. In fact, the evidence stands in the way.

All it takes is to silence people who would poke holes in the official suggestions. Then the channel from the hypnotist into the hypnotized is free and unimpeded. Those who are not suggestible find online places like this, and we converse in isolation. Meanwhile, those who are suggestible are mainlining suggestions straight from the hypnotist, and the hypnotist is priming them to do what's asked, even if it means voluntarily going into their grave.

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Neil Young is what, 104 years old? At his advanced age he's probably actually afraid of dying of the rona. Someone should get him a nice shawl and a TV Guide.

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An argument can never be successful if it never faces opposition.

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Good read, Mr, Bad Kitty. Linking today @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/

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Love this! I've been calling the male Karen's "Betas" 🤣

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Of course, a second curve needs to be added to the Karen Curve graph: The shrillness of the argument is inversely proportional to the square of Winning the Argument Based on Merit. In layman's terms this means as WABM approaches zero both the shrillness and the Desire to Censor approach infinity.

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