Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
“Frequently, I’ve come to regret things I’ve said. This, from 2001, is not one of those times.”
4Feb2018 Tweet
Narrator: Yes.
Sheesh, I'd think less of Bourdain if he DIDN'T say that! Good riddance to bad rubbish. Kissenger can kiss my ass!
Bourdain had personal experience with Cambodia and saw exactly what Kissinger wrought and the effects that were still plaguing the country decades later.
Tony was right.
Rest in piss, kiss
2023 kinda rocked. Pat Robinson, died during pride month, Charlie munger, and Henry kissinger both died in November.
I can't think of anyone else but a good deal of scum bags dying make this world a better place.
Always out live your enemies. I'm rooting for Warren buffet and Bill O'Reilly to croak in the next few years.
What did Warren Buffett do?
You don't get billions of dollars being a good person. Just remember that.
Michael Jordan is a billionaire. Peter Jackson, McKenzie Scott, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg. Tiger Woods may be a bad husband, but that's not how he made his money. Dolly Parton would be a billionaire if she hadn't given away so much, she's definitely earned a billion.
McKenzie Scott
Is absolutely a good person, but all the cash she's giving away is cash that her ex-husband Jeff Bezos didn't give away, and continues to make through truly repulsive anti-worker practices.
When you are a worker at Amazon, you literally have to redirect your bodily functions (either hold it or find a jug) to even begin to meet the inhuman production standards, and that's before you get to all the safety violations, unionbusting, etc. Then there's Amazon business model itself: the open embracing of counterfeit goods, refusal to police its own site adequately, fake reviews, dark patterns, etc.
MacKenzie Scott is indeed a good person. We know this because she found life with one of the world's worst people to be unsustainable and left, and then set about giving away all that dirty cash to make the world a better place. But she doesn't belong on this billionaire list, IMO, as she is simply a divorcée with a payout and secondary to the guy who actually made the billions.
Idk though, gold-digging the worlds most repulsive people to get half their worth just to donate what they never would seems like a noble endeavor. And swindling the billionaire class through romance, just to Robin Hood it away is a public service we should be praising.
I wouldn't disagree, lol. But MacKenzie Scott married Bezos in good faith years before he became the Lex Luthor of capitalism.
Personality wise, type attracts type, and usually in that kind of marriage you have two highly motivated acquirers of wealth instead of just one. Which is to say that someone willing to marry for excessive wealth is probably not going to be the kind to give it all away after years of swallowing knob to get it, any more than Melania Trump is about to become a noted philanthropist or Anna Nicole Smith devoted her life to charity. (Nothing against Anna Nicole, just sayin.)
Dolly parton is the only standout on that list. She's NOT a billionaire because she gives back, and isn't a scumbag that hoards more money than she needs to live an extremely comfortable life. The rest of the people on that list are very talented and have done great things for humanity, but the nature of capitalism seems to reward hyperuccessful entertainers more than it rewards hyperuccessful scholars and teachers, people who arguably contribute more to the human experience than entertainers do. Dolly gets it right by giving back as much as she can. The rest just take it in because capitalism tells them they deserve it.
I'm not a Christian anymore but the parable of the Widow's offering in (Mark 12:41-44) (Yes I had to look that up) holds forever true in my mind. The amount you give is a deeper reflection of your character when it's compared in proportion to what you can afford to give, not in absolute terms of the value given. Dolly doesn't go as far as to make her living situation worse, and neither do I. But if more of us tried just a little harder to give more than is easily comfortable, the world would be SO much better.
And people who have a billion dollars they don't need but also don't give are making the world worse.
J K Rowling did similar
Michael Jordan is a piece of shit person so don't know what your point with that one is.
Can confirm. I used to serve him at my old restaurant over a decade ago. He was always an asshole.
Bourdain did. Shame he died.
It just shows how hard mental illness is to overcome when even someone who embraces life as fully as he did couldn't stand to live anymore.
No wanting to live anymore doesn’t mean a person is mentally ill.
It says Bourdain was one of Kissinger's fiercest critics. I haven't seen any articles about how much Christopher Hitchens criticized Kissinger. He even wrote a book about it.
In the words of Hitchens, Kissinger deserves prosecution "for war crimes, for crimes against humanity, and for offenses against common or customary or international law, including conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap, and torture." He further calls him "a stupendous liar with a remarkable memory."
And if I recall correctly, Hitchens at one point was asked whether there was a person he genuinely disliked, and from the way he spoke about him, it seems like he probably actually hated Henry Kissinger.
Bourdain was a much more colorful writer.
Bourdain based confirmed
Yes, Anthony Bourdain was a better judge of character than Hillary Clinton.