Kim du Toit – Page 912 – Splendid Isolation

Not Another List

October 8, 2021 Kim du Toit Travels

Fresh on the heels of the debacle of recommending New York City as a top holiday destination comes this attempt:

The coolest neighbourhoods in the world have been named by the influential Time Out guide, and Norrebro in Copenhagen has claimed the top spot.

I haven’t ever been to Copenhagen, so I can’t comment. But given some of the other “cool” neighborhoods on the list, my only conclusion is that they’re either on the take, civic boosters, or haven’t actually been there since maybe 2005. To whit:

#2: Andersonville, Chicago. When I lived near there, it was a nice place — just north of the summer bustle of Wrigley Field, I preferred going there in winter — but here’s the latest:

Come summer, Pride Month’s Midsommarfest celebrates Andersonville’s Swedish roots and LGBTQ+ culture. Make a flower crown or don a viking hat, taste Swedish delicacies, and rock out at the Pride stage.

That foolishness used to be confined to the neighborhood I actually lived in: Lakeview a.k.a. Boys’ Town, where lots of single men lived in neat little apartments with their tiny dogs, and where clubs like The Manhole were the places to be seen. So now it appears that the rot has spread further north, as these things do. Pass.

#4: Leith, Edinburgh. It’s not bad, although I prefer Haymarket, which is less self-conscious a place (i.e. less precious), and should only be avoided on sporting occasions e.g. when Scotland is playing rugby against, well, anyone. Okay.

#6: Chelsea, NYC. Oy. To quote the article: “Little Island, which is a new floating park, The High Line and Hudson River Park have all provided open space for people who needed it more than ever in 2021.” All true, as long as you avoid the homeless encampments and accompanying discarded hypodermic needles, piles of human excrement and the most aggressive panhandlers in the world. Pass.

#10: Richmond, Melbourne. Yeah right; visit Richmond and get clubbed to the ground by the most aggressive and Covid-obsessed police force in the world. Also (according to stepson, who once lived near there), it’s the most expensive place to eat or drink in Australia (“far worse than London”, was the actual quote). Pass.

#13: Dalston, London. I’ve only ever walked through Dalston, which lies more or less between Islington and Hackney (both haunts of the Tony Blair Set), but be my guest. South Kensington is more my style, anyway. Okay.

#14: Silver Lake, Los Angeles. Okay, Silver Lake is actually rather nice as it is a wealthy area and therefore pleasant to be in. However, as with all good neighborhoods in LA, you have to swim through a sea of shit to get to the nice part, and I was last there in about 2007, so gawd knows what it’s like now. Pass.

#18: Villeray, Montreal. Finally, a place I can recommend, if only to visit the Jean Talon Market at its southern corner. Fine, it’s not the Old City (which is more French than many cities in France), but Villeray is wonderful, as is Plateau Mont-Royal just south of it. Highly recommended.

Those are just the neighborhoods I know and have visited. But once again, any list of top places that puts Paris’s exquisite Haut-Marais neighborhood at #36 (??!!) needs to be treated with some suspicion.

Feel free to browse the list and add your comments or recommendations.

Caption Competition #198

October 8, 2021 Kim du Toit Captions, Friday Feature

Your suggestions in Comments.

“If You’ve Got Nothing To Hide…”

October 7, 2021 Kim du Toit Gummint, Taxes and Theft

That was my reaction to this latest bit of Government bastardy:

The Biden administration has made clear its plan to beef up IRS auditing by expanding the agency’s funding and power. Biden’s latest proposal would require banks to turn over to the Internal Revenue Service bank account information for all accounts holding more than $600.
…
“There’s a 99 percent compliance rate on wages – because wage earners get their earnings reported to the IRS,” a fact sheet says that was handed out by the White House to lawmakers to sell them on the plan. “But the super wealthy who get their income from unreported sources are able to hide their income and avoid paying the tax they owe. In fact, each year the top 1 percent chooses not to pay more than $160 billion in taxes.”

Just out of curiosity: if the “super wealthy” are not paying those taxes, how is the IRS able to put an actual number on that “uncollected” amount? Or is it just an estimated, i.e. invented number?

I note that there’s been some pushback:

“While the stated goal of this vast data collection is to uncover tax dodging by the wealthy, this proposal is not remotely targeted to that purpose or that population,” the letter said. “In addition to the significant privacy concerns, it would create tremendous liability for all affected parties by requiring the collection of financial information for nearly every American without proper explanation of how the IRS will store, protect, and use this enormous trove of personal financial information. We believe that this program is costly for all parties, not fit for purpose, and loaded with potential for unintended and serious negative consequences.”

That’s telling them. And it will be roundly ignored, as usual.

I don’t even want to talk about the intrusiveness of this motherfucking proposal because it just makes me want to sharpen my bayonet and oil the rope. As it is, my bayonet is sharp enough and if I oil the rope any more, it’ll be too difficult to tie the knot.

(for information purposes only)

At what point do we say, “Enough is enough?”

Asking for a friend. Read more

No Screwing Around

October 7, 2021 Kim du Toit Heroism, Righteous Shootings

At some point, you’d think that ~~scumbags~~ choirboys in Texas would get the hint that their little undocumented wealth redistribution plans may be a little more complicated here than they would be, say, in San Francisco or Portland. But no:

Texas authorities say an armed customer intervened during the attempted robbery of a fried chicken fast food restaurant, fatally wounding one gunman and sending a second suspect struck by gunfire to the hospital.

And:

Texas man chased down carjacker who dragged woman to her death

The story of the second one, while tragic, is noteworthy because without Our Hero, the cops would probably still be looking for the goblin. Instead, he faces the needle because there was a witness to the killing, and under Texas law he goes straight to the head of the line.

And it’s getting more difficult in other states, too:

An ~~alleged~~ home intruder attacked an armed homeowner in Atlanta, Georgia, Monday afternoon and was shot and killed.

He was inside the guy’s house, where he assumed room temperature after being ventilated. There’s no “alleged” about it.

And in Kansas:

KWCH reports that the incident occurred about 7 p.m., and the suspect allegedly started by pounding on a door at a neighbor’s house.
The suspect then focused on a second home, where the armed homeowner called the police and asked them to come quickly because he did not want to have to shoot the man. But the suspect allegedly kept attacking.
The homeowner said, “[He] threw 2 bricks through my window and tried to crawl through in my window and told me he was going to kill me and kinds of other things. So, unfortunately, I had to shoot him.”

Nothing unfortunate about it, old son; the son of a bitch sounds like he needed killing. Sadly, he’s only “critical”, but we can hope. Anyway, for all these heroes: