Hopefully the plumber got it in writing that the apartment owner refused to pay for shutting the water off. Unless he was working for a flat fee and is a complete fool.

It's a Wonderful Life.

In my yute, they played it every Christmas because it was free from broadcast fees. (Interesting story, the early days of TV.... How life has changed.)

I imprinted like a little gosling on this movie. It fills my DNA.

By the way, there is a scene that has been cut from the original that I still miss. Cut for time, cut to make room for commercials as more and more commercials were broadcast.

I still miss it....

Ok, in the interest of fairness I did some further research on this issue.

He was fined a total of 42,000 dollars. This does not count his accrued court and legal fees which are estimated to be around 100,000 dollars at this time. I won't bother converting that to USD, but he is going to be out of pocket 142k as a ballpark figure.

This is the joke:

“Everyone said he sucked, but I defended him,” Ward says. “They said he was terrible, but I was like, ‘He’s dying but he’s living a dream, leave him alone.’ ” The niceties end when Ward figures out Gabriel isn’t actually dying. “He’s unkillable! I saw him at the water park, and I tried to drown him, but I couldn’t. Then I went on the Internet to figure out what was wrong with him, and you know what it was? He’s ugly, goddammit!”

That is all. He was making a joke that he thought the kid was being given a 'make a wish' type thing because he was dying, but that he was just ugly.

I listened to it and it wasn't really funny. However, it wasn't 142k worth of court costs and damages either. The kid, disability or not, is now a public figure and should not be protected from jokes at his expense. The fact that a comedian called him ugly does not mean he should get 42k in recompense because it made him feel bad. Fuck, if I got 42k every time someone called me ugly in jest, I wouldn't be posting here. I'd be on a damn Yacht in the Mediterranean.

People say hurtful things. How many people looked at this kid and made fun of him when he was trying to sing the Canadian anthem at a Hockey game? Does he deserve 42k from each of them?

One of the talks I listened to as part of this research brought up a salient point. The commission that was created to address hurtful speech has clearly ran out of 'real' hate speech to go after. To save their jobs, they need to start going after the next level of 'hate speech'. Where better to look than blue comedians?

This brings me back to my original point. If you create an organization and give it power to control what people say through punitive measures, it may work great when your group is in power. You will probably have no issue with it, as long as it goes after speech you dislike. But, no group is in power forever and organizations don't just disappear when a new group of leaders come into power. Suddenly you might really come to regret your choice to create that organization, especially when they decide it is 'YOUR' words that need to be penalized.

That said, my only dog in this fight is that I think it is idiotic to limit what people can say. They don't stop saying it, they just stop saying it around people they don't trust. This sows the seeds of dissension and the harvest is never a good one.

David Sirota has a devastating new piece out: Hillary Clinton And Wall Street: Financial Industry May Control Retirement Savings In A Clinton Administration.

The proposal would require workers and employers to put a percentage of payroll into individual retirement accounts “to be invested well in pooled plans run by professional investment managers,” as James put it. In other words, individual voluntary 401(k)s would be replaced by a single national system, and much of the mandated savings would flow to Wall Street, where companies like Blackstone could earn big fees off the assets. And because of a gap in federal anti-corruption rules, there would be little to prevent the biggest investment contracts from being awarded to the biggest presidential campaign donors.

You know I agree with you, right? I am the one who said that this incident is the worst example of racism, after all.

To me, things like this are just more proof that every person who interacts with police should treat them like dangerous people they have the potential to be and show absolutely nothing but abject subservience. Because you absolutely can't trust them, whether you are white or not.

It can get you shot, making your point that "you can't do this to me" patently untrue. They can and they do.

So unless you are mentally ill or intent on "suicide by police", allow the humiliation and tug at your forelock.

Live to fight another day. Save yourself legal fees. Don't spend the night in jail. DON'T ARGUE. Seethe and GET EVEN.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

And get the training and the resources where they need to be.

Locally, it is generally cheaper to buy than rent... you need the deposit and all that of course, but the per month costs, even after insurance, property taxes and mortgage still end up cheaper. Now other expenses such as upkeep, utilities and the like may go up, but given you can get into a super nice home in a good school district and good neighborhood, for well under $150k (under $100k and even under $50k for less good areas) and rent is still in the $450-500 for smaller apartments... ownership appears to be the better idea. More space, for less money. When I had a house, I went from a small one bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house, 2 stories, walk up attic, basement (minor leaks)... saved a bundle per month, though gas ended up being ultra high, and job changes caused me to lose it eventually. Still, it was per month cheaper.

Heck, I know somebody, not local, but in Pittsburgh who moved from an apartment to owning a condo, and even after mortgage, association fees and utilities, it all comes out cheaper than her rent was alone before utilities, and the places are the same size (if not a bit bigger at the condo)... and that is still in the much coveted North Allegheny school district . Obviously homes and the like there are much more expensive than where I live, but still, seems cheaper to own than to buy for equal square feet even out there.

His blogs ask you to support a charity, that he owns, and buy his books, and see his appearances, etc. Likely he wasn't a great doctor, or yes, he probably could make more money that way (although maybe not, even though zealous people like you may be <2% of the US population, if 10% of you pay/make him $1 a year, he's making a MINT, WAY more than a normal practitioner, and with speaking fees, I'm sure he makes at least that...also, a doctor that tells his patients they must adopt a vegan lifestyle won't keep many patients.)

By "not clearly BS industry funded designer studies" you must mean any study that doesn't fit his narrative, because it's FAR from only industry studies that he ignores, and the few studies he actually supports, he exaggerates and misrepresents.

Yes, it did say they "may" be carcinogenic, and he quotes that as "it says that chicken and turkey are deadly carcinogenic cancer causing agents". That's absolute bullshit, making up statements and attributing them to reputable sources to garner support for your pet cause. He's a liar and exaggerator, so he's blown his chance to teach anyone anything.

So, you admit he advocates veganism because it's how he makes his money? That's a big step forward.

He doesn't address his cherrypicking data and studies, or ignoring anything that doesn't fit his narrative. He doesn't address the fact that his income comes from his books on the subject and speaking fees to talk about it.

When one fudges and misrepresents the science, I ignore them, and he consistently does.

settled science.

You know its worth remembering that it wasn't that long ago Trump was encouraging his followers to assault people protesting at his speeches. Even offering to pay their legal fees.

They did. Only really takes one.

https://youtu.be/2LX4Q643aEU

Once I learned businesses can "lure" people for a fee, this game became evil to me.

I see no driveway.
I hope he loses his homestead to pay for legal fees and to pay for the damage he did, no more driveway to defend.
What a douche. Enjoy prison fuckhead. So glad he's been arrested.