Hito Bito comments

Up until a week ago, these "lovers of democracy" were gaslighting anyone who actually listened to their own ears while the "president" exposed his absolute and indisputable cogitative decline for the entire world to hear. "We beat Medicare", Biden declared, and the "lovers of democracy" said "he's perfectly fine!!!"

Today, these "lovers of democracy" rally behind a person who, when she herself ran for president in 2020, could not get even 1% of Democrat votes, to say nothing of the nation's. She dropped out of the race before losing in her home state! Yes, Vice President Trump (oh, sorry, that's what Biden just called her only last week), Harris, the standard-bearer of less than 1% of her party's support, will "save democracy", through...a palace coup, followed by an undemocratic coronation by her party's professional bigwigs without a single democratic vote! Now a person who, by every metric, voted to the Left of Socialist Bernie Sanders while in the Senate, who Biden admits was chosen not based on the "content of her character," but on her being a non-White and female, and who now runs away from her astoundingly unsuccessful role as "Immigration Czar", has become the standard-bearer of "democracy". LOL. And 2 plus 2 is 5.

Nothing matters at all to these power-hungry people anymore...except power. Power at all costs. Power for the sake of having power. And notice: the Cadaver In Chief, having exposed his cognitive inability to function, continues to "run" the country...from 10am till 4 pm at the latest on his best days, and with weekends and holidays off! LOL.

File this farce under "comedy".

You forgot to add how Biden "Beat Medicare!!"

The lowest public approval rating of ANY president in modern history. Clap. Clap. Clap.

Such a sign of "strength"! After years of warning signs that Biden was too senile to be president, and after years of his acolytes dutifully denying those claims...he just ups and quits? LOL. Whoops! Guess we were right?

Yes, Harris, whom Biden was only referring to as "Trump" not a week ago, gets the nod...after three years of irrelevance and failure. Her only "task" Biden gave her was "the Border"...how's that going, folks? Let's not talk about how she "rose" to the top of SF then CA politics! That's a rather dirty story for a later day.

Yes, the lady who polled under 1% when she ran for Prez in 2020...that's your standard-bearer? LOL. Hundreds of millions in "Biden" donations will be returned or refunded, according to the FEC chief. You think those people are going to re-write all those checks for Kamala? (I noticed neither Pelosi, nor Clinton, nor Obama have yet to endorse....)

The Convention is going to be fun!

Not saying that the basic argument is incorrect, but to compare "New York City" home taxes to "large Japanese cities" home taxes is rather disingenuous at best.

"...some residents..." Ah, yes. That amorphous group, "some" people", "some" might say...often used to personally advance a perspective YOU want advanced.

This is 80% manufactured by the media to have something to talk about on slow news days. Do you really think "tourist attractions" have never been busy before? LOL. Have Japanese never heard of a "tourist trap" or noticed that prices are much higher there due simply to supply and demand? If you can't tell that the media creates "issues" by going out and reporting exclusively only perspectives that validate their preferred conclusions, rather than fairly reporting what a fair sample of people have to say, you've been asleep for a few years at least.

Anyone who saw how the "Mt. Fuji conbini" story was morphed by the Japanese media from "tourists" being troublesome to "foreigners" being the almost sole culprits, knows what I mean. Press would ignore the 150 Japanese youths present for whom the fad was primarily important, to zero in on the dozen obvious "foreigners" as being representative of every evil deed ALL there seemed to be doing.

When it gets to the point where your price increases aren't justified by the food you're serving...you have major problems with your business "model". "Deals" are a start, but in the end, there are now much better "deals" outside Mac...for the same price or even lower.

Mac could use a few years in the economic wilderness....but we know that won't happen. Too many willing to pony up no matter how high the price hikes go.

But but but...Tourism!

Ukraine has recently admitted that there are over 800,000 able-bodied Ukrainian males of draftable age sitting in self-imposed exile in the EU alone, and hundreds of thousands more in America, Thailand and other places. More than a million Ukrainian men simply refuse to defend their country, so much so, that Ukraine just had to introduce a ban on consular services for these expatriate draft dodgers.

According to Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba: "How it looks like now: a man of conscription age went abroad, showed his state that he does not care about its survival, and then comes and wants to receive services from this state...If anyone believes that while someone is fighting far away at the frontline and risking his or her life for this state, someone else is staying abroad but receiving services from this state, then this is not how it works. Staying abroad does not relieve a citizen of his or her duties to the Homeland. That is why yesterday I ordered measures to restore fair attitudes toward men of conscription age in Ukraine and abroad. This will be fair..."

We'll see if these million men go back once their visas and passports run out. Many have years left before they have to face such music. When push comes to shove, if an army's worth of Ukrainians will not fight while the Russians will, remind me how this turns out all sunshine and lollipops for Ukraine again?

If you haven't read this man's book, The Real Doctor Fauci, a book that was completely buried and ignored by every single major media outlet in spite of being an international best-seller for months running, you don't know 1/100th of the story of the elite orchestration of "heath" policy, fact-challenged promotion and protection of many dangerous treatments as "fully-tested" or "safe", or the abuse and political manipulation of unnecessary but coercive medical policies being regularly put into place in the US and around the world by an opportunistic, profit-hungry group of greedy grifters and corporations.

In a world where the slightest insult or factual inaccuracy is replied to with legal litigation, not a single entity has successfully challenged anything researched in his book as being false. The people like this propagandist writing this hit-piece above hate this man for pulling back their authoritarian-minded and reckless curtain for all to see. I won't vote for him because he has many other ideas which frankly are either dangerous to individual freedom or just plain dunb, but I respect him for his efforts to warn and inform whomever dares to move beyond the corporate and government sponsored narratives and seek a FACTUAL understanding of how awful Fauci and Co. truly were and are.

"Plenty of JT contributors (not me) over the years claimed that the BOJ was trapped, unable to raise its rates or otherwise tighten"

Patting yourself on the back when the Bank has moved from "Negative Rates" to "Zero Percent" rates is certainly, at the very least, premature!

ByteDance Limited (Chinese: 字节跳动; pinyin: Zìjié Tiàodòng) is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Beijing, China.

China’s Company Law, enacted in 1993, REQUIRES companies, at Article 19, to establish a CCP Committee “to carry out the activities of the Party,” and further requires companies to “provide the necessary conditions for the Party organizations to carry out their activities."

It's not rocket science. It's right there, written into law. The CCP has a RIGHT to control all Chinese companies to do what it wants them to. BY LAW.

Well, "awards" aside, investing $250K into something that earns back 20 times that amount is a pretty decent return.

Talk. Macron is real good at...talking.

France, need anyone reminding, is, two years into the Ukraine situation like the rest of NATO, yet STILL NOT contributing 2% of GDP towards its OWN defense, as it's been BOUND by NATO Treaty to do for over a decade now. Europe as a whole now admits that, despite planning and funding for over a year, their own collective economies CANNOT provide even HALF the monthly amounts of shells that they promised to Ukraine, not even by the end of 2024!

France is already free riding on America (Mais oui, bien sur!) and Eastern Europe (all of whom, save Czechia, contribute over 2%, and with good reason next door to their East). THEY are next in line, while France is cushioned by its cordon sanitaire of buffer countries surrounding it. Yet here he is, between stuffing himself with danishes at endless talking-shop meetings, suggesting to volunteer direct human soldier intervention in a non-NATO country conflict?

Talk talk talk, mon tres petit Macaroon. Talk up your fever dreams of putting "boots on the ground", which if it turns out to be like your other Treaty Obligations, will most likely be boots NOT Made In France!

"Biden is far in the lead now - he won by 11 million votes."

"11 million votes"? LOL. Check your math...or your sources? Or...both!

By the way, pro tip. In presidential elections in the US, the popular vote is NOT how people become President. I'm surprised you're ignorant on this fact.

Still dodging those HISTORICALLY HIGH Gallup Unapproval ratings for Biden, are we? You do that at your own peril...just as you dodge those Democrat-spoiler Third Party candidates getting on state ballots nationwide even as we type!

According to each set of exit polls from each primary (and caucus) held so far in 2024, they do NOT paint the picture that the Far Left Associated Press wants you to believe. In every election, Trump won Suburban votes, Trump won women and men, and the turnout of the GOP was higher than it had been before.

Interestingly, for Nikki "Warhawk" Haley, the number one supporters of her in Iowa and New Hampshire were...Democrats? Fully 63% and 52% of all her support, respectively, were from the other camp cross-voting to vote for another party. Gee...I wonder why they'd be voting for a Warhawk who stands NO chance, and never has done? These trends have held up in Michigan as well. And let's not get started on Biden's dismal approval ratings (by Gallup, not a conservative org by any stretch of the imagination) now habitually scoring lower than Trump recorded during ANY TIME in his presidency?

Democrats, and Biden in particular, should be extremely worried that Independents RFK, Jr. and Cornel West together are polling at over 20% nationally (which leaves out the socialists in the Green Party, at 3-5%). These numbers don't show up in primaries, but they WILL show up in the general election. How many GOP voters will choose an Ivy League skulking card-carrying Socialist or a Dynast who favors severe, unconstitutional gun restrictions and cutting the military by 60%? Now...how many Democrats fed up with Biden's ineptness, and angered by other issues as well, will? Let's find out!

WOW! Just can't wait to see Remake/Reboot Number 78,995! I hope it will be better than the last, exact same story I saw before! I wonder if the ending will be 100% predictable, or only 99% predictable this time? Oh, the suspense!

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. BORING!!

In sum...both Japanese sexes like extremely...passive...activities in their opposite.

Surprise surprise! /s

From NATO: "In 2014, NATO Heads of State and Government agreed to commit 2% of their national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to defense spending, to help ensure the Alliance's continued military readiness. The 2% of GDP guideline is an important indicator of the political resolve of individual Allies to contribute to NATO’s common defense efforts.

"In 2024, 18 Allies are expected to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense – a six-fold increase since 2014, when only three Allies met the 2% or more guideline."

Progress? Yes. But note: 18 "allies" out of...31! Fully 42% of the "alliance" members still, in 2024, FAIL to live up to their treaty commitments!

"The nations falling short of the alliance's target in 2023 were France (1.90%), Montenegro (1.87%), North Macedonia (1.87%), Bulgaria (1.84%), Croatia (1.79%), Albania (1.76%), the Netherlands (1.70%), Norway (1.67%), Denmark (1.65%), Czech Republic (1.50%), Portugal (1.48%), Italy (1.46%), Canada (1.38%), Slovenia (1.35%), Turkey (1.31%), Spain (1.26%), Belgium (1.13%) and Luxembourg (0.72%).

Welcome to the "Alliance", Sweden. Now...which type of member will you be? Will you be a Hungary (2.43% of GDP spent on defense, far in EXCESS of the 2%), or will you be a Canada or France (both with trillion plus dollar economies, yet still free-riding in terms of defense commitments on the backs of others' spending)?

"According to TEPCO, no abnormal tritium levels have been detected in nearby waters of the ocean following the three previous discharges." -I couldn't care less what TEPCO has to say about anything. To me, they're highly untrustworthy on their own. They've been shown to be serial liars throughout the entire Fukushima fiasco, and they have just been reprimanded by the government (oh the irony!) for failing to contain and properly report a LEAK of toxin-filled water on the grounds around the premises. Any follow-up to those "leaks", by the way? Or has that, too, been Memory Holed for our "piece of mind"? I want professionals, non-partisans, to be confirming the "facts" TEPCO put out. They're monitoring things, to let's hear from THEM, NOT TEPCO, from now on.

"From the fourth batch, the operator plans to skip a procedure to put treated water, after it is diluted with seawater, inside a large container to confirm the tritium level as a last-minute check before release." -I am angered and puzzled as to why they would "skip" ANY formalized procedure that they've done for the prior three releases. It seems miserly, and not entirely focused on providing the MAXIMUM tests for total security and safety. Of course, this will only enrage the neighbors of Japan unduly, (and we've already discussed why their complaints are completely hypocritical, but still.) Why is TEPCO allowed to start "skipping" this final check, suddenly? "Cost" is NOT an acceptable excuse, not after the horrendous costs they've already cost the people of Japan and their reputation for safety for over a decade and more!

Personally, I have found that "These Radical Chic Evenings" by Tom Wolfe was and still remains the best expose of the preening social fraud that Mr. Bernstein and his ilk were throughout their lives. It still rings true to this day, and cuts WAY closer to the bone than any Bradley Cooper exercise in abject celluloid sycophancy.

First Hamas apologists tried to claim that there was no rape or torture of any civilians in their massacre last October. This turned out to be a lie.

Then Hamas apologists tried to claim that they had received no support from outsider organizations. That turned out to be a lie, too.

Then Hamas apologists claimed that the IDF had struck the Gaza City hospital, not Hamas-linked Islamist militias and their own dumb rockets. That was also a lie.

Then the Hamas apologists claimed that there was "no evidence" of Hamas using that very same hospital, or others like it, or playgrounds, schools and other civilian infrastructure as cover for their terror and tunnels. Guess what? LIE.

Then, Hamas apologists claimed that the UN and it's 95% Palestinian Arab-staffed UNRWA were "impartial" and only interested in "helping". When provided evidence that not only have those Arabs in UNRWA been brainwashing schoolchildren into Islamic hatred for Jews for YEARS, but that many in the org had celebrated, CELEBRATED. the massacre, while some had actually PARTICIPATED in it. They were, again, proven to be Taquiyya-practicing LIARS.

Then, Hamas apologists claimed that "from the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free" had "nothing" to do with the eradication of ALL Jewish settlement in Israel, a promise STILL EXPLICITLY MAINTAINED IN HAMAS' VERY OWN FOUNDING CHARTER. Never to be amended. Of course, we know that the Hamas-supporters were seeking to obfuscate the Truth! As ever!

Your record is truth-telling is far from convincing, and I have to ask you all: why SHOULD ANYONE believe even a word that you say, given your non-stop and SERIAL MISINFORMATION AND OUTRIGHT FALSEHOODS?

Inquiring minds want to know: Are Oscars #Still So White?? lol.

lol! With the pure drek they're pumping out lately, why would anyone want to inflict on themselves the over three hours of virtue-signalling and back-patting awards ceremonies specifically created not for the audience, but FOR the CREATORS of said drek content, anyway??

But if it's your cup of tea, then by all means, enjoy your masochism. As the audience thins even further...

Finally. Sanity is coming to the fore. Even if the (oil-produced t-shirt wearing, oil-produced green hair-dye sporting, oil-produced sneakers stomping) Greenies shake their fists and scream ever louder. Release even more cans of soup on even more priceless artworks in rage! (delivered to their doorsteps by oil)

Right now, in the world, NOW, over two thousand five hundred MILLIONS of people survive the cold and heat their food with...wood or animal dung. When measured by Joules of energy, perhaps the LEAST EFFICIENT, and environmentally MOST DETRIMENTAL, way in which they could do these activities. But what do the plane-hopping, protest-fetishizing Greenies care? "JUST STOP OIL! ZERO EMISSIONS!!" But also, stupidly contradictory: "NO NUKES!!" Smh.

It would actually IMPROVE the environment to give these people coal to cook and heat with, believe it or not. As it would IMPROVE the environment to give coal burning countries down on the development scale (along with hypocritical Germany, who've broken new records for awful brown coal consumption after climbing out of bed with gas-rich Russia over Ukraine) natural gas conversion plants and then nuclear power plants to replace that coal with. There is an energy ladder here, but the Greenies don't care about the literal BILLIONS of people stuck at the bottom, stripping forests and burning high-carbon content fires for their livelihood. Do as (super-wealthy) Saint Greta demands you do, or face her shouts of "how DARE you"!

These poor people DESERVE all the energy YOU now flippantly consume without batting an eye. And one way or another, they're going to make moves to get it. YOU can go back to the forests (you certainly will NOT! lol), but WE know that the best way to improve the environment is to LIFT these people out of their energy poverty as quickly as possible. And that's NOT through "EVs" or totally environmentally unfriendly "Green tech" manufacturing. It's through nuclear power, the safest (by far, people), cheapest and least carbon intensive fuel known to man, and let the Greenies' myopic, selfish, self-indulgent and simply ignorant worldviews be dammed.

"Did Koike actually graduate from Cairo University top of her class as she claims or is she just faking her academic credentials?" Do you NOT know how to do a simple internet search? lol. Good grief.

"...stopped the longstanding annual practice of making a statement of remorse..." Oh dear. Top Issue of Tokyo: continuing the Apology Tour for the, what, 100th year? Your Apology Tours are never ending, when perhaps there is a limit. Though I never see "progressives" doing any apologizing for their own horrendous historical crimes. Hmm...

Everyone pretends that Tokyo is so "progressive", yet the most progressive candidate, former failed "actor" and perennial failed candidate Tarou Yamamoto (MMT, UBI, abolish sales tax, pie-in-the-sky promises yada yada), couldn't scrape together even 670,000 votes, compared to "right wing revisionist" (lol) Koike's 3,650,000! Maybe Tokyo isn't all that "progressive" after all, especially when given the ample evidence of the "progressives" being the true authoritarian-minded ones during the COVID scaremongering? By comparison, the "right wing revisionists" (lol) were tame and far less totalitarian and coercive-minded in their approach.

Perhaps it's "progressives" who need to start their own Apology Tours??

Vice minister's exit deals further blow to Kishida's leadership...

Does it? lol. Really? The Media sez...

Look at the "sources" for this sophomoric Hit Piece: "Pundits say..." "Analysts say..." "...say some pundits."

And to those crowing about Kishida being "below 30%" lol. My question to you is: what's the support level for the Opposition? (At least 10% lower) I'd like to hear how many people can even name the leader of the main opposition policy, or a single thing he's done to deserve support?

Kishida and the LDP/Komeito/Ishin (in Osaka) handily win the next election. The Opposition embarrasses itself for the umpteenth time. It's baked into the electoral system! Sorry to add a dash of reality to your Kyodo Spin...

"...visitors to a recent seafood promotion event in Tokyo said they intend to buy fish..."

Imagine my shock. Totally not what was expected at a...(checks notes)...a "seafood PROMOTION event".

lol.

Japan can choose one, and only one option: it can either choose to save its bond markets, and thus its ability to finance deficit spending as its spending requirements begin to explode, or it can choose to save its currency.

Japan will choose the former. "Interventions" in the currency markets will have diminishing returns. See: JPY @ 151 plus to USD 1. And rising...

This is troubling. As if Putin wanted yet another reason for foreign air travel to completely avoid all of Russia.

The "Russian" part of the Russian population is collapsing at a record rate, while the Muslim section of the population is exploding, as it is everywhere else in the world. This does have tremendous demographic implications for Russia, and for many other places as well.

Notice, though, how the exact same posters who are unwilling to condemn Hamas' atrocious terrorist actions in the Middle East, also seem content to put the blame for this sectarian attempt at violence against non-members of their sect on someone else's shoulders as well? They seem intent on ignoring the true source of such sectarian rage, no matter where in the world it occurs...another troubling detail...always, always "someone else's fault"?

Prices have JUMPED from (using the cheapest burger on the menu) 100 yen for a "hamburger" to now 170 yen, in less than three years. (I know the article is referring to US prices)

It's the exact same thin and tiny burger. But is it now worth paying 70% more for?

Some people think it is. Or unthinkingly think it is, I should say, since fast food's not really an area of the economy known for deep thoughts, lol. Good for them. I think 650 yen for a Big Mac Set or 200 yen for a single cheeseburger is not good value for my money. There are plenty of better, even tastier other options thankfully.

One main excuse for overindulging in fast food is that it's "cheap". Well, it's not cheap anymore.

lol. Your answer is IN your question!

"...sports teams and their fans..." FAN. As in an abbreviated form of the term...FAN-ATIC.

Fanatic: 1) A person marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm, as for a cause, often with religious overtones.

To call someone a "fan(atic)" is to admit that their affection is crazy and irrational. It's right there, baked into your own unthinkingly-used terminology, for crying out loud! lol.