DougJ and I were on the radio yesterday. Open thread.
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by @mistermix.bsky.social| 110 Comments
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DougJ and I were on the radio yesterday. Open thread.
Comments are closed.
Hawes
Nice to see you embrace cutting edge technology like that.
Jerzy Russian
So your real name is Leonard Mix?
constitutional mistermix
@Jerzy Russian: Yes. Son of Tom Mix.
mai naem mobile
Leonard sounds like such an old persons name. I would have expected a Josh, Eli or Ben for somebody your age. Also too, both of you have pleasant voices.
jeffreyw
@constitutional mistermix: Oh! Loved him as Lucky Bill in Mile-a-Minute Romeo!
Amir Khalid
Is Sully really so important that his retirement from blogging means the end of an era? Das ist nicht zu glauben.
I was in the main food court at Petronas Towers today. (It’s called Scott’s Food Court. Who the hell is Scott?) A young white lady in hijab saw me working on my Spanish and stopped to speak with me. She was curious to know why I was learning Spanish (she herself was Spanish, and taught the language) so I told her learning languages is my hobby. Not the first time this has happened to me; that food court draws quite an international crowd of expatriate office workers and tourists.
A few minutes later, the young (local) man at the next table asked me the Spanish for “boss”. I told him: jefe. A few minutes later, after he and his girlfriend had left, I found myself half-wishing I’d answered hijo de puta instead. Which of course, would not have been nice, especially if that Spanish lady had heard me.
Amir Khalid
@constitutional mistermix:
Oh, come on. You’re way too young to be Tom Mix’s son. You must be his great-grandson, at least
TaMara (BHF)
I just had this flash of how wonderful it would be if the front-pagers had a weekly 60 minute podcast together. Hilarity would ensue.
Otherwise, fun to hear Doug and Leonard [[smiles]]. Doug sounds like I expected. I look forward to listening to the rest later today.
Fred Dickinson
I see the banksters are already pimping out Billary:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/10/hillary-clinton-foundation-donors-hsbc-swiss-bank
Billary has always been a Wall Street whore, going back to getting in bed with the Waltons and sitting on the board of Wal*Mart.
rikyrah
it’s interesting how this isn’t being reported…..uh huh
the suspect is WHITE…so, of course, we have to wait as to speculation on his ‘motive’.
UH HUH
…………………………………….
Chapel Hill shooting: Three American Muslims killed
By Raziye Akkoc 10:54AM GMT 11 Feb 2015
Three American Muslims have been shot dead in their home near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the US.
The three were named by police as Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21 and her sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19.
The Salha sisters were students at North Carolina State University and Barakat was a doctoral student in UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Dentistry, according to local media.
In a statement, the police said they responded to a report of gunshots in the usually quiet area of Summerwalk Circle in Chapel Hill at 5.11pm on Tuesday. Upon arrival, officers found the three young individuals, who were pronounced dead at the scene.
The Independent reported that some residents were unaware of what had happened until police arrived.
A 46-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of three counts of murder. He was named by police as Craig Stephen Hicks and in a statement confirmed he had been charged.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11405005/Chapel-Hill-shooting-Three-American-Muslims-killed.html
rikyrah
@Fred Dickinson:
uh huh
uh huh
Frankensteinbeck
If Belafon is around, I finally saw the latest Steven Universe. Wow. I bet all the monsters came out of those holes.
@rikyrah:
CNN has it. Come on, they love mass shootings. They’re not going to miss the chance to cover it, even if it’s white-on-brown. I do expect the news to downplay the possibility that it’s a hate crime committed by a conservative.
sharl
@rikyrah: I just heard a BBC World interview with a public radio affiliate in that part of NC. The police just released a preliminary report, citing a dispute over parking as motivation for the killer. [Presumably that is what the killer claimed after he turned himself in. Maybe a different story will emerge with time…]
AMERICA, FUCK YEA!
catclub
@mai naem mobile:
Joshua, Elijah, or Benjamin? are new sounding names? While Leonard is old sounding? I iz confooz.
SiubhanDuinne
I look forward to listening to the radio program when I have a full hour to do so.
In the meantime, is anyone else having trouble bringing up Charlie Pierce’s page at Esquire?
catclub
@Amir Khalid:
There is a Monty Python bit along those lines about a Czech(?)-English dictionary written by someone who hates either the English or the Czechs. Maybe both.
catclub
@SiubhanDuinne: Re: Pierce. Yep, Error message.
debbie
This is beyond offensive:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/conservatives-kayla-mueller-israel
Where are the moderate Conservatives of good will who will ccondemn this?
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: Is the shooter a conservative? It wouldn’t surprise me (most short-fused gun-nuts are), but all the reporting I’ve seen around this speculates that the shooter was a militant atheist.
JPL
@mai naem mobile: It’s Mr. Leonard.
@sharl: Why shoot all three then? I can see the right claiming he was an angry, sick soul, that had nothing to do with profiling but not a fight over parking.
Belafon
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yep. I loved the big machines that looked almost exactly like bacteriophages. Now, go back through the episodes and you’ll start finding clues (like Peridot mentioning restarting kindergarden). And the conspiracy theory kid: His theory almost completely matches what we were shown.
And to think it was a 12 minute piece.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Fred Dickinson:
You’re going to be a treat to have around.
JPL
@debbie: Josh had another story about how conservatives are trying to claim christianity as their own. Debbie Schlusser deserves a special place in hell for that comment.
MazeDancer
Noted that Balloon Juice described as a site that “attracts 50,000 views a day”.
Even if one ascribes 10 hits a day from folks checking in to see if something’s new, that’s still five thousand people a day.
Bystander
So sad.
“Ethan Czahor, a co-founder of Hipster.com, was hired as “chief technology officer” for Mr. Bush, but was dismissed one day after his appointment was announced after a trail of inflammatory comments was revealed.”. NYTimes.
beth
I’m watching John Boehner telling reporters that he’s waiting for Senate Democrats to “get off their asses” and do something “besides vote no”. The reporters are chuckling. We’re doomed.
debbie
@beth:
That could be a new definition for “chutzpah.”
lol
Anyone following the New Organizing Institute clusterfuck?
TS
@SiubhanDuinne:
Seems to be a change in the address for Pierce – I got there via the home page – it looks somewhat redesigned
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/
SiubhanDuinne
@catclub:
In a way, I’m glad it’s not just me. Thanks for the verification.
piratedan
@Amir Khalid: it’s the end of the era of the polite Republican POV, now it’s all spittle and outrage and parsing statements out of context and being a well paid lackey. Sully only adhered to the latter two and was far too weighted on subtle mocking disdain rather than dialing up the outrage meter to 11. Alas, the salad days are gone and all we have left are crusty croutons of hate.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: If Schlussel staked out a special spot in hell every time she said something unbelievably stupid and offensive, she would have cornered the hell real estate market several years back. IIRC, Pam Geller once called Schlussel out for being a depraved whackjob. That’s like Dick Cheney calling Donald Rumsfeld an incompetent liar.
Betty Cracker
@piratedan:
I am SO stealing that!
SiubhanDuinne
@TS:
Thanks for that. I’ve put the new link on my home page and will delete the old one. Much appreciated.
beltane
@debbie:
Thanks for the laugh. It was needed on this cold, sad morning.
I guess that according to Debbie Schlussel, anyone who bears good will towards their fellow humans is an anti-Semite. Where do idiots like her think this attitude will ultimately lead?
Hawes
@Betty Cracker: The only thing that can stop a bad parker is a good parker with a gun…
sharl
@JPL: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The fact – assuming it is actually true and represents a primary motivation – that someone would kill even one person over parking suggests the presence of blind rage. Logic and rational thinking won’t be very useful in dealing with someone in that state, though maybe more useful in analyzing what aspects of his life led him to that state of rage. [Again, assuming initial reports are accurate and significant in terms of an explanation of motivation.]
Bobby Thomson
@mai naem mobile: they didn’t use the voice scrambler from Scream?
JPL
@Betty Cracker: The downside of the internet is that it gives voice to those that just want to spew hate.
Frankensteinbeck
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t know! It’s reasonable speculation, and the news loves to speculate about these things. LOVES to. I am suggesting they have a strong bias in which directions they speculate.
Frankensteinbeck
@Belafon:
Best guess is that the Earth matches the gems’ needs for breeding, but the process would have wiped out humanity. Rose Quartz wasn’t cool with that. Note Pearl’s view of humanity. I’m pretty sure most gems couldn’t give a fig about the widescale death of biologicals, even intelligent biologicals.
debbie
@beltane:
I just realized while telling a friend about Schussel’s remark just now that it’s really hard to pronounce her name without feeling like you’re about to choke on your own spit.
Roger Moore
@catclub:
I believe you’re thinking of the Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook Sketch.
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: Now the cops are saying it was over a parking space. I actually find that somewhat plausible; I’ve seen people have violent meltdowns over parking spaces many times. It’s one of those little things that drive people batshit.
sharl
@Betty Cracker: Plenty of my fellow atheists are conservatives, and plenty are wackaloons. A number of them showed themselves as such during the whole Rebecca W4tson #Elevat0rG4te kerfuffle.
No one knows the full story here (I doubt even the police do, at least not yet). But that an atheist could do this wouldn’t surprise me in the least, anymore than someone with green eyes or an 11-shoe size. Atheism is just absence of religious faith. Now if it were a democratic secular humanist (do they/we still self-describe this way? – I haven’t kept up on the literature since before Paul Kurtz died), that would add a bit more sad to the whole awful tragedy.
sharl
It’s also sad that a post titled “On a Lighter Note” has taken such a grim turn.
srv
Let the Crusades begin.
RoonieRoo
That was a pretty good radio show.
rikyrah
@sharl:
the many anti-Muslim sentiments all over his social media would hint otherwise.
I’m just sayin’.
Belafon
@srv: I saw that he’s asking that this AUMF be a replacement for the “war on terror” AUMF for dealing with ISIS. He also wants it to include a 3 year sunset.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Some good news, and perhaps even a Big Fucking Deal
Mike in NC
Andrew Sullivan, Brian Williams, Jon Stewart. The Titans of the Media are all Going Galt. Whither Bill O’Reilly?
Belafon
@Frankensteinbeck: Which makes Rose’s decision to have Steven even more interesting.
sharl
@rikyrah: Ah, I totally forgot to click your link…
If those cited social media links are actually his – and I suspect they are – then he may have been already pumped up and ready to kill, and parking just happened to be the thing to set him off. If he had all that hate inside him, then IMO this would be a hate crime. But from what I’m hearing right now on the news, authorities are saying it wasn’t a hate crime. Which I’m guessing is wrong, but actually proving a hate crime in court might be very challenging (IANAL).
Roger Moore
@rikyrah:
It might be more complicated than that. The news I’ve seen says the parking dispute was ongoing, so it’s possible that his problem with this specific group of Muslims triggered his more general hate. Even if the hatred was longer-standing, the parking dispute was almost certainly the reason he picked those specific targets for his hatred and the reason that hatred advanced to actual murder.
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@Betty Cracker:
There are lots of conservative atheists. My stepmom is one. You really can’t lump all atheists into a single group because they are not all liberals by any stretch of the imagination.
Villago Delenda Est
@catclub: Hungarian.
“My hovercraft is full of eels!”
Fred Dickinson
The readiness of the American Left to defend Bronze Age religious superstitions so long as said Bronze Age superstitions are not “white*” never ceases to amaze me.
*Never mind that Christianity is now very much a Black-and-Brown religion globally
All religion is the tool of oppressors and must be resisted , whether the tool says Jesus or Muhammad on it. In my ideal society, all priests, pastors, bishops, sheikhs, imams and rabbis would get one way tickets to Alaska.
catclub
@SiubhanDuinne: ugh – optimized for smartphones – I think.
I hate change. Until I get used to it.
Iowa Old Lady
Ayn Rand was an atheist.
SatanicPanic
I have never been one to say “why don’t moderate ____ condemn his/her actions?” and if it’s true that a fellow atheist killed three people for, possibly, religious reasons (is that how I should say it?), I can confirm that if someone asked me to condemn his actions I would. As a human. As an atheist? Here’s my feeling on it- that guy doesn’t speak for me.
D58826
@sharl: from the Charlotte paper
Well I guess a nut with a gun is better than than anti-Muslim bigot with a gun. At least the former is acceptable within ‘polite’ society. (sigh)
Belafon
@Fred Dickinson: Actually, I just don’t think these people should have been murdered. Has nothing to do with their religion.
Betty Cracker
@Mnemosyne (iPad Mini): I didn’t mean to lump ALL atheists into the “liberal” camp, but, as an atheist myself, my guess is that MOST atheists aren’t conservatives. I’ll see if I can dig up some stats when I have a sec, but my guess would be around 80% of atheists are Democrats / liberals / moderates / not-conservatives.
ETA: I was pretty close — according to Pew in 2012, 73% of atheists / agnostics leaned Dem.
D58826
@Fred Dickinson: Would the Prophet of Wasilla be at the airport to greet them? :-)
catclub
@Hawes: What about a nosy parker?
PurpleGirl
@JPL: I have an acquaintance who has told me I’m wrong to support Doctors Without Borders… don’t I know that they help the Palestinetians.
SatanicPanic
@Fred Dickinson: Bronze Age superstitions? Who are we talking about, Zoroastrians?
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@rikyrah:
Im guessing it’s both/and — a parking dispute with a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant probably wouldn’t have driven him to murder, but a parking dispute with three Muslims who shouldn’t even be living in his nice neighborhood could easily put someone who was already prejudiced over the edge.
Belafon
@Betty Cracker: I could imagine this guy as being part of the Gamergate crowd.
Villago Delenda Est
@PurpleGirl: The Palestinians are the Untermenschen of the reactionary Zionists.
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@Betty Cracker:
I think you’re going to turn out to be wrong. :-). Don’t forget, most libertarians are also avowed atheists. I think you’re going to find pretty even numbers all across the board, politically.
I’m guessing that, living in the Bible Belt, most of the atheists you know are liberals who broke away from the religion they were raised in, but less religious parts of the country don’t necessarily follow the same pattern.
Amir Khalid
@Fred Dickinson:
A very interesting observation. Now let me add one of my own, which is possibly as relevant as yours: three university students were killed by an atheist who had previously declared his hostility towards religion and the religious.
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@Betty Cracker:
There’s also this a little deeper in the survey:
As we have noted here many times before, “Democratic voter” =/= liberal.
srv
@Fred Dickinson: Bill has probably been to orgies with Strauss-Kahn.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Two square miles of photovoltaics on that beautiful ranch. I guess Merced or Fresno would not feed the ego so much.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@PurpleGirl: along those lines, somebody linked to Pudge Carlson’s vanity site the other day, and I got a pop-up ad that said “Defunding Amnesty International is Defending America”
David in NY
Clearly a case of self-defense. /teaparty
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@Betty Cracker:
I can’t edit from the iPad for some reason, but I would also note that “atheist” is itself a somewhat political declaration these days — notice that the “nothing in particular” numbers skew more conservative that avowed atheists.
David in NY
Shot in the head. Don’t they usually call that “execution-style”?
Betty Cracker
@Mnemosyne (iPad Mini): I wasn’t claiming all atheists are flaming liberals or that liberal = Democrat. I originally said, “…my guess is that MOST atheists aren’t conservatives. I’ll see if I can dig up some stats when I have a sec, but my guess would be around 80% of atheists are Democrats / liberals / moderates / not-conservatives.” The stats bear me out, I think.
Fred Dickinson
@srv:
And when he’s not getting his own cock sucked, he’s the one doing the sucking – in this case sucking off the global billionaire class to line his pockets with the blood of the global working class.
But the American Left is obsessed, above all, with race and gender over and above a proper class based analysis. They don’t mind the worker getting fucked so long as the deed is being done with a black dick or a strap – on. The ruling class knows this, which is why we get Obama followed by Billary.
JPL
@PurpleGirl: Gee.. Your friend might be anti-semetic. I am taking out a long time friend who went to the dark side after Obama’s election for lunch today. It’s her birthday. Sometimes it’s difficult to just fake it.
rlrr
Radio? Is that some sort of media?
PurpleGirl
@David in NY: Yes, they do.
WRT Doctors Without Borders: My standard come back is that I prefer to think my money was used in Haiti or Sub-Saharan Africa, or wherever. There’s just SO many places that need help from Doctors Without Borders.
Amir Khalid
À propos of nothing, I was just listening to a Chuck berry song. Was there ever a model of refrigerator called the Coolarator?
David in NY
@Fred Dickinson: Oh, yeah, all those crazy leftist kids and union members complaining about the 1% controlling our politics — they’re just obsessed with race and gender alone, no concern for class analysis.
Just shut up, OK?
rikyrah
I’ll say it again..
They are PHUCKING OUT OF CONTROL.
This man’s crime: WALKING WHILE NON-WHITE
……………………………….
Grandfather visiting Alabama from India stopped by police while taking walk, left partly paralyzed
By Challen Stephens | [email protected]
on February 10, 2015 at 2:35 PM, updated February 11, 2015 at 9:29 AM
Madison police last week roughed up a 57-year-old Indian citizen who was walking on the sidewalk outside his son’s home, leaving the older man temporarily paralyzed and hospitalized with fused vertebrae.
“He was just walking on the sidewalk as he does all the time,” said his son, Chirag Patel, this morning. “They put him to the ground.”
No crime had been committed. Madison Police on Monday issued a statement saying the department had suspended the officer and were investigating the use of force in this case. The police statement wished the man a “speedy recovery.”
Chirag Patel, an engineer for one of the many government contractors in Huntsville, said he had just bought a one-way ticket for his father, bringing him from the small Indian town of Pij to his new home in fast-growing suburbs of Madison.
He said his father, Sureshbhai Patel, was to help his wife care for their new baby, a 17-month-old son, so he could pursue his masters degree in electrical engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
“This is a good neighborhood. I didn’t expect anything to happen,” said Chirag Patel, who recently bought the new house on Hardiman Place Lane.
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/02/indian_citizen_stopped_by_madi.html
japa21
@Amir Khalid: Yes
gvg
@Mnemosyne (iPad Mini): I think Betty is right because any atheist who had conservative tendancies would be driven out of the republican groups across the country, not just in the Bible belt. Not in the past, but now. The evangelicals have taken control across the country. Look at the pandering Mitt had to do. That trend has been building for awhile but I think it accelerated when the rational moderates switched and voted Dem in 2006.
The GOP was reeling from backlash caused by Iraq turning bloody and pointless and compounded by the GOP having a number of messy personal scandals. People often change their vote when things like that happen and later after a clean up may go back. However that time it seemed to me only the rabid right was left and they insisted on actions that kept the former moderates from drifting back so the party seems to have tipped over into crazy ocean.
There was a time when Hispanics were thinking they could be republican but got driven away by racism on display. Other ethnics concluded any minority could be turned on and headed away too. Atheists haven’t been in the news as much, but every once in awhile some GOP speaker lets out some really deranged anti atheist stuff too. If you are kind of apolitical I guess you could be a conservative atheist & vote GOP but the majority can’t help being aware they can’t let the christianists get power.
Fred Dickinson
@David in NY:
As long as you’re Ready ! For! Billary! my critique stands.
JPL
@gvg: This. Ayn Rand was a proud libertarian who enjoyed her medicare. She would not identify with the republicans.
Citizen_X
@rikyrah: Yeah. I think it looks like a case of Stereotypical (sigh) Armed Angry White Middle-Aged Guy Rage:
From D58826 , comment #27 in this post.
David in NY
@Fred Dickinson: Very informative. Invective, followed by a fellow commenter’s pertinent counterexample refuting the point of invective, followed by more invective. If that’s your argument style, welcome aboard, we need a more target-rich environment here.
Chris
@Betty Cracker:
Let me complicate it further by pointing out that leaning Dem doesn’t automatically clear you of anti-Muslim bigotry. Even if you’re not a Christian. I’ve met more than a few people who’re solidly Democrat because they agree with them on most things (economics, social issues, take your pick) but are just fine with profiling, Guantanamo, and our various crimes in the ME.
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Doesn’t Apple have a cash hoard of something like $180B, so this is like me, with say, $100k in savings, buying a new refrigerator for $1k and saving on my electric bill?
Except I bet Apple will expect to at least break even on this investment, if so, they will end up with the same $180B cash hoard as before.
catclub
@rikyrah: Digby linked it to a speech where Comey ( head of FBI)
was telling people to be very afraid and watch out for dangerous strangers ( lone wolf terrorists).
Comey apparently gave that speech in Alabama.
The 911 phone call that got the police there also will remind one of the Cleveland Walmart phone call. Making up dangerous things not actually happening.
Mike J
@Citizen_X: Atheists can be religious bigots too. Some of them are just as toxic as any Christian bigot or Muslim bigot. I think it’s because in all three cases they’re humans and their belief systems don’t automatically make them good people.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Amir Khalid: It was more of an ice box than a refrigerator, but indeed there was. Made in Minnesota, I think.
sharl
@Mike J: Yep. People who should be thoughtful enough to know better rush to the defense of horrible things that come out of Bill Maher’s mouth, and the “logic” of their arguments are often cringe-worthy.
Then there was the case of the late Christopher Hitchens, a die-hard atheist and (IMO) an awful human being. He made some good intellectual arguments, e.g., in his criticisms of the Roman Catholic church hierarchy (and even the “saintliness” of Mother Theresa), but he was also a raging sexist and a full on supporter of our Glorious Iraq Adventure. Regarding the latter, IMO he existed somewhere in that territory occupied by racism and, if not specifically American Exceptionalism, at least Western/Occidental Cultural supremacism. All those innocent dead and forever damaged casualties {dismissively waves hand eastward} were just necessary collateral damage, I’m afraid. ‘Oh, they were people,’ you say? Eh, whatev, couldn’t be helped.
Paul in KY
@sharl: Making it a ‘hate crime’ prosecution isn’t as big a deal when going for murder 1. It is a big deal when prosecuting lesser assault/battery style crimes.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@gvg:
There are a lot of libertarians in Arizona, Nevada, and other Western states who would call themselves “non-affiliated” at best (and probably actual atheists) and yet vote solid Republican, because the promise of lower taxes and smaller government is more enticing than the prospect of Christian hegemony is frightening. Since they think religion is bullshit, they see no reason to take it into account when they vote.
As I said, I suspect it’s a regional difference — atheists in the Bible Belt are probably going to be more liberal, but all bets are off once you get to the less religious parts of the country. Here in California, I run into about equal numbers of liberal and conservative atheists, and my parents knew a lot of libertarian atheists in Arizona who were also staunch Republican voters (well, the ones who weren’t too paranoid to vote, anyway).
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: If not, there should have been.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: Poor guy. Sure hope it is nothing permanent. Hope he sues the Hell out of them, plus the officers who did this get fired (at least).
Amir Khalid
@Paul in KY:
As commenters japa21 and a hip hop artist from Idaho note, Coolerator refrigerators did indeed exist. Alas, the manufacturer went out of business a decade before Chuck released C’est la Vie.
opiejeanne
@Amir Khalid: His mom or his grandmother probably had one.
sharl
sharl
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
In case people missed it, Duke recently canceled a planned Muslim call to prayer on the campus after they received death threats:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2015/01/15/5449154/franklin-graham-slams-duke-over.html
So, yes, there seems to be an anti-Muslim problem in North Carolina.
Arclite
@Betty Cracker:
My uncle is a wingnut atheist. Orange County, CA is too liberal for him, so he’s planning on moving to AZ. Bought property there and everything already.
sharl
Finally listened to the podcast in the OP; great discussion!