Jack Straw

“Is she eligible to run in Texas?” - @Johnny Sack

“Is she eligible to run in Texas?” - @Johnny Sack

“If Trump had done anything wrong he would have been in prison by now. He’s not, so obviously he has done nothing wrong whatsoever. I’m totally not a Trump supporter, though.” - Slorch, and tens of millions of Republicans.

100% of Republicans act in bad faith and against the country’s interests, 100% of the time.

Hallstatt was cool. We rerouted to Salzburg and spent the afternoon and early evening there instead of Berchtesgaden as it was my understanding that the last bus up to the Eagle’s Nest would have been after the time we arrived. So we will do Berchtesgaden as a separate day trip from Munich. We have another day dedicated to doing both castles, leaving early in the AM for Neuschwanstein. Heading to Lucerne for a week from here with a decent amount of open time on the calendar if anyone has any particularly great reccs there (esp. restaurants). I know we are doing the Old Swiss House one night for tableside schnitzel and Prisma another night. Will take at least a couple day trips from Lucerne - looking at Basel and Bern but all flexible. *thanks to OP for letting me piggyback here

No, no it isn’t. I suppose you could “literally write” whatever you wanted to, but that does not mean that it would be true, or that it would match my experience, which is far from isolated, and ... is actually true. They are the worst group of tourists and travelers, by far. (Not) sorry if you don’t like that.

is it? the universal commonality I have experienced in the 25+ countries I have traveled to for pleasure in the last 8 years or so is how awful the tourists from Asian countries behave, particularly the Chinese. Others have touched on it here, but they will straight up push an old lady out of the way to get to what they want to see, cut in clearly demarcated lines to go straight to the front, ram a stroller into you without saying a word, jam their selfie sticks straight in your face, hop fences to get in prohibited areas to get pictures of themselves taken, take videos and pictures where there are signs prohibiting it everywhere, it goes on and on. the first experience I have with one who has any courtesy, manners, or sense of self-awareness, their surroundings, or local customs, will be my first. what I also find bizarre is how they walk up to a painting or piece of art, snap a picture with their phone or iPad and move on to the next one without even looking at the piece itself, even for a second, ad infinitum. couldn’t they just ... buy a book, or look at it on the internet? wtf.

All of this. Better yet, ban all tourists from Asian countries. All problems solved.

we are driving over to Munich from Vienna a little later today with stops in Hallstatt and Berchtesgaden. we are going to Ratskeller one night, and Pageou another night, which looks really interesting. gf is a little burned out on Bavarian food after five days in Austria 😕 so we’ll see about the rest. *comment above about the Asian tourists is spot on. the one thing that is universal in all my travels overseas over the years is that they will fucking straight up ruin your life. edit: just saw Ray’s post - will take the Munchner’s recommendation and hit Spöckmeier. looks booked up every evening we are there, but can make it for lunch on Friday.

not a single person who identifies as a Republican at this juncture will. not one. you’ll be less disappointed later if you just accept this fact now.

He’s sitting there holding a phone with no one on the other end, directing the photographer as he poses - “this is what someone smart and important looks like in pictures” Photographer: “whatever you say, sir.” /rolls eyes @Johnny Sack: “Donald Trump is smart and important. And frankly, he’s doing a great job.”

“But it makes liberals mad, so we win.” -Republicans

fair enough

hahahaha

hey, we found FCHorn!

the shopping center where the Grove is, at Bee Caves and 360, and the shopping center where the Walgreens and Texas Honey Ham on Bee Caves, were both designed by serious retards

are these still available?

Also, I would enjoy seeing Elvis Costello subjected to some sort of medieval torture like being put into one of those suits of armor with spikes in it, or being stretched out on a rack, and every piece of his music being shot up into space and then blown to a billion pieces by a gigantic space laser.

He gets them that way because he’s super fucking fat.

This is the guy who makes Republicans proud, folks.

Do Something!

So we’ll overcome the unchecked foreign interference - which is actually encouraged by the party in power - this time around with a better candidate? Ok then. Our government and country is fundamentally broken, has been hijacked by a criminal enterprise disguised as a political party, led by a President who is so far beyond unfit to lead that he can and does not only fleece and embarrass the country in spectacular fashion on a daily basis, but actually commits multiple felonies with no consequences whatsoever. And people think that we’re all going to just show up at the ballot box and vote this guy out, and he’ll hand things over to the next person? That the Rs will ever let that happen, ever? This is like watching someone walk outside to see their car in the driveway with the engine engulfed in flames, shrugging their shoulders and going back inside to bed, and then going out the next morning and expecting it to start (analogy not directed at you hg).

No, I do not think its an organized effort, nor do I think that people are scared, but it is human nature to not to admit to things that are highly embarrassing/unpopular. The 40% is the group of morons, racists and other human garbage who is proud of being the shitbags that they are. I believe that there is a significant portion of people who will answer a poll - whether anonymous or otherwise by saying they "disapprove of" or "will not for Trump again," but when it comes down to pulling the lever, we all know that they will vote R no matter what. Shit, there a bunch of those obvious liars right here on this board, and this is a pretty small cross section of people in relation to the voting populace. Plus, what exactly has been done to address or combat the Russian interference that helped get Trump elected in the first place? Oh, exactly nothing? That's right. So I am just not seeing why anyone is expecting a different result this time.

GOP cheating (in many forms) combined with an actual approval rating for Trump of close to or exceeding 50% (any polling showing Trump's approval/likely to vote for at around 40% is way low due to people lying - many people know enough not to be publicly honest about the fact that they are shitbags) make a Trump re-election a sure thing, no matter who else runs and/or is the D nominee, and no matter what happens between now and the election.

This book is amazing, really. I’ve read it several times over the years and it’s always in the top 5 or so books I recommend to others. I’ve read all his books at least once, except Missoula, which I’ll take with me on a trip starting next week, along with David McCollough’s The Pioneers and Donna Tartt’s The Little Friend. I swear The Goldfinch has almost ruined reading for me, because I know that nothing else I read will ever be that good.