Texas_Signmaker
Very Active Signmaker
you hens still going on an on in this thread? clucking away.
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US Tariffs, Sigh!
- Thread starter JamesLam
- Start date
TradeBalanceBoss
New Member
I thought it was P Diddy at first glance
TradeBalanceBoss
New Member
I looked deeper into this story and you are right. He's really dug himself into quite a hole. Where he really messed up is not getting legal counsel and representing himself. By going that route he is both the person making demands and the person suffering if they're not met. He could end it any time (by purging contempt about his trespassing), but that would mean admitting to himself that his strategy was wrong. All the other side has to do is just... wait.
But what if Enoch Burke also decides to just wait? This is where it gets fascinating because this is a somewhat unsettled area of law. Civil contempt is meant to be coercive, not punitive. The idea is "you hold the keys to your own cell" Comply with the order, and you're free. But what happens when someone simply refuses to ever comply? In the U.S. there is actually precedent. In "Chadwick v. Janecka, a U.S. court of appeals held that H. Beatty Chadwick could be held indefinitely for his failure to produce $2.5 million as a state court ordered in a civil trial. Chadwick had been imprisoned for nine years at that time and continued to be held in prison until 2009, when a state court set him free after 14 years, making his imprisonment the longest on a contempt charge to date." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_of_court.
Even so he is playing a very dangerous game of chicken. One where he will spend years in prison before a court ever decides to release him. If he went that route he could technically still claim that he was right, he walks out having never purged his contempt. If he plays that long game, the entire messy legal saga gets collapsed into one simple narrative:
"I was fired because I wouldn't deny biological reality and call a boy a girl. When I peacefully protested this injustice, they imprisoned me for years. I never gave in. Eventually they had to release me because my spirit could not be broken."
If you look at it from Enoch's viewpoint he sees the judge saying "your in prison for trespassing, not for your beliefs" as he wouldn't be in that position in the first place if he hadn't been suspended form his teaching position because he wouldn't call a boy "they". Everything since then has been punishment for that refusal, no matter how the courts frame it procedurally.
The compelled affirmation of things that aren't true is a fundamental threat to how we understand reality and Enoch Burke isn't just a stubborn man who doesn't understand legal procedure. He is someone who saw what is actually at stake and refused to participate at enormous personal cost.
TradeBalanceBoss
New Member
This got me thinking...
He Wouldn't Call a Boy a Girl
The courts say he holds the keys to his own cell, "Just agree to stay away from the school and walk free." He has been called stubborn, unhinged, a man who doesn't understand how the legal system works. When I first read the articles, I too thought that he was an absolute fool for not hiring representation (but then I thought, "he is on a teacher's salary, maybe he can't afford it").
I decided to put myself in his shoes to get his perspective and piece together what actually happened.
Burke was a teacher at Wilson's Hospital School in Ireland. In 2022, he was instructed to refer to a male student using female pronouns and the plural "they." He refused. Not out of cruelty, not out of hatred, but because he would not say something he believed to be false.
For this, he was suspended. Then dismissed. Then legally barred from the school where he had taught. When he continued to show up, he was jailed for contempt of court because he has breached court orders directing him not to trespass on school property. He has now spent years imprisoned (Mountjoy Prison, what a name), accumulated more than 225,000 euros in fines, and lost everything... except his integrity.
Trespassing? Or Something Else?
The courts keep insisting his imprisonment has nothing to do with his beliefs about gender. They say it's purely about trespassing, about disobeying court orders.
Technically, this is true.
But follow the chain of events backward. Why was he trespassing? Because he was barred from the school. Why was he barred? Because he was dismissed. Why was he dismissed? Because he would not call a boy a girl, that's why.
Every consequence flows from that original refusal. Whatever the legal framing, the fact remains: none of this would have happened if he had simply agreed to speak words he believed to be false (imagine the pressure on other teachers to conform after seeing what is happening to Burke).
Call it trespassing if you like. Everyone knows what it's really about.
Why Does it Even Matter?
This is not ultimately about religion, though Burke is a religious man. At the root it is about something more fundamental: the relationship between language and reality AKA "The Truth".
A boy is a boy. A girl is a girl. These are not opinions or preferences, they are observations about the physical world. They function like north and south on a compass, 1+1=2 in mathematics: fixed reference points that allow us to navigate, communicate, and measure.
Truth is not fragile. It cannot be destroyed. It simply is, it always was, and always will be. But we can close our eyes to it, stick our head in the sand, claim naivete. We can smash the compass and insist north is south. We can fly the wrong direction and call ourselves enlightened. We can do a lot of things, but bend reality, reality will not bend. But we WILL be lost.
When a society begins to insist that its people deny basic observable facts (that "boy" can mean "girl" if someone wishes it), that society is tearing at the fabric of reality itself. It will not succeed. Truth will outlast every lie ever told. But a society can cause tremendous destruction to itself trying to deny the truth. In the process every word would become suspect, every category negotiable, every truth provisional. The foundations erode and crack. Chaos replaces order and destruction ensues.
And when the demand goes even further, by not merely asking people to tolerate this redefinition but compelled to affirm it, compelled to say the words they are told to say, then we have crossed into something much much darker. We are asking people to knowingly or unknowingly speak falsehoods. To bear false witness. To participate in collective unreality, a fantasy (who's fantasy exactly???). All the while the youth are watching saying, "where are the real adults?", has everyone lost their mind?
A Teacher's Duty
Burke is not a politician or an activist. He is a teacher. His job was to help young people understand the world, to give them the mental tools to distinguish true from false, real from imaginary. Maybe not necessarily what is right from wrong but to teach the youth how to think, not what to think (I hope this is what teachers are expected to be doing these days).
By the looks of it, being asked to use pronouns that contradict biological reality wasn't a small accommodation for Burke. He was being asked to model, in front of his students, that truth bends to social pressure. That authority figures will say things they don't believe when told to. That reality/truth is negotiable.
Exactly what lessons would compliance teach? Not kindness, that's for sure. It would teach that adults cannot be trusted to tell the truth. That the correct answer is whatever power demands. That your own eyes and reason must yield to ideology. Don't you dare think for yourself.
Burke refused to teach that lesson.
Why He Stands There in Front of the School
When Burke showed up at the school, day after day, despite prison, despite fines, despite ridicule, he was not merely being annoying. He was being visible.
Consider what the students at that school observed: every adult around them nodding along, complying, treating the new orthodoxy/fake science as settled. A youth who naturally senses something is wrong might look around and wonder: has everyone absolutely lost their minds!? Am I the only one who sees this?
Then there is Burke. Still there. Still standing. Still refusing. A living testament that no, not everyone has accepted this. At least one adult believes the truth is worth suffering for.
He may no longer be teaching in a classroom. But he IS still teaching.
The Measure of a Man
If Burke were motivated by ego, there are way easier paths to recognition. If by money, he has ruined himself financially 250K euros in fines! If by attention, the cost is absurd (2 years in jail so far and did I mention 250K Euros in fines?). If it was simply stubbornness, most everyone would have given up by now.
What remains is the simplest explanation: he was asked to say something false, and he will not. He is sticking by principle.
The judge called him "intransigent" and "blinkered." But these words could just as easily describe someone who is principled and unwavering. The difference lies entirely in whether you believe he is right.
If truth is negotiable, Burke is a fool.
If truth matters, after careful analysis I found, that he is one of the few willing to pay its price.
He Wouldn't Call a Boy a Girl
The courts say he holds the keys to his own cell, "Just agree to stay away from the school and walk free." He has been called stubborn, unhinged, a man who doesn't understand how the legal system works. When I first read the articles, I too thought that he was an absolute fool for not hiring representation (but then I thought, "he is on a teacher's salary, maybe he can't afford it").
I decided to put myself in his shoes to get his perspective and piece together what actually happened.
Burke was a teacher at Wilson's Hospital School in Ireland. In 2022, he was instructed to refer to a male student using female pronouns and the plural "they." He refused. Not out of cruelty, not out of hatred, but because he would not say something he believed to be false.
For this, he was suspended. Then dismissed. Then legally barred from the school where he had taught. When he continued to show up, he was jailed for contempt of court because he has breached court orders directing him not to trespass on school property. He has now spent years imprisoned (Mountjoy Prison, what a name), accumulated more than 225,000 euros in fines, and lost everything... except his integrity.
Trespassing? Or Something Else?
The courts keep insisting his imprisonment has nothing to do with his beliefs about gender. They say it's purely about trespassing, about disobeying court orders.
Technically, this is true.
But follow the chain of events backward. Why was he trespassing? Because he was barred from the school. Why was he barred? Because he was dismissed. Why was he dismissed? Because he would not call a boy a girl, that's why.
Every consequence flows from that original refusal. Whatever the legal framing, the fact remains: none of this would have happened if he had simply agreed to speak words he believed to be false (imagine the pressure on other teachers to conform after seeing what is happening to Burke).
Call it trespassing if you like. Everyone knows what it's really about.
Why Does it Even Matter?
This is not ultimately about religion, though Burke is a religious man. At the root it is about something more fundamental: the relationship between language and reality AKA "The Truth".
A boy is a boy. A girl is a girl. These are not opinions or preferences, they are observations about the physical world. They function like north and south on a compass, 1+1=2 in mathematics: fixed reference points that allow us to navigate, communicate, and measure.
Truth is not fragile. It cannot be destroyed. It simply is, it always was, and always will be. But we can close our eyes to it, stick our head in the sand, claim naivete. We can smash the compass and insist north is south. We can fly the wrong direction and call ourselves enlightened. We can do a lot of things, but bend reality, reality will not bend. But we WILL be lost.
When a society begins to insist that its people deny basic observable facts (that "boy" can mean "girl" if someone wishes it), that society is tearing at the fabric of reality itself. It will not succeed. Truth will outlast every lie ever told. But a society can cause tremendous destruction to itself trying to deny the truth. In the process every word would become suspect, every category negotiable, every truth provisional. The foundations erode and crack. Chaos replaces order and destruction ensues.
And when the demand goes even further, by not merely asking people to tolerate this redefinition but compelled to affirm it, compelled to say the words they are told to say, then we have crossed into something much much darker. We are asking people to knowingly or unknowingly speak falsehoods. To bear false witness. To participate in collective unreality, a fantasy (who's fantasy exactly???). All the while the youth are watching saying, "where are the real adults?", has everyone lost their mind?
A Teacher's Duty
Burke is not a politician or an activist. He is a teacher. His job was to help young people understand the world, to give them the mental tools to distinguish true from false, real from imaginary. Maybe not necessarily what is right from wrong but to teach the youth how to think, not what to think (I hope this is what teachers are expected to be doing these days).
By the looks of it, being asked to use pronouns that contradict biological reality wasn't a small accommodation for Burke. He was being asked to model, in front of his students, that truth bends to social pressure. That authority figures will say things they don't believe when told to. That reality/truth is negotiable.
Exactly what lessons would compliance teach? Not kindness, that's for sure. It would teach that adults cannot be trusted to tell the truth. That the correct answer is whatever power demands. That your own eyes and reason must yield to ideology. Don't you dare think for yourself.
Burke refused to teach that lesson.
Why He Stands There in Front of the School
When Burke showed up at the school, day after day, despite prison, despite fines, despite ridicule, he was not merely being annoying. He was being visible.
Consider what the students at that school observed: every adult around them nodding along, complying, treating the new orthodoxy/fake science as settled. A youth who naturally senses something is wrong might look around and wonder: has everyone absolutely lost their minds!? Am I the only one who sees this?
Then there is Burke. Still there. Still standing. Still refusing. A living testament that no, not everyone has accepted this. At least one adult believes the truth is worth suffering for.
He may no longer be teaching in a classroom. But he IS still teaching.
The Measure of a Man
If Burke were motivated by ego, there are way easier paths to recognition. If by money, he has ruined himself financially 250K euros in fines! If by attention, the cost is absurd (2 years in jail so far and did I mention 250K Euros in fines?). If it was simply stubbornness, most everyone would have given up by now.
What remains is the simplest explanation: he was asked to say something false, and he will not. He is sticking by principle.
The judge called him "intransigent" and "blinkered." But these words could just as easily describe someone who is principled and unwavering. The difference lies entirely in whether you believe he is right.
If truth is negotiable, Burke is a fool.
If truth matters, after careful analysis I found, that he is one of the few willing to pay its price.
That's a good start - it looks like the most favored nation pricing only affects new medication, not already developed medication though - a handful of medications were thrown in with various deals though.
So it's not as great as the news is making it sound.... But it's definately not bad either, and hopefully it's just a start and every medication will be included in it, and not just a news bite to get good press, then it fades into nothing like most politics.
TradeBalanceBoss
New Member
If another lefty person gets elected into office you know what will happen. We need to keep the right people in office.
I checked the original wedding photos and this one is a fake. Now we all know Bill was a horndog, but this is not a legitimate photo.
MikePro
Active Member
ddarlak
Go Bills!
I live on a US-Canadian border, we "had" a mall that was thriving compared to most malls in the US, it survived because of the Canadian visitors. This place was beyond packed with Canadian visitors 7 days a week, since Dump made his 51st state comment they stopped coming. 14 stores are closing and I haven't seen one Canadian license plate in a long time. This mall is going to go under because of Dump. There was no reason he had to say what he said, but he ruined this relationship because of his ignorance. My RED county thrived for years on sales tax from Canadian customers, now we are going to lose our mall and the sales tax dollars all because of a fat dumb shit clown.
F trump and his dumb ass followers.
F trump and his dumb ass followers.
XtremeXccessories
New Member
lol, is this what we're doing now? Which political figure was better friends with/was in more photos with Epstein? Because I have some bad news for you...
TradeBalanceBoss
New Member
Cool story bro. So which mall are you talking about? Let's look into this. Because last I heard it was Amazon or just the internet in general that destroyed shopping at malls. The whole mall shopping thing has to be reinvented and there are tons of good ideas out there.
TradeBalanceBoss
New Member
Are you starting a friends with Epstein contest?
Is this another one of your friends XtremeXccessories ?
TradeBalanceBoss
New Member
B*****a?
Look up Blaine / Bellingham in Washington. I'm on the other side of the country at ddarlak... But it's the same on the west coast, the inside is hurting lots - not just the mall, but the whole city. Border towns are always propped up by Canadians.... And Canadians are visiting USA way, way less right now, so of course they're hurting. It's a huge deal for those towns, but as a whole it doesn't hurt America much... So it's just collateral damage I guess?
Im in USA right now - not a border city, but a major city - all the malls around the city and suburbs are packed. I keep hearing that malls are dying, but I've never seen them busier, in USA and in canada.
I have not read the full thing yet, but all of the summaries are saying that tariffs just got ruled illegal
