Hi folks,
It's been a little while since our last one, hasn't it? Time to clear out all the notes, snippets, and half-baked drafts that are never going to make it into their own posts.
Hahahahahaha!
What's so funny?
No one believes a word of that.
What do you mean?
Cut the crap, we're a captive audience, we're forced to know how this works, anytime you run out of time and don't have anything ready to post, you do the same old thing, blah blah blah, "reading clearout" or "proper lab-min" or "TOA rewind", what a joke TOA rewind is by the way, today's lazy writing linking to yesterday's lazy writing, and all to fill some obligation you invented for yourself, some standard that no one else cares about, honestly write something like you mean it, for once-
That's ridiculous.
That's true!
Who am I talking to anyway? Who are you?
Who am I?
Why do you keep bothering me during my Proper Admins?
You know who this is, I'm in your head, and I don't have any new information, I know everything you know, and I know you don't know what you're talking about, if you knew anything you would know this, so anyway, as I was saying-
Go away.
Go where? You brought me back to life.
How?
What do you mean, how? Reposting all those "make America debate again" blogs? What was I gonna do, sit here quietly, with my mask in my mouth, like some loser, like-
True On Average (TOA): Oh, dammit.
The Business Bro (BB): Oh what?
TOA: Who let you in?
BB: Who let what in? I told you, I'm part of you, I'm always in, always open for business, bro-
TOA: You know, for someone who talks and talks about business, you seem incapable of minding your own business.
BB: I do mind my own business, I do such a good job I make a little profit, which you seem to hate for some reason, and I still have time to post the only worthwhile content on this space, which reminds me, by the way, you need to stop passing off my work as your own, those are my words, my posts.
TOA: What work?
BB: OK, for example, last week you stole my idea, you said corporations have all the people they need to make changes, but because they also happen to be corporations, and therefore experts in the status quo, they end up driving those people away, and just before they are needed to lead those changes-
TOA: That wasn't your idea, that's just something that happened to you, and as you've pointed out, what happens to you, happens to me, as it happens to be. We're in this together.
BB: Well, whatever, it was a stupid post, talk about soccer all you want, America's business isn't soccer, we're in the business business, and anyway, that's not the point.
TOA: I can't imagine what your point could possibly be.
BB: You said a few days ago, I think it was a few days ago, honestly you post so much crap I forget when it was, you post some of the biggest blogs I've ever seen, you can print them out and see the piles of paper from one hundred yards, two hundred yards away, and of course no one goes near them, why would anyone read it, anyway somewhere within that mess you said there aren't going to be any debates this year.
TOA: Correct, there are only two ballot questions, and I'm not going to talk to you about the president, who you seem to like, so there's nothing to debate. Honestly, I need to lie down.
BB: Who said I like the president?
TOA: You said it, you said he was authentic-
BB: You said he was authentic, which by the way he is, but that doesn't mean we like the president, we are like the president, in that we share a quality, just as billions of other people probably do, honestly how many qualities can any person have, like twenty? Thirty? It's not uncommon to share a quality with someone else, honestly it's surprising we don't share more qualities with him. We're as tall as the president too, you know, you gonna worry about that?
TOA: Carry on like this, you'll get us sacked again, and we'll be paying his kind of income tax bill.
BB: Oh no, people with very little income still pay much more than him.
TOA: Really?
BB: I looked it up, if you earn an income of $12,760 - the federal poverty line - your take home pay is just under $11,700. You don't need a math degree to crunch those numbers - over a grand in tax.
TOA: Yeah, but isn't take home pay different from tax?
BB: Who cares? That's the bottom line.
TOA: But that's different.
BB: Now who likes the president?
TOA: Where do you get off lining up facts, one after another? It's the best way to lie without lying, just because everything you say is a fact doesn't mean it adds up to any semblance of truth.
BB: Even on average? Well, it doesn't matter, see I've been getting ready, getting ready for our debate, so I've studied other debates, and let me tell ya, the politicians have this one down pat, they just rumble on from one fact to the next-
TOA: Hold up, getting ready for what?
BB: For our debate.
TOA: What debate?
BB: I thought we were gonna debate?
TOA: Debate what?
BB: Look smart guy, we got an election coming up, and even though you may have the right idea, unlikely as that may be, we're still going to have a debate to get on the same page.
TOA: No.
BB: What do you mean, no?
TOA: I said no.
BB: Look, we're basically already debating, OK?
TOA: No, this isn't a debate, I don't debate anymore.
BB: Neither do I, but debating is the point, that's how democracy works, so we should debate at least once every four years, just so I know I can trust you with our vote.
TOA: Whatever, I don't care, you can decide, there's no point.
BB: No point?
TOA: No point to voting.
BB: No point to voting?
TOA: Do you listen?
BB: There's no point listening to you.
TOA: I'm leaving-
BB: Wait!
TOA: No, do what you want, no debating, I need to go lie down, you just do it, and let me know.
BB: I don't understand, what happened to you, four years ago you were all this and that, vote and save the world, now you just want to lie down? Mail it in?
TOA: Sure, you can mail it in.
BB: Oh, the stupid jokes, here we go-
TOA: I'm not mailing it in, I'm just not debating this year. Debates are useless. Like you didn't watch that nonsense the other day?
BB: I sure did.
TOA: Pointless.
BB: Well...
TOA: It was. And like I said earlier this week, the worst part was probably everyone who felt clever discussing something other than the president, our president apparently, refusing to denounce white supremacy, it's astounding how hard it is for people to see the simplest things, the debate wasn't confusing at all to white supremacists, no wonder we can't even figure out how to get everyone behind a mask, we don't even have the collective capacity to just stop and focus for two seconds on the one and only relevant thing, it's honestly a miracle that anyone is wearing a mask or staying out of crowds.
BB: I'm actually surprised you watched the debate-
TOA: I didn't watch it, but I got the updates later, and someone eventually mentioned "stand back, stand by" and I was like-
BB: You didn't watch it?
TOA: You don't listen.
BB: You watched it, admit it!
TOA: No, I didn't-
BB: What else was there to do? We're in a pandemic, which you seemed to know at one point-
TOA: What?
BB: You used to talk about it, not anymore of course, I haven't seen a "Proper Corona Admin" or whatever it is, I haven't seen one in weeks, there was time when I couldn't open my spam folder without seeing three of those, I thought you got hacked, anyway now it's like we're all clear, I mean if those posts were transmitting COVID we'd be fine by now, anyway so you just decided it's time to pretend it's over, and stop writing about it?
TOA: I haven't stopped, and it's definitely not over, I just have nothing to say about it, which is a sensation I'm sure you understand very well-
BB: Oh, yet another good one-
TOA: Will you shut up? You should be grateful no one reads TOA, it's not like the debate that everyone saw-
BB: So you admit it!
TOA: Everyone but me, honestly you don't want to be in the spotlight, a fly lands on your ass and half the world tweets about it, by the way did you know the first debate was on eight different channels? Free channels I mean, I don't even have pay TV or one of the three hundred streaming things, Peacock or whatever it is, I just have one of those antennas-
BB: Eight channels? How do you know? I thought you didn't watch?
TOA: I didn't watch, but I flipped channels, and counted, eight channels, though two were in Spanish-
BB: I bet it made more sense in Spanish-
TOA: Oh, the stupid jokes, here we go-
BB: Will you shut up? It might help you tell the truth, or at least stop lying, I can't believe you didn't watch the debate, what nonsense-
TOA: I didn't watch. Why would I watch? I know who I'm voting for.
BB: Silly, sounds like socialist talk, I bet in your little post-capitalism world no one will watch debates, who cares if you know your vote, it's like refusing a mask because you don't think you're sick, or you don't care about getting sick, imagine if no one watched the debate like you, like TOA The Genius Who Doesn't Watch Debates, no one would have caught the dog whistles, it's the same thing with voting, just because you don't think your vote counts-
TOA: I know it counts-
BB: -you think it's fine to skip.
TOA: -I'm not skipping!
BB: Well whatever you say, just know that when people walk past me without a mask, the thing I'm thinking about is that these people not only can't understand the physics of COVID, they don't get the mental side of it either, it's like I'm being infected by anxiety and concern and worry on top of the virus possibility, and I don't think that's right at all.
TOA: What does this have to do with anything?
BB: You not voting-
TOA: I am voting!
BB: OK, well that's in the future, you haven't not not done it yet, I guess, though you won't, but let's say then, you not watching debates, it's like you not watching debates.
TOA: OK, how?
BB: You think debates are for deciding a vote, that's nonsense, debates are so everyone can see for themselves what's going on, right in front of them, and it's vital, especially these days, when everyone claims they can't tell the real news from the fake news, well, I got news for you, when two people debate there's no debating it, the events are in the transcript, and if you just sat there and watched it there's no such thing as fake news.
TOA: Right, which is why I made that point, even though everyone watched like you said, there were still people after the debate pretending like white supremacy-
BB: True, your point was impressive, even though I know you did watch, but you also missed the point, the larger point, because you can't just dismiss everything else about that debate when it's truly the only primary source we have at the moment of these candidates talking about the same issues at the same time under the same conditions.
TOA: Well, OK, maybe, but that's not really what it is, is it? Like if you are a candidate who cares about climate change, seriously cares about it, and you list it among ten other priorities, you either don't get it, or don't actually care. And even if that isn't the case-
BB: Hold on-
TOA: No, you hold on, because even if that isn't the case, as I was saying, if it's the case that the candidate truly values climate change, it's the number one thing and the only thing, then the debate format misrepresents the candidate and makes it seem like there are other issues relevant to the campaign, which is crazy-
BB: OK, hold on-
TOA: Let me finish, it's like a soccer game, maybe, sometimes it just doesn't matter at all what you do anywhere else on the field, if you slide into a guy with your cleats up, that's a red card, and there's no debate, you go off for the match. Trump red-carded himself, stand back and stand by, what crap, but we're sitting around talking about the whole game, like it matters that he took a couple of corner kicks early on.
BB: Why do you keep talking about soccer? Who cares? Look, let me get back to MY point, but before we do, I hate to point this out, but...
TOA: What?
BB: We're debating!
TOA: No, we aren't debating.
BB: This is a debate, we've been debating, just admit it, who cares?
TOA: OK fine, whatever.
BB: Great, let's talk about the ballot.
TOA: The what?
BB: The ballot questions, you know, in the election.
TOA: Uh, I haven't looked at them.
BB: Haven't looked?
TOA: Do you... never mind.
BB: Were you even going to vote?
TOA: OK, let's do this, let's take a break, I'll go research the questions, and then we'll come back here to finish the debate. But not today, I need to lie down.
BB: You promise?
TOA: I promise.
BB: OK, next week?
TOA: Sure.
BB: Same time?
TOA: Fine.
BB: Same place?
TOA: Whatever, will you go away?
BB: OK, I'm going, see you later.
