I have a group of people at my house tonight that I’ve been sharing this particular story with. A question came up after my last reply and I wanted to get your take on it because you lurk out there.

It’s about the people selling $350 books or $2000 worth of advice. Why is it when none of this works these people aren’t sued the shit out of? Or why doesn’t one of the three letter agencies step in and prosecute the people selling this? I think it’s because it’s small potatoes on the scam scale or because the material is structured in a way that isn’t necessarily illegal (like selling someone a rock that works as a tiger repellant). One of my guests believes it’s because the people paying for it wouldn’t sue the folks giving out advice either due to distrust of the government, belief that the people selling it are legally magic, or some combination of the two so there are no real legal complaints against the scammers.

What’s your take?

You can’t be saved unless you ask Jesus to come inside you.

More accurate, but still not accurate considering how difficult home ownership is. Median is ~$192k, up about $55k in the last few years. Meanwhile, ~50% of the U.S. population makes less than $40k/year. While it’s possible a bunch of them bought homes cheap or inherited them then saw a massive growth due to the crazy housing shit, my bet is that close to 50% of the U.S. population has no more net worth than their car and whatever is in their checking account.

Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems that the wealth is so skewed that it’s really difficult to get a handle on how much money the average person has.

I absolutely love that people around here have a sense of humor. I needed some silly bullshit after the past few days.

If you’re genuinely asking, most aren’t quite so bad as this although there are some pretty crazy ones I’ve seen around Houston. If someone wants to wear something like this usually they’ll put them on when they get where they’re going.

I wonder if they preface it with “This is not legal advice” amongst the front matter if the ones selling it would even get in trouble. Or if they could float by on the “no reasonable person would think this is real, it’s only a game we play like D&D” if they were ever caught up in something.

And it’s such small potatoes compared to the provable lies the big grifters tell to sell shit. I’m sure there are people infiltrating but unless they’re blatantly planning to blow up a building or kill folks I doubt any three letter agency cares about a few grand as long as the IRS gets their cut.

Why would I care what a pinecone fondler has to say about it?

Quick edit: I’m gonna have to stop because I’ll accidentally come up with a hurtful one and then I’ll feel terrible.

I was fired for not smoking out my boss at Pizza Hut many years ago and many miles away from here.

You fucking lamp jiggler!

This is a sad, desperate person who was tricked and feels like they waited too long to “do their own research” like they keep telling others to do.

I wonder how many of the folks who have been tricked into this fake lifestyle have a greater than 9th grade education. Not because of this post, but just continually reading these leads me to believe that these are not only gullible and desperate people, but people who are entirely uneducated (likely proudly uneducated in some cases, and keep talking about their “common sense” and “street smarts”).

I would take on the whole of Norway in a taco eating competition as long as I can choose the tacos.

I wouldn’t win, but I’d get as many tacos as I wanted.

You could vote for RFK because he’s totally got a chance to win and isn’t a weirdo conspiracy theorist at all! (Also /s)

Now that’s some motherfucking roach stompers! You can even get em on the ceiling with those bad boys.

Maybe that’s why so many people in Florida felt better after taking ivermectin.

I guess I just haven’t paid enough attention because I haven’t seen those. But if they’re that bad I probably don’t want them. That’s too bad because I really enjoy tacos of all types.

I can’t comment on that because I’ve never seen a European taco. I’ve been to Europe a handful of times and can’t remember seeing a single Mexican joint (although I was trying to eat local so I would have missed them anyway).

I tried looking up European tacos and only came up with French tacos (fries, meat, and cheese on a flour tortilla I think?) which sounds like something broke college kids eat.

Do you have examples of other kinds from Europe? I’m obviously super fascinated with tacos in general and have tried my hand at making pretty much any type I could find except the cricket tacos because I don’t trust myself to cook crickets. I want to read about them and, since I have a bunch of unexpected guests for a while, force them to eat whatever I come up with. Today we had leftover brisket tacos with smoked queso (not Velveeta and Rotel…it’s fine but I had a bunch of nice cheese and fresh veggies on hand) because I like trashy ass tacos as much as I love super good quality tacos.

TexMex tacos are amazing. Authentic Mexican tacos are fantastic. CaliMex tacos are ridiculously tasty. I don’t know what the cuisine is officially called in New Mexico but those are fucking delicious.

Here’s the deal though. There is as much variation inside of Mexico as there is between Tex or Cali. Mexico is a big place. The Yucatan Peninsula is known for taco de cochinita pibil (roasted pork) and campechano as well as fish tacos (yum!). Central Mexico gave us al pastor (spit roasted pork with pineapple), which is probably my favorite authentic Mexican taco. Oaxaca has everything from insect tacos to beef jerky tacos and the best melting cheese outside of Italy. Northern Mexico is a bunch of beef and goat on flour tortillas (I love them too) which is probably why TexMex uses flour tortillas. Baja California has a bunch of fresh fish in theirs (yum again!) or you can get lobster and beans.

People raging about “authentic” tacos never seem to understand how big and diverse Mexico is.

Naw, not here. There’s loads of drag events in Houston. Apparently they just keep their mouths shut when the drag queens get a ride because I never hear from them about their Uber drivers being jackasses.

I left out some vital info. I’ve got two decades of IT experience. I said there’s not a time but likely I would have taken it right when I graduated because I was making $10/hr to be out in the sun and get screamed at by a moron. But they wouldn’t have wanted me because I hadn’t been in IT for 20 years at that point.

Good luck, friend! I don’t know the beginning job market anymore so I have no advice, but I really hope things go well for you.

I got one not long ago asking if I want to fix printers for $15/hr.

No offense, buddy, but there’s not a time that I would have ever accepted that.