John Beacon

@Isaac1235813 @heywildrich @BeNice2MeProd These words are incorrectly attributed to Hutchinson. They were written by Sir Richard Francis Burton in the volume "Wanderings in West Africa from Liverpool to Fernando Po", published anonymously in 1863. They were first misattributed in an 1868 volume by Hinton Rowan Helper.

@heywildrich @BeNice2MeProd These words were written 300 years ago.

I lived in Chicago for 10 years. On two separate occasions when I was walking alone at night I was chased by a pack of niggers. Same situation each time. I walked past a random alleyway with 5-7 niggers loitering and they yell “aye white boi come eer!” I sprinted for my life as they all chased me. One time I survived by making it to a metra station, the other time I got to a more populated street. Average age like 15ish. just packs of young violent bloodthirsty niggers loitering in alley ways at 1am looking for lone White people to beat/rob/murder etc. Totally normal behavior that Whites also partake in just as frequently.

@PalmerDesigns_ Not terrible!

@allspeakingeye Even better

The Red Sox are 17-1 since starting the season 2-8.

@CynicalPublius If the entire judiciary just upholds the law, all the time, every time, consistently, then people can see whether or not the laws need to be changed because we don't like the results. I used to see the utility in judicial activism, but now I think it does more harm than good.

Honestly, I am sick and tired of Democrats claiming that because a majority of Virginians voted in favor of that gerrymander monstrosity that the action was therefore right and just. I have a question for Carter Elliott, IV and every other braindead Democrat: If a majority of the voters approved seizing all of your money and possessions just because they want to take your stuff, would that be right and just? People cannot vote to do things that violate the U.S. Constitution or a state constitution. This is not a new concept.

@gothburz This must be satire or parody, because nobody alive could be quite this tone deaf. It's not humanly possible, right?

I am the Chairman and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust. Eighty-four years old. Seven buildings in Midtown Manhattan. I said what I said. I said "tax the rich" is the equivalent of a racial slur. I said it at REBNY. Into the microphone. Eight hundred people. Median net worth in that room was north of $240 million, I know because our CFO ran the guest list through a Bloomberg terminal as a joke, and then it wasn't a joke. And when I said it, twelve people applauded. The rest nodded. One woman in the third row mouthed, "Finally." I saw her. Sharon, my communications advisor, Columbia, $430,000 a year, very bright, Sharon wants me to walk it back. She drafted something. "Mr. Roth's comments were intended to highlight the emotional impact of political rhetoric on business communities." I read it. I put it in the trash can on my desk. Not the recycling. The trash. Here's my clarification: I understated it. "Tax the rich" is worse than a slur. A slur is just a word. It doesn't come with a CBO score. Nobody is introducing a bill called the Racial Slur Implementation Act of 2026. But there are seventeen active proposals in Congress, I had Sharon count them, seventeen proposals designed to take more of my money. My money. Mine. Money I acquired by being better at acquiring Manhattan commercial real estate than anyone alive for four consecutive decades. That is not a crime. That is a record. I pay property taxes on $18.2 billion in assessed assets. $412 million a year. Say it again: four hundred and twelve million. I carry that number. It's the first thing I think about when I see a protest sign. I think: I pay more in property tax than the entire annual budget of the city of Fort Lauderdale. I looked this up. Fort Lauderdale: $408 million. Steve Roth: $412 million. I am a small city. And the city doesn't get screamed at. My effective tax rate last year was 11.4 percent. I say this because I believe in transparency and because I'm not ashamed of it. The rate reflects the legal structure of real estate investment trusts, depreciation schedules Congress established in 1986, and carried interest provisions that both parties have voted to preserve for forty years. I did not write these laws. I organized my entire financial existence around them with the help of nine full-time tax professionals who have offices on the 38th floor of 888 Seventh Avenue, which I also own. Their office is in my building. Their work protects my buildings. This is not a loophole. Sharon calls it a loophole. I've told her: a structure maintained by nine attorneys across four decades is not a loophole. A loophole is something you slip through once. This is architecture. This is the foundation. This is the building. Last Tuesday, same as every Tuesday, I walked past 1290 Sixth Avenue. My building. And there was a man. Same man as last week. Same sign: "Billionaires Pay Your Fair Share." He was standing on my sidewalk. My literal sidewalk — my company owns the ground lease. He was maybe thirty. He was wearing a jacket I would estimate cost $60. My lunch that day was $114. For one. I am telling you this not to boast but because these are facts. He has decided I'm his enemy. Based on a number he saw on a Forbes list. He doesn't know what I pay. He doesn't know what my buildings cost this city in construction jobs and lease revenue and foot traffic. He knows one number. He has made one judgment. I see him every Tuesday. I've started to notice things. He brings coffee from the cart, not the Starbucks. He has a backpack that looks heavy. He doesn't look unhealthy. He looks like he probably works somewhere, but not on Tuesdays. I've wondered: does he have a job? Does he have a building? Does he have anything that depends on him the way 4,200 employees depend on me? I suspect not. And yet he has opinions about my tax rate. I gave $22 million to charity last year. The Met. NYU Langone. Mount Sinai. I gave a building to NYU. Not money for a building — a building. The Steven Roth Residence Hall. It houses 400 students. That man with the sign has never housed 400 students. He hasn't housed one. He gives cardboard. I give structures. This is not a comparison I'm making to flatter myself. It's just arithmetic. When I said what I said at REBNY, I was saying what every person in that room believes and none of them will say publicly because they have communications advisors and the communications advisors all went to Columbia and they all say "unhelpful." I'm eighty-four. I'm too old for helpful. I'm too old to perform restraint for people who hate me for something I can't change. I didn't choose to be rich. I chose to be good at one thing for a very long time, and this is what happened. You don't punish someone for that. You don't legislate against someone for that. My net worth fluctuates between $3.8 and $4.1 billion depending on the quarter. I fluctuate more in a fiscal week than that man on my sidewalk will earn in his life. Both of these are facts. Only one of them is considered polite to say. They want me to apologize. I'll be dead in ten years. Twenty if I'm lucky. And they'll still be renting my buildings.

@IsaiahLCarter He seems nice. A real charmer.

I recognize this anti-social behavior for what it is, because malefactors like the dude behind the camera do this shit INTENTIONALLY in NYC. They'll turn on their speakers and put them on high volume, almost daring people to say something to them; and when someone does, they go off like this, ready to fight and get violent. This is quite frankly where a gun or some other weapon would be necessary for self-defense, because some of these bastards are armed with knives and have stabbed people up on the train, but the government of this town is a dysfunctional, morally inverse loony bin where people who defend themselves or others are put in jail (example: Daniel Penny).

@OlympusMons99 @WesleyFranken @JJmoida @DGodefridi It's not all about stuff (although to some no doubt it is). Don't you want to accomplish things? It's weird to me that you don't seem to want to accomplish things.

@WesleyFranken @JJmoida @DGodefridi Can you imagine being born know you have 80 rounds around the sun and then die....and instead of elate in life, live to work 70 hours a week to have a ice making refrigerator?!

The problem with Americans—from the perspective of those all-seeing Europeans—is that they’re "stupid" and can’t see what’s obvious to Europeans (who, for their part, always see the true reality). Americans are incapable of thinking about an action before carrying it out; they act like they pee: according to the urgency of the moment. Which explains why the US has held the #1 spot worldwide in every field for a century🇺🇸

@FischerKing64 All they need to do is right size the Congress according to the population of the least-populated state. Dems will never do it though because they feel like they would lose College votes.

This is the idea behind the ‘Popular Vote Interstate Compact,’ which would require states to give their electoral votes to whatever candidate wins the national popular vote. So if Wyoming goes 70-30 for the GOP, but a Democrat wins the national vote by 10 votes - Wyoming gives its electoral vote to the Democrat. It’s completely undemocratic in this sense, and is aimed at destroying what is left of state power. Basically the hope is to allow states like California - whose leaders want to flood the state with ‘newcomers’ and ultimately new voters - to decide national elections, and break the back of red states and what they stand for.

@ronsterd89 I mean, Twix, right?

Best candy bar of all time: it can't be Snickers.

@ThrillaRilla369 Tandy 1000

Age yourself with a piece of outdated tech from your youth! I'll go first: VCRs📼

@Ravenismeee Skiing, or maybe Qbert.

Without telling me your age… what was the very FIRST video game you ever played?

@saniyafatma1278 Just buy two 29 oz of Hunts plus a 12 oz tomato paste and flavor it with meat, onions, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and red wine. Obv brown the meat and sautee the onions and garlic first. Put the meat in whole and remove (add beef bullion) or you can dice it for a pseudo-Bolognese

@dieworkwear An excess of disposable income helps the Tooch achieve such elegance. Not the sole determinant, but cannot be overlooked. Vicissitudes of not only style, but also of weight, can be expensive to keep up with.

Elegance has been on the decline among straight men since the end of WW2. There used to be many elegant figures, such as Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, and Fred Astaire. In the postwar period, organizing masculine themes tend to be "cool" or "macho." Elegance is seen as effete and weak

@StealthQE4 @hydmeister Riverboat Don is at it again

@hydmeister Unbelievable

Trump doing an extended blockade is probably the worst case scenario for everyone. Personally, I believe he’s in a no win situation so he’s decided to do nothing. Meanwhile the rest of the world including the US suffers. Iran does too but everyone loses in this situation. I think Trump realizes he can’t put boots on the ground and he’s afraid leaving would make him look weak. I don’t think the markets will like this. Trump’s gambling he can force Iran to fold before the global economy crashes. This blockade can’t continue indefinitely of course. Eventually he’s going to have to cave if Iran holds on or he’s going to put the US into a severe recession right before Midterms and if this happens he’s cooked. Enjoy the next couple months because we are going to see massive supply shocks in the economy if this blockade continues for several more weeks. Prepare for more inflation. It’s coming and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. 🔥🔥🔥

@DamianReilly @piersmorgan I liked how, at the last, Brand made a desperate appeal to Morgan that EVERYONE was a grifter of SOME sort. Truly no honor among thieves.

Think @piersmorgan’s jaw dropping interview with Russell Brand is up there with Emily Maitliss’ with Prince Andrew. Brand deploys the charismatic’s full arsenal - physical touching, ludicrous deflection, even demanding all human social systems be torn down and replaced - to avoid answering questions. Morgan just keeps calmly plugging away, to considerable effect - without ever trying to trap Brand. Was masterful journalism. Watching it I felt by turns sympathetic/ repulsed by Brand, and by his claim now to be a devout Christian. Has he really found God, or is he just another central casting silver tongued evangelist huckster? Brilliant TV.

@BTCBreadMan If the kids are neurotypical, follow what's best for the family. If one or both receive special services in school and have a good thing going, I'd think twice before upsetting that particular apple cart.

Wife and I found an amazing house today on 2 acres of land in a very nice neighborhood. Significant upgrade from our current home/yard/hood. The kiddos want to veto it because they would have to switch elementary schools. They are in 2nd grade and kindergarten. Dad advice?

@OhYouBlockhead "Cuffy Meigs" remains, to me, one of the funniest names ever written.

Atlas Shrugged is extremely overwriten. In every spot where it could've been "Hank smiled," it's "Hank stood at the railing, watching the flames spit up from the boiling pits below, reminding him of when he was a boy and could feel the fires up close, so scared of them before, but now he couldn't help but let a smile escape..." There are several parts that read like Fifty Shades-lite with pages of cheap BDSM. The names are cartoonish. Balph? There's an entire prison break section that follows a chapter with a disaster so absurd that Clint Eastwood refused to adapt it. Then, if you make it through all of that, there's a 70-page rant by John Galt that starts with cavemen making fire and ends in the stars. All that to say it’s still easily one of the most important books this side of the Bible.

@SamaHoole "At the time of his death, Atkins had a history of heart issues, including congestive heart failure, hypertension, and a heart attack in 2002.". Still not a ringing endorsement of his famed diet.

On 8 April 2003, Robert Atkins slipped on a patch of New York ice, hit his head on the pavement, and suffered a brain haemorrhage. He died nine days later, aged 72. Within 48 hours of his death, headlines ran globally: the father of the low-carbohydrate diet had died of a heart attack. He had not. Robert Coleman Atkins was born in Ohio in 1930, took his MD from Cornell Medical College in 1955, completed his cardiology residency in New York in 1959, and opened his own Manhattan practice aged 29. Across the next 41 years he treated approximately 20,000 patients for heart-related problems at the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine. His protocol: substantial meat, eggs, cheese and green vegetables, with carbohydrates restricted to under 20 grams per day in the induction phase. Documented outcomes across four decades included triglyceride reductions of 30-50%, HDL rises of 10-25%, blood pressure reductions averaging 10-15 mmHg systolic, and type 2 diabetes reversal in a substantial proportion of early-stage patients. Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution, published in 1972, sold nearly a million copies in four months. The American Medical Association denounced it as unscientific. Senate hearings were called in 1973. His 1992 book Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution spent 285 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and became the best-selling paperback in the history of Avon Books. For thirty years, the American Heart Association warned the public that his diet would kill them. Then he fell on ice. The New York City medical examiner's report leaked. It contained a handwritten note mentioning a history of cardiac issues. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an animal-rights advocacy group, distributed the report to newspapers worldwide. His recorded weight at death, 258 pounds, was widely reported. His wife noted he had entered hospital weighing under 200 pounds and gained 58 pounds in fluid during a week in a coma from organ failure secondary to the brain haemorrhage. This nuance was not reported. Within five years of his death, randomised controlled trials began confirming the efficacy of low-carbohydrate diets. By 2014, a JAMA meta-analysis formally concluded that his approach matched or exceeded low-fat diets on every major metabolic marker. The vindication came. It came after the funeral. He treated 20,000 patients over 41 years. The number of retractions issued by the publications that printed his heart-attack-from-diet story: zero. The truth caught up with the story. The story caught him first.

@ZeeBoogie_ All French cooking isn't amazing, but what's pictured here is delicious.

Remember living in France for like 3 months & I can’t lie it’s pound for pound the worst cuisine in the world

@FernandoAg47 @jaymart222 Yeah, my mistake. They changed it in 2019. They SHOULD allow it, imo.

@allspeakingeye @jaymart222 NYC explicitly does not allow that. LA does, and so does SF

Vacancy Control. Tenant died in February 2025; it took a year in housing court to gain possession. The renter occupied the unit for 46 years. He owed $19,957.41 on a rent of $1,234.87 at the time of death. Operating cost is $1,380, so it “makes” -$146 every month before renovation costs. The rent cannot be changed on vacsncy and tbe Rent Guidlines Board does not keep up with cost. There is no mechanism to cover the costs of the full gut renovation needed for the next renter, nor will a bank extend a loan to do the work to cover the costs with a rent that can never pay it back. As a result, the unit will stay empty. This is your city on vacancy control.