Bywater Bugle

225 posts

Bywater Bugle

@thebywaterbugle

“The shadow has crept far already,” said Gandalf. “But it has not yet reached all places.”

Ohio Katılım Kasım 2025

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·17 Kas

A note on the name of this page: in Tolkien lore, the “Battle of Bywater” was a small battle that took place at Bywater in the Shire, the idyllic Hobbit home. For much of the LOTR, the Shire was unaffected by—even sheltered from—the creeping rot of Sauron’s evil dominion.

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·15h

@Brendan_F_Wendt @dilanesper

QME

Brendan Wendt@Brendan_F_Wendt·22h

@thebywaterbugle @dilanesper Wow, someone had better tell my happily married parents about this, it's been almost 38 years.

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Dilan Esper@dilanesper·1d

correlation is not causation

Brad Wilcox@BradWilcoxIFS

"Spouses who don’t share a surname divorce at about a 50% higher rate than those who do share a surname, and their divorces come about 30% earlier in their marriages." Striking new divorce research from @lymanstoneky reinforces my earlier research on marital quality & naming:

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·1d

@JamesSurowiecki @SaveTheLibs Anti-majoritarianism is absolutely an “actual argument.” It’s woven everywhere throughout our constitution for a reason.

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James Surowiecki@JamesSurowiecki·1d

@SaveTheLibs That's not an actual argument. It's just hand waving bullshit.

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James Surowiecki@JamesSurowiecki·1d

There's no good civic argument for the electoral college. It was arguably necessary to ensure the ratification of the Constitution, but it's an anti-democratic device that gives some American citizens far more voting power than others, based purely on where they live.

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·1d

@mirandamelendy @samueljjohnston @xwanyex I’m on board with that.

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Missy@mirandamelendy·1d

@samueljjohnston @thebywaterbugle @xwanyex I have a better idea for increasing housing supply. End mass migration and deport.

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wanye@xwanyex·1d

One of the big disconnects in the property tax debate is that proponents love to say, “they pay for the sewers” but all the most vocal opponents of the property tax are rural boomers who don’t live within 20 miles of a sewer

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·1d

@mikesmithdude @xwanyex Who’s punishing older folks? Seniors already get all sorts of property tax relief in dozens of states that young people don’t get. Even the playing field.

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Mike Smith@mikesmithdude·1d

@thebywaterbugle @xwanyex By punishing older folks. Its a poor argument since property tax itself creates more costs for younger homebuyers and the very poor, overall; there's just a temporary discontinuity, due to our artificially-constrained supply. Build housing. Stop taxing.

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·1d

@kb_french @xwanyex People are living longer, and thus holding onto housing supply longer, which pushes up the age of the average homebuyer (which is quite high now).

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Mr. French@kb_french·1d

@thebywaterbugle @xwanyex You may not be aware of this, but old people always turn over their houses to younger people. Not one old person has ever not turned their house over. This is just complaining that old people live too long. Why should you work 40 years just to move into a starter home?

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·1d

@RRollingblock I hate redditors and commies.

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RedrockRollingblock@RRollingblock·1d

@thebywaterbugle That's what every reddit coomie says.

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RedrockRollingblock@RRollingblock·1d

It's OK to be retarded but you shouldn't announce it so loud.

Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle

@chriswithans Actually it’s a perfectly good thing to encourage the housing supply to turn over to younger families who we need to start families and have lots of children to ensure the continuation of our people.

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·1d

@LegereTacite @chriswithans Sure but that’s an argument against all forms of taxation and not just the property tax (we can’t trust government to spend money responsibly in any respect).

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Claas Felcuss Turinoti@LegereTacite·1d

@thebywaterbugle @chriswithans It’s maybe time to move away from theory and onto praxis. We don’t have a dozen Lee Kuan Yew’s scattered in positions of authority. We have deviants who can’t keep their dick in their pants and take bars of gold as bribes from Egypt. That’s our government.

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Chris@chriswithans·3d

Too many people are saying the quiet part out loud with property taxes. It's not about the schools or the roads or the police. It's about lowering valuations for homes to make them affordable to new buyers; or about making it too expensive for the elderly to remain in their homes. Or it's about punishing people who stayed in a home for too long. Property taxes should be small and, by design, used for local services. They should not be a revenue source for statewide projects and they most definitely should not be a hammer for social engineering.

sonch@soncharm

Like wanye I'm not 'against' property tax per se, no more than other taxes, it's just that everyone arguing with him via 'Georgist' principles or enamored of 'land-value tax' or whatever, clearly has a background premise that Everything Is De Facto Owned By The State. And look, it's ok for that to be your starting premise, I guess, but then just admit you're a totalizing commie. Lay your cards on the table so we see clearly where we, respectively, stand; don't waste peoples' time pretending you're interested in marginal 'efficiencies' or whatever. You think the state by default owns everything, just say that.

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·1d

@LegereTacite @chriswithans Do you consider it “social engineering” for the government to promote child rearing and family formation?

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Claas Felcuss Turinoti@LegereTacite·1d

@thebywaterbugle @chriswithans It’s not hard to. I wouldn’t trust someone who has really pushed social engineering over the last 20 years farther than I could throw them

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·1d

@LegereTacite @chriswithans See now you’re adding nuance when you yourself made a blanket statement about so-called “social engineering.”

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Claas Felcuss Turinoti@LegereTacite·2d

@thebywaterbugle @chriswithans As a blanket statement without costs, success rates, how, etc?

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·2d

@xwanyex Poor people obviously drain more state resources than wealthy people. A just system of taxation would look more like the inverse of what we have now, i.e. poor people receiving government assistance should be expected to pay far more in taxes than they currently do.

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wanye@xwanyex·2d

You'll sometimes hear it said that progressive taxation is justified on the grounds that the rich benefit more from law and order than do the poor, but this just seems completely backwards. The state constrains the rich. It makes rules for the landlord. Powerful people don't need the protection of the state almost by definition.

Don@soblackandblue

@GScottShand @xwanyex Before the enlightenment society was essentially run by and for property owners. The idea that without liberal ideals landowners would be screwed doesn't make much sense.

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·2d

@LegereTacite @chriswithans You think it’s a bad thing for the government to incentivize child rearing and family formation?

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Claas Felcuss Turinoti@LegereTacite·2d

@thebywaterbugle @chriswithans The people most interested in social engineering are coincidentally the people I’m most interested in building a moat around

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·2d

@EzPeazLemonSqz @PatrickHeizer Property taxes promote more economic growth than consumption taxes. taxfoundation.org/research/all/s….

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EzPzLemonSqz@EzPeazLemonSqz·2d

@thebywaterbugle @PatrickHeizer There wasnt a lot of consuming going on back then and only land owners could vote.

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Patrick Heizer@PatrickHeizer·2d

Yet another reason property taxes are the best form of taxes is because they match the perpetual liabilities of civilization (schools, courts, police, etc.) with a perpetual asset (the land). Your obligations to your community don't stop just because you've paid off your home.

Chris Martz@ChrisMartzWX

Can anyone explain to me why we have to continue to pay property taxes on our land and motor vehicles AFTER we have paid them off? As far as I’m concerned, it is indefensible because it is theft.

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·2d

@x26457474 @chriswithans Dozens of states offer property tax relief to seniors (but none that I’m aware of to young families).

Russ Greene@GreenPlusAnE

States offering special tax breaks for senior homeowners.

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SKULLCRUSHER@x26457474·2d

@thebywaterbugle @chriswithans I want to raise property taxes but on boomers

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·2d

@x26457474 @chriswithans You’re empirically wrong. Not only do property taxes not make homes unaffordable for younger families, but we see higher rates of home ownership by younger people when property taxes are higher. minneapolisfed.org/article/2024/h…

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SKULLCRUSHER@x26457474·2d

@thebywaterbugle @chriswithans Yeah if you want relatively poor young people to have something make it expensive I am very smart

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·2d

@EzPeazLemonSqz @PatrickHeizer Property taxes were widely used during at the American founding era.

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EzPzLemonSqz@EzPeazLemonSqz·2d

@PatrickHeizer Its the most un-American tax there is. Consumption tax is the only fair tax. You get tax on what you consume from this society.

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Bywater Bugle@thebywaterbugle·2d

@LeighWolf @pskpspspss @ViperVTOL @PatrickHeizer This would punish younger people and further entrench elderly ownership of homes.

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🐺@LeighWolf·2d

@pskpspspss @ViperVTOL @PatrickHeizer Usage and consumption taxes.

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Keşfet

@Brendan_F_Wendt @dilanesper @JamesSurowiecki @SaveTheLibs @mirandamelendy @samueljjohnston @xwanyex @mikesmithdude