The Next US President is....

Status
Not open for further replies.
They've still got their one get out of jail free card - Biden steps down citing dementia onset, and Harris gets to waltz in absolved of Biden's sins.

What do you bet the odds are on them using it in the next 30 days?

What are the odds that American people in their vast majority don’t give a shit about Afghanistan , and know full well that once you said “I’m out” it means “I’m out” (and both Trump and Biden said it btw).
 
They've still got their one get out of jail free card - Biden steps down citing dementia onset, and Harris gets to waltz in absolved of Biden's sins.

What do you bet the odds are on them using it in the next 30 days?

Most in politics agree that that situation is going to happen regardless, at some point. Biden is very clearly mentally incapacitated. Harris' problem is that even before the COVID surge and Afghanistan disaster, and before she botched the entire border crisis, people just don't like her. Her own party doesn't like her. She couldn't even score over 3% of her own party's support in the Iowa Caucus as a candidate. She was forced to drop out even before the first caucus meeting. Her own father has written her off as a flake. She's VP because senile Biden decided that his running mate absolutely had to be a black female, so it was her or Stacy Abrams and Stacy Abrams is basically a communist radical (although far more appealing, in a Bernie way) and also a racist so that was that. Harris doesn't need Biden's fuck ups to be unelectable. She was unelectable before Joe even picked her, and the DNC knows that...and that's why there's major panic going on now at DNC HQ.

Will the DNC yank Joe in the next 30 days? My guess is no. Biden might be a demented disaster but he still has an approval rating hovering around 50% in Democrats polled, plus the party can bank on the pity vote. After all, he's a feeble, senile old man. Keep him in his place while they figure out what to do about this situation and find a suitable replacement. Honestly, word in political circles was that the DNC was trying to figure out how to convince Kamala to fuck off without enraging all the black, feminist and lesbian voters and get Gov. Cuomo at the top of the 2024 ticket, but oh well...yet another Democrat egomaniac turns out to be a rapist sexual predator.

My instinct is that both parties are busy searching for a way to ditch their current heir apparents; the Dems don't want Kamala any more than establishment GOP operatives want anti-vaxxer Desantis. But since Delta is about to prompt a new wave of restrictions and lockdowns, lots of folks will have lots of time to do some soul-searching. In any event, we could all use it.
 
There is always the final consolation of not having been the first to leave, and not will be the last.
86B89927-7938-4BF0-AD31-04A66A170601.jpeg
 
Normally I avoid politics, but as a taxpayer I would have preferred that 1+trillion USD spent on Americans: healthcare, college, and infrastructure for example.

Trump was right, and so was Biden: this is Bush/Cheney's legacy and it should have ended at Tora Bora.
 
Trump was right, and so was Biden: this is Bush/Cheney's legacy and it should have ended at Tora Bora.

I'm not the tinfoil-hat type, but do you remember the news stories at that time, when we'd supposedly had intel and a general location on OBL up in those mountains? Right around that time was when GW's administration started touting their newest toy: the MOAB (Massive Ordinance Air Burst, or Mother Of All Bombs according to some), which was the biggest non-nuclear bomb we'd ever created. Remember how the so-called military experts were giving all those rah-rah interviews about how we're going to drop those fuckers all across Tora Bora, demolishing the entire mountain range and burying that asshole in his cave?

And then we didn't. And then OBL quietly disappeared. And then it took us over a decade of playing with our dicks until our intel agencies somehow found his little compound.

Makes you wonder. Again, I'm no conspiracy theorist, but that one doesn't add up and you're absolutely right. We could have, and should have, ended that entire chapter up the mountains of Tora Bora. A lot more guys my age would be home alive with wives and kids now.
 
A very good friend of mine deployed to Kandahar Province almost a decade ago, inserted with one of our more elite Army infantry units, and had an interesting observation about Afghanistan (other than "it's the biggest shithole I've ever seen on the face of the earth and I never, ever want to go back there"). Now, he's a huge history nerd, but also a commissioned officer, so upon returning stateside and going out for drinks it was interesting to hear him say, and this is almost verbatim if my memory serves me correctly:

The U.S. will never "win" in Afghanistan. No country will ever "win" in Afghanistan, because it isn't a country. It's a prehistoric shithole populated by mindless, violent primates who don't understand the concept of "win" or "lose," and all they've done for a thousand years is fight off invaders. They aren't fighting for country, or pride, or money or even family; they're fighting because that's the only thing they know how to do. They don't value their own lives. They'll fight you with guns, knives, sticks, rocks, whatever they can find on the ground. You look at one of the men and it's like time stood still for ten thousand years. They're basically cavemen living in modern times. And you can't defeat a group of people who aren't even trying to win in the first place.

All this Afghanistan news recently certainly takes me back to being 22 years old, the job market on the West Coast is fucked and I'm back living at home weighing my options. We're already fighting in Afghanistan. We're a few months away from invading Iraq again. I'm just bored, horny as shit and hell-bent on going overseas somewhere to raise hell and chase ass. Getting a commission in the Air Force is one option (AF is for pussies, says I, and I'm a journalist so I'll be safely in the rear with the gear). Both my Army O-6 uncles want me in OCS immediately, grunting shit about "getting your packet in," whatever that meant (Army is more dangerous, says I, but I'll look extra manly and will therefore get more pussy). Both branches could take me to Germany or Japan, and no shortage of brothel stories from either country from older male relatives. Of course, I'm getting the "YOU ARE NOT GONNA GET YOURSELF FUCKING KILLED IN IRAQ!! YOU KNOW WE'RE GOING THERE NEXT, RIGHT??" speech.

And so one night, while drunkenly perusing different companies that hire foreigners in Japan, I come across this interesting outfit called NOVA Corporation. "Hmmm," says I, "this one sounds interesting. I'll just take a quick look." And so today, I am not a war hero.
 
Pretty sure anyone who worked for NOVA has a war story or two to tell.

If NOVA was war then (to all who remember NOVA lingo) the ATs were Taliban informants, the Ts were Taliban commanders, the area manager was Al Qaida, Lunders was Al-Zawhari and Monkey-Bridge was Osama's retarded, homosexual son. And I simultaneously earned a Dishonorable Discharge and a Bronze Star in 2005.
 
If NOVA was war then (to all who remember NOVA lingo) the ATs were Taliban informants, the Ts were Taliban commanders, the area manager was Al Qaida, Lunders was Al-Zawhari and Monkey-Bridge was Osama's retarded, homosexual son. And I simultaneously earned a Dishonorable Discharge and a Bronze Star in 2005.

do you remember why they actually lost the war (=went bankrupt)? It seemed a highly profitable business model though
 
The stories I have heard I would go to war rather than join NOVA.

To be fair, I've heard some pretty wild stories about the NOVA experience in the late-90s, before the "non-socialization" policies went into effect. Both the guy who trained me and a client I have here stateside who, coincidentally, was a NOVA Tokyo area boss back in the mid-90s, have corroborated such fantasy tales. Apparently back then, horny young (or not) women who just wanted the thrill of fucking a white guy would opt for the MTM (man-to-man) lessons and then demand that the entire 45 minute private session be spent at a love hotel down the street from the school. I was told you'd see exhausted, sweating young boys dashing back and forth between the main office and the hotel district down the street (in north Osaka) buttoning their shirts and doing their ties while they ran. Evidently, even the young bucks eventually couldn't keep up with the demand (we were assigned 8 lesson periods per day, IIRC) and even a 23yo kid will have a hard time blowing that many loads in one afternoon.

Not a bad gig!
 
To be fair, I've heard some pretty wild stories about the NOVA experience in the late-90s, before the "non-socialization" policies went into effect. Both the guy who trained me and a client I have here stateside who, coincidentally, was a NOVA Tokyo area boss back in the mid-90s, have corroborated such fantasy tales. Apparently back then, horny young (or not) women who just wanted the thrill of fucking a white guy would opt for the MTM (man-to-man) lessons and then demand that the entire 45 minute private session be spent at a love hotel down the street from the school. I was told you'd see exhausted, sweating young boys dashing back and forth between the main office and the hotel district down the street (in north Osaka) buttoning their shirts and doing their ties while they ran. Evidently, even the young bucks eventually couldn't keep up with the demand (we were assigned 8 lesson periods per day, IIRC) and even a 23yo kid will have a hard time blowing that many loads in one afternoon.

Not a bad gig!

so basically they served as young white dicks’ pimps too… great firm ! :)
 
do you remember why they actually lost the war (=went bankrupt)? It seemed a highly profitable business model though

Yes, it was over-expansion. NOVA's meteoric rise was fine in the 90s when they were the biggest player on the block, but once other players like ECC, AEON, GEOS and BERLITZ started creating real competition in the late-90s and early-00s, NOVA operated like they were still king of the block. NOVA didn't actually own any of the real estate they operated in and the focus ("ekimae eikaiwa") was always snatching up the best, most prominent rental location the closest to the main station exits no matter what the cost. So basically, they kept opening schools in the most expensive districts at lightning pace while profit margins slowly got narrower and they never bothered to adjust.

At the same time, then-president Saruhashi, desperate to cover up for these massive losses, started stealing from the employee pension fund and illegally re-allocating money. This is what he was eventually investigated and jailed for, and what ultimately triggered the bankruptcy.

It was around 2005 that the warning signs became clear as day. I was already on my way out but this definitely sped things up. Office supplies, stationary supplies, basic necessities were slowly being eliminated. I was also told that the Japanese staff were being forced to take pay cuts, but this was never confirmed as they were told not to talk about it. There was also visibly increased pressure on branch managers to increase sales, which resulted in nothing more than sobbing, neurotic 27yo Japanese girls having meltdowns in the breakroom a few times a week.

The writing was on the wall. I tried warning my coworkers but nobody wanted to believe that NOVA could possibly be in trouble. This is when I began re-exploring the option of going home and getting my commission in the Air Force, but then a drinking buddy of mine turned out to be a very connected bureaucrat and I got greased into a fantastic (for an unqualified 25yo alcoholic, anyway) teaching gig. And there went my dreams of going to war for GWB and coming home a Republican Party rising star.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Frenchy
Yes, it was over-expansion. NOVA's meteoric rise was fine in the 90s when they were the biggest player on the block, but once other players like ECC, AEON, GEOS and BERLITZ started creating real competition in the late-90s and early-00s, NOVA operated like they were still king of the block. NOVA didn't actually own any of the real estate they operated in and the focus ("ekimae eikaiwa") was always snatching up the best, most prominent rental location the closest to the main station exits no matter what the cost. So basically, they kept opening schools in the most expensive districts at lightning pace while profit margins slowly got narrower and they never bothered to adjust.

At the same time, then-president Saruhashi, desperate to cover up for these massive losses, started stealing from the employee pension fund and illegally re-allocating money. This is what he was eventually investigated and jailed for, and what ultimately triggered the bankruptcy.

It was around 2005 that the warning signs became clear as day. I was already on my way out but this definitely sped things up. Office supplies, stationary supplies, basic necessities were slowly being eliminated. I was also told that the Japanese staff were being forced to take pay cuts, but this was never confirmed as they were told not to talk about it. There was also visibly increased pressure on branch managers to increase sales, which resulted in nothing more than sobbing, neurotic 27yo Japanese girls having meltdowns in the breakroom a few times a week.

The writing was on the wall. I tried warning my coworkers but nobody wanted to believe that NOVA could possibly be in trouble. This is when I began re-exploring the option of going home and getting my commission in the Air Force, but then a drinking buddy of mine turned out to be a very connected bureaucrat and I got greased into a fantastic (for an unqualified 25yo alcoholic, anyway) teaching gig. And there went my dreams of going to war for GWB and coming home a Republican Party rising star.

thanks , yeah I remember seeing them so close to so many stations … hence I thought the business was actually booming
 
thanks , yeah I remember seeing them so close to so many stations … hence I thought the business was actually booming

The truth is it basically dissolved into a retarded pissing match between companies, and NOVA lost. If ECC opened a new school near Shinsaibashi Midosuji exit #X, NOVA would send its scouts out to snatch up a location, ANY location, directly across the ECC school and pay whatever it cost. If AEON got a rooftop billboard right next to the Umeda Station platform, NOVA would go on the other side of the platform, rent the entire building and turn it into a central branch (Umeda Honko). The entire focus was on image rather than quality (although "NOVA" and "quality" really didn't belong in the same sentence). The really ironic part is that now, stateside, all these years later, whenever I run into a Japanese national living here and the topic comes up, half of them admit to being NOVA students in the past, and most of them admit to knowing that NOVA was absolute shit but that they kept paying because the "image" of being a NOVA "student" was worth the ridiculous prices. Like everything else, the Japanese deserve what they get for their materialistic vanity.
 
Last edited:
I thought Nova went bankrupt due to the government or someone making it they can’t force the women to pay XXX,XXX in lesson fees that expire in a year. They also couldn’t get their money back.
This was a long time ago & I thought that’s what happened. I only heard from Japanese friends who went there at the time. I might have remembered incorrectly though.
 
I thought Nova went bankrupt due to the government or someone making it they can’t force the women to pay XXX,XXX in lesson fees that expire in a year. They also couldn’t get their money back.
This was a long time ago & I thought that’s what happened. I only heard from Japanese friends who went there at the time. I might have remembered incorrectly though.

Once the Japanese government targeted NOVA there was a litany of charges and accusations against the corporate policy, including that illegal non-refund policy, but ultimately it was the pension fund theft that took the company down. But honestly, it was a criminal racket from every angle. Most of us dumbass gaijin teachers just never realized (and honestly didn't even care) about how it worked. I remember how the "senior" sales staff used to entice teenagers to come in, then basically hold them hostage well after closing and into the evening hours until their parents would come down and agree to pay for the super special lessons package costing tens of thousands of dollars, and when those enraged parents came back demanding refunds they were basically told to pay for the upgrade or fuck off. But again, this was Japanese sales staff preying upon Japanese clients exploiting Japanese vanity. All of us asshole expats back in the breakroom were just hoping for a few free drinks and maybe some student pussy. One of the rare instances where you couldn't blame us.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Desktop
I thought Nova went bankrupt due to the government or someone making it they can’t force the women to pay XXX,XXX in lesson fees that expire in a year. They also couldn’t get their money back.
This was a long time ago & I thought that’s what happened. I only heard from Japanese friends who went there at the time. I might have remembered incorrectly though.
That was what started everything off - they were sued for consumer fraud and lost, which led to a lot of students, current and former, seeking refunds on unused lessons, and at the same time the got slapped with a restriction on entering long term contracts. Since their business practices had them constantly skating on financial thin ice, they didn't have cash to make the court mandated repayments, and both dipped into the teachers' pension fund and started delaying payment of wages to staff to cover the payouts, which led to Saruhashi's trial and conviction (and he got actual prison time), and the bankruptcy of Nova Mark I.

Interesting point that was a brief hiccough in the papers - Saruhashi had a hidden room attached to his office that was equipped with a king sized bed and all the usual love hotel amenities, and would routinely try to screw the more attractive female teachers.
 
Interesting point that was a brief hiccough in the papers - Saruhashi had a hidden room attached to his office that was equipped with a king sized bed and all the usual love hotel amenities, and would routinely try to screw the more attractive female teachers.

You're leaving out the details! That fucker was a circular rotating bed with mirrors above on the ceiling. Word from Osaka Namba Head Office was that he used to "audition" the staff girls himself, and they became part of his head office harem. If you made the cut you even got to take a group photo with him. He actually built a porno movie set-up in his business office. I hate that asshole as much as anyone else, but you do have to respect the game. Glory, Glory, Hallelujah.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Durg50 and Sudsy
You're leaving out the details! That fucker was a circular rotating bed with mirrors above on the ceiling. Word from Osaka Namba Head Office was that he used to "audition" the staff girls himself, and they became part of his head office harem. If you made the cut you even got to take a group photo with him. He actually built a porno movie set-up in his business office. I hate that asshole as much as anyone else, but you do have to respect the game. Glory, Glory, Hallelujah.
Just the Japanese staff or the foreign female teachers too?
Must have been quite a character. I wonder whats he doing now
 
Status
Not open for further replies.