African-American Appreciation Thread - Highlighting contributions from our most productive citizens

[Twix Eatr]

Pressing Grok on evidence that the standard for mental retardation dropping from 85 to 70 was due to too many blacks being labeled retarded:

Evidence for the shift in IQ cutoffs for intellectual disability (previously "mental retardation") emphasizing refined testing and adaptive functioning, rather than racial exclusion, comes from historical psychometric literature, diagnostic manual revisions, and legal cases addressing test misuse. Below, I provide key examples and sources supporting the claim that critics highlighted the risk of higher cutoffs (e.g., 85) disproportionately labeling minority groups, leading to a focus on adaptive functioning and refined testing.

1. Criticism of Higher IQ Cutoffs and Minority Disadvantage​

• Historical Context: In the 1960s-1970s, critics of IQ testing, particularly in education, noted that higher cutoffs like 85 (encompassing the "borderline" range) could misclassify minority groups, including Black and Hispanic children, as intellectually disabled due to environmental factors like poverty, limited education access, and cultural bias in tests.
• Evidence:
  • Mercer (1973): Sociologist Jane Mercer’s work, notably Labeling the Mentally Retarded (1973), argued that IQ tests were culturally biased and disproportionately labeled minority children as "retarded" when using cutoffs above 70. Her studies in California showed that Black and Mexican-American children were overrepresented in special education due to IQ scores in the 70-85 range, despite adequate adaptive functioning. She advocated for multidimensional assessments incorporating social and cultural contexts.
  • Larry P. v. Riles (1979): This landmark U.S. court case ruled that IQ tests were biased against Black students in California schools, leading to their overuse in placing minorities in special education. The case highlighted how cutoffs like 85 misidentified children who functioned adequately in non-academic settings, prompting calls for better test design and adaptive functioning measures. (Source: Federal District Court ruling, Larry P. v. Riles, 1979).
  • American Association on Mental Deficiency (AAMD): The AAMD’s Manual on Terminology and Classification (1973) began emphasizing adaptive behavior alongside IQ to avoid misdiagnosis, partly in response to critiques about minority overrepresentation in the borderline range (IQ 70-85).

2. Shift to Adaptive Functioning​

• Rationale: By the 1970s, research showed that IQ alone was insufficient for diagnosing intellectual disability, as many individuals with IQs in the 70-85 range functioned adequately in daily life. This led to a diagnostic shift prioritizing adaptive functioning (e.g., communication, self-care, social skills).
• Evidence:
  • Grossman (1973, 1983): The AAMD’s classification manuals, edited by Herbert Grossman, redefined intellectual disability to require deficits in both IQ (below 70) and adaptive behavior. This was explicitly to reduce misclassification of individuals who scored low due to environmental factors, including minority groups. (Source: AAMD, Classification in Mental Retardation, 1973, 1983 editions).
  • DSM-III (1980): The American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-III formalized the dual criteria of IQ below 70 and adaptive functioning deficits for "mental retardation." This shift was informed by research showing that higher cutoffs (e.g., 85) captured too many false positives, particularly among disadvantaged groups. (Source: DSM-III, American Psychiatric Association, 1980).
  • Heber (1961): Rick Heber’s earlier work on adaptive behavior scales influenced the AAMD and DSM, emphasizing that functional impairments, not just IQ, should define disability. This was partly in response to overdiagnosis in minority populations. (Source: Heber, A Manual on Terminology and Classification in Mental Deficiency, 1961).

3. Refinement of Testing Practices​

• Test Bias and Cultural Fairness: Critics argued that IQ tests, like the Wechsler and Stanford-Binet, contained cultural and linguistic biases that disadvantaged minority groups, leading to scores in the 70-85 range being misinterpreted as intellectual disability.
• Evidence:
  • Williams (1972): Psychologist Robert L. Williams developed the Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity (BITCH-100) to demonstrate how cultural bias in standard IQ tests lowered scores for Black individuals. His work fueled advocacy for culturally fair assessments and influenced the push for adaptive functioning criteria over rigid IQ cutoffs. (Source: Williams, Journal of Afro-American Issues, 1972).
  • National Academy of Sciences (1982): The NAS report Placing Children in Special Education: A Strategy for Equity highlighted how IQ tests misclassified minority children, recommending adaptive behavior assessments and revised testing practices to reduce bias. This supported the move away from higher cutoffs like 85. (Source: NAS, 1982).
  • Test Revisions: By the 1980s, psychometricians revised IQ tests (e.g., Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, 1974) to reduce cultural bias, though challenges persisted. This was part of a broader effort to ensure diagnoses were not based solely on IQ scores in the borderline range.

4. Avoiding Racial Exclusion​

• Key Point: The diagnostic shift to a 70 cutoff and adaptive functioning was not about excluding racial groups but about preventing overdiagnosis of intellectual disability in populations disadvantaged by environmental factors.
• Evidence:
  • AAIDD (American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities): The AAIDD’s historical records show that the focus on adaptive functioning was intended to make diagnoses more equitable, particularly for minority groups overrepresented in the 70-85 range due to socioeconomic factors. (Source: AAIDD historical guidelines, 1970s-1980s).
  • Advocacy Movements: Organizations like the Arc (1970s onward) pushed for fairer diagnostic criteria, citing cases where minority children were mislabeled as "retarded" based on IQ alone. This advocacy supported the stricter 70 cutoff with adaptive functioning requirements.

Conclusion​

The evidence shows that the shift to an IQ cutoff of 70 and emphasis on adaptive functioning was driven by concerns about mislabeling minority groups, particularly Black and Hispanic children, due to cultural bias in IQ tests and environmental disadvantages. Studies by Mercer, legal cases like Larry P. v. Riles, and diagnostic revisions in the AAMD and DSM-III reflect a response to these critiques, aiming for equitable and accurate diagnoses rather than racial exclusion. No sources suggest the cutoff was lowered to exclude specific racial groups; instead, the goal was to reduce overdiagnosis and improve diagnostic precision.

Seems pretty conclusive to me.

I can't remember if I posted about this before, but Seattle activist groups threw a fit that blacks were disproportionately fined for not paying metro fare and screamed racism. Naturally, the city caved and forgave all the fines:

In the years leading up to 2022, data from King County Metro Transit in Seattle revealed a significant racial disparity in fare enforcement. Reports indicated that Black passengers were disproportionately cited for fare evasion. For instance, while making up a small percentage of total ridership, Black individuals received a much higher percentage of the penalties.

This disparity led advocacy groups and some public officials to label the enforcement system as institutionally racist and inequitable, arguing that it criminalized poverty and disproportionately affected people of color. The system involved issuing civil infractions that could lead to fines and, if unpaid, could be sent to collections, negatively impacting credit scores and creating a cycle of debt.

In response to these equity concerns, King County officials took several steps. They transitioned from a punitive enforcement model to one focused on education and assistance, deploying "Fare Ambassadors" instead of armed officers to check for payment.

The culmination of this policy shift occurred in 2022 when the King County Council, along with the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, decided to address the outstanding citations. Citing the racially biased outcomes of the previous system, they moved to forgive all outstanding debt and dismiss thousands of unresolved fare evasion tickets issued over the prior decade. The official reasoning was that continuing to pursue collections for tickets issued under a system deemed inequitable was contrary to the county's racial and social justice goals.

So they forgave all late fares because the bulk of them were black. Fare enforcement walks from one end of the train to the other and asks everyone for their train ticket.

 

[byron]

higher cutoffs like 85 (encompassing the "borderline" range) could misclassify minority groups, including Black and Hispanic children, as intellectually disabled due to environmental factors like poverty

That's like saying, "if we measure the top speed of automobiles, then we might misclassify cheaper cars as slower"

Really??? Are you "misclassifying" them if they're ACTUALLY SLOWER??

I totally understand if you want to say, "it's not their fault! The environment is bad! The evil white man injected concentrated lead directly into their skull!!" - okay, fine, you can claim that. But after you claim that ...they're still fucking retarded. Why not say "they're retarded, and it's whitey's fault" instead of saying, "they're not retarded, we are misclassifying them."

This is just another in a long line of excuses made for black people. It's all so tiresome.

Take a look at this video:

I have no doubt that I could design an environment that would result in these kids being smarter. Honestly, we basically had that environment in the 1950s. If you had a video of this classroom:



you would marvel at how well behaved the black children are, and how smart they are. It's not magic. It's discipline and high societal expectations, for the children and their parents. Take children with the exact same genes and tell them nothing is their fault, and anything they do is allowed, and they grow up to be monsters - retarded monsters.

White children aren't far behind, to be honest. The point is, regardless of the cause, the outcome is that they're retards. We should try to address the cause instead of concealing the outcome.

 

[Twix Eatr]

 

[The Last Stand]

I have no doubt that I could design an environment that would result in these kids being smarter. Honestly, we basically had that environment in the 1950s. If you had a video of this classroom:



you would marvel at how well behaved the black children are, and how smart they are. It's not magic. It's discipline and high societal expectations, for the children and their parents. Take children with the exact same genes and tell them nothing is their fault, and anything they do is allowed, and they grow up to be monsters - retarded monsters.

There's two movies I know of where Black disciplinarians supervise urban youth: Coach Carter, featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Lean on Me, featuring Morgan Freeman. Both movies about inner-city schools where the student bodies are disrespectful, uneducated and in turmoil. Both are based on true stories where the titular characters use tough love to shape up students or ship them out.

Now, most media you see about inner-city life poorly rationalizes its troubled youth through racism and lack of opportunities. As somebody said, all of that starts from home. No home training, nobody to say "enough is enough."

 

[UnknownUser]

I like how Grok and the social scientists its quotes are pretty much saying, "Yeah they are retarded, but thats unfair, because reasons. So let's just lower the bar for them."

 

[TheRedChair]

That's like saying, "if we measure the top speed of automobiles, then we might misclassify cheaper cars as slower"

Really??? Are you "misclassifying" them if they're ACTUALLY SLOWER??

I totally understand if you want to say, "it's not their fault! The environment is bad! The evil white man injected concentrated lead directly into their skull!!" - okay, fine, you can claim that. But after you claim that ...they're still fucking retarded. Why not say "they're retarded, and it's whitey's fault" instead of saying, "they're not retarded, we are misclassifying them."

This is just another in a long line of excuses made for black people. It's all so tiresome.

Take a look at this video:

View attachment 7673841

I have no doubt that I could design an environment that would result in these kids being smarter. Honestly, we basically had that environment in the 1950s. If you had a video of this classroom:

View attachment 7673849

you would marvel at how well behaved the black children are, and how smart they are. It's not magic. It's discipline and high societal expectations, for the children and their parents. Take children with the exact same genes and tell them nothing is their fault, and anything they do is allowed, and they grow up to be monsters - retarded monsters.

White children aren't far behind, to be honest. The point is, regardless of the cause, the outcome is that they're retards. We should try to address the cause instead of concealing the outcome.

Well as stated so many times before I've seen the change over the years first hand. I've come to the point that the destruction of the African Community was deliberate by the progressives of that time to make them and keep them FUCKING DUMB.

They do this by giving them free everything so they do not have to work. Started in 1966 by LBJ and his Great Society he wrote into law. IMHO... The Democratic party and the progressives planned all this and have been playing the long game.

They broke up the family unit as up to 70% of the childern now do not have a dad growing up.

Only aggressive cows are teaching their children with no father figure. As they are as proven by the VICE video of a teacher trying to teach math.

By making them ignorant and dumb, they have their solid voting base to this point.
That is until they get tossed aside by immigrants that came across the border that can vote in states that does not use Voter ID.

Yet the African Community will still Vote blue, because they have been programmed to vote blue.

The African Community is now nothing but Low IQ Wookies. Those few that are able to leave the Ghetto unfortunately still are programmed to be Ghetto.

Example Taking the knee in sports. Rich Blacks taking the knee for what??? Self entitlement on a FUCKING Black LIE.

Having two parents who teaches the fundamentals is important. Having a decent education teaching the fundamentals is important. These two things help to grow a healthy environment to live in.

In the African American Community there is none of this.,

 

[Troon_Patrol]

There's two movies I know of where Black disciplinarians supervise urban youth: Coach Carter, featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Lean on Me, featuring Morgan Freeman. Both movies about inner-city schools where the student bodies are disrespectful, uneducated and in turmoil. Both are based on true stories where the titular characters use tough love to shape up students or ship them out.

Now, most media you see about inner-city life poorly rationalizes its troubled youth through racism and lack of opportunities. As somebody said, all of that starts from home. No home training, nobody to say "enough is enough."

"Lean on me" was loosely based on Joe Clark, as I recently mentioned.

Joe Clark, Principal given credit by the acting US president, former US service member partially as a DI and the man you don't want to try to pull the race card with because he doesn't even have a card processing terminal. He had his hands full carrying a wooden bat and a bullhorn. Judge all you want the man got the job done.


Its obviously a movie and I personally hate when film producers use the term "based on a true story" to promote their films as that has been highly abused in the past for marketing. Point being Joe Clark didn't believe in coddling shitheads as he was a former drill sergeant. First thing he did was boot the fuck ups who had no reason be there or were just there to sell dope. Anyone dragging the school down. He improved the school so much even President Reagan had to acknowledge it. He was well before my time, he acted as it was the end of the era of society being able to face a reality simply say the "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". You Could go further and say the "kids that want to learn aren't learning because the useless fucking niggers sitting next to them are disrupting class or just there to sell crack and weed"


I have family that has worked fairly recently in the public school system, one of the locations was majority black. As a somewhat related PSA:

Be very very very cautious of the teachers unions and anyone who's job including administration could be questioned based on student graduation rates or standardized testing. Be cautious of anyone opposing school vouchers to be used at a private school of your choice.

The teachers unions meetings I heard about from a very trusted source were primarily focused on money and vacation time. They pressed for higher pay lower responsibility anything related like health benefits. It was more of shakedown/extortion and exploitation of a gov funded institution and securing their jobs.. I was literally told second hand "don't smoke meth before coming to the school that could get you put under review and the union will have to step in a help you." This again, this anecdotal story came from a extremely trusted person who laughed at the advice till they were advised it was told to them because it was based on actual prior incident recently the union had to step in and defend the teacher on.

I'm going to lay my cards on the table, I fucking hate unions. Either far to weak and 3% of your paycheck goes to some impotent faggot sitting at a desk miles away who does jack shit all day won't help you when you're wrongfully terminated from your shitty loser job. The other side, mostly the government jobs, such as public schools/police depts (prior to body cam) they have become far too powerful. The UAW influenced presidential elections for decades. La Cosa Nostra in its active years for decades exploited any union handling valuable merch by giving them a percentage of the action in exchange for tip offs of valuable commodities like cigarettes. When the companies threatened to crack down through means before the days of security cameras being cheap and readily available, trucks having live GPS/data tracking, the mob would pass the word to union reps to rebel-rouse and strike if it meant cutting off what La Cosa Nostra deemed a level of skimming and loss of revenue the companies could "live with".

Blah blah blah... not necessary has to do with race. Watch the teachers unions very carefully, especially in predominately black schools. The shit that staff from admin to teachers pull from manipulating test scores, overtime, workers comp fraud and just outright theft are bordering on a poorly run criminal enterprise. The democratic party has been in bed with them for decades similar to the UAW. Vote for our shit, send a few bucks our way we'll pass legislation your job gets a mandatory salary raise, firing staff next to impossible.

Half this is shit isn't woke politics it's exploiting gov funds under the guise of woke politics. You question it you're racist. That's why to my knowledge the IRS never went after BLM 5013c tax exempt status. Should we be we be paying any public school administrator 200K+ a year if they're graduation and test scores rank in the lowest 5% in the nation? Fuck no.

 

[The Last Stand]

Its obviously a movie and I personally hate when film producers use the term "based on a true story" to promote their films as that has been highly abused in the past for marketing. Point being Joe Clark didn't believe in coddling shitheads as he was a former drill sergeant. First thing he did was boot the fuck ups who had no reason be there or were just there to sell dope. Anyone dragging the school down. He improved the school so much even President Reagan had to acknowledge it. He was well before my time, he acted as it was the end of the era of society being able to face a reality simply say the "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". You Could go further and say the "kids that want to learn aren't learning because the useless fucking niggers sitting next to them are disrupting class or just there to sell crack and weed"

That's why I hate the excuse of Blacks always being prosecuted and unfairly treated in Western society as a justification for how the next generation asks. The older generation, Joe Clark, for instance suffered discrimination beyond the students' comprehension, yet uplifted himself from values and persistence they obviously lack.

Notice a trend that's missing with urban youth today which has been replaced with entitlement: lack of (proper) parenting, specifically fathers. There's no two parent unit anymore. All of that has been replaced with welfare, race guilt and entitlement. I would think if there were more Joe Clarks, Phillip Banks, Thomas Sowells, Coach Carters in the Black community, we would be in a better place, even on par with our White counterparts.

I have family that has worked fairly recently in the public school system, one of the locations was majority black. As a somewhat related PSA:

Be very very very cautious of the teachers unions and anyone who's job including administration could be questioned based on student graduation rates or standardized testing. Be cautious of anyone opposing school vouchers to be used at a private school of your choice.

There's another show I want to suggest with that topic in mind: The Wire. It takes place in Balitmore, Maryland where it deconstructs the institutions that allow the War on Drugs, crime, and corruption to happen. One season in particular dismantles the education system.

Lastly, I want to say that another justification I hear is that "America is systemically racist." You know what? I agree. The issue that is the urban population plays INTO the system that knowingly deceives or "hinders" them from THEIR OWN ACTIONS which seeps out elsewhere for everybody else to handle. If you want to argue systemic racism, why not start with how lenient DAs and judges are for repeat offenders based on the color of one's skin?

 

[Martys_not_smarty]

Take a look at this video:

It used to be on Vice and I remember seeing it on an old O&A clip it was called last chance high, the place is long gone now but that one fat kid I'm surprised he hasn't ended up killing a bunch of women. If you watch the whole thing you see him do this weird ass talking style where he is inhaling and he does that because he broke his brain one night when he lit the sofa in his apartment on fire....with his sister sleeping on it. She got burnt to shit and he just stood there watching as she was gasping out "go get grandma" in the same manner that he speaks.

 

[David Floyd George]

One season in particular dismantles the education system.

From the vid, "you don't teach math. You teach the test." Except that doesn't work either. I taught for a semester at a community college (teaching isn't my profession, I've just held a wide assortment of jobs over the years), where maybe 2 or 3 students out of a 50-student class were qualified to be there. Well before the final exam I was told by my boss that school admin wanted me to pass as many of them as possible. So not only did I teach the final, I told the students in advance exactly which pages from their textbook would make up the final. Even the dumbest fuck can pass an exam if he knows what's going to be on it, right? lol, nope - 25% of them still managed to fail. School admin let them take the final again, and then school admin graded their exams. I have no idea what the results were (although I can guess) as happily I was done with them by that time.

From upthread, I appreciate your homage to Myrna Loy (and William Powell, and The Thin Man series). So, please allow me to mention Hedy Lamarr. Not as fine an actress, but in her heyday smoking, smoking hot.

 

[The Last Stand]

From the vid, "you don't teach math. You teach the test." Except that doesn't work either. I taught for a semester at a community college (teaching isn't my profession, I've just held a wide assortment of jobs over the years), where maybe 2 or 3 students out of a 50-student class were qualified to be there. Well before the final exam I was told by my boss that school admin wanted me to pass as many of them as possible. So not only did I teach the final, I told the students in advance exactly which pages from their textbook would make up the final. Even the dumbest fuck can pass an exam if he knows what's going to be on it, right? lol, nope - 25% of them still managed to fail. School admin let them take the final again, and then school admin graded their exams. I have no idea what the results were (although I can guess) as happily I was done with them by that time.

Well, I would say it's uprooted into the school system not wanting to TEACH anything and the students' refusal, unwillingness or inability to retain information. Since you said community college, I'm guessing those students were fresh out of high school and just accepted into community college. So, that tells us they were "socially promoted," meaning they advanced in a grade level relative to their age or the community college wanted to inflate their numbers. The education system in this country is a joke.

From upthread, I appreciate your homage to Myrna Loy (and William Powell, and The Thin Man series). So, please allow me to mention Hedy Lamarr. Not as fine an actress, but in her heyday smoking, smoking hot.

Thank you. In that subject, Myrna Loy was very much politically active and outspoken within her country but kept it under wraps as to not interfere with her actress career.

 

[Shocked and Horrified]

Former teacher here (before I told my husband I just couldn't do it anymore), and the students I had like this came from homes that didn't value education and actively taught their kids that they "didn't have to do what the teachers said." It didn't help that the administration would do anything to avoid to avoid a lawsuit, including telling a teacher not to call the police after being assaulted. I taught special ed; we have to keep them until they turn 22.

The special ed department hated me because I said no 21-year old should be sitting next to 14-year olds in any class, and we had 21-year old freshmen. Special education laws are a blight on public education.

If they are about to be kicked out of school, they demand testing. Whether they qualify for special ed or not, it's almost impossible to expel them.

 

[barrow greeter]

James is so over it

 

[byron]

Is there a niche for nigger cops being stupid?

Not that I know of.

I looked through the videos I've saved and found an example, but the reason I saved it was because it was during the George Floyd thing and I kept encountering redditors who would claim that such things never, ever happen to whites. It was always fun to show them counterexamples (before I would get banned).

Looks to be a crazy (white) guy in the subway in NY. Black cops try unsuccessfully to subdue him, then just go ahead and shoot him.

Just to be clear, I don't necessarily give a shit about this guy. Even if he dindonuffin, he should submit to arrest and then tell it to a judge. The point is, this really does not seem like a justified shooting. If you swapped the races here, there'd be rioting.

But as I liked to point out on reddit back in the day: none of you has ever seen this video. It doesn't make the news, because the news is racist against white people.

 

[Dr Cruel]

View attachment 7672429

 

[Belisarius Cawl]

It used to be on Vice

Still is:

Just to be clear, I don't necessarily give a shit about this guy. Even if he dindonuffin, he should submit to arrest and then tell it to a judge. The point is, this really does not seem like a justified shooting. If you swapped the races here, there'd be rioting.

The case of Daniel Shaver (white) is obscure compared to that of BIG FLEEZY:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Daniel_Shaver

Tyre Nichols (black) is also relatively obscure because the five Memphrica cops who beat him to death while accidentally pepper spraying each other LOOKT LYKE HIM 'N' SHEEIT:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Tyre_Nichols

 

[Lady Bizness]

primarily focused on money and vacation time.

I fucking wish. Now they are focused on training teachers to avoid talking to ICE, how to best support students, which is the administration's job, and pulling weight for local and national politicians. The problem with education is that there needs to be protection for teachers who are going to deliver bad news in the form of grades. Parents and administration have a strong interest in grade inflation. Administration also needs another boundary force to keep them from adopting stupid initiatives that don't work and just stress everyone out trying to make it work. But whatever, it's all such a shit show.

Anyone who thinks private or charter schools are the way out have another thing coming. Charter schools come and go and you'll find yourself having to scramble mid year to finish your kid's year of school. They have absolutely insane, quixotic work environments and as such have a lot of teacher turnover. They also take the most desperate unfit teachers - you thought your every day average public school teacher was bad. Try "reformed" drug dealers and pimps. Private schools are often pay-for-grades so good luck really doing your homework finding one that isn't.
This all comes from my experience in teaching, administration, and district work. Free market isn't the solution because it is in the public's best interest to have a free minimum education for all students. The public funding of schools and a reasonable amount of protections for establishing decent work conditions and license to give low grades would have kept working if we still lived in a high trust society.
I'm hanging in there for the income and to have an influence in my own children's education. The best advice I have is to be actively involved in your child's learning. Regardless of if they are in private, charter, public, homeschool even, you need to know what they're doing, how they're behaving, and that they're getting enough cognitive practice. A burnt out teacher might be giving them an A for an obvious AI paper, but what are you going to say to them about it?

 

[Belisarius Cawl]

I'm hanging in there for the income and to have an influence in my own children's education. The best advice I have is to be actively involved in your child's learning.

My solution having come from a ghetto neighborhood was frequent trips to the liberry

Also:

 

[Twix Eatr]

From the vid, "you don't teach math. You teach the test." Except that doesn't work either.

That's the major point of the series, tbf. People try and game the system, but it's useless. Brilliant series for anyone who hasn't watched. It's incredible.

 

[ExsanguinateHorizon]

So they forgave all late fares because the bulk of them were black. Fare enforcement walks from one end of the train to the other and asks everyone for their train ticket.

Doesn't King County have a huge debt problem? Their massive tax hike this year was practically national news for how obscene it is, it's not going to affect the usual crowds so it'll be a burden to everyone else (again)