Daily Archives: May 22, 2017

No tip for you: restaurants move toward hospitality-included menus – The Guardian

Posted: May 22, 2017 at 3:34 am

The tipping point: Getting rid of gratuities has proved tough in US restaurants Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Hmmm, was the considered opinion of a member of the wait staff at Manhattans Union Square Cafe last week when asked about working for a set wage, not tips. Its good to know how much is coming in, the staff member later reconsidered. Not so good if you need to make cash fast.

A little over 18 months ago, restaurateur Danny Meyer announced that the famed cafe as well as other full-service restaurants in Meyers Union Square Hospitality Group would phase out tipping, ending a practice that Meyer said has roots in slavery. The news sparked a national discussion on tipping in a country where gratuities have embedded themselves in the national culture.

To date, seven of Meyers 14 restaurants have made the transition to hospitality-included. But in the restaurant business at large, the change has yet to be widely adopted, challenging, as it does, restaurant economics and deeply entrenched conventions of hospitality and service in the US.

Others describe hospitality-included as a well-meaning effort to address longstanding inequalities, including wage disparities between kitchen staff and servers but say it adds a level of bureaucracy and bookkeeping to businesses already struggling under increasing real estate and wage costs.

Efforts to rid the industry of its tipping habit have been further complicated by the impending raises in minimum wage in many states, including New York, following a campaign fueled primarily by service industry workers such as food servers. Many restaurants are waiting to see how that plays out on the industrys stressed economics.

We found that tipping stood in the way of being able to reward our backhouse staff and our managers, says Union Squares chief restaurant officer, Sabato Sagaria. If we eliminate tipping we can compensate all our workers.

To accommodate the transition, the group immediately put up prices by 25%, a shock that restaurants less well-supported by the expense account trade. Sagaria says hospitality-included costs brings the restaurant business into line with other, tip-dependent businesses that been transformed.

People have seen the convenience with the all-inclusive pricing model of Uber and some of the food-delivery services, Sagaria says. Plus customers dont have to dust off their high school math.

In addition, says Sagaria, restaurants and wait staff no longer need to read the appreciation of their performance through tips the group invites diners to direct their comments directly on a card provided with the check.

Last week, customers said they did not object to hospitality-included since it took the mathematical guesswork out of paying the check but, as veterans of waiting tables, recalled the disappointment of being tipped badly.

Tori Campbell, a publishing executive who previously worked as a waitress, said it was shameful that the restaurant jobs often pay barely enough for workers to survive in a city such as New York. But wait staff, she said, are often doing it as a means to and end, while the lower paid kitchen staff are often learning a career trade, so the inequalities are in some senses justifiable. Its the system that works but unless youve been in it, its hard to understand, she said.

Rival managers say that while everyone would like to pay their staff more, killing the tip doesnt work under the current model.

Chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin told the Daily Meal last year that the vast majority of my employees prefer tipping and therefore I will not change the policy. The tipping policy is beneficial to everyone in my opinion, including waiters, customers, and owners. Only the government benefits from no tipping.

Other well-known chefs have experimented with hospitality-included, including New York stars Gabriel Stulman at Fedora and Tom Colicchio at Craft, only to reverse course. Stulman explained to Eater New York hed have to raise prices or cut wages, neither of which he felt comfortable doing.

Sagaria concedes that the transition from a tipping to no-tip model can be fraught.

There are a lot of subtle nuances that come into play. It requires a big shift, new learning and musculature to operate. But we see the benefits in the long term for our employees, guests and stakeholders. Even the timing makes a difference.

In addition to a set hourly wage, the Union Square group brought in a revenue-share program thats distributed to the team according to their position and hours worked. In the past, only the wait staff was incentivised by sales. This way, everyone is ... one team, one goal, and everyone working together to achieve that.

Another restaurant that has been successful with hospitality included is Dirt Candy on New Yorks Lower East Side.

Its tough to go against the flow this way, but its the only way to pay my staff a fair wage, says chef and owner Amanda Cohen, who says she decided to get rid of tipping because she needed to pay her back of house higher wages to keep them.

Theres a real staffing crisis in New York with kitchen positions, and I wanted to make sure as many people as possible moved with me and stuck around for a long time so I wanted to pay a better wage.

Last week, Cohen described tipping as a scam that New York restaurant owners have developed over the years to hide their actual costs by tacking on this surcharge to their customers and making it seem voluntary but, lets face it, whos the jerk who doesnt tip when they eat out?

At Dirt Candy, pay for front of house staff starts at $25/hour, and back of house at $15/hour. Cohen concedes that her servers will never have the excitement of getting a $400 tip from a drunk customer again but nor will they have the disappointment of leaving with $50 during a snowstorm when few customers came in.

In terms of how its working out, I think everyone who actually is affected by it is doing great. My staff loves it, and I have much less turnover than most restaurants my size. And my customers like knowing that the people serving them and making their food are being paid a living wage.

At the same time, Cohen has received an education in how emotive the tipping debate can be. Shes experienced staff who dont want to interview because they view it as a scam and customers who view it through the lens of religious intolerance.

Cohen says shes received an extraordinary quantity of hate email and fake reviews trashing us because of what they perceive as abuse of my staff because I eliminated tipping. Its been eye-opening to see how much of this hatred been antisemitic.

The issues around tipping and service may not be resolved anytime soon, but Dirt Candy hostess Jackie Carson-Aponte says she is grateful for a regular wage. Its a different pace. It may be less exciting because its more like a salary but ultimately it helps to create stability.

No tip for you: restaurants move toward hospitality-included menus - The Guardian

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Good Luck, Mr. President? – Sunshine State News

Posted: at 3:34 am

So the pope, the president, a Muslim and a Jew walk into a bar ...

Surely, I'm not the only one to tighten the frame around President Trump's wildly ironic and ambitious foreign odyssey to promote "tolerance." Which, let's face it, would seem to be the joke. The most candidly intolerant president in history set out Friday on a Napoleonic expedition not to conquer the world but to advance a cause he apparently embraced yesterday.

Meanwhile, the many possible outcomes -- from monstrous, Earth-tilting gaffes to World Peace In Our Time (and lots in between) -- are riveting to consider. And, all hinges on the performance of the most unpredictable, unlikely emissary ever to cross the threshold of Air Force One.

That's my inner cynic speaking. My inner Pollyanna has a different take: Maybe he has had a Damascus moment and fallen from his high horse. He had a brutal week, to be sure. Maybe he has received grace, discovered humility, found the key to his cloistered empathy and is embarking upon a historic pilgrimage of repentance and reconciliation.

While these two forces wage war in my head and the media take bets on Trump's first faux pas, I'll give the president's advisers this: brilliant idea. During his nine-day trip, Trump is touching base with three of the world's largest religions, visiting Saudi Arabia, Israel and Vatican City. He's also scheduled to attend a NATO meeting in Brussels and a G-7 conference in Sicily. His itinerary is almost too large to grasp, but grandiosity demands grand plans. And, really, what could possibly go wrong?

The president's mission includes advancing religious unity and beseeching other nations to join the United States in ending religious persecution and human trafficking, as well as putting an end to the Islamic State. The agenda is complicated by more than a few confounding factors. Trump meets with NATO after having questioned its legitimacy. And Saudi Arabia, ostensibly our ally, is a chief funding source and exporter of Wahhabism, Islam's most virulent and fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. Speaking around such inconsistencies is tough turf even for the most experienced diplomats.

Most fascinating and compelling, to me at least, is the slated May 24 meeting between Trump and Pope Francis, the figureheads of the secular and spiritual worlds. The two men have been exchanging potshots since before Trump's election, with Francis criticizing Trump's immigration policy, his attempted travel ban and The Wall. He also suggested that Trump isn't very Christian, which prompted Trump to fire back that no one should question another's religious belief.

With their meeting on the horizon, Francis has said he always tries to find "doors that are at least a little bit open." Maybe if Trump sticks to script, he'll be on solid ground with the topics he intends to discuss.

The U.S. has long recognized that where religious freedom is restricted, terrorism and extremism flourish and minorities suffer. And Francis has made human trafficking, which he has called "a plague on the body of contemporary humanity," one of his key issues. There are today more people living in slavery than at any other time in history, with estimates as high as 27 million.

Trump can make the case that not only is slavery evil in its own right but human trafficking is intricately interwoven with terrorism and religious persecution. This overlap can be seen in the persecution of religious minorities in the Middle East, such as the Islamic State's Palm Sunday slaughter of more than 40 Coptic Christians in Egypt during worship services. Other intersections are seen in the theology of rape practiced by members of the Islamic State, who, in between prayers, have sexually assaulted women and young girls from the Yazidi community as religious ritual.

In other examples of slavery, just from Myanmar: Ethnic Rakhine civilians have been forced by the army to dig graves, porter guns and perform other manual labor. Child soldiers are drafted in to military and forced labor. Ethnic Kachin women are trafficked to China, where they're forced into marriage or work.

One needn't be aligned with Catholic theology to recognize the inherent evil of such practices. One only needs to be human. Out of respect for the purposes of Trump's trip, we should only wish the president godspeed and, if you believe in a higher power, lend him your prayers.

And may your cynic and your Pollyanna make peace.

Kathleen Parker's email address iskathleenparker@washpost.com.

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Good Luck, Mr. President? - Sunshine State News

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The Abolition of Work | Marxism | Occupational Safety And …

Posted: at 3:33 am

sier on every employee. Talking backis called nsubordination,just as if aworker is a naughty child, and it notonly gets you red, it disqualies youfor unemployment compensation. Wi-thout necessarily endorsing it for themeither, it is noteworthy that children athome and in school receive much the sa-me treatment, justied in their case bytheir supposed immaturity. What doesthis say about their parents and tea-chers who work?The demeaning system of dominati-on Ive described rules over half the wa-king hours of a majority of women andthe vast majority of men for decades,for most of their lifespans. For certainpurposes its not too misleading to callour system democracy or capitalism or better still industrialism, but its re-al names are factory fascism and oceoligarchy. Anybody who says these peo-ple are frees lying or stupid. You arewhat you do. If you do boring, stupidmonotonous work, chances are youllend up boring, stupid and monotonous.Work is a much better explanation forthe creeping cretinization all around usthan even such signicant moronizingmechanisms as television and educati-on. People who are regimented all theirlives, handed o to work from schooland bracketed by the family in the be-ginning and the nursing home at theend, are habituated to heirarchy andpsychologically enslaved. Their aptitu-de for autonomy is so atrophied thattheir fear of freedom is among theirfew rationally grounded phobias. Theirobedience training at work carries overinto the families

they

start, thus repro-ducing the system in more ways thanone, and into politics, culture and ever-ything else. Once you drain the vitalityfrom people at work, theyll likely sub-mit to heirarchy and expertise in ever-ything. Theyre used to it.We are so close to the world of workthat we cant see what it does to us.We have to rely on outside observersfrom other times or other cultures toappreciate the extremity and the pa-thology of our present position. Therewas a time in our own past when thework ethic would have been incom-prehensible, and perhaps Weber was onto something when he tied its appea-rance to a religion, Calvinism, which ifit emerged today instead of four cen-turies ago would immediately and ap-propriately be labeled a cult. Be thatas it may, we have only to draw uponthe wisdom of antiquity to put work inperspective. The ancients saw work forwhat it is, and their view prevailed, theCalvinist cranks notwithstanding, untiloverthrown by industrialism but notbefore receiving the endorsement of itsprophets.Lets pretend for a moment thatwork doesnt turn people into stulti-ed submissives. Lets pretend, in de-ance of any plausible psychology andthe ideology of its boosters, that it hasno eect on the formation of charac-ter. And lets pretend that work isntas boring and tiring and humiliatingas we all know it really is. Even then,work would

still

make a mockery ofall humanistic and democratic aspira-tions, just because it usurps so muchof our time. Socrates said that manu-al laborers make bad friends and badcitizens because they have no time tofulll the responsibilities of friendshipand citizenship. He was right. Becauseof work, no matter what we do we keeplooking at out watches. The only thingfreeabout so-called free time is that itdoesnt cost the boss anything. Free ti-me is mostly devoted to getting rea-dy for work, going to work, returningfrom work, and recovering from work.Free time is a euphemism for the pecu-liar way labor as a factor of productionnot only transports itself at its own ex-pense to and from the workplace butassumes primary responsibility for itsown maintenance and repair. Coal andsteel dont do that. Lathes and typewri-ters dont do that. But workers do. Nowonder Edward G. Robinson in one ofhis gangster movies exclaimed, Workis for saps!Both Plato and Xenophon attribu-te to Socrates and obviously share withhim an awareness of the destructive ef-fects of work on the worker as a citizenand a human being. Herodotus identi-ed contempt for work as an attributeof the classical Greeks at the zenith oftheir culture. To take only one Romanexample, Cicero said that whoever gi-ves his labor for money sells himself andputs himself in the rank of slaves.Hiscandor is now rare, but contemporaryprimitive societies which we are wontto look down upon have provided spo-kesmen who have enlightened Westernanthropologists. The Kapauku of WestIrian, according to Posposil, have a con-ception of balance in life and accor-dingly work only every other day, theday of rest designed to regain the lostpower and health.Our ancestors, evenas late as the eighteenth century whenthey were far along the path to our pre-sent predicament, at least were awareof what we have forgotten, the undersi-de of industrialization. Their religiousdevotion to SSt. Monday- thus esta-blishing a

de facto

ve-day week 150-200 years before its legal consecration was the despair of the earliest fac-tory owners. They took a long time insubmitting to the tyranny of the bell,predecessor of the time clock. In fact itwas necessary for a generation or two toreplace adult males with women accu-stomed to obedience and children whocould be molded to t industrial needs.Even the exploited peasants of the

an-cient regime

wrested substantial timeback from their landlords work. Accor-ding to Lafargue, a fourth of the Frenchpeasants calendar was devoted to Sun-days and holidays, and Chayanovs -gures from villages in Czarist Russia hardly a progressive society likewiseshow a fourth or fth of peasants daysdevoted to repose. Controlling for pro-ductivity, we are obviously far behindthese backward societies. The exploited

muzhiks

would wonder why any of usare working at all. So should we.To grasp the full enormity of our de-terioration, however, consider the ear-liest condition of humanity, without go-vernment or property, when we wande-red as hunter-gatherers. Hobbes surmi-sed that life was then nasty, brutish andshort. Others assume that life was adesperate unremitting struggle for sub-sistence, a war waged against a harshNature with death and disaster awai-ting the unlucky or anyone who was un-equal to the challenge of the struggle forexistence. Actually, that was all a pro-3

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Contest between Varadkar and Coveney hinges on tone – Irish Times

Posted: at 3:33 am

Fine Gael leadership candidate Leo Varadkar at a 5k run in Dublin on Sunday. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The contest for the leadership of the biggest political party in the State, and ultimately the taoiseachs office, will not be marked by policy gulfs between the two candidates.

They are, after all, from the same centre-right party. However, there is a difference in tone between Simon Coveney and Leo Varadkar and that is the clearest guide of how their policy approach will differ in office.

That will not happen immediately, since the policy structures already set by the programme for government agreed with Independents and underpinned by the confidence and supply agreement with Fianna Fil will have to be followed.

What Coveney and Varadkar will be arguing over is realistically the policy platform of the next Fine Gael manifesto, and the approach of the next government led by the party, if there is one.

Varadkar is due to set out his policy approach today but there have been some small indications of it already. Coveney set out his stall yesterday and firmly wrapped himself in the Just Society social reform tradition of Declan Costello and Garret FitzGerald.

He also favours increased spending on infrastructure and the creation of a greener economy through initiatives such as greater public transport networks, including high-speed rail links. His manifesto follows on from work he has undertaken in his ministerial portfolio on rebalancing population growth away from Dublin and towards the regions.

On taxation, he wants to move away from previous Fine Gael policy of abolishing the universal social charge (USC) in favour of changing the bands at which people enter the higher tax bracket and a gradual reduction in the higher tax rate.

Coveney has also taken the same approach as Fianna Fil leader Michel Martin and wants Fine Gael to publish a White Paper on a united Ireland, by the end of the year.

On abortion, he says the current regime has to be changed but is uncomfortable with some of the proposals made by the Citizens Assembly, which suggested abortion should be available in without restriction up to 12 weeks.

Coveneys Fine Gael would almost move into Fianna Fil territory of caring social policy, while Varadkars approach is expected to be liberal in the economic and social sense. He too favours greater spending on infrastructure.

But he has been evasive on his position on abortion. At his campaign launch, he said only that the current system had to be changed but did not give any views on how it should be done.

He has previously sought to cast himself in the centre-right mould of David Cameron and Angela Merkel and has lately associated himself with Emmanuel Macrons brand of centrist politics. One passage from the speech at his campaign launch on Saturday drew the most attention.

Fine Gael will be the party that represents those who get up early in the morning, work hard and want more for their children and their community. We will work to create a country with sound public finances, where work, talent, enterprise and inventiveness are rewarded and individual freedom and liberty are respected.

It echoed a speech given in 2012 by Camerons then chancellor, George Osborne, who spoke of fairness for those leaving home in the dark hours of the early morning, although it did not contain Osbornes attack on those on benefits.

So far, we know Varadkar too would inch away from the policy on the abolition of USC but would instead propose a wider reform of the taxation system by merging it and PRSI to create a system of social insurance.

On announcing his taxation policy in recent weeks, Varadkar created Osborne-style dividing lines by saying society had too often been divided into one group of people who pay for everything but get little in return due to means tests, and another group who believe they should be entitled to everything for free and that someone else should pay for it.

Tone will be important more important than specific policies in this campaign because it indicates a candidates governing philosophy, and represents a sign of things to come.

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Contest between Varadkar and Coveney hinges on tone - Irish Times

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Abolish Article 153: expressive exhibition at ‘The Hub’ gallery – Kuwait Times

Posted: at 3:33 am

Exhibition at The Hub gallery

KUWAIT: Twelve years have passed since Kuwaiti women got the right to participate in the political battle in Kuwait; this date, the 16th of May, coincides with the launching of one of the most important creative exhibitions that show a collection of artistic work and photographs representing women in order to encourage them to obtain their full rights as well as a support and show solidarity with the abolition of Article 153 of the Kuwaiti Penal Code.

This article allows men to get away with killing their mothers, daughters, sisters and wives if they suspect them of sexual impropriety with a light punishment of a prison sentence for a period not exceeding three years or a fine of KD 15 or one of these penalties, and this is contrary to the principles of Islamic law.

Dr Al-Anoud Al-Sharikh, Sheikha Al-Nafisi, Lulu Al-Sabah, Amira Behbehani and Sundus Hussain are the organizers of this exhibition. They are the ones who initiated this idea to demand the cancellation of this article and its negative consequences on human rights in general and womens rights in particular.

The exhibition will last for a week in the hall of The Hub Gallery located on the Arabian Gulf Street Sharq. It will include paintings, jewelry and sculptures created by a group of young Kuwaiti and Arab artists to promote this awareness campaign in all segments of Kuwaiti society in the hope of achieving justice and equality between men and women and the exclusion of violence in any way.

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Abolish Article 153: expressive exhibition at 'The Hub' gallery - Kuwait Times

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Seasteading by Joe Quirk on iBooks – itunes.apple.com

Posted: at 3:33 am

Two-thirds of our globe is Planet Ocean, not Planet Earth.

Imagine a vast new source of sustainable and renewable energy that would also bring more equitable economies. A previously untapped source of farming that could produce significant new sources of nutrition. Future societies where people could choose the communities they want to live in, free from the restrictions of conventional citizenship. This bold vision of our near future as imagined in Seasteading attracted the powerful support of Silicon Valleys Peter Thieland it may be drawing close to reality.

Our planet is suffering from serious environmental problems: coastal flooding due to severe storms caused in part by atmospheric pollution and diminishing natural resources among them. But the seas can be home to a new breed of pioneers, seasteaders, who are willing to homestead the Blue Frontier. Oil platforms and cruise ships already inhabit the waters; now its time to take the next step to full-fledged ocean civilizations.

Joe Quirk and Patri Friedman show us how cities built on floating platforms in the ocean will work, and they profile some of the visionaries who are implementing basic concepts of seasteading today. An entrepreneurs dream, these floating cities will become laboratories for innovation and creativity. Seasteading may be visionary, but it already has begun proving the adage that yesterdays science fiction is tomorrows science fact. Welcome to seavilization.

Seasteading by Joe Quirk on iBooks - itunes.apple.com

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Seasteading – bitcointalk.org

Posted: at 3:33 am

Advertised sites are not endorsed by the Bitcoin Forum. They may be unsafe, untrustworthy, or illegal in your jurisdiction. Advertise here. Spendulus Legendary Offline

Activity: 1512

Concrete hulled pontoon boats would be good if they are separate from each other. But concrete is fragile when it bangs against concrete over and over. It would be very difficult to attach them together for a large platform. Anything that would be flexible and strong enough to separate the units would likely degrade in salt water over time.

Steel has been used for ship building for decades. It can also bang against each other over and over without degradation. Also, polyurea adheres best to steel, which is what I would use for coating to protect from salt water. I address the reason for steel in my design outline: https://discuss.seasteading.org/t/my-viva-vivas-seastead-design/921/2

For comparison, look at SCRAP prices here:

http://www.scrapmonster.com/scrap-prices/category/Stainless-Steel/151/1/1

Activity: 1470

Your country may be your worst enemy

Thailand is already well developed, you may consider its neighbor, Burma. I was talking to a Vietnamese friend not long ago, and she's investing in Myanmar. The country's opening up, and there is plenty of opportunities for foreigners with cash in hand.

Also a certain nation in Asia(North Korea) has reports of abducting people from boats in sea, they may attack you and the outside world would never know what happened.

And I don't think the nations and people fleeing to live outside their jurisdiction, I think even the "host" nation would be a threat

If any project starts out with "we have to be able to defend ourselves against nations" then it's dead from the start. Imagine if everyone considering buying a boat thought "I can't buy this boat, Korea may attack me".

You have a brilliant idea however you can only realize your idea if you have billions of dollars to construct a community floating in the ocean. Aside from creating a community you must also consider the hazards such as big waves and huge storms that your community will be facing. Your structures must be tough to meet those conditions. Lastly, I can say that your ideas are good but I can foretell that you do not have the resources to make your plans a reality.

These things have been taken into account.

It is true that without people joining the project, or without some wealthy benefactor, the project will fail. But this is the same for any large project.

This is a positive project. It can be made to work. Join us, add your funds, and secure a place. This is only the beginning.

Also a certain nation in Asia(North Korea) has reports of abducting people from boats in sea, they may attack you and the outside world would never know what happened.

And I don't think the nations and people fleeing to live outside their jurisdiction, I think even the "host" nation would be a threat

Country that cant defend itself from something as meager as third world pirates is no country.

We dont live 1960s anymore.

Also a certain nation in Asia(North Korea) has reports of abducting people from boats in sea, they may attack you and the outside world would never know what happened.

And I don't think the nations and people fleeing to live outside their jurisdiction, I think even the "host" nation would be a threat

Country that cant defend itself from something as meager as third world pirates is no country.

We dont live 1960s anymore.

The compound is always transforming; the couple add structures and repair damage from storms, which can be quite severe

Freedom Cove runs on solar energy and generators and a fresh water system Wayne constructed

The couple make trips to land every two weeks and joke about feeling 'landsick' when they leave their beloved floating paradise

The compound includes gardens, a dance floor, a garage for boats, living and artistic space

Wayne and Catherine operate an open-door policy and invite curious tourists into their home, showing them around Freedom Cove and giving them homemade candles as parting gifts

They say their lifestyle has been a 'learn by doing' experience - teaching them, for example, to anchor Freedom Cove with weighted ropes during storms

Much of their daily routine focuses on maintenance and the couple say they were aware of hardships and risks, but they would not want to live any other way.

Also a certain nation in Asia(North Korea) has reports of abducting people from boats in sea, they may attack you and the outside world would never know what happened.

And I don't think the nations and people fleeing to live outside their jurisdiction, I think even the "host" nation would be a threat

Country that cant defend itself from something as meager as third world pirates is no country.

We dont live 1960s anymore.

But nobody here mentioned sea steading next to New York or Copenhagen southern Asia is still quite exciting place.

How many armed and motivated Indonesians would I need to take over this sea steading utopia and turn it into large prison for everybody? Ten? Twenty?

Or lets say, you like Metal Gear Solid and find Zanzibar to be good starting place. Somalians cant read but they sure know how to operate a rpg.

And then what? Call a mama (aka bad ol government)? You cant run on a sea and you sure as hell wont outswim speedboats of these guys.

Look at the guns in the picture 2 posts up. Look what is said about the Somalians: "Somalians cant read but they sure know how to operate a rpg."

I can read. I am reasonably intelligent. But I am not allowed in gun-loving old USA to have an assortment of guns like this. It costs too much. Same said much of western Europe. And that's besides the anti-gun laws.

Seasteading is about freedom. Who gives those Somalians their guns? If they can have them, so can we... and bigger and better guns... out there where nobody denies us our rights.