Saturday Morning Cheerful Links

by | May 16, 2020 | Daily Links | 255 comments

I’ve been doing some math. The amount of PanicProp, shrieking, and fear-mongering is constant. But it’s confined to fewer people as so many are figuring out that they’re being constantly lied to by government and news media. So we can quantitatively know that the Ree Variable is reaching all time highs in its increasingly restricted population, through basic mathematical logic. It just feels like this movie was far ahead of its time. We’re at that level of derangement and cynicism, and this makes me cheerful indeed.

There are, nonetheless, birthdays, and mostly spaced at a proper Leper Length. As a few examples, a guy for whom butter had no worth; a guy who should have had a vasectomy; an interesting guy who got much right (and much wrong); a guy who actually herded cats; a guy who made entertainment what it is today; the busiest drummer on the planet; one of the few truly creative minds in rock music; Mr. Shake and Bake- sorry, DOCTOR Shake and Bake; and a political hack who has gotten famous for reasons I cannot fathom.

News next.

 

IMPEACH! THIS TIME WE’VE GOT HIM!

 

I’m not saying it’s racism, but it’s racism.

 

Europe is a beacon of liberty.

 

Ohio Man. (h/t Nephilium)

 

It’s always so nice to see scientific journals have complete objectivity and staying well clear of stupid partisanship.

 

I haven’t been around much this week, so I missed this piece of wonderful performance art.

 

Least surprising news of the day.

 

I can’t even see this as a decent piece of meaningless political posturing. It just… looks pathetic.

 

 

Old Guy Music is just to feed my guitar Jones. One of my favorite standards, rendered just… perfectly. My inner guitarist watches Bucky with total awe; he’s playing MUSIC.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me. Wait, wrong book, I'll find something else.

255 Comments

  1. DOOMco

    The walls are finally closing in.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Channeling Jen Rubin?

  2. JD is in the United Karendom

    I thought you said this was going to be cheerful?!

    Morning, Glibs.

    • JD is in the United Karendom

      the hackers now threaten to reveal “dirty laundry” on President Donald Trump in just a week if they are not paid in full.

      So, uh, some seedy deepfake video that reveals more about the hackers’ depraved kinks than it does about BOM? Or some fabricated, Steele-esque gossip about something something Russians something? Or maybe something something tax “evasion” something something? Whatever, isn’t making that threat just an invitation to drag it out and call their bluff to give Ds another talking point to hammer all the way into November and beyond? I wonder how many of those celebrities will be willing to sacrifice their own privacy if it means getting one over on evil Cheetos Hitler.

      • Atanarjuat

        Yeah, the latter could probably result in some hilarious blue-on-blue violence. Rhetorically.

        Regarding the former, I suspect it is correspondence between Trump and one of the lawyer’s clients, maybe something relevant to a dispute they had.

  3. Shpip

    The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the flagship agency for the nation’s public health, has seen its role minimised and become an ineffective and nominal adviser in the response to contain the spread of the virus.

    Maybe their role wouldn’t have been minimized if (and bear with me, I’m just spitballin’ here) they were actually good at their job.

    • DOOMco

      But it’s the government. When did that become a requirement?

    • Sean

      That’s just crazy talk.

      ?

    • juris imprudent

      “So what exactly is it that you do here”?

    • kbolino

      Everything that happened up until mid-March has been forgotten or retroactively rewritten. The CDC was twiddling its thumbs like the WHO and Western media wanted right up until everyone freaked out over what was going on in Italy. Now, the story is that the Trump administration was incompetent and asleep at the wheel, even though basically every developed country not named Taiwan or South Korea is going through pretty much the same thing, and even though they were all following the then-current advice of the “experts” in Europe and North America.

      This is a crisis of “expertise” but it is far easier and far more politically useful to play the BadOrangeMan game.

  4. Count Potato

    I am so tired of this shit.

    • JD is in the United Karendom

      Every damned day.

  5. DOOMco

    3t won’t last us a month! We need at least twice as much while we wait for a vaccine!

    • Oy the Billy-Bumbler

      Why don’t we just be done with it and give all the money in the world to everyone?

      • Juvenile Bluster

        We can just print it! All of it! At this point what’s another $10 trillion in debt among friends?

    • Fourscore

      Beautiful music, OM, great choice in the morning

      • Old Man With Candy

        The chord work just killed me.

  6. The Late P Brooks

    it’s confined to fewer people as so many are figuring out that they’re being constantly lied to by government and news media. So we can quantitatively know that the Ree Variable is reaching all time highs in its increasingly restricted population, through basic mathematical logic. It just feels like this movie was far ahead of its time. We’re at that level of derangement and cynicism, and this makes me cheerful indeed.

    I wish I could say I believed that. People seem to be miffed about personal inconveniences, but oblivious to the big picture. And there’s always, “Think of how much worse it would have been!” Mostly from people who haven’t missed a single paycheck.

    I was talking to my brother yesterday, and he was yowling about how criminally incompetent “the response” was. He wasn’t referring to the economic destruction, either. He’s a full bore TDSer.

    • Annoyed Nomad

      I’m also doubtful that people are as skeptical of the lockdowns as i wish they were. A couple days ago I got an email from MyHeritage to complete a coronavirus survey. I thought “why not” and completed it. After completing the survey you could see the results to date. The first question was along the lines of “How worried/concerned are you about the coronovirus?”. I was part of the 5% that said “not at all”. The next level, “somewhat worried” was about 23%. The next two levels were labeled something like “very worried” and “extremely worried” – I remember those two selections represented about 70% of the responses. It’s depressing.

    • JD is in the United Karendom

      Exactly what she needed in the propaganda wars.

      • DOOMco

        Yeah they will definitely be using that for everything it’s worth

    • Ted S.

      False flag operation?

  7. Count Potato

    “But today, even printer sales are down”

    I hope they don’t become extinct.

    • DOOMco

      As long as we keep the money printer we’ll all be ok.

  8. Atanarjuat

    Carlson is far more thought-provoking than the other talking heads on cable TV. Yes, I know, skinniest kid in fat camp.

    • kbolino

      Ingraham is tolerable but I find her cadence a little off.

    • Fourscore

      And TC wears a bow tie, well, he used to, until he got invited to a non-alcoholic cocktail party. Then he had to go to the East Side.

    • Drake

      Yes – since they pulled Kennedy’s show, his is the only “news entertainment” show I’ll consider. He and his guests went a long way towards convincing my wife this is all a scam being run by totalitarians.

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        Is Kennedy a cancellation or hiatus?

        Matt and Kmele once said on The Fifth Column that L.I. barks at the crew during commercial breaks.

      • Count Potato

        Kennedy got cancelled?

      • Drake

        I don’t know. It’s not on right now. I’ve seen her on other Fox panels – kind of like Charles Payne.

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        Strange Inheritance
        reruns in her time slot. I like that show though. Lee Harvey Oswald’s tombstone, cliff dwellings, giant thermometer…

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        (er, cliff paintings)

    • Chafed

      I liked before his current show. He didn’t go for nationalist bullshit. His current incarnation seems designed to fit the times.

  9. Rhywun

    Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Acton checked all their boxes. She’s a woman. She campaigned for Barack Obama. And as some of her protester critics have noted, she’s a Jew.

    And… I’m out.

    • ruodberht

      Her protester critics include Ilhan Omar? Huh, TIL.

    • Drake

      That is how you play that card.

  10. Count Potato

    “The Trump administration further chipped away at the CDC’s capacity to combat infectious diseases. CDC staff in China were cut back with the last remaining CDC officer recalled home from the China CDC in July, 2019, leaving an intelligence vacuum when COVID-19 began to emerge.”

    I thought the China kicked them out?

    • kbolino

      Let’s suppose they had still been there. What would have happened differently?

      1. The PRC was ordering its own doctors to shut up in the early days of the disease. Why would American doctors be treated any differently?
      2. The disease was first discovered outside of the PRC in Taiwan, which as far as I can tell has no U.S. CDC presence to appease the PRC. If we had had a presence in the ROC instead, we might have actually gotten useful info early on.
      3. In the early weeks after Taiwan blew the whistle, the PRC was using its mouthpieces at the WHO to spread misinformation. How would the CDC in the PRC have gotten the truth?
      4. Now it seems very likely the outbreak in Wuhan wasn’t fully contained and the PRC’s case and death numbers are artificially low. Does anyone think the CDC would have been allowed to do its own testing and contradict the state narrative?

  11. The Late P Brooks

    The truckers’ grievances are numerous and varied. They include what they say are unfairly low freight rates during the coronavirus pandemic, price-gouging by the brokers, ill-conceived safety regulations and permissive federal attitudes toward the autonomous vehicles that threaten their occupation.

    Uh-huh. Those HEROES deserve to get in on the action, price-gouging-wise.

  12. Crusty Juggler

    “a guy who should have had a vasectomy;”

    Celebrating pedophile filmmakers while taking a shot at the star of Barbarella and Klute?

    The screenname checks out.

    • Count Potato

      Maybe he didn’t like Dirty Mary Crazy Larry

    • Q Continuum

      The desperation is palpable.

    • Drake

      The other night Tucker played a clip of Senator Biden making a speech about how unmasking Americans should be illegal. The remarkable thing wasn’t the hypocrisy whatever, it was how lucid Joe used to be – he’s giving a speech without notes and not stumbling over his words once. Made me kind of sad for the guy.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    he had some red hats handed out to protest participants.

    Call the FEC!

  14. Crusty Juggler

    “and a political hack who has gotten famous for reasons I cannot fathom.”

    He has eschewed all his principles to tell it like it is!

  15. The Late P Brooks

    So, uh, some seedy deepfake video that reveals more about the hackers’ depraved kinks than it does about BOM?

    Now I have a South Park style animated porn vignette featuring Trump and Madeline Albright in my head. Thanks a lot.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    You know, none of this would ever have happened if the Supreme Court had just nullified the 22nd Amendment and allowed Obama to be President For Life.

    Spinelessness, is what it was.

  17. gbob

    What a depressing series of links. Then again, what else do you have to work with? As we dive into the end of western civilization, I doubt there’s going to be much good news until we destroy our dollar, the people riot, civilization falls and we wait generations to pick up the pieces.

    On the bright side, I’ve noticed some artists doing songs about the Woo Flu.

    Obviously, there’s Norm McDonald’s Bat Soup song.

    Here’s Dan Bern’s ‘Til the Quarentine is thru..

    And there’s Spose and Ekoh with a fun little rap thing doing Cooped Up.

    Anybody find any other ones out there?

    You know what I really miss? Waking up happy that it’s Saturday. Bouncing off of bed, cleaning the empty bottles from the night before, doing a bong rip, enjoying a complicated breakfast of some sort, getting lawn work done, then going off to take photos or hang with people. Now it’s an eternal Saturday that gives me no reason to actually get out of bed.

    Fuck it. The weather is supposed to be nice. The god damned robins who built the nest on top of my only ladder have flown off this morning, allowing me to finally repair the gutters.

    • Yusef drives an Island

      Spose, Love it!

    • Random Drunken Asshole

      Squirrel Nut Zippers: La Grippe 2020

  18. Q Continuum

    Wow, that Ohio article is so loaded with stolen bases, fallacies and lies that it should be taught in debate classes of what not to do.

    • leon

      I think that is all that is taught in debate classes these days.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Just talk really fast and use a lot of appeals to pity.

      • DrOtto

        You forgot shout down your opponent with charges of racism to close.

  19. Atanarjuat

    Mostly from people who haven’t missed a single paycheck.

    On the Tome of Visages, the three who are screeching loudest are a public school teacher, public school librarian, and a doctor.

  20. Gender Traitor

    So….passing a bill that limits an unelected public official’s authority is “bullying”?? “They’re only doing it ‘cuz she’s a (((GURRL)))!!!”

    • Q Continuum

      And a partisan Dem and a Joo. Sez so right there in the article!

  21. Count Potato

    “Long-struggling JC Penney files for bankruptcy as coronavirus crushes hopes for a quick turnaround”

    Sad, although I wonder how companies known for their catalogs like JP Penney and Sears couldn’t take advantage of the internet.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      JCP should have filed years ago.

    • ruodberht

      Because plenty of entities already took advantage of the internet, and don’t have rent to pay.

      • Count Potato

        Walmart does both.

      • ruodberht

        Yep, plenty of entities, as I said….

      • Count Potato

        Right, but I don’t remember a Walmart paper catalog.

      • robc

        If Sears was competent, they would have been selling their entire catalog on the internet before Amazon started selling books.

    • Toxteth O’Grady

      They had surprisingly cute and inexpensive accessories. Their home furnishings OTOH could be oddly pricey.

    • Annoyed Nomad

      I got my first suit at JC Penney (pronounced Jacques Pennay).

    • Chafed

      That was more than marginal.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Never enough

    Environmentalists are lamenting the provisions in Democrats’ $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill slated for a vote Friday, arguing the House package is ambitious on several fronts but not climate and clean energy.

    The environmental provisions in the bill include $1.5 billion in funding for states and tribes to help low-income households pay for drinking water services and another $1.5 billion to help low-income households cover their energy costs.

    It also includes $50 million in grants to investigate the disproportionate impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on communities facing environmental inequalities and $111 million to track species “that could pose a biohazard risk to human health.”

    Green groups say that while they support those provisions and the overall bill, it doesn’t go far enough on pressing environmental issues.

    Melinda Pierce, the Sierra Club’s legislative director, said the legislation has “many important priorities for the country” but it “unfortunately leaves out COVID-19 related assistance that could save clean energy jobs.”

    ——-

    In introducing the legislation Tuesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Democrats needed to “think big.”

    “The chair of the Federal Reserve Bank has told us to ‘think big’ because interest rates are so low,” Pelosi said. “We intend to use those interest rates to bolster the American people.”

    “We must ‘think big’ for the people now because if we don’t, it will cost more in lives and livelihood later,” she added. “Not acting is the most expensive course.”

    Think big, America. Stalin was on the right track, but he didn’t really follow through. If we could just mobilize the workers, we might finally achieve our goals.

  23. Gender Traitor

    Who Still Buys Wite-Out, and Why?

    Everybody knows you use Wite-Out/Liquid Paper to coat the inside of the canister when you’re going to forge canister Damascus steel to create a signature blade in your signature style! Duh!

    • Toxteth O’Grady

      : Nez Hardest Hit

    • Annoyed Nomad

      That’s the first thing I thought of! We watch Forged in Fire regularly.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      “This blade will kill.”

      *shit eating grin*

  24. The Late P Brooks

    3t won’t last us a month! We need at least twice as much while we wait for a vaccine!

    Just give every American a credit card with no limit, and send the bills to the Treasury.

    We’ll be the wealthiest nation on Earth again!

    • Fourscore

      Good advice, Dr Navarro, deficits don’t matter, old news from a previous administration though. 97% of politicians agree, so there!

  25. The Late P Brooks

    “For Democrats and progressives to not lean into and stand up for emerging clean energy industries that are suffering right now, that’s a serious policy choice,” said Bracken Hendricks, co-founder of Evergreen, a new group aiming to push Congress and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden further left on climate issues.

    “I strongly support…some of the provisions that are being discussed, but I don’t think that the level of ambition or urgency in the current package reflects the real urgency of the moment,” he added.

    MUH HOBBYHORSE!

  26. Q Continuum

    The only thing that keeps me going now is that in the hopefully not too distant future, the response to the Kung Flu will go down as the worst public policy decision since the Civil War. Not even the New Deal did this much completely predictable self-inflicted damage to the country. And it was a response that was almost 100% media-driven. “Journalists” drummed up so much fear that the pols panicked and just started doing shit for the sake of being seen doing shit. And now the same “journalists” have the balls to either:

    A) Act completely shocked that the economy collapses when the government prevents economic activity or,
    B) Smugly asserts that all the economic losses are irrelevant to all the zillions of lives that have been saved*
    *citation needed

    Tits.

    https://i.pinimg.com/736x/71/4b/4e/714b4ea6876f736ff9e53ab7eb90db9c.jpg
    http://archive.li/ZoixS/56ebe3a345ec6703c744bd218f116599dcffe16a.jpg

    • Count Potato

      C) Tits.

      That’s the only thing that would make MSNBC/CNN watchable.

    • Shpip

      When I venture onto Derpbook, I’ve been calling it civilization’s biggest own goal since the city fathers of Troy decided to open the gates and drag that horse inside.

      • Crazy Capn Gunboat Willy

        This is one of the best comments I’ve ever read Regarding our current bull shit.

  27. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Between Chebyshev and Gauss, I think they consumed half of the time I spent crunching numbers during my engineering career.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Question for my Island-of-Broken-Toys comrades: If you were going to switch browsers (away from chrome), what would you choose?

    *must be compatible with Win 10

    • Q Continuum

      Brave or Opera.

      Firefox would be a backup if you don’t like either of those.

    • leon

      I exclusively use Firefox. Not for any reason of privacy, but that it doesn’t take up a gig of memory to run.

      • prolefeed

        Firefox won’t let you open Q’s tit links. At least on Windows 7.

      • westernsloper

        Ya, why is that? That DNS error thing sprouted up a few weeks ago. I feel cheated out of tits.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      IE6

    • EvilSheldon

      Opera. Brave is interesting, but it’s not ready for prime time last I checked.

  29. Q Continuum

    The thing about Obamagate is how utterly unsurprising it all is. Everyone’s known all along how it went down, it’s just that now we have the declassified documents to prove it.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/wingman-eric-holder-orchestrated-obamagate-says-successor-attorney-general

    Now that it’s a fait accompli (even though it failed), the fact that no one will go to jail over it means things like this will become commonplace. Representative government was (sorta) nice while it lasted.

    • Q Continuum

      LOCK EM ALL UP

      • R C Dean

        What, in crowded jails where they might get the sniffles?

        Nah. Just gun them down, Waco style. Remember, if enough cops kill enough people, you can’t prove any single cop killed any single person, so no cop gets prosecuted! Win-win, amirite?

      • Tejicano

        Waco style would be to burn them alive with their women and children, but I get your drift.

      • Atanarjuat

        I think he’s referring to the *other* mass murder of innocents committed by law enforcement that occurred in Waco, when cops opened fire at a biker bar a few years back.

      • kbolino

        Waco is big enough to have more than one instance of the police going overboard.

        In this case, I’m pretty sure R C Dean is referencing the 2015 bar shootout

      • kbolino

        Oh well, I guess I still added something in the form of a link.

      • R C Dean

        Yeah, that’s the one.

        Sorry, given the number of government massacres in Waco, I should have been more specific.

    • Rhywun

      It was warm yesterday – around 85. Not today.

      • Count Potato

        OK, but wait until June/July/August…

      • Rhywun

        Ugh no kidding.

    • Overt

      I love how the author slips in there, “many beach goers did not wear masks”. When the fuck did wearing a mask outdoors in the sun and sand become a requirement? There is absolutely zero reason to wear a mask outdoors.

    • Spartacus

      You should invite Invisible Harley Cheerleader Bikers in OMWC’s pic to join you.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    And it was a response that was almost 100% media-driven. “Journalists” drummed up so much fear that the pols panicked and just started doing shit for the sake of being seen doing shit.

    Pure emotionalism and fear-mongering, buttressed by preposterous numbers generated by egregiously flawed models.

    And nothing else happened.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Good morning all. I’m planning on the first motorcycle ride of the season, followed by adult beverages, then christening the “rona” fire pit I built.

    SWEET. Whatcha ridin’?

    • Timeloose

      FJ-09 Yamaha.

    • Timeloose

      You ride? Waves hi while passing.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Brave or Opera.

    Are they free? I have a dim memory of Opera being a subscription, or something, but that was many many moons ago. As I recall, I tried it on the Mac and liked it.

    • Q Continuum

      They are both free.

    • leon

      Opera is free if I remember right. Never used brave. I like Firefox because some of my plugins (onepass) works on it

      • egould310

        My work provides me with a laptop. My IT guy has it loaded for Firefox. If that paranoid, overly-cautious genius loads Firefox on to the company laptops, it’s probably the safest, most secure browser out there.

    • kbolino

      The original creator of Opera sold it to a consortium of Chinese interests a few years ago. If you’re looking for a browser that isn’t collecting your data for questionable purposes, Opera is probably not the right choice.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    I was using Firefox on the (linux) laptop. It worked fine, but the laptop developed a weird (possibly remote-keyboard-and-mouse-related) glitch.

    Trying to scroll with the mouse would zoom the page in and out. I should see if it will work without the remote inputters.

    • Count Potato

      I’m sure there is a config file for the mouse.

    • LJW

      Try pushing Ctrl-Alt-Shift a couple times

  34. Scruffy Nerfherder

    So France is giving online services an hour to respond to complaints about posts?

    No troll is going to abuse that.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    JCP should have filed years ago.

    Why file for bankruptcy, when Bernanke and Yellin are shoving money through the teller window at you?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Creative destruction is definitely out of fashion.

    • Spartacus

      I thought they already had.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    If you’re looking for a browser that isn’t collecting your data for questionable purposes, Opera is probably not the right choice.

    Ahh, so.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Try pushing Ctrl-Alt-Shift a couple times

    THX!

  38. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Carlson is a lot of things, but mindless political hack isn’t one of them.

    Sure, he’s an economic protectionist and social conservative, but he’s willing to criticize the GOP for being a bunch of self serving assholes.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Just gun them down, Waco style. Remember, if enough cops kill enough people, you can’t prove any single cop killed any single person, so no cop gets prosecuted! Win-win, amirite?

    At this point, I honestly want to see stories popping up about, “Mob beats cop senseless for enforcing social distancing.”

  40. The Late P Brooks

    When I venture onto Derpbook, I’ve been calling it civilization’s biggest own goal since the city fathers of Troy decided to open the gates and drag that horse inside.

    Most excellent.

    • Agent Cooper

      The Standard, formerly La Fogata. The police shouldn’t worry as everyone there will be dead soon!

  41. The Late P Brooks

    How much of our panic-stricken response was driven by the rumors of the plague being an escaped bio-weapon?

    • kbolino

      The panic was, in my estimation, an overcorrection to the inaccuracy of the original (mis)information about the disease and overreaction to the original response having unintended consequences. We went from hug a Chinese person and otherwise go about your business as usual to lockdown and fear because, while the disease is not half as serious as they are now making it out to be, it was more serious than they originally claimed it to be. It also hit at a time of complacency in Western health systems, because SARS and MERS were treated as foreign diseases that didn’t have much impact here.

      I think the “escaped bioweapon” angle was never given much credence by any of those involved.

    • Fourscore

      I’m still coasting on my conspiracy theory that it was a D reaction looking, looking, for something to coat Trump with.

      “Hey, here’s a flu bug, some people are getting sick in Asia”

      “Trump is doing nothing about the flu from China”

      Repubs/Trump. “We gotta get ahead of this thing, they’re killing us in the polls”

      Trump “Throw some money at it”

      Shit starts and runs down hill

    • Rufus the Monocled

      Why for real.

    • Crazy Capn Gunboat Willy

      Maybe the WH got assurances from world health org that they’d be a little less inclined to drop to their knees and suck Chicom dick at the drop of a hat.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Headline:

    “Trump wants vaccine by year’s end”

    Okay, then.

    Don’t forget the pony.

    • mrfamous

      I think we’ll definitely get a ‘vaccine.’ It will likely have about a 20% effectiveness rate and wouldn’t be considered a vaccine under any normal circumstances, but it will serve its purpose of calming all the “mask it or casket” people down.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    A Pony in Every Pot!

  44. Rufus the Monocled

    RE Wite-Out (aka White-Out to SJW):

    “Who’s still buying these things?”

    Items iberal The Atlantic writers wonder why people still buy:

    – Little Debbie.
    -Sliced bread.
    -Chips Ahoy.
    -Dole Fruit Cups.
    -Boxed juice.
    -Rulers,
    -Binders.
    -Folders.

    • Fourscore

      Rulers have been bought and sold for 1000s of years, price inflation and all.

    • EvilSheldon

      Does an engineering scale count? ‘Cause I just made my work buy me a new one.

  45. Rufus the Monocled

    Spoke to my pay who spoke to his friend in Italy. They told him the country was in practical rebellion mode. If you notice, it seems two-months is about the longest people are willing to play along charades. After that, it’s fuck you. I find it interesting, if not odd, everyone decided to ‘relax restrictions’ after the two month mark. Methinks governments know if they go bond this they push civil disorder and so pretend they’re still controlling things by opening through stupid phasing which is just more theatre.

    Which makes me wonder why the USA (and it seems Canada) are doubling down in some states by EXTENDING it (seemingly indefinitely) by as much as three months. I want to believe it’s because of November because it’s blue states acting the most utterly retarded.

    Exhibit A. How the frick will NY even function? They’re living in paralysis world:

    https://forward.ny.gov/metrics-guide-reopening-new-york?fbclid=IwAR03uoB–79lyQEgy4weuDGlSWfFInQoGP9G5pUr4DhcGNG9JZ-G1lvHvVM#business-precautions

    • Toxteth O’Grady

      e.g., response to the perceived (and IMO improbable) threat to Roe posed by Kavanaugh.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    Loading…

    Hillary Clinton is condemning armed protests calling for the end to stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic, calling the demonstrations “domestic terrorism.”

    “Armed men storming a legislature to disrupt its democratic proceedings is domestic terrorism. It cannot be tolerated,” Clinton tweeted Friday.

    ——-

    Some 200 protesters turned out for Thursday’s event, where one demonstrator was seen carrying an American flag with a doll hanging by a noose. The event mirrored a similar protest at the end of April, during which hundreds of protesters — many armed with rifles — entered the Capitol.

    One man is reportedly facing charges over death threats to Whitmer, and Newsweek reports there have been posts online calling to lynch her as well as suggestions to crowdfund for a hitman.

    One man. That’s all it takes to tar a million.

    • kbolino

      Armed men storming a legislature to disrupt its democratic proceedings is domestic terrorism. It cannot be tolerated

      The legislature was not stormed and its procedures were not disrupted.

      But other than those minor inaccuracies, Clinton is spot on here.

      • leon

        Democrats love to call their opposition terrorists, in part I hear because they know that the rules are thrown out to stop terrorism.

      • leon

        Fear not hear

      • kbolino

        An entirely unpredictable turn of events that no one could have foreseen every civil liberties advocate warned about.

        Sadly, a decade and change later, about half of those civil liberties advocates discovered they like these new powers and the bad people they get used against are bad so fuck ’em.

    • leon

      Can’t let the people get uppity and believe they actually have rights.

    • Juvenile Bluster

      I will agree (shudder) that I roll my eyes at the dudes who are more or less cosplaying with their weapons at these protests (my favorite was the one at the Subway in Raleigh with a black painted piece of wood with some metal glued to it). But those idiots don’t even make up a tiny percentage of people at these protests.

    • EvilSheldon

      When you get called a terrorist often enough, eventually you’re gonna say, ‘Fuck it,’ and start acting like one. This is not a can that you want to open.

  47. Rufus the Monocled

    What worries me is they’re now finding asymptomatic people testing positive for Covid. How will they react to this?

    • Count Potato

      They have been finding those for a long time now.

  48. Rufus the Monocled

    Does anyone know much about how life was once the Spanish flu – or other flus like the Asian and Russian – ran its course?

    Were there any ‘new normals or was it temporary in nature (which is what I’m hoping will be the case here)’? Or did people just keep going? And when exactly did we begin to work on the influenza vaccine? Did people alter their lives waiting for a vaccine like we’re doing with Covid?

    • kbolino

      The next thing to happen was the Roaring 20s so I’d say things returned to normal pretty solidly.

      But, as Drake has pointed out, it did influence residential construction and planning, especially/initially in the West.

      • Drake

        I had read this.

        Los Angeles County, famous for being an “automotive metropolis,” was actually laid out in the 1890s as suburbs. The thought process was that even if fathers of families had to risk their lives by working in the city, wives and children would be safe from contagion and also able to exercise and grow some family food. It was seen in the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak that, indeed, tightly packed dense cities had almost double the infection rates as suburbs and rural areas. The fifth lesson in 1918 was clear, as it should be clear today: density kills.

        Outbreaks of different diseases seem to happen every decade or so. People used to just deal.
        Hong Kong Flu – 67-68 – killed 110,000 Americans
        1957–1958 influenza pandemic – 70,000 to 116,000 Americans killed

      • Plinker762

        So equivalent to approx. 160,000 and 200,000 based on relative population?

    • Juvenile Bluster

      We did a lot of the same things, including mask wearing and social distancing, during the Spanish Flu. But obviously medicine wasn’t the same. The first experimental flu vaccine wouldn’t come for another 15 years, and they weren’t given to people until World War II.

      We more or less waited that one out. The pandemic more or less petered out by the middle of 1919, and life returned to normal.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        And that was lethal. So I’m gonna take it as a positive that we’re likely to get back to normal quicker than we think.

        Social media only scares the retards. You know, the sort of moron who thanks a Governor for saving them.

        Imagine how dumb and scared you have to be to write that.

      • R C Dean

        There were actually a lot of cities who closed some businesses and churches during the Spanish Flu. The difference is, they came at it from the opposite direction. They didn’t say “Close everything, except for this list of essential businesses”. They said “Close these high risk businesses”. Big difference.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Some places did lockdowns then as well.

        In the current situation, Gov Kunt here did only close what she considered high risk businesses. It still cratered the economy even before non-closed businesses started losing their own revenue.

  49. Juvenile Bluster

    I’d like to get y’alls opinion on something.

    Kid’s going into middle school next year, still in the same charter school she’s been in since kindergarten (and the same one she’ll be in until she graduates high school). Obviously moving up from elementary to middle is where they really separate the kids academically. Generally they’d decide where to place them via the end-of-year tests, but since those aren’t happening this year, the teachers are deciding. Except her math teacher (who’s also the director of math curriculum for the school) decided to ask us.

    Three levels of math in middle school: Regular (normal state standards for 6th-7th-8th grade), Advanced (accelerated; 6th grade covers 6th grade standards and the first half of 7th grade, 7th grade covers the rest of 7th grade standards and 8th grade, 8th grade is Algebra I for High School credit), or GEM (super-advanced, two years ahead, 6th grade pre-algebra covers 6th-8th grade standards, 7th grade is Algebra I for HS credit, 8th grade is Geometry for HS credit). We were told that she qualifies for either advanced math or GEM math.

    On the one hand, I’d love to put her into the GEM program. Being in the most advanced course of study would likely be good for her future. This also allows her to take college credit classes once she gets to 11th grade (they have an agreement with the community college). On the other hand, she’s always been good with math (A’s and high B’s) but she doesn’t particularly love the subject, and I’m worried that I’d be pushing her into it because it’s what I want rather than what’s best for her. Plus taking a high school credit class (that will go on her eventual transcript) is a lot for a 7th grader.

    • kbolino

      This sounds very similar to the choices that existed in Maryland schools when I was in middle school (2000-2002). I was in the equivalent of the GEM program, doing Pre-Algebra in 6th grade, Algebra I in 7th grade, and Geometry in 8th grade. I found the pace challenging but not insurmountable. You do feel slightly apart from the rest of your grade, though.

      Comparatively, when I got to see the pace of “regular” honors math, I found it tedious. They slow-roll everything, in my opinion. You re-learn the same things over and over again. I’m glad I took the program I did, as it also meant I was ready for calculus in high school. For what it’s worth, I felt the same way as your daughter did at the time: I was good at math but I didn’t like it. Then I went on to major in and get a bachelor’s degree in math, so so much for not liking it.

      I think you should ask her what she wants to do, and explain the trade-offs. If she decides to take the GEM route then you’ve still got about a year and a half to move her into the slower-paced option if she’s struggling too much.

    • Gender Traitor

      Is it possible she doesn’t love math because she finds it boring due to the way it’s being taught? As kbolino says, it may be “slow-rolled,” with too much repetition. A more challenging pace may be more engaging to her.

    • Toxteth O’Grady

      Can you or someone tutor her if she runs into GEM difficulty? It might be a blow to her ego if she were demoted. “I told you, Dad!” /cries, runs off, slams bedroom door

    • Florida Man

      In public school you can always drop down. If she is struggling in advanced she could probably change to standard after the first quarter.

    • Spartacus

      I have a couple of thoughts:
      1. Middle school math standards are highly repetitive (especially in Florida), so unless your kid has memory problems, going through a somewhat accelerated curriculum shouldn’t be a problem.
      2. There are different ways to do this. When my son was in a gifted program in middle school, his math teacher’s idea of a gifted class was to give them 40 problems a night instead of 20. Same kinds of exercises, just more of them. This is a recipe for failure and behavior problems for a bright kid. You should find out if they do anything *different* or if it’s just the same content harder and faster.
      3. Florida has an end of year exam for algebra I (and geometry I think) that they have to pass to get high school credit. Just an FYI
      4. Lots of places now have a GEM-like program, and there are several different ways to do it. For ones that are based in the high school, the college credit classes offered in those programs are usually the most basic ones they can offer, and unless there are a lot of students in that program, the options will be very limited. For instance, if your kid wants to pursue a science or engineering degree, then a small program won’t offer enough dual enrollment math at a high enough level to be useful (many of them will just offer college algebra and precalculus at the school). If college credit is a priority, then you might be better off looking into AP or IB programs, where students can still get college credit, but in more advanced courses. You can also look into early admission, which involves simply starting college early, full time. In Florida, universities do not offer dual enrollment, but we can and do have early admission programs. FAU has a decent one. My university has an Accelerated College Experience program, where students who qualify simply do 11th and 12th grade here as a full time student. They are technically still part of the school system so they don’t pay tuition and they get free books. At the end of 12th grade they get a HS diploma and an AA degree simultaneously. I don’t know the exact percentage, but many of our ACE alumni are now in PhD programs or med school.

      If you want to talk more offline, let me know. There are many options out there that most people simply don’t know exist.

      Disclaimer: I have worked as a consultant with AP off and on since 1997, and was on the writing team for Florida’s math standards in 2006 (? or so), right before common core came along and trashed all our work.

      • Juvenile Bluster

        Thanks a lot. That’s some really good info.

      • Overt

        Sorry I was a little late to the party, but my Daughter is just finishing the “Middle Ground” math in 8th grade. Like your kid, she had the choice of all three, and has decided to take the Accelerated, not Super Advanced.

        It really, really depends on your school. If the school/teacher believes that all kids are capable of Advanced math (and it’s just how hard they are willing to work), then I think it is worth it to go for Advanced. However, at my daughter’s school the math faculty has the attitude that “some kids just can’t do advanced math”. So what happens is the kid has trouble with a problem, and the teacher rolls their eyes at them and makes some snide comment like, “are you sure you should be in this class?” It is like they are constantly offering these kids the opportunity to tap out, rather than encouraging them to challenge themselves.

        As a result, my daughter chose to do the Accelerated program, in the advanced classes, they give you worksheets and tell you to read the book, and “ask the teacher questions if they need help”, which was basically driving her to tears. But in the accelerated program, they have more time where they are actually taught by the teacher.

        So again, I would recommend talking to the teachers to get their sense of attitude. I wish my daughter had stuck with the advanced math, but it was just too hard to try and talk her off the “I’m so stupid” ledge each night of homework. As it is, she should get through Calculus II by the end of High School, which will allow her to coast into pretty much any degree in college, whether it is Science or Arts focused.

  50. Rhywun

    Live Fußball on Fox Sports 1 and 2. ?

  51. The Late P Brooks

    How do we reach these hicks?

    The mayor of Madison, Wis., is slamming this week’s decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to overturn the governor’s stay-at-home order, saying businesses are not in a position to reopen and warning that the coronavirus will only spread as a result.

    “There is absolutely a danger here, and that’s why it’s so irresponsible of the court to have struck down the governor’s ‘Safer at Home’ order without a plan in place for how we transition out of it safely,” Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said in an NPR interview Friday.

    “This is the Supreme Court that thought it was safe for us to hold an election in person during a pandemic, and what we saw from that is that dozens and dozens of people got sick. I expect the same to happen with this decision.”

    ——-

    The mayor, a Democrat, called the court’s ruling “outrageous and irresponsible” and said her office would focus on education to help residents understand how to follow the stay-at-home order that Madison continues to enforce. If that doesn’t work, she said, citations are possible.

    “I have to say, though, that for the most part people have been quite good about this here in Madison, and it has been very effective,” she said. “We have flattened our curve, I think quite effectively.”

    ——-

    Rhodes-Conway said she understood the concerns of those who have lost their jobs or are struggling financially because of the pandemic, but she said public health must take priority.

    “This has been economically devastating for many people here in Madison and for the city as well, frankly,” she said. “And so we are all eager to get things open again, but only in a way that’s safe for everyone.”

    She feels their pain. Theoretically, anyway. She’s still getting paid. The repo man isn’t in her driveway.

    But she must stay strong, and love her subjects sternly. The more they disappoint her, the longer they will stay locked in the basement.

    • Drake

      I bet I know how residents will follow the stay-at-home order that Madison continues to enforce – get in their cars and drive the fuck out of there.

    • Juvenile Bluster

      I would say that I’m surprised that the media is STILL getting this wrong, but I’m not.

      They did not say that the *governor* can’t issue these orders. He can. They said that an unelected medial bureaucrat can’t do it. He doesn’t want to put his own name on it.

      Also, there’s zero evidence anyone got sick as a result of the election.

    • Rhywun

      what we saw from that is that dozens and dozens of people got sick

      To be sure.

      • R C Dean

        Pretty sure that’s just a flat out lie.

        Battlespace prep for an election fraudfest in November.

      • Rufus the Monocled

        I’m convinced they’re pushing this as far and as close to November as they can to hurt Trump.

        Oh yes, they’re more than willing to hurt ‘deplorables’ because of Trump.

        Malice for political expediency is their game. Not a lick of science or stats backs a lockdown at this point.

      • leon

        Dozens and dozens? So 144 people got sick from the election? The horror!

    • Gustave Lytton

      The mayor, a Democrat, called the court’s ruling “outrageous and irresponsible”

      Right up there with Jackson or Wallace.

  52. Count Potato

    “Imagine sitting at home on a Friday nite thinking about Biden…What’s he wearing in your fantasy? I picture him in a bloody, greasy “Fuck Space Force” t-shirt. Nothing else. Oval Office Spread Eagle on the Resolute Desk #CreepyJoe2020 I’d rather vomit for Biden than die for Trump”

    https://twitter.com/TomArnold/status/1261501151796592640

    Looks like the Bee and SF are going to need a bigger boat.

    • EvilSheldon

      Tom Arnold is a closet SugarFree fan? Who knew?

    • Drake

      Good Lord – he got annihilated in the comments!

      Tom, the difference between Bridget and you is Bridget has a career to look forward to.

    • SweatingGin

      Shirt cocking Biden?

      Plausible, but horrifying

    • kbolino

      “die for Trump”

      Ah, this reminds me of the anti-Goldwater spirit (though Trump is no Goldwater). That maniac Goldwater is going to get us all killed, we have to vote for peace-loving LBJ!

  53. Count Potato

    “New York is the only state with large coronavirus outbreaks among its long-term care facilities that doesn’t count residents who died at a hospital.

    The NYSDOH confirmed to the DCNF that until around April 28, it was disclosing coronavirus deaths for all nursing home and adult care facility residents, regardless of whether the patient died at their long-term care facility or at a hospital.

    But the department made a subtle change to its disclosures beginning around May 3, according to web archives. The NYSDOH told the DCNF its disclosure now only reports coronavirus deaths for long-term care patients that died while physically present at their facility.”

    https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/15/new-york-coronavirus-reporting-nursing-home-deaths-undercounting/

    Jiggery-pokery indeed.

    • Drake

      I’d love to know how may died at facilities where the state forced them to accept infected patients. They very purposely killed over 5,000 people this way.

      • kbolino

        I don’t think it was purposeful, as in they meant for people to die. I think they overestimated their own competence and knowledge and it had disastrous consequences.

      • Drake

        They knew theses patients were people were infected, and had underlying conditions, and were highly contagious. They knew that the assisted care faculties did not have the equipment, space, or staff to deal with it. And they knew all the other people there were the most vulnerable to the virus – old and with impaired health.

        What did they think was going to happen? It was the opposite of quarantining the sick and the vulnerable – they literally stuck them together.

      • kbolino

        They didn’t know these people were contagious. They thought negative test result = no risk of tranmission. They were wrong.

      • Drake

        In NY, NJ, and PA they were putting people with full-blown Covid-19 – symptoms and positive tests – into nursing homes. And forcing them to accept these patients via executive orders.

      • kbolino

        Well, fuck. Looks like you’re right:

        No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or
        suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is
        determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.

        Jesus H. Christ.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Oh, right, the states the media will tell you have been “doing things right”, as opposed to horrible states like Florida, which didn’t put COVID patients back into nursing homes.

      • R C Dean

        Foreseeable consequences, etc.

      • kbolino

        My original position was formed on the belief that these returning patients had been tested and found negative.

        As Drake pointed out, and I was able to verify with the official NYS DOH order, the requirement was only for the patients to be “medically stable” and in fact the nursing homes were forbidden from requiring tests or negative results.

        So yes, I’d say these consequences were entirely foreseeable. They made a gamble with people’s lives on both sides, and as it shook out, they picked the far deadlier option.

  54. Juvenile Bluster

    What’s the media’s reaction going to be, I wonder, if we get to, say, early June and there hasn’t been a gigantic surge of cases in states like Georgia and Texas that have opened earlier than others?

    • kbolino

      When have facts ever gotten in the way of the narrative before?

      Everyone knows everywhere that opened up too early turned into a coronavirus hotspot, just like everyone knows Donald Trump told people to drink bleach and fish tank cleaner.

    • R C Dean

      Lie about it. See the mayor of Madison, above.

    • Count Potato

      They are going spin and make shit up. Just like the Russians hacked the voting machines.

    • Crazy Capn Gunboat Willy

      “If it wasn’t for the previous lockdown measures, things would have been much worse During the reopen. See? Your life was saved by your betters, peasant. your business wasn’t destroyed for nothing. Here are directions to your nearest food line. Wait. They’re out. Nevermind. Should have got in line earlier, peasant. In other news, here’s the new thing you should be panicked about.”

    • Shpip

      Memory-holed, hand waved away…

  55. The Late P Brooks

    I’m still coasting on my conspiracy theory that it was a D reaction looking, looking, for something to coat Trump with.

    “Hey, here’s a flu bug, some people are getting sick in Asia”

    I agree 1000%, fourscore. If Hillary (or the Ascended One) were in the White House, there would never have been a lockdown. There would have been a lot of harrumphing and ass-covering, and, “We have public health professionals. Let’s keep working, and let them do their jobs!”

  56. The Late P Brooks

    What’s the media’s reaction going to be, I wonder, if we get to, say, early June and there hasn’t been a gigantic surge of cases in states like Georgia and Texas that have opened earlier than others?

    Bitter disappointment.

  57. The Late P Brooks

    When you get called a terrorist often enough, eventually you’re gonna say, ‘Fuck it,’ and start acting like one. This is not a can that you want to open.

    I find myself sliding from anarcho-capitalism to straight up nihilism. I’m sick and fucking tired of being sick and fucking tired. Being pissed off all the time will do that to you, I guess.

    • Drake

      Yep. You think I’m an incompetent terrorist? I’ll show you what I can do when properly motivated.

    • Sean

      Planning on going dozer shopping?

      • SweatingGin

        Only 19 shopping days left until Killdozer Day

    • mrfamous

      I really have had to dial back my frustration during this and focus on the things I can at least affect (if not control). The world is going to be senseless and irrational for as long as we are on it, but there are things you can do to ameliorate some of the obvious downsides to that. Getting out of bed is irrational; pick the irrationalities that are useful to you and that you can live with and move on.

  58. The Late P Brooks

    What worries me is they’re now finding asymptomatic people testing positive for Covid. How will they react to this?

    In (mostly) controlled/isolated groups, like prisons and Navy boats, “infected” people seem to be 85-90% asymptomatic unaffected.

    And, yes, the Party line is that they are catastrophically contagious, as opposed to “immune”.

  59. R C Dean

    This seems odd:

    There was a “leaked” “private” talk by Obama where he referred to Flynn committing perjury. At that time, Flynn had been not been accused of committing perjury. Then, a few days later, judge Sullivan announced, on his own motion out of the clear blue sky, that he was considering jailing Flynn for perjury. Pretty much unprecedented to charge someone seeking to withdraw a guilty plea with perjury. Even prosecutors don’t do that, much less judges on their own motion. So it’s not like this is something you would expect.

    You have two highly unusual events in close proximity to each other that are aligned. Sure, could be a coincidence, but is that the way to bet?

    • Rufus the Monocled

      Trevor Noah says ObaMAgaTE IS alL fAKe.

    • Fatty Bolger

      One might almost think that there’s a sort of “shadow government” behind the scenes that is still feeding information to (and colluding with?) a former President.

      As far as the perjury thing, that’s outrageous.

      • cyto

        It is creeping me out that the weird conspiracy theories are the most reasonable explanation.

        Someone here pointed me at these crazy rantings:

        https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/05/09/why-is-obama-panicking-now-the-importance-of-understanding-political-surveillance-in-the-era-of-president-obama/

        If the stuff about contractors and surveillance is true – there’s a really good chance that these “grassroots organizations” affiliated with Obama and Clinton have all sorts of information that would be useful for nudging people in the right direction.

      • RAHeinlein

        These are Career Officials – what part of Career don’t you understand?

      • kbolino

        The sudden and effusive outpouring of support for strangers whose only defining characteristic is that they work for the government has been somewhat creepy to say the least.

      • Akira

        No, Wikipedia debunked the Deep State:

        In the United States, the “deep state” is a conspiracy theory[1][2][3][4][5] which suggests that collusion and cronyism exist within the US political system and constitute a hidden government within the legitimately elected government.

        I mean, it’s absurd on its face. Cronyism, in the United States? Who would believe such a ridiculous thing?

        #FactsAndTruth

      • kbolino

        Interestingly, the article itself and the American section on the page about “deep state” (not just in the U.S.) is more even handed. But the leading first sentence’s citations come from the following sources:

        – New York Times
        – Vox
        – Foreign Policy
        – Washington Post (x2)
        – Rolling Stone
        – Salon
        – The Guardian
        – The New Yorker
        – The Atlantic

        That’s a tour de force of totally unbiased, not in the tank for the establishment or left wing, list of sources right there.

  60. The Late P Brooks

    OH! MY! GOD!

    Mere hours after the Wisconsin Supreme Court voted to reject a previously instituted extension of the state’s stay-at-home orders, bars in the state were packed with maskless patrons standing in close proximity to each other. “It’s been kinda boring sitting in my house. I love my fiancé, but there’s only so much we can handle from each other without having interaction with each other,” one West Allis, Wisconsin resident told a local news outlet.

    After the decision, a video of at least one crowded establishment, Nick’s Bar, was amplified online—leaving Trevor Noah feeling particularly outraged.

    “Now, look: I do sympathize with people in Wisconsin. I mean, even in normal times, they only get to be outside, like, two months a year. I mean, their weather is a natural lockdown,” the Daily Show host joked on Thursday night. “But here’s the thing that gets me. I understand people who feel like getting kids in school, getting back to work and reopening doctors’ offices is worth the risk of coronavirus. Right? I get it. I understand where you are coming from. But if the first thing you do when you’re not locked down is pack yourself into bars where you’re spraying into each other’s faces, something tells me you give zero fucks.”

    I’m going to go out on a limb, here, and suggest there might be something else they give zero fucks about, Trevor.

    • Rhywun

      That sack of garbage shits his stupid commercials all over CC when I’m watching South Park or whatnot. I have to turn the sound off.

    • Rufus the Monocled

      That’s right Trevor. We give zero fucks about the bull shit about it all.

      And you’re just another moronic dipshit smug liberal who fools himself into believing he’s ‘following science’ when in fact all you do is engage in politics and fear mongering.

      Go suck a donkey’s dick.

      I love when these ignoramuses say stupid shit like ‘I get it but come on!’ Shut up you fucken joke.

    • Akira

      But if the first thing you do when you’re not locked down is pack yourself into bars where you’re spraying into each other’s faces, something tells me you give zero fucks.

      If someone wants to lock themselves down, wear a mask, and disinfect everything, how is that affected by people who choose to take the risk and go out?

      If you think the bar is dangerous, don’t go to the fucking bar. Dipshit.

  61. The Late P Brooks

    The Wisconsin court ruling came after weeks of politicized debate in the state, as Republican officials challenged Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, on the legality of his April 16 decision to extend the state-wide shutdown of non-essential businesses and mass gatherings. “This comprehensive claim to control virtually every aspect of a person’s life is something we normally associate with a prison, not a free society governed by the rule of law,” Justice Daniel Kelly wrote in as part of the majority opinion.

    Wow. That’s awesome.

    Also-

    weeks of politicized debate

    “Anything we don’t agree with and don’t want to have to pay attention to is politicized debate.”

    • Sean

      Gah!

      I clicked. I knew I shouldn’t have. ?

      • Crusty Juggler

        Right?

      • cyto

        I looked at the username, looked at the warning…. I trust your judgement…

        so… nope! Not clickin’

    • Count Potato

      Oh, that guy has been online for a long time.

  62. Drake

    WHO LOOKS HEALTHIER?

    Which of these health directors should we take advise from?

    • Toxteth O’Grady

      1 is Steven Pinker’s albino sister.

      (I take it those are real cheerleaders in the header? I’d forgotten how embarrassing I used to find cheer in high school!)

    • R C Dean

      Neither? The LA pubsec looks on death’s door (anorexic vegan?), but the PA pubsec looks obese, possibly morbidly obese.

      • Drake

        Look like she walk through the door, shut it behind her, and shambled on several miles.

    • Fatty Bolger

      That’s gotta be a dude, right?

      • mrfamous

        Yes

      • dbleagle

        You didn’t recognize “her” as the first transsexual state public official in PA? (Who also took “her” mom out of a assisted living facility before “she” ordered them to accept Kung Flu patients.)

        Off to the KZ for you!

      • creech

        She claims that mom demanded the move and she grudgingly acquiesced.

    • Count Potato

      I only see one picture. And I wish I didn’t.

  63. The Late P Brooks

    Headline:

    “US on pace to pass 100,000 covid-19 deaths by June 1st, CDC director says”

    And we are on pace to see a temperature in the 100s, based on the trend over the past six hours.

    • kbolino

      According to the CDC’s own data, we still don’t have “accurate” counts as far back as the third week of January. We won’t know if we’ve passed 100k by 1 June or not until the end of August. It’s all funny numbers at this point.

    • cyto

      Anyone who watches “Forged in Fire” knows that people doing canister damascus forging will need a lot of liquid paper to line their canister….

      • Incentives Matter

        Could someone with knowledge of making Damascus steel please explain to me why you need (of all things) wheelbarrows full of Wite-out to do it? (I have this odd feeling that the original forgers of Damascus steel didn’t have Wite-out; what’s it supposed to be a substitute for?)

    • Count Potato

      LOLOLOL

      (I knew it before I clicked.)

  64. Shirley Knott

    Or Moondog?

  65. Gustave Lytton

    Epoch Times is running Youtube ads on Chinese coverup of the virus. I’m going to need more popcorn.

    • kbolino

      Countdown to YouTube demonetizing and removing Epoch Times…

      • commodious spittoon

        Contravening WHO no less.

  66. westernsloper

    I can’t even see this as a decent piece of meaningless political posturing. It just… looks pathetic.

    A lot of that going on these days.