Tuesday Afternoon Links

by | May 19, 2020 | Daily Links | 296 comments

Good Tuesday, my Glibs. I am more sore than a hiker after a STEVE SMITH encounter after yesterday’s gym session. I can’t wait to do it all over again tomorrow. Other than that, I’d also like to say that working in some “low/no code” applications for the first time is like going back in time and doing stuff with MS Access again. Sure, I CAN make it work, but I could have already thrown up an application that works for the price my client has paid me to learn yet another way of connecting UI to data and doing operations on it. And yeah, sure, Betty or Priya in Accounting can probably throw up an app that will work… anyone wanna guess what happens after it runs wild for 3 years and then suddenly the whole company wants to use it? The same damn thing that used to happen with Access. Oh well, its hot right now. I’ll have experience with it.

I initially thought this guy was trying to get to “Cookie” City, and was disappointed for him. Now I want to know which one of you this is.

Qatar airlines introduces new medical-themed burkhas for flight attendants.

Elon Musk is about one fluffy cat and a Rube Goldberg plan to kill spies away from full Bond villain status.

Sure, our super-secret military space plane is totally just doing innocent experiments on power beaming. You know, concentrating powerful microwaves into small, targeted areas for renewable energy. Don’t mind the fact that it can also be used to cook people in tanks.

About The Author

Brett L

Brett L

Brett set out to find America, the real America, the America of strip malls and serial killers, of butthole waxing and kelp smoothies, of cocaine and maggots. He sought it in the most American part of America—Florida: swamp gas and fever dreams, where love arrives on a rickety boat and leaves when it doesn't have the money for its fourth abortion. Oh, where has Brett gone? He’s drinking at the neck of America’s wang, chewing its foreskin and working its shaft. Brett is becoming legend. Brett can never die. Brett can never die. Brett is America, facedown in his own patriotic puke: the red his blood, the white his stomach lining, and the cold, cold blue his gas station slushie, spiked with coconut rum and tetracycline.

296 Comments

  1. Hyperion

    Firstest?

    • bacon-magic

      Need to quote a link for firstest.

      • Hyperion

        The link is a secret. The firstest one.

    • Brochettaward

      You are not a firster.

      • Hyperion

        Shudup, Broketard!

      • Brochettaward

        You were born a seconder. You will die a seconder. You are a natural loser.

      • Hyperion

        Lol, dude, grow a sense of humor.

      • bacon-magic

        Watch out he has an axe!

      • Mojeaux

        He makes me laugh.

      • Ted S.

        Yeah, but you also like my music selections.

      • Mojeaux

        I think we have established I have bad taste.

  2. DrOtto

    I beat Broketard

    • R C Dean

      Like, ambulance-trip-to-the-ED beat?

      • Bobarian LMD

        What is it with you and Erectile Dysfunction (ED)?

    • Brochettaward

      You lost when you thought broketard was funny.

      • DrOtto

        It was easier to spell than your handle insuring I’d post before you.

  3. Count Potato

    “A Bozeman man was ticketed Friday for traveling through the northern gate at Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner in an attempt to reach Cooke City.”

    It looks more like he was arrested.

    • Count Potato

      “Yellowstone National Park’s entrances in Wyoming — located near Cody and Jackson — opened on Monday. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said the entrances near Cooke City, Gardiner and West Yellowstone will not open until at least June 1. ”

      That makes no sense.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        Obviously the governor of Wyoming opened the entrances too soon because he wants people to die.

      • JaimeRoberto Delecto

        Not people. Just grandma.

      • Contrarian P

        None of this stuff makes any sense. We’re way past talking sense at this point.

  4. bacon-magic

    Elon Musk is about one fluffy cat and a Rube Goldberg plan to kill spies away from full Bond villain status.

    I would think lobbing an asteroid or two would have the same effect without the messy radiation after.

    • R C Dean

      What part of “full Bond villain” and “messy radiation” are you not getting?

    • Florida Man

      From my understanding mars doesn’t have a magnetosphere or strong gravity so whatever atmosphere you collected will be blown away by solar wind anyways.

      • Ted S.

        Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids.

      • Tundra

        In fact, it’s cold as hell.

      • Florida Man

        I never got that line. Hell is supposed to be hot.
        /probably on the spectrum

      • Incentives Matter

        . . . whatever atmosphere you collected will be blown away by solar wind anyways.

        After a few hundred thousand years or so, sure.

      • Hyperion

        It’s sort of smallish too, not good for holding a a thicker atmosphere. I think underground and/or domes is the way to go, the terraforming thing might be a long shot.

      • Brett L

        This is why I’m in the comet bombardment part. If we just drop enough mass going fast enough onto Mars, its core will liquify (or more of it will liquify) and the magnetosphere will generate itself. Also, you get a couple million tons of water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and light metals added to the planetary system.

      • bacon-magic

        I really hope we fully explore it first. Just imagine if there were ruins from an old civilization or evidence of life that we missed by bombing it. Bombing should always be a last resort(I’m looking at you World leaders).

      • Hyperion

        “Just imagine if there were ruins from an old civilization”

        I ain’t saying it’s Aliens, but…

      • EvilSheldon

        Wasn’t this the plot of an old Paul Preuss sci-fi potboiler?

      • Mad Scientist

        If you hit it with something massive enough to liquefy the core, you’ll have liquefied the surface as well.

        Venus also has no molten core, and thus no traditional magnetosphere, but has a kind of induced magnetosphere due to its weird ionosphere. Mars just needs one of those. Easy peasy.

      • Brett L

        The surface will re-freeze in 5-10 years. Its the price you pay for progress.

    • Brett L

      **Hangs head in shame, turns in Gen X card for missing obvious pop culture reference**

      • Gustave Lytton

        We’ll just call you Kent L from now on.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It fits with his jello fetish.

    • Shpip

      Damned nimble fingers!

    • Chipwooder

      “This is God, Kent”

  5. Count Potato

    “The idea would involve using a continuous stream of low-fallout explosions, creating something akin to an artificial sun above each pole without making it radioactive. This would be used to heat the ice reserves and release carbon dioxide. These reserves are theorized to be left over from when Mars was warmer and wetter around four billion years ago, as opposed to now where temperatures are around minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit. With these gas reserves unlocked, humans would be free to move around the planet’s surface with just a breathing apparatus.”

    Staht da reactors da people need ayer!

    • Tonio

      Yeah, unfortunately Mars lacks the gravity to hold an atmosphere thicker than it already has. You might be able to achieve a small local oasis with better (though not earth-like) conditions on the floor of the Valles Marineris canyon system.

      I still remember when KMW vacuously declared that there was “no air on Mars,” which was technically correct, of course, but suspect she doesn’t understand that there is a difference between “air” and “atmosphere,” and how pressure matters.

      • Florida Man

        Cloud cities on Venus May be more feasible, but honestly none of the other planets are good candidates for terraforming. Space stations make more sense if you want non-earth based footholds for mining or whatever.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I prefer bosomy brunette ballerinas.

      • Tonio

        Agreed about Mars being the least-bad option but I think we should colonize Luna first. Sure, the Moon is a harsh mistress and all, but there is apparently abundant water ice at the polls. Domed cities for the win.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        But then you have a nuclear accident and the entire moon gets hurled off into space and you meet Psychetons and the sort…

      • Rhywun

        +1999

      • Hyperion

        If the moon gets hurled off into space, Pcychetons are the least of our worries.

      • Florida Man

        I think that is not a bad idea if you are mining He3 or something else abundant on the moon. I would be surprised if I see any real space mining or off world settlements in my lifetime.

      • Hyperion

        Agreed with Moon colony first. It’s a hell of a lot closer, so way cheaper to get stuff there and back.

      • RAHeinlein

        Plus you can throw rocks back to Earth.

      • Hyperion

        This is true.

      • Brett L

        Didja ever feel like the universe came around to just this instant in time? Like, trillions upon trillions of random events just to set up a joke like this.

      • RAHeinlein

        Brett, you have no idea how often.

      • bacon-magic

        Plus you can throw rocks back to Earth.

        And that’s why governments want to go there.

      • Mad Scientist

        We’re whalers on the moon,
        We carry a harpoon.
        But there ain’t no whales
        So we tell tall tales
        And sing our whaling tune.

      • Mad Scientist

        We can build moon bases easily. We just need a couple of fungineers.

      • Hyperion

        There’s no atmosphere for the Fungi.

      • R C Dean

        Sure, the Moon is a harsh mistress

        Yes, go on . . . . .

      • Hyperion

        “Cloud cities on Venus”

        You definitely do not want to fall off a cloud in the place.

      • Count Potato

        “Mars lacks the gravity to hold an atmosphere thicker than it already has.”

        That implanted in your brain so you would think that.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        KMW vacuously declared that there was “no air on Mars,”

        “KMW is Cohagen” confirmed

        Yay! Got my stupid pop culture reference in!

      • Hyperion

        It’s a long ways from the sun as well. Compare Venus, Earth, and Mars. Venus and Earth are about the same size, but Venus is much closer to the sun and I think it’s more dense as well, result a hellish inferno. Earth just right, Mars, too damn far from the sun as well as smallish.

      • Mad Scientist

        Venus is hot because its atmosphere is 96% CO2 and the surface pressure is equivalent to 3000ft underwater on Earth. The proximity to the sun doesn’t help, but in Mars’ orbit Venus would still be an inferno.

      • Hyperion

        “Venus is hot because its atmosphere is 96% CO2”

        How’d that happen? I guess I could google it…

      • Tundra

        No EVs.

      • Hyperion

        Venus was our home at first, but we wouldn’t listen to the Karens and look what happened when we wouldn’t give up our SUVs.

      • Hyperion

        So I googled that and you’ll never guess what I learned? We’re next!

      • cyto

        Funny! And predictable.

        And the answer: Volcanoes. Lots and lots of volcanoes.

      • Hyperion

        I should have known that the first 5 links I clicked on would be climate hysteria doom. What was I thinking?

      • cyto

        The cool thing about the super-dense atmosphere on Venus – it is so dense that it refracts sunlight all the way around the planet. So on the surface, the sun doesn’t set, so much as squish way down into a kind of ring around the horizon.

        The not so cool thing, the insanely hot atmosphere makes your CC permit a moot point…. lead would melt and run out of your gun. Also, sulfuric acid atmosphere might eat your gun. So definitely not a 2nd Amendment friendly environment.

      • Fatty Bolger

        You don’t need it to hold an atmosphere forever. Could you do it for 1000 years? 10,000? Seems like it’s feasible when we’re talking about human timescales.

      • cyto

        Yes, ablation of a mars atmosphere relatively close to earth pressure at the surface would take millions of years. (which is near as makes no difference zero time in geologic timescales, but a long time for a person.)

        You could also park a solar-powered magnetic field generator at the Mars-Sun Lagrange point to deflect solar wind.

        I mean, as long as you are pulling crap out of your butt, you might as well go big… Kuiper belt objects brought back to Mars to provide atmosphere and oceans, magnetic field generators… have it all!

        Removing tongue form cheek…. none of that is technically infeasible. The only question is having the will and resources.

      • Hyperion

        Still seems to me like digging underground chambers and some sort of domes make a hell of a lot more sense. I guess because I don’t have a million years to wait to see this happen. I wonder if geothermal is possible?

      • cyto

        Oh, yeah…. terraforming is not step one. Or even step 10. Your great grandkids will be long dead before this discussion becomes a reality.

      • Incentives Matter

        No liquid core, no geothermal, would be my guess. But mebbe it’s just like “spa temperature” below the surface.

    • Rhywun

      LOL

  6. Shpip

    Don’t mind the fact that it can also be used to cook people in tanks.

    It can be used to cook other stuff, too.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Dammit, beat me to it

  7. Count Potato

    I love these baked bean recipes that start with a can of baked beans. That’s like fried chicken recipe that starts with “Drive to Popeyes.”

    • Florida Man

      My wife does that with spaghetti sauce. She buys a jar and then adds a bunch of stuff to it. I’m fine eating whatever is in the jar.

      • Gustave Lytton

        *cue Futurama*

      • blackjack

        C’mon! You gotta at least add about 10-12 cloves of garlic to that stuff. And some ground cayenne peppers, some basil, mushrooms, yeah, that stuff needs help. It’s edible once you fix it though.

      • Tulip

        Or, just make it from scratch

    • Mad Scientist

      My family has a similar recipe for steamed hams.

      • Florida Man

        What’s that light coming from your kitchen?

  8. Mad Scientist

    Don’t mind the fact that it can also be used to cook people in tanks.

    It’s my hope that they just explode, Scanners style.

    • Bobarian LMD

      It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes.

      • pistoffnick

        +3 spontaneously combusted Spinal Tap drummers

  9. grrizzly

    I wonder if the leisure airline travel ever recovers. Who will pay for business or first class if you’re greeted by flight attendants in hazmat suits?

    • Fourscore

      “I wonder if the leisure airline travel ever recovers. Who will pay for business or first class if you’re greeted by flight attendants in hazmat suits?”

      I wonder is the airline travel ever recovers if you’re greeted by flight attendants in leisure suits?

    • Ted S.

      Rule 34 suggests it’s a turn-on for somebody.

    • Florida Man

      I’ve already noticed people getting more slack with all the safety theater. No way people will keep working in hazmats suits for any length of time.

      • grrizzly

        Unfortunately, that’s not the case here. At all.

      • Drake

        I was at Home Depot today. Tons of people – and most seemed resigned to play at the theater without believing in it. Saw lots of fed up people with the masks pulled down low enough to breath through their noses.

      • Chipwooder

        Yep, saw the same thing at Costco, which requires masks. An awful lot of people had them pulled below their noses.

      • peachy rex

        In my little corner of Gauleiter Haircut’s dystopia, masks are going out of fashion fast.

      • Nephilium

        Here in CLE, they’re becoming a fashion accessory. Worn below the nose, but in colorful patterns and styles to show what you support.

        If these become the new t-shirts, I’m going to be even more upset at the Millenials.

      • B.P.

        My local alt-weekly has a staff Karen whose sole job seems to be to visit local stores, parks, etc., and report back on how the awful people aren’t following the rules. He always includes a few sentences where he assumes the mindset of these bad people. He’s written probably ten articles on this theme. Here’s yesterday’s perilous journey to Home Depot:

        https://www.westword.com/news/covid-19-denver-home-depot-stores-and-social-distancing-problems-11712885

        “But a considerable percentage of patrons — mostly men who seem to have permanently aggrieved expressions on their faces — reject the need for such safety measures and tend to aggressively violate them in ways that suggest they’re hoping to be called out so that they can declare every mask-wearer a freedom-hating idiot.”

        Every single article is like this. It’s a shame too because the writer has been around for decades and has written some decent investigative journalism in the past.

    • Gustave Lytton

      The inbound travel restrictions will have to relax first. Late fall if we’re lucky. Most likely next year. Cabin crew uniforms will probably be back to normal before that happens.

  10. Bobarian LMD

    I can’t wait to do it all over again tomorrow

    STEVE DON’T THINK BRETT COME TO WOODS FOR THE HIKING

  11. LJW

    I got an antibody test. Here’s what it means for my life during coronavirus.

    “I got my result four days later when I wasn’t thinking about it: while listening to the Department of Labor’s commissioner speak at Gov. Murphy’s daily briefing.

    My text beeped and I thought it was my editor.

    “Negative antibodies,” the text said, followed by a one-page report.

    Negative.

    I really expected it to be positive. I really wanted it to be positive.

    Now what?”

    Oh FFS. You live your life, or curl up in a ball and hide. Do whatever the hell you want. You’d think by the way she described it, that she was going in for an HIV test.

    • Chipwooder

      How the hell did these people ever get out of bed in the morning in the first place?

      Before penicillin, which wasn’t discovered until 1948 (I think?), you could die from getting a minor cut or scratch if it got infected for crissakes.

      • LJW

        Just noticed the author’s name is Karin…

      • Tres Cool

        $5 says she insists its pronounced “kah-RIN”

      • creech

        Nah, Wyeth was mass producing it by the end of WWII. Apparently GIs could trade it to post-war German frauleins for even more than they could get for a few cigarettes or Hershey bars.

    • Hyperion

      I’d almost support a special tax to keep all progressives inside, forever, to keep them safe you know.

    • Rhywun

      while listening to the Department of Labor’s commissioner speak at Gov. Murphy’s daily briefing

      I can’t even.

    • Count Potato

      I once got a false positive HIV test.

      • Lady Z

        Jeebus.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    Yellowstone National Park’s entrances in Wyoming — located near Cody and Jackson — opened on Monday. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said the entrances near Cooke City, Gardiner and West Yellowstone will not open until at least June 1.

    Bullock is going to have to deploy the National Guard to block the road from Mammoth Hot Springs to Gardiner. Machine gun emplacements at the state line (which i inside the park).

  13. The Late P Brooks

    “You are not allowed in the park,” a ranger tells him.

    “This is public property. You can’t come in here.”

    • The Other Kevin

      Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.

  14. Tonio

    So, the car is in the shop for AC repair for like the fifth time, two times were no-cost diagnostics which mostly consisted of ass-scratching.

    Today they call me and start apologizing profusely that my car isn’t ready because of some malarkey about the dealer not delivering the part. I say they can keep it overnight (again).

    Five minutes later they call me back to again profusely apologize and inform me that my car is indeed ready and that they had the wrong ticket on the before call. They say they are coming to pick me up. I ask if I can just give them the card over the phone and have them drop it off.

    “[derp] Uh, our computer just went down, I’ll have to call you back.”

    [prolonged laughter]

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Tonio! Second tournament set for 9 am Wednesday, and we got a Sponsor, the Roadhouse! free beer and Tee shirts all around!
      I guess it’s our new clubhouse, Yippee!

      • Tonio

        W00t! Congrats. Drink one for me.

    • Fourscore

      Thanks for reminding me, my newer vehicle doesn’t get used very often, now I remember that last summer the AC didn’t work and since it was towards fall I sort of forgot. I need that truck for this summer.

      Funny how time slips away

      • Ted S.

        Minnesoda has summer?

      • Mad Scientist

        Yes, but they call it “Giant Mosquito Season.”

      • Fourscore

        Sort of warm today and the mosquitoes took advantage of it.

      • Hyperion

        Yeah. I remember the first time I was in that state and I just got out of the car at a roadside rest to stretch for a while before driving on. I was out there about 2 minutes before I went running back to the car squashing mosquitoes and them buzzing in my ears.

    • Chipwooder

      Just an FYI – if you have a Japanese car, Wallace Automotive on West Broad (next to Agee’s Bicycles) is terrific, and easily the most honest mechanic I’ve ever used. They won’t work on any domestics or Euro cars, though.

      • Tonio

        Thanks for the recommendation! Yes, it’s a Subaru.

      • Trigger Hippie

        The horror! The horror!

      • Tonio

        What you done there, I saw it, I did.

      • Chipwooder

        They are the only mechanic I’ve ever gone to that told me “Nah, nothing really wrong with this” and told me I just needed a few screws tightened.

    • Hyperion

      Pretty soon they’ll be repurposed to detect Coronovirus and zap anyone who has it. Testing everyone, every hour of the day and tracking down everyone they’ve ever been within 6 ft of, will prove too costly. Better to just eliminate the threat.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    I’ve already noticed people getting more slack with all the safety theater. No way people will keep working in hazmats suits for any length of time.

    I went to costco a while ago, and they made me wear a fucking mask to pick up my eye drops.

    Theater, indeed.

    • Tundra

      I was there last week. I wore a black neck gaiter, baseball cap, sunglasses and I was carrying.

      It made me giggle a little.

    • Tonio

      The reports I’ve been hearing about Costco locations in Virginia are all over the place wrt mask enforcement. They will grudgingly supply masks. Some people claim they can’t wear them because of ADA, and that works some places (one of the few good things ADA has done).

  16. Chipping Pioneer

    I see you’ve been attending MS Build, Brett. I haven’t found much there, yet.

    • Brett L

      A client wants it. Mostly for the PowerAutomate underneath. Me, personally, I would have built a web-app and made LogicApps API calls, but that sounds scary and expensive. Never mind that it will take us longer, and there is a very low chance that it won’t be maintained by someone with a technical background. Visible versus hidden cost. I think a lot of people view PowerApps/PowerAutomate/PowerBI as something that doesn’t need a formal “project”, and they can just play with it and abandon it after this period of uncertainty if it doesn’t work out.

    • Chipwooder

      Subscription required, so I can’t tell you.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Weird – it’s supposed to be 3 or 5 free articles per month. I linked from my phone account, but if you go to the main page then their original content page it should work.

      • Ted S.

        Ditto here.

    • Hyperion

      Everyone here is Tulpa.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Paywalled.

      • Hyperion

        Or at least you need to create an account.

  17. Chipping Pioneer

    The provincial government here announced that schools won’t open until September. This is, of course, the wrong decision.

    The goalposts have shifted from “flattening the curve” to “preventing anyone from contracting the virus”, which is impossible absent a vaccine. And, given that finding a vaccine could be months or years in the future, it’s not possible to keep lockdowns in place until then. Further, until kids can go back to school, there are a lot of parents who won’t be able to go back to work. You know, to pay the taxes that are supposed to keep the schools running.

    Here’s an idea: scrap the public education system. Of course, the government isn’t about to let private schools open, either. Something something freedom of association.

    • Hyperion

      “it’s not possible to keep lockdowns in place until then”

      Maybe we don’t have to if badorangeman goes away in November? Then I’m sure everything will be not only back to normal, but glorious utopia as soon as Biden/Warren take over.

    • Hyperion

      “Here’s an idea: scrap the public education system.”

      No one is coming up with a better idea than that, no matter what. I say we have to do it, to keep the children safe. Not safe from the virus, safe from forced retardation.

  18. Timeloose

    The microwave transmitter scenario reminded me of Fallen Angels.

    Luddites and Greenies collapse society and blame global cooling and the new ice age on the one remaining colony in orbit.

    One of the orbital colony ships are shot down and an underground group of hackers and technophiles help them get back.

    They use a microwave beam to allow the colonist to cross a glacier without freezing to death.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_Angels_(science_fiction_novel)

    • Drake

      When I read that book it all seemed too farfetched. I thought there can’t possibly that many crazy people in the world.

      I miss being naive and optimistic.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Good book!

    • Gustave Lytton

      Fan service to the point of literary masturbation. I remember I enjoyed reading it when it came out.

      • Tonio

        Hey, now!

      • Timeloose

        I believe there was a contest to get your name in the book as a character. Niven typically put several people in his books based on Real life friends.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Yes! That’s rings a bell.

      • EvilSheldon

        A little literary masturbation is normal and healthy, once in a while…

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Another life tragically cut short by the plague!

    Annie Glenn, a lifelong advocate for those with speech impediments and wife of the late astronaut John Glenn, died of complications from Covid-19. She was 100.

    Glenn was living at a senior center in St. Paul, Minnesota, when she died, the Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs told CNN. Her children notified the university of her passing.

    She could have lived forever.

    • The Other Kevin

      We all bear the responsibility for her death. All of us except the ones who saw this coming and could have done something to protect senior centers.

    • Tres Cool

      100 is the new 65

      • Fourscore

        No its not. 66 isn’t the new 65 even. One day you’ll see.

    • Ted S.

      As opposed to the Veterans of Domestic Wars.

      • Tres Cool

        David Koresh hardest hit.

      • Tonio

        Damn your nimble fingers.

      • Tonio

        Those brave veterans of Ruby Ridge, Waco, and Malheur deserve medals!

      • R C Dean

        As opposed to the Veterans of Domestic Wars.

        That closed down after the Civil War vets died out.

    • Florida Man

      IRT entertainment: post WW2 Hollywood and networks dominated everything, so I don’t think their will be an overall increase in uplifting programming because there are so many more options.

  20. R C Dean

    The Governor of Oregon decreed that nobody who lives in a locked-down county is allowed to leave.

    There are two locked down counties in Oregon, including Marion, where the state capitol is.

    How long before the Governor leaves Marion County?

    • Gustave Lytton

      First, why would she want to? That’s where the deplorables live.

      The lockdown in Oregon has been one of the softer kinds from the start. While there is/was a prohibition against non essential travel, there was zero enforcement of it. I doubt that’s changed now.

      (And five counties haven’t been okayed for the Phase 1 reopening, three of them haven’t applied so far)

      • R C Dean

        First, why would she want to? That’s where the deplorables live.

        Seattle?

        While there is/was a prohibition against non essential travel

        I’m interested in seeing how much/how fast she breaks her own rules.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Everything she does is essential. QED.

        Just like her inability to socially distance until recently or wear a mask like she tells others to do. Only the little people are supposed to do those things.

      • R C Dean

        From what I gather, its clear as can be her unilateral orders expire after 28 days.

        What a cluster.

      • Gustave Lytton

        This one was a federal court request.

        The other one, in state court, yeah. I don’t know which is controlling and haven’t bothered to even pull up the statues for that one.

        Meanwhile, there’s also very broad, more than the federal constitution, guarantees for religious exercise in the state constitution. Similar wording to the free speech/expression that also go beyond Fed 1A and was the grounds for striking down bans on nude dancing (as protected form of expression). Yet that’s getting ignored because a) rule of man not law and b) the state is generally irreligious so religion is seen as one of those non essential businesses.

  21. cyto

    Being Elon Musk has got to be weird. He tweets one little two word joke, and people rush out to write entire news articles about it. Stretching “No Problem” into 15 column-inches is pretty impressive.

    • Hyperion

      He’s doing a little Bad Orange Man on them, I suppose. He really started a pantshitting storm with the Red Pill thing. Those people are just way too easy targets.

      • cyto

        That even got one of the Wochowski uh… sisters.. to come out and condemn him.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    just numbers on a page

    Top business leaders in California are urging Congress to approve an additional $1 trillion in spending to head off massive budget cuts facing all state and local governments due to Covid-19.

    In a letter to Congress, members of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s task force on business and jobs recovery wrote, “the worst of the economic impact [is] likely still to come.”

    The letter, which was sent Friday, was signed by nearly 100 business leaders including Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Priscilla Chan of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (and wife of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg), Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos and venture capitalist Ben Horowitz of the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. You can read the full list of the task force’s members here.

    “Reopening our economies is a welcome step forward, but the success of our efforts ultimately relies on building greater confidence among consumers that it is safe to shop and greater certainty for workers that the services they rely on to do their jobs will remain in place. Without that, we will be a re-opened economy in name only.”

    They said the funds would be critical to help necessary programs such as contact tracing and testing.

    Yeah. Crucial jobs. Jobs we cannot afford to go without.

    • Hyperion

      Crucial jobs, like the army of Karens they want to build. Crucial jobs are ones that do not produce anything, including wealth, but they make good democrat voters.

    • R C Dean

      They said the funds would be critical to help necessary programs such as contact tracing and testing.

      Wow, I’ve never had “useless” autocorrect to “necessary”.

      I hope the reply is “If you need the money that bad, issue your own damn bonds”.

    • wdalasio

      So a bunch of Democratic cronies want the federal government to write a big check to their friends in the Democratic government, insisting it’s necessary to finance a program favored mostly by Democrats. I can’t imagine why a Republican president and Republican Senate might be reluctant to heed their pronouncements.

      • Hyperion

        If the dems manage to take the Whitehouse and both houses, then pack the courts, we are all so fucked. This current dystopian bullshit will be remembered as the good old days.

      • wdalasio

        Yeah, I’m not usually one to buy into the team “most important election evah” BS, but the Donks really have gone full-bore totalitarian. And they have a stable of apparatchiks willing to nod their heads in agreement if they’re told that up is down or left is right. Things that were right in front of everyone’s faces less than a year ago, there’s a host of people willing to say was the exact opposite (“‘Believe all women’ was a right-wing claim”, for just one example). I think it’s mostly the media. If the talking head on the flashing box were to say the dogs**t is a gourmet delicacy, there’s a host of people who’d be bringing home Fido’s droppings from his morning walk for a breakfast treat.

      • Hyperion

        Left to their every whim, they would create a dystopian nightmare. I mean seriously, for most people, there would be no reason to live at such a time. And they really are stupid enough to push it past the point of massive civil disobedience and violence. The mask keeps slipping, anyone believing at this point they are not capable of outright evil, has to be very naive, or they’ve just OD’d on the kool-aid.

      • wdalasio

        Or just accepting what they see on the vidscreen at face value. That’s the thing that has me perplexed. People really do seem to have lost their capacity for independent thought. You point out the contradictions to them, you show them the logical inconsistencies and it’s like you’re talking to a brick wall. If you’re not just told to shut the hell up.

      • Hyperion

        If anyone disagrees with the MSN, they’re clearly science deniers. If any actual real scientists get on Twitter or Youtube and disagree, they get banned. And no one questions that. Science! You know, because science is just a way for me to pretend I’m smarter than everyone else without actually thinking about it.

      • R C Dean

        I was astonished that the response to Tara Reade was mostly “we never said Believe All Women, we said Believe Women”.

        Aside from the fact that the “All” adds nothing, so taking it out removes nothing, the fucking hashtag was #BelieveAllWomen. Its a coordinated, outright, blatant lie, and tens of millions of people believe it.

        Even when you show them the fucking hashtag, they still believe the lie.

        Best case scenario – the country splits up. Culturally and politically, we’re already there. How long can the legal/governmental arrangement defy reality?

        And I’m not say splits up peacefully. As bad as it would be, a violent split would be better than living under Dem rule. I don’t know that I would have said that three months ago, but I’m saying it now.

        And the next time they get their mitts on the Presidency and both houses of Congress, it will be permanent.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    “Because of the sudden drop in economic activity, many states, including California, will be forced to make deep cuts to programs that help those same individuals,” the letter said.

    “It’s the damnedest thing. One day, everything was fine, and the next, WHAMMO! Why? It’s a mystery.

    • Hyperion

      Unintended consequences. It would actually be funny if they were only doing it to themselves, instead of all of us.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Why would California need a federal bailout?

    Undocumented Californians may begin applying for disaster assistance payments of $500 per person and up to $1,000 per household.

    The state government has made available $75 million to help a projected 150,000 undocumented immigrants weather the coronavirus crisis.

    Oh.

    • Hyperion

      I have been ensured time and time again that Blue states are the rich ones and Red states are just welfare states that the blue states have to pay for.

      So, I’m sure this really means that Cali will have to bail out all the red states. Wasn’t their some jackass who made that exact comment a couple of weeks ago?

    • JaimeRoberto Delecto

      I have no idea who she is, but she should eat something. Thinn?

      • R C Dean

        Love the fake N95.

        Protip: Real N95s don’t have earloops.

    • Spudalicious

      Those pants don’t help.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    An epidemic of vapid nonsense

    The memo, issued ahead of his bank’s annual shareholder meeting, served as an update to the New York-based lender’s response to the pandemic. Dimon also detailed the steps his firm has taken to support customers and employees since the crisis began two months ago, as well as his thinking about returning employees to work sites.

    “It is my fervent hope that we use this crisis as a catalyst to rebuild an economy that creates and sustains opportunity for dramatically more people, especially those who have been left behind for too long,” Dimon said. “The last few months have laid bare the reality that, even before the pandemic hit, far too many people were living on the edge.”

    ——-

    “Unfortunately, low-income communities and people of color are being hit the hardest, exacerbating the health and economic inequities that were already unacceptably pronounced before the virus took over,” Dimon said.

    “An inclusive economy – in which there is widespread access to opportunity – is a stronger, more resilient economy,” he added. “This crisis must serve as a wake-up call and a call to action for business and government to think, act and invest for the common good and confront the structural obstacles that have inhibited inclusive economic growth for years.”

    Dimon said he would soon share his ideas on how the rehiring of workers and reopening of small businesses could help create a more inclusive economy.

    I can’t wait.

    • Gustave Lytton

      How come this new vision benefits his company and hobbles the competition? It’s a mystery.

    • RAHeinlein

      “Low-income” people who qualify for UI are making more not to work, plus the Trump bucks. Also, no aid programs have been cut.So, that leaves people who weren’t working before, off-the-books, or working illegally. Not sure how these people are worse off.

  26. cyto

    In reading the two politico articles, I was struck by the level of motivated reasoning taking place.

    When observing 3rd parties, I usually try to mentally role-play each part as an exercise in understanding. Each person’s actions should make perfect sense from their point of view, or I’m missing something… so the theory goes.

    So this guy Sullivan. What the hell is his deal?? I can’t make head or tale of him. I hesitate to just go with a lazy “he’s part of the conspiracy” conclusion. But he’s gone way, way out of his way to let everyone know he’s on the “get Flynn” bandwagon, and has done so from the beginning. He even called him a traitor at his plea hearing.

    This was presumably about his work for Turkish interests, and not being a registered foreign agent. But they didn’t charge that. And since they were charging what really appears to be completely made up “false statement” crimes, one would think they’d go for that one too.

    So I have a hard time believing that’s why he has a hardon for Flynn. Could it simply be a case of TDS? His chance to strike a blow against the bad orange man? It seems odd that he’d go this far, just because he is biased against Trump. Calling in an ex parte prosecutor to act on his behalf seems guaranteed to earn a reversal… but also guarantee a continued and deepened political divide. So why do it? Is some Obama connected team advising his actions? What in the world is going on with this case?

    • Suthenboy

      “Could it simply be a case of TDS?”

      The D is for derangement. You are trying to figure out their reasoning. They have none.
      The ruling class has rigged the game so that only the right people get power. Trump isn’t the right people, thus they will burn everything to the ground to get rid of him. They see any damage they do as a plus because it hurts Trumpalos, never mind that it hurts everyone else too.

      As I said yesterday – after all these shitheads have done Trump would be justified in nearly anything he did to them. He could round them all up and have them shot and I wouldn’t blink.

      • cyto

        You have put your finger directly on an issue I’ve been kicking around….. I’m absolutely convinced that they indeed had been spying on their political rivals, Trump included. And they unquestionably used the government apparatus to sabotage Trump on the way in, with the intent of starting an investigation which would lead to an impeachment…. knowingly lying the entire time. They bragged openly about doing so – minus the “we were lying” part, but now we know they were actually lying because we have their sworn testimony that says they didn’t have a single bit of evidence.

        So…. what to do?

        I mean, there’s no question about it. This was (and is) an attempt to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States. This was using the FBI and the CIA and the State Department (and also IRS, et. al in other ways) for purely partisan political purposes… not even to further your team, but to suppress and oppress the opposition. I wondered why they kept saying Trump wants to be a dictator, and Trump is Hitler… well, I should have suspected. Projection. As always with these people.

        So what do you do? I mean, nobody cries foul when some would-be military junta gets put down in some small democracy and they execute the perpetrators.

        Do we really prosecute this? There are dozens of people who are guilty of treason against the US here. I mean, I don’t know the legal definition, but the spirit of the law – they’ve subverted the government, used the power of government to destroy political opponents, used the government to spy on their opponents and perpetrated a hoax to try to oust the elected president before he even took office.

        Schiff might have cover because he’s “just asking questions”, despite his lies and distractions. But Comey, Brennen, Clapper, the top level of the FBI, Several cabinet officials and Obama all clearly conspired to fix the election and failing that, conspired to overturn the result by hamstringing the incoming administration. Do you try them all for treason? Do you put them before the firing squad? Can the country survive that?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        There’s no good way out of this.

        They’ve primed the country for political violence. We’re going to get it before this over.

      • blackjack

        They know that no one on their side will ever admit to it. No matter how much evidence piles up. If you’re on team blue, you cheer for your team even when they cheat. They’ve sullied any actions against them and the lying media will go with what ever they’re told to by the party. They knew all of that before they did this.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The judges and the DOJ prosecutors are all buddies.

      I think he’s protecting his homies.

    • wdalasio

      I think Sullivan thought he was going to preside over a marquee case that was going to make him a celebrity judge with the Dem establishment going forward. Finding out that the whole thing was an utter farce has him grasping at straws to keep the narrative going in his own mind.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That’s a rational theory. I like it.

  27. Suthenboy

    Any attempt to terraform mars will be a failure. It has no magnetosphere. Solar radiation will kill any life, including human, that we try to plant there.

    • Incentives Matter

      Killjoy.

      • Hyperion

        What about that idea to nuke the Moon’s poles to get at the water? I guess we just want to nuke something. The moon is closer, so let’s nuke it.

    • Hyperion

      It actually does have have one, but it seems it’s weak. I think the real problem is how damn cold it is, it’s a long ways from the sun. There won’t be life unless it’s under domes, it’s too fucking cold and an atmosphere, even one as thick as Earths wouldn’t hold enough heat for plant life. Maybe something that would grow in Antarctica. at the equator.

      • Incentives Matter

        CO2 is supposed to be magic that way. Just pump it up until Mars is like the French Riviera.

      • Mad Scientist

        You know what generates a lot of CO2? Fermentation. I say we turn Mars into a giant brewery.

      • Hyperion

        We could just put a brewing station of the back of every SUV and just drive those around all of the time. I imagine rolling across the dusty red plains, dodging massive dust storms, with Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers blasting out of the car stereo.

      • Incentives Matter

        I say we turn Mars into a giant brewery.

        Your jib, sir. I like the cut of it.

      • Hyperion

        Olympus Mons Lager.

      • Hyperion

        I guess Elon will have to stop making electric cars and get a massive fleet of fossil fuel guzzling SUVs rolling off the lines to head out to Mars.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Suthen is a blast at parties.

      • Suthenboy

        You have no idea…now get the hell off of my lawn.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        My version?
        GET OFF MY ROCK PILE!

    • Trigger Hippie

      I linked an article earlier that says they’ve discovered magnetic feilds ten times stronger at the surface level than they previously believed existed on Mars. Something about the older rocks being magnetized by the old magnetosphere before it shut itself off eons ago. So they’d at least have more to work with as a starting point.

      • cyto

        I’ve seen writeups about studies showing that it would be feasible to build a solar powered magnetic field generator and park it between Mars and the sun to deflect the solar wind.

      • Hyperion

        Yeah, wasn’t there something in there about a polar flip? So maybe it was in a flip transition and then it came back?

  28. DEG

    Qatar Airways is one of several airlines to introduce Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) suits for its cabin crew in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
    From now onwards, all flight attendants for Qatar’s flag carrier will wear a hazmat suit over their uniforms, along with safety goggles, gloves and a mask during flights.

    WTF?

    • Suthenboy

      The last time I flew there were stewardesses who were all swimsuit model lookers who wore short skirts. There was no security and lots of leg room.
      If I had to fly now I would probably be arrested before I got on the plane.

      • Gustave Lytton

        *looks at latest SI swimsuit issue “inclusiveness”*

        Well, they’re back to being swimsuit models…

    • R C Dean

      What’s the big deal? Quatar Airways just swapped out the black burkas for white ones, and the niqabs for surgical masks.

  29. Fourscore

    The game of pretend continues.

    “We have to re-open slowly”

    “We can’t be too careful”

    “Sure the curve has been flattened but what happens if…”

    “We’re going to need more money”

    Same old shit every time, create a problem, pretend to solve it. Kudlow was on talking about the Trumponomics and how a middle class tax cut, reducing the regulations and free trade was the answer. No mention of why these things even exist if they stifle growth, only that this is going to work this time.

    It would if it every happened. There was talk of more stimulus, meaning more cashola to get people buying things that aren’t being produced ’cause of the shut down.

    The latest book must be “Dummies for Economics”

    • Hyperion

      At the risk of being redundant, we have to make sure we’re shut down through the 2nd week of November. Then this will all just suddenly go away, if we win. /democrats

      • R C Dean

        I think you’re wrong that it will go away if the Dems win. It will become permanent.

        Massive state bailouts, huge welfare programs, a never-ending state of emergency to activate the invisible disclaimer in the Constitution, all of it. All cemented with a packed court and mai-in only “voting”. To be followed shortly by an inexplicable run of “bad luck”.

      • R C Dean

        Oh, and

        *orders more .308*

      • Count Potato

        I thought you shot 300 WM

      • R C Dean

        I gots both. The 300 is pretty much a purpose built sub-MOA long range rifle – its a heavy brute – mine is Gen 1 and I think it has a heavier barrel. The 308 is an M1A.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        ^Pretty much this and then the country would split and there’d be civil war. This virus and the next wave of the virus that’s always around the corner is a totalitarian’s wet dream and a libertarian’s worst nightmare.

      • RAHeinlein

        That’s just misinformation spread by Eric Trump (hat tip: MN Sen. Tina Smith)

      • The Hyperbole

        Nah, Now that they’ve tasted sweet sweet power they won’t stop til they can reign over the wastelands from atop their throne of skulls.

  30. wdalasio

    It’s pretty interesting. The call from the New York political establishment has been “Stay safe! Stay home!”. And I’ll be honest, when it was a request to the people of New York to work from home for awhile to slow the virus’s spread, I went along with it before I was even required to. That seemed a reasonable ask and it wasn’t exactly a hardship. But, this has gone on way longer and way out of proportion to that. It’s become indefinite diktats. And all the while, the cry has continued, “Stay safe! Stay home!”.

    And staying home, working from home, has been eye-opening. I’ve discovered something. Working from home really doesn’t do that much to undermine my productivity. I can just as easily remain efficient at my desk in my living room as I can at my office. Heck, I might even be more productive. And that’s not exactly trivial.

    About nine months ago, my company started an initiative that they were going to have everyone work from the office (reversing a different initiative) and go to an open workspace concept. After all, Google does it. And, then this comes along. And I find myself hoping more with every passing day that it gets them to reverse course again. Because working from home might be a pretty good option.

    Because, if I can work from home, I really can’t think of a reason in hell that home needs to be New York. Right now, I’m paying New York rent, paying New York prices, and parting with New York taxes for the privilege of living in New York. Only, right now, I’m not so sure I’m seeing living in New York as so much of a privilege. Everything that I valued about living in New York has been shut off. And the same bastards who keep telling me “Stay safe! Stay home!”, have announced that they reserve the right to shut it off at any time their whims dictate, even after this is all over. But, working from home, I’ve realized that the one thing that kept me here, my work, is far more portable than I thought.

    So, I find myself wondering, what’s the point of staying in New York? There’s a million other places I could work from home in. I could find another town by the ocean, or even somewhere else, where I could have a full house, rather than the apartment I’m living in. At a lot lower cost. I spent a little time briefly looking online at other cities (to date, Ft. Worth, Charleston, Richmond) and the differences are dramatic, even for extravagant homes. Leaving New York would be like giving myself a big fat raise.

    And I can’t imagine that I’m alone here. I’d be surprised if there weren’t a whole bunch of New Yorkers thinking the same thing I am. And for that, we all have to thank, “Stay safe! Stay home!”

    • creech

      You might want to tell all your proggie buddies that they aren’t welcome in flyover country or anywhere that white nationalist supremacists still control the levers of government. Please let them stay and stew in the Blue enclaves where they will be so much happier.

      • wdalasio

        Proggie buddies?

        Look, the only person I’ve even brought this up to is my fiance. My estimate that others are thinking the same way is only guesswork on the premise that I’m not all that much smarter than a host of other people in the same position as me.

    • The Hyperbole

      Leaving New York would be like giving myself a big fat raise.

      Wouldn’t the market adjust for that, one of the reasons you make what you make in NYC is that to attract employees your company must pay people enough to live in NYC, if that’s no longer a requirement I’d wager the compensation for our job will go down.

      • wdalasio

        My observation is that my report doesn’t make that much different than he’d make here. He’s in Dallas (now he’s actually a proggie buddy). I’m pretty sure the people in Charlotte (my company has a hub there) don’t make less than they do in NYC. My boss works there and I’m pretty sure he makes a lot more than me. I’m pretty sure the company doesn’t have pay differentials between cities. And my peers in other cities don’t seem to make less (never asked).

      • R C Dean

        Interesting. I suspect a WFH might be easier to get if you were still in commuting distance of one of their other offices. This is probably a good time to see what you can do.

      • wdalasio

        Like I said, they’re still holding on to the “Let’s be Google” dream. But, it may change.

      • Rhywun

        My last company dumped its NYC IT workforce so they could focus on the lower salaries of their HQ staff in Cleveland. ?‍♂️

      • The Hyperbole

        Perhaps its different in the business world, I remember back when Bush II crashed the economy and before Barry could fix it I toyed with the idea of moving to the Chicago suburbs, my sister lives there and when the bottom fell out of the housing market I did some pick up jobs for her and her friends and neighbors. I could charge 2 or 3 times for that handyman type work then I made here in North Central Ohio as a finish carpenter, but once I looked at the cost of living it was basically a wash.

    • KSuellington

      You are exactly right, and there will undoubtedly be an exodus from places like NYC and SF. If I could find work from home gig that would pay me even two thirds of what I currently make at my biz, I would be outta here in a heartbeat.

      • wdalasio

        That’s just it. For a long time, “work from home” was a risky proposition. I think that might be about to change.

    • R C Dean

      Because, if I can work from home, I really can’t think of a reason in hell that home needs to be New York.

      Even among employees who can work from home, the percentage that work from home full time is not that big, and percentage that don’t need to live within commuting distance of the office is even smaller.

      With few exceptions, I’ve only seen truly remote work for jobs that have a very easy productivity metric, like units of work completed for medical transcriptionists and coders. My view on this is pretty narrow, though.

      • wdalasio

        You’re absolutely right. But, I think this has been a wake-up call. Huge numbers of people have been moved to work-at-home. And, my experience at least, it hasn’t eaten into my productivity (then again, I’m observing myself). My report in Dallas works from home a lot. And he’s one of the top performers in the department. I think this whole experiment has revealed that white collar work is a lot more portable than we used to think.

      • hayeksplosives

        There used to be long stretches during which I did heavy engineering or coding or circuit layout snd sim—all easy to do alone.

        But as an engineering manager, I have a lot of time spent keeping up with what my absent reports are up to, and I still need face-to-face engineering meetings, esp when we are brainstorming. Can’t recapture that via WebEx yet.

        I could easily live with 3 days in the office, 2 at home office.

      • wdalasio

        Fair point. Honestly, though, my boss is in Charlotte and my report is in Dallas. Remote work isn’t that unusual to me.

      • wdalasio

        I’ll add, my company has offices in a lot of college towns. If there’s a nearby college town, there’s a reasonable chance I could commute as needed.

      • Timeloose

        I have the same issues. As a manager I really need to interact with my team a few times a week. I’ve been ok with working from home twice a week.

    • Mad Scientist

      I’ve been working from home for nearly 2 decades for a company in Silicon Valley. I’m still in California, but the cost of living is MUCH cheaper here than it is in San Jose. If you can do it, DO IT! Not having to commute every day is like getting an extra 2 hours of free time.

    • Gustave Lytton

      NY and several others have a total bullshit convenience of employer theory that they use to tax out of state and remote workers. Make sure you transfer your “office” to an out of state one or they’ll go after you for taxes.

      https://www.biglawinvestor.com/new-york-telecommuting-tax-penalty/

  31. hayeksplosives

    Sure, our super-secret military space plane is totally just doing innocent experiments on power beaming.

    ::whistles casually and keeps walking::

    • l0b0t

      Destro’s MASS Device or the Crimson Twins’ Weather Dominator?

      • hayeksplosives

        In a all honesty, it’s probably part of a big power beaming push to see if we can “refuel” without chemical fuel or batteries.

        Other uses include Active Denial, the quaint term for making your skin prickle until you leave the prohibited zone, scrambling the brains of nearby electronics, etc.

  32. hayeksplosives

    It’s a little brisk for a May Day in SoCal. I just got into bed and wrapped a heating pad around my lower back and abdomen as pain therapy and warming up.

    My cat detected this from another room, jumped on the bed, burrowed under the covers with me, and proceeded to pull all the heating pad off me and around herself.

    I’d be annoyed if she weren’t so cute.

    • R C Dean

      The one thing I like about cats is that they are pretty easy to throw.

      • Hyperion

        Cat juggling? Someone has to do something!

      • hayeksplosives

        Perhaps I should try cat yodeling, as demonstrated in Engineers Guide to Cats.

        https://youtu.be/mHXBL6bzAR4

      • Hyperion

        Heh, if an engineer made an instruction manual for cats, would anyone read it?

      • l0b0t

        Looks down at 26 pound Maine Coon sleeping soundly on lap. Contemplates his giant talons, swatting speed, and the fact that he doesn’t know his own strength (He’s like Moose from Archie Comics). Rolls eyes at R C Dean – “Sure, Jan.”

      • hayeksplosives

        Maine Coons are very cool, but he must poop like a Clydesdale I reckon.

      • Hyperion

        My wife wants one. I told her we have to have two, cats are always better in pairs because they keep each other entertained. I like the Savannah cats as well. I used to have a large orange tabby that was very dog like, including loving water. He’d follow me around all day just like a dog. If I walked to a neighbors house, he’d go with me and he also liked playing fetch.

      • blackjack

        Yes, the MC’s absolutely follow us around and they come when called. They’ll sit next to me as long as I stay somewhere and then follow me when I leave.

      • blackjack

        We have a Maine Coon that was rescued from a Disneyland feral litter. She’s tiny! Not getting any bigger in the three years we’ve had her. The vet tech where we got her from took her brother and he’s huge.

      • R C Dean

        OK, most of them are pretty easy to throw.

      • blackjack

        Mine would latch onto you and not let you throw them without sacrificing a bit of blood and skin.

      • blackjack

        Hey! My cats are cool and they prevent (kill) mice and other pests. As a bonus, I can fill a big bowl with food and leave for 3-4 days and they are fine. Try that with a dog.

      • Hyperion

        Cats are most definitely the libertarians of the domesticated animal world.

    • Hyperion

      This is crazy. It’s chilly as hell outside and the wind is blowing all day. I must have swept the deck off like 5 times and the wife did it a few also. And it’s of course not dead leaves, it’s green leaves and twigs. If it keeps this up we’re going to be deforested, or at least nude forested, by tomorrow.

  33. blackjack

    I blame the political correctness movement of the early nineties for all of this. That’s when we ( I mean they) started sticking forks into the truth. Yeah, I know truth has always been adjustable, but it seems like before then, it was at least allowed to begrudgingly acknowledge the facts when they didn’t fit one’s narrative. It was the Thomas confirmations and the Clinton administration’s foibles that this started taking root. Reagan won almost the whole country his second time around. That was a lot of dems voting based on reality. They saw the economy and the string of wins and wanted more, even if it meant a prez with an (r.) The whole “party above all” mentality came about during Clinton and really took hold with W. Now, we are stuck with various forms of theater like these masks and this whole distancing thing, despite it’s obvious harm and lack of helping anything. Truth is war’s first casualty. I’m thinking war is inevitable, now. We’re splitting into factions and this craziness is hastening the process. I feel like there’s a straight line from lying about second hand smoke and global warming to where we are now.

    • hayeksplosives

      The “contested” recount in Fla in 2000 was the real kicker. That’s the first time people I knew personally, who’d never been political were arguing about politics and began to go Team Uber Alles.

      There is still roughly half the country who really believe Gore won Florida and that they were blocked by the Supreme Court. This was the beginning of feeling powerless on the left, something that had started for right a few years earlier.

      If people see that the rules are arbitrarily changed throughout the game, they don’t want to play any more.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Oh, they discuss the firing and securing the loan shortly after the six minute mark.

    • Breet Pharara

      Soooooooooo,,, What you’re saying is we need to impeach Trump again?

      • hayeksplosives

        If it can save just one child’s life, aren’t we obligated to try?

        /barf

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That’s exactly what I’m saying.

    • LJW

      I’m guessing fake or manipulated. None of the conservative outlets have picked it up and it’s been posted for over 13 hours.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Admittedly I didn’t get the story at a bastion of journalistic integrity (*cough* ZeroHedge *cough*). It sounds heavily edited for sure if not outright faked.

      • R C Dean

        I dunno how you’d verify that, unless the leaker was someone who had access and went public. Which ain’t gonna happen, as that’s classified as hell and would mean serious jail time. If you even lived that long.

      • Ownbestenemy

        FOIA requests for at least call dates I guess. Yeah that really seems suspect

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Per the ZH article that had the YouTube link:
        “The calls were leaked by Ukrainian MP Andrii Derkach, who says the recordings of “voices similar to Poroshenko and Biden” were given to him by investigative journalists who claim Poroshenko made them.”

        It sounds pretty shady but if they’re fakes, which they certainly could be, they did a pretty good job.

      • R C Dean

        So the alleged chain of custody is (a) a fabulously corrupt Ukrainian politician, (b) investigative journalists who the fabulously ciorrupt Ukrainian politician gave it to because reasons, and (c) an other Ukrainian politician, who the journalists gave it to because reasons, rather than publish a helluva scoop?

        I’m sold.

        Its not I don’t think its plausible, I’m just struggling with verification.

      • Hyperion

        My problem seems to never be doubting that the democrats are doing something dirty and getting away with it, it’s that nothing ever happens about it, because they have the media in their pocket.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Says its coming from Creative Destruction Media..

        Whatever that is

      • Hyperion

        PJMedia are linking it now.

      • Hyperion

        Here, I assume this is the topic being discussed?

        Biden and Ukraine

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That’s it.

      • Hyperion

        God, Biden looks awful. He looks 20 years older than Trump. Of course it doesn’t help that he can’t remember who the fuck he is half the time. Bernie is way sharper in mind at this point than Biden is, a commie, but still way more clarity than Biden has. They can’t possibly let that guy get on a debate stage with Trump.