Good morning my Glibs and Gliberinas and what a glorious morning it is as Spygate/ Obamagate, whatever the hell you want to call it, is picking up steam.
Keeping my eye out for when this drops.
So you’re telling me the strategy of quarantining the healthy and leaving the most vulnerable exposed was a bad one? At least we destroyed a countless number of small businesses and doubled our debt.
Good job, fuck heads.
Good, don’t stop until we’re completely gone.
MLB owners OK plan to start July 4th weekend.
That’s all I got for today. I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day.
Banjos!!
Mornin’
Spygate/ Obamagate, whatever the hell you want to call it, is picking up steam.
This has all the makings of a classic October surprise. Drop/Leak the report on October 15th and watch the world burn.
No! NOW. Justice delayed is justice denied.
If Trump loses in November, this will all get memory holed.
True.
I’m skeptical that we see anything but a report out of this. I think the justice ship sailed years ago.
Now is better.
Yup. And we’ll get many breathless articles about how this Russia stuff is old news, and doesn’t matter, and that the GOP is being partisan with pushing it. Just like they cared about some silly E-Mails.
the “Silly emails” part drives me insane because i had a coworker who would get really worked up on how it was just awful that Hillary was piloried over some emails. Look Fat. I know you never had to sign an SF-86 and get a security clearance, but when you do, it is very clear that what she did was illegal, and that precedent for what has happened to others means that having intent has no basis in it. James Comey made up bullshit to avoid prosecuting her.
James Comey made up bullshit to avoid prosecuting her
What’s stopping Barr?
And while I’m on this track, did Rudy catch the ‘Rona or sommat. I haven’t heard from him lately.
The Hair had him drugged, hogtied and stuffed into a closet in the East Wing of the White House.
*Dancing Pallbearer Applause!*
I would have thought he was unceremoniously dumped in the wannafud caverns.
IDK. I think, even though his base would eat it up, persuing a case after her for it would be politically infeasible. But the statue clearly states that intent has nothing to do with disclosing holding classified data, and what she did was in contravention of the law.
I think this is a problem, and i haven’t come up with many good thoughts around it, but how does a partisan democracy, deal with crimes between opposing administrations? It will automatically be seen as politically charged (and will at least in part be) investigations. So do you avoid them to maintain a semblance of “Good Feelings”, and let elected officials get away with crimes? How do you get officials to be held accountable for terrible crimes, without it turning into proscription lists?
Lack of a death wish?
Nope. These people are his fellow travelers. He’s been clinking cocktail glasses with them for decades, going to the Hamptons, golfing every Tuesday and Sunday. Heck, I’d be willing to bet that their kids are all married off to one another.
Pretty much this: no one wants to put their golfing buddy or best friend’s cousin’s husband in jail, not to mention they’re all crooked and afraid of being outed as such.
You nailed it. If they did a web chart of how incestual the bureaucratic/media/political/lobbyist DC was it would shock even the most cynical people.
In November 2017, Barr told The New York Times that there was more basis to investigate the Clinton-Uranium One deal than whether Trump colluded with Russia.
“To the extent it is not pursuing these matters, the department is abdicating its responsibility,” he said.
That same month, he called for the Clintons to be investigated.
“I don’t think all this stuff about throwing [Clinton] in jail or … that she should be prosecuted is appropriate, but I do think that there are things that should be investigated that haven’t been investigated,” he said.
Maybe. Or just professional courtesy for a fellow Deep Stater, he was in the CIA.
Going after political rivals after you beat them is banana republic shit.
I get your point, but that’s a free pass for administrations to indulge themselves in all sorts of criminal activities. The level of criminality will only escalate with each successive administration until it completely explodes.
It remains to be seen, but I can’t argue that.
90% of DC residents voted for Hillary. The local jury pool is a massive obstacle.
Never mind the fact that her setting up a private server to avoid scrutiny and changing headers from classified to send them on an unsecured network shows massive amounts of intent.
BOT CONFIRMED!!!!!!
Oh, and good morning, banjos!
Mornin’
I blame unrestricted free market capitalism.
Odds are this applies to most links so I don;t need to quote one.
Correct!
/DU
racism covers the rest of em
Who are you, who is so wise in the ways of science?
/Slate
and that, my liege, is how we know the earth to be banana-shaped!
Exactly. Every problem in the world is a result of America’s economic system of 1820.
Longer version. I’m still not sure if this is a parody?
https://youtu.be/OOTlxsn8tWc
it is not particularly funny if it is
Good Morning, Banjos
I am so tired of this shit.
Still nothing on gyms or daycare centers here. But retail is allowed to open today. The girlfriend is supposed to be going into work today (of course, she’s sneezing and coughing due to allergies…). Friday patios can open up, and next Thursday bars and restaurants are allowed to open up (with restrictions). Based on weather reports, this should also be the last day of frost (currently 36).
we are not even close to bars and restaurants. Gyms fat change before July I would think.
The gyms wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t unseasonable cold here. We did break a record on Monday though.
Restaurants open Friday, which means my butt will be in my barstool on Saturday.
Mornin’ Spud.
Thanks for that bit of info. I’m going to my favorite restaurant and seeing my favorite waitress. I’ve been saving an awful bad joke just for her.
SC barbers, hair salons, message parlors, etc open next week – appointment only, no walk-ins. Gyms and fitness centers and commercial pools open next week too.
Restaurants opened indoor seating this week at 50% capacity.
Restaurants and bars have been provided guidelines they’re supposed to follow (according to our “esteemed” Lt. Governor, we should be calling in violations), but no percentage of capacity limits. Barbers and salons are able to open, but not massage parlors. Several restaurants have already said they’re not going to open under these conditions, and aren’t planning on opening before June. Others aren’t opening up certain locations (Downtown), because there’s no events to draw people into the city, so they don’t expect there to be enough people to support opening.
Two of my nearby breweries have patios, I don’t know if they’re planning on opening them up or not.
Mexican restaurant near me about tripled their outside seating area in the last 2 weeks. Since outside seating reopened, they have probably been running near their normal numbers. Fortunately, the weather has been good.
Yeah, the idiots in charge don’t seem to realize that a restaurant has to turn a certain number of covers every week in order to meet their expenses, and maybe have a chance to turn a profit. If the seating capacity is restricted, they can’t turn enough covers, and it makes no sense to open because they will just lose money anyway.
Government drones don’t understand business margins. If a struggling restaurant buys too much of an item and the dish doesn’t sell, they are out of the product, out of customers and sadly, out of business.
I’m debating whether to take next Thursday and Friday off for the re-openings or wait until the following Thursday and Friday when everyone has their shit figured out. Prolly do the later.
I took next Thursday and Friday off. I’ve had two vacations cancelled already, so I’ve got a large amount of PTO I need to use anyways.
Our idiot governor Murphy has decided beaches can be open for walking and surfing, but no swimming or sunbathing, because reasons, I guess? This shit is the very definition of arbitrary and capricious.
The virus is spread through water droplets!
none of any of this makes any sense and no reporters are hammering them for this lunacy.
Going surfing without doing any swimming? Good thing we have such experts in charge.
LOL
“Bodysurfing”
I didn’t realize until this morning that the UK has banned fishing, even if you’re standing by yourself on a river bank.
What if you catch a fish that was caught before by someone with COVID and thrown back?
You might start a piscademic?
*narrows gaze*
Mornin’
So no All Star game this year, but we should get some baseball… assuming they can come to an agreement with the players over how the pay is going to be structured.
Bundesliga is sort-of back on Saturday.
Never been a soccer fan, although I have vague memories of being taken to see The Force when they still used all of the Star Wars music and the like.
Same here with the Rochester Lancers.
Vancouver Whitecaps! Yeah, I’m old.
Not necessarily since they still exist.
I need a team to follow, so I think I am going with Leipzig.
Not a bad choice. I follow Bremen and Augsburg but they rarely make US television. Leipzig is good enough to appear every week.
The AFL has a plan.
Mornin’ Banjos.
Until they start throwing corrupt officials in prison, relegate FBI agents’ notes to “inadmissable hearsay”, and eliminate the criminal offense of lying to the FBI, we’re not making progress.
Mornin’
In other words, no progress will be made. They will just assure us that the bad actors have been re-trained.
I heard an interesting little factoid last night. I was talking to a guy I know, and he was listing the various life threatening experiences he has had. Deep vein thrombosis twice. And then he said, “Deep vein thrombosis kills 100,000 people per year.”
I don’t know if that’s accurate, but if it is, it’s something to bring up when attempting to put the plague in perspective for Karen.
Well, the thrombosis itself doesn’t, but the embolism from the detatching blood clots can.
You only say thins now when lock-down successfully stopped the plague. Without lockdown there would be 10 million dead today.
Karen doesnt give a fuck about that. She is only interested in getting her sanctimony on and controlling everyone else’s behavior. One pretense is as good as another.
I think those people (I refuse to use Karen like I refused to use cosmotarian at TOS) will be all in favor of shutting down for the flu every winter from now on.
Yes, we will probably see mandated masks in stores and tape lines on floors.
Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon! “Karen” is the perfect descriptive for these trying times. I don’t say it aloud very much but it crosses my mind about a dozen times a day. More if I read the news.
She is only interested in getting her sanctimony on and controlling everyone else’s behavior.
QFT. Karen is the adult version of the tattle tale in grade school. Somebody isn’t following the rules, and shes gonna tell teacher on you.
Yeah, but in grade school, usually there was only one per class. This is like half the class turned tattle-tale AND have the temerity/power to scold you herself.
Tom Woods was saying reaction to the lockdown tracks almost perfectly along ideological lines, so 50% might not be a bad estimate.
As is my experience with bad cops, I personally have experienced no Karens. The cognitive dissonance this creates in me is difficult. I WANT to be outraged and I am to some extent, but since I can claim no personal knowledge of anything, I also don’t feel right arguing with people about how bad it is out there.
I haven’t met any scolds/tattle-tales and if I have I don’t know it.
I haven’t had an experience with a bad, power-tripping cop (yes, yes, I know, cops who do not tattle on bad cops aren’t good cops even if they’re good cops).
I know they exist, but …
Two different women at Lowe’s (the home improvement one) got on my wife for not wearing a mask last week.
No law or anything here. I think a majority are wearing masks, but not a large majority.
But you are a Mormon and Mormons are nice.
Festus! I’m shocked and hurt.
Everybody here knows I’m a mean bitch. I do my best to be honest about my vices and faults so if anybody happens to like me, I know I’ll have someone to gossip with.
::fistbump::
*plops down next to GT*
Yeah, as Festus points out, the Mormon cops you meet might be nicer than average, plus, not to go all SJW, but white females probably get more polite treatment than other groups.
Also you may not bump into many cops. I used to work live music productions, and even with credentials, all black work clothes, and a polite demeanor, cops working overtime security would occasionally get an attitude and escalate the situation.
I personally have experienced no Karens.
I’m genuinely surprised by this. If Fourscore or Suthen or another rural Glib had said that, I’d think it unlikely, but theoretically possible. But somebody living in a metropolitan area never encountering one? It’s inconceivable to me. I don’t think I’ve lived anywhere they haven’t left their imprint.
I honestly don’t know what my Mormonness has to do with anything, and I don’t know as I’ve ever met a Mormon cop (likely when I lived in Utah), but I will concede I don’t run into many and when I do, yes, I’m just a middle-aged white woman minding her own business.
As to living in a large metro area and not encountering Karens, what can I say? Maybe I’m not paying attention so I don’t see side-eyes, but I do go out almost every day and I don’t wear a mask and I haven’t been screeched at.
Really, maybe I’m just not paying attention. I make sure I keep my distance, keep my mouth closed, and try not to touch my face, but otherwise…
I don’t think I’m intimidating. In fact, random people seem to want to strike up conversations with me. I’m told I can seem approachable. So, I don’t know.
T’was merely a joke, Karen! (;-)
But there isn’t a 24/7 CNN death counter for that to freak people out. How many years will it take before people start figure out context and start ignoring the CV death counter?
It takes up about 1/3 the screen. Ridiculous.
A quick google tells me heart disease kills approximately 8x that number every year, more than all cancers combined, but cancer gets the headlines and now this.
The difference is you don’t get heart disease from going to the store, so it isn’t scary.
LOL some people might.
(Unless it is 100% hereditary in which case I recant my LOL.)
It’s definitely hereditary mixed with lifestyle choices. I think better comparison is death from accidents. Things you have no control over.
My Grandad lived into his 80’s and emphysema got him. I see my future.
RE: The stupid article asking if clapper lied.
I thought the point was to not take anything a known perjerur says as true, on their own word.
I had to laugh about that too. The correct answer is: Were his lips moving?
Keeping my eye out for when this drops.
Friday afternoon and just in time for NPCNN, MSDNC, etc to ignore it.
https://twitter.com/mimsy/status/1259907332877611008
thicc?
trap?
It’s only a trap if you don’t want to get caught.
At this juncture I’d be hard pressed to be able to run away. The murder Hornets are are gonna git me, aren’t they?
probably. enjoy the moment because the murder hornets are out there. I encourage everyone to live in the present. But i tell you I had a weird bee sting in november so I think I already had the murder hornets.
Yes, but she looks tarded.
https://twitter.com/mimsy/status/1258539251865489409
That, and her messy bed.
But ur gf!!
Wait… Et tu, Count Potato?
Demi Rose definitely has a kick-ass life and is a pilot now.
Don’t worry, Scro. Tons of yards out there living kickass lives.
Will have to be buried in a Y shaped coffin?
Experts
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, plans to tell a Senate committee on Tuesday that the country risks “needless suffering and death” if states open up too quickly, he told The New York Times late Monday evening.
“If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to: ‘Open America Again,’ then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country,” Fauci said in an email to the Times, referring to the federal government’s plan for states to re-open. “This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal.”
——-
The hearing will be Democrats’ first opportunity since March to question leading medical experts — including Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield — about the Trump administration’s response.
“The fact of the matter is, President (Donald) Trump has been more focused on fighting against the truth, than fighting this virus — and Americans have sadly paid the price,” Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, plans to say Tuesday, according to excerpts of her opening statement.
“Since this Committee last heard from these witnesses on March 3rd, we have seen over 900 deaths in my home state of Washington, over 80,000 deaths nationally, and the numbers continue to climb,” Murray plans to say. “Still, President Trump is trying to ignore the facts, and ignore the experts who have been clear we are nowhere close to where we need to be to reopen safely.”
The hearing — in which committee leaders and all four government witnesses will be appearing remotely via video conference — comes as states across the country have started taking actions to roll back the business closures and stay-at-home orders that were put in place two months ago to try to slow the coronavirus infection rate, though the outbreak is far from over.
——-
The hearing is likely to further illustrate the divide within the country between Republicans and Democrats over their views on the pandemic, how the administration has handled the crisis and the best path forward amid warnings from public health experts that positive cases could surge if stay-at-home orders are rolled back too quickly.
That was awfully nice of Doktor Foochy to give the guys at NYT a heads up.
Also- those goalposts must have ceramic bearings, to withstand the rate of travel.
Nice of him to completely ignore the example of Georgia, which has been open for weeks now without any horrible consequences.
WhuT BoUt THe BeaCHEz?
I said it back in Obumbles first term: his administration is indistinguishable from a criminal organization, but then all pinkos are.
Chicago Machine, Tammany Hall… potato/tomahto
I always thought it was funny that people thought a politician from Chicago was squeaky clean.
This
I’ve been saying this for years. Obama is first and foremost a Chicago politician and everything that entails.
“But he’s so articulate!”
I saw that my former employer furloughed 550 people a few weeks back. I expect about 200 or so won’t be brought back, they will use this as an excuse to cut their numbers some more.
So I think that 42% number aligns with my gut feeling.
I’m starting to hear rumblings of layoffs at my company. Basically they want to hold on as long as possible so they don’t look like assholes, but the revenue loss is going to cause across the board cuts. But we’re In It Together!™
I know the company I support did some furloughs. They also were trying to trim some staff over the past couple of years. I have a feeling that some of those furloughs will become permanent as well. Thankfully, my company hasn’t done any layoffs/furloughs to the department I work in (just no pay increases, bonuses, or 401k matching).
Mornin’, Banjos!
“That’s OUR job!!!”
Look, your review of our corruption to keep you out of office is politicized! you can’t do that!
“…inflame tensions between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats…”
Oh no. Whatever will we do if Democrats start hating Trump?
At this point, after everything they have done, I see Trump as justified in anything he does to them. He could round the lot up and have them shot for all I care.
No kidding. I mean, they actually tried to run a no-shit coup against a duly elected president. There’s nothing too horrible that could happen to these assholes.
Mornin’
Gotta love the juxtaposition between the dark comments above and your smiling face saying “Mornin”! I love this place.
“The United States has more than 1.3 million cases of the coronavirus, with over 80,000 deaths and 210,000 recoveries. ”
That doesn’t even make sense.
Everybody else is in corona limbo.
Is a negative test required to declare a “recovery”?
The rest still have it? I doubt it, but…
Of course that includes the inflated numbers. NY alone has over 5,000 cases that are “presumed” to be WuFlu deaths, with no testing or positive diagnosis.
Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander and other Republicans on the panel view Tuesday’s hearing as a showcase for what the administration has been working on, and they hope the reputations of scientists like Fauci will lend credibility to the work that is occurring, according to a source familiar with their thinking.
Fauci has become one of the Trump administration’s leading — and most credible — voices during the pandemic as a career public health official leading National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has been willing to break with Trump on issues like testing and rolling back stay-at-home orders.
Democrats are hopeful that Fauci will give the public his honest assessment Tuesday — even if it means criticizing the President.
That’s one way to spin it, I guess.
I can’t wait to find out what “White House policy” President Cartoon Villain has violated this time.
I can’t wait to find out what “White House policy” President Cartoon Villain has violated this time.
LOL. Yeah. This is essentailly the #resistence. We’ll get trump for being corrupt because he breaks x policy that he is free to set and change. You can say he’s a shitty leader for not following his own rules, but the left jumped the 10th shark when they argued that he can’t set foreign policy over the heads of his ambasadors. They have taken #NotMyPresident to new levels.
#NotMyPresident
I hate the “these are the same people who…” formulation, but I bet, per Dave Smith, a good chunk of them think Democracy is the greatest good.
Does not the president set “White House policy”?
No.
/Hawaiian Federal Judge
Fauci is a goalpost mover, which flushes any credibility he had,
“Did you ever have that dream, Smithers, when David Fauci flies through your window?”
Quality set of links. That study showing 42% of permanent layoffs is scary, but it’s what I’ve expected and been trying to tell people. Hopefully it’s much less than that.
The problem here is that so much of our workforce is employed by the Government that the knock-ons won’t be felt for months. By then it will be too late. I am not hopeful.
States like Illinois will just create the CSA – Coronavirus Security Administration. They will be stationed at the doors of every business
I hope so too.
Accounts from former top FBI brass suggests James Clapper may have lied to Congress about whether he personally briefed President Barack Obama on the phone calls between Michael Flynn and Sergei Kislyak.
“It was the least untruthful answer.”
I just got asked how much experience i have in my field.
Now i’m wondering if there are going to be layoffs. And since i’m young, i’ll be high up on the list.
Time to identify as a “hands off class”…
“Oh, so this is the excuse you have to lay off Otherkin, hmmmm. EEO lawyer on speed dial!”
Maybe not, you’re less likely to die?
In local covid bullshit, I don;t get the low number of tests, given this is so scary. there are days with 15k tests and days with 5k. If there is 15k capacity why not use it every day? Get an idea, do some random testing.
From what I gather, you only get a test if a doctor orders it. You want them to stop going to meetings and taking afternoons off to golf?
you can only get one in DC, MD or Va if you get a doctor to recommend or have symptoms. It’s even more retarded though because they are basically saying you have to pay to quarantine anyone who lives with someone who actually has it for 14 days even if they aren’t exhibiting symptoms. The coming litigation is going to go for years, This response and coming policy is peak retard.
And Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, said he plans to question the witnesses on why the US has “done so much worse” than other countries in dealing with the pandemic and “what does that suggest for the next steps we need to take?”
So much worse? In what way? No explanation required. It’s completely self-evident.
Break it down by state and you realize it isnt the country that has done so much worse.
Virginia is under 1/2 of the US average, it is doing pretty darn good.
The last data i saw, showed that even in aggregate the US was middle of the pack.
Looks like we rank 8th for countries over 10MM in population, which is worse than middle of pack. Iran looks more like middle of the pack.
If you take NY out of the mix, the US is in the top tier.
…and if you can’t believe Iranian reporting, what can you trust?!
Well, okay…probably not the best choice. Lets go with Romania then. They are just under Iran. Maybe vampires are immune?
This guy’s
why the US has “done so much worse” than other countries in dealing with the pandemic and “what does that suggest for the next steps we need to take?
Now forgive me, but isn’t that a textbook defenition of Question Begging? I always get that wrong, but it is definitely trying to assuming something into the record and skip that part.
Virginia is 50th in testing and has had the largest single outbreak in the country at a nursing home outside of richmond. Also the gov mysteriously changed course from saying we were opening as a state last week putting forth a logical argument supporting it only to reverse this week to say we are going by locality using the exact logic he was castigating last week. Maybe Tim Kaine should focus on his state and not others.
Or maybe Creepy Tim should resign and live his dream as a youth camp director.
heh
We have a lot of cases because we do a lot if testing. We have a lot of deaths because states get paid more for a CV death than a non-CV death. So all deaths are CV deaths.
If you’re hit by a bus and killed with CV, you’re not pregnant, but you did die of CV.
No, no! You ARE pregnant – so both you and the unborn child died of Sinovirus!!!!
+2 count!
Take out the NYC metro and we’re best in the world.
Probably because NY/NJ, where most of the cases were, deliberatly inoculated their nursing homes with the virus.
Attorney General William Barr dropped the DOJ’s case against Flynn on Thursday after documents showed FBI officials plotted to entrap him.
Nu Uh! Bar is just a big poopy pants who is doing the political bidding of Trump!!!!!! We know Flynn was bad because he worked for Trump, it doesn’t matter what we had to do to get him!
/ “Bleeding Hearts”
The Mexican government is asking Washington for cooperation in discovering how Operation Fast and Furious happened
Easy. The US Gov’t ran guns to Mexican cartels, ostensibly to trace them or something. But that didn’t happen. And I recall talk from the then AG about wanting to “brainwash” Americans to change their view on private gun ownership.
Are you suggesting that the Obama Admin may have Run Guns to get them into criminals hands to help push for Gun Control?
Anyway, Obama loved Mexicans. It’s that Trump who is racist and hates anyone wearing a sombrero and Mustache.
“We are extraditing Eric Holder, you may employ any means necessary when questioning him.”
This. Ya think Eric’s bunghole clenched up a bit when he read that headline?
/no one is still reading this thread
Security guards, workers in food processing plants, taxi drivers: the occupations facing the highest #COVID19 death rates.
Social care workers face more than 2x the average death rate but death rates among NHS workers are in line with the average
Striking new findings from @ONS
https://twitter.com/EdConwaySky/status/1259786758365097985
So you’re telling me the strategy of quarantining the healthy and leaving the most vulnerable exposed was a bad one?
All the while NY was forcing nursing homes to house Commie Cough patients. But, you know, NY’s governor is totes awesome. ///Cuomosexual
Top man
Titty Tuesday will run your gun to Mexico.
http://archive.li/9A2Qz
14 looks like a Real Doll
41 is the hottest by my algorithm
I neighbor’s kid was deployed to Afghanistan late last year. They pulled his unit out of there a couple of months ago… but… now they are stuck in a desert base in Kuwait because of the commie cough. They have no idea when they’ll actually get to return to the U.S.
Been there once – real nice in the summer. #sarc
Belated thanks to the Glibs yesterday for answering my deck questions! It’s all in a preliminary stage but your input is appreciated. I do have about a dozen pressure-treated 4×4’s and about thirty or so pressure-treated rough cut 3×8 left over from another job that are rated to last decades. We’ll have to draw up a plan and go from there. If I have questions I’ll be sure to ask.
Oh! Mornin’ Banjos!
Mornin’
don’t forget to cup the boards
Crown, and check the actual width of the joists, pressure treated 2x8s and 10s can vary by over 1/2 an inch, you don’t want a 9 1/8″ joist next to a 9 3/4 one.
Keep the pressure treated stuff out of the dirt, it rots too. I built my deck 30 years ago on concrete piers (mixed and poured from sacrete) and other than discoloring looks like it will last forever. Avoid attaching the deck to the house, the house structure will rot, leave a 3″ space between the house and deck to allow drying after rains. My deck may not be cosmetically pleasing but not because it shows signs of deterioration.
I think local code may state deck needs to be attached for safety but with proper bracing its unnecessary. I can send pictures if you’d like.
I’ve never had problems with post rotting in the ground, the time’s I see it is because the posts were set in concrete, pour 6-8″ concrete in the post hole and set the post on that fill with alternating layers of gravel and dirt about 4-5 inches at a time and tamp after each layer checking for plumb (you can tamp one side or the other more if post starts leaning). Also with proper flashing decks attached to house framing should be fine, the only time I avoid it is on brick homes, it can be done but grinding out a joint line and sealing in a flashing is usually more a PITA then setting more posts and another beam along the building.
I poured the piers so they extend above ground several inches, put a bolt in the concrete, drilled a hole in the post and set the post on top of the bolt. Treated fence posts and flower beds have all rotted below grade.
Even with flashing snow may accumulate and melt but you’re right, the flashing works.
Answer the first – I will not be attaching the deck to the house to avoid pesky building code violations, fees and general fuckery. Answer the second – I already knew that. I’m being a smart-ass. Thanks, guys! Seriously though, I don’t know what she’s dreamed up so nothing is even pictured in the vaguest notion but I’m sure it’ll wake me in a cold sweat for months until it gets done.
The premade footer forms work well and save some effort. There’s plenty of options out there.
Yup. The wood will be dear…
I see “footer forms” and I think Word templates.
/office drone OFF
“Donald Trump says the ‘out of control’ media is ‘conspiring’ against him after he abruptly ended his coronavirus press conference following a heated confrontation with two reporters”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8309271/Trump-clashes-Asian-American-reporter-ends-press-conference-dispute-CNN.html
lacist?
After three and a half years of “gotcha questions” I find his restraint admirable. I’d have donned UCS’ strangling gloves at the start of every presser…
That was weapons grade retarded on the reporters end. These people are beyond parody or shame.
Trump is right but needs to keep it together.
The pandemic is testing him.
‘Maybe that’s a question you should ask China,’ Trump told Jiang, who is Chinese-American. ‘Don’t ask me. Ask China that question, OK?’
The president then called on CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, but Jiang interjected to ask Trump: ‘Why are you saying that to me specifically?’
You asked the question! Fuck these dishonest cuntes.
If there was a sci-fi novel with a megalomaniac billionaire who was the son of an Apartheid emerald mine owner, and he was privatizing space exploration so the public no longer has a say in it…you know that would be considered bad, right?
The heroes would fight to stop SpaceX.
https://twitter.com/existentialcoms/status/1259950178192130050
The fact that anyone considers SpaceX as anything other than a continuation of the transfer of public sector science, that was run for the public good, into the hands of billionaires is a testament to our propaganda.
Having space exploration controlled by one billionaire is bad.
Remember in the 60s when rockets launched and the credit was given to the scientists and astronauts that actually made it happen?
Now it’s given to the billionaire who pillaged NASA tech and is now using it as his playground and promotion for his cars. That’s bad. SpaceX is bad.
Depends who wrote it. It sounds like a Pournelle short story to me, with Musk as hero.
The Man Who Sold the Moon was written by Heinlein. But robber baron instead of Apartheid emerald mine owner.
I’d think a commie would hate NASA, for being the capitalists tool to force the USSR into bankrupting itself over the space race.
Yeah, you’ll really hate all the successes private businesses will have compared to governments when space mining starts.
The year 2120 version of Bernie Sanders will be ranting about trillionaires and quadrillionaires, and not just because of inflation.
Who is Paul Volnos?
The author of Existential Comics is so consistently wrong that it makes one wonder about the possibility of parody.
NASA was not pillaged by Elon Musk. It was a victim of its own success, and of the wider government culture. The meritocratic and ambitious 1960s gave way to the accomplished but stagnant 1970s which eventually led to the wasteful and foolish 1980s-2000s. The Space Shuttle was a pointless and expensive waste of time, manpower, and money, and the knowledge and experience that once defined NASA slowly atrophied until it was long gone by the time the last Shuttle mission landed. Scope creep and empire building at the agency led to it branching off into a thousand mostly pointless projects that were primarily about justifying continued funding. The agency had completely lost its way, becoming just another source of government and contractor sinecures. The semi-privatization of the production of space-going vehicles has brought back a level of engineering talent and drive that has long been absent from most of the government sector, not to mention greatly reducing the need for the Russian government of all things to get us to space.
All of these government did it better and first fetishists never own up to the collapse of government competence that occurred, except insofar as they blame Reagan for all the evils of the world. The government is quite literally incapable of achieving on its own today what it was able to achieve in the past. And that’s because it was not a government achievement, but an achievement of people who happened to work for the government. The incentive structure that allowed them to achieve is gone. Nothing short of drastic reform of the civil service, and such reform would have to be largely against the grain of every action Congress has taken for the last 40 years in regard to public sector employment, stands any chance of changing that reality.
Assuming that’s true, I find it odd that this self-styled philosopher is so comfortable judging a person by what their parents did.
And then he uses works of fiction as a moral baseline. Nice.
Assuming that’s true, I find it odd that this self-styled philosopher is so comfortable judging a person by what their parents did.
A good point. I imagine that he would coutner that he isn’t judging him but stating that Musks wealth is ill gotten, and further proof that all wealth is ill gotten.
ME ME ME
There’s a Covid-19 rebellion brewing in Pennsylvania, where counties led by Republicans and some businesses have said they’ll defy Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s restrictive orders.
Wolf has said he’ll withhold stimulus funding from those counties if they ignore his orders. He’s taken a tiered strategy to reopening the state and moved scores of counties to a new, more open “yellow” phase. Some of those still on “red” don’t want to wait for the state anymore.
President Donald Trump, naturally, cheered on the counties on Twitter on Monday, and accused Democrats of trying to slow-walk the opening to hurt him in November. (For Trump, it’s always about Trump, even if it’s actually about public safety.)
And for CNN, it’s always about President Cartoon Villain, even if it’s actually about trying to get people back to their lives before the country rips itself to pieces. That nice Governor Wolf just wants to keep those infantile peasants from doing themselves harm, because they are too ignorant and foolish to take care of themselves.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8308739/Vera-Wang-70-sends-social-media-frenzy-ageless-looks.html
Impressive.
yeah actually.
She has obviously hired a young-alike.
The Conservatives started to hit back at the Liberals.They allege the majority of SMEs don’t qualify for all these programs in place. It’s funny, I read most of them and wondered how businesses smaller than mine would qualify. It makes in the sense it’s by design because the government can’t bail out every single businesses. So that article about permanent jobs fo 42% of people may be truer than not.
Good jobs. Maybe you should take out commercials like health care workers and cops (those essentials) and praise yourselves. Assholes.
Even the non permanent job losses are pretty permanent as they will lag behind if the demand isn’t there. Which it won’t be right away, people are still hysterical.
They’re even joking about it in my lefty workplace. We’re starting to greet each other with the honorific, “Hero”. Not most, but some.
Dems want to give renters 100 billion dollars. Why not just give it directly to landlords? At this point it’s almost like they want wealth stratification and bankruptcies to decimate the middle class and have their preferred mega corporations solidify their hold on the economy.
Feature, not bug.
There are more renters (read: voters) than there are (((landlords))).
Trump should pass it and put his name on the checks.
When all the dust settles and it will, what will be the end result?
We will be buying more cheap Chinese goods than ever, since there will be more low(er) income folks than ever, the debt will be much higher and the economy much worse off. The CV will not have a preventive vaccine (that works), government will have more power and we can rejoice in a standard of living that resembles the ’40s rather than the 2019s.
The same number will be dead. Unemployment will be higher.
I can only hope I’m wrong but past performance of inflationary measures seems to always head in the same direction. The destruction to “The Shining City’ has been unreal, the misery index at highs not seen for almost a 100 years.
I hate myself
No reason to hate yourself for property foreseeing the future.
WE HAD NO CHOICE!
IF WE DIDN’T DO NUFFIN THERE WOULD BE 8 MILLION DEAD!
Unfalsifiable logic will prevail.
Sweden suggests otherwise. Yeah, they didn’t do “nothing”, but pretty darn close.
Oh noes, its a little bit worse there!!!!
(for now)
Even if you cite Sweden they will refute it.
It’s different here!
You can’t win. The only solution was to burn it all down.
It is different here. A lot of people want to compare us to other countries that don’t have the same demographics, population densities and distributions, age distributions and socio-economic conditions.
For good or for bad.
However, remove the shit-show that is NYC and we look pretty damn good by comparison to anyone.
Why? You’re not the one doing it.
For being such a pessimist about the future of those I care so much about. My family, all the Glibs and a country that I love.
pessimist
NewWife is starting to push back, so I know I’m more than getting on her nerves. This week:
a/ I wish you didn’t hate cops.
b/ Why do you have to be so critical?
yeah, well: it keeps the murder hornets away, okay?
You don’t have to express it to her. I’m sure you don’t want to hear her complain about the same coworkers every week.
Inflation might not be so bad given the towering debt people are going to have when this all shakes out.
Further income inequality for the win.
Interest rates are going to skyrocket to keep pace with inflation. Maybe bonds will make sense again.
The fed and legislators will do everything they can to prevent interest rates from increasing. Because housing and stocks.
Remember, Volcker had to implement a high-interest-rate policy to curb inflation – and only because a somewhat free-market POTUS was in office and allowed him to do so. The odds of Americans electing a free-market proponent again are a lot lower now than then. We’re more likely to get Nixon-esque wage and price controls.
You might see negative interest rates before this is over.
Why would anyone lend money at 5 percent of inflation is 20 percent? You would be better off spending it on cocaine.
It’s going to get funny. But yes I’d rather invest in cocaine.
Inflation destroys savings and punishes people on fixed incomes. Why do you hate old people?
Any prospect of retiring in the near future has evaporated.
so the people who pushed this retarded policy AKA boomers will pay the most for pursuing it? good to know.
I am a boomer, and I have been vehemently opposed to all this shit.
I know It just sucks all around kinnath I apologize. This shit is going to be really really bad.
peace
I am offline for the next 5 or 6 hours.
Watch for the “over-65” standard income tax deduction to increase.
So many old people don’t pay taxes now, since I do it would help me but the standard probably covers many now.
No you don’t, Fourscore! You stopped drinking a long time ago.
I’ve made other mistakes too, Festus
Dems want to give renters 100 billion dollars. Why not just give it directly to landlords? At this point it’s almost like they want wealth stratification and bankruptcies to decimate the middle class and have their preferred mega corporations solidify their hold on the economy.
So what you’re saying is they love the little guy and will do whatever they can to help him?
Smug, self-righteous Brit is also a blatantly lying, mendacious cunte.
In the video that was included in The Daily Beast’s report on Oliver’s segment, the only part of Barr’s answer on how history will view the move only included the following: “Well, history is written by the winners, so it largely depends on who’s writing the history.”
“Wow! Now, if I were the president’s lackey trying to twist the justice system to his will, I might have answered that simple question with something like, ‘History will show this is the right decision’ or ‘It was a tough call but justice was served.’ It takes a special kind of arrogance for the nation’s top law-enforcement official to say, ‘Actually, history’s a lie we tell ourselves as we fall asleep at night, the world is nothing but formless chaos, and there is no truth but that which the strong impose upon the weak. You get it, right?!'” Oliver said in response to Barr. However, that was not Barr’s full answer.
“Well, history is written by the winner. So it largely depends on who’s writing the history. But I think a fair history would say that it was a good decision because it upheld the rule of law. It helped, it upheld the standards of the Department of Justice, and it undid what was an injustice,” Barr said.
In context, Barr seems humble and literally does that which Chucky and Oly say he doesn’t. But we can’t have that.
Russia and the UK have zoomed past Italy and numbers continue to climb but have announced they will open up. Lol. I didn’t even know Russia closed down.
But explain that? Europe’s numbers are stable but clearly nowhere near zero but are opening but here? We’re still acting like we will only open if a vaccine is found or the numbers go to zero. Now they found something else to scare people with: Covid is attacking the children!
A doctor sends me a link about how ominous the death toll is in America. Reuters said death by Wuhan has now surpassed any flu season. Never mind they’re probably inflating the numbers. Never mind it’s basically three states NY/NJ/MA driving the numbers and never mind we KNOW that in the entire West it’s the old people most affected.
Amazing how they stick to this ‘America is a mess’ and ‘Covid is lethal’ script. Mind boggling.
I mentioned that to him as well as the fact that in Canada it’s 70 000/4500 (cases/death) of which Quebec accounts fo half of it so not sure why he sends crap about the USA (well, he’s your standard Canadian loyalist who dislikes America but his kids went to school there and plan to stay. I called him out on that) when our own situation isn’t exactly pristine.
“But explain that? Europe’s numbers are stable but clearly nowhere near zero but are opening but here? ”
I’ll face palm myself thank you very much.
I go back to a question I saw a few weeks back.
If 1/2 the deaths had been in GA and NC (bordering states that combine to have the same population as NYC metro area) and NYC had a few hundred deaths, would NYC be closed? Or would this just be some problem in hicksville?
That’s a rhetorical answer that should be obvious to everyone at this point.
Russia? Impossible! Everyone knows vodka cures Coronavirus.
Vodka….not whisky or bourbon?!
*pouts*
Why not both?
Demonstrably false. Even if you allow the “presumed” cases they use to inflate the numbers, it is still only at the level of the 2017-2018 flu season, which killed 80,000. If you take way the bullshit presumed cases with no test and no positive diagnosis, the numbers for WuFlu are quite a bit lower. The 1968-1969 Hong Kong flu killed over 100,000 Americans, out of a population of 200 million. The equivalent number of deaths today would be around a quarter of a million.
Seattle cop posts video about hhe’s against violating citizens’ rightshts. A couple days later he posts another video after he’s fired.
I’m feeling onery today i guess, so here’s another generalization. The FOP and Cops always talk about “just a few bad apples”. The fact is that it is “Just a few good apples, and the Police Profession does it’s very best to weed them out and destroy them.
Even if it was just a few bad apples, what would it say that the “good” apples don’t deal with the bad apples?
Saw that.
What pisses me off is this. Go give your tickets during a pandemic when people have no jobs. Be pricks.
But then they go on TV and say how they’re ‘saving lives’. THAT PISSES ME OFF. No you’re not. You’re profiting off their lives.
All they need to do is just tell people to go home. Instead, they CHOOSE to act like dicks and ‘follow orders’.
Which led me to Police One. The results are closer in line to what that guy did.
https://www.policeone.com/law-enforcement-policies/articles/survey-3200-officers-weigh-in-on-covid-19-decree-enforcement-pblLE1Fsjgdyobd1/
AGENCY VIEW ON ENFORCEMENT
When asked about their agency’s approach to enforcement, almost 42% said they will enforce only after “significant warnings,” while nearly 25% said their agency ignores most of the decrees. Approximately 20% reported no agency-wide consistency in enforcement and 11.5% say enforcement only occurs with supervisory approval. A minimal 3.3% report immediate enforcement action being taken.
INDIVIDUAL VIEWS
When asked about their personal feelings about the COVID decrees and their attitude toward enforcement, 49% said they “reflect government overreach.” They felt they are “overly broad and probably unconstitutional” and they will not enforce unless ordered to do so. Just over 26% felt they were “generally legal, necessary and enforceable” but inconsistent in scope. Nearly 20% felt they’re “illegal and inconsistent” and they will “not enforce for any reason.” A mere 5.7% feel they’re “completely legal, justified and enforceable.”
THE IMPACT ON COMMUNITY RELATIONS
When asked how they think enforcing COVID decrees will impact the relationship between police and their communities, nearly 50% believe it will damage community relations, 28% have split feelings on how their communities view enforcement and approximately 23% think only time will tell. Just 2.3% feel enforcing the COVID decrees will actually strengthen their relationship with the community.
Mornin’ Banjos and everyone else. I’m not a fancy bourbon or scotch guy but I may buy a bottle to celebrate with when all of the people doing the misdeeds in the links above get held accountable.
Get a bottle of your preference now but make it a big one. Could be a long time before much accountability has been accomplished. Enjoy a sip when little things happen. Hopefully you’ll need a second bottle soon though.
Mornin’
A former Emory University professor pleaded guilty to charges of filing false tax returns after accepting at least $500,000 in Chinese government funding that he never reported on federal income tax returns, the Justice Department announced Monday.
Dr. Xiao-Jiang Li was sentenced Friday by a U.S. District Judge after failing to report foreign income he earned for working at two Chinese universities, the Justice Department press release said. From 2012 to 2018, Li did not report at least $500,00 in foreign income while he worked at the Chinese universities.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/11/emory-university-professor-pleads-guilty-xiao-jiang-li-justice-department-china-funding-tax-return/
I would like to know how much work he did for the CDC (which is practically next door to Emory).
NIH, which is what he was originally charged with. Yet he pled guilty to the tax returns. After Flynn, my BS meter isn’t at 0.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/ex-emory-scientist-ties-china-charged-fraud
Nothing gets the attention of the U.S. Federal government like trying to cheat them out of their cut of your income.
A German Film About A Man And His Robot Daughter’s Sexual Relationship Triggers Walkouts And Outrage
. In one particularly disturbing scene, Elli is laying naked on the counter as her father removes her vagina and tongue for cleaning.
Eeew.
If it’s a robot, it’s not his daughter.
Suppose you’re right. Could be my wife, though.
You can’t marry an object. It can’t give consent. Otherwise Q would introduce his flesh light as Mrs. Q.
meh seems to me it is fishing for outrage
…and it worked. Free advertising!
Who has the weirder fetishes, the Germans or the Japanese? No wonder they teamed up back in the day.
Well the Japanese because from what I understand the men don’t actually have sex. Say what you will about the Germans kinks but they have coitus.
Germans…. it’s always Germans….
…at your feet or at your throat.
Creepy. But a robot ain’t a human.
The film was made by a woman.
PWND
GregGutfeld
@greggutfeld
THAT’S your defense? That all Trump’s references to China’s dealings -from trade to fentanyl to corona – which go back years, publicly – must conform to your desperate specifications? So, it must be “TWICE?” Do you realize how hilarious that is? Go home. Take a bath
Quote Tweet
Brian Stelter
@brianstelter
Replying to @greggutfeld
If you can send me several other examples of the president saying the words “ask China,” twice, in response to a single question, then your analogy holds up. Until then… it doesn’t.
Then climb into bed and have a nice cry.
At first, I believe they were just playing a ‘game’. They hated the President and would just fuck around with him. But now I understand they’re that irresponsible and mendacious. They hate him period and damn the truth. Very stupid people. Not about the truth. Just about taking him down.
They wan’t power at all costs and Drumpf has prevented them from it. He has also called them on their bullshit and rubbed their nose in it repeatedly. Bill Maher (who to his credit has recently changed his tune) once said he would accept a recession/depression to get rid of Bad Orange Man.
Even if he doesn’t win re-election, he’s won the battle of waking everyone up to the media propaganda machine.
*mostly everyone
The Elites / Deep State / Whatever you want to call them are an unified body. They react to Trump like your body’s immune system reacts to a virus. They try to attack and expel it.
How Coronavirus Put an Ancient Flour Mill Back to Work
“You can hear the creaks, smell the grain—you really feel the age of it.”
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ancient-mill-coronavirus
Mass murderers
Public health officials closed a restaurant in Castle Rock, Colo., on Monday, one day after its owner hosted a Mother’s Day event in which the entire dining room was open to seat customers — most of whom weren’t wearing face masks.
Hundreds of people visited the C&C Coffee and Kitchen on Sunday, with some praising its defiance in allowing people to eat breakfast burritos and drink coffee at tables despite broad restrictions that limit Colorado restaurants to carryout service. Images from Sunday morning show the restaurant had a line of people at the door, with a crowd inside.
“I expected it to be busy. I never expected this,” owner April Arellano told the Castle Rock News-Press on Sunday. “I’m so happy so many people came out to support the Constitution and stand up for what is right. We did our time. We did our two weeks. We did more than two weeks … and we were failing. We had to do something.”
But the local health department shut down the restaurant Monday, saying its owners had ignored a warning not to open their dining room.
——-
“It is disheartening that this restaurant has chosen to move ahead of the public orders and not even consider implementing best practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr., the health department’s executive director.
——-
Anyone who didn’t agree, the restaurant’s backers said, could simply stay away. But others disagreed vehemently, saying they would never patronize a restaurant that defies public health orders — and adding the potential dangers extend far beyond the people who opted to visit.
“So much selfish stupidity. If it was just themselves they were endangering I wouldn’t care, but we’re all connected. It’s a pandemic and people are dying,” a commenter wrote on member station Colorado Public Radio’s Facebook post about the reopening.
Selfish stupidity. Why can’t they embrace democracy and do what they’re told? Stupid boat-rockers.
Learn to love Big Nanny.
‘People are dying.’
So you have to die too.
I have no respect for such people.
80 000 dead.
Half of those concentrated in three states.
The other half divided up across the rest of the country.
But you have to lose your business because ‘people are dying’. They make it sound like all 80 000 dead are where they are.
I can’t even begin to process the lack of context exhibited here.
the other half are in nursing homes.
FTFY
It’s not 80,000, either. Probably . Who knows? But that number is based on bad data and would be correct only by accident.
Covid-only deaths are around 40k.
“So much selfish stupidity. If it was just themselves they were endangering I wouldn’t care, but we’re all connected. It’s a pandemic and people are dying,” a commenter wrote on member station Colorado Public Radio’s Facebook post about the reopening.
The worst thing about social media is that it gives journalists a firehose of quotes that they can use from the man on the street.
…if the street were an insane asylum.
we’re all connected
The magic bullet that lets them do whatever they want to control other people. What cant be justified with that reasoning?
Limits on Abortion, Strict Property Rights…
I’ve often told people that what they decide to have for breakfast tomorrow could result in the deaths of hundreds of people.
It’s a pandemic and people are dying,”
What demographic is susceptible? <- Question this Karen is too stupid to ask (among others). Critical thinking is difficult, I suppose.
Why not send our unemployed to Afghanistan? They’ve got nothing better to do. And now that we’ve stripped them of all their money and things, they should be right at home with the poverty of Afghanistan.
We’ll just repurpose AmeriCorps. Let the Taliban deal with those yahoos.
We can’t even let Marines get their high and tights without it becoming a national news event anymore. We’ve turned into a country of meddlesome twats.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/14/834422416/can-a-marine-skip-a-haircut-during-the-coronavirus
Uffda. Those jarheads don’t have access to a barracks barber?
When I served there was always some guy in the barracks with a pair of clippers who’d trim you up for a beer. Way cheaper and easier than going down to the base barbershop.
May be you just need to send the Kennedy Center a few more million dollars.
Hayes asked, “In this case, my understanding is it’s coming from Mitch McConnell in the White House, we’re done here. There is a headline that gave me a chuckle, ‘The GOP Rekindles Deficit Concerns Adding Snag to Talks on Aid.’ Is it your sense there is like—what is your read of the posture of the White House and Senate Republicans towards additional legislative rescue relief like you’re proposing?”
Pelosi said, “Well, it’s interesting to see what they’re saying, becoming renewing their fiscal hawk positions that they can barely remember. I have confidence in going big with what we do. When I saw them give a $2 trillion addition to the national debt in order to give 83% of the benefits to the top 1%, that was so irresponsible in terms of nothing for the economy except put mountains of debt on our children. With this, we are saying these are investments. All of these things are for the good of helping people in personal lives but also a stimulus to the economy. Ask any —well, almost any, I don’t know who they would drum up, economist they will tell you food stamps, imagine they are against SNAP, against expanding the opportunity for people to have access to food stamps at a time where the papers and news is full of families in long lines at food banks. And we have to help those food banks as well. So this is personal. It’s heartbreaking, really. So I have confidence in the American people. America has a big heart, a heart full of love, and people care about each other. What they see what we’re doing, it will be big because the problem is big and needs are big of the American people, that it will be more attention paid to what the Republicans are saying or doing and then a judgment can be made. But I’m optimistic always. I see everything as an opportunity, the bigger the challenge, the bigger the opportunity.”
Something something crisis something something waste.
GOP, Fiscal hawks? Fool me for 35 years, shame on you…
The auto/bank bailouts were enough to drive me from the GOP. Fiscal responsibility my ass.
Abandon the Free Market in order to preserve it or some such.
We are going to get another bailout for meager business litigation protections. Fuck. This. Shit. Grow a fucking spine GOP.
They have a spine.
The Republican Party is the party of mercanilism! Mercantilism has always been the dominant economic philosophy of its leadership. What do mercantilists believe? The government should – through diverse military, political and economic means – prop up the businesses within the country, protect them from foreign competition, and force open export markets for their products.
The lip service they pay towards free markets is just that, lip service, to get the rubes to vote for them. It’s no different from the Democratic party claiming to be the champions of minorities while continuing the racist economic policies like the minimum wage that were designed to oppress and disenfranchise them.
^^^THIS
There’s just one problem. Old school mercantilists abhorred accruing large national debts. Whatever else today’s GOP is, being opposed to the accrual of national debt is not among their attributes.
So questions (forgive me if they’re half-baked; they’re really only vague feelings at this point):
1. How long before people start opening new restaurants in the absence of the old ones?
2. How long before people start coming up with innovative ideas that turn into high-rate employers?
3. How many new mom’n’pops will come out of this?
4. How many Karens are going to fall on hard times (but no hope that they will realize they did it to themselves)?
Americans are amazingly resilient. I see another industrial revolution-type thing coming out of this somehow.
It will take a year or two for all this to shake out and get to a “new normal”.
It will take a miracle invention to get the economy rolling again (think air conditioning).
It may take an honest-to-goodness war (hello, FDR, who knew about Pearl Harbor before it happened and wanted an excuse to get us i to the war).
Someone said something upthread about the debt people will have when it shakes out a little, keeping hyperinflation in check. Theoretically, that should have already started, but it hasn’t.
The black market (hi, Jarflax!) will carry things along for a while and other things will serve as currency (think Tide) and people will barter for a while (repairs on properties they rent, sex for rent [she said, completely seriously].
Amazon’s not going anywhere. Walmart’s not going anywhere. People who protest can be replaced and Walmart doesn’t countenance any whisper of the U-word.
It’ll be rough for the middle class on down, but it’ll survive. It may take 20 years to get a middle class back, but it will.
Do I think there will be a civil war? Maybe not. Riots in the streets when people are hangry, but all-out war? Not enough rednecks, too many tacticops. Black communities have no investment in any of this; they’re already poor and fractured. Hispanic communities have their families and already know how to survive. Koreans will head to their rooftops with their guns. White communities? That’s the wildcard. Too many well-off and/or old and already retired white women with too much time on their hands.
But maybe not. Maybe we’ll have the equivalent of all sorts of people heading out to flood-stricken areas with their boats to rescue their countrymen. Churches will get involved once they’re “allowed” to assemble again, but I can’t see that they’ll comply with orders much longer.
A year or two to shake off the worst of the mud. Another 20 to get back to where we were in January.
But other than riots when the hunger starts, which may be more effective than anything in France or Venezuela, I don’t think we’ll turn into a third-world country anytime soon.
This is not a problem that raining money will help across the board, but some may take that money and let slip
the dogs of wartheir entrepreneurial spirit.Don’t you need a government-issued business license to do any of 1-3?
Weeeeelllllll, pretty sure “need” may become a bit irrelevant at some point.
Pop-ups are a thing.
1. depends on the regulation and the economy. Maybe some people will think twice about opening a business that can be easily deemed nonesential and closed. Depends on the demand and expected profit and available capital.
2. Similar to 1. I doubt this will happen at a higher rate than a year ago.
3. Who knows.
4.I don’t know how Myanmar is faring.
Americans are amazingly resilient. I see another industrial revolution-type thing coming out of this somehow. – I don’t share your optimism. A new revolution does not always come. It may or it may not, but the lockdown spurring it I find unlikely.
. It may take 20 years to get a middle class back, but it will. – 20 years is a long time.
Yes, it is. And this blip in history will be treated the way the Great Depression is treated. The only people that it is directly still affecting people are the people still saving scraps of foil.
In 20 years, I will most likely be gone, but I don’t doubt that the people who come after me will adapt and flow around it.
As it is, my kids aren’t going to college. My 16yo daughter has a good job. My 14.5yo son may be able to legally work limited hours this summer and there are places that are hiring. As long as there is some demand somewhere and good employees are hard to find because a lot of people don’t want to work hard (XX is getting a taste of this right now), my kids and kids like them will be fine. XX is looking to move up into management and get a trade cert in IT. XY will do his time in retail and save his money until he can buy his own lawnmowing equipment.
I think there are a lot of people out there like my kids and they’ll keep stuff going.
After all, the Black Plague ushered in the Renaissance, and while that was personally devastating over a short timeline, it was historically beneficial (again, hi, Jarflax!). I’m thinking ahead, not to the now.
the Black Plague ushered in the Renaissance – I am not sure this is such a direct causal effect.
thinking ahead in the hundreds of years range is kind of pointless.
in 20 years less so, but I see little for a libertarian to be optimistic about. liberty will take another step back and big government another step forward. There will be more surveillance, more control, less free speech. Economy will plod along more or less. The only good thing can come of some tech improvements, if they are allowed to happen.
There is a direct tie from the Plague to the Renaissance, but I’ll not belabor the point.
I’m not trying to be optimistic per se, even if it seems I am. (I am not an optimistic person, but I generally have unrealistic expectations).
Humans gonna human and they have to get their needs met somehow, by hook or by crook. Some humans see opportunity where others don’t. That will spur industry of some sort.
There is a direct tie from the Plague to the Renaissance- I know the claims and am quite unconvinced. but that is indeed a different topic
Civil war against whom? where are the battle lines? How do you identify combatants vs non-combatants? Rebellion maybe, but it would be easier to run and vote for non-scumbags to change the system. War as an economic recovery is a lie. We destroyed the industrialized world and left our factories intact. We need a reset in labor prices (repeal minimum wage) to encourage hiring. Cheap labor would help new industries/employers to emerge easing unemployment. I have no idea if or when we get back to 2019 prosperity. The one thing that makes me optimistic is Europe and Asia recovered after WW2 and the US recovered after the Great Depression/Recession/housing market crash.
I am wary of direct parallels to past event. The conditions are not the same. The ww2 recovery was with a young population cheaper resources and no decarbonization fantasies.
no decarbonization fantasies.-
Everybody abandoned that hippy bullshit real fast when a crisis hit. Notice you can find all the all natural cleaners you want but no bleach? If it’s decarbonization or prosperity, people will pick the latter.
Everybody abandoned that hippy bullshit real fast – the UK government didn’t. I doubt EU did.
I’m speaking for Americans. I don’t care what the EU/UK does.
I think you are way to optimistic speaking for Americans. when the new shiny chicom toy subsides, GW will come back with a fucking vengeance.
Also as much as Americans don’t like it, America is on a planet with a whole bunch of other countries.
It’s not that we don’t like it. It’s more like most of the time, we don’t notice.
Yes other countries exist and we ignore them and have our own laws.
except when drones fly… Also the economy is sort of global.
Reusable bags got banned, and single use plastic ones are back, even in the areas where they were banned before.
The last reusable bag I saw was the day before the illegal shutdown order of small businesses. My local game shop gave me one because I bought over $500 of plastic crack.
/supporting small businesses
Bags are a complete free-for-all here. Some mom’n’pops are still using plastic. Some stores you have to bring your own, or else pay for paper (or plastic!).
The plastic bag ban went into effect on March 1 – haven’t heard a word about it since.
Some here think shooting’s going to break out when everybody’s hingry and it’ll be the deplorables versus the elite.
I DID once think that, but I don’t now, for the reasons you stated. There will be some holdouts on (correct) principle or because their rights are being violated. They will be crushed and disappeared like the guy whose video sparked Benghazi.
So some mob of unemployed people are going to lynch me because I still have a job? How do you identify an “elite”? I just don’t think the polarization of Americans is that cut and dried. Sure you have people on FB screaming at each other, but go into a store and pick out the good guys vs the bad guys. Now do that for 400 million people. I just don’t see a civil war as feasible.
Well, I’m not arguing with you.
But if I had to guess, it’d be rednecks versus cops.
I’m not sure I see that going very far either. If it is just rednecks ambushing patrols it won’t play well for the rest of America. If it’s cops burning houses of rednecks, well we saw the public response to Waco. Big yawn. The real world isn’t that divided, so I don’t see a Civil war coming. We didn’t have one during all the other economic down turns.
arguingdisagreeingFIFM
” How do you identify combatants vs non-combatants? ”
If you ain’t following my rules, you are an enemy combatant.
I don’t see new places moving into the closed restaurants until at least after next flu season. There’s too much risk that everything will get shut down again. The cultural change will be an interesting one. I’m not sure how it’s all going to change, but there will be cultural changes coming from all of this.
There’s also a huge opportunity for authoritarians. With so many going concerns wiped out, it might be very easy to implement things like “Full minimum wage for restaurant waitstaff” which wouldn’t get nearly the same amount of resistance as before. Which might kill the practice of tipping.
My mom lives in a small town. There were 4 restaurants. Obamacare wiped out two of them. One tried to raise prices – oops. The other tried converting from waitress service to pick-up-your-food-at-the-counter service; that change wiped out a third of their business as the old folks stopped going because of it. It’s now gone. (The old ladies at church tried to tell the guy but that’s when he explained the added costs.) The two remaining restaurants were very nice but have started declining – they’ve cut capital expenditures wherever they can – so the tables, chairs, and booths are no longer replaced when they go bad, menus aren’t replaced (old prices are replaced with white-out and hand-writing). etc. The reduced competition didn’t help them at all, the added costs ate up any advantage.
That’s just the result of Obamacare. Authoritarians don’t understand the concept of death by a thousand cuts.
Zoning laws take precedence. Many of the little towns that used to exist died, those that were county seats survived (better). The towns died because store fronts weren’t allowed to become small specialty factories. I know, over generalizations, but the zoning laws persisted. Laws of economics, how do they work?
I predict a lot of empty storefronts. There’s an area here in Cleveland downtown that is one of the few well used waterfront property in the city. It’s the Flats (East Bank/West Bank) which has the Cuyahoga river running between it. In my lifetime, the West Bank has been fairly stable (and smaller), while the East Bank has gone through bust and boom cycles. They were about a year into the latest boom and revitalization when all this hit. I have the feeling that it’s going to be falling back into disrepair again by the end of next year.
hahahaha. Good luck collecting property taxes from those strip malls if that’s the case.
Yeah. That’s the kind of unseen effects that most people haven’t even considered yet. Let alone what’s going to happen with rental costs when you can’t evict people, and they’re not working.
it’s a market: things will change and equilibria will be found
everyone everywhere is taking a haircut: lessors can expect falling rents
but who’s going to forego some rent in favor of no rent?
bottom feeders will prevail; the screw will turn; new ideas and new players will emerge on a new level
Black Monday and the Betrayal of the American Worker
https://theamericansun.com/2020/05/11/black-monday-and-the-betrayal-of-the-american-worker/
Negotiations had broken down between the union and the company, and the workers had decided to strike. Due to the Korean War, which was ongoing at the time, President Truman intervened and attempted to nationalize the company. The Steelworkers were gracious as the government was going to meet all of their demands in order to keep production going to bolster the war effort.
Rather than simply meet the demands of the workers, the company filed legal action against the Federal Government, taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court where it would emerge victorious. By suing the government, they put both their workers and the war effort in jeopardy just to please their shareholders. This attitude is prescient and is a precursor for what would become the dominant view espoused by American corporations
The shareholders are the owners. They have staked capital of their own on the success of the company. That was the entire point of public ownership, that any old schmuck with some money can buy some shares and have a say. Even with corporations that aren’t publicly traded but sell shares, the owners have to front something to get ownership, usually capital of one form or another. That a company acts for the benefit of its owners should hardly be surprising, never mind controversial. There is nothing in the general arrangement of public corporations stopping the workers from buying shares and becoming owners themselves.
Also, the workers going on strike was more jeopardizing to the war effort than the company suing. Yet that part gets entirely glossed over.
I wonder why prosecutors are dropping like flies.
Some of those people just need to be straight up disbarred.
they don’t want the publicity?
Well this is pretty much an open and shut case so I don’t really get it usually prosecutors are on this type of case like fly to shit.
It says to me that there are more people further up the food chain who should be charged/prosecuted for burying the case. That means there are more conflicts of interest and more friends and cronies involved.
The fact that some states are legitimately trying to hire contact tracers and put in place a protocol at this point in time given what we know about the virus is something kafka would have thrown out of his book for being unrealistic fantasy.
Reading between the lines of this story about an assault in St. Paul I think that there might be some violence on the horizon from our Hmong gangs.
A tiny Asian woman was kicked in the face by three black kids (15yo). Because the idiots taped themselves and posted it, they were caught. The were only charged with a couple minor misdemeanors instead of felonies and the police couldn’t find any evidence of racial or ethnic bias in the attack.
At the bottom of the story, a local Asian rights group issued a statement that makes me wonder if they haven’t heard some rumblings from the “Asian community”.
When I read that, it tells me that the group has heard some talk from the Asians about fucking up the next group of black guys they find on the light rail line.
Have to say, having a wife who resembles the tiny woman who was assaulted I have a very dim view of these punks.
Univ and Dale was my old neighborhood when I lived in St Paul, I was a little farther north though. I witnessed a driveby shooting to the west on Univ. My understanding is that Hmong gangs do exist, at least in the schools. Univ has been mostly taken over by Somalis though, it seems.
Not race-related that I know of, and therefore local news, but a subway operator here was recently attacked with a knife by some crazy bitch and she was released without bail.
WTF?
Social justice, I guess.
That stop is fewer than five minutes from my house. Somewhat related — we’ve got a 25(ish) car parking lot right next to our duplex. As I was letting our dog out last night, I stumbled upon a few kids trying to break into cars. I was somewhat amused that both were wearing masks — gotta avoid Covid while you’re attempting robbery, I guess.
Just need Clint Eastwood to white savior the whole thing by getting shot up.
Good morning, Banjos!
Thanks for all the adblock-tolerant lynx!
Man, it appears that Obama’s bragging about a scandal-free administration was a tad premature. I’m not getting my hopes up, but I’d sure like to see some heads roll.
We’ve known for two months that the virus is a nursing home crisis. It’s appalling how these assholes are pretending it is a new development. 80% of deaths here were in long term care and the fuckers are just now starting to talk about it.
It appears that the pushback and rebellions are growing. I’m expecting our fuckwit governor to extend the orders past memorial day, though. Still plenty of useful idiots among the citizens and media to give him cover.
I’m happy to see MLB is coming back. The NHL is trying to put a plan together, too, but the logistics are daunting.
Lastly, thanks for the great song! They will be my band o’ the day today.
I hope y’all have a terrific day!
I’m worried about Walz deciding that he has to extend yet again too. I’ve got a little hope that enough people have caught on to the facts that he won’t dare.
80% of Minnesoda fatalities are in nursing homes
99.24% of Minnesoda fatalities were either in a nursing home or had severe comorbidities.
We are doing worse in deaths/million AND unemployment rate than any of the surrounding states which include Iowa and SoDak that didn’t have lockdowns
I’m not on FB, but there is a decent sized opposition group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2996185320466628/
We’re fucked. Too many of our metro-area Karens are totally down with this. Outstate they are ignoring the shit out of numbnuts.
Your candy store link yesterday made me sad. Not only that the system is so corrupt that a personal connection to the gov is enough to be able to stay open. But also I think of what could have been. If my buddy had won the race and was gov, I could have been selling indulgences and getting rich!
Morning all!
Did y’all see the Jaguars schedule reveal video on twitter? (I don’t really watch NFL but I love it)
https://twitter.com/Jaguars/status/1258542126838751232?s=20
Other than the dates and times, the opponents could be figured out the instant the 2019 season ended.
https://twitter.com/michaelmalice/status/1259983715415064578
Pretty good.
Nice.
At first, I believe they were just playing a ‘game’. They hated the President and would just fuck around with him. But now I understand they’re that irresponsible and mendacious. They hate him period and damn the truth. Very stupid people. Not about the truth. Just about taking him down.
They were, and still are, apoplectically outraged that an outsider (an UPSTART!) stole the throne away from their anointed leader, who is a career PUBLIC SERVANT. Nobody who isn’t a member of the mandarinate can be allowed into their sacred temple. It’s sacrilege.
They see it as a threat to their corrupt way of doing things.
This speaks poorly for the entire DOJ, but not in the way they think.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/attorney-general-william-barr-michael-flynn/2020/05/11/d798302e-92da-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html
What I see is non-commitment to the principle of “innocent until proven guilty” and an unwillingness to force the DOJ to adhere to the rules it’s supposedly bound by. They want total and complete freedom to railroad/blackmail suspects into compliance without repercussions.
I think we say it a lot that it has become cliche, but Principals before Principles, explains how 90% of the general population operates. You know who the good guy is and who the bad guy is, now go and find the reasons why to justify your support for this or that.
Look at the Arbery case. Prosecutors are recusing themselves like crazy because nobody wants to be involved in going after their cronies and in-crowd. It says the entire system is corrupted.
And “lying to the FBI” should not be a crime. You are not under oath.
Protect Democracy
Which democracy? Are they meddling in foreign governments? I know they are meddling in our republic.
“ustice Department staffers serving in Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Did they start working at age 13?
It is nice to know that in these trying economic times, there are groups of dedicated individuals who are working together to find things to waste government money on.
This group wants to do something with the old lock on the Mississippi in downtown Minneapolis. At first I was sort of hopeful, they were just asking the owners (Army Corps of Engineers) to give it to them now that it isn’t being used, but then later I see they are already pestering various governments for millions of dollars to fix it up for the public.
What is extra infuriating is that they will probably get their money. It is one of those projects that is like cat nip to the central planners who infest governments. And it will give all the people who have lost their jobs and homes because of the lockdown a place to wander around as they wonder what they are going to do to recover.
More than 1,900 former Justice Department employees on Monday repeated a call for William P. Barr to step down as attorney general, asserting in an open letter he had “once again assaulted the rule of law” by moving to drop the case against President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
The fleas want to run the circus.
I’m waiting for Sullivan’s ruling. It should be illuminating.
I can see why prosecutors would be upset with the decision to drop the case.
“WHAT?!! Just because a prosecutor doesn’t cough up exculpatory evidence and you think that that is enough to let a guy off? Why do you know how many cases I would have lost if I’d done something crazy like that?”
What I’m skeptical about is whether normal people will feel the same way.
Exactly. They break the rules all the damn time.
We all know that “the rule of law” wasn’t broken even once under the previous administration. As for the president of Mexico, how dare he ask a foreign government to look into something that originated in said foreign government and may have been illegal and corrupt. Only once before in recorded history has a “quid pro quo” request like this taken place and that led to impeachment, so beware president of Mexico.
Tom Friedman Gets A Little Stiffie
Someone tell me again what the false positive/false negative rate is for Kung Flu tests?
And I feel bad for the poor sap who gets a positive test, given that they’re going to end up in some cell block.
No way China would stoke fears of a second wave to give ammo to those who want to cripple the US economy.
Is it just me or have any of the general public had quite enough of this? I know the Glibertariat is up in arms but where is the quiet revolution? I see many more people out and about but where is the breaking point? We all talk a good game. It’s fucking heartbreaking.
Well, and then there’s that that makes everything I just posted above totally null and void.
Traffic has picked up in Orlando considerably. The pub I went to on Saturday was well attended for 5 pm. For the duration Publix/Home Depot we’re busy every time I went. There were protest around the country in more restrictive states. Do I want to see impeachment’s? Sure, but at least a decent amount of people pushed back.
I’ve noticed traffic is almost back to normal. Afternoon traffic is starting to jam up again.
And traffic enforcement is way up. I’ve seen more cops sitting with their radar guns out in the last week than I have in a long time even before this started. Also much more visible presence in the downtown where it’s still a ghost town.
Re traffic enforcement. The theory is that with significantly fewer cars on the roads, people who are driving are driving much faster.
I’ve seen them out quite a bit too. Fortunately I haven’t been caught. Yet.
For a while, there were no cops out on the road just sitting. And traffic was moving at reasonable clips mostly.
Despite the sob stories of their tuff job and how they’re just trying to protect themselves, except for the photos accompanying those stories, I see none of the cops wearing facemasks or attempting to keep any sort of distance between their fellow cops or the people they’re talking to.
Once again, total BS from the cop community. Just like officer safety. If they were really concerned about that, they wouldn’t use motorcycles for the most part (which is mostly an excuse to get paid riding bikes), their vehicles would be distinctively painted with reflective visibility striping, and their uniforms would also be more distinctive with high viz clothing worn during traffic stops.
Isle of Palms police were out in force on Sunday. IOP wasn’t happy about their beaches reopening to non-residents, so parking was being strictly enforced. The first space I found, the car fit half into the parking area and half into no parking. Normally, I would have used it, but I moved on because of the cop presence, Normally I park on 6th or 7th street, I finally found a spot between 24th and 25th. There is generally more parking after 15th anyway, so may park down that way in the future.
Still learning the area.
When I went to the grocery store yesterday, it was fairly empty. Meat on sale is still limited to two packages per person, but no other limits. Most things are getting replenished finally, but there’s still empty sections of shelves. The protest I went to on Saturday pulled in ~100 people, so there was at least that. I’m curious how things are going to go now that places can start opening back up.
I just booked a trip to South Carolina next week to finally clear out my kid’s dorm room. It will be nice to escape Jersey for a few days.
I suspect that in certain parts of the US, colder-than-normal temperatures have somewhat kept tensions down. When it FINALLY warms up – and especially by Memorial Day, when folks start wanting to have hot fun in the summertime, I believe there will be more resistance to any continuing restrictions and/or outright ignoring of such restrictions. How the “authorities” respond may be the critical variable in whether things get…interesting. Or maybe I’M giving too much credit to my fellow citizens.
Just the right amount of credit. They can’t be bothered to get upset when all their Constitutional Rights are stripped away by a Governor claiming to be concerned about their health. But – try to stop them from heading to the beach in the summer and they’ll riot.
I suspect this is a lot like the 2016 election. All you heard about was how bad Trump was, and how it was 90% sure that Hillary was going to win. But a lot of people ignored that and just quietly voted for Trump. I’m seeing the same thing now. People aren’t being loud about it, they are just quietly going about their business and ignoring those orders.
I’m getting so worked up about CV19 nonsense these days that I find I need to take a break from those stories. Instead I go read go read stories like this one about Minneapolis’ grand scheme to reorganize its schools. That way I get super pissed off about pre-CV crap just like old times.
There are no good people in this story. Everyone needs to be brought out and beaten. Go figure that when you make identity just as important as the three R’s that bad thing happen when you propose to force 1/6th of your students to change schools next year. Also, read the titles of the various school officials in the story and tell me that there isn’t millions being wasted on phony baloney jobs.
The topics of discussion in my household lately have involved Kant, Fichte, Dewey, Nazis, and the origins of the American public school system. My kids are red-pilled, thank God.
Our topics have included XX’s work schedule and XY’s chores.
“We’ll keep those teachers voting D for 200 years”
I’m calling bullshit.
Yep
The Japanization Of The American Stock Market
The Fed just blatantly violated its own charter. (Yeah yeah, I know… but this one can’t be denied)
The charge to “Keep the currency stable” has turned to “Keep the Stock Market Stable”.
Or in this specific case, “keep well connected companies afloat”
Which is exactly what Japan has done over the last thirty years.
Yup. Rising interest rates will kill them and that will be avoided at all other costs.
Two-scoops hearts Elon.
Announced in March as markets tumbled over coronavirus, the programs mean that the Fed, for the first time in its history, will buy ETFs to artificially maintain a semblance of normality in the market.
Maintain a semblance of normality, indeed. The last thing we want, in a market, is price discovery.
Doing abnormal things is the new normal
Assuming the poll is true, do these people not realize how long a timeline that is?
possibly indefinite
Infinite if our past record of coronavirus vaccines is any guide.
I assume every poll is constructed to give a predetermined result at this point.
That’s the only thing giving me hope when I see thing like this.
The 14% that hate Betty White must include a number of men forcibly turned gay thanks to her work.
“64% are concerned about the emergence of murder hornets.”
I got nuthin’, absolutely fucking nuthin’ about how stupid people are.
“Compiled with help from Huffpost polling editor”
I always miss the invisible ink in the Constitution that says “unless 86% of those polled by NPR/Marist disagree”.
Somehow when I first saw who did that poll, I read it as “NPR/Marxist”. I wonder why.
The NEA, upon hearing the results of this poll, issued a press release stating “Our work is done.”
No. They keep reading articles about progress on vaccines, that don’t explain the details and timeline involved. I wish that survey also asked if the person regularly gets flu shots, and if the person believes vaccines cause autism.
Excerpt from a comment on econlib:
From asymptomatic carriers: Meh, I call bull$hit. Maybe there are small windows when these people are infectious. At the risk of revealing substantial ignorance, I think the significant virus shedders are going to be people whose bodies are struggling with the virus, and thus more likely to be symptomatic. Do asymptomatic carriers cough or sneeze? If so, aren’t they symptomatic? If they can infect others, how do they do it? Magic? The same people railing against others for potentially being asymptomatic and threatening Grandma’s life with their callous disregard of social distancing often act as if you can’t transmit this through surfaces. Hence the idiotic acceptance of food delivery as reasonable, but being 5′ from someone outdoors as apocalyptically dangerous. I think holding these two beliefs is a sign of stupidity.
Andre, if you are a glib under another name, good comment.
I’ve been making this joke the entire time.
The reason we wear masks is because you might be asymptomatic and cough or sneeze. spreading the virus.
You know that’s the problem with the asymptomatic. always coughing and sneezing.
i’m extremely aware in this climate that i haven’t coughed in public in about 4 months.
I believe just talking lose range spreads viruses. I understand singing more so.
I saw something that said the superspreaders were all in high-talking environments. Not just any large gatherings, but ones with lots of talking and singing and etc. Wedding parties, conferences, churches, etc.
So shutting the fuck up is the best prevention.
Karens hardest hit.
I love that.
“Talking spreads the ‘Rona. If you want to keep people safe, you need to shut up.”
Perfect!
Also, it sounds like the asymptomatic spread thing was almost entirely based on one case where the researchers had faulty information but released their findings anyway:
https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/04/high-profile-report-on-asymptomatic-spread-of-coronavirus-based-on-faulty-information-health-officials-say/
Assuming the poll is true, do these people not realize how long a timeline that is?
“Loving” SCIENCE not same as “comprehending” it.
I’ve noticed a flurry of those ‘The Assault on Sciene’ articles, lately. They never really say what the assault is, or who’s doing it, but NEEDZ MOAR FUNDING!
You know, no matter if anyone really cares about the mating habits of 3 legged Himalayan sheep, or the value of the study, GIVES ME MOAR TAX PAYER FUNDING, BECAUSE SCIENCE!
Something which is percolating in my head this morning:
There are an awful lot of people who willingly believe a diktat issued by a governor (or worse yet, some health dept bureaucrat), based purely on fear and emotionalism, is a “law”.
But all we get are stories about how it’s President Cartoon Villain who is destroying the rule of law in this country.
I mean in a realist sense it is. If the Cops enforce it like they enforce every other law.
+ 1 legal positivism, a foundation of “critical legal theory”, aka “commie jurisprudence”.
All the law that’s fit to enforce!
I mean it is the law in most cases that governors can do it. I don’t think it should be, but it is.
You know that’s the problem with the asymptomatic. always coughing and sneezing.
i’m extremely aware in this climate that i haven’t coughed in public in about 4 months.
With all the beach and sanitizer and harsh cleaners wafting around, I have to suppress the urge to cough just about any time I walk into a building.
My wife leaned against a self in a store while reaching for produce. The bleach on the shelf washed the color out of her shirt where it made contact.
I am at the point with Cods & Cuntes that I hate it, I hate its very existence, I want it to go away, I want it to have never existed, I want to pay someone else to proofread it (but can’t), I’m avoiding it with everything I am because I know that no matter how careful I am I’m going to miss some things. Gah. I can’t WAIT till I can I hit PUBLISH on Kindle, but at this rate, it will be NEVER.
That’s a bummer, Mo. Maybe take a break from it and come back refreshed?
I gotta admire you and anyone who can sit down and write a complete book, though. I’ve gone through this cycle a few times where I get a little spark of an idea and start writing (get maybe a thousand words out) but when I re-read it a few days later, it just seems like a really dumb story – as in if this had been written by someone else, I would give up on it after the first few paragraphs. Maybe short-form poetry is the medium for me…
That, and I find it really hard to show anybody my writing to get feedback. It just feels very… Intimate. I’ll have to work on that.
Everybody has (or should have) a book they wrote that turned out to be practice, then they shove it under the bed (my first book is lost in the ether somewhere).
It IS intimate, which is why the first book never goes anywhere. Write the first one. Publish the second or third one.
Americans Didn’t Wait For Their Governors To Tell Them To Stay Home Because Of COVID-19
But, at least on the front end of this crisis, Americans weren’t deciding what to do based on politics. Americans living in red states appear to have taken the crisis plenty seriously; data shows that residents there were staying home well before their governors issued stay-at-home orders.
Cuebiq, a private data company, assessed the movement of people via GPS-enabled mobile devices across the U.S. If you look at movement data in a cross-section of states President [Donald] Trump won in the southeast in 2016—Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky—23 percent of people were staying home on average during the first week of March. That proportion jumped to 47 percent a month later across these six states.
If defying social distancing orders were really a political statement, you’d think that the southeast would be a hotbed for dissent. Yet people in the six states we examined changed their behavior around mid-March, before the states’ official stay-at-home orders. In fact, about 90 percent of the total change between early March and mid-April had occurred in the week before the stay-at-home orders were passed in each state.
Who knew that introducing force into the equation would piss off a lot of people?
My wife? Use the phrase “you need to” and she will go completely bullheaded.
She’s a keeper!
Yes she is.
Well, the leg shackles are one way to make sure she doesn’t leave.
I got the hitching posts at the stove, the laundry room, and the bed. Am I doing it right?
“you need to”
I think that phrase is my wife’s favorite to use, followed by ‘you didn’t’.
Huh. My husband is a little hurt I don’t ask for his help more often.
“I do, when I need it.”
“But you don’t need it that often.”
“But when I do need it, I ask!”
Yeah, mostly what the government orders did was make things worse. Cram everybody into the same stores during limited hours. Unnecessarily clear out the hospitals. Force people onto unemployment for no good reason.
And as usual the government believes that will only make people love them more and want more of their ‘help’, which is why they’re doubling down.
‘Governor, there’s an angry mob outside’
Governor: That means we haven’t helped enough, I’ll issue some more executive orders right now! Set up the camps, they’re not happy with their current dwellings!
Also, that was back when everyone was going to hunker down for a few weeks, not forever.
I’m out. You Glibs are the the only thing keeping me a little sane right now. God Speed and Damn The Torpedoes!
Pleasant dreams!
Damn The Torpedoes!
Good luck out there Festus.
Nil carborundum illegitimi!
Good luck. We’re all counting on you.
I have to say, I don’t know what it is that Michael Flynn knows, but I haven’t seen the media and the ruling class on the left in such a state of hysteria since Trump won the 2016 election. If I were him, I’d be watching my back. If anyone really needs to be quarantined, it’s probably him. It’s obvious that they planned and went to great extents to silence this guy, permanently.
I don’t know how much it is just an attempt to try to tar Trump some more, or if it is panic.
They seem to be freaking out over this, I don’t think it’s just more TDS, there’s something else going on. They want this guy silenced and they sort of had that and now that it’s over, they seem awfully nervous about something. Maybe it’s just me.
Multiple people broke and/or bent the law or ignored the illegal conduct of others to get at Flynn, Papadapoulos, and Page. Durham is going to charge some of them and most likely, there are going to be some rats who cut deals and snitch on administration flacks to escape prison time. That’s what scares them.
I still seriously doubt more than a token couple of mid-tankers will be charged. They already have more than enough on people pretty far up the chain, but . . . crickets.
Everybody involved is a career federal bureaucrat, including Durham and Barr. They are less interested in “justice” than “preserving the institutions.
For me, the test case is the lawyer who altered an email to reverse it’s meaning to support the FISA application. Lay-down crime, but as far as I know he hasn’t even been fired, much less lost his license or been charged.
Don’t forget the release of Flynn’s name in connection with collected foreign intelligence, a violation of 50 U.S.C. § 1806 (a).
Eh. Check the mainstream media. Their narrative is still in tact. Flynn CONFESSED. Blah blah blah. Only people who watch Fox News or read Breitbart give a shit and they’re not the majority.
I like this one. Nobody knows what he confessed to, or under what circumstances he confessed, but his confession is ironclad proof of his guilt of a whole host of crimes he wasn’t even charged with.
Anyone who got charged with anything during the Russia investigation is solid proof that Trump colluded with Russia, no matter how small the offense, and no matter if it’s completely unrelated to the alleged collusion.
Government is just the people we railroad to maintain a narrative together.
Apparently after Trump’s election Obama told him that the two biggest threats to the American security were Kim Jong-un and Michael Flynn.
The Rumor mill says that Michael Flynn wanted to restructure the intelligence aparatus, and butted heads with Clapper/Obama over funding al queda
‘Member when Obama said to Romney on National news “The 80s called. They want their foreign policy back,” naking fun of Romney for identifying Russia as a security threat?
I ‘member.
I also remember Obama saying things like this:
That was before OrangeManBad won, which was an impossible event, so therefore he must have been wrong all along.
Actually, I think the official narrative is that Russia conducted an “unprecedented” attack on our election, the likes of which nobody had ever seen or done before, so therefore what Obama(!) said before then was overcome by events.
There’s just a few problems with this though,
1. Obama was, you know, President at the time. It’s kind of his job to be on top of foreign threats.
2. Russia (and China and other potential adversaries) did not discover the Internet for the first time in 2016.
3. Not everybody with a Russian sounding name works directly for Vladimir Putin.
4. The manner of the “attack”, as released to the public anyway, was targeted ads and foreign media coverage.
5. By the same measure of “interference”, the United States government has done much the same (and sometimes worse) in foreign countries, including while Obama was at the helm.