Links of Tuesday Afternoon

by | Jul 7, 2020 | Daily Links | 345 comments

Welcome, friends. Come in, say what you like. Peruse my links. I will be busy hacking together a website design, but you all should feel free to come in and stay a while. I’ve haven’t done html templates in a couple of years, and I have a feeling that the CSS and element references are going to kick my ass all over the place before it finally starts to make sense to me again. Oh well. Its a second stream of income, and hopefully, something that becomes easy to do after the first 15-30 hours of screaming and cussing.

Looks like Mex is going to have to call in STEVE SMITH to get permission to use the gym membership he pays for. I don’t know if this is actually his gym or not.

Trump administration shoots the universities’ golden goose. For the record, I am agin’ it. Just closing American visas to foreign students who attend universities which will not provide in-person classes for them sucks.

This seems like a great technical hook to build a caper movie around.

Good news in The Wang, Department of Education has ruled that all primary schools must open to in person enrollment in the fall. Teachers bitched immediately.

About The Author

Brett L

Brett L

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

345 Comments

  1. Ted S.

    The head boss at my facility came back to work on Monday after doing WFH for 15 weeks.

    She immediately interrupted the entire workplace by instituting shit like grocery store certain doors are in only and others out only.

    Sorry to go OT, but it’s complete nonsense and dispirited pretty much everybody.

    • Drake

      Thanks Karen

    • R C Dean

      “OK, Karen”

    • Aloysious

      So you have a boss… that’s in charge of head?!?

      kewl, dude. I’m jealous.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Why would you be jealous of a boss that is in charge of head? When do bosses ever actually do the hard work themselves? My guess is she just looked at Ted and said “I’m the idea person, you are the person in charge of implementing them”

    • bacon-magic

      Salt her hard Ted.

    • Chafed

      I can see why she’s the boss. Those are some important decisions. *eyeroll*

      • Jarflax

        I suggest the doors facing the outside world be used for entry and the doors facing the interior be used for egress.

      • Mojeaux

        This way to the egress. →

  2. R C Dean

    Trump administration shoots the universities’ golden goose. For the record, I am agin’ it. Just closing American visas to foreign students who attend universities which will not provide in-person classes for them sucks.

    The students aren’t being kicked out of school. They can’t get a visa because there is no reason for them to have one if all their classes are online. I think the logic is solid, myself, if you accept the premise of student visas in the first place.

    Not to worry, though. There’s a gaping loophole:

    These schools must certify to SEVP, through the Form I-20, “Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status,” certifying that the program is not entirely online, that the student is not taking an entirely online course load this semester, and that the student is taking the minimum number of online classes required to make normal progress in their degree program.

    One in-person class a semester is all it takes to get your visa. I expect the Ivies and the others who have followed their lead with on-line only classes this fall to change to a hybrid model with (nominally) one class a semester, which will probably also be available on-line.

    • hayeksplosives

      In general, student exchanges and studies abroad are good things. Ideally, developing counties would take their education home and fix their own shithole countries.

      Two big problems I have with student visas: there is no tracking of the students once they are here. They should have to show up at an embassy with proof of enrollment at least each year if not each semester.i did this in Sweden;’ot to much to ask. 8/11 hijackers were mostly here on student visas.

      Other problem: is like the Virginia university that hosted a bunch of Saudi students. But the male Saudis insisted that the classes be split, male and female. I thought the university would tell them that coeducational classes is part of the US student experience.

      But no, they caved and provided segregated classes. A disgrace.

      • Chafed

        Ideally every STEM student, who isn’t a member of the CCP, would get a green card and expedited citizenship.

      • Rhywun

        Money talks.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        Two big problems I have with student visas: there is no tracking of the students once they are here.

        That’s completely false. Oversight of my faculty tracking F-1s for SEVIS is part of my job description. We have to provide evidence that a student is enrolled in a course of study that provides 18 clock hours of instruction a week or 12 credit hours a semester depending on their I-20.

      • IntraveneousWoodChipper

        Interesting, can I ask what happens if you guys can’t provide evidence of their hours? Curious as to how this works.

    • bacon-magic

      In-person class: Underwater Basket Weaving 101.

  3. Swiss Servator

    “Trump administration shoots the universities’ golden goose. For the record, I am agin’ it. Just closing American visas to foreign students who attend universities which will not provide in-person classes for them sucks.”

    The University of Illinois will have to let students attend in person, enough to avoid this, or it will go bust. 25% of the seats at the University are held for foreign students – no Illinoisans need apply (primarily Chinese, then Saudi, etc).

    • Chafed

      Chicago should do the same thing with paid internships. The foreign national pays for the internship and Chicago uses it to fund their pensions.

    • Tulip

      The first thing I thought when reading this story was he is trying to force the universities to open.

      • grrizzly

        The universities are furious. They deserve it good and hard for not providing services and charging as much as before.

        Colleges and universities are in furious upheaval following strict, unexpected rules announced this week by the Trump administration that would bar hundreds of thousands of international students from studying in the US this fall.

        The new rules prohibit international students from taking exclusively online courses for the fall semester but come at the same time many colleges are announcing that most classes will have to take place virtually because of the threat of the coronavirus.

        On Tuesday schools vowed to push back against the federal guidance, which is expected to become binding, calling it harmful for both students and their institutions. Harvard President Larry Bacow called the new policy a “blunt, one-size-fits-all approach to a complex problem.”

        Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said her office is preparing to sue the Trump administration over the new regulations and has been in touch with colleges in Massachusetts to help them protect students’ ability to study in the US this fall.

      • leon

        “Harvard President Larry Bacow called the new policy a “blunt, one-size-fits-all approach to a complex problem.””

        Isn’t all federal policy?

      • Jarflax

        Odd how Harvard’s view of such regulations changes when they are regulated

      • R C Dean

        Harvard President Larry Bacow called the new policy a “blunt, one-size-fits-all approach to a complex problem.”

        Seems pretty straightforward to me. There’s no reason to give a student visa to a person who doesn’t need to come here to go to school.

      • Spartacus

        There’s really not, although it’s a pain in the ass if you have been going to school here for two years, then have to go home for a semester, then come back in January. It’s not the end of the world. As someone said above, there is a pretty big exception for hybrid classes and other mixed modes. Anyone who hasn’t painted themselves into a corner already should be able to find a workaround if they want to.

        We have much bigger problems with the H1Bs and other professional visas. I have a new hire who is currently in Barcelona and now it looks like she won’t be able to get here for the fall. I can’t have her teach online because without the visa I can’t complete the onboarding so I can’t assign her any classes. We also have a long-time history professor who appears to be stuck in Australia, although his visa type wasn’t supposed to be on the naughty list. He’s not quite sure what the issue is so it’s difficult to help him very much, especially from the opposite side of the planet.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        That’s the thing. It’s one situation if you haven’t come already; that’s the existing regulation, but it is also impacting students already here. I had one of my grad students email me on Sunday asking about this. She has been in the country for 3 years, first as a undergrad and now a grad. She is now faced with the choice of transferring to a school that is meeting face to face in the Fall or going back home. Because, fuck you, that’s why.

  4. The Other Kevin

    Good afternoon Brett! Congrats on the new business. But don’t fret. Since you last designed a web site, Chrome has added developer tools that allow you to play with CSS and get it right without having to make a bunch of code changes.

    • Brett L

      Man, you are not at all kidding about how great that is. Thanks for the tip.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    Teachers bitched immediately.

    Never saw that coming.

    • Negroni Please

      It’s weird. Online teaching sucks balls. Teaching Zoom classes was a nightmare and I 100% prefer to be in class with my students.

      • Ted S.

        You’re not a real teacher.

      • Negroni Please

        I know right. Thank god. My school is a weird place in the education landscape. Bastiat is required reading there…

      • Chafed

        There’s no way for the pervy high school teachers to get it on with students through Zoom.

      • Jarflax

        Teledildonics the final frontier.

      • Evan from Evansville

        I taught online in Korea and it was the most fucking annoying thing EVER. Here are some reasons why! They are actually pretty funny!

        In middle school Koreans can only choose between 2 or so hairstyles. It’s actual policy. So are uniforms. So, a uniform for your hair.

        So all Koreans…so black hair, black eyes, ‘Asian’ skin tones…and the same haircuts…and THEY ALL HAD TO WEAR MASKS, SO YOU CAN’T SEE 80% OF THEIR FACE.

        This means you couldn’t tell who was talking necessarily. They had to be pretty vocal and moving around for the differences to be seen, instead, it was helpful to tell the difference by being able to tell apart their personality and ability level, which was much easier to tell apart than most visual differences.

        And to teach 12 kids at once, all on Zoom where they sometimes couldn’t understand, express themselves, or they’d just get distracted and play with phones or whatever and no way to be strict and make them focus.

        That was dumb.

    • hayeksplosives

      Teachers are annoyed that they aren’t on as tall a pedestal as the FirstResponders(TM).

      • Jarflax

        Perhaps if they actually taught something?

  6. Drake

    Just the tip:

    China’s handpicked Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam attempted to reassure residents on Tuesday that the draconian “national security” law Beijing enacted this month, which commands a minimum ten-year prison sentence for anti-government expression, is “relatively mild.”

    • R C Dean

      That’s not reassurance. That’s a blatant threat.

      Why doesn’t Trump announce automatic asylum for Hong Kong residents?

      • Count Potato

        *overruled by the 9th Circuit*

      • Chafed

        Because he is blatantly anti-immigrant. He has been reducing legal immigration since he took office.

      • Drake

        The Brits already did.

    • kbolino

      Ah, Carrie Lam. When the protests against the extradition bill first started, she was crying about how she couldn’t believe people were questioning that she loved her country.

      Nobody doubted that she loved her country: the PRC. It was Hong Kong’s autonomy that they were saying she had no love for. And they were right.

    • DEG

      “Relatively mild”.

      I’m reminded of “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is”.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    a minimum ten-year prison sentence for anti-government expression, is “relatively mild.”

    Compared to a bullet in the base of the skull…

    • Jarflax

      Or live organ harvest…

  8. R C Dean

    This seems like a great technical hook to build a caper movie around.

    I remember back in the early days of home security cameras, I watched a demonstration of how crap the security was. At a presentation with a fair number of people in the room, the security consultant, in real time, determined that somebody in the audience had home security cameras they could access from their phone, and put feeds from those cameras up on the big screen. I don’t think it was a set-up, either; he asked before he put the feeds up if the guy had an objection. He said no, there shouldn’t be anybody there during the day (there wasn’t).

    At that point, I lost all interest in having a “networked” home.

    • Plisade

      I use the Arlo system at home and at one work facility. I’m not to worried about my home; its primary alarm and defense system is 2 large dogs.

    • Agent Cooper

      Whatever you do, do not go on your favorite porn site and search “hacked IP cam”

    • Trolleric the Goth

      this is why, while I have a networked camera on my backyard, I’d never have one in my house.

      • Negroni Please

        Do you pee in the yard while drunk more or less now that there’s a camera back there?

      • Trolleric the Goth

        oh, I do that ’round the side where there’s no coverage ?

      • Gustave Lytton

        *moves camera to side*

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I have Arlos inside the house. I got them to keep an eye on the kids when we had new babysitters that we didn’t know well. They stay unplugged and facing the ceiling when not directly in use (99.9% of time).

      I have Ring cameras, both doorbell and floodlight, scattered around outside. The convenience to me of being able to see and communicate with someone at the gate, as well as be alerted to trespassers around the house at night when the dogs are up, is well worth the risk of someone hacking and staring at pretty much nothing.

      Besides, sometimes some strange shit happens that the Ring picks up. A couple years ago, the Ring alarm woke me up to two cows and a girl at my outer gate around 2 am. My first thought was this person was stealing my cows, but then I realized these weren’t my cows (never thought I’d be making this statement). Apparently, the girl’s cows got loose and she cornered them at my gate. I let the cows hang out in my driveway overnight, trapped between two gates, and she came back the next day to pick them up.

      • bacon-magic

        Use orphans like a true Shitlord you techno-pagan.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        two cows and a girl at my outer gate around 2 am

        “I never thought it would happen to me…”

      • Chafed

        Yeah, I was hoping for a better ending to the story.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Not one udder tweaked? TOTAL RIPOFF!

      • Plinker762

        Two cows one girl?

      • UnCivilServant

        That’s “The Milkmaid”

    • Negroni Please

      You just need to out caper trope the caper trope. Record a few hours of footage of you and your buddies fucking around with your arsenal and then play it on a continuous loop. This way you only have to worry about the ATF and the FBI breaking into your house!

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      I’ve been looking for a solution that doesn’t involve cloud connectivity. there are some options, but I wasn’t super impressed.

      I can always vpn into my network to see the feeds remotely.

  9. Apples and Knives

    I look forward to my kids returning to school with smaller class sizes and fewer obnoxious PTA ladies in my face.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    Something something hardest hit

    If Congress decides not to extend the extra $600 a week in federal unemployment benefits past its July 31 end date, the “vast majority” of unemployed workers will be “harmed” without it, according to the House Ways and Means Committee.

    While workers of all genders, races, ages and income levels will see a reduction in benefits, women, people of color and younger workers will be hit especially hard if the benefit is not extended. Those groups have have lost jobs at a disproportionate rate in the coronavirus recession, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Of the 19 million people who will receive regular unemployment benefits in July, 53% are women and 47% are people of color, CBO estimates. The analysis did not take into account self-employed and gig economy workers receiving unemployment.

    ——-

    For many households, the enhanced benefits have been a financial lifeline over the past few months amidst record job loss and a coronavirus-induced recession. While some of the 47 million who have applied for unemployment benefits since mid-March have gone back to work, attempts to reopen state economies have faltered as coronavirus cases exploded in places like California, Florida and Texas. Governors of those states have resorted to re-closing down certain businesses, including bars and restaurants, that are seen as “super spreader” environments.

    Critics of the extra payment say it encourages people not to return to work, and take issue with the fact that some people earn more with the bonus than they did at their old jobs. But some economists say that is precisely the point: The extra $600 in benefits — deemed the “best” part of the economic response by Josh Bivens and Heidi Shierholz, economists at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute — keeps people home while allowing them to pay their bills and even save some money.

    Who doesn’t like free money?

    • Ted S.

      I’m sure everybody here knew this was coming.

    • hayeksplosives

      I gotta hand it to the Left. Turning around a thriving economy with low unemployment, even amongst minorities, into a basket case economy with record high dependence on govt “welfare” can’t have been easy, but they managed it. Right in plain sight.

      • leon

        The economy was a basket case. It just was keeping up appearances.

    • TARDIS

      Who doesn’t like free money?

      It’s not just that. It’s a fat pay raise for most people. I feel for the worker bees, like the receptionist at my physical therapy center. She lost hours (and pay) but still had to work. Meanwhile people who’ve never even made $600/week are sitting at home, or rioting).

    • TARDIS

      Also meant say, this is a test run for UBI.

      • Jarflax

        Bring back the gold standard, and the workhouse.

  11. mexican sharpshooter

    Looks like Mex is going to have to call in STEVE SMITH to get permission to use the gym membership he pays for. I don’t know if this is actually his gym or not.

    It isn’t. Mine is still open.

    • Negroni Please

      I assume they’re following the best practice. Don’t complain. Don’t sue. Just quietly go about your business and ignore the orders.

    • R C Dean

      So is Mrs. Dean’s gym. They have a big parking lot and are working the “oudoor” exemption. Incredibly, in Tucson in July, they are still busy. People can come into the facility (restrooms, etc.), but they have the air conditioning off.

      Inevitably, there’s a Karen who has complained and is taking cellphone videos. Of people exercising . . . outdoors. I told Mrs. Dean the next time she is coaching a class, she should invite the Karen to join them.

      I do like that the Pima County online form for submitting complaints has required fields for name and email address. No anonymous complaints allowed. I’m tempted to make a FOIA request for all people submitting complaints.

      • hayeksplosives

        No anonymous complaints allowed. I’m tempted to make a FOIA request for all people submitting complaints.

        In a system like ours where the process is the punishment, we cannot go by anonymous tipsters.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      Never mind. They just sent me an email saying they were contacted by law enforcement and were told to close by 2pm today.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        I should point out the authorities haven’t actually been citing the owners of these establishments, rather they are going after the manager on site. I wouldn’t want an employee going to jail on my account either.

    • Rebel Scum

      Yes. But he says a lot of things. A lot of bluster. And that would never hold up in court.

    • Spudalicious

      That’s what happens when you’re transactional.

    • leon

      Have you seen him hug the flag? I think he’s a vexisexual.

    • The Other Kevin

      WHY IS TRUMP AGAINST WORLD HEALTH?

      • Ted S.

        Look at the voters. Don’t you want most of them to die?

      • Negroni Please

        Only most? My aren’t we feeling charitable today.

        #SMOD2020

      • Ted S.

        I figured none of you want me dead.

    • Gustave Lytton

      It sounds good in theory, but I expect it will be used even more against the US now.

      • Rhywun

        Of course. All the “worldwide condemnation” CNN will be bleating about in tomorrow’s headlines is about our money.

      • Gustave Lytton

        More than the media headlines.

        How did the UN come to legitimize the South Korean defense (and later offense) against North Korea? Because the USSR was boycotting the UN at the time. That’s exactly what would happen to us.

        What needs to happen with these international institutions

        1) shut them down entirely

        2) take the remaining over, slash their budgets, neuter and declaw them, and generally skin suit them

        3) demand respect

    • kbolino

      I’m not sure what that accomplishes since we’re still bankrolling the rest of the UN

    • DEG

      Good.

    • Q Continuum

      15… drool…

      • Chafed

        Courtney Stodden?

    • DEG

      I think #18 is Maitland Ward.

    • prolefeed

      #31. This list was a bit weak by my standard of beauty.

  12. Rebel Scum

    The Governor does not have to prove that his decision was correct.

    How convenient.

    This Court must give extreme deference to the EO

    Ah. Fuck Constitutionally limited government and separation of powers*.

    *On this and going back the previous post. While a fun thought experiment I do not think that the “greater of evils” strategy would work. We see what insane authoritarians Dems (and some Reps) have become.. These people cannot be allowed to have power.

    • mindyourbusiness

      To quote godaloneknowswho, we ought never to put those people in power who seek it.

  13. Timeloose

    I imagine that the full time professors might have to try and teach a few classes instead of Grad Students on work visas.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      Jeez, look at Hitler here.

  14. The Other Kevin

    In case that lurker from the Bee is around, feel free to use this one:

    “CNN declares Trump most divisive president ever, based on the number of times ‘divisive’ appears in headlines.”

  15. Rebel Scum

    Florida, the new US hotspot for coronavirus, will require schools to reopen in August.

    Either open them and use them or close them and stop making me pay for them.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      “The” new hotspot. FL is behind RI, NY, AZ, DC, NJ and MD in terms of active cases and roughly on par with CT. In terms of deaths per million they are well down the list, which is quite an achievement given their demographics. The media’s hardon for Florida is bizarre.

      • Plinker762

        Donnie Two Scoops is slaughtering the Floridians. Their only chance for survival is to vote for Uncle Joe.

  16. Rebel Scum

    Now do the UN.

    The Trump administration submitted a notice of withdrawal from the World Health Organization to the United Nations secretary-general, a senior administration official told Fox News on Tuesday, after President Trump for weeks had blasted the WHO’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and what he called its pro-China bias.

    The White House also notified congressional lawmakers Tuesday of the official removal, effective July 2021.

    • The Other Kevin

      Looks like a good time for me to quit Facebook.

    • R C Dean

      effective July 2021.

      Oh, FFS.

      • Gustave Lytton

        May 2021: WHO pinky swears to do better and meets pruned US demands; funding restored and increased including back dues

      • Rhywun

        “My first priority on Day One is rejoining WHO.”

        /Uncle Joe

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Heinous

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Tuesday revoked rules that required lenders to ensure that potential customers could afford to pay the potentially staggering costs of short-term, high-interest payday loans.

    The bureau released Tuesday the final revision to its 2017 rule on payday loans, formally gutting an initiative with roots in the Obama administration that was aimed at protecting vulnerable consumers from inescapable debt.

    The initial rule, released shortly before President Trump appointed new leadership at the CFPB, effectively banned lenders from issuing a short-term loan that could not be paid off in full by a borrower within two weeks.

    The measure required payday lenders to determine whether the customer had the “ability to repay” the loan with an underwriting process similar to what banks use to determine whether a customer can afford a mortgage or other longer-term loan.

    “How much meth would you say you buy, per week?”

    They also fail to mention the “astronomical” apr works out to a few bucks, on a loan measured in days.

    I’m all in favor of inspecting the creditworthiness of borrowers, but the CFPB was pretty much trying to regulate those guys out of business.

  18. DEG

    The judge went on to say that Mountainside Fitness will not be irreparably harmed by the executive order and that Mountainside Fitness would “not likely prevail” in the lawsuit.

    Fuck that judge. Fuck Gauleiter Ducey.

    Some popular home security cameras could allow would-be burglars to work out when you’ve left the building, according to a study published Monday.

    Whoops.

    Florida, the new US hotspot for coronavirus, will require schools to reopen in August.
    The state’s Commissioner of the Department of Education, Richard Corcoran, issued an emergency order on Monday requiring all “brick and mortar schools” to open “at least five days per week for all students.”

    I’m torn. I don’t like government schooling, but on the other hand you can’t bend the knee to the Lil Rona panic.

  19. Nephilium

    And we’re boned here in Ohio. DeWine has announced masks are now mandatory for seven counties , when the data is showing it’s now the yutes getting it.

    Fuck I’m done with this year.

    • The Other Kevin

      Stay tuned for “DEATHS AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE TRIPLE” headlines when the death count goes from 2 to 6.

      • Ownbestenemy

        You did your Media math wrong and propaganda is way off. That would be “nearly 4 TIMES and essential shows a rapid incline in desths across the Unitef States as hospitals grapple with only 15% ICU capacity!!!”

      • The Other Kevin

        “Even as restrictions are lifted!”

    • Gender Traitor

      I guess I can shop for groceries in Miami Co. For now. After that, I suppose I can check the latest rules in Indiana…

      Yeah, I’m done with this year, too.

      • The Other Kevin

        Here in Indiana we were supposed to open up 100% over the weekend, but that’s been delayed. Other than that, masks are requested but not required, and most things are open. I check the stats every day, and deaths and hospitalizations are still trending down.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Deaths and hospitalizations are not the science they are looking for. Pure positive results (which may have been lumped into antibody results) are it.

        You are getting a mask mandate

      • Nephilium

        It’s just so fucking arbitrary at this point. So now I have to wear a mask while driving, to go into a gym, but not while I’m exercising in the gym. And then to keep talking about being guided by “the science!”

      • R C Dean

        My favorite is that you have to wear a mask when entering a restaurant, but not once you are inside.

        Clown nose on, clown nose off.

      • Nephilium

        Just came across my newsfeed, sports can resume for contact and non-contact sports.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        I’m very tempted to buy the #talismask after having to go through the rigamarole to buy some liquor today.

        fuck it, i’ma do it!

      • Annoyed Nomad

        Yeah, I might have to go to Greene County to do any shopping. Dammit!

    • Chafed

      Gov. Mike DeWine and health experts say the greater numbers of young – and, as a group, healthier – people getting sick is one reason that Ohio’s coronavirus death rate has fallen from 8.6 percent in April to 5.2 percent in May and a projected 2.2 percent in June, according to data released Tuesday.

      There’s a curious silence about hospitalization rates. I gather from this the virus is being detected more often but younger people are less likely to be hospitalized or die from the virus.

    • Annoyed Nomad

      “These orders really kind of go hand-in-hand with what experts tell us,” DeWine said.

      Yeah, like when Dr. Amy said we’d reach 10,000 new cases a day and would need to triple hospital capacity across the state. That kind of expertise?

      Dammit again!

    • Spudalicious

      She was explaining how to get shot in the face.

    • bacon-magic

      Yeah, fuck around and find out commie.

    • R C Dean

      Mob my car, break my window, try to cut my seatbelt to drag me out, and I’ll take my chances with a jury.

      You, on the other hand, won’t need to worry about anything, any more.

  20. Rebel Scum

    Don, you dishonest hack.

    “The Black Lives Matter movement was started because it was talking about police brutality, if you want an all Black Lives Matter movement that talks about gun violence in communities, including Black communities, then start that movement,” Lemon told the “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” star.

    “That’s not what Black Lives Matter is about. It’s not an all-encompassing… if someone started a movement that said ‘cancer matter,’ and then someone came and said, ‘Why aren’t you talking about HIV?’ It’s not the same thing, we’re talking about cancer” Lemon continued.

    “So the Black Lives Matter movement is about police brutality and injustice in that manner, not about what’s happening in black neighborhoods. There are people who are working on that issue and if you want to start that issue, why don’t you start it?”

    Interesting comparison. Don is such an intellectual titan. One would think that “Black Lives Matter” might be an umbrella over all violence affecting black people (since the overwhelming majority to a level that is absurd is black on black violence…), but no. Don just schooled your ass.

    • kbolino

      This is getting to “crime rates continued to fall despite increasing incarceration rates” levels of not even wrong. Wet streets cause rain at least has correlation to fall back on, while saying police violence and non-police violence are completely unrelated approaches absurdity.

    • Rhywun

      He’s lying through his teeth. Imagine that.

    • R C Dean

      Now do how a movement started because it was talking about police brutality has a list of demands that have absolutely nothing to do with police brutality.

      • Tulip

        Yes, he’s wrong about BLM, but it is legitimate to focus on police brutality without addressing other problems.

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        True, but maybe choose a different name then.

      • Rhywun

        Yeah, the name was specifically chosen to be a gotcha.

    • Tulip

      He’s not entirely wrong. Police violence is driven by policy. You can try to address those policies ( and I think much other violence is driven by policy – drug war, drug dealers have no recourse to the courts)., separately from other forms of violence.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Never mind. They just sent me an email saying they were contacted by law enforcement and were told to close by 2pm today.

    It’s for your own good.

    What are you, stupid?

    • mexican sharpshooter

      Probably. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  22. BakedPenguin

    Stinky Wizzleteats posted a link to ZeroHedge last thread. I just wanted to say, the pic of Zuckerberg in that article reminded me of a statue of a Roman emperor.

    Preferably Constantine, or one of the others who got murdered.

    • kbolino

      Whatever will we do without the WHO to parrot our own research findings back at us.

      • Q Continuum

        More like parrot ChiCom propaganda.

      • Gadfly

        More like parrot ChiCom propaganda.

        Indeed. The National Review recently pointed out an example of this in an article on China’s promotion of traditional Chinese medicine:

        As scientists and biotechnology companies around the world are racing to develop therapeutic drugs and a vaccine for COVID-19, China has been busy promoting traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) abroad as an effective treatment for the disease. The Chinese government reported that 87 percent of COVID-19 patients in China received TCM as part of their treatment and that 92 percent of them had shown improvement as a result.

        In 2019 the WHO, in a highly controversial move, complied with Xi’s wishes and endorsed TCM for the first time by including it in its International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11), a compendium of world health trends. The WHO explained this change by stating that “traditional medicine . . . is used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.” Scientific American called the endorsement an “egregious lapse in evidence-based thinking and practice.”

        When Xi ordered Chinese health officials to use “integrated Chinese traditional herbal medicine and Western medicine” to treat and cure COVID-19, the WHO instantaneously removed herbal medicine from a list of measures it deems ineffective against the disease in its website’s “Q&A on coronavirus (COVID-19).”

        But of course the WHO is an entirely independent, apolitical, science based organization, and if we leave it that means we are ignorant and backwards.

    • B.P.

      Alone?

      I feel like I’m coming down with a cold. Hold me, World Health Organization.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        *hands B.P. hydroxychloroquine*

  23. Rebel Scum

    We have to remove every significant figure in American history.

    “As the capital city of Virginia, we have needed to turn this page for decades. And today we will,” Stoney said last week. “Since the end of Richmond’s official tenure as the capital of the Confederacy 155 years ago, we have been burdened with that legacy. … These statues, although symbolic, have cast a shadow on the dreams of our children of color. By removing them, we can begin to heal and focus our attention on our future.”

    • kbolino

      we can begin to heal

      Year Zero

      • hayeksplosives

        They think if they distribute everything equally and reboot history, everyone will have his fair share.

      • Negroni Please

        And they will! After a few years when society self sorts back into makers and takers.

    • creech

      I thought members of the Sons of the Confederacy had more moxie. Though I guess they figure if they peacefully surrounded the monuments, the Richmond government would not treat them with kid gloves or, if arrested, wave them out the door the next day and tell them to be good ole boys.

  24. Rebel Scum

    It won’t be allowed to be named ‘Washington’ either.

    Washington and Lee University faculty passed a motion to remove Robert E. Lee from the name of the small liberal arts college in Lexington.

    The motion — the first time for W&L faculty to make such a recommendation — will be sent to the board of trustees.

    W&L President Will Dudley called a special meeting to discuss the motion at the request of the faculty affairs committee. More than 260 faculty members attended the virtual meeting late Monday afternoon and 79% of them voted for the motion.

    “The university’s name rests with its board of trustees, and there are no current plans to change it,” said university spokeswoman Drewry Sackett.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Ralph Northam College has a nice ring to it. He did finally save Virginia from racism after all.

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        Coonman College would be better.

    • Rhywun

      There’s going to be so much healing we’ll be sick of all the healing.

    • creech

      Does the faculty want his grave and shrine removed too? And what about the grave of his evil horse, Traveller, who carried him through many of his battles?

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        If the horse was white, you must move it out of sight.

      • Plinker762

        My mom named one of her horses Traveler after Lee’s horse. She grew up near Charlottesville VA. I never knew she was such a raging racist.

    • Jarflax

      I think they should change the name to better reflect their reality VMI Coeds University

    • Count Potato

      Don’t tell me what to do.

  25. Rebel Scum

    Dr. Fauxci doesn’t want to leave the spotlight.

    “You’re not there yet, so you have an opportunity, a window to get your arms around this and to prevent it from getting worse,” Dr. Fauci said. “It’s not to the point where it’s out of hand and you know, very difficult to control. So you have a window of opportunity here, that as a state, you should not, you should, you know, take advantage of that window of opportunity.”

    Fauci further characterized taking comfort in news about declining mortality as an empty comfort, claiming, “It’s a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death. There’s so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus,” and warning the public not to “get yourself into false complacency.”

    Be afraid. Be very afraid.

    • Jarflax

      so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus

      yes, primarily the response by assholes like Fauci

  26. Rebel Scum

    Maybe if we ignore her she will go away.

    Omar said, “Right now in Congress the Senate is sitting on a comprehensive bill to transform criminal justice and the policing system. All along with the Congressional Black Caucus, I helped led the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. And because of Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump, it is being ignored. I guess the president would rather attack thew people who are protesting than actually address the issues people are out here protesting for.”

    She continued, “We can’t stop at criminal justice reform or police reform for that matter. We are not merely fighting to tear down the systems of oppression in the criminal justice system. We are fighting to tear down systems of oppression that exist in housing, in education, in health care, in employment, in the air we breathe.”

    Trump already did a criminal justice bill.

    • kbolino

      Trump already did a criminal justice bill.

      LBJ and Nixon already did all those other things.

      Spoiler alert: it didn’t work out as planned.

      • Rebel Scum

        I get that. I am just unclear as to what is wrong with his in her opinion and what they want in theirs. My inclination is that it would do very little in the way of “justice” and is likely the opposite of justice.

      • Drake

        Not sure exactly what the Federal Government can or should do within the limits of Constitution.

      • kbolino

        Sorry, my comment was more directed at Omar and her ilk than at you.

      • Count Potato

        The Senate Democrats voted against Tim Scott’s bill.

      • Rebel Scum

        Forgot about that. Dems still tryna keep a black man down.

      • Gadfly

        It should be noted that they didn’t just vote against Scott’s bill, they filibustered it. Had they merely been content to vote against it, the Senate would have already passed police reform.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        it took me all of 5 minutes to find the graft. it establishes a grant program to pay “community organizations” to lecture law enforcement on not being racist.

  27. grrizzly

    Speaking of foreign students, nationals of which countries are even allowed to travel to the US right now?

  28. Rebel Scum

    Ladies and gentlemen, your future vice president.

    Voter suppression was baked into the notion of America. It was embedded not in our Declaration, which was a glorious document, but the Constitution began the practice of voter suppression. We are reaffirming the experiment now, but we are also seeing some terrible examples of the original flaw in our design, which is that we have delegated to the states the ability to determine not eligibility, but access. Luckily, we have 34 states that already have some version of vote-by-mail with no excuses. We have 16 states that do it to a lesser degree.

      • Q Continuum

        Vote integrity = vote suppression.

      • kbolino

        I’m still waiting for them to find a living legal resident whose name was wrongly removed from a state’s voter rolls.

    • Chafed

      It’s the surest way to make gun manufacturers rich.

    • Rhywun

      Voting deserts!!1!

  29. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. This story fact checking Trump on Somalia is quite the deal. Truly amazing how hard the media will work to make Trump look stupid and Omar look good.

    Ready for a Truth Bomb?

    While al-Shabab does still stage attacks in Mogadishu, it is not the Hobbesian nightmare of a country that President Trump describes.

    The impressive new National Theatre was unveiled just last week – there are fancy hotels, cafes and beach-side restaurants in Mogadishu and the city even has a literary festival, the annual Mogadishu Book Fair.

    Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, is one of the most peaceful cities in the Horn of Africa, with libraries, the Hargeisa Cultural Centre while the Hargeisa Book Fair, which has been taking place for more than a decade, draws in thousands every year.

    And even though it has not been recognised internationally, Somaliland has held successive free and fair elections, making it the strongest democracy in the Horn of Africa.

    Sure we have terrorist attacks in our capitol, but we also have a Theater! And that made up country has the free-est elections in the region!

    • Negroni Please

      “is one of the most peaceful cities IN THE HORN OF AFRICA”

      This is one of the safest neighborhoods in East St. Louis!

    • Drake

      In New York we have terrorist attacks and riots but no more theater.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I won’t lie, I would dig me a Mogadishu Book Fair t-shirt. The hags with their Minnesoda Public Radio membership drive tote bags would be eaten up with envy!

      • Fourscore

        Cedar Avenue welcomes the Pope with his new t-shirt. Make sure its bi-lingual.

    • Ownbestenemy

      North Korea, Iran, and Cuba all have had “successive free and fair elections…” also!

    • Trolleric the Goth

      “do your shoulders hurt from that absolute reach?”

    • kbolino

      Somaliland does well by not being a part of Somalia, and that’s a good thing for Somalia because…?

    • Rebel Scum

      Politicians often speak in hyperbole? 0_o

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Thanks, the next time some lefty shitweasels counter my libertarian arguments by telling me how terrible Somalia is I’ll refer them to this article. Maybe I can figure out a way to call them racist too considering it involves Omar and all.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      Well, with FL as the new coronavirus hotspot, maybe all the cool kids will be hitting the beach in Mogadishu.

    • leon

      “While al-Shabab does still stage attacks in Mogadishu, it is not the Hobbesian nightmare of a country that President Trump describes.”

      Now where will libertarians go?

  30. The Late P Brooks

    They think if they distribute everything equally and reboot history, everyone will have his fair share.

    Every time you pass “Go” the richest player has to give you half of his wealth. Unless you’re the richest player, and then you have to distribute 80% of your wealth to the bank Treasury. The object is for everyone to end the game broke.

    • Trolleric the Goth

      yeah, I’m not clicking that link.

    • kbolino

      Uh, well that’s an interesting username.

      • Count Potato

        According to him, it’s a joke.

    • Pope Jimbo

      How wipipo eat corn

      A bowl of water and some cornstarch can be a lot of fun. If you jostle it hard enough, the soupy goo will form solid balls spheres you can throw at each other. If you catch them they will turn back into soup, but if you can keep them moving you can throw them back. Great game for young boys.

      • Count Potato

        Those would be great corn holders.

      • Incentives Matter

        Non-Newtonian fluids for the win.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    “We can’t stop at criminal justice reform or police reform for that matter. We are not merely fighting to tear down the systems of oppression in the criminal justice system. We are fighting to tear down systems of oppression that exist in housing, in education, in health care, in employment, in the air we breathe.”

    From each, according to his ability, to each, according to her needs.

  32. Mojeaux

    Meat and cheese fast/intermittent fast day 2: Not hungry, drinking lots of water, but I have a headache and I almost never get headaches.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Lucky husband!

    • Sean

      Are you getting enough salt?

      • Mojeaux

        The beef is well salted, but maybe not enough. I’ll whip up some of my faux Gatorade. Thanks!

    • Count Potato

      “Meat and cheese fast”

      Maybe toss in some plastic glasses of jumbo shrimp?

    • Rebel Scum

      Not what I was hoping for expected.

      • Count Potato

        There are a few more different angles of the same scene.

        Anyway, how is that covid safe?

      • Count Potato

        Also, I’m sure someone has already photoshopped it.

  33. Raven Nation

    Quick re-post from yesterday morning in case the audience is different:

    “Thank yous to two Glibs but I don’t remember who:

    1. Whoever let me know that the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy miniseries was on Youtube.

    2. Whoever posted about No Man’s Land jerky.”

    • Pope Jimbo

      As the One True Libertarian, I feel no shame of selfishly taking all the credit for those actions despite having played no part at all in them.

      You Are Welcome!

    • B.P.

      “…in case the audience is different”

      You know there’s just one Tulpa typing out all of these comments, right?

      • Raven Nation

        Huh. I always thought there were two Tulpa shifts.

  34. prolefeed

    From the dead thread on the greater evil:

    We had lockdowns and continue to have various restrictions because a large majority of people support them.

    Don’t know about a “large majority”, cause I only know my small-ish corner of America, but I went into an HEB grocery store today, and as usual breezed past multiple signs saying face masks are mandatory. Didn’t wear a mask because signs are not the boss of me.

    I was literally the only person in the entire store not wearing a face mask, as far as I could tell, and I had my first incidence of a non-employee kevin muttering at me that I wasn’t wearing a mask. Thought about telling him to fuck off versus giving him a strong ignore, chose the latter.

    People are fucking sheep, at least in Austin. And the sheep seem to be getting bolder about insisting on the Face Diapers TM.

    • Rhywun

      Would you leave if an employee asked? Seems to me the store IS the boss of you if they require a mask. ?‍♂️

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        this. same goes for concealed carry. if the property owner tells me to wear a mask (or not carry a gun), I’m gonna respect their property rights. I’m also gonna find somewhere else to shop*

        *the government mandate complicates all of this

      • Fourscore

        If it’s concealed who knows if you are carrying? Not like you are smoking, right out in he open.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        not my place, not my rules. discoverability doesn’t come into the analysis for me.

      • grrizzly

        My state may be #49 or 50 in terms of gun rights but businesses here have no right to ban me from concealed carry. They don’t even post signs that guns inside are not welcome. Not lng ago there was a shooting in a Walmart in Texas. The store was a part of a mall that’s owned by the Simon Property Group, which is very anti-gun. That Texas Walmart was in a gun-free zone. We have plenty of Simon malls here, too. None of them have any anti-gun signs.

      • grrizzly

        The vast majority of employees ignore that I shop in their stores without a mask. I never had any confrontation. If a store employee asked me to put on a mask, I would put it on or leave the store. I live in the state where wearing masks have been mandatory for the last two months. The government agents are not enforcing it. They want private businesses to do the government job. As usual.

      • Rhywun

        Same here. I don’t like drama so I just fuckin’ wear the thing.

      • prolefeed

        Would you leave if an employee asked? Seems to me the store IS the boss of you if they require a mask.

        Yesterday some employee in Home Depot yelled at me as I breezed past with no mask. He then offered to give me a mask. I “offered” to leave and not shop there ever again. Then I went and bought the stuff at Lowe’s, no mask on, no one saying boo. So Home Depot permanently lost me as a customer.

        I’m pretty sure that makes the store anything but the boss of me.

      • Rhywun

        Cool.

        Not a hill I’m gonna die on (not that I have a choice here), but go for it.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        I’m pretty sure that makes the store anything but the boss of me.

        right. it makes them the boss of their premises. I don’t get why there’s any sort of controversy here. seems pretty damn straightforward from a libertarian point of view. if I’m a guest on somebody else’s property, whether or not it’s a retail store, I either comply with their conditions or I leave. that applies to masks, guns, chihuahuas, shirts ‘n shoes, and any other restriction they have, whether by principle or by whim.

      • grrizzly

        Practicing obedience and submitting to irrational demands are what I like about being a libertarian. Fortunately, I couldn’t care less if I’m one of not.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        I’m genuinely surprised that I’m getting pushback on this. how is “abide by the property owner’s rules if you’re going to be on their property” anything but basic adherence to the NAP? trespass is aggression.

      • grrizzly

        If Twitter bans your account, well, you have no right to post there. Twitter is a private company.
        If Youtube/Google demonetizes your channel, well, create your own infrastructure. Youtube is a private company.
        If Costco forces you to wear a muzzle if you want to shop there, well, SCIENCE! and you can shop elsewhere.

        Libertarians are just pussies who come up with excuses to comply with irrational totalitarian restrictions.

        Get ready to wear your muzzle for the rest of your life. You’re just following rules and orders.

    • R C Dean

      Thinking about ordering this for my talismask.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Look at MEEEEE!

    Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said Tuesday she is prepared to halt her economic reopening or reimpose restrictions if the state sees a significant increase in coronavirus cases, even if it means facing political repercussions.

    “I want to re-engage this economy more than anyone, but I’m not going to do it if it is too risky to do so, and that’s why we’re staying focused on the epidemiology,” Whitmer said Tuesday on CNN’s “New Day.” “I’m not going to be bullied into moving before it’s safe, and if we have to move back, we’re going to.”

    “I’m not going to be bullied into moving before it’s safe, and if we have to move back, we’re going to [do that,]” @GovWhitmer says as Michigan revises its reopening plan amid a resurge

    Last week, Whitmer, who has seen huge protests against statewide COVID-19 restrictions, signed an order closing indoor service at bars throughout much of lower Michigan to mitigate the disease’s spread ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend. Gyms and theaters also remain closed across the state, and Whitmer said on CNN she is prepared to shut down hair salons if needed as well.

    “I took a lot of heat when we brought that curve down, we saved thousands of lives. I’m prepared to take heat if that’s what is going to take to keep people safe,” she said.

    Tough love for the peasants. It’s what true leaders do. Look at the sacrifices she has made.

      • Q Continuum

        Did he ever find the little man in the boat?

    • leon

      ““I want to re-engage this economy more than anyone”

      No, you don’t. Not more than the destitute small business owner. Go fuck yourself

    • B.P.

      “I’m not going to be bullied…”

      Uh huh. The public is doing the bullying, not you. Your constituents are really letting you down this time.

  36. Evan from Evansville

    Although I am looking at schools to teach in, I am also starting an on-the-side (for now) editing business that I have for a long time wanted to move into.

    I’d love to get some feedback on what some business strategies and plans from our fellow writers. I am currently working on another one of my dad’s books. Retired, he was a journalist for 40 years and has written roughly 8 books. This one is about his basic training experience in the early ’70s. It’s laugh-out-loud (no joke) and well-written.

    I just got finished with the first chapter, which is 7000 words. It is 25 .doc pages long and took me 3 hr 15 min to fully go over with notes and corrections. These total 5 pages, but I also have also copy-pasted the specific things that I address, so I have not personally written all 5 pages, but there is a lot of work going on there.

    How much should one charge for such an effort? His last book I edited I got $500 for, and this one is shorter but we agreed to $200. I might have to bump that up. I have 125 pages left to work on, and it seems that the way that I work, which involves no lolly-gagging and praise (not just fatherly praise, I’ve worked my ass off), I probably should be getting more than I am.

    I am interested in working with anyone and have edited three novels so far and I have also done freelance projects working for European casinos. Add that to my teaching experience and I am deftly capable of producing solid work.

    I’m curious as to what people, especially the local writers, think about cost. How much do you pay for a fresh set of eyes/ proofreading/absolute full editing services?

    I’m not a rookie but I am willing to be cheaper than others so that I can prove to my clients that I’m up to the task, get word of mouth out, and return customers.

    Sorry for the long post! Thanks for listening and I would love to get as much feedback as possible!

    • R C Dean

      If it took you 3.25 hours to do 25 pages, and you have 125 pages left, then you are looking at a total time of 19.5 hours for the first pass. Don’t know if there will be additional passes, but assuming not, the $200 is around $10/hour. Annualized for a typical FTE 2,000 hour year, that’s $20,000/year.

      That seems really low to me. But I don’t know what the market will bear. Have you looked at whatever online clearinghouses there may be for this kind of work to see what others are charging? Also, how they charge – hourly? by page? by total project?

      • Evan from Evansville

        That’s a fascinating question and one that I’m try to suss out. I’ve read a lot of editors charge 2-4 cents a word. But it’s totally true I don’t know what pass they’re going on. What I’m doing right now is a full service job.

        I see three go-throughs for each client depending on where we are and what they want.
        1. Go over ideas/style/form.
        2. Proofreading.
        3. Absolute full service edit.

        That is why I think the previous project made a lot more sense financially with the $500 payout. That would put me at around $20-$25/hour and that seems much closer to reality. The chosen workload the customer wants would absolutely change how much I charge. Right now is a total, from every level, edit. My notes will likely add up to about 25 pages of notes, thoughts, proof edits and stylistic comments and discourse with the author.

        Thanks for your input!

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I’m coming from the medical world and don’t do editing myself, but many editors cross over and have similar skillsets.

      For editing services, the cost is heavily dependent on what you are able to provide. An editor who only catches grammar errors and typos is much different than an editor who looks for parallel construction of sentences and is able to advise on development without changing the meaning. I would guess the former probably makes around $35-40k/year while the latter is in the $60-70k range. Of course, that’s for an employed editor and you would need to charge a different hourly rate to account for your overhead and benefits that come out of your own pocket as a freelance contractor.

      Very rough spitballing here, but if you are providing minimal editing services, then I’d be looking at $20-30/hour. For more extensive editing services, maybe $60/hour with experienced senior editors able to charge more. I’d recommend not charging by the hour, but rather using your own hourly numbers to estimate the size of the job and provide a fixed-price quote.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        many editors cross over and have similar skillsets

        Clarifying this refers to editors crossing over between medical and literature editing and have similar skillsets for editing both types.

    • straffinrun

      That’s always the tricky part: If you undercharge, you may get the work. If you undercharge, you may not get the work because they could think you aren’t good at it. In my experience, the undercharging route rarely works out.

    • Pope Jimbo

      That looks like me trying to dock my old pontoon at the cabin. Smash-and-grab!

    • Timeloose

      “China begins to step up it’s efforts to penetrate South American barriers to trade.”

      • leon

        You know who else tried to penetrate down south?

      • straffinrun

        Poor Mr. Peabody.

    • DEG

      It’ll buff out.

    • B.P.

      “Yeah, I see it too, but Waze told me to go this way.”

    • Spudalicious

      How much time did the tug boat drivers have to envision the end of their careers before the crash?

      • Suthenboy

        That is what I was thinking…the ship is not moving under it’s own power. The tugs are pushing it.

  37. leon

    I had to run some errands so I missed out on a lot of the comments on the last thread. Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I like that I can post something different and get some refinement. It helped me clarify some of my thinking on my argument. I still think that there is something strategically wrong with “lesser evil” voting, and I think it’s because that argument is one born of fear. Kind of like taking lockdown precautions to prevent covid, I think settling for the lesser evil will often help cement the evil you are trying to forestall.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      IMO it comes down to principle versus pragmatism. pragmatism says vote for the least evil viable candidate. principle says to either lodge a protest vote or not bother voting. As you identified In your article, the pragmatic way has some nasty long term consequences.

      • R C Dean

        And the principled way delivers those very same long term consequences.

    • R C Dean

      I think the basic problem is there are no options that aren’t evil. So winding up with an evil outcome is a given. The only issue is, which one and how fast. As a practical matter, “the worse the better” assumes that a bad situation will generate a response that is more than enough to reverse the bad situation. That’s what I don’t think will happen here and now.

      On the single issue of gun control, Biden in the White House gets you the maximum (politically possible) gun control. Trump in the White House, based on his history, gets you very small incremental increases. Both bad outcomes, but the setup delivers bad outcomes every time.

    • Suthenboy

      I agree with your reasoning but your argument comes short. If you just leave it at voting one way or another the result you predict….the situation we are looking at today…is what you get.
      More involvement by the voting public is needed. Without that we will go down the drain fast or slow, take your pick. The pols have to be prodded into action by us.

  38. B.P.

    This was the big news item on two (two!) of my local news channels last night:

    https://twitter.com/KyleClark/status/1280271189718466560

    Some catty woman telling a young black guy in her neighborhood to get lost. The newsreader returned to give a big sermon about being an ally and filming racist acts:

    https://www.9news.com/video/sports/commentary/white-woman-black-man-viral-video/73-68ce0fa8-7071-4ec5-8cf9-a097eaac086f

    Now, the woman could be a Stormfront content moderator being her racist self for all I know, but it’s not obvious from the video clip. So….

    1. I guess from now on we’re all going to take short video clips of each other and post them publicly until everyone is fired from their jobs, ostracized.

    2. Hey local news, how about working on filing a remotely accurate weather forecast?

    3. Kyle Clark, fix your stupid fucking hair.

    • Rhywun

      The NY Post has five or six of these every single day.

      On today’s front page we get: Home Depot ‘Karen’ refuses to wear mask because of ‘white power’

      • Count Potato

        And supposedly, the Post is NYC’s right-wing newspaper.

      • Rhywun

        I’ve mentioned it before – the front page is trending left now, or perhaps more accurately, “millennial”. The editorial page is still “right-wing”.

    • Q Continuum

      9news is complete horseshit. Nice to be out of the Denver media market. Springs market is a little more “small town-ie” with stupid human interest stuff like prize winning goats etc. For now at least.

      • B.P.

        Yeah, I get around the state for work a fair deal, and I’m favorably inclined with the not-Denver news.

      • Ted S.

        Not an endless parade of mug shots?

    • Q Continuum

      Also, who cares about his apology? We have new rules now: now matter how long ago, how heartfelt an apology, how much thought or care someone put into evolving their position, NO. REDEMPTION. EVER.

      Cancel this man.

      • creech

        What do you think would have happened to a white player who posted this nonsense? He’d be let go and no team would dare touch him.
        Another team in Philly banned a popular version of “God Bless America” by Kate Smith because she sang some minstrel tune 70 years ago.

      • Count Potato

        Wait, does this mean you (((people))) are black? I’m going to need more string and larger cork board.

    • Q Continuum

      Hostile work environment.

      • Rhywun

        Yeap, I’d die on that hill.

      • R C Dean

        If we decide to go down the road of some kind of anti-racism indoctrination, I think I will send it for outside review on that issue. Even if i give my opinion that it raises serious risks, I suspect my boss would still want a second opinion.

        If we decide to go forward with mandatory indoctrination, I just don’t know if I will bend the knee to keep my job or not.

      • Rhywun

        Yeah TBH I don’t know either. But this pisses me off way more than, say, masks.

    • Count Potato

      All this shit is racist against people who aren’t white.

    • leon

      White people undoing their own whiteness? Sounds like blackface by another name.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Also-

    I took a lot of heat when we brought that curve down, we saved thousands of lives.

    Guess again, Shirley. You didn’t “save” thousands of lives. You may have saved a few, but mostly you just deferred those deaths. That’s what flattening the curve means, you odious nattering cunt.

  40. Count Potato

    I need a name for my new summer highball — green tea, honey, lime, and vodka.

    (Vodka because rum doesn’t mix with honey, and simple simple didn’t go with the green tea)

    • mrfamous

      Radiator Coolant

      • Count Potato

        It doesn’t look green though, and it isn’t as sweet.

    • Count Potato

      um, “simple syrup”

      • mexican sharpshooter

        Simple simple works

    • Timeloose

      We had a local drink called an Ice Pick. It’s Orange Vodka, orange juice or triple sec and Snapple Orange or lemon Iced tea.

      • quincy

        A friend and I spent an evening mixing random spirits and mixers together (we then smoked selections of the spice rack). The notable cocktail that emerged from that occasion was a shot of half Vodka and half balsamic vinegar. It was horrible. We called it the Balsa MiG.

    • straffinrun

      A Jap, Brit and Russian love triangle.

    • C. Anacreon

      “Laotian Pud-Puller”

      • Count Potato

        I think a lotion pud-puller is something entirely different.

    • bacon-magic

      The Slimer
      Speedball
      Hulk Smash Glass

    • straffinrun

      Let me rephrase that for that guy.

      “Would you be willing to give up someone else’s free speech rights because you think you would be a benevolent dictator?”

  41. Rebel Scum

    Utah man.

    According to a police affidavit, just before 6 p.m. on Saturday, Millard County sheriff’s deputies were called to Fillmore Canyon “on the report of a man with a gun pointing it at people and firing it.

    “While speaking with 11 separate victims, it was identified that Omar had threatened five individuals including one juvenile by pulling a gun out of his waistband and pointing it at them, making statement about them having Trump flags on their four-wheeler and threatening the juvenile that he was going to come break into his house and kill his family,” the affidavit states.

    As police were arriving, Levi drove off to find his wife, who had already fled from the area “due to him pointing the gun at her head threatening to kill her and firing it, with five more victims. While confronting them, Omar pointed the gun at all of them, and began firing it out the window of his vehicle getting closer and closer to the victims before ceasing fire, getting out and pulling out what was described as an AR-type rifle and pointing it at them, before fleeing down the mountain,” police wrote in their affidavit.

    • Plinker762

      Omar Levi?

    • leon

      It wasn’t me!

      • leon

        Though since it’s Utah, it’s probably another instance of a white person using guns to threaten people who are different from him.

    • Sean

      He had a rifle down his pants?

    • Count Potato

      I wear a mask in my car if on my way to the supermarket or pharmacy.

  42. straffinrun

    BTW, Leon, nice article. All I know is that I always vote for the greasier of two gerbils.

    • leon

      Thanks! I’ll concede the geasier strategy is superior.

    • Raven Nation

      According to the thread, there’s a video.

      • straffinrun

        There was video for Covington kids, too. We’ll see, but one thing is certain: the story will be spun for maximum outrage.

      • Rebel Scum

        I couldn’t tell what was going on in the video. There were a couple people saying “let him go”. So naturally it is a wannabe lynch mob engaging in a racist hate-crime.

        Best I can assume so far is probably an altercation between two men that others were trying to diffuse.

    • Count Potato

      “The FBI is investigating the assault of a Black man by a group of white men at a southern Indiana lake as a hate crime, the victim’s attorney says.”

      Well, I say your manual of style sucks ass.

    • leon

      IIRC Southern Indian is one of the last holdout areas for the KKK.

  43. Derpetologist

    Hello, friends. Hope you are all well. Learned a new term today while listening to NPRavda – “rogue protesters”. It appears some of theses so-called rogue protesters vandalized a police station in Atlanta and then tried to burn it down. The word rogue comes from a Latin word that means beggar or vagrant.

    Today’s language lesson

    Talaba means to request in Arabic.

    Talib means student, because he requests knowledge.

    Taliban means 2 students. Because the higher-ups of the Taliban had trouble understanding the intricacies of Arabic grammar (perhaps they weren’t paying attention while at the madrassah*), they mistranslated their own name. The correct word is Tollab which means students.

    There’s a rapper named Talib Kweli. Kweli means true/real in Swahili, so the name is The True Student I guess. Matloob means wanted and is usually the first words in want ads in newspapers.

    Madrassah just means school in Arabic. It comes from the verb darasa which means to study, so a school is just a place of study. Kind of like dojo in Japanese. Dojo means way place.

    In the first Assassin’s Creed video game, the character is called Al-Ta’ir (correct pronunciation: At-TAW-er). Ta’ra means to fly in Arabic, so his name means The Flyer. Matar means airport (place of flight), tiyoor means bird, tiyar means pilot, and tayyara means airplane. Root-based languages have certain advantages.

    I only have a few ideas for my next satire. Help please.

    • straffinrun

      “Egg takes knee and breaks itself to make an omelet.”

      • Derpetologist

        I see potential here. Thanks. Maybe something like:

        Eggs Encouraged To Attend Omelet Making Sessions

        Eggs, Hungry Drunks Vote On Omelet Bill Along Party Lines

      • straffinrun

        Make it a Humpty Dumpty allegory?

      • Derpetologist

        Long-Time Clinton Associate Humpty Dumpty Found Omleted

    • BakedPenguin

      What are you going after?

      • Derpetologist

        I’m trying to avoid writing about Biden, Trump, and coronapalooza. Otherwise, I’m open to anything.

        Maybe something like: Supreme Court Rules That Governors Can Do Whatever They Want As Long As They Say ‘Simon Says’ First

      • BakedPenguin

        And then have a Legislature in Lockdown after Dems & Reps submit competing unconstitutional measures, but cry ‘Jinx’ at the same time.

      • Derpetologist

        Now we’re getting somewhere. I like the children’s games theme.

        No tag backs! I’m on base! Olly olly oxen free!

      • BakedPenguin

        “1-2-3-4, I declare a Congress War!”

      • Derpetologist

        Congress Votes To Replace Roberts Rules of Order With CalvinBall

      • leon

        I do like how it’s called a “Coup”, when it seems to be completely within the rules of the senate.

      • salted earth

        You could do something “National Treasure”/treasure map related to the toppling of statues.
        The Toppling of Statues Leads to Clues about Long Lost Treasures

      • Derpetologist

        I like this idea. Maybe a Nick Cage and Scooby Doo mash-up.

        “Ahh! Not the bees!”

        “Ruh roh!”

    • Incentives Matter

      I only have a few ideas for my next satire. Help please.

      You need to stop enacting The Babylon Bee‘s labour for them, d00d. Demand compensation!

    • Fourscore

      Copy any article off any front page of the NYTimes.

      Oh, satire, not BS. Sorry

    • straffinrun

      Nice to see you around, HM. Our ships set sail at different times recently.

    • leon

      With that kind of welcome, i’d hate to see what happens to people who aren’t welcome.

      Oh, that’s right, Guantanamo.

  44. salted earth

    I’m thinking about getting a mask with “Resistance is Futile” printed on it. Too dorky? I was thinking about getting one printed with “baa,” but I think it might be too offensive.

    • straffinrun

      “I don’t wash my hands”

      • salted earth

        But, I wash my hands…a lot.

      • straffinrun

        They wouldn’t know that and that’s what counts.

    • Derpetologist

      The mask stuff would bother me a lot less if it was not coupled with the insane, open-ended lock down. There’s no vaccine for the common cold either, yet that’s never led to a mass quarantine.

      The correct question to ask is: is this virus deadlier than the ones we ignore already?

      • Heroic Mulatto

        And the answer is “no”.

      • leon

        Channeling Meghan Trainor?

      • mrfamous

        Nope

      • Derpetologist

        Americans carried on more or less normally for 40 odd years while under the threat of nuclear war. And yet a not particularly dangerous virus is supposed to make us all hide under our beds.

        I suspect that if kung flu had come in Obama’s time, it would have made a smaller splash than Ebola.

      • salted earth

        I don’t think you are sciencing right. Science means we don’t ask questions and we do what we are told.

      • Derpetologist

        To make an analogy, herpes is a painful, incurable virus but it hasn’t led to condom police or sex bans.

      • dbleagle

        In 1968- 1970 we had the Hong Kong Flu pandemic. During that time the US experienced: the “Summer of Love”, multiple protests and rioting over the war, rioting over MLK’s murder, a memorable election season involving huge crowds and what was properly described as a “police riot” in Chicago, the Woodstock and Harlem music festivals, the Vietnam War’s highest US troop levels, we sent Frank Borman (Apollo 8) to the moon with the HK flu, and no schools closed, and all the professional leagues played their respective sports.

        1969 US population: Feb 5, 1969 it reaches 200,000,000 for the first time. US Deaths from Hong Kong Flu was ~100,000 (CDC estimate). (1M estimated for globe)

        2020 US polulation: 333,546,000 (estimated by the US Census). US Deaths from Kung Flu: 133,000* (7Jul2020) (542,000* worldwide)
        (* Both numbers will probably be adjusted in the decades ahead since there is no common definition of what “killed by COVID
        ” actually means)

        The actual CDC and US Census figures show the current pandemic is not a severe as the pandemic that most of us can’t remember- even as we lived through it. I asked my mother who was a ICU nurse during the Hong Kong Flu about her memories from the hospital. She remembered nothing special occurred. She didn’t believe, at first, that the pandemic even occurred.

        The more I experience 2020 the more I am convinced that the media and the left in this country are playing up the panicdemic and “systemic racism” for political reasons. They are aided and abetted by millions of people who never learned that they are responsible for their own lives and not a “governmental super mommy”.

    • The Hyperbole

      “My other mask is a dental dam”

    • Incentives Matter

      Went and bought this one a few days ago. Still waiting for it (and the matching T-shirt).

  45. The Late P Brooks

    The correct question to ask is: is this virus deadlier than the ones we ignore already?

    There’s a man from the Ministry of Truth at the door, He’d like a word.