Happy Thursday everbody. I hope your afternoon is going well. I am just grinding here. More work than I want to do, honestly. I was good for a while, but now its getting hard to just sit at the computer all day (and some nights). I keep trying to convince my stupid, lazy brain that the crisis is not past and every dollar now is a dollar I might need later, but dang is it hard.
Classic Trump bullshit. “What do I gotta say to get you into that car today?”
With apologies to my East Florida Glibs, TURN NORTH, FUCKER!
“Americans excel at chaos, because they practice it daily”
Almost… done…
PTO today, I got one of my tasks done – a 8 foot long branch got knocked out of an oak tree in my yard during a storm earlier this week. It’s now cut up and mainly sitting in the fire pit. I figure by the time it gets cool enough at night for a fire, the wood should be cured. I didn’t reorganize the brewing area of the basement which got disrupted when the new furnace was installed.
On the plus side, my Glibertarian masks were delivered today.
I got a lovely care package from Amazon today – tumblers, shorts, T-shirts, bed sheets, etc.
Next week I get a desk chair – can’t wait for that one.
How you doin, man?
Gettin’ regular.
Woot!
Excellent!
“Americans excel at chaos, because they practice it daily”
Damn skippy!
Old German Army General quote goes something like – War is Chaos, the Americans excel at it, because they practice it every day.
Originally from the Wehrmacht. The USSR said: “It is difficult to study how to fight the American military because they don’t read their own doctrine.”
Planning is everything; plans are nothing.—Eisenhower
A vision without a plan is just a hallucination.—Will Rogers
Hope is not a strategy.—Vince Lombardi
“No plan survives first contact.” – Murphy’s Laws of Combat.
Buys 2 more lottery tickets
/Doubles my chances
And don’t you fucking forget it.
When KAOS is empowered it’s time to summon CONTROL.
*closes tab*
Same. It is possible for the media to have negative amount of shame? They passed ‘shameless’ some time ago.
^
The President hasn’t said anything to a foreign country about uncorroborated intelligence that should never have been released to the public in the first place? Top story, definitely.
Update on a story I posted yesterday with genders etc (since folks were asking).
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/07/29/investigation-shows-va-took-nine-months-to-dismiss-physician-who-taunted-suicidal-patient/
Maybe doc will taunt a homicidal patient next and this whole thing will resolve itself
That is infuriating. The doctor is a POS even if the vet didn’t hear her.
I wish more people owned pets so they could compare their choice of care to what happens in our medical system. We have had cats and a dog for years. In our area there was one veterinarian who gained a reputation for being less than sympathetic to the pets’ needs and being gruff with the owners. Over about a year, maybe two, reviews accumulated on Yelp and people chimed in on NextDoor when people asked about local vets. His business fell off and he eventually moved out of the area. There is nothing comparable for humans because we are either tied to our insurance or government program. Cash payment cuts right through the bullshit.
Imagine if this happened in the private sector.
“I’d like to see it be very high because I love the people, I want the people to get it, you know, the economy is going to come back,” Trump continued. “We saved millions of lives but now we’re bringing (the economy) back … we gotta take care of the people in the meantime.”
Just keep printing.
Just keep printing.
Just keep printing, printing, printing.
What do we do? We print!
Printing press goes brrrrrrrrrr
It’s pretty incredible to watch this go on. I guess we are seeing just how far having a reserve currency will go before massive inflation kicks in.
As long as we can stave off thunderdome until I’m already dead. Leave it for the glibspawn to deal with!
If “Bust a deal, face the wheel” were law, we wouldn’t have this problem in the first place.
Just imagine how much worse it could have been if we hadn’t printed all that cash!
It takes the government to turn a problem into a tragedy.
The $1,200 bill will have Trump on it.
It was interesting to see that the article had a “calculator” embedded. We can tell you how many hypothetical dollars you will get if you voluntarily tell us your income, household size, etc.
Nope. I ain’t playing that game.
Put in $12,000,000/yr, 11 dependents, in The Azores.
It’ll be 4 times better than this one!
Well, I read the links, and don’t feel any better. I might get $1200, I guess, but that hardly makes up for closing down half the economy.
“‘There are those in power who’re doing their darndest to discourage people from voting’: Obama excoriates Trump and compares him to George Wallace during eulogy to John Lewis and calls for new Voting Rights Act ‘to truly honor’ civil rights icon”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8576505/Civil-rights-icon-John-Lewis-mourned-Atlanta-funeral.html
Because political speeches belong at a funeral?
I do my darndest to discourage people from voting. But I’m not in power.
Yet.
Yeah because asking for a government issued proof of who you are is totally racist. That must explain why I have never seen a black, hispanic, or asian on any airplane, writing a check, or buying cold medication.
Only when they support the narrative.
After MN US Senator Paul Wellstone died in election season, his own sons took over his memorial and made it into a tasteless campaign rally.
I’m convinced that’s what tipped Minnesota to elect Norm Coleman over Wellstone’s hastily annointed replacement, Walter Mondale.
Paul said 2 terms, then he learned about the pension plan at 18 years and went “What the hell?”
CWAPOS
Tropical Storm Isaias
Who comes up with these awful names?
The Spanish pronunciation (on the weather channel) is even more awkward.
“Maverick former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, 74, DIES of Covid-19 after going to Trump’s notorious Tulsa rally WITHOUT a mask and then being diagnosed nine days later”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8576921/Herman-Cain-DIES-Covid-19-going-Donald-Trumps-notorious-Tulsa-rally-WITHOUT-mask.html
R.I.P.
Wait… I thought masks protected other people? Why does it matter that Cain didn’t wear one?
Well, this time at least it’s the Daily Fail instead of NBC News.
Shush, don’t talk about details like that.
I liked the guy. But 74 with cancer put him in the wheelhouse of the China flu.
He beat stage 4 cancer over 10 years ago.
Stage 4.
I’d say he did pretty well there on borrowed time.
Stay classy, The Daily Mail.
“and then being diagnosed nine days later”
Final phase of the 9-9-9 plan?
Nice job on the obscure reference!
Because cancer got nuthin’ on Kung Flu.
“We’re going to see it may go higher than that, actually,” Trump said, according to KMID-TV.
Wow. I might be right about a prediction.
The U.S. should prepare for “impacts from winds, heavy rainfall and storm surge” as Tropical Storm Isaias heads along its forecasted path toward the East Coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned Thursday.
Lil Rona is going to get blown around the country.
The school board voted unanimously Tuesday to push the start of school back by two weeks due to the pandemic.
And taxpayers get a property tax refund?
Heh.
Local news was full of stories about school districts wanting to raise school taxes by double-digit percentages. AFAICT, all of the tax increases failed at the vote. Maybe there is hope?
“You idiots. Its supposed to be ‘we’ll do more with less’, not ‘we’ll do less with more.’ Oh, you’re pubsecs? Never mind. Carry on.”
School should start after Labor Day anyway as God intended. I hate that school starts in August.
^^This^^
I have long argued one of the hidden advantages of America was a long summer vacation. Year round schooling is even more of a crime than the current system.
Why did I think that we wouldn’t repeat this insanity?
These 13 states need to lock down now, according to Harvard coronavirus experts
If there’s a coronavirus expert in the entire world, he/she/xir has done an excellent job of disguising themselves.
We’ve got to keep locking down harder until the total number of cases goes down damn it!
Harvard coronavirus experts, even. They must be doubleplusexperts.
I’m thinking of getting business cards that just give my name and self appointed title, like this:
Firstname Lastname
Expert
OMG I love this. Vista Print has cheap cards! 😉
Trust me; I’m an expert.
Firstname Lastname
Super Genius
kinnath
Real Man of Genius
The first tee shirts I had made for work-
My Logo
My Name
Craftsman Extraordinaire
No, no, no – you got to it like this:
Firstname Middle Initial Lastname
Super Genius!
Wile E. Coyote
Super Genius
Super Genius
Yeah, I’m not going into poverty because an academic wants “zero case incidence.” Let’s cutoff your income and see how that affects your thinking.
LOL. Some suckers believed in “two weeks.”
/shamefully raises hand
Now I’m just waiting to see if it will ever end.
“Successful suppression efforts can work relatively fast to restore jurisdictions to near-zero case incidence in a matter of 1-2 months.”
What utter horseshit. NY has been on a hard lockdown for more than two months, and its still clocking nearly 700 cases/day.
Harvard experts think that the NY lockdown was soft. Rhywun never told us that his apartment door was welded.
We haven’t been on any sort of “hard lockdown” for weeks. Not that a lockdown that let me go to the market any time I wanted was any kind of lockdown.
I was thinking “hard” relative to other lockdowns.
Interesting how the NY lockdown has lifted, yet their cases stayed flat.
Love the assumption of their conclusion, too: “Successful suppresion efforts”, indeed.
What about all the other viruses, like the common cold? We can’t go back to normal until there is not a single case of a viral infection of any type anywhere! OK, we got to zero… WAIT! Someone somewhere found a new virus, well it could be a virus, LOCK DOWN GET BACK INSIDE NOW!
Sadly, though you’re joking, this is far too likely. Now that the politicians know they can do this and the majority of the public is completely willing to comply, and shame those who don’t, we’re probably going to be seeing this again and again.
“We also collectively need to keep focused on what should be our main target: a path to near zero case incidence.”
Which, of course, is completely unattainable with the lockdowns they demand. That only happens if (a) the virus mutates into a benign form or (b) we reach herd immunity. You can get to herd immunity with a vaccine, but the prospects of the world’s first ever coronavirus vaccine being ready for mass production in the next few weeks or months is virtually nil. So the only way to get to what they claim is their goal is for enough people to get sick and recover.
If you believe the lockdowns they demand are effective, then they are actually counterproductive in reaching their claimed goal.
The goal of the lockdowns wasn’t, and cannot be, herd immunity. It can only be to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed.
Right. Fucking cats and dogs can get COVID. It isn’t going to go away when it can be circulating around in the stray/homeless population. The second you go back outside, you get it again.
These experts can go fuck themselves.
You guys, she really has like important things to say.
There is always OnlyFans Alyssa
https://youtu.be/khhmqstAcYs
Its gotta be more than triple. I thought Rogan was number 1 in the world.
My first reaction – no way in hell does she have 1/3 of the listeners of Rogan.
Yeah it would be a terrible world if she is 1/3 of his listeners considering he has been doing it for 10 years and she is less than 1.
I was about to say, I refuse to believe I live in a world where a Alyssa Milano podcast has that many listeners.
Pornhub channel watchers, maybe, but not podcast listeners.
That comes to one million listeners for every man, woman, and child in America !!!
Alyssa, a medium that doesn’t show your tits isn’t playing to your strengths.
He was a better actor too.
There is no fucking way she has even a third of Joe Rogan’s listeners.
I also am alarmed to hear that she has any podcast listeners at all.
She’s right to be concerned.
“I keep trying to convince my stupid, lazy brain that the crisis is not past and every dollar now is a dollar I might need later, but dang is it hard.”
I’m right there with ya. When I quit my old job 6 months ago, I offered to continue doing some work on nights and weekends for a nice consulting fee. It’s usually no more than 10 hours a week, but it’s still on top of my normal job and life stuff, and I’m now reminded why I left there. After 6 months they never replaced me, and I’m still the only one working on a few big pieces of software.
“Oooh, look … a rate change. Upward… pay up, suckas!”
Never, ever, lose sight of price as a rationing mechanism. A throttle that lets you control (ceteris paribus) how your time gets sucked up. This is especially important in contract work.
Do any of you work?
Yes
Well, that’s a relief, Tulpa.
Define “work.”
Right. It would be more accurate to say I am employed for 8 hours a day 5 days a week. It would be a stretch to call it work.
My exile ends tomorrow. Everything is a mess. Promises were broken. So I’m going to do what must be done, take a paid vacation day.
Russian Media Is Giddy at Chaos in the USA
See?! Drumpf’s America is good for Russia! IMPEACH!
The Chinese sent the Wuhan flu to help Trump. That’s whey Biden has to hide in his basement, it was specifically engineered to get SloJo.
And now they’re sending seeds, also to help Trump.
I thought the Chinese were trying to help Biden and the Russians were trying to help Trump. I can’t keep my conspiracy theories straight anymore.
Really solid piece
Excellent piece – read the whole thing.
“‘I was fed a huge amount of lies’: Seth Rogen claims in podcast interview that when he attended Jewish school he wasn’t taught that State of Israel was created on land where Palestinians were already living”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8573627/Seth-Rogen-says-fed-huge-lies-Israel.html
Yeah, OK, sure.
I thought they were Canaanites and Philistines?
Let’s entertain the notion that he was actually taught that.
Did he not have ANY critical thinking skills, like, at all? How would a piece of land the size of a whole country right on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean that had been populated for 1000s of years (according to the Old Testament, even) not be populated in the mid-20th century? I mean he’s essentially admitting he’s a fucking eejit.
Unlike all the other countries we have now – where the current residents just showed up and found empty unoccupied land.
Iceland?
The only one I can think of off the top of my head. Not sure if the Japanese were the first to get to their islands.
The Ainu would like a word with you.
I’m not certain if any of the Pacific island states have a majority Polynesian population.
It’s possible, there’s still no occupants of Delaware.
America got it done just before it wasn’t woke. If you go wayyy back, we’re talking about warring Stone Age tribes. There is no going back to undo it or make it fair.
Just like Britain, France, Spain, etc. There is no going back.
I am grateful that North America was largely colonized by Britain.
To the victors belong the spoils, beeyotch.
Hell, it’s even worse than that: the Jews only became a majority large enough to assert statehood through market processes. They moved to Palestine and bought land. The Jews did not land in 1946 via surplus LSTs, as an armed and organized army of conquest. That’s not how it happened at all.
he wasn’t taught that State of Israel was created on land where Palestinians were already living
Because they weren’t Palestinians at the time? I believe they were Jordanians. “Palestine” didn’t exist until the post WWII reorganization of the Mideast.
Post WWI, although of course lots of Jews were living there too.
There was league of mations mandate state called Palestine. Britain ran it and invited all the Jews to migrate.
Getouttahere with your “facts”. This is the internet, dammit! If I can’t present hazy memories as indisputable facts, then what’s the point?
Meh, we’re only treating you the same way we treat Derpetologist. You should be honored to be in such company.
Yeah, we’re supposed to believe that Rogen paid attention in school when every single role he plays is an idiot, stoner dipshit.
Dr Birx Now Supports Goggles Or Full Face Shields. You Can Decorate Them!
Where’s WokenBirkenStein’s mask? She wants people to die!
I don’t know about her, but I started rooting for the virus 2 months ago.
SMOD has abandoned us. Cthulhu still slumbers. All hail the COVID cleansing
THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!
Where is that from? It’s on the tip of my brain
*blink*
Really?
Sometimes trivia like song lyrics or TV/movie quotes just slip my mind. It happens, man.
My brain latches onto trivia well enough that I’ll generally be in the top three at a trivia night. For a while it was funding going back to the bar each week (top three teams got gift certificates to the bar).
Which city or state will make goggles or face shields mandatory first?
It will start with a company. Employees will comply so they keep their jobs.
That normalizes face shield wearing and softens up the locals.
Will the world ever be able to handle an outbreak of ANYTHING in the future?
If the American people are smart to enough to elect Democrats every time, then there will never be any problems ever again.
California, followed by Cuomo and/or Deblasio getting pissy because they didn’t think of it first.
I would like the storm to shift west, please & thank you. Rain in August in DC is a rarity. We haven’t had a good TS hit in, like, 15 years.
Well, I don’t see any storm around here and it’s not August. You’re safe!
It will be August by the time the storm gets here, and I want the storm to give us a good…pounding.
I don’t see any good coming from that. It will fuck up my mater plants. I just wish it would cool off a little bit.
A good pounding you say? Intriguing.
I’ve forgotten what a good pounding even is…this dry spell is terrible!
I’m not a fan of dry spells.
Farmers rally at Hartswater as farm murderers appear in court
A particularly ugly triple murder, abuse, and robbery of South African Farmers.
There are still farmers to murder in SA? I thought the ANC took care of all that years ago
Still a work-in-progress.
Anyone who stays there is insane, unless they’re all ready for civil war and armed and ready to win. I mean what else are you going to do when your own government advocates this shit?
Otherwise, South Africa is the next Zimbabwe, they’re going to starve to death en masse.
You talking about SA or the U.S.?
SA, we’re not quite to that point here.
Australia is quietly providing a safe spot for South African white landowners who basically have no nation now. The Aussies did the same for the Zimbabweans that were stripped of their land and then were hunted.
The blend of accents will be interesting. East Coast Aussies already sound a little South African already.
I was told that stuff doesn’t happen.
“I’m Joe Biden and I forgot this message.”
Today, we learned that the last three months were the worst period for economic growth our nation has experienced in the 70 years since we started measuring it — a drop of nearly 33 percent. And the already unthinkably high numbers of American workers filing for unemployment each week continues to go in the wrong direction.
The depth of economic devastation our nation is experiencing is not an act of God, it’s a failure of presidential leadership. Had President Trump taken immediate and decisive action, tens of thousands of lives and millions of jobs would never have been lost.
And now, Trump is failing to effectively manage our recovery — and Republicans in Congress are refusing to give working families the help they need today. We won’t get our small businesses and our workers back to full strength on denials and magical thinking — it’s going to take concerned, thoughtful, and sustained leadership. Only paying attention to the stock market and ignoring science won’t deliver progress. Giving big businesses even bigger deductions for three-martini lunches won’t help working families keep their health care, put food on the table, or pay their rent.
We’re months and months into this pandemic, and still President Trump has failed to step up and mobilize an all-out response to COVID-19 or to drive a safe and effective recovery. It’s unacceptable. We need to extend meaningful and substantial relief for workers now and ensure our states and local governments are not starved into laying off teachers, first responders, and health workers. We need a massive public health response to save lives and get our economy back up to speed so we can get to work and build back better than before.
If only buzzwords and platitudes were enough.
I eagerly await the Wapo fact checkers’ correction on the drop. It was “only” 9.5%. Annualized it would be 33%. I’m sure Wapo will be right on that.
We’re months and months into this pandemic, and still President Trump has failed to step up and mobilize an all-out response to COVID-19
If only he had adopted the proven strategies outlined in your detailed white paper. Now, where did I put that?
C’mon man. There was a rubrik with tables and checklists and stuff.
“The rumor that Bill Gates & I are lovers is completely untrue”
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1288729803663843329
WTF?
Elon Musk went to the Donald Trump school of Twitter Trolling.
I love it.
I laughed.
McAfee/Musk 2024
Ain’t no damn way Musk will still be on this planet in 2024. You better start saving for your ticket to Mars. I just wish he would work on a lunar base instead, as I think that is much more affordable.
This week, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his intent to move forward with reducing the U.S. military presence in Germany, without any consultations with Berlin.
Why do I assume this claim is complete and utter bullshit?
Hmmm?
While I seriously doubt they never “consulted” with the Germans, I honestly don’t see what the Germans should have to say about the withdrawal of US troops, other than “That’s all? How soon can you get the rest of your occupying army out of here? Its only been 60 years, after all.”
The reason the Germans are squawking is that 12,000 US soldiers salaries and off base housing allowance, plus all the supplies DOD buys from the local economy are gone.
Like, can you imagine how many food and gasoline wholesalers around the bases just lost enormous amounts of business?
/looks at the shut down restaurants and bars
Nope. Can’t imagine it at all.
Ah, the good old days.
That would have been the expected response before late 2016.
Break the FDA Barriers!
From 2 months ago. I would love to see the chart updated.
Oprah did something good? https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1288887077069783041
Good for Oprah anyway. This will get her more publicity and sales by far.
https://twitter.com/DianaWintah/status/1288576157160529920
I’d lock them all up.
That shit is creepy. Lots of serial killer vibes up in there.
*hides duct tape and zipties behind back*
“I. Respect. Women.”
I like the male feminist allies = sexual predators Venn Diagram.
The depth of economic devastation our nation is experiencing is not an act of God, it’s a failure of presidential leadership. Had President Trump taken immediate and decisive action, tens of thousands of lives and millions of jobs would never have been lost.
Decisive action such as… nuking China?
Since so many progs seem to cite NZ, maybe he should have followed their procedures. You know, start with shutting the borders completely. Then move to arresting locals who refuse to quarantine.
The progs used to love Sweden, where they spmehow survived without becoming a gulag.
It’s a failure of state governor leadership.
Y’all. I’m in a dark place. Facebook fucked me up by showing me a memory including a very close friend that died, and I just started a fucking tailspin of grief and hurt (most of which has nothing to do with my friend – that just set it off).
I hate the world right now, basically.
Sorry KK. I’ve been throwing on some movies to try to drag me into a better mood. Rewatched Stardust earlier, currently have the World’s End on.
I wish both of those were still true.
Sorry to hear that. Start healing by getting off of facebook, forever.
^this
There are people still using facebook?
You don’t use Facebook. Facebook uses you.
The girlfriend is on it nearly constantly.
🙁
hang in there
My goal is to live in the present; it’s handy to have ways to burn off the extra energy like really long walks with maybe a podcast of something distracting in the ear or give the cat a bath or organize the garage.
I’m really susceptable; there are trees that I miss. In the past I lived in the future to keep from brooding; few would say that I did an excellent job. I know that I can stay low if I allow it, so I don’t: I take action and decide how I’m going to feel or how I’m not going to feel. But big stuff gets everybody.
Sorry 🙁
Sorry.
Sorry KK. Delete FaceBook. You’ll feel much better.
Problem is, I’ always planning something (usually travel). And I mean, always. When everything is booked and confirmed for one trip, I’m planning the next trip, even if the first trip hasn’t happened yet. This is a major component of my grief. I am actually only living in the moment, with nothing to look forward to. I am stuck here for the foreseeable future. The world shut its doors on me just at the peak of my independence and earning power. This time in my life should be an open door to whatever I can dream of, and it ain’t.
And earlier today I deactivated FB for at least a week. I did the same thing back when all this started and the overwhelming number of fearful Karens in my timeline drove me 100% bonkers.
It’ll be back.
I think.
Right there with you. Then when I have short range plans, the rules change over the course of a day.
I’m really hoping the new restrictions get voted down, and I get to enjoy the island this weekend. On the plus side, I may have convinced the girlfriend to try parasailing (which appears to be open), and may have found a place that’s still renting kayaks to paddle around the lake.
Been there, done that, refused to accept it.
Be a stoic and change the things you can, accept the rest.
*at least that’s what I tell myself every morning in our new dystopia.
I’m so sorry, KK. {{{hugs}}}
Sorry to hear.
Deal with it in your own way and time. There is no right and wrong way and time.
KK, the world is a dark place right now and your personal grief makes so much worse for you, but I’ve found that watching or reading inspirational stories pulls me back from feeling so soul-less and reminds me that there are really awesome people out there when we see them as individuals.
I watched this one yesterday and it really moved me. Mandy Harvey deaf singer
hugs and hope this passes soon.
If it helps, you have friends here.
Many glibs are wonderful people, some are so generous they’ll give you a kidney.
I’m not, but if you need uninformed criticism of something, I am there for you.
Nobody gave me a kidney. When were they handing out kidneys?
I want a fucking kidney. I’m owed a kidney dammit!
Can we trade livers instead?
“I’d like to exchange my heart for another liver so I can drink twice as much and not care” — my buddy Jake
No give backs!
Sheesh, my MIL had the John Lewis funeral on this morning (3 hours worth maybe?). I had earphones in but some of it seeped through. Let me note that I’m on record on this very site acknowledging Lewis’s heroics during the CR era.
But, good lord, two repeated statements made me want to gag:
1. He was a selfless public servant for more than 30 years. No. Maybe if you work on a small town board where they pay you a meeting stipend you’re selfless. But, if you’re in Congress for 30+ years, you’re making a shitload of money from your salary and all the side deals.
2. They kept saying that Lewis remained committed to non-violence. In theory, maybe. But if you keep passing laws that enable the state to fine or incarcerate people who don’t obey, then it’s not non-violent.
OK, rant off.
I know. Has a US President ever had such a sendoff? Sure, he did good stuff, what, 50 years ago. And then became a time-serving party apparatchik in Congress. Remember when he slandered those people in DC, claiming they spit on him or something? Yeah, what a class act toward the end.
I know, this is all #BLM #OrangeManbad theater. So tiresome.
Not to mention the Weekend at Bernie vibe from dragging his corpse all over the country for these events. At least Bernie stayed in a single city and only for a weekend.
I am old enough to remember when John Lewis a heroic guy.
And I watched him cash in and become a race-baiting grievance monger just like all the rest.
There is a party of me that MLK didn’t make it long enough to follow that trail (although he was pretty thoroughly communist at the end).
I know the morning links are when birthdays are usually announced (once again, happy birthday WebDom), but today is my granddaughter’s third birthday. She was born 11 weeks early and her birth weight was only 2.25 lbs. My daughter was having blood pressure issues during the pregnancy and had been in the hospital for about a month already when the doctor decided they had to perform the c-section. I actually joined Glibertarians that day, making my first posts, while I was in the hospital waiting area. The Glibs were very supportive, so thank you all!
I am happy to announce that we visited them today to celebrate her birthday and she is a normal 3 year old, talkative and showing us her toys. No physical or cognitive issues. A couple Glibs told me 3 years ago that the hospital’s preemie technology would take care of her and they were right.
Happy Birthday to your granddaughter! Awesome!
Good news is always welcome.
Good for you and your granddaughter.
Happy Birthday to your granddaughter.
Happy Birthday, young lady!
Wonderful news, Happy Birthday to her.
Happiest b-day to her!!!
Woo Hoo! News we can use!
Huzzah! Have some cake for me!
https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1288938281422540803
Does anyone have a link to total death rates per 100,000 from all causes by week, this year and the prior year? The search algorithms seem to be burying that statistic, I’m assuming because the answer is really inconvenient for The Narrative.
I’ve never seen data by week but I do recall seasonality being treated.
The information such as it is can’t be suppressed; if anything, I think you’ll find there’s more data on the census site than you have time to parse. Like all time-sensitive information, some values will take time to ripen (as I call it): there are natural and legally allowed lags on how information is reported and cleared.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstatsonline.htm
the death files look to be 100M so I didn’t dig into them
We’ll know in 2 years. Heh.
538 did a “study” in which they determined that if anything covid deaths are underreported. They determined this by looking at excess deaths and NY’s death numbers.
Then they applied that logic to everywhere else.
Only problem?
NY state was the only place where their methodology worked.
So they attributed every excess death to the ‘Vid? Nothing to delayed medical care, social isolation, economic hardship?
That’s some good sciencing there, 538.
Excess deaths is probably the closest we will ever get to a useful stat. We are never going to be able to tease out those other deaths, or the deaths avoided due to fewer workplace/traffic/hunting accidents.
But believe it or not the methodology does a lot to fudge out those problems- as well as the problems of COVID killing people who were likely to die anyways. The methodology looks at the slow progression of deaths as “background deaths”, and only counts major deviations from that curve- which is usually an outbreak of flu or COVID. The slow crawl of COVID killing people already on deaths door, or the reduction in deaths due to lockdown, or the higher risks of death due to people not getting healthcare will be more likely to blend into the background death rate.
NY is also reporting thousands of ‘vid deaths for people who were never tested for the ‘vid.
Try looking for “Crude Death Rate” by year for country ‘X’ first, and see if you can track down further detail from the sites that pop up. I’ve been looking at the CDR for Canada, ferinstance, which is 7.7 per 1,000 people for 2019, and then doing naïve extrapolations (good enough for my purposes). Absent seasonality and from all causes, we should’ve expected 166,192 deaths in Canada to the end of July, which puts our 8,966 deaths from COVID-19 so far into some perspective for me.
Stats will appear on Nov. 4th and we will find out that America only shut down due to loser Trump’s incompetency.
“Thousands of sex-mad monkeys overrun city and eat themselves to death as cops admit they are powerless to control them”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12242216/thousands-sex-mad-monkeys-city-eat-themselves/
These are bulletproof monkeys?
“Thousands of sex-mad monkeys overrun city and eat themselves to death as cops admit they are powerless to control them”
Portland?
Good answer. I have a tough time understanding how these young people eat. I was always hungry , still am, don’t like missing meals, I don’t even expend any though work either.
Well, there was a Bulletproof Monk.
And The New Legends of Monkey
sex-mad monkeys
Band name?
Get those monkeys some typewriters. Stat.
So, just oral?
I don’t want to see that.
Okay, so i decided to read past the headline. Turns out there are about 6,000 monkeys and the human population is 750,000. Sounds like they need to schedule a Whacking Day.
Since so many progs seem to cite NZ, maybe he should have followed their procedures. You know, start with shutting the borders completely. Then move to arresting locals who refuse to quarantine.
It could work.
It’s funny, in the har dee fucking har har sense of the word, that many of the people who squawked bout President Cartoon Villain being a racist authoritarian thug for wanting to clamp down on international immigration are now running around bitching about all the touristas bringing their lethal plague cooties to Montana from places like California and Washington and the east coast hotspots.
Yeah, that was kind of what I was getting at. Imagine the response if Trump had closed all borders in March, and forced people to stay in their homes except for a trip to the grocery store.
We can’t teach one of the best generals in American history because muh-racism.
“First and foremost, I believe we all agree we want to erase any hint of racism at VMI, in our communities, and in our country. It is also very clear that the VMI community consists of passionate individuals with deeply held beliefs,” he wrote. …
“Throughout the years, the primary focus on honoring VMI’s history has been to celebrate principles of honor, integrity, character, courage, service, and selflessness of those associated with the Institute. It is not to in anyway condone racism, much less slavery”, he noted in the letter.
“We do not currently intend to remove any VMI statues or rename any VMI buildings. Rather, in the future we will emphasize recognition of leaders from the Institute’s second century. We will place unvarnished context on the value and lessons to be learned from the Institute’s rich heritage, while being mindful of the nation’s challenges and sensitivities to being fair and inclusive to all,” he wrote. …
They also plan on making several changes to include and highlight more of the Institute’s history:
-Parade ground flagpoles will be re-centered on New Barracks; this will change the symbolic focus from General Jackson and Old Barracks, and signals VMI’s move to the future.
-Several years ago, they terminated saluting Jackson and Lee
-Cadets will continue to enter and exit through Jackson Arch with frequency, checking guard team directions and activities associated with the Office of the Commandant that location.
-Relocating the Cadet Oath ceremony.
Related.
Former cadets also took to social media this month to recount their experiences of racism at VMI, which until recent years included being made to salute the Jackson statue. Jackson, who taught at VMI before leaving to fight as a Confederate general in the Civil War, casts a long shadow. In interviews, alumni and former staff members recounted incidents that made them feel like VMI has not addressed racism appropriately.
“I don’t consider the administration or anything like that racist, but the school is built upon being racist, which gives an opportunity for the people that are racist at VMI to slip between the cracks and kind of hide,” said Tyriuq Trotman, 23, who graduated in May. …
Trotman began to speak out on Facebook and Twitter in the wake of George Floyd’s death after he became frustrated that VMI remained silent, unlike other schools that made public statements. Trotman challenged VMI to take action.
“You all say you see everyone equal and that you fight for what’s right,” he wrote on Facebook. “BUT I DO NOT SEE IT.” …
VMI was built on a foundation of racism, Trotman said, an institution created during a time when black Americans were still enslaved and only white males could attend. Its history includes Confederate symbols like Jackson, the Confederate battle flag and “Dixie,” the latter of which was stopped being playing at VMI-sponsored events in the 1970s, according to Wyatt. Use of the Confederate flag stopped in the early 1990s, Wyatt said.
Freshmen — known at VMI as “rats” — had to salute the Jackson statue until several years ago. Tucker recalls saluting the statue as a rat in 2016 and provided a photo and video of another alumnus’ handbook dated 2015 that states “as a rat you will salute Jackson each time you leave the arch.” …
Tucker wonders why VMI still has the Jackson statue.
“You don’t see Germany still talking about Hitler because they know what happened was wrong,” he said.
Because those are the same thing. This person would be stunned to find out that Hitler was a Lincolnite.
Will VMI be doing away with the annual ceremony to honor the cadets killed at the Battle of New Market in 1864? Unless the alumni fight all the nonsense, VMI’s closely interwoven history with the Confederate army will disappear. The same folks who are angry about the “white”wash of history re slavery in 1619, are happy to whitewash the rise and fall of the Confederate Army.
Will VMI ask the Army to strip the Corps of Cadets of the battle streamer from New Market?
(VMI and U/Hawaii are the only two Army ROTC cadet battalions with battle streamers.)
I could be mistaken but I thought Florida State had one for the cadet’s participation in the Battle of Natural Bridge. They kept the Damn Yankees from reaching Tallahassee so it was the only CSA state capital, east of the MS River, to remain unconquered.
Florida had fewer people than Rhode Island at the time (Source: 1860 Census) and less than half that of Vermont.
Why TF would you go to VMI if you were even vaguely woke?
So, they stopped before your parents even went through puberty?
Ask Gov Northam
VMI has one of the most active and consolidated alumni organizations in the country. I imagine they do what their alumni allow them to.
I couldn’t even begin to figure how many of our cultural and legal challenges would simply go away if governments would simply get out of the businesses that should be private ventures.
What would we do if we weren’t struggling for power over each other?
Admittedly, I didn’t think it through that far. I was just talking about getting this stuff out of the public sector and courts. Then, if people want to start for- and against- campaigns against racist universities and gay cakes, they could facebook themselves into a frenzy over it.
If you’re talking about Stonewall Jackson, then like Washington and Patton, he is overrated.
The man read his Clausewitz, but it’s a pretty low bar for the “greatest” if just knowing how to employ defeat in detail gets you there.
Missouri attorney general dismissing case against St Louis couple charged with brandishing gun
https://m.theliontimes.com/politics/missouri-ag-eric-schmitt-will-dismiss-case-against-st-louis-couple-charged-with-brandishing-gun.html
⬅
Interesting. From watching that story, the lawyer husband did not seem to be one you pick a legal battle with. I was kinda looking forward to see him take on the State (City?) in court.
Still hope he goes after them, if there’s any standing to do so.
They are both lawyers (but not that kind).
I think he’s got a civil rights case for the seizure of his rifle.
Trump Suggests Replacing Unfair Elections With New System Where Eligible Male Heir Inherits The Presidency
Democrats Propose Voting By TikTok
Eligible male hair? I’m not sure we want to go down that road.
Anyway, is the hair even male? Does the hair even have a sex? We need answers!
How do I know if my male hair is eligible? Must I have hit puberty in this country?
Well, we did it for our Prime Minister position, so why not?
I’ll need.to see multiple paternity test before I believe he’s not Castro’s kid.
Trader Joe’s un-cucked?
In light of recent feedback and attention we’ve received about our product naming, we have some things we’d like to say to clarify our approach.
A few weeks ago, an online petition was launched calling on us to “remove racist packaging from [our] products.” Following were inaccurate reports that the petition prompted us to take action. We want to be clear: we disagree that any of these labels are racist. We do not make decisions based on petitions.
We make decisions based on what customers purchase, as well as the feedback we receive from our customers and Crew Members. If we feel there is need for change, we do not hesitate to take action.
Decades ago, our Buying Team started using product names, like Trader Giotto’s, Trader José’s, Trader Ming’s, etc. We thought then—and still do—that this naming of products could be fun and show appreciation for other cultures. For example, we named our Mexican beer “Trader José Premium” and a couple guacamole products are called “Avocado’s Number” in a kitschy reference to a mathematical theory. These products have been really popular with our customers, including some budding mathematicians.
We constantly reevaluate what we are doing to ensure it makes sense for our business and aligns with customers’ expectations. A couple years ago we asked our Buying Team to review all our products to see if we needed to update any older packages, and also see if the associated brands developed years ago needed to be refreshed. We found that some of the older names or products just weren’t connecting or selling very well; so, they were discontinued. It’s kind of what we do.
Recently we have heard from many customers reaffirming that these name variations are largely viewed in exactly the way they were intended—as an attempt to have fun with our product marketing. We continue our ongoing evaluation, and those products that resonate with our customers and sell well will remain on our shelves.
Trader Joe’s has been a unique, fun and neighborly place to shop for over 50 years. We look forward to taking care of our wonderful customers for many future decades.
I mean those product names were not the slightest bit racist, and if anything celebrated those cultures. At some point you have to ignore these dickheads.
No, no, no. You see, we have to remove natives/blacks/hispanics/etc. from all labeling, marketing and mascoting. That’s the only non-racist thing to do. ///sarc
I’m so relieved that America finally defeated the stereotype that matronly black women make good pancakes.
Imitation of Life
Finally, some good news.
How long until they recuck after the backlash from their uncucking. I give it a week but then again I said the same thing about Goya so…
Mathematical theory???
It’s a named constant founded in Chemistry ffs.
That was my big problem with their statement too.
Maybe it was written by a mole.
We’d have to dig a little deeper to find out.
It’s a planck of their corporate platform.
It was our change.org petition, right? That had to do it I’m sure. I knew we had that kind of pull.
Masks today. Goggles tomorrow. Buttplugs next week.
I expect the gimp mask will be next. If we’re lucky, they’ll allow us holes for the eyes and nostrils.
Is that your agenda with Creosote Achilles?
I call dibs on the style with attached plumage, so as to affect a tail.
Man, I need the splashdown to happen this weekend for my sanity & entertainment.
https://spacenews.com/weather-could-postpone-crew-dragon-return/
Be happy that Perseverance launched well and is on the way to Mars.
If it survives landing this could be a very interesting mission. They have a great scientific target. Plus a small helicopter to fly on Mars.
The drugs are going to fall out of my ass…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/freebeacon.com/politics/sexy-joe-biden-coloring-book/amp/
Weren’t the Russians responsible for the Bernie coloring book? How do we know that this isn’t more Russian interference?
So what’s y’all’s interpretation of the full en banc review that’s to be conducted on Flynn’s case and the dismissal?
http://archive.is/eVEqO
Is this SOP so not surprising, a delaying tactic with hopes of running out the clock, or a (further) frame job?
I think Flynn should be the next DNI.
IANAL, but it seems to me like they are trying to run out the clock so he can’t say anything before the election.
The idea that a judge can essentially dismiss a dismissal and initiate what amounts to his own prosecution without immediate and serious repercussions seems insane to me.
What difference would it make? The media will ignore him.
They don’t want to take any chances.
We’ll have to see. I hope that the judge gets ass raped, “en banc”, but I’m not holding my breath.
7 of the 11 judges were appointed by Obama or Clinton.
They have to be looking uphill, and thinking about what will roll down from SCOTUS if they don’t order the dismissal.
As a delaying tactic, it might, might get them past the election. But I have doubts that the en banc hearing will change the initial order.
On a lighter note, I just set a reminder on my phone to “put beef away”. Made me giggle for some reason.
So… can I tell all of these organizations to fuck off?
Looking over the list, it looks like I need to make sure not to purchase ice cream from one place (Mitchell’s) going forward.
Oh… FFS. Racial Equity page for Mitchell’s ice cream. How the fuck does a Cleveland based company have a page like that and not mention Tamir Rice in the list of initial victims (the foundation that has his name is listed under resources).
Because they’re idiots reposting resources from other organizations.
Actually, they probably didn’t write it at all but hired a PR firm to do it.
Because Tamir Rice’s case was so completely clear cut that there is no racial fire to flame there.
They prefer guys like the Ferguson one, where the victim was up to something shady. Then you can stir up racial hatred.
Ayup…that’s why Breonna Taylor has failed to get much traction.
And why Justine Damond was no where to be scene in the initial George Floyd protests. Could have easily shown the very real problem Minneapolis (and elsewhere) have with excessive force, lack of accountability, and poor culture. But that would be if you actually wanted to fix the problem instead of race hustling.
I wonder how long it’d take the BLM organization to expropriate that business and give it to the proletariat if they were to get their way.
But they’re right there with the American Indian Movement of Indiana/Kentucky, Michigan Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media, two different groups from CWRU, and five Unitarian groups.
Over/under on those “native” organizations being leftist front-groups?
350%
Considering the headline talks about Cleveland organizations, and has at least two out of state orgs…
I’ll give you 95%, and take the over.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/trump-delay-election-coronavirus.html
By Steven G. Calabresi. Mr. Calabresi is a co-founder of the Federalist Society and a professor at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law.
I’m surprised by the intensity of the reaction to another Trump’s tweet that is certain to have no effect on the election date.
I guess he just violated another one of those “norms” that didn’t exist until the minute it was violated.
“High Crimes and Misdemeanors and Tweets I don’t like”
I’m surprised a professor at a top law school fails a reading comprehension test.
It was a retarded thing to tweet. You don’t validate their paranoia.
It was the same four years ago when he was noncommittal about accepting the election results. Lots of outrage porn and then the Democrats have played up not my president since.
the president’s recent tweet seeking to postpone the November election.
Well, that’s an . . . interesting way to describe it. I’m not sure he even proposed doing so, much less “sought” to do so, which implies took some action which might have that result.
Deciphering Trump tweets is a perilous business, but one typically reads “???” as an expression of incredulity, not strong support. Seems like he’s saying that since mail-in voting is neither proper nor secure, if you don’t think in person voting is safe, the only way to have a proper, secure and safe election is to delay it. Which he dismisses with his triple question marks.
Or something. Who knows? I’ll wait for the not blonde to sort things out at the next presser.
Should be “hot” blonde. You know the one.
Yep, this one. A Mango Habanero Blonde ale.
Being the Trump whisperer has got to be the kind of job you can only do for so long
She can sort my things out anytime.
It’s on Trump if he tweets or says things that suggest he is unhinged, has never read the Constitution, or contemplates autocratic vectors. Fuck him.
Feel free to hold Democrats to this same standard: asshats everywhere are accountable for what they freely publish. Anyone that doesn’t like it might consider weighing what they say more thoughtfully; it can’t be that people who are elected based on their principles, plans, agendas, identities, and proclamations are routinely excused for ejaculating nonsense: they are who they profess to be; they are what they say and do.
The other choice is to say that nothing matters, that the Presidency and, for that matter, the entire government means nothing, and that every utterance can be recast with the projections or apologies that suit us. Fine, so be it: but, in such a case, no review or defense is necessary, but then “the President remains irrelevant” wouldn’t make of a position to repeat twice a day.
This is my favorite part of the “Trumps says something stupid” timeline. That brief window when his supporters explain that what he said is not actually what he said, just before he doubles down and explains that what he said is exactly what he said.
Be fair, now. That’s only half the time. The other half the time he forgets and never comments on it again, chasing whatever new shiny thing came along.
America is not dying. The fucktards in the blue cities are getting what they voted for. Out here in flyover country life is mostly unchanged.
the blue cities are getting what they voted for
I am getting tired of seeing people say this. It’s not anyone else’s job to step in and save them, but if you think national elections are corrupt or corruptible you have not paid an ounce of attention to large municipal elections.
The chance that even 1/4 of the people in the cities actually cast legitimate votes for the people holding office is slim.
I am too lazy to look for it but somewhere out there is a ‘man on the street’ interview where the interviewer asks New Yorkers if they know or are friends with any conservatives. Every person he asked crinkled their nose like a fresh turd had been shoved in their face and said no. When asked why not one of them answered “Because I am open minded”
Tired of hearing it or not they are getting what they voted for.
Man-on-the-street interviews are not representative. There’s selection bias, as lots of people don’t want to participate. There’s also editing; when Leno did it to ask college students “do you know [basic fact about American civics]?”, they’d only keep the more interesting ones, i.e. where people didn’t know the answer or made shit up.
Bill Deblasio, Hillary Clinton, Andrew Cuomo etc didn’t step on banana peels and fall into their offices by accident.
There is a reason the mayor of San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and LA are there and it isnt luck. The mayor of Berkley named his cat ‘Che’. Ooops.
FFS DeBlasio is quoting Karl Marx these days.
I can remember when people like that would be lynched. Now they are elected.
Oh, it’s definitely not luck. They work hard to get there. It’s just a different kind of work.
Trump won large swaths of NYC outside of Manhattan. Those people aren’t getting in front of any cameras.
Deblasio won the mayoralty with 17% of the voting age population – because people don’t vote, because they know how corrupt the system is.
Etc. etc.
large swatch of NY outside of Manhattan
I half agree and half don’t. There are plenty of good people in those cities who most certainly didn’t vote for this and many who voted for the Dems but didn’t think this would be part of the bargain.
“… many who voted for the Dems but didn’t think this would be part of the bargain.”
I know some of those. They are complete booger eating morons and they are going to vote the same way again and again.
I believe those people would be the “fucktards” Suthen was referring to. Harsh but true at this point. Maybe a bunch will wake up and vote differently in a few months but I doubt it.
No, they’re too busy proclaiming on social media how much better the country would be if the Dems ran everything.
Out here in flyover country life is mostly unchanged.
Ayup. Thank goodness. No one in my family has been much affected by the more recent insanity. Even if the hysteria from the Sino Sinus Syphillis has put a little hitch in everyone’s giddyup (thanks entirely to jackass governors with the major population centers in mind), I’m grateful they’re all still carrying on with life as usual out in the middle of nowhere. Can’t wait to go home sometime when this is over with.
Passenger in Jeep that drove through protestors on Interstate in Aurora, CO, prompting some nutty protestor to empty his revolver at the Jeep, injuring two, releases statement about why they drove through protest. He says the police did not block them from going onto the interstate, and protestors were trying to block the vehicle, throwing projectiles, threatening with bats, etc.
https://kdvr.com/news/local/passenger-in-jeep-that-drove-through-aurora-protest-speaks-out/
(In a separate article, protestors say the guy is lying)
Also: Jeep passenger’s life about to turn into a river of shit due to doxxing, harassment, threats, etc.
protestors were trying to block the vehicle, throwing projectiles, threatening with bats
Yeah, I mean, who would believe that?
The protestors were there for the specific purpose of blocking traffic. One of their number tried to kill the occupants of the jeep.
I wonder how many arrests have been made? You’ve got attempted murder, at a minimum, after all.
The shooter was arrested.
https://www.9news.com/article/news/crime/apd-investigates-i225-incident/73-14987dc9-7f34-4fc5-b8fb-1ac3b7bb0197
He’s out on $75K bail, which seems strange for someone who is charged with four counts of attempted homicide and two counts of assault.
The spokesman from the NAACP wants the driver arrested too. He said “What you have now is a bunch of scared people on the highway feeling like their lives were put in danger…” Yeah, because they were standing on the freeway, you idiot.
The mayors are all playing with fire. Idiots.
“What you have now is a bunch of scared people on the highway feeling like their lives were put in danger…”
It speaks volumes about where we are now when somebody can say this and then it get printed up in the media without a single word about how putting oneself on a freeway is dangerous – as if that had to be pointed out.
They always do. Leftists lie, it’s what they do.
They have claimed that the man killed in Austin was pushing his wife’s wheelchair when he was shot.
Seems like a good idea to get a dashcam.
Was just thinking this a few days ago. If this crap is the “new normal,” it makes sense to have some actual record of your travles if you need it.
…and he looks exactly the way I expected him to look.
I didn’t expect a ginger.
Like douche with a punchable face? Absolutely.
Young, white, male, middle class or upper middle class. With that hair he is not employed. College student? Layabout? Has very strong opinions about things with which he has no knowledge or experience. Probably a touch of mental illness. Maybe more than a touch.
In a nutshell, a mostly peaceful protester.
“Once they are demoralized you cannot fix them. You are stuck with them. No matter how much authentic information you give them they cannot draw a sensible conclusion.” – We all know who
Watching the useful street idiots trying to blind people, including Andy Ngo, a journalist who they have repeatedly targeted, makes me believe they are, indeed, a total loss. Amoral, feral, convinced of their own righteousness and willing to do anything to beat down, blind, maim, kill the other guy. I don’t know how you come back from that kind of complete fanaticism and integrate into a decent society. Switch out their brand from antifa to ISIS, and they’d fit right in.
They’re lost. But I am hastened by the story of Ulrike Meinhof’s daughter, Bettina Röhl. She has dedicated her career to tearing down her mother’s terrorist/communist legacy. Maybe we’ll see a similar process here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bettina_R%C3%B6hl
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/54351
So this is fun. You can play around with the defense budget. But in classic Washington BiPartisan Consensus, you can only cut so far. You can slide every single slider all the way down and still have the most powerful military in the world by an enormous margin.
It’s realistic, actually. Cut any lower than that and your brake lines fail.
The thing is, yeah hardware is expensive, but the real expense is people. For example, the budget for medical care for servicemen, retirees, and dependents is larger than the entire black budget. It’s three times the budget for SOCOM.
Honestly one of the easiest ways to cut defense costs would be to ban anyone under E-5 from getting married.
DoD also carries the cost of payments to retirees unlike the rest of the Fed workforce.
Personnel are expensive since the start of All Volunteer Force. The price really ratcheted up after 9/11 when they kept increasing pay at a great clip to try and keep people in. (In constant dollars in 1969 a 2LT earned $386/mo. In 1982 a 2LT earned $1056 ($1022 would be parity with 1969. On 9/11 it was $1891 (parity would be $1997) Today it is $3287 (Parity would be $2794.) So a fresh person on their first job is earning more in pay, not to mention the additional allowances (untaxed) for housing, subsistence, special pay etc. because the military had to bid up during the bad part of the war in Iraq. Lowering pay is off the table so this is the new normal.
Slower turnover through re-enlistments and officers continuing to serve help act as a downward pressure on pay and training costs. More people are deciding to get out and that in itself is an entire article.
Add to that all the duplicative family programs. There are often 3 or more programs offering a variation of the same service. But all are untouchable. If you winnowed them down to one service that provides for the prior overlap it would be better for the families and cheaper for the taxpayers- but that means letting Fed workers go. So nope.
Enlisted and junior officers still required a commander to approve them getting married overseas when I came in. That is no longer the case in Europe and Japan/Korea. But a US hubby is less a draw to those areas than it was in the past.
the most
powerfulexpensive military in the world by an enormous marginYou can slide every single slider all the way down and still have the most powerful military in the world by an enormous margin.
Actually, those sliders at the low end would place the US military probably 3rd or 4th most powerful. Still more than strong enough to defend the nation, but too weak to project power and uphold the current liberal world order unilaterally (as it has been doing for decades). One must remember that the US is on the low end of power/$ — actually caring about the people involved in the military puts the US at a fiscal disadvantage when compared to potential adversaries.
So, the bar and restaurant owners are lashing out at DeWine. So there’s a chance I may be able to have a late night at a bar this weekend. If the liquor board votes it down, it’s pretty much a guarantee that I’ll be doing my damned best to shut down a bar.
Sounds like you andDeWine are on the same page, then.
UPS dropped off another 1k rounds today.
I’m not buying anymore until prices normalize. Unless it’s 10mm… ?
No more ammo on order, I have this coming early next week:
Leupold
The VID hits home.
Cousin and her husband passed today after being removed from life support.
Sorry, kinnath.
Sorry kinnath.
My condolences.
My condolences.
Sorry to hear that, my condolences.
I haven’t seen her in a couple of decades. She lived in Alabama, and I never get there. And who actually wants to vacation in Iowa.
So other than Facebook, I had no real contact with her since I can’t remember when.
Still, it is unnerving to finally personally know someone that succumbed to the pandemic.
Yes. I’m sorry for you. Here’s to hoping it’s the last time you have to experience that.
I’ve had three family members (all in the Lower Mainland) who’ve had it. The oldest was 82. All came through it essentially unharmed, although they all said it was like a terrible flu with symptoms lasting around 7 to 10 days, then subsiding.
Another family member works in a seniors’ care residence, again in the Lower Mainland, and a number of her charges had the ‘Rona, but none died, and most only had mild symptoms.
It’s a puzzling communicable disease; there seems to be little rhyme or reason to why it hits some people like a hammer and others hardly or not at all.
Sorry.
So sorry kinnath
Condolences, kinnath.
Man, that sucks. Sorry to hear it. Condolences to you and your family.
Condolences K