Friday Morning Links

by | Oct 2, 2020 | Daily Links | 526 comments

Good morning my Glibs and Gliberinas!  And what an absolutely beautiful morning it is!

 

Trump got the Rona! Bring on the cheering of the left that’ll make Trump look sympathetic.

 

Melania’s secretly recorded conversations trashing the media.

 

Voter registration in battleground states favorable to Trump.

 

Which explains this.

 

Motions to dismiss lawsuit filed by Sandmann against New York Times, Rolling Stone, ABC, and CBS denied.

 

Here comes a new caravan!

 

American and United to furlough  32,000 employees.

 

People who play make believe for a living are trying to turn my state into a shithole.

 

AP to stop using the term riots to describe riots.

 

That’s all I got for today.  I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day.

About The Author

Banjos

Banjos

Wife of sloopy, mother to three bright, curious, and highly active young girls. Perpetually exhausted.

526 Comments

  1. PieInTheSky

    Trump got the Rona! Bring on the cheering of the left that’ll make Trump look sympathetic. – I am sure he is faking it. I bet asymptomatic.

    • Nephilium

      Local headline about Trump catching the COVID:

      President Trump’s age, gender put him at risk for severe coronavirus

      • UnCivilServant

        His lack of comorbidites reduces that risk by an order of magnitude.

      • AlexinCT

        The hat will protect him!

      • Not Adahn

        NPR noted that because Trump’s too old to be president and also that he’s “obese,” he’s NINETY TIMES more likely to DIE than normal people. They also reported that since Trump is so much less transparent about his health situation he could totes have other health problems.

      • WTF

        And now everyone will be able to see for themselves just how not dangerous the ‘rona actually is.

      • Nephilium

        Versus the pile of dead bodies that came along with the Florida Marlins testing positive, or the Tennessee Titans testing positive, or the %insert other college/pro sports team that had an outbreak%?

      • WTF

        It was easy for them to ignore that, Trump, not so much.

      • Sensei

        He will receive the best care possible.

        For mere normal people it’s like an automatic death sentence. Don’t deny the science.

      • WTF

        Mornin’ Banjos!

      • db

        wait, so we’re allowed to just assume someone’s gender now?

    • invisible finger

      When they test him tomorrow he’ll be negative.

      RT-PCR is garbage for medical diagnosis.

  2. PieInTheSky

    Voter registration in battleground states favorable to Trump. – hovering over that link I though it was boingboing for some reason and thought I ain’t clicking that

  3. PieInTheSky

    Motions to dismiss lawsuit filed by Sandmann against New York Times, Rolling Stone, ABC, and CBS denied. – this sort of attack on the independent honest journalism should not be allowed in a civilized country.

    • UnCivilServant

      this sort of attack on the independent honest journalism

      has nothing to do with taking libellous rags to account for their actions.

      Also, I have come up with a necessary but not sufficient indicator of a civilized country – it must have no government funded media or medicine.

      • Nephilium

        it must have no government funded media or medicine.

        So… no country is civilized?

      • UnCivilServant

        Currently, I’m afraid so.

      • Donation Not Taxation

        ‘Also, I have come up with a necessary but not sufficient indicator of a civilized country – it must have no government funded media or medicine.’ — UnCivilServant

        There is a difference between government-run and subsidized by money borrowed or taxed and government-run but paid for entirely by voluntary money.

      • UnCivilServant

        No there isn’t.

        If you have enough voluntary money to do something, you don’t have any reason to give it to a government to do that thing.

      • Donation Not Taxation

        Some people trust parts of government as a brand.

        If taxation were to disappear instantly at the stroke of midnight, NASA for one would be a good sell if they got a competent fundraiser.

        Does the local government where you are make it optional or mandatory to use government garbage and recycling pickup if you you are using Dumpsters (R) or generic equivalents instead of rolling bins?

        Not all government-run zoos, aquariums, and similiar get taxpayer money to bail out their shortfalls.

        The head of the United States Postal Service testified that his nomination came with orders from President Donald J. Trump to try to make the United States Postal Service pay for itself.

        Polls show that want (presumably uncivilized) people like government inspecting food. What if the companies covered the costs in exchange for putting certifications on their packaging?

    • Cy

      I hope Rittenhouse’s attorneys get millions from the Biden campaign from the libel lawsuit.

  4. Rebel Scum

    Trump got the Rona!

    This is how Biden gets out of the next debate.

    Bring on the cheering of the left that’ll make Trump look sympathetic.

    It is simply divine intervention to save democracy, comrade.

    • Swiss Servator

      They’ll have to go video only or delay. The world just keeps handing SugarFree more material…

      • WTF

        Some days I am convinced we are characters living in a SugarFree story, and he is just screwing with us.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Zoom debate with Trump holding a cold pack on his head.

      • leon

        Biden: who- wh- who’s feeble now, old- um…. Um…

        What?

      • AlexinCT

        What happens if they test and find Biden got it too?

      • leon

        They’d be happy. Press Kamala without the loss of legitimacy.

      • AlexinCT

        Actually, I think you are right and if it killed Biden they would rejoice because it helps them politically.

    • Plisade

      “This is how Biden gets out of the next debate.”

      The conspiracy theorist in me believes the opposite. This is how Trump preempts Biden’s own catching of the ‘rona allowing Biden an out. Now Trump can say he has it, too, but still wants to debate.

      • Rebel Scum

        Also already heard speculation that Trump is faking because they are fucking with the debate rules. Possible but who knows..

    • Overt

      I just watched Chris Wallace analyze how the First Family declined to wear masks when they sat down at the debate (evidently in violation of the rules of the debate) and how that is emblematic of the Trump family, yada yada yada.

      • AlexinCT

        Yeah, because nobody that has worn a mask has gotten the Kung Flu evah!

      • invisible finger

        So Chris Wallace is admitting he gave the ‘rona to the Trumps.

    • creech

      “It is simply divine intervention to save democracy, comrade.”
      Commies don’t believe in God. But anyone saying this would have to agree that God was a pretty terrible Guy if he killed 1 million innocent folks worldwide just to get at Trump.

  5. UnCivilServant

    Morning, Banjos.

    I’m a bit discombobulated since wordpress issues are messing with the way I normally browse comments.

  6. Cy

    If Texas goes blue, we’re all fucked.

    • PieInTheSky

      I doubt just campaign spending will do that

      • Cy

        No. But the resent nonstop influx of Californians sure will.

      • PieInTheSky

        build a wall

      • Cy

        *recent

        ….*sigh*

      • Festus' Mustache

        Don’t feel down, turn that frown upside down!

  7. PieInTheSky

    AP to stop using the term riots to describe riots. – it’s only a riot if you are not one of the good guys.

    • Swiss Servator

      an “energetic assembly”

      • Festus' Mustache

        Just “excitable boys”

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        Wow, just going go go assigning genders to people you don’t know. SMH.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Cusp Boomer – no ragrats1

      • Sensei

        Warren Zevon!

    • PBRstreetgang

      Kinetic Peace Grievancing

  8. CPRM

    Good thing I got lazy and didn’t start on the cartoon yet, new plot lines drop like nursing home patients in NY these days.

    • Festus' Mustache

      Dark. Please continue.

  9. Rebel Scum

    Voter Registration Data in Battleground States Shows Huge Boost for GOP

    Fake news. Everyone knows that Drumpfler doesn’t stand a chance against Hillary Biden.

    • Lackadaisical

      This seems big, given the margins in a lot of these states. I don’t know who ends up registering for a party though. New voters vs.old voters. Etc. Could be a lot of factors at play, but typically there are far more registered democrats than republicans, even in states that lean republican. Seems like a good sign.

      • B.P.

        It’s a huge surge in people registering GOP so they can go on a CNN town hall and say “I’m a Republican but I’m voting for Biden this time around.”

  10. The Late P Brooks

    25th Amendment!

    • Festus' Mustache

      I can just feature it now, *Maxine Waters* “I seen a sniffle! I seen a sniffle! Impeach Fo-Fi!”

  11. Rebel Scum

    Motions to dismiss lawsuit filed by Sandmann against New York Times, Rolling Stone, ABC, and CBS denied.

    Good.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    If Trump takes that malaria drug, Pelosi can impeach him for disobeying FDA regulations.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    THIS IS WHY WE ALL NEED TO WEAR OUR MASKS!

    • Nephilium

      Speaking of that…

      Gov. Mike DeWine says Ohioans will wear masks for awhile

      Expect to wear your mask for years

      DeWine later commented on the study, concluded that it shows Ohio isn’t anywhere close to herd immunity, which will occur when most of the population is immune to COVID-19.

      That means Ohioans will have to wear masks, socially distance and exercise other preventative measures for quite a while.

      Fuck you DeWine. Fuck you very much. May everyone you ever know be forced into poverty due to government actions from now for three generations.

      • Chipwooder

        For years? How the hell does he know that?

      • UnCivilServant

        Because it’s got jack shit to do with disease.

      • Nephilium

        Well, he’s up for re-election 2022 so…

      • leon

        He wants to be dictator for life.

      • Rebel Scum

        Expect to wear your mask for years

        Nah. Fuck off.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        “…slaver.”

      • Rhywun

        *shrug*

        So I’ll WFH for years. Because I’m not wearing a mask all day.

      • KibbledKristen

        I was watching Cold Case Files on A&E, and who should be on camera commentating but the former OH AG…

        The case was classic, too. Cop murdered in his own home. Investigation focuses on drug dealers & local thugs and then goes cold.

        When the cold case detectives pick up the case 30-odd years later, they look at the evidence from the crime scene and it should have been obvious, even at the time of the murder, that it wasn’t a drug kingpin.

        Now why would investigators ignore evidence pointing in a certain direction…? Who could have done it and gotten away with it for all those years…?

      • Nephilium

        Was it… Trump?

      • KibbledKristen

        Worse!

      • UnCivilServant

        I’d wager another cop dead cop was having an extramarital affair with (or any combination with spouses thereof)

      • KibbledKristen

        Close…it was another cop that had gotten sanctioned/demoted by the victim.

      • Mojeaux

        And we wonder why “good” cops don’t tattle on the bad ones.

      • KibbledKristen

        (the main pieces of evidence were military-style boot prints on the scene, and the use of a shorter-barrelled shotgun)

      • UnCivilServant

        So, I’m further thinking cop or cop-spouse.

      • mrfamous

        It’s astonishing how few people I know remember who Richard Reid was, despite the significant impact he’s had on all of our lives. I politely bring him up when people claim that the masks will only be around for a little bit longer.

        Even more disturbing: a few of the younger adults I talk to don’t even realize that there used to be a time when we didn’t have to take our shoes off at the airport. It will be 19 years in December.

      • Bobarian LMD

        That’s an easy one. He led the Anti-Fantastic Four.

  14. Rebel Scum

    Here comes a new caravan!

    What’s old is new.

    • AlexinCT

      They coming here for the COVID or to bring us some COVID?

  15. TARDis

    Regarding the Melania recording; how is that not illegal? Also, is that the best they’ve got?

    Now do Hillary, or Biden, or Zero, you mendacious cowardly shit stains.

    • Overt

      I thought it reflected pretty well on her. Nothing bad about it at all.

    • Nephilium

      Depends on the state that the recording was done in. In one party states (most of them) as long as one person involved in the conversation is aware that it’s being recorded, it’s legal. In two/all party states, everyone needs to be informed that the call is being recorded.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        DC is one party, New York is two party

      • Nephilium

        New York is one party as well.

        New York Recording Law

        Unless something has recently changed.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Huh, I’m not only wrong, but surprised.

      • TARDis

        I was thinking of the NDA. There is no crime in violating it? There should at least be some basis for a lawsuit.

        My state is one party as well. I think some teachers have been fired for student abuse caught on audio.

      • Nephilium

        Not a lawyer, but I believe most NDA’s are civil, not criminal.

    • AlexinCT

      Who the fuck doesn’t think saying the media are a bunch of assholes is a good thing?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder
      • WTF

        While he sets about proving the point.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        He just showed their weak point. All those media chucklefucks (got to keep with the trend today) depend on Twitter now and get their validation from it. Hell, it’s probably the centerpiece of their resumes.

        Go after them where it hurts.

      • Drake

        He has no idea what a douchebag he looks like – pissing and moaning in his perfectly coiffed hair and suit after being called out as an asshole.

  16. Festus' Mustache

    Huh. I finally took Tundra’s advice and listened to the song first before perusing the links. It’s twue! It’s weawwy twue!

    • Festus' Mustache

      Sorry, Mornin’ Banjos!

    • Nephilium

      Who doesn’t like the D?

      Social D that is.

      • UnCivilServant

        Social diseases are unpleasant.

      • Nephilium

        I’ll give you this Ted, you’re definitely tenacious.

      • Ted S.

        And you’re heavy.

      • Nephilium

        It’s far too early in the morning for me to link the appropriate Lords of Acid song.

      • DOOMco

        I want that purple stuff

      • Not Adahn

        Now with propylene glycol!

      • KibbledKristen

        I saw Social D at the original 9:30 Club on F St. It’s euphemisms all the way down.

      • l0b0t

        A dear friend got into some trouble as a teen and got shipped off to boarding school, St. Timothy’s School for Girls in MD. Social D and Minor Threat played a mixer there in 1987 that coincided with my visit. I was hooked.

  17. leon

    Y’all don’t understand the genius of Dem policy. They hate illegal immigration. They’re goal is to turn the US into a big shithole so everybody just wants to go through to Canada.

    • Festus' Mustache

      You shut your whore mouth!

  18. Sean

    One member of the caravan died in Guatemala on Thursday after falling from a trailer and getting trapped under its wheels, the Guatemalan Red Cross reported.

    Ouch.

    • AlexinCT

      Caravan casualty…

      • R C Dean

        Blood on Trump’s hands, etc.

  19. PieInTheSky

    Over the course of three years, the number of Americans who say that they feel justified in using violence to achieve their political goals has gone up from 8 percent to over 33 percent.

    https://twitter.com/Yascha_Mounk/status/1311782967983960065

    I blame libertarians myself

    • WTF

      Gee, I wonder what the political affiliation is for the majority of those favoring violence?

      • Ted S.

        Did you read the tweet?

      • WTF

        Read links? Are you mad?!

      • Pope Jimbo

        Missing links are a proud tradition on a site that features STEVE SMITH

    • Sean

      There’s a reason that ammo is sold out most places.

    • Rebel Scum

      Right-wing terrorism, obvs.

      • prolefeed

        Decoding the chart:

        whatconstitution
        @whatconstituti1
        Replying to @mail_slot_ and @Yascha_Mounk

        2. The people tearing up cities and being released.
        1. The people who are noticing.

    • Bill (Door) Baggins (a Skellington)

      Nice! Love me some Cake.

  20. Apples and Knives

    “Trump got the Rona!”

    And there was much rejoicing on Facebook. You guys might want to ease up on the excitement a bit. Odds are he’ll be asymptomatic or have a mild case. I guess a lot of people really still think it’s a death sentence.

    • Rebel Scum

      A lot of people openly hope it is a death sentence for Bad Orange Man. But I’m told leftists are compassionate and care about their fellow man.

      • Apples and Knives

        And the number of people who aren’t open about it, but still wish him dead, pretty much makes up the rest.

      • Nephilium

        Because then Pence will step aside, and Hillary will finally become the president we deserve!

      • AlexinCT

        They are still hoping this is how it works out?

    • Ted S.

      As I mentioned the other day, it’s interesting how we hear nothing about how serious Tom Hanks’ case was/wasn’t.

      • Apples and Knives

        And he was symptomatic, right? I’m guessing that’s why he got tested. Trump and Melania only tested because someone around them tested positive, or maybe they test everyday anyway, I don’t know. Either way, probably not symptomatic at the time of testing.

      • Ted S.

        He was tested in Australia; I’m not certain if it was mandatory for people entering the country when he did (a week or two before all the lockdowns).

        I was reminded of him because I was doing a keyword search on another website, and the search threw up a mid-March post from somebody with TDS about how Hanks was lucky he got tested in Australia because he wouldn’t have gotten a test in the US and probably would have died as a result.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        IIRC Senators get tested once a week. Wouldn’t surprise me if Trump was tested that often or more.

    • DOOMco

      Remember to use archive and get these people wishing death on a human being.

      Because they’re fucking evil. No one was telling they want cancer to kill rgb. There was a joke about her being dead for years.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Yep. I heard about it pretty much live and thought to myself how ugly the reaction would be. Got home from work and it was just as bad as I predicted. They want blood. It’s just blind hatred of the “other” at this juncture and I’m more than a little twitterpated.

      • Festus' Mustache

        The CBC was basically rubbing its hands together and licking its lips. Here we are. Wishing death upon another person is a sin against all of the sky-fairies, is it not?

      • Cy

        I saw more hate from the left that RGB would dare die on them than I saw from the right. Even the negative coverage I saw from the right was mostly about anti-deification. I don’t remember seeing any “glad she’s dead” posts.

      • Rebel Scum

        Wanted her off the court, not dead. But leftists want their opposition (and some allies) dead.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      How do we know it’s not a false positive / oversensitive test?

      • Festus' Mustache

        We don’t. It’s just what they want to believe. It’s the ugliest bit of American media that I’ve ever seen.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        (Your back any better yet? I realize it’s only been a day or so.)

      • Festus' Mustache

        Hit and miss. Now that I’ve got a few beers in me I’m fit as a fiddle. Pretty bad yesterday. Robaxacet is my friend. Thanks for asking.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Eh, I should have caught up with the tail of the cilantro thread. I just woke up.

      • Apples and Knives

        That too.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        definitely not a death cult.

        (granted, I’m sure there are some shit holes on the right that are similarly disgusting)

      • prolefeed

        These DU posters seem to be the only ones not openly cheering for C19 to kill someone:

        LineReply The way Trump lies, I’m not sure about this,

        LineLineReply Yep, my fear exactly. n/t

  21. Rebel Scum

    October surprise: Melania Trump is a thoughtful and decent person. . . that sometimes talks like a sailor.

    I’m not seeing a problem here.

    • leon

      Melania talking shit about the media? Makes me like her

      • banginglc1

        Imagine that, Melania doesn’t like the media that are openly hostile her, even giving her shit when she donated books to libraries. Yep, she’s in the wrong here . . .no doubt about it.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Wolkoff appears to be a shitheel of the first order.

      Seriously, who does that to a “friend”?

      • Chipwooder

        And how many journalists who are old enough to have been working during the Clinton administration, who excoriated Linda Tripp for taping conversations with Monica Lewinsky in which she was encouraging Tripp to commit perjury, are just giddy and delighted by this?

      • Apples and Knives

        I tape all conversations with friends, so that if we ever have a falling out I have a way to ruin their lives. You don’t?

      • Donation Not Taxation

        *Note to subpoena Apples and Knives for recordings when the time comes*

    • Festus' Mustache

      Eastern European girl knows how to swear? *vapors*

  22. The Late P Brooks

    NPR lowers the boom on President Cartoon Villain

    “I think he really is not a very good businessman,” Avi-Yonah says. “His investments since 2011 have been reckless, and they’ve lost him a lot of money. And at this point, he really is at risk.”

    But, Avi-Yonah adds, “the fact that he’s a bad businessman does not mean that he’s not also cheating on his taxes.”

    Trump is being audited, so sooner or later we should find out whether the IRS thinks he broke the rules.

    Take that, Bad Orange Swindler.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      Trump is being audited, so sooner or later we should find out whether the IRS thinks he broke the rules.

      There’s this assumption in all of this that Trump is sitting down at his dining room table with a smirk, fudging the numbers on his 1040.

      They seem to ignore the fact that an IRS audit for a person with an army of tax accountants and lawyers is a negotiation. He may owe some more, but it’s not going to expose some conspiracy to defraud the government.

      • prolefeed

        They’re also ignoring that someone who gets audited Every. Fucking. Year. is gonna turn tax preparation over to accountants with standing orders not to do anything that could possibly lead to criminal charges, and anyone who steps over that line an inch gets fired summarily.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      But in real estate, you can get a tax break on that “depreciation” even if the building is not falling in value.

      I may be biased, but maybe accounting should be taught more in school.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        “Regular people, when they take out credit cards, for example, they pay a high interest rate. They don’t get to deduct their interest,” Avi-Yonah says.

        This guy is a tax professor? Sure, no one with a business can deduct credit card interest. But someone who buys equipment for their Schedule C business on credit can absolutely deduct the interest.

      • invisible finger

        ““Regular people, when they take out credit cards, for example, they pay a high interest rate. They don’t get to deduct their interest,” Avi-Yonah says. ”

        Completely ignoring the fact that credit card interest WAS deductible for ALL taxpayers until it was excised from the tax code during the Reagan administration.

      • AlexinCT

        You really think people that blatantly ignore the laws of physics, chemistry, human nature, biology, and economics will somehow get over their insanity if they are made to learn accounting? Man, you sure dream big…

      • invisible finger

        I remember the very first accounting class I had in college. The professor began the first day of class by saying “50% of you will drop this class by the end of the semester. Statistics show this. I teach two Accounting 101 courses each semester and have for 20 years. I have yet to see an exception. The school makes this a required course because it weeds out students taking majors beyond their abilities.”

      • Sensei

        I never like accounting, but truly recognize its value.

        I spent a great deal of time working with financial statements. You needed to know how they were constructed and what the rules were for their construction.

        In turn we did our best to undo all the accounting to try to get something that gave you something economic for modeling and analysis.

    • Cy

      I think it’s hilarious when non-entrepreneurs see a high risk capitol investment sheet and think they know what they’re talking about. 9 in 10 investments are going to fail, that’s business. But, the one investment that doesn’t, can gives you ridiculous returns that easily cancel out the other 9 losses.

      • Rebel Scum

        People don’t understand risk v. reward.

      • prolefeed

        For every Microsoft and Amazon, there were legions of startups that tried to fill that market niche and went under or were bought out. But the losses generated by all those other businesses is a fraction of the value generated by such behemoths.

    • WTF

      Trump gets audited every damn year, just like most other really rich people. If there was anything to find, it would have been found. And would love to fail at business even a fraction of the way Trump has.

  23. leon

    Having foreigners meddle with your elections is annoying. Californians should secede so we can keep them from moving to my state.

    • DOOMco

      I got a text asking me for money for a dem senate in a different state. One I’ve never lived in.

      I responded with something about foreign state interference and citizens united.

      They said I’d be removed from the list

    • Overt

      One of my employees “Moved” to a battleground state for the next couple of months. How convenient that this perpetual lockdown, closing offices, has allowed silicon valley tech workers to move to other states and still keep their jobs.

      • leon

        Thing is that the lockdowners are creating a no shit refugee crisis out of California. I don’t want them fleeing here.

    • Rebel Scum

      It’s how Dems bought VA. I expect them to keep trying.

      • AlexinCT

        I can’t shake the feeling that some people that like totalitarianism, are using the Rona panic as a means to “encourage” team blue urban dwellers to move and invade non blue areas so team blue can have even more influence on people’s lives.

      • Rebel Scum

        People who like totalitarianism are using a mild flu outbreak to be totalitarian and/or enable totalitarians. ///NewAbnormal

      • R C Dean

        Nah. Because (a) they aren’t long term thinkers and (b) those people are moving out from under their jackboot, which they hate.

      • prolefeed

        Or, like my wife, she moved to Texas because that was where the job she wanted was. And just doesn’t accept that that job was there, and not in her home state, because of the things like Right To Work that she hates. And then keeps on voting for Team Blue to flip the state, and reverse those policies.

        Me explaining that runs into a wall of cognitive dissonance and denial. You start with a faulty and unexamined premise, you can wind up in weird places and think your chain of reasoning was solid.

      • R C Dean

        Ask her where she wants to move once Team Blue takes over Texas and drives the jobs out, just like in whatever her home state was. So you can start looking at real estate there.

      • kbolino

        On a small scale, I’ve seen this happen locally. Anne Arundel County has seen a large influx of population, mostly people working for one government agency or another, due to its relatively low cost of living and taxes. In the approximately 10 years I’ve lived here, the county has flipped from leans red to purple to leans blue, and of course that means we should raise taxes and implement more regulations. The people who think these are great ideas have shining examples of how this works out in practice, not to mention alternatives they could move to, in Howard and Montgomery counties, which are farther along the “progress” path (read: greater disparity between rich and poor). It doesn’t seem to occur to enough people that the same specific qualities they sought when picking a place to live are, at least somewhat, a consequence of different attitudes and government policies.

        This is not to say AA County under Republican governance was some kind of paradise, but it at least had a greater degree of live and let live spirit than any of the state’s many Democrats have.

      • leon

        This is not to say AA County under Republican governance was some kind of paradise, but it at least had a greater degree of live and let live spirit than any of the state’s many Democrats have.

        That sounds awful. No nanny Government to take care of you?

      • kbolino

        No nanny Government to take care of you?

        The more I interact with people who like nanny government, the more I realize it’s not that they want the nanny government to take care of them, it’s that they want the nanny government to put the boot to their neighbors. Nannyism is first and foremost about getting away with blaming your brother for that fight you started and watching daddy spank him instead of you.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Meh. Ilhan Omar got most of her funding from outside the state. So carpet baggers have already screwed Minnesoda over. (Ilhan’s opponent in the primary outraised her massively locally, but when dark money was added they came out about even)

      *Yeah, before you even start with your racist pondering of how she was out raised locally, but won handily works with the story of her vote fraud machine, just stop you shitlord.

      • AlexinCT

        I was surprised how many people in your state, even when shown she is a corrupt and despicable entity, make excuses for her and then accuse you of being the one with a nefarious agenda….

        I guess turning a blind eye to the beam in your own eye while screaming about the toothpick in your political opposition’s eye is one of the side effects of team politics…

      • Pope Jimbo

        The proggie wipipo in her district get a tingle in their legs when they see her. They get to brag to all their proggie buddies about how their Congresswoman is so brave and wonderful.

      • Festus' Mustache

        It’s the Trump Era. They are so shit-cocked about 2016 that nothing is off the table anymore. Expect more shennanigans and fooforerahs.

      • TARDis

        Kind of like that pajama-boy puke Ossoff they want to install in the Senate for GA. Asshat lost the most expensive House race in history, and now they think he is Senate material. He should just go back to polishing Hank “dumbass” Johnson’s knob.

  24. DOOMco

    The ap guidance on the word riot is hilarious and depressing.

    When’s the national divorce?

    • Sean

      November 4th?

      • DOOMco

        I feel like civil war 2.0 will be faster up front than last time.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        I need to write another episode of the civil war 2 series… it’s about time.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        this^

  25. PieInTheSky

    There’s a downside to grilling that can literally get under your skin.

    In a study appearing in Environmental Science & Technology, scientists report that skin is a more important pathway for uptake of cancer-causing compounds produced during barbecuing than inhalation.

    They also found that clothing cannot fully protect individuals from this exposure.

    In the U.S., 70 percent of adults own a grill or a smoker, and more than half of them grill at least four times a month, according to the Barbecue Industry Association.

    http://oncologynews.com.au/skin-responsible-for-greater-exposure-to-carcinogens-in-barbecue-smoke-than-lungs/

    • Ted S.

      So what they’re saying is you should barbecue in the nude?

    • Rebel Scum

      Sounds like an attempt to vilify grilling because muh climate change. Fuck off.

      They also found that clothing cannot fully protect individuals from this exposure.

      The lady likes when I smell like smoke after grilling.

      • Chipwooder

        Yeah, my wife loves that too.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Camping sex is the best sex. This is known.

      • Festus' Mustache

        I suppose a tent would hide your shame for bringing a fat chick camping. Or like my “Native ” friends used to say, “Shade in the Summer, Warm in the Winter”

      • Ownbestenemy

        Me three along with half the store when I need to do a beer run in the middle of a long smoke.

      • AlexinCT

        Sounds like an alliance of the AGW cultists and the “eating meat is evil” crowds trying to deny people that enjoy BBQ, using a ridiculous premise masquerading as proven science, that avenue to me. Fuck them.

    • Pope Jimbo

      For most of our history, people have been “grilling” pretty much every meal. I guess other factors killed them off before they could develop cancer though, so it wasn’t an evolutionary factor?

      Normally I’d be pissed by a story like this, but in these days of Rona it is nice to change up the fear factor a bit. Good to see a Golden Oldie like “BBQ-ing is going to kill you!” making the rounds.

      • SDF-7

        Eat well. Live right.

        Die anyway.

    • pan fried wylie

      Smoke. Outside.

      Hey, Oncology News, go suck on a shotgun.

  26. Rebel Scum

    People who play make believe for a living are trying to turn my state into a shithole.

    Trying again to buy an election. Something something money in politics.

    • leon

      It’s ok when the good side wins.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Negotiation, Democrat style

    After months of working with Facebook to safeguard the 2020 election, several national Democratic Party leaders say the company has failed to meet promises to stem the tide of misinformation spreading on its platform. If the election’s results are contested after November 3 — which is an acute concern since a surge in mail-in ballots is expected to delay the count and President Trump has refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power — they worry that Facebook is utterly unprepared to prevent people from using its platform to spread chaos.

    Recode spoke with four sources with direct knowledge of ongoing monthly private conversations about election misinformation between several senior Democratic party committee leaders and senior members of Facebook’s policy team, including VP and director-level staff. These sources spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions for discussing private talks.

    Democratic sources told Recode that monthly calls with Facebook that started in May have been “maddening” and have left party members “banging their head against the wall.” They say Facebook employees in these meetings — while seemingly well-intentioned — have failed to stop the spread of misinformation attacks against Democratic candidates, been reluctant to share information about extremist groups encouraging voter suppression, and appeared “flat-footed” in their plan for dealing with conflicting information about the election results.

    ——-

    In recent months, Facebook has taken several steps to try to limit election chaos on its platform. It’s banned political ads in the week leading up to the election and promised to take down specific misrepresentations about voting or about when to vote. It’s launched a hub, its Voter Information Center, which the company says has so far helped 2.5 million Americans register to vote. And the company has tightened its rules around who can purchase political ads, though Facebook still doesn’t offer voters much insight into why they’re targeted with political ads on its platform.

    But some Democrats believe these moves aren’t enough to stop the barrage of half-truths, lies, and violent rhetoric about the election process that continue to spread on the platform.

    Waaaah! They won’t just do what we tell them, and deplatform anybody we don’t agree with.

    • leon

      “which is an acute concern since a surge in mail-in ballots is expected to delay the count and President Trump has refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power ”

      Had to stop there. It bores me.

      • leon

        To elaborate, pelosi says Trump is going to cheat all the time. They have stated that they won’t ever concede till they win. They have wargamed making a mockery of our elections to win, including sending bad delegations and secession over it.

      • Ted S.

        Four years ago, Trump commented he was afraid the urban Democratic Party machines would use vote fraud, and the Beltway Class went nuts. How dare he not accept the result of the election.

        The day after the election, suddenly all the Beltway Class decided they wouldn’t accept the election results, and memory-holed what had happened in October.

      • AlexinCT

        If team blue wins, then it was a good election, if Trump wins, then it was another stolen election. Will they again try to blame Russians for his win, is my big question…

      • Not Adahn

        There hasn’t been a legitimately elected republican president since Reagan.

      • AlexinCT

        Oh, they will tell your Reagan was not legit either. Especially since Ted Kennedy had to make a sacrifice for America and go ask Brezhnev to help unseat him for the democrats to restore democracy!…

      • Festus' Mustache

        Eisenhower.

      • R C Dean

        He refused to give up power if he won, as I recall.

      • prolefeed

        Yeah, “Win, lose, or draw”, will you agree to a peaceful transition of power?”

        And given the “draw” scenario, agreeing to step down if you “lost” would get that “agreement” twisted into, “you said you would concede and now you wont! Liar!”

    • Rebel Scum

      failed to meet promises to stem the tide of misinformation spreading on its platform.

      “Misinformation” = “things that do not comport to the Dem narrative”

      • WTF

        I have already had factual information deleted from Facebook because it cast a poor light on Democrats. I guess it’s just not acceptable that some information still sneaks through.

      • kbolino

        This is partly true, but no matter how you slice this pie, in practice it’s mostly impossible to tease out misinformation from whatever we’d call the other sort of information.

        “The widely accepted value for the acceleration induced by gravity on the surface of the Earth has a magnitude of approximately 9.8 meters per second squared” is a true statement (as far as I know anyway), but it is both fairly precise and also presumes a certain understanding of Newtonian physics. It is easy to verify or refute because it makes a very specific claim and it doesn’t involve any higher-level reasoning like logical inference.

        Most statements human beings make are not like that statement. They are less precise, they deal with less empirical matters, they involve unstated premises that aren’t so obvious, they include logical inference (even if misapplied), etc. Good luck fact-checking a statement that doesn’t much depend on easy-to-check facts. Then also people equate fallacies of argumentation with disproof, but a fallacy just invalidates the argument, it doesn’t prove its opposite.

        How do you assess the factualness of a statement like “healthcare is expensive in the United States because of the profit motive”? There is healthcare in the U.S. and it is relatively expensive compared to many other countries, and there is a profit motive in the economics of healthcare. Yet the claimed causal link between the two is almost impossible to truly prove or disprove. So the statement can be called “not misinformation” but that label doesn’t clarify anything except that no obvious error was made.

        Then there’s hyperbole and braggadocio and self-promotion and other things that side-step or exceed the provable facts but may nevertheless be right in the gist. And then there’s just flat out opinion. If you say “we did a great job” and your boss says “no you did a terrible job” but his boss says “actually, yeah they did do a good job” whose opinion decides whether or not a good-to-great job was done? In practical effect, it’s the person higher up the management food chain, but somebody can always dig up the boss in the middle’s disapproval as evidence the statement is false.

        This puts any attempt to eliminate misinformation as at best quixotic and at worst inherently malicious.

  28. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    Thanks for bringing us the lynx of insanity.

    That AP style guide – wow. Appropriate?

    I’m curious which test the elites use? And with all the false positives, do they test multiple times?

    Most importantly, does Hope need a quarantine buddy? Because I could use a couple weeks off…

    What a great song! I know SD isn’t everyone’s shot and chaser, but I fucking love them. As a matter of fact, that will be my gym music today.

    I hope each of you has a fantastic day!

    • UnCivilServant

      The testing procedure is oversensitive and rife with false positives, but there’s no incentive to be accurate.

    • cyto

      Reportedly she knew she was positive before boarding Marine 1 (for a 3 hour flight). If true… that’s a bit crazy. They said she “isolated herself on board”. but come on, that is like isolating yourself in a full van for a 3 hour drive.

      • Festus' Mustache

        *Hat voice* “She’s too pretty to get the Wu-Flu! Shut up, Donald!”

    • AlexinCT

      These cum dumpsters read books like 1984, Brave New World, and other such dystopian titles, and instead of seeing them as a warning of how bad things can get when tyrannical entitles pretending to be concerned about the serfs when they issue idiotic edicts, then decided these were “How To” manuals instead…

  29. cyto

    The glee among the proggies over Trump’s rona is palpable. I do not facebook, but the wife’s feed is exploding with unbridled joy. The memes are already flying around.

    Best I have heard so far: Looks like RBG won her first case before God.

    • Cy

      “Best I have heard so far: Looks like RBG won her first case before God.”

      A good meme… is a good meme.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        you sure that’s where she is?

      • Cy

        If RBG is still in a position of power and making decrees from it, it wouldn’t be heaven.

      • Raven Nation

        Based on the take of some of my friends, RBG may be sitting at God’s right hand.

      • leon

        RBG didn’t die. She ascended into the pantheon of the gods to take her rightful spot along side – Nay – Above Jupiter.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Justice Scalia abstained.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        …speaking of leftists’ Schadenfreude.

    • Festus' Mustache

      See above. I’m not a religious person but the unbridled glee that this news has engendered makes me hope that there is room in Hell for those assholes. Who the fuck wishes death on their political enemies when the stakes are so low?

      • EvilSheldon

        The stakes aren’t low. They think that this means that Trump is going to croak.

        The number of people out there who think that C19 is a death sentence, is truly staggering.

      • AlexinCT

        They are certainly finding religion and praying for that outcome right now. And they tell everyone that calls them emotional diaper babies that they are the only ones that actually care…

      • Festus' Mustache

        My meaning being that whether he lives or dies , the bureaucrats still retain power. That’s it, that’s all, that’s everything. Trump is a stop-gap measure. A Dutch Boy with his finger in the dike. Remember that old Dr. Suesse book about the city that lived under sea-level? I do.

      • Swiss Servator

        I have wished death on some people, and have acted to bring it about to them…. still haunts me to this day, war or no war… People need to check themselves.

      • Not Adahn

        Not to make you ponder things that aren’t my business, but did you actively feel emotion during those times, or was it more of a cold, mechanical experience?

      • Festus' Mustache

        Fighting is different than posturing. You did it professionally and I did it as a lark. I didn’t need to kill to survive because the stakes never rose to that level but I did have to fight hard enough to not get beaten to a pulp. My point being is that these morons wishing death on other people have probably never witnessed death. It’s an abstract idea for them. I’ve seen death a few times before and it is ugly.

      • AlexinCT

        The only people that think violence is pretty are those that have only read romanticized versions of it or psychopaths. Sane people that have experienced it find it reviling, even when they are forced to visit it on those looking to do the same to them.

      • prolefeed

        Or they think that watching Hollywood killing that they know isn’t real somehow is equivalent to their emotional reaction if it actually was real.

  30. PieInTheSky

    Buckle up chucklefucks I’m gonna motherfucking learn how to write a book

      • Raven Nation

        Wendig’s pretty successful

    • UnCivilServant

      Writing a book isn’t hard.

      Writing a book worth reading is.

      • Festus' Mustache

        How would you know? *tucks tail and runs*

      • Festus' Mustache

        I feel validated for my mean quip. Delightful!

      • Festus' Mustache

        I love you, Man. You’re a good egg!

    • Sean

      chucklefucks

      I’m gonna add that to daily vocabulary.

      • AlexinCT

        Easy there sizzlechest.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Random Biden Generator

      • AlexinCT

        Liverlips…

      • pan fried wylie

        Pushup Contest, pronto, Sizzlechest!

  31. Not Adahn

    To dredge up the overnight thread, I made an awesome dot-meets-feather-stew-curry thing.

    Beef round, diced
    Butternut squash also diced
    Lentils

    in a pressure cooker with

    Onion
    Garlic
    Ginger
    Cumin
    Chipotles
    Cinnamon
    Cardamom
    Maple

    #notvegan #notketo #dontcare

    • PieInTheSky

      Butternut squash – pass

      • Not Adahn

        I can only imagine what being raised on communist hard squashes must have been like.

      • Hyperion

        I’m pretty sure that we last night established that butternut squash is the worst foodstuff ever, while cilantro is the best. The science is settled, 97% of Glibs agree.

      • UnCivilServant

        No, we established that you don’t know what food is.

      • Hyperion

        Triggered!

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        *Pleasantly* metallic.

    • Chipwooder

      I made pork tenderloin in the pressure cooker last night with sliced onions and apples. Rubbed the pork with salt, pepper, allspice, and a little cinnamon before browning. Used watered down apple juice for a liquid. Came out fantastic.

    • l0b0t

      HA! Having last night off, I took some mushrooms; I’ve been trying the microdosing thing and finding it helpful but I took a bit more than I planned. They started kicking in while I was at the Chinese take-away picking up my fried shrimps and chicken-on-a-sticks. I’m was glad to be wearing red. When I pulled up to the shops (strip mall across the street from Hammel Houses project), there were a dozen or so young men all in red, engaged in a rather intense game of craps there in front of the Family Dollar Store. I also got some empanadas (2 shrimp, 2 chicken) and went and had a lovely dinner out on the beach under a giant orange moon.

      • Festus' Mustache

        Mars and the Moon were only four degrees of separation tonight. Jupiter and Saturn are still dancing about.

      • l0b0t

        It was a truly beautiful night. Around 10 – 11 the moon was to my Southeast, about 3 feet above the ocean, the size of a Silver Dollar, and a very pale orange (perhaps halfway between Trumpskin and cream). Breezy enough to call for a sweater but no so much that sand was flying. I think we’ll break out the wee telescope tonight.

  32. Pope Jimbo

    I’m taking this story with a grain of salt.

    A University of Minnesota computer algorithm is so accurate at identifying COVID-19 infections, just by examining chest X-rays, that it is being made available to 450 health systems worldwide.

    U researchers aren’t sure what the algorithm detects in X-rays that distinguishes patients with COVID-19, but after testing it on thousands of images, they know it works.

    “The COVID positive X-rays really sort of isolated themselves from the COVID negative X-rays,” said Dr. Christopher Tignanelli, an assistant professor at the U medical school and a critical care surgeon.

    The algorithm was developed into a clinical tool by M Health Fairview, the partnership between the U and Fairview Health Services, and Epic, the Wisconsin-based provider of electronic health records. Doctors with M Health Fairview are being trained on how to use the results to guide patient care, and the tool will soon be offered for free to other hospitals with Epic record-keeping systems.

    I can’t believe that they can’t figure out what the algorithm is looking for.

    • UnCivilServant

      Funding. It’s looking for funding.

      • AlexinCT

        ^^^^THIS^^^^

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I can, if they developed it with a genetic algorithm or a neural network simulation.

      • AlexinCT

        Where did they find the data sample used to set this up large enough to teach the machine how to tell what they claim it does? Cause I am gonna call bullshit on this based on that one criteria.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The algorithm was trained this spring by analyzing 67,000 chest X-rays from people known not to have COVID-19, and 17,000 X-rays from people who had tested positive. The comparison included visually similar X-rays of people with influenza, pneumonia or other lung diseases. Then it was applied real time in July to all chest X-rays in the M Health Fairview system.

        The result is that it is 80% accurate at finding COVID-19 infections and 62% accurate at weeding out unrelated health issues.

        The sad part is 80% accuracy is an improvement.

      • AlexinCT

        Like I said… that sampling is kind of minuscule. I write AI, and to get above 75% you need hundreds of thousands of records. To exceed 85% you need millions of records. Above 90% you will need tens of millions. To hit 95% or higher it takes hundreds of millions… Machine learning is a bitch. I know cause I have written several neural networks to teach systems how to do estimates.

        I doubt the medical industry has millions of records to use in this case. They might have hundreds of millions of non-covid, but they will not have more that a couple of hundred thousand records in the foreseeable future (maybe 20 years from now).

        So yeah, 80% might be impressive with those numbers, but I am calling bullshit still.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Fair enough, not my area of expertise.

      • AlexinCT

        My experience has been that regardless of how much information (and how accurate the information medium is), you really need massive amounts to get above 75%.

        Yes, some people have claimed to get accuracy approaching 80%, but usually they have done so with systems that had a lot of built in bias (rather than machine learning, which is when you can do better), and thus, couldn’t grow to get higher resolution and results.

        Without seeing what they did specifically my guess is that this system is a model created with biases and not a machine learning algorithm, and thus maybe so far (using the sample they used) scoring close to 80% (between 75- and 79 percent) accuracy because of that. That means it will never get better results either (by learning), and over time, might have reduced accuracy as more results are produced outside the sample used to create the system.

      • AlexinCT

        Note that I am discussing machine learning systems vs. non-machine learning, Leap. Everyone of these systems with accuracy over 90% is likely to be a machine learning system (there might be some random exceptions, but these are more exceptions than rule). Note also that machine learning systems will get better over time, as they get more data to crunch and things to learn, and if put together so they can do this self correction, will become scary accurate. That is neigh impossible to achieve however without machine learning because we usually lack full understanding of systems machine learning networks figure out without understanding.

        Again, not that the algorithm isn’t figuring out what’s going on as much as it has so much information that if simply will guess right despite not really understanding the system. Machines don’t work like humans (which is why I find all these stories of AIs going wild and self-aware to be funny).

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        you really need massive amounts to get above 75%.

        It’s problem specific. Some problems are easy to get to 90%, but the algorithm isn’t interesting until you get over 97%. some problems are hard to get over 20%, and 25% is pretty solid.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        The result is that it is 80% accurate at finding COVID-19 infections and 62% accurate at weeding out unrelated health issues.

        As some of my SME contacts have impressed on me how important it is to know the context when it comes to these types of algorithms.

        Context like building a machine that just answers “no covid” gets you 79.7% accuracy.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        Are you also experiencing face drooping and arm weakness?

      • invisible finger

        Made sense to me, I’ve made that argument many times at work. Maybe that’s why I had a hard time convincing people in meetings.

      • robc

        The problem comes from overlearning. When it stops being effective, will they know?

        With something like, just a wild ass example, a horse race betting algorithm, you quickly learn when it has stopped working.

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        I’m sure trashy will have a comment here in a second if he’s not laying on the floor in a puddle of his own saliva and blood from a the huge aneurism he’s having right now, but yeah, reporters reporting on AI is one of the most painful things to sit through.

    • Apples and Knives

      What’s the purpose? Is an x-ray easier to get than a covid test?

      • UnCivilServant

        Well, for one, the tests have to go outside the administering hospital and they get the money.

        an xray test can keep all the funding in the administering facility.

      • R C Dean

        No, we run all our ‘Vid tests in our lab.

      • UnCivilServant

        Don’t interrupt me with facts 😛

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Howcome you hate imaging profit centers?

      • robc

        Is the cancer increase from the x-ray more dangerous than covid?

        Probably not, but still an issue.

      • Not Adahn

        Duh, the x-ray kills the virus!

      • A Leap at the Wheel

        For one thing, you can automagically stick a test like this in your data collection pipeline. New X ray shows up in an EMR, the computer box can label it as part of the normal intake process. Then if tagged with positive for someone who isn’t otherwise expected to have the ‘vid, you can send a message to the nurse’s station to run a higher-fidelity test.

        In an ideal world, it would be combined other low-probability tests into a baseman decision making classifier to produce a diagnosis that is more accurate than any of the individual tests on their own… but math is hard (for doctors, sorry not sorry, and yes I know this is changing).

    • Not Adahn

      the string coronapositive in the filename?

  33. Rebel Scum

    Don’t adhere to leftist premises/narratives, Donald.

    Trump said, “I’ve said it many times, and let me be clear again, I condemn the KKK. I condemn all white supremacists. I condemn the Proud Boys. I don’t know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn that. But he should condemn, also, Antifa. Antifa is a horrible group of people. They kill people. They — what they do to people — and they’re causing insurrection. They’re causing riots. He doesn’t want to do that, but the press doesn’t go after him. And that’s a really bad group of people. But I condemn them.”

    • Cy

      He wasn’t on his knees when he said it; clearly he’s a racist.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Nowhere in any of this is a discussion of the principles of each group. He’s accepting their premises.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Which is what you said. Bah

    • WTF

      Yeah, he should have said that of course he condemns white supremacists, as he has many times previously, but that he doesn’t know who the Proud Boys are so he doesn’t know if they are white supremacists or not.

  34. Hyperion

    “Melania’s secretly recorded conversations trashing the media.”

    Is that wrong? Because it feels right to me.

    • AlexinCT

      Based on Google translate the guy is singing “Can a honkey get a table dance” to a more suitable tune…

    • Pope Jimbo

      That gal has assault eye lashes!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Gives off the same vibe as the late night drunken bar bands in Serbia, a deeply nationalist, jingoistic vibe that gives you a peek into 1930’s Europe.

    • A Leap at the Wheel

      That bangs a bit more than I would have expected from government propaganda. They could open for Sabaton.

      But doesn’t bang as much as I would have expected from militarized guitars.

  35. Rebel Scum

    Speaking of the Proud Boys

    As someone who spent two months covering the aftermath of the most widespread riots in at least 50 years, this never-ending fixation with illusory organized “white supremacist” groups couldn’t be more absurd. It’s 99% a media invention totally disconnected from reality …

    “Proud Boys” and similar groups would be marginal non-entities if the media didn’t chronically exaggerate their influence to advance a fictitious narrative — it’s such a joke that they would even be mentioned in a presidential debate …

    It’s fun when self-proclaimed leftists mindlessly regurgitate evidence-free FBI claims when it appears to support their delusional certainty that white supremacist militias are the biggest power centers in contemporary US society …

    The biggest ally of the small number of “white supremacists” who actually do exist is the hysterical profit-driven corporate media — as well as activist dupes who march in lockstep — which constantly pumps up these non-entities for clicks, ratings and cheap anti-Trump theatrics …

    Left-wing media activists can make fun of Tom Friedman all they want, but their comically apocalyptic conception of Trump is roughly the same as his. Bernie screams about the need for a Popular Front, AOC says literal fascism is on the ballot, etc.

    • leon

      When did we all just accept that the Proud Boys were white supremacists?

      • Rebel Scum

        “So say leftists, so say we all”?

      • AlexinCT

        Team blue and the media, but I repeat myself, tell us they are…

      • Cy

        THEY WERE WEARING HAWAIIN SHIRTS!

        HAWAIIN SHIRTS!!!!!!

      • Nephilium

        /hides his collection of bowling shirts

      • Gustave Lytton

        The Proud Boys were fascists for several years until that label quit working. Now they’re white supremacists.

      • kbolino

        Pretty much. They couldn’t explain the difference between “fascist” and “white supremacist” if pressed, but they can at least recognize that they phrases get different response from other people.

    • Tejicano

      Sometimes I think people who understand what’s really going on should go along with this “white supremacist” BS and amplify it to eleventy-thousand.

      “At least half the guys I served with in Iraq are participating with and leading the newest Proud Boys guerilla training”

      “My cousin keeps bugging me to join the newest Proud Boys battalion which they’re forming up in the next town over from where I live.”

      Etc, etc. Pump up the internet presence to inflate the media’s perception even more. Make it sound so incredibly widespread that the media will be estimating the numbers to be larger than the actual population of white males by several factors. At some point people will have to start questioning just what they are being fed by the media.

  36. DOOMco

    Wow the media is upset someone calls them what they are?

    • AlexinCT

      RESPEK OUR AUTHORATHAY!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      JFC

      And the Jewish Law Students Association steps in to support the budding terrorist, who will most definitely be emboldened by this outcome.

  37. Plisade

    AP to stop using the term riots to describe riots…

    “…but in the final version of Newspeak there’ll be nothing else. In the end the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words — in reality, only one word. Don’t you see the beauty of that, Winston? It was B.B.’s idea originally, of course,’ he added as an afterthought.”

  38. Rebel Scum

    *Yawn*

    Talk From Many DC Lawyers Saying One Of Special Counsel Robert #Mueller’s Prosecutors Has “FLIPPED” & Is Now Cooperating With US Attorney John #Durham’s Investigation Into The Origins Of #RussiaCollusion Investigation. A Single Name Is Being Repeated…Developing…

    • leon

      Developing is a strange name.

      And yes, *Yawn*. This shit is too late even for an October surprise. No one’s mind will be changed, even if you march Comey et al in chains on CNN.

      • TARDis

        I’m trying be positive about nothing happening on the collusion front. My delusional hope is Trump has the election in the bag, and they know. After the election there will be a steady stream of low-level convictions. I know Obama and Hillary are not going to ever face justice. I’m not that delusional. But if there is a chance the DOJ and other agencies get a good cleaning, then that’s a victory. Maybe a Comey, or Brennan conviction too, if possible. Pence then gets to be president, and the Dead Republic exists for at least 4 more years.

        * wakes up* Damn.

    • PieInTheSky

      The Table were a punk rock band from Cardiff, Wales, best known for their 1977 single “Do The Standing Still (Classics Illustrated)”. The band consisted of Russell Young (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass), Tony Barnes (guitars, bass), Len Lewis (drums) and Mickey O’Connor (guitars).[1][2]

      Young and Barnes had been performing together since 1971 in the band John Stabber, and formed Do You Want This Table (later shortened to The Table) in 1972. However, they did not own any musical instruments, refused to tour, and stated that they were not a “real” band and had no future in the music industry. Despite this, they were signed to Virgin Records and released “Do The Standing Still (Classics Illustrated)”, first recorded as a demo in 1975. The single was an NME ‘Single Of The Week'[3], rapidly becoming a cult favourite, and subsequently appearing on several punk compilation albums.

      Record label pressure saw them reluctantly become a well-received live act. Their uncompromising stance led to disagreements with Virgin, however, and they left, signing to Chiswick Records in 1978 and releasing a second single, “Sex Cells”. The band ceased to exist after several line-up changes and a policy of playing increasingly uncommercial and distasteful material. Young’s later band, Flying Colours, released a single, “Abstract Art”, on the No Records label in 1981. Cardiff band Boy Azooga recorded a cover version of Do The Standing Still in 2018.[4]

      Weird

  39. PieInTheSky

    Trump is wrong, Hunter Biden was not “dishonorably discharged” from the Navy. He was administratively separated after failing a drug test. – I have never heard of the term administratively separated until today

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I think that’s what Kermit Gosnell called his procedures.

    • Chipwooder

      The only reason Hunter Biden got admin sep was his last name. Anyone else would have gotten a general discharge under other than honorable conditions, commonly referred to as OTH. A guy in my radar class failed a drug test and that’s what happened to him, OTH.

      • l0b0t

        I have no idea about Navy, but when I was in Army, it was really, really hard to get booted for drugs. If you failed a piss test, you would be told to re-test in 2 weeks, be ready. If you failed the 2nd test, you went to drug rehab for 2 months then tested again. If you failed that 3rd test, you would start getting processed for a OTH.

      • AlexinCT

        The Navy was the same way. Biden didn’t fail “a test” he failed numerous ones in a row…

      • Drake

        During my time enlisted in the Marines it went from Article 15 and a demotion to Bad Conduct Discharge. Coincidentally that change occurred when the Cold War was ending and they didn’t need as much cannon fodder.

      • l0b0t

        Yep. My giant Samoan platoon sgt. copped to being a barracks weed-slinger back in the late 1970s.

      • Tejicano

        Things were very different back then. First off, the ability to piss test for anything did not exist. They would have to catch you red-handed in possession of an illicit substance to make it stick. Nobody would do drugs during working hours or even in the field (OK, maybe some might have in the Philippines where the local dealers would show up after sunset), but on a normal weekend it wasn’t uncommon.

    • leon

      I think it’s because he couldn’t even cut it at the Basic Officer Course without pissing hot for drugs. Generally when you havn’t completed Inital Entry Training, you won’t be dishonorably discharged, because you aren’t even really in the military. They just admin separate you out.

      • Chipwooder

        He was a direct commission – never went through the course.

    • Swiss Servator

      Ways out of the US Armed Forces (as an officer): die, resign commission, retire, medical discharge, bad conduct discharge, general discharge, administrative separation, honorable discharge…

    • Pope Jimbo

      I’d have to back and look, but I think I might have been administratively separated too. Of course, my separation was “Same as Honorable” because I hadn’t done anything wrong. I think administratively separated just means the process by which you were discharged. The DD-214 would have a reason. I’m just a sea lawyer though and might be talking out my ass.

      A dishonorable discharge will fuck your life up big time. Of course a Senator’s son wasn’t going to get one. Not even the Big Chicken Dinner (Bad Conduct Discharge) which will also fuck up your life wasn’t going to be an option for Hunter.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Ha, looks like I was wrong.

        All I know is when I was getting out because of a contract dispute, the CO told me I would have same as honorable but ….

        I wouldn’t be able to re-enlist again!

        It was really hard to not burst into laughter at that point. After spending a year getting thoroughly fucked over by the Corps, I wasn’t thinking I would want to come crawling back.

    • AlexinCT

      Read for yourself what administratively separated means. Pertinent text:

      An administrative separation can be a big deal, akin to being fired from a job for civilians (albeit with more administrative steps). This can occur for any number of reasons, including:

      A pattern of misconduct;
      Drug abuse;
      Insubordination;
      Weight control issues;
      Nonperformance of duties; or
      Poor duty performance.

      Note that there is no way any military branch would dishonorably discharge the child of a US member of congress for fear of retaliation (congress promotes and pays for their toys). In fact, they would usually just discharge such a person barring some real bad behavior. The fact they separated Hunter tells you the abuse was serious enough that someone felt obligated to keep a record of the guy being a massive cunte.

      • robc

        It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
        I ain’t no senator’s son

      • AlexinCT

        Creedence Clearwater Revival FTW!

  40. EvilSheldon

    I’m giving this whole pistol miniature red dot thing the old college try. I ordered a pair of Holosun HS507C-X2 red dots, and popped one on my Glock 34 MOS test pistol.

    It’s pretty slick. The huge circle dot reticle is impressively fast to pick up. It’s fairly durable, too, as I managed to knock the pistol off my workbench while I was trying to prop it up for a photo. The Holosun didn’t even get a scratch.

    Live fire testing to commence this weekend. Stay tuned!

    • Sean

      *clicks subscribe*

    • PieInTheSky

      huh?

      • straffinrun

        *if Trump’s dying wish. Typo.

      • PieInTheSky

        which amendment is the one about dying wishes?

      • straffinrun

        Thanks for clearing up the joke. Some people were probably confused.

      • PieInTheSky

        Glad to help

      • leon

        Amendment 34.

    • leon

      I’m glad i watched through the whole thing, because i was this close to saying “This is a great argument against white supremacy”.

    • The Other Kevin

      All good Catholics support late term abortion. It is known.

      • Nephilium

        The Supreme Court knows more about right and wrong then the Pope.

      • banginglc1

        Well, with the commie pope, that might be true.

  41. Not Adahn

    Lol.

    There’s a Master class shooter in my squad for this weekend’s match.

    Hopefully I’ll learn something.

    • PieInTheSky

      How to sabotage his weapon?

      • Not Adahn

        He’s not competing directly against me, so nothing would be gained.

      • PieInTheSky

        The pleasure of seeing a fellow human fail?

    • EvilSheldon

      Pro tip – most Master and GM shooters like beer, steak, burgers, and whiskey.

      • Not Adahn

        I imagine we’ll grill in the winter, but alkyhol at the club is Right Out.

      • leon

        They always say “There will always be someone faster/better/stronger than you.” but at least once in your life, you were the fastest little swimmer there was.

      • slumbrew

        “Lol let’s see an Asian kid drink 4 bottles of red wine before dessert”

        ?

  42. AlexinCT

    Hey anyone know about Tonio? If I recall correctly he just started chemo and I have not seen him for a while. Just hoping the guy is well.

    • straffinrun

      He seemed to be doing well when he was on Zoom last week.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Good to hear.

      • DOOMco

        That’s good to hear!

      • AlexinCT

        I saw him on Zoom last week (also saw you going to work and running around fyi) . That’s why ask if anyone has heard from him since then….

  43. straffinrun

    If Bill Clinton were president and got Covid, imagine how much fun it would be to be a contact tracer.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Maybe if you were a chubby chaser.

      I think Trump’s contact tracers are having a much better day of it.

      • Raven Nation

        My FIL told me this morning that if Trump wants to get covid that’s up to him but to give it to Melania is inexcusable.

      • AlexinCT

        Cause she is in a risk group?

        I bet you both of them will now be immune to it going forward and that will piss a lot of people off…

      • Raven Nation

        No, because he thinks Melania is hot.

  44. Rebel Scum

    *cringe*

    Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot enters news conference dressed up as “Corona Destroyer” to announce the city’s Halloween guidelines.

    • straffinrun

      She’s been injecting aquarium cleaning into her eyeballs for months.

    • AlexinCT

      SHE IS TELLING PEOPLE TO DRINK/INJECT BLEACH!

      /progtard emulation

    • Hyperion

      I thought she’s already dressed up as Beetlejuice?

      • UnCivilServant

        That’s just to hide the fact that she’s actually a deep one.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      Oh crap, is the Census Cowboy going to ride her on the freeway now? Nobody wants to see that.

    • Pope Jimbo

      When did the football come in? Was that supposed to be a blocked field goal?

      • PieInTheSky

        stop being so UScentric

  45. PieInTheSky

    Do I have the time? Why yes, it is just past scotch o’clock

  46. leon

    Trying to find my copy of Minecraft. I’m feeling like a lazy weekend of peaceful tinkering.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Ha, I didn’t get the game until my son begged me to play with him. Some nights I’ll play long after he goes to bed just building random shit (usually skyscrapers).

  47. Certified Public Asshat

    Spotify/Rogan Update.

    Yesterday with Tim Dillon, Joe said Spotify has said nothing to him about their employees wanting to censor him.

    • PieInTheSky

      I heard Andrew Schulz before say he things it’s not true but trumped up by the press

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Probably, Joe even went and defended the “transphobic” episodes again so he’s definitely not backing down anyway. He also wondered if the Spotify employees were combing through all of the song lyrics if they were that serious about censorship.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Joe’s full of shit there I’d bet although maybe for good reason$.

      • Tejicano

        I wouldn’t say he’s full of shit as much as he know$ when it’$ time to play $tupid.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        See above, he defended the episodes again and restated his opinion that he doesn’t think it’s wrong to question children when they say they are trans.

    • Not Adahn

      I am completely unimpressed with veal. Except for osso buco, and that’s due entirely to braising the marrow.

    • kinnath

      I rather enjoyed that.

      Should I feel shame?

  48. Rebel Scum

    Orange Man Bad

    “Democrats, liberals, the media and others have always been wrong to simply treat him as a buffoon and a dummy and a jackass. Yes, he is all those things. But he’s also canny. He’s clever. He outfoxed Comey. He outfoxed Mueller. He outfoxed 20 Republicans in the GOP primary and then did the same to the Democrats, winning the White House despite receiving fewer votes than his opponent,” wrote Michael Moore in a lengthy Facebook post on Friday.

    “He’s an evil genius and I raise the possibility of him lying about having COVID-19 to prepare us and counteract his game,” added Moore. “He knows being sick tends to gain one sympathy. He’s not above weaponizing this.”

    • Certified Public Asshat

      The evil master mind knows people like Moore will question the diagnosis, which will cause people to hate the left more.

      *rips a piece of foil*

    • Fatty Bolger

      So he’s a dumb canny clever fox-witted evil buffoon jackass genius.

    • R C Dean

      a buffoon and a dummy and a jackass. Yes, he is all those things.

      He’s an evil genius

      Oh, FFS.

    • Hyperion

      But, is he sick? You know, I mean most people don’t have symptoms. Maybe he just had antibodies.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      “He outfoxed Comey. He outfoxed Mueller”. Maybe because there was nothing to investigate. But I guess that’s as good as we’re going to get from Moore.

  49. Drake

    I think Pence, Biden, and Harris should all have to get the Covid. I don’t anyone susceptible to the commie cough in the Oval Office.

  50. AlexinCT

    I wonder why….

    NAAAAHHHHH.

    • leon

      So we have (((Them))), <<>> and [[[They’s]]] What do we do for the chinese? ///Them///?

      • Drake

        Conspiracy of the ancient cultures!

  51. Sensei

    Are you feeling nostalgic for a watch that has multiple confusing button combinations and an LCD display that makes little distinction between the minute and second hand?

    If so Timex has you covered!

    MADE FOR THE FUTURE: INTRODUCING THE Q TIMEX REISSUE LCA

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I can wear it while driving KITT

    • Not Adahn

      That font…

    • Hyperion

      My, that thing is fugly.

  52. Donation Not Taxation

    Morning, Glibs time, Banjos.

    • Donation Not Taxation

      Tragic Study Finds 99% Of Fries Don’t Survive Trip Home From Drive-Thru

      ‘Tragic Study Finds’ lack delayed gratification

      • Not Adahn

        The shelf life of French Fries is shorter than the drive home. If you’re going to pay for food, you should eat it before the quality degrades.

      • l0b0t

        In my experience, a precious few types of restaurant fries can be revived in the oven; most can not. The current McDonald’s fry iteration will taste stale after about 30 minutes regardless of what you do to it.

      • Akira

        My brother and I ordered two large taco pizzas for pick-up one time, and on the way there we smoked some weed from a one-hitter in the car.

        We ate both pizzas on the way home, and it was only a ~10 minute drive.

    • Not Adahn

      Obviously, that’s because Trump’s pandemic shut down the bars in LA and Miami.

    • UnCivilServant

      The Norwegian Bowling Association?

      • Drake

        More likely that ‘Id watch that.

    • AlexinCT

      There is an NBA playoff going on?

      Who the fuck cares?

      • PieInTheSky

        Adam Silver, Team owners, Colin Cowherd and a few more

      • AlexinCT

        Fuck them all with a rusty metal toiler brush…

      • PieInTheSky

        won’t someone think of poor Lebron? Not to mention players in a contract year. Or Lamelo Ball. What did Lamelo do to you Alex?

    • PieInTheSky

      given half the miami team is injured I see much better ratings the next few games.

  53. Donation Not Taxation

    If you like your United States Environmental Protection Agency (which began operation 50 years ago this December), you can keep your US EPA, if :
    * enforcement changes to certifying compliant and not certifying and decertifying the non-compliant instead of its pronouncements treated as laws AND
    * funded by voluntary money

  54. Mojeaux

    311 comments at 9:53. Can’t do it. I … just … can’t …

    • Nephilium

      We believe in you Mojeaux!

  55. Donation Not Taxation

    If you like your government-run farm subsidies, you can keep your government-run farm subsidies, if paid for by voluntary money instead of taxation or the4 kind of borrowing repaid by taxes. Donation not taxation.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      we get it, you don’t like taxes,

      • Fatty Bolger

        Kid knows how to stay on message, I’ll give him that.

      • Ted S.

        He’ll probably stay on that same message in the afternoon links, too….

  56. KibbledKristen

    #AvGeek news:

    Boeing is moving all 787 prod to South Carolina. Good!

    Commercial traffic remained flat in Sept after increases over the summer. Not good.

    AA and United are laying off ~30k employees. Very not good.

    • Hyperion

      “AA and United are laying off ~30k employees. Very not good.”

      A 30% decrease in the likelihood of AA customers not having their checked baggage destroyed, lost, or probably stolen.

      • KibbledKristen

        I won’t be criticizing AA anytime soon. They really did me right on my trip home from SD when they caused me to miss my connection in DFW. My bag even made it onto the correct rebooked flight!

      • Hyperion

        I had one too many nots in there.

        “A 30% decrease in the likelihood of AA customers having their checked baggage destroyed, lost, or probably stolen.”

      • Hyperion

        I basically like them about as much as a bad case of the shingles.

      • Gustave Lytton

        They’d done alright by me in the past as well, but they’re the sick man of the domestic airline industry and were spiraling before corona. Doug Parker can DIAF for what he did to AA.

      • R C Dean

        They really did me right on my trip home from SD when they caused me to miss my connection in DFW.

        So, a reacharound?

    • PieInTheSky

      flying is bad for climate so all airlines should go down

  57. prolefeed

    People who play make believe for a living are trying to turn my state into a shithole.

    Technically, by trying to flip TX for Biden, they’re trying to make the whole country into a shithole. It’s the hordes of Californians and New Yorkers pouring into places like, oh, my housing development who might make that possible sometime soon.

    On a possibly related note, I spent half a day taking pictures and drawing a sketch of every gotdamn tree in my yard (and there are several hundred, dependinng on how small a tree you count) because some fucking Karen in the neighborhood keeps weaponizing the HOA against me with anonymous baseless complaints.

    So I demanded a hearing before the HOA Board to put a stop to this harassment. And I’m running for the open spot on the HOA board. My “about me” paragraph on the nomination thingy says, among other choice things, “The HOA shouldn’t be run by a bunch of Karens.”

    • Hyperion

      HOA == no fucking way.

      And sadly, we do know that ex-commiefornians will vote for the same shit that made them flee, until they run out of places to flee to.

      • KSuellington

        Same as the East Coast locusts that turned California from a livable and somewhat rational place into a proggie shithole?

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        yup. They jump from fallow field to fallow field, devouring the prosperity. They care not one whit for the destruction in their wake.

      • KSuellington

        We have our native born proggies here, but they are far outnumbered by those that migrated here.

    • l0b0t

      UGH… we have a lady who roves the neighborhood taking pictures of people’s yards so as to send out nastygrams threatening fines if one does not go out and mow.

      • UnCivilServant

        I recommend a reverse drive-by.

        either that or paint her house a disapproved color overnight and complain

      • l0b0t

        At the very first HOA meeting, the guy who heads the HOA of an earlier phase was helping to get ours started. He is a local gadfly, retired narco detective turned property investor; he warned of the dangers of having any “libertarian types” on the HOA because the next thing you know, some houses will have different styles of porch lights or different front door colors.

      • UnCivilServant

        That statement sums up perfectly what is wrong with HOAs. It is a breeding ground of petty tyrants who inculcate acceptance of tyranny.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        LOL

      • Nephilium

        The horror.

        The…

        Horror.

    • KSuellington

      Did the influx of Californians into Texas swing the election from Beto to Ted Cruz? Exit polls showed that native Texans voted in a larger percentage for Beto than transplants.

      • prolefeed

        I’m doubt what people tell pollsters when exiting a polling place is remotely reliable. With an emphasis on removing the “re” and “abl” from reliable.

        Scenario: You’re a black married man who either STFU about politics or told people you were voting for Biden; but you actually voted for Trump. You leave the polling place with your wife, who is a Biden voter with an advanced case of TDS. An exit poller approaches the two of you and asks how you voted.

        Which outcome is more likely?

        1) The pollster is told you both voted for Biden.

        2) The pollster is told the household split the ticket, and your wife loses her shit, and you spend the next week sleeping on the couch and/or getting berated.

    • creech

      I was once the president of an HOA and managed to keep the lid on the nonsense. Best story: woman leaves her kids’ pool out, filled, over night in the middle of the dark public sidewalk. Does it repeatedly even after being warned. Finally, her response is, “whoever complained is just an anti-Semite.”

  58. Rebel Scum

    Your premise is retarded and wrong.

    Trump did this to himself. He inflicted this same misfortune upon millions of others.

    He’s a corrupt, white supremacist criminal who’s responsible for more American deaths than 9/11 and the wars in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and WWI combined.

    No one should feel bad for him.

    Is he also responsible for deaths by automotive collision? Medical errors? Suicides? Inquiring minds would like to know.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Dude’s a red-headed hipster from Brooklyn. I just feel sorry for his freaky ass.

    • prolefeed

      Is he responsible for all the deaths that would have occurred (hint – the vast majority of them) no matter what optimal imaginary Generic Democratic Politician policies might have been adopted?

      Is he responsible for the deaths due to the policies of state governors and local politicians, like Cuomo, who implemented extremely non-optimal policies?

  59. ChipsnSalsa

    Say what you will about election season but it gets the ad money flowing and uncle Joe has been paying for hours of ad free music on Pandora for me. Thanks Joe!

  60. prolefeed

    It would be hilarious if Trump was tested daily, and finally got a false positive for C19, and when the media tries to scuttle the next debate, Trump says, nope, got tested today and turns out the other test was a false positive.

    And then uses that unreliability as a bullet point in the debate.

    #Unfortunately we’re not on that best timeline

    • Urthona

      He didn’t though. I think he has symptoms.

      Might actually be good for his campaign though.

    • Nephilium

      You mean like DeWine’s positive, then negative, then negative tests? The only response to that is to lock down HARDER!

    • Akira

      I could be mistaken, but I remember hearing that there is no test that tests for ONLY Covid-19, e.g. it will pick up some other Coronaviruses.

  61. Rebel Scum

    This is totally fine.

    As Americans were transfixed on a bitterly rancorous spectacle over the future of their constitutional republic, the nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan entered the third day in what could be described as open war without any official declaration. The historic faultline between traditional European Christendom and Ottoman frontiers once again erupted with bloodshed on both sides, and older great powers slowly beginning to take sides.

    France and Russia have, thus far, broadly backed Armenia. Turkey, however, is sending supplies and soldiers to assist Azerbaijan and, according to Armenian officials, has downed an Armenian jet.

    The region of Nagorno-Karabakh is a “frozen conflict.” Once part of the general sphere of influence for Orthodox Christianity, it then passed hands under the Ottoman Khanates. Historically, Russia has been an ally of the Christian Armenians, and Ottomans consider Azeris as kindred sharing the same bloodline.

    Perhaps the Turks don’t want to remain in NATO.

    • UnCivilServant

      Lets eject the Turks from NATO and from occupied Byzantine land.

      Free Byzantium!

    • leon

      France and Russia have, thus far, broadly backed Armenia

      I see 3 Non-NATO powers.

      • leon

        Wait! WTF. When did France Join NATO?

        I legitimately thought they had left.

      • kbolino

        They left the NATO command structure, though not the organization itself, in 1966, and rejoined in 2009.

    • R C Dean

      I’ve always thought she got burned by her own botched molotov cocktail.

      • UnCivilServant

        “I wasn’t supposed to drink it?”

      • Tejicano

        Yup. If you haven’t worked on engines or had much experience handling gasoline you might be surprised how easy it is to spill a little and have it on your skin without noticing it. It’s pretty easy to imagine somebody making molotov cocktails and not realizing they have spilled more than enough gas on themselves and their clothing to be extremely dangerous to their own wellbeing.

      • Mojeaux

        My dad used to use gasoline to clean oil off his hands.

    • R C Dean

      Althea’s injuries are healing

      Its been over 3 months. They healed awhile ago.

      Not sure where in “downtown Madison” the alleged attack occurred, but I suspect there were plenty of video cameras around. She gave a description of a distinctive group of four men – two in black and two in Hawaiian shirts. I have little doubt no such group was ever found on video in the vicinity.

      Its probably a minor miracle, for her, that where she claims the attack occurred happened to not have any video.

      • UnCivilServant

        She has the luck of the Smollett, having the camera facing the wrong way like that.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        Its probably a minor miracle, for her, that where she claims the attack occurred happened to not have any video.

        No matter. The Boogaloo supremacists had to get there somehow, and it should be easy enough to cover entry and egress from any dark spots using the camera coverage in the surround area.

      • R C Dean

        If the Bois are a bunch of Jason Bournes, then I think things are probably going to get very interesting indeed.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      That reminds me. Did they ever identify or arrest the alleged right wing umbrella guy who broke the windows at the Autozone in Minnesota?

  62. hayeksplosives

    Good morning, Glibs.

    I slept in for the first time in 2 weeks now that the proposals are all submitted at work.

    Taking the day off. And it’s 75 degrees already before 9am. Going to be a lovely day.

    • UnCivilServant

      I got perfect weather here.

      It’s 50 degrees and drizzly.

      No sarcasm.

      • PieInTheSky

        don’t be silly. perfect weather is 70F and sunny

      • UnCivilServant

        What would you know of sunshine?

        I was just on my porch and am thinking of opening some more windows to let the nice air in.

      • Hyperion

        Close 75 and sunny is perfect.

      • Hyperion

        50 is cold. 62 here and sunny, just got back from my walk. Perfect walking weather.

      • UnCivilServant

        Only if you’re a lizard person.

        Are you a lizard person?

      • Mojeaux

        That’s my jam, too. Love the November rains.

        Right now it’s 51 and sunny.

    • PieInTheSky

      day time drinking! day time drinking!

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      I’m half tempted to take the rest of the day off. Wife and daughter are getting a tour of Cowboys stadium, and I’d love to tag along, but alas, I have a sneaking suspicion that a couple of my projects are gonna blow up at about 3pm today.

      • PieInTheSky

        if projects blow up and you are not there to hear them, do they really blow up? and are they really yours? ponder this as you philosophical thought of the day

  63. creech

    How will Pence do in the coming VP debate? I hope he has the guts to pin down (no euphemism) Harris on the “packing Supreme Court” issue. Demand a “Yes, I will” or “No, I won’t support that” answer. If she says “no”, then get ask her if she pledges to resign if it turns out later she was lying.

    • hayeksplosives

      I think Pence should decline the debate on the grounds that he won’t meet with a woman not his wife for dinner or debates.

    • Hyperion

      Pence is a calm and OK debater. Harris is awful, she’s shrill, unhinged, and completely unlikeable. Remember how much people liked her in the democrat primary debates? Well, there you go.

      First thing Pence should say if he gets a minute to pounce is to ask Harris why she supports self described Marxists.

      They’ll go after Pence immediately for his Christian faith and people are going to see that in a very negative way.

      • R C Dean

        Pence is too GOPe to ever be harsh with a Dem. Especially a POC chick.

        That’s probably OK, though. Harris can be offputting without any help from him. I suspect the moderator taking her side will encourage her to be *retch* herself, which should be plenty to keep her from “winning” the debate. To the extent that matters.

  64. hayeksplosives

    I was reading the Melania frustrated with media story and realized that I read melania’s “voice” and accent as that one they give her on the Bad Lip Reading videos.

    Kind of works.

    • R C Dean

      They should just say its understandable that the media is uncomfortable with a strong immigrant woman, and leave it at that.

  65. Plisade

    Drugs may fall out of my ass, but someone just sent me a video “explaining” why Biden’s eyes were so dark during the debate. He said Biden was wearing AR contact lenses. I looked it up and wow! it appears that’s a thing. Who knew?!

    https://www.mojo.vision/mojo-lens

    • UnCivilServant

      Every few years I look at the state of tech like that.

      It’s getting better, but it’s still costly. But they have the money for it.

    • l0b0t

      Yes, please!! I don’t know if I could do the contacts, but glasses? Hell yeah!

    • R C Dean

      Maybe, but he’s always had really dark blue eyes. They do seem darker now, but I think that’s because he has a perpetual squint.