Wednesday Afternoon SugarLinks – Random YouTube Attack!

by | Oct 28, 2020 | Daily Links | 341 comments


Virginia bans no-knock warrants as Northam signs new police reform laws

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said Wednesday that he has signed several bills to reform policing in the state, including legislation that empowers localities to establish civilian reviews boards with subpoena power, creating statewide minimum training standards for officers and a ban on no-knock search warrants.

The governor called for a special session this summer initially to revise the state’s budget after the economic fallout from the pandemic but in the wake of George Floyd’s death in May, the need to address social justice issues felt urgent and compelled lawmakers to push for changes.

Virginia Democrats set an ambitious agenda, proposing measures to prohibit no-knock warrants, ban neck restraints, to eliminate qualified immunity for law enforcement and to give judges and juries the discretion to reduce the charge for assaulting law enforcement officers from a felony to a misdemeanor if the officer is not hurt during the encounter. Northam even announced his own priorities ahead of the session, which included expanding the criteria required for decertification and requiring officers to intervene if they witness a fellow officer attempting to or committing an unlawful use of force.

Gov. Grand Wizard does something decent for a change. Don’t worry, he’ll ruin something else soon enough.



Sometimes Boogaloos begin in the strangest of places…

Chicago sisters accused of stabbing employee 27 times after being asked to wear a mask

Two Chicago sisters were denied bail after allegedly stabbing a store clerk 27 times over the request to wear a mask

A man was stabbed multiple times after asking two women to wear masks.

Two sisters entered a small shop in Chicago on Sunday when they were approached by a worker who asked them to wear a mask and to use hand sanitizer to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 according to Karie James who is a police spokesperson, the Chicago Sun Times (sic) reported. They refused and began to argue with the man at the store located on the 3200 block of West Roosevelt Road.

The argument escalated and the women Jessica Hill, 21, and Jayla Hill, 18, are accused of attacking the man. Jessica pulled a knife out of her back pocket and began stabbing the 32-year-old man. Jayla held the man in place by his hair while the victim was stabbed 27 times.


Sometimes this timeline surprises even me.


In honor of the Dodgers and the fan response:

About The Author

SugarFree

SugarFree

Your Resident Narcissistic Misogynist Rape-Culture Apologist

341 Comments

  1. kinnath

    I assume the ban on no-knock warrants doesn’t actually ban no-knock warrants and that nothing will change in practice.

    • SugarFree

      The Kentucky ban has “exceptions” so Kentucky doesn’t have a ban.

      • kinnath

        Without reading the article, I assume this ban will have exceptions for police safety. Thus no actual ban.

      • Ted S.

        And coronavirus-related exceptions.

      • SugarFree

        I had to get through a blizzard of legalese, but it does seem to be a blanket ban. The search warrant has to be presented before the police enter and they have to do it in the daytime unless a 2nd judge authorizes it.

        (I think that’s the upshot.)

      • Hyperion

        No exceptions for ‘wellness’ checks? Why does the governor hate people and want them to die?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Not a lawyer but I didn’t see any exceptions plus search warrants are supposed to be served in the daytime (that has a couple of exceptions). All in all it looks good so credit where it’s due I suppose.

      • kinnath

        Thanks to both of you for your service in reading the details.

      • robc

        What are the exceptions on the KY one making it bogus? I havent read the details.

      • SugarFree

        It hasn’t been issued in its final form yet, but there are carve-outs for allowing no-knock when serving an arrest warrant and in a “hostage situation.” Loopholes big enough to drive a tank through.

      • DEG

        The law doesn’t need exceptions. That’s what judges are for.

    • Suthenboy

      Since there are certainly times when a ‘no knock raid’ is appropriate I expect they will completely fuck up the wording of the law. Yes, I expect business as usual.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Queue the “I heard someone screaming inside” exception.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Nah they are noble and just and would never lie.

      • prolefeed

        Police conduct no knock raid, in defiance of law.

        When questioned, their union representative says two words: “Exigent circumstances.”

        Officers cleared to return to duty.

      • Fourscore

        “We knocked three times on the ceiling”

      • DEG

        These euphemisms.

      • Don escaped Duopoly

        oh my darlin’

    • Caput Lupinum

      Relevant section from the actual law:

      No law-enforcement officer shall seek, execute, or participate in the execution of a no-knock search warrant. A search warrant authorized under this section shall require that a law-enforcement officer be recognizable and identifiable as a uniformed law-enforcement officer and provide audible notice of his authority and purpose reasonably expected to be heard by occupants of such place to be searched prior to the execution of such search warrant.

      After entering and securing the place to be searched and prior to undertaking any search or seizure pursuant to the search warrant, the executing law-enforcement officer shall read and give a copy of the search warrant to the person to be searched or the owner of the place to be searched or, if the owner is not present, to any occupant of the place to be searched. If the place to be searched is unoccupied, the executing law-enforcement officer shall leave a copy of the search warrant suitably affixed to the place to be searched.

      Search warrants authorized under this section shall be executed only in the daytime unless (i) a judge or magistrate, if a judge is not available, authorizes the execution of such search warrant at another time for good cause shown or (ii) the search warrant is for the withdrawal of blood. A search warrant for the withdrawal of blood may be executed at any time of day.

      A law-enforcement officer shall make reasonable efforts to locate a judge before seeking authorization to execute the warrant at another time. Such reasonable efforts shall be documented in an affidavit and submitted to a magistrate when seeking such authorization.

      Any evidence obtained from a search warrant in violation of this subsection shall not be admitted into evidence for the Commonwealth in any prosecution.

      There are excepting for executing a warrant at night, but all officers must be in uniform and announce thematically and their purpose. Seems pretty air tight, but I’m sure our more legally minded glibs can find a way to weasel around it.

      • leon

        Well seeing as it would require prosecuting cops and that doesn’t go over well… Seems like it won’t matter anyway.

      • Ownbestenemy

        “Officer Dipshit, it is noted that you did not follow the new law and did not knock or announce yourself”

        Officer Dipshit “I saw a gun/smelled marijuana/observed paraphernalia/heard screams/on and on and on”

      • Bobarian LMD

        This line ” provide audible notice of his authority and purpose reasonably expected to be heard by occupants”

        is where the flex room that will be tortured to unreasonableness exists.

      • Caput Lupinum

        Oh I have no doubts that the courts will rip it to shreds and render it a dead letter almost immediately, but from the current Virginia legislature and Governor it is about as good as could be and much better than expected. Short of a few amendments to the federal constitution that reify the fourth and clarify, remove, or replace certain common law principles that allow for things like qualified and absolute immunity and asset forfeiture, we aren’t going to get anywhere.

      • Hyperion

        There was a report that the vid was on the premises, so we just had to burn it down after nailing al the doors shut.

      • ignoreLander

        Oh it doesn’t take near that much effort.

        Officer Dipshit “I feared for my safety”

        Judge Dipshit “Our brave boys in blue deserve to go home to their families at night. Case dismissed”

      • prolefeed

        No law-enforcement officer shall seek, execute, or participate in the execution of a no-knock search warrant.

        “Seems pretty air tight, but I’m sure our more legally minded glibs can find a way to weasel around it.”

        Some other things that appear pretty air tight:

        “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

        “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

      • Ownbestenemy

        Sad trombone

      • Cancelled

        It is logically impossible for human beings to craft a law that will actually restrain future human beings once enough of them decide they no longer want the thing the law was designed to protect.

      • leon

        ^^^.

        This. You will alway be constrained/dominated/oppressed by what the majority of people want, and are willing to do to achieve it.

      • prolefeed

        You will alway be constrained/dominated/oppressed by what the majority a well-armed minority of people want, and are willing to do to use against anyone who opposes them achieveing it.

        FTFY

      • prolefeed

        Thinking well-armed government agents will be restrained by a piece of paper is an example of the Dunning-Kruger effect:

        “The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability. It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from the inability of people to recognize their lack of ability … Colloquially, people experiencing this bias are said to be at the top of “Mount Stupid,” although this is not used in scientific articles about the Dunning-Kruger effect.”

      • slumbrew

        *wonders if incorrectly stating something is an example of the Dunning-Kruger effect is an example of the Dunning-Kruger effect*

      • Caput Lupinum

        I’m under no delusions that this will accomplish nothing, but you have to put a little more creativity into it. You can’t just do the opposite of what a law says, you need to come up with an appropriately nonsensical legalise argument to justify why up is actually down. Words on paper don’t actually matter when it comes to restraining state action, but the illusion that they do matters greatly.

      • Chafed

        I think that is a well written law. Now we’ll see how it is applied.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Doesn’t appear to require all officers to be uniform, just the one announcing the search warrant.

      • R C Dean

        How many times have we heard about cops claiming to have knocked, but nobody heard them and they had to kick the door down? That won’t change.

        And the warrant only has to be presented after the cop is in the building and has secured it. That’s pretty effing pro forma.

        They can still serve warrants at night if a judge or magistrate rubber stamps it. Not feeling like our judicial branch has given much protection to us on the whole warrant thing, so I’m not exactly warm and fuzzy on this one, either.

        I mean, sure, better than nothing, but probably not much.

      • invisible finger

        More theater. This country is more full of shit than the Vatican (et al) at their worst.

        Police: THIS IS THE POLICE! WE HA-
        Suspect: *starts firing rounds

        Are the police supposed to not fire back until they complete their two-minute spiel? Would the suspect hear the spiel while they are shooting?

      • Suthenboy

        The question is not so much what the law requires but what penalties are proscribed for breaking it an dhow strictly those will be applied.

  2. kinnath

    Jessica and Jayla. Should I click through and see where the fit on the victimology totem pole?

    • PBRstreetgang

      Only dumb Trumpers refuse to wear masks, so clearly the photos shows your typical MAGA person.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      They kind of do look like a couple of people who’d stab someone 27 times. Not because they’re black though.

      • kinnath

        Did I imply they were black.

        I figured it was a couple of lesbians taking out a transwoman.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        No but they are not that that means anything They just look mean is all, one of them does anyway.

      • peachy rex

        You laugh, but Chicago just had a mixed race lesbian couple go on a bank robbing spree. (And no, neither was named Lori.)

    • Hyperion

      Shut up you, I clicked and can assure you those are two fine looking young ladies. Very sweet looking, I bet they’re real nice.

  3. commodious spittoon

    Je suis vraiment la colombe souillée

    Beautiful.

  4. leon

    So did the guy who get stabbed die?

    • Chafed

      The article says he was taken to the hospital in serious condition.

    • Count Potato

      It sound like he is still alive, somehow.

      • EvilSheldon

        It is remarkably hard to kill someone with a knife. Easy to cripple or disfigure them, though.

      • Caput Lupinum

        Get a knife that has a blade at least 5 inches long, and stab up under the chin and through the soft palette of the mouth; they should die almost immediately. Alternatively stab down on the shoulder between the clavicle and the shoulder blade, right in the hollow. The bones will guide the knife into the brachial artery and because the cut is between the ribcage and the back you can’t put pressure to stop the bleeding. Without surgical intervention they should bleed out within half an hour.

      • westernsloper

        Ok. Afraid to ask how you know this.

      • prolefeed

        I would think that someone trained by the military would not find it that hard to kill someone with a knife – say, slash their carotid artery or stab their liver and watch them bleed out.

        But if you’re a civilian just hacking away at random with a dull knife, sure.

      • Fourscore

        “The spirit of the bayonet is to kill” as taught to a Oneandahalfscore at Infantry OCS

  5. leon

    https://twitter.com/HansMahncke/status/1321438133385416705

    Ciaramella: worked for Biden, remained anonymous, story didn’t match transcript, no firsthand knowledge, no documentary evidence

    Rightwards arrow
    wall to wall coverage

    Bobulinski: worked for Biden, went on the record, firsthand knowledge, story backed up by tons of evidence

    Rightwards arrow
    media blackout

    Yeah, the Media is in the tank for one political party, no duh.

    • Chafed

      Who is Ciaramella?

      • Cancelled

        The guy whose name Rand Paul said and John Roberts censored.

      • Ted S.

        The whistleblower everybody wasn’t supposed to name.

  6. leon

    You know a big story came out last night, and Twitter was all over it. No it wasn’t Bobulinski on tucker talking about how the Bidens are corrupt. Its that the NYT is saying that Trump had a lot of debt Forgiven!

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Home Depot targets its appeal to white cats. That’s racist.

    • Plisade

      I could’ve watched a lot more of that.

      • Ayn Random Variation

        It was hypnotic. I wish I had some weed to go along with it.

    • Fourscore

      Even if Sammy Davis Jr said it?

  8. leon

    https://twitter.com/willwilkinson/status/1321197576599851008

    I argue that the Great Barrington Declaration’s uselessness as anything other than Trump administration agitprop reflects some of libertarianism’s most serious flaws.

    Not only is the Niskansen Institute no longer libertarian, they don’t even want you to have civil liberties anymore.

    • Chafed

      I don’t know why they bother to hold themselves out as libertarians. They are limiting their audience for leftist claptrap.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They actually dumped the descriptor a while ago. They’re just inside Beltway technocrat assholes now. Always looking to throw their former-libertarian cred to whoever will invite them to a cocktail party.

        I think I despise them more than the left.

      • invisible finger

        They’re more about the “arian” than the “liberty”.

    • kbolino

      I didn’t think Wilkinson was NJR-level retarded, but clearly I was wrong.

    • The Other Kevin

      It seems to me that 99% of what passes as “news” is people mind reading and claiming to predict the future.

      • invisible finger

        I used to tell my ex “You’re watching the 10 o’Clock speculation?” “Oh, I’m only watching it for the weather.” “Like I said…”

  9. Certified Public Asshat

    The Indie Alex Jones was awesome.

    • SugarFree

      “Literal Vampire Potbellied Goblins”

    • Certified Public Asshat

      This YT comment is great: You could probably play this over the speakers at urban outfitters and no one would notice

    • Plisade

      That is the first time I’d seen a video of him. He’s insane. Who gives him airtime?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I did listen to most of the Rogan podcast with him on this afternoon. If everyone shitting their pants at Rogan having him on would actually listen to it, they might find out that Alex does a good job of turning himself off to most people.

      • kbolino

        Indeed, there was no reason to cancel Jones. Let him stay in his cultural and intellectual ghetto. Canceling him just validates him. But understanding that requires slightly more nuance and appreciation of human behavior than is currently tolerable.

      • Cancelled

        There is much in human nature that is not good. The visceral desire to punish people for saying things you believe are wrong and to force them to recant, is high on the list.

      • Drake

        Who gives Alex Jones airtime? Alex Jones does – InfoWars.

        I used to think of him as a kooky conspiracy theorist spouting impossible stuff, then 2020 happened.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    A befuddling lack of ethnic conformity

    “I would point first to the development over a long period of time of a partisan loyalty to the Republican Party. And Latino Republican voters just identify as Republicans above all else, just like many Americans. There is a kind of tribalism among Latino Republicans, just like there is among many Americans.”

    While some might expect that support to wane in communities who’ve been most severely affected by COVID-19 — losing more jobs and more lives than other demographic groups — Cadava said the Trump campaign’s messaging has been successful on low unemployment for Latinos pre-pandemic, “law and order” (many Latinos serve in the military, police force and in the Border Patrol) and other issues important to Latino conservatives.

    “It’s been kind of amazing to watch, I mean, in some ways the Latinos for Trump campaign, which started officially in the spring of 2019, has been relentless in recruiting Latino voters,” Cadava said. “They’re actually trying to increase Trump’s Latino support, not just kind of hold it steady or depress the turnout of Democrats. They’re trying to win more Latino votes.”

    ——-

    His Christian faith also aligned him with the Republican Party on issues such as abortion. And while he said he probably wouldn’t phrase things the way Trump does sometimes, Latino voters such as him are attracted to the message of lower taxes and lower costs of living, especially in California.

    “I’ve never seen the Republican Party fight this hard to get Latino and African American votes,” he said. “We have a number of Latino candidates, a number of Latino Republicans who are really stepping up and taking center stage. I’m hoping that that can be a better conduit to connecting with Latinos across the country and showing them that the Republican Party, there is a place for you here. This is your home as a voter.”

    Those crazy latinos don’t all vote the same? That makes no sense.

    • leon

      “I’ve never seen the Republican Party fight this hard to get Latino and African American votes,” he said. “We have a number of Latino candidates, a number of Latino Republicans who are really stepping up and taking center stage. I’m hoping that that can be a better conduit to connecting with Latinos across the country and showing them that the Republican Party, there is a place for you here. This is your home as a voter.”

      I mean… they aren’t wrong.

    • SugarFree

      Tio Toms!

      • leon

        I mean go all the way with Tio Tomas

      • SugarFree

        I didn’t want to culturally appropriate too much.

    • Gadfly

      His Christian faith also aligned him with the Republican Party on issues such as abortion. And while he said he probably wouldn’t phrase things the way Trump does sometimes, Latino voters such as him are attracted to the message of lower taxes and lower costs of living, especially in California.

      “I’ve never seen the Republican Party fight this hard to get Latino and African American votes,” he said. “We have a number of Latino candidates, a number of Latino Republicans who are really stepping up and taking center stage. I’m hoping that that can be a better conduit to connecting with Latinos across the country and showing them that the Republican Party, there is a place for you here. This is your home as a voter.”

      The Latino Republican running to unseat the Latina Democrat who represents my district in the State House has sent two mailers to my house. One touted his support for schools, law enforcement, and low taxes and regulations. The other had an endorsement from a black city councilman who was listed as also being a pastor and fireman. I’m thinking that the Democrats’ idea that “demographics is destiny” may be a house of cards.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      Well they are more diverse than black people.

      • kbolino

        Can’t tell if serious

      • Cancelled

        He’s quoting (more or less) Biden

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        Yes.

  11. prolefeed

    Topic – weirdest thing that happened to you in 2020 that, if someone in 2019 had said it would happen, you would have questioned their sanity:

    Me: being told by a family member that I was a bad person who he would no longer associate with, because I would not wear a flimsy piece of paper-thin cloth over my mouth, thus allegedly massively jeopardizing the lives of myself and others:

    Said family member once having bragged that he had driven his motorcycle down the Boeing freeway at 140 MPH, and when a cop turned on their flashers and went into pursuit, twisted the throttle wide open and went even faster, thus evading the police in a high speed chase.

    • leon

      Hmm There are a few.

      I think something that deserves an honorable mention, though i didn’t get told this by anyone is that last year i would have laughed if someone told me that this year Donald Trump would be the only person i seriously consider casting a vote for.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      weirdest thing that happened to you in 2020 that, if someone in 2019 had said it would happen, you would have questioned their sanity

      I distinctly remember landing in DCA after a week long trip to Disney in February and feeling this weight reattach itself to my shoulders. Even the day before, if you had told me that within 3 weeks we’d have committed to renovating and selling our house in order to move back to TX, found out we were pregnant, and would be stuck living in our basement because the world was locked down (and the floor on the main level was being refinished), I’d have called you insane. If you told me that I wouldn’t be to the gun range again until after the election because I couldn’t afford ammo, id think you were extra nuts.

    • Ayn Random Variation

      That I would spend 9 months working from home.

      That I wouldn’t shoot pool for 6 months.

      That I would grow facial hair.

      That I would try to cut my own hair.

      That I would think twice about going outside (riot ptsd).

  12. The Late P Brooks

    I argue that the Great Barrington Declaration’s uselessness as anything other than Trump administration agitprop reflects some of libertarianism’s most serious flaws.

    Belief in self-ownership is a sin. Rejecting the universal truths of Conventional Wisdom is treason.

    • Plisade

      “Sanity was statistical. It was merely a question of learning to think as they thought.” –1984

  13. Necron 99

    New guy here, totally Tulpa, or at least part of the Tulpae continuum. I have been lurking here for several months, almost feel like I know some of you half as well as I’d like, and like half of you half as much as you deserve. I hope to get to know more of you as time goes by.

    Figured I needed to break the ice before I jumped in and started adding to the snark. Looking forward to it. I don’t post often but grateful to find a home of like minded libertarian-ish folks.

    I have the same user name at TOS but didn’t post there much either, but I may have talked to a few of you people there, I do recognize a few names, but I am generally bad with names.

    Cheer all.

    • prolefeed

      Welcome to the club. Here’s your figurative football helmet. You’re gonna need it. 😉

      • Necron 99

        My new favorite team – The Football Team. Go Team!

      • Fourscore

        We need all the friends we can get. But if you want to really be a true friend you have to submit lots of articles about your support/non-support of deep dish. I would add beer too but since I’m a total washout from the last century I won’t mention it.

      • Necron 99

        I’m just a simple man, my pizza comes from the Hut, usually “pan” style with all the fixins, except pineapple.

        My beer of choice is Shiner Bock – I’m a Texan.

        My cigar of choice is Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro, or Padron 1926 Serie Maduro.

        My whisky of choice is Balcones Single Malt, but I am new to the premium whisky world and willing to try others.

        As Animal says, life is too short to smoke cheap cigars or drink cheap whisky.

        My pet of choice is the cat.

        My method of transportation of choice is a Suzuki V-Strom 650.

      • zwak

        Mmm… A Strom trooper.

        Mmm…

        (a hearty Fuck off Tulpa!)

      • Mad Scientist

        My pet of choice is the cat.

        Hey, guys! We got a virgin over here!

      • R C Dean

        Hey, guys! We got a another virgin over here!

      • Sean

        Hi Tulpa.

        What is the proper doneness of a grilled steak?

      • Necron 99

        Medimun rare, of course.

      • Fourscore

        Looks like you have passed muster. Now watch your back.

      • Apples and Knives

        Shiner Bock is the correct answer (mostly Texan here). NY pizza is the best, pineapple is fine and pan is delicious but it isn’t pizza. Fuck cigars. ALL whisky/whiskey is good. I joke that I hate cats but I really have a soft spot for them, but ALL dogs are good. Not a car guy by any means, anything reliable is great.

      • Gadfly

        But if you want to really be a true friend you have to submit lots of articles about your support/non-support of deep dish.

        I have though about submitting an article on the most libertarian pizza, but I have demurred because it would be super short, and not worth a post.

        The most libertarian pizza is pineapple deep dish. Because there is nothing more libertarian than supporting people’s right to be totally, utterly wrong.

      • Bill (Door) Baggins (a Skellington)

        :Applause:

        You deserve a Nobel Prize.

      • Bill (Door) Baggins (a Skellington)

        :Applause:

        You deserve a Nobel Prize.

      • Cancelled

        Do the double posts come from the unreality of the interface between your realm and ours? Or is it caused by Binky’s speed?

      • Bill (Door) Baggins (a Skellington)

        Binky’s speed has a lot to do with it, is my guess.

        That, and skwerrelz.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Fuck off tulpa.

      (Welcome!)

    • leon

      At least you have an avatar, unlike half these tulpae around here.

      • Necron 99

        Yeah, screw those tulpae.

      • R C Dean

        Good avatar. I had that poster on my wall as a kid.

      • Necron 99

        I saw the movie with my brother who worked at the theater. I recommended it to a bunch of friends so we all pile in a car and head to see it. The ticket lady wouldn’t sell us tickets, turns out it was rated R and we were all 15 and 16, I was bummed.

        I watched it on YT broken into small bits recently and was thinking, “what happened?” It didn’t age very well.

      • Fourscore

        Well, maybe it wasn’t the movie that didn’t age well. I’m familiar with the problem

      • Seguin

        I have an avatar on order, but Avatar Factory S487 is behind on quota and theres a 7 month waiting list.

        Also, awesome avatar Necron99

    • Contrarian P

      Dammit. Tulpaed again. I thought everyone else was Tulpa. Or I’m Tulpa. Still working it out in my head.

    • SP

      I love palindromic numbers, so welcome!

      • Necron 99

        Thanks for the welcome, I love what you’ve done with the place.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      A hearty “fuck off, Tulpa” to you!

      Tell us about yourself… what do you enjoy? who would you kill in their crib first if you had a time machine? Where did STEVE SMITH touch you? What are your thoughts on 223 versus 12 gauge for home defense? What do you think happened to the Kennedy “wannafud” spawn?

      • Necron 99

        Live in small town Texas. Work as a manufacturing engineer. Still with my first wife (she hates that expression) of 30 years. Have two kids, underachieving son who lives with me, gay daughter who doesn’t, and a toddlering grandson from my gay daughter. I enjoy cigars, whisky, motorcycles, skeet and trap, and various other crap. Kill in the crib? Likely Marx – he seems to have started all this crap. STEVE SMITH TOUCHES WHERE STEVE SMITH WANTS!!! 12 gauge is superior, unless you need a lot of rounds then the 223 will come out in top. I’ve sent a lot of M-16 rounds downrange in Army during the 80’s and 90’s, 35E. Kennedy has no value in my life so fuck it.

        Tis me in a nutshell, take it or leave it.

      • R C Dean

        Still with my first wife (she hates that expression) of 30 years.

        I refer to Mrs. Dean as my last wife.

        In return, she refers to me as her current husband.

      • DEG

        who would you kill in their crib first if you had a time machine?

        DON’T KILL HITLER!

      • Necron 99

        Mike Tyson did once. Shalom.

    • Tundra

      Hiya, Tulpa!

      I’m glad you decided to dive into the deep end.

      (And of course, fuck off!)

    • Aus

      Welcome to the party pal!

    • KOVIDKristen

      Howdy & fuck off Tulpa!

      • juris imprudent

        Oh, this Tulpa even gets greeted by the women-folk. Well la-deee-da.

        Texan huh? Horns or howdy?

      • Necron 99

        I’m a Tarleton State alumni, go Texans and TexAnns. A member of the A&M system.

        Non-traditional, dropped out of UTA in 85, got a AAS in 93, then got my BS in 03 after where I worked got moved out of state by those bastards at Textron.

  14. Tonio

    “empowers localities to establish civilian reviews boards with subpoena power”

    Empowers, but does not mandate. And we know those boards are always packed with people sympathetic to police. The subpoena power is impressive, let’s see how often it’s actually used.

    As a side note I look really good on paper as a potential “fair” and respectable citizen. I wonder if I should apply.

    • Cancelled

      Civilian review comes in two flavors. Thin Blue Line which recommends no charges against the cop who shoots three hookers, their pimp, and some kid walking down the street because one of the hookers disrespected him by refusing to blow him for free. Black Lives Matter which recommends the death penalty for a cop who shoots a guy who had already stabbed two other cops with the sharpened femur of the girlscout he was simultaneously raping and eating when the police arrived.

      • leon

        Well mandate that you have an even share of both and then it will work! / congress

      • Drake

        Those seem to be your two choices when it comes to use of force.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Las Vegas has a citizen review board and that is exactly what it is as you stated.

  15. B.P.

    It seems that as the election approaches, all of the bad shit from 2020 is on rerun — being packed into a few days and put on spin cycle. Last night one of the shitty evening news channels (whichever network Lester Holt works for), led off with: coronavirus exploding, rioting over someone shot in Philly, forest fires, a hurricane. Today the Dow Jones dropped 900-something points, capping four days of losses.

    Monday is going to suck.

    • prolefeed

      Today the Dow Jones dropped 900-something points, capping four days of losses.

      Apparently some Democrats on Wall Street have figured out that the polls are GIGO and Trump might actually win, and are panic selling.

      Noticed the grocery stores shelves were a bit understocked today, possibly due to the resumption of hoarding to hedge against possible rioting or other civil unrest should the Anointed One lose to OMB.

  16. J. Frank Parnell

    Swastika, ‘Trump’ Graffiti Found On Lafayette Home, Orinda Overpass
    My cousin just posted this on Facebook, along with a long rant about how this shows that Trump is a hatemonger and if you vote for Trump you’re supporting literal Nazis.

    I expect there to be no follow-up post from him in a few days when it turns out it wasn’t done by a Trump supporter.

    • Ted S.

      There are Trump supporters in San Francisco?

    • leon

      I’m laughing at the image of Trump sneaking off from his campaign to personally do this.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I typically imagine him and Biden as Spy v. Spy

    • J. Frank Parnell

      Another story about the incident:
      Lafayette home vandalized with swastika graffiti, owners urge public to vote

      In a statement to KTVU, the couple said: “We have 7 days until the next election. Seven days to choose love over hate, unity over division, and bravery over fear. Seven days to protect our children’s future and to make our parents proud. Get out the vote.”

      Perhaps by bravely standing up love and unity these brave people can denazify California and finally turn the state blue.

      • R C Dean

        That sure sounds to me like they want people to vote for Trump. I know they think its an unquestionable reference to vote Dem, but from inside my bubble its the Dems predominantly doing the hate, division, fear, etc.

      • invisible finger

        I was completely flummoxed about who to vote for and why, and even considered not voting. But these narcissists have finally convinced me.

      • B.P.

        Vote wisely. You’ll be disappointed in yourself if you vote unwisely and the result is someone living in a place you’ve never been has a swastika painted on his/her property. I wouldn’t want that on my conscience.

    • Gadfly

      The idea that Trump is a crypto-Nazi is perhaps the dumbest idea of the last four years. This reeks of being a false flag attack.

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        Ya think?

      • Don escaped Duopoly

        Nazis would have made the Mexicans pay for the wall.

      • Cancelled

        Nazis would have made the Panamanians pay for the wall, which would have been on the south side of the canal on the new, much shorter and easier to defend, US southern border.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      That’s my hometown. Either a false flag or some bored teenager. The influx of people from Berkeley, Oakland and SF over the decades has turned it from a really conservative Republican town to just another Bay Area lefty suburb with good schools.

    • Cancelled

      Civil War 2 “Red v Blue Boogaloo” is going to be surreal.

      • leon

        “Red v Blue Boogaloo”

        I’m sure Jo will still be out their saying “Hey don’t forget about my team!” “Give me a chance at the battlefield!”

    • Ownbestenemy

      That…I mean, it can’t be…oh, maybe Halloween? Really really bad optics…fuckin clowns.

      • leon

        I’ve always hated and found dressing up as an adult to work super unprofessional. The one time where i worked, where they really pushed dressing up on Halloween, i dressed up as Clark Kent.

      • Cancelled

        You would be a complete failure as a stripper

      • LJW

        Unless it’s an office Halloween party I dressing up is a bit tacky IMO. When it comes to a serious matter like the virus, dressing as a clown whether it’s for Halloween or not is beyond tacky.

      • Count Potato

        It’s not Halloween yet.

  17. Count Potato

    “their lawyer insisted they’d been overcharged and only acted in self-defense”

    IANAL, but how the fuck do you stab someone 27 times in self defense?

    • mexican sharpshooter

      They say in self-defense courses to keep shooting until the threat is neutralized. Perhaps its the same if you’re a cutter.

      • EvilSheldon

        It is, but 27 stab wounds is gonna look bad even if you stabbed cannibal rape-Hitler. This is something we talked about in my last knife class.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        I was answering the illustrious mr….potato’s question of:

        how the fuck do you stab someone 27 times in self defense?

        Needing to neutralize is threat is how. I never said doing it 27 times was prudent.

    • leon

      Its the “Holding him down by his hair” while you stab him 27 times that i think is going to be the big problem in proving self-defense

      • invisible finger

        I think the “capturing it on cell phone video” is also going to be a problem in claiming self-defense.

        But maybe they were using body cams or google glass and were only passively recording the incident. And maybe there were riots in the neighborhood over a probably-innocent man being attacked.

      • Gdragon

        That hair was alive and coming right for them!

  18. mexican sharpshooter

    I can click the links right? Its not going to send me down multiple rabbit holes where I find another way to die?

    • Ownbestenemy

      Only one way to find out.

    • leon

      “ he admits ‘conservatives have lost our trust’”

      Yeah, don’t worry, they’re dumb enough to believe you if you say you’re sorry.

    • Cancelled

      I think you have created a new way to mess up a link. It works, It shows the article linked. It just does not match your comment.

      • Cancelled

        Ok either I have just had a psychotic break or the edit fairy is getting quick.

    • leon

      Jack does look like he just came out of hiding from a cave in Afghanistan.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      The age of COVID turned Jack into Howard Hughes.

    • Surly Knott

      Very simple answer he should have given — my customers.

    • Cancelled

      Now you are just rubbing it in!

      • Fourscore

        Rubbing it out? Toobin is a Rep staff member?

      • Count Potato

        What? Links seem to be working as normal.

      • Cancelled

        Initially the link in comment 21 was actually the link in comment 22 so I posted my first reply in 21 above. Then it changed to the correct link so I posted my second reply to 21. Then you posted comment 22.

      • Count Potato

        So what do we tell Mr. Roper?

    • Lady Z

      I actually read that book.

    • juris imprudent

      He left the government after DHS Kirstjen Nielsen was fired and he later became the head of national security relations at Google.

      Continuing to prove that he can’t find gainful employment.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I am sure that is just a video of my teens…damn kids.

    • DEG

      69 is an auspicious number.

    • Ownbestenemy

      And Joe claimed and the media did not correct, they were left in sub-zero temps. I am sure they were fine as they are from that area and dressed accordingly I assume.

      • Count Potato

        According to the article, not all of them were fine.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        Shut the fuck up, lib.

        #WWF1WFA

      • The Hyperbole

        Willy Wonka Found 1 Willing Furry Aardvark?

      • Ayn Random Variation

        21 degrees = hypothermia? Were they naked?

  19. Tundra

    Man, what a day.

    SP lynx in the morning. A Sugar Free tour de force and now the Clash.

    I’m spent.

    Oh, the cat was excellent, too!

    • SP

      You didn’t like my music link this morning?

      • Tundra

        I did!

        I even left it rolling for most of the album!

  20. Count Potato

    “Socialist AOC appears in Vanity Fair in $14,000 of designer suits and Louboutins to call Trump a motherf****r for not paying tax – as she compares herself to Hillary and Pelosi (and gets to keep a $3,000 outfit)

    In one portion of the interview, she said ‘dressing the part has been an unexpected struggle, but it’s also a way to connect with constituents’ while wearing an $800 dress and $1,450 earrings.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8889119/AOC-appears-cover-Vanity-Fair-says-shes-boogeyman-Dems.html

    • LJW

      She knows how communism works.

    • Evan from Evansville

      Wow. She really can’t help herself. She has no Off Button. 99% of them don’t, but she is remarkably flagrant about it. She is living the Team Blue Democratic dream that she imagined when she was a little girl. Riding on her attractiveness through her years she got men to do whatever she wanted them to do for her. She’s used to it, and now she’s at the top. For a normal girl, they might dream of becoming a princess. AOC literally is now, just under a different moniker.

      Sadly, still would. With reckless abandon. I wouldn’t call her back.

      • prolefeed

        It might be possible to do her if it was hate-fucking, and duct tape was used.

        /jk

      • prolefeed

        I say this as someone who was advised by a sympathetic cop, in the aftermath of my apartment being trashed by the crazy in which I’d been putting my dick in for far longer than was advisable, to break my lease, quit my job, change my name if necessary, and move leaving no forwarding address.

        He’d been stalked by a crazy ex for a dozen years.

        So, there’s a level of crazy for which no amount of physical beauty can make risking sex with her a good idea. And AOC pings that painfully acquired crazy-dar.

      • DEG

        She has no boobpedia entry.

      • Ayn Random Variation

        She is hot as hell. Evil and stupid, but I would.

    • R C Dean

      Say, did she ever pay her back taxes?

    • Ownbestenemy

      Wait I thought she got mad when she was referred to as AOC and not Mighty On High Representative Ocasio Cortez?

      • Drake

        If she wanted me to use her name, she’d have fewer of them.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      What are the odds against her having claimed the full value of her barkeeping and waitressing tips?

    • Bill (Door) Baggins (a Skellington)

      The lack of outrage with this just shows that a lot of the people who read these magazines would be ok with a monarchy and ruling class, as long as they’re perty and wear fancy clothes. She obviously believes this too. Where is old man Sanders yelling at the sky that no one needs more than one dress choice?

      • Ayn Random Variation

        He’s traveling between his 3 houses.

    • Bill (Door) Baggins (a Skellington)

      The lack of outrage with this just shows that a lot of the people who read these magazines would be ok with a monarchy and ruling class, as long as they’re perty and wear fancy clothes. She obviously believes this too. Where is old man Sanders yelling at the sky that no one needs more than one dress choice?

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      Wasn’t Trump able to pay only $750 because he was getting credit against taxes he had already paid? Basically he was giving the government an interest free loan.

      • Ayn Random Variation

        Well, the thing is….SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Ayn Random Variation

      She’s the most equal of them all

  21. Evan from Evansville

    @Trigger Hippie: It’s great to hear from you. I’m sorry you were and are going through rough times, and I know how stressful, depressing and hard it is. I also did a GoFundMe with the Glibs and I was also blown away at how kind and generous everyone was.

    To all Glibs: Thank you for your help. It means the most. You guys are the best and that’s why this is hands-down my favorite place to be. It still easily beats anything in meat-space. Thanks again.

    (SP: You’re the greatest of them all!)

    • SP

      Hmmm. Much too much flattery.

      What did you do that I didn’t find out about yet? 😉

      • Evan from Evansville

        What have I done…I’m sure I’m supposed to think up a quirky response but that’s too hard! Bah! I’ll just be honest.

        Sadly not much has been accomplished. I speech therapy (I graduated and don’t need to do it! Although I liked it. It was never about speech but rather cognitive strategies), occupational therapy, I used to have visual and now just like one more physical therapy. That’s for a weeeird thing that happened to my left leg. Completely unrelated.

        I’m trying to get back to Korea and just today applied to several gigs and I’ve got my feelers our their. I also applied for a part time teaching gig here with kids with disabilities. I did well in the interviews and last week I taught two classes and was viewed by the principal! Don’t really want it, but something to keep me busy is good.

        I’m sick of not having a job and living with my parents though. That blows. And between not being ‘able’ to drive and the COVID panic, I can’t really go out and do anything. GRRG.

        But healthier and resolved. Onwards. Upwards. Always! (

    • Mad Scientist

      (SP: You’re the greatest of them all!)

      And the greatest that ever will be.

      • KOVIDKristen

        Thanks trashy

  22. Shpip

    Florida Woman gets fed up with her cable provider, bashes equipment at their office with a crowbar.

    The courts are checking her record for pryer offenses.

    • SugarFree

      I have a hard time believing that attacking the cable company should be a crime. I mean, intellectually, yes, it should be a crime. But emotionally, it just feels right.

      • Tundra

        A perfect opportunity for jury nullification.

      • Cancelled

        Why do you hate Western Union?

      • Count Potato

        It’s almost impossible to communicate with my cable company.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Threaten to cancel..you will get some movement.

    • The Hyperbole

      You lever get that feeling that someone’s squinting at you?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Only when my fulcrum is offset.

      • Cancelled

        He really pried that reply out of you.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Between his effort and my resistance, it seems we might be able to have a little bit of motion

      • Cancelled

        Will that sort of mechanical interaction provide some advantage?

      • Ownbestenemy

        You win. I cannot load any more puns if we remain this distant in our views.

      • The Hyperbole

        To pun or not to pun has long been a wedge issue amongst Glibs.

      • creech

        Used a crowbar? Obviously, she was suffering from Corvid-19.

    • Tulip

      I am in total sympathy. Would vote acquit as the bastard had it coming

      • Cancelled

        Congratulations Hyperbole, he fell into your trap!

        You lever get that feeling that someone’s squinting at you?

  23. Count Potato

    Oh, and if SP is still here, it’s still doing that jump to the top thing.

    • SP

      Yep, working on it, but have been unable to identify the issue, so far.

      • Count Potato

        OK, thanks 🙂

      • Cancelled

        Glibs has solved the problem of the race to the bottom!

  24. Gadfly

    That cat video was more entertaining than it had any right to be. Home Depot could just fire their ad agency and run that.

  25. Suthenboy

    Goddamn.

    I have never seen mosquitoes this bad. The neighbor’s dogs hang out at my house most of the time (those assholes are never home, just throw their dogs in the yard and forget about them) and I have an outdoor cat that refuses to come inside. I went out to feed the lot of them a bit ago and there were hundreds of mosquitoes swarming the poor critters.
    I broke out the new fogger and smoked the place up. I do that every day and it will kill them off for an hour or two but there is an infinite supply of replacements in the woods around here.
    We dont need another storm. We need a week of freezing weather.

    • Count Potato

      Bat boxes?

      • Suthenboy

        We have Spanish moss. Bats roost in clumps of Spanish moss. We have lots of bats.

        I think the storms sucked up a bazillion extra mosquitoes and deposited them here.
        No one ever accused Louisiana of having a shortage of bugs.

      • Count Potato

        This is true.

      • Don escaped Duopoly

        Ambrose Bierce recalled spanish moss at Shiloh.

        I’ve never figured out if that were poetic license, the wreckage of a weak memory, or a confabulation born of the notion that all swamps are the same.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Damn dirty plebs

    The long-feared surge is blamed in part on growing disregard for social distancing and mask-wearing, as well as the onset of cold weather, which is forcing people indoors, where the virus can spread more easily.

    Dr. David Letzer, an infectious-disease specialist who doubles as chairman of the Wisconsin Medical Society’s COVID-19 task force and is getting swamped with patients, said he was incensed to see people without masks going into a restaurant as he was driving between hospitals.

    “I’m just coming from a place with ventilators and people are just going to an indoor restaurant,” he said. “Those are the things that are frustrating and take their toll.”

    What’s the point of being a Top Man, if people refuse to kowtow to you? You might as well be a plumber.

    • grrizzly

      Fuck the moron doctor who never even thought before 2020 about wearing a face mask in a restaurant. Because everyone including him knew that it was stupid and pointless. If you wear a mask, you’re a retard.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Enter restaurant with mask, sit down, remove mask, eat and drink…sounds legit.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        The Kung Murder Death Flu only travels at altitudes of > 5′ AGL, it flys over your head. It is known. Don’t you effing love science?

    • Ownbestenemy

      I mused last night before I realized I needed to go to sleep. ~50% of the country at any given 4-year cycle doesn’t trust the Executive, Upwards of 80-90% of the country doesn’t trust the Legislative and nearly all of the country believes the Judicial is their savior to their woes.

      Couple that with what you bring up, we are just waiting for the when and how the game will be played.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        It’s hard to say to what extent this current era of tension creates inevitable violence. From my perspective, there doesn’t seem to be an escape to any semblance of unity. 9/11 could happen again tomorrow, and I still think we’d be at each other’s throats.

        The only question in my mind is whether a little bit of bloodletting will be enough to knock some sense into the left, or whether they’ve spent the last 50 years building such a vast logistical network that they won’t wither when they get punched in the nose.

      • kbolino

        9/11 could happen again tomorrow, and I still think we’d be at each other’s throats.

        I don’t doubt it. The pandemic is just another front in the Culture War today.

    • Suthenboy

      Given that the vast majority of the left is concentrated in urban areas with few avenues for access, no ability to produce food or supply themselves with water I dont know how they delude themselves into thinking they have a chance.

      • creech

        They trust and believe that the rural farm boys and rednecks will never come in contact with “Atlas Shrugged.”

    • Ownbestenemy

      EH…looks like they took advantage of a mentally ill person, but could be wrong. I just don’t trust anything.

      • Sean

        Dunno, dude seemed pretty on point. Just a bit of a character.

      • The Hyperbole

        They found Hyperion!

      • Count Potato

        Don’t ask me, I have an analogue compass.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        A great device that doesn’t drop out when you don’t have coverage from a tower and only costs about a hundred bucks.

      • Cancelled

        and doesn’t refuse to close the damn map when you change your mind about where you are going, yet inevitably close your map when you tap the screen accidentally as you lift the phone to try and figure out how Google got you onto a 45 mile gravel road in the middle of nowhere.

      • KOVIDKristen

        That sums up my drive around western SD

      • Tundra

        I still like paper maps.

      • The Hyperbole

        Meh, I take a quick look at the Rand McNally Atlas and hit the road, no gps, no maps, take back roads whenever the highway gets too boring/congested. Sure it took me 17 hours to get to from Columbus to Memphis once , but that’s part of the adventure.

      • KOVIDKristen

        I always plan & memorize my routes days or weeks beforehand. I use GPS in case of a change of plans, but damned if the thing is a temperamental bitch. Especially when you have it connected to the car with bluetooth, and your map keeps minimizing over & over & over with some B.S. alert about not being connected properly or some shit.

      • Cancelled

        It got me there and in Montana. Protip, if you are going to Pompey’s Pillar (which you definitely should someday, but not this year because the stairs up to the Clark signature are closed) there is both a town named that and a monument named that, and GPS will take you to the town via gravel roads, of either 7 miles or 30+ miles depending on where you are coming from, then you will feel REALLY stupid after you get done because if you had simply followed the street signs you would have discovered that the monument was about a quarter mile along a well paved State road.

        But my best adventure was in Wyoming one year when I got to Devil’s Tower and decided to skip it because the line of cars was like a mile long. Google was apparently telling me to pull onto a logging road just to turn around, but then it glitched out and never told me the turn around part. This began a hell of an adventure because by the time I figured it out there was no way to turn around so I took a rental car on a 2 hour trip on unpaved roads, including a short stretch that was just tire ruts around boulders in a totally abandoned logging site about 8 miles from any possibility of human assistance if I got stuck.

    • creech

      Morons who will be underemployed their whole lives due to reparation payments they sanctioned and supported.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Hopefully they’ll live long enough to be more wise and less stupid. Time works that trick for a lot of people.

      • Suthenboy

        Check out the optimist over here.

        “Once they are demoralized you cannot fix them. No matter how much authentic information you give them they cannot draw a sensible conclusion. You are stuck with them.” – Yuri Bezmenov

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        “Good grief, look at all the fucking taxes.”
        -Me 30 years ago on getting my first career job paycheck

        If that doesn’t bring them back to reality nothing will and if it doesn’t were in deep trouble.

  27. hate_speech

    I’m not sure what’s more worrying: That I relate to the Alex Jones sones, or that my watching habits are enough like SF’s that it popped up in both our recommended feeds.

    • Ted S.

      Because those runners aren’t socially distanced….

    • Cancelled

      The problem with getting big events back to normal is that they require elaborate, and expensive, advance planning. Planning your big event next year can bankrupt you if the assholes extend orders against gatherings, or the cowards refuse to come out for your event. So I predict that there will be a lag of six months minimum on large events once the assholes finally drop the tyrrany, assuming they ever do.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        ^Pretty much this. I bet they don’t run it again until 2022.

      • Don escaped Duopoly

        by which time all the hotels will be boarded up

        so bring a tent

      • Cancelled

        And pack a cooler because the restaurants will all be closed as well.

      • hayeksplosives

        I was once part of a professional group of engineers in a very niche area.

        We made our own professional organization so we could cover our odd topic. We only colll OK ectoderm enough dues to pay for our annual meeting and the deposit for the next year.

        We had to cancel just one year, but it was after we’d paid the Nonrefundable deposit.

        We had to dissolve the group. Permanently.

      • Surly Knott

        Isn’t autocorrect fun? LOL

      • juris imprudent

        Yep, and why I’m not counting on going out for Burning Man next year.

      • hayeksplosives

        I feel sorry for Olympic athletes, especially in sports with no future earnings potential.

        They pour everything into precise timing of their athletic peak at Olympics every 4 years. If they miss an Olympic Games, that might be the end of their careers.

        Could be worse, like being a Soviet or ChiCom athlete who misses her event. Those poor kids are molded by the state as some kind of pedigreed animal at a show of superiority. Once they’ve served the state, what sort of life do they lead?

      • Tejicano

        I’m pretty sure the Olympic level athletes in hard socialist countries, once they have competed and filled their role, are given jobs as coaches, or at worst, some admin position in the nation’s Olympic program. Even if they cannot compete anymore they have some level of knowledge about the process which can be made useful.

    • Tundra

      Boston Weak.

  28. Ayn Random Variation

    “Jayla recorded the incident on her phone.”

    Herds.
    Thinning.

  29. grrizzly

    Rhode Island:

    Raimondo called for Rhode Islanders to wear face masks whenever they are with people they don’t live with, and, for the next couple of weeks, to limit non-essential interactions.

    “You don’t need to go watch a sports game or a sports practice,” she said. “You don’t need to go out for coffee after church. You don’t need to have friends over for dinner or lunch. You don’t need to go out and hang out with your coworkers after work. You don’t need three play dates in a weekend. These are the things that we don’t have the luxury to be doing now.”

    Raimondo said she plans to announce new restrictions at 1 p.m. Friday.

    Since the end of June, Rhode Island has been in Phase 3 of reopening its economy amid the pandemic, and she warned that within a week or two the state could exceed the metrics that would trigger a return to Phase 2, which imposed stricter limits on businesses, churches, and nursing homes, for example.

    • Ted S.

      You don’t *need* to be standing at a microphone bossing us around, Mrs. Raimondo.

    • Cancelled

      Oddly I don’t need some asshole whose qualification is that they won a popualrity contest telling me what I need.

    • Ayn Random Variation

      “You don’t need to go watch a sports game or a sports practice,””\

      And you don’t need so many teeth.

      • hayeksplosives

        This right here.

      • Suthenboy

        I was thinking the same but alas someone else will have to do that. I will never raise my hand to a woman.

        I will pay good money to watch.

      • Ayn Random Variation

        Oops, I didn’t realize it was a she. I’ll just hold hayeksplosive’s coat.

    • Ayn Random Variation

      How are these metrics derived?

      • hayeksplosives

        Something to do with a warm moist spot, I reckon.

    • The Hyperbole

      She’s not wrong, but needs got nothing to do with it.

    • EvilSheldon

      What part of, “Suck my dick, bitch,” are you not getting?

    • DEG

      Huh. Rhode Island has had a mask mandate since April 20th, 2020. I thought masks worked?

  30. Ayn Random Variation

    Notes from Downtown Beirut. Curfew tonight. All businesses have to be closed by 9. My apartment building has barriers by one entrance.

    And my background check apparently is still in Review status. The shop says if it takes this long (now 4 days) it will probably be denied.

      • EvilSheldon

        Does the PA background check go through NICS, or is it separate?

      • Sean

        As I understand it, it’s just PA state police using NICS.

      • Sean

        A little googling says it also includes state databases too. *shrug*

      • Ayn Random Variation

        Could the delay be that I’ve only been in PA a year and half and have lived in 4 states?

      • Sean

        Dunno, I vaguely recall having to wait my first time. But my gf got hers right away. We were both fresh NJ refugees.

      • Ayn Random Variation

        OK thanks. Was hoping to have it before election night but not looking good.

      • Ayn Random Variation

        They said they would give me an appeal form but I have to wait until I’m denied.

      • Sean

        I’ve been in research a couple times over the years. Didn’t make any sense.

      • Suthenboy

        It is a good thing that we have constitutionally protection of freedom of association specifically forbidding bullshit like that.

      • Cancelled

        The Tree needs watering again.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        If the courts punt on it does that right really exist? Functionally at least it doesn’t right now.

      • Cancelled

        The right exists; the government can only infringe it, they can never take it away.

      • Suthenboy

        There were discussions among the FF as to whether or not the system they created would work. The conclusion: This system will only work if the population is moral. For immoral people no system will work and governance will devolve to the threat of violence.

        I think ‘punt’ is not the right word. I would say ‘drop the ball’. We have a lot of bad apples in the court system.

      • Cancelled

        We tend to blame the courts, the Congress, this president and that president, but in the end their failings are symptoms. The disease is our collective lack of the virtues required to maintain a republic. You need a high percentage of the population to be able to differentiate between “I want x” and “we, as a people should do y,” and having differentiated go on to make the right decision, and to hold the government and institutions accountable when they stop doing y and start doing x.

        It’s not a thing that can be tricked or forced into happening because it requires both that people put aside their immediate, and in some cases long term, desires out of a sense of civic responsibility AND that they be wise enough to recognize that one of the desires that needs to be put aside is the desire to use the power of the State to try to make people virtuous. So basically you need people willing to sacrifice their personal desires to preserve the Republic, but unwilling to sacrifice their neighbor’s desires when their neighbor doesn’t ‘act properly’.

        I don’t think we are ever getting back to that point now, if we ever really were there. The problem is that for any of this to be possible there has to be a shared idea of the proper sphere of government, and compromises need to be in the direction of giving up pet projects that the other side will not accept rather than in the direction of giving them their pet project in return for getting yours, otherwise Leviathan just gets bigger.

      • straffinrun

        “ new safety guidelines for all private gatherings”

        Rage building.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      18? That guy?

      • R C Dean

        If Biden wins, he walks.

  31. westernsloper

    I have moved my lap top drinking station back to its winter position in front of the wood stove. I glanced over at my dusty Mtn bike and the cabinet behind it. Next to a stack of old kiteboarding VCR tapes sits a stack of CD’s. Top CD cover track is this. That is the last song that actually sang about MLK’s Dream that I am aware of.

  32. Lazer

    I got polled, I got polled!! It was fun. I went on short rants about the questions. (As in why not put the Libertarian candidate on this question since they are on the ballot in all 50 states?”, and “At least they let the Libertarian candidate debate in our state) Of course none of that will be admitted, just “Do you agree or disagree with xyz?” Are you voting for Governor candidate with a R or D? (Missouri) “Is what you have read or seen on Governor candidate D/R favorable or unfavorable?” And obviously about the Pres. election.

    On the favorable on our current governor who is running I said, “At least he ain’t trying to make me wear a mask!”

    Anyway, I think I at least made the lady smile and put some humor into her evening.

    • Suthenboy

      This question is not just for you Lazer but for everyone.

      Is there a libertarian candidate or party organization that is actually libertarian? Every one I have seen is a closet leftist.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Mises Caucus maybe?

      • Ayn Random Variation

        The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.

      • Unreconstructed

        The Texas LP is fairly libertarian. There’s a faction that’s more Republican-lite, but even they aren’t *bad*. We’ve had some statewide candidates that were, IMHO, pretty good.

      • The Hyperbole

        The “closet leftists” bit makes that question impossible to answer. Any candidate I propose you can simply dismiss their stated and published policy positions because you “know” what they really think. In other words you’ve answered you own question.

      • Ayn Random Variation

        Do you rent yourself out for parties?

      • The Hyperbole

        Maybe…what do you have in mind? I know a few magic tricks and can juggle, but I don’t dance and my guitar playing is horrendous.

      • Lazer

        doubtful but better than an R or D? Hell, who knows, but i like giving my .02 to whoever will listen

  33. Lazer

    Would it be considered a threat if I just carried the article around about the “fine young ladies” (probably on their way to Community College) who stabbed the clerk asking about their mask, and just handed that to anyone who asks me about my mask???