About The Author

Banjos

Banjos

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

375 Comments

  1. Tres Cool

    mornin’ Banjos

    • Tres Cool

      …et al

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

  2. The Late P Brooks

    Are we there yet?

  3. The Late P Brooks

    Biden’s office said in a statement on Sunday afternoon that he fell while playing with one of his two German Shepherds on Saturday.

    Vice President elect Harris’ office did not return our phone calls.

    • rhywun

      She was busy picking out drapes.

      • Tres Cool

        In prison grey, no doubt.

    • WTF

      He probably really fell while walking to the bathroom, but they would never admit that.

      • blackjack

        I’m wondering if he used his lifealert?

    • blackjack

      I’m wondering if he asked the doctors, ” can you build it back better?”

      • leon

        We have the technology.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      The cop had german shepherds attack the old man.

    • juris imprudent

      William Henry Harrison stirs a bit in his grave – SOB is going to take away the only distinction of my presidency.

      • Endless Mike

        Biden may surpass William Henry Harrison as the second greatest US President.

      • leon

        Hahaha. That would be quite the spot in the eye of the libertarians.

      • Fourscore

        Are the odds makers doing anything? Would be interesting. Biden said he’d be a 1 termer (if he’s lucky)

      • Threedoor

        He’s in a home or dead in 18 months.

      • DEG

        I don’t know.

        Even if Biden has a shorter term than Harrison, Harrison had a life outside of politics, albeit a brief life outside of politics. I also wonder how much of the proposed Cabinet picks and Lil Rona Panic Task Force picks are Biden’s or Harris’ responsibility.

      • leon

        Speaking of Cabinet Picks and Harrison, the Transition from Harrison to Tyler was an interesting one. Many didn’t want to recognize him as President (The constitution wasn’t clear on if the VP becomes President, or just carries out his duties), Anyway Harrison’s Cabinet also moved for a powergrab and tried toe tell him that Harrison intended to set policy by majority vote of the cabinet.

        Tyler pretty much told them to Fuck off.

    • AlexinCT

      I guess the first attempt to kill him by Kamala already failed? If these people know how to do things it is to fail miserably.

  4. Tejicano

    “78 year old man hurts himself after fall.”

    Good thing the democrats didn’t flog the faithful to elect some decrepit, demented old geezer into the office of the president.

    • blackjack

      flog the faithful

      Phrasing?

      • WTF

        I was gonna go with “euphemism”.

    • Fourscore

      My astute personal observations are that non-scientifically proven is that life expectancy is about 2 years after others have begun to notice a decline in a person(ality).

      When one begins to notice that your Uncle Joe begins to say or do inappropriate things it’s the start. If there are physical declines observable it’s a given.

      /Not a scientist

      • Tejicano

        I guess we’re going to find out how far deepfakes can extend that.

      • Nephilium

        Joe Headroom? Or Max Biden?

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        personal observations are that non-scientifically proven

        Fourscore, you’re slipping, man!

        *starts stopwatch*

        /just kidding

  5. The Late P Brooks

    They also account for a big chunk of the take from the unincorporated-business tax and sales taxes, in all “giving” over 22.6 percent of the city’s total tax revenue.

    Rich people keep trendy overpriced boutiques afloat? They buy a lot of stuff, and get charged sales taxes? Who knew?

    • juris imprudent

      Maybe after all the rich people leave New York can rechristen itself as New Detroit?

  6. WTF

    Anomaly, after anomaly, after anomaly.

    NO EVIDENCE!!!11!!!

    • UnCivilServant

      I mean, there’s no video of Joe personally filling out and adding fraudulent ballots with a signed confession.

      • UnCivilServant

        So don’t dare go looking for evidence, because clearly Trump is just that hated.

      • juris imprudent

        By all means, show some real evidence – more than something that would amount to systemic racism, please.

      • UnCivilServant

        Define what you regard as “real evidence”.

      • juris imprudent

        We can dissect the expert affidavit that Powell submitted that I reference below.

      • UnCivilServant

        I asked for what you regard as “real” evidence. That is not a definition of evidence. Without a definition, you can be accused of having mobile goalposts.

      • juris imprudent

        Evidence would be “this person used this vulnerability to change these number of votes at this time”.

      • UnCivilServant

        That sounds more like the definition of an accusation.

        And ignores other avenues of fraud.

        But either way you agree we need to seize all the machines and servers for forensic examination then?

      • juris imprudent

        Sure, that could produce evidence – which is NOT what is in the Powell lawsuit. Just an expert declaration about a lot of stuff, very little of which is directly on point (and he notes that he had no access to the machines/systems he declares to be vulnerable).

      • UnCivilServant

        I’ve never even mentioned the Powell lawsuit(s). I’ve never read it, don’t know what’s in it, and it has not been the subject of my comments here.

      • juris imprudent

        Lawsuits generally have to have evidence in order to proceed. This one has none.

      • UnCivilServant

        Are you stuck on a loop?

      • juris imprudent

        I think I am – trying to deal with facts when everyone else is in love with a narrative.

      • UnCivilServant

        No, you’re stuck on a loop talking about some lawsuit.

        Also, don’t you need to file to get the orders required to prevent the destruction of the evidence by the parties that hold it? You seem to be advocating a catch 22 where they can’t file without evidence, but can’t get the evidence without filing because the parties who have all of the material that you would count as evidence are the defendants.

        Perhaps you might want to take a moment and see why your claims of “dealing with facts” and “wanting evidence” come off as disingenuous.

      • robc

        Statistical analysis is a kind of evidence.

        Maybe not a strong kind, but it is a kind.

        Ask any accounting auditor. It is the kind of stuff that leads to people going to jail. It takes other evidence, but the statistical analysis is the start. It should lead to a flood of subpoenas that leads to the real evidence.

        What is DNA other than statistical evidence?

      • robc

        unciv…exactly, you file in order to get to the discovery phase of the lawsuit. All you should need for the beginning as some sort of reasonable question that discovery could answer.

        But it is in the discovery phase when the evidence comes out. To use the Powell lawsuit as an example, the stuff stated should be enough for the judge to see he can’t dismiss out of hand and for sides to submit questions for discovery.

        Then Powell subpoenas source code and 100 billion other things.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        robc nailed it. They have plenty to get to discovery. What comes out in discovery… well, your guess is as good as mine.

      • Chipwooder

        I think it’s perfectly fair to believe that a)there isn’t the kind of legal evidence that would win a court case b)nevertheless, there are a lot of shady goings-on and statistical oddities to suspect that the Democrats pulled a bunch of bullshit. Mail-in balloting is a joke. Multiple swing states suddenly stopped counting votes publicly on election night, saying they would restart in the morning….and then quietly restarted in the middle of the night. This is something I can’t recall having happened before and there has been no logical explanation for why this happened. Biden somehow got more votes than anyone ever has while winning the lowest percentage of counties a winning candidate ever has. And so on.

      • WTF

        Although Joe did actually say they had the most extensive fraud system in place.

      • blackjack

        That was one of the very few things he did say during the campaign, which lends credence to it.

    • hayeksplosives

      I am torn. I want the truth, but I think with each passing day since Nov 3 the likelihood of getting an accurate count of legally cast votes gets slimmer.

      If everything is preordained to turn up roses for Joe, then I want to move on quickly.

      With Georgia senate coming up, a lot is at stake and the Dems will pull out all the stops to win.

      So much for the gains in my 401k made in the last 4 years. Sigh.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        Get in on hospitality and tourism now. After the vax, that’s going to be one big bull.

      • Threedoor

        Yep.

      • Not an Economist

        I have been thinking a lot about the election and what comes afterwards.
        I think that the amount of fraud and otherwise bad ballots are enough to make Donald Trump the winner of the presidential election. I also do not think there is time to prove it before Joe Biden is sworn in as President. The level of proof judges will require to prove fraud occurred and then to throw out intermixed spoiled and unspoiled ballots will require almost certainly require proof way beyond a reasonable doubt. I also believe that if it is proven, after Biden has taken office, Trump actually won, that information will be suppressed by the main-stream news media and on-line entities (Google, Twitter, and Facebook) so that very few people will hear about it.
        I believe that the main-stream news media and the on-line entities (primarily Google and Twitter) suppressed information that would benefit Donald Trump and hurt Joe Biden. Because of that I believe if the main-stream news media and the on-line entities had treated each candidate equally, Donald Trump would have won re-election easily.
        I believe the main-stream news media and the on-line entities will use these techniques going forward, knowing they can change the result of national elections. They will apply these techniques throughout their interactions with the American public. I know some people will fight back against this manipulation. What I do not know if they will be successful.

      • leon

        Look. We’ve seen elections where the winner stole it and then was murdered at the orders of the VP. We can get through this.

    • juris imprudent

      Well, here’s your definitive source, amirite?

      • Jarflax

        You are deliberately confusing the two meanings of evidence, and then switching between them in this schtick. There may well be no evidence that meets Title 28 standards and would persuade a court to overturn results. There is a lot of evidence in the everyday meaning of the term, which is why people are suspicious. It has been set out numerous times by several of us and there is little point to doing so again. You and Don are doing the same thing the hardcore believers in every conspiracy theory about the election that comes down the pike are doing just in the opposite direction. The simple truth is that there were extremely suspicious phenomena in this election, and it is very unlikely anyone will be able to prove fraud sufficient to overturn the result. They aren’t getting Trump Act II and you aren’t getting trust restored in the process. We are all getting Biden and distrust whether we like it or not.

      • leon

        Biden for greater distrust in the system may be a fair trade. Time will tell.

  7. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I declare myself an autonomous erogenous zone.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    NO EVIDENCE!!!11!!!

    That’s not smoke. It’s a naturally occurring atmospheric phenomenon which just happens to look a little bit like smoke, to the untrained eye.

    • blackjack

      That’s gonna depend on what the definition of “is” is.

  9. Atanarjuat

    That Staten Island pub story is great. After all the capitulations the American people have made (including myself as I put the mask on) it is just great to hear about someone standing up and saying no.

    • rhywun

      And in NYC no less.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    But Mac’s balked, and defiantly kept its doors open — despite being slapped with thousands of dollars in fines, a shut-down order from the state Health Department and the Friday revocation of its liquor license by the State Liquor Authority, the owners said.

    Bizarrely, none of those incantations caused the earth to open up and swallow the unbelievers.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    “I totally support what he is doing. I don’t support the tyrannical nonsense they have in place,” said Keith Atherholt, 45, who left a $100 tip for a glass of water. “I gave them $100 for this water. They didn’t charge me. I gave it to support them.”

    Nice. That’s how you do it.

    • Nephilium

      A local bar icon (that hit 100 years open this year), announced they were closing for the winter. A customer came in, ordered a beer, and left a $3,000 tip.

  12. Heroic Mulatto

    I am a pollster and I find this election to be deeply puzzling.

    That’s all he should have written.

    • blackjack

      He should have written that back in June.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        In June, Basham had written that Trump would win in a landslide.

      • AlexinCT

        Most of the people I heard predict this caveated it with the exception being that the machine would massively cheat to compensate for this, and they were right it seems.

  13. Q Continuum

    I don’t know how calm they are, but these tits will help bounce you into the workweek on Mammary Monday.

    https://archive.li/nGAOR

    • DEG

      #17 – Her name is UndercoverChivette and she shows her face? Huh. Good iChive gallery.

      #19 – I am sad there are no Twin Peaks near me. The Tilted Kilt near me folded long before the Lil Rona Panic.

      #43 – face diaper. Barf.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Watching the Bloombergers this morning, they are asking their guests questions which sound a lot like, “You don’t really think Biden is going to do all that stuff the Democrats talked about during the election, do you?”

    Neera Tanden? The one from the Center for American Progress? She’s a centrists. Don’t worry about a thing.

    • Heroic Mulatto

      The Podesta emails suggest otherwise. Though “Sanders is a kook” might actually mean “new shipment of unbaptized children to ritually molest for Satan”. I dunno, I’m not fully up on Q-speak.

      • leon

        Kook: guy who collects children for the pedo ring. Hence why he runs campaigns aimed at childish thought.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        KOOK = Kidnapper Of Others’ Kids

    • Atanarjuat

      Free sex reassignment for all illegal immigrants who want to come get it!

      • leon

        Illegal? Nah. Anyone who gets here will be a full citizen.

        (I don’t actually think Joe wants that)

      • Atanarjuat

        Biden is the “I’ll keep the far left under my bootheel” guy despite some pandering to them in the primary.

      • leon

        For sure. I am interested to see what pans out. Will the far left be whiped and submit? Or will they push hard?

        History indicates that they will shut up as long as the Dems have power. Conversely the far right will become louder while out of power.

      • Swiss Servator

        He doesn’t know what planet he is on…he will hang around a few months, then get shuffled out 25th AMND-wise. You think they can keep calling a lid at 9:18am for 4 years?

      • Atanarjuat

        I don’t think the establishment press will push back on it so long as an establishment Democrat is doing it.

        Here is an amusing anecdote about the reporters obeying commands to stay in a vehicle so they would be unable to see Biden go into a clinic.

        https://mobile.twitter.com/AlxThomp/status/1333158042200903687

      • leon

        That’s the transparency and press access I expected from a fan
        Dem administration.

      • Atanarjuat

        Of course they’re still in the honeymoon phase, swooning over Biden’s cat to avoid looking at all the lobbyists and deepstaters he’s planning to appoint, but I can’t imagine the press falling out of love with their awful establishment pick. That’s their access to The One Ring, so to speak. But I also couldn’t have imagined much of what has happened lately so…shrug emoji.

      • Chipwooder

        Worked for Eisenhower

      • kbolino

        He doesn’t need to be present, he just needs to sign his name to whatever the establishment (legislature, bureaucracy) want. When some colossal fuck up occurs, he can get his “Presidential” on and take the fall (read: suffer no consequences whatsoever, but shield anyone below him from scrutiny).

      • juris imprudent

        Not unless he’s pulling Shikha into his cabinet.

      • Atanarjuat

        *Since I’ve had a number of sarcasm misfires lately, yes I know Biden won’t be doing anything of the sort even though he promised to in the primary. The far left being unhappy with Biden will actually be a pretty interesting development if he gets in. They will find themselves on the pointy end of big tech censorship and maybe even the police will actually shut down their protests.

      • juris imprudent

        How’s that big beautiful wall that Trump promised in his campaign? How about actually being out of our endless wars – are all of the troops back on U.S. soil?

      • Atanarjuat

        1) don’t know, don’t give a shit about the issue enough to even click

        2) obviously not, they lied to the CiC about the number in Syria, there are probably troops in twice as many countries as we even know about

      • Atanarjuat

        Did that have anything to do with what I posted or was it supposed to be somewhere else?

      • juris imprudent

        All campaign promises are empty once you can actually implement them.

      • juris imprudent

        And Mexico paid for it, right?

      • juris imprudent

        And that section of “wall” was built prior to Trump running or assuming office. Nice. But he got to put a plaque on it.

      • Banjos

        He built 400 miles, and the sections he replaced were useless fencing.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Joe picked an all female team to communicate with lecture the nation.

    • leon

      From the clips suggested by YouTube this was the most innovative and free thinking thing ever.

      • Atanarjuat

        Every business on Earth hires chicks to do their social media. Maybe even in the Muslim world. It’s like bragging about having a female housekeeper or a central American landscaper.

      • leon

        So much so that in SFs writing Kamala Harris had an… All female communications team.

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        +1 Astra!

    • Animal

      Joe picked an all femaleshrieking harpy team to communicate with lecture the nation.

    • KOVIDKristen

      Nevermind that the comms field is woman-dominated

  16. The Late P Brooks

    If we just ram through a giant Plague Relief Act, we can make all those small independent entrepreneurs wards of the state, and everything will be okay!

  17. Nephilium

    Alright, only an hour to dig through a week’s worth of e-mails and chat messages.

    Why does no one respect the out of office replies? Do you think if you send me a response asking for an update during the period my out of office said I was out that I’d log in just to check on that?

    • Ownbestenemy

      Yep. If my email is informative or part of a chain of communication of an event, I leave the out of office person(s) on. If its something I need a response back, I will wait til that person is back or find someone else.

      • Nephilium

        These weren’t on a chain. Just direct e-mails to me asking for something, then asking for a status update two days later. I was out of office for the entire week.

    • SugarFree

      Many people do, so people keep doing it.

      I talk about it all the time at work. I always give a day to get back to them, otherwise you just make them expect insta-replies and throw a tantrum eventually when they can’t get one.

      • leon

        I once got lectured over email for failing to attend a “mandatory” training I had “volunteered” for when I was on vacation because.

        Yeah I was pissed.

        A shame too because the HR lady ended up being pretty nice.

    • Drake

      I’ve noticed people getting very specific with their out-of-office messages. “I will be out of the country with zero access to email until…”

      In other words, you really won’t get a response until next week.

    • UnCivilServant

      Why does no one respect the out of office replies?

      Email is an asynchronous form of communication. I don’t care if you’re not in the office. If it’s urgent, it’s not an email.

      I also have a rule to autodelete out of office autoreplies.

    • banginglc1

      I started putting “I am out of the office until xx/xx/xxxx, All emails will be deleted upon my return. If the matter is urgent, contact xxxxxx@xxxxx.com. If not, please resend the requests upon my return.”

      I don’t actually delete them all, but it keeps people from expecting a response.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    The far left being unhappy with Biden will actually be a pretty interesting development if he gets in. They will find themselves on the pointy end of big tech censorship and maybe even the police will actually shut down their protests.

    Jack Dorsey is going to feel awfully silly after working his ass off to get Biden elected just so he can have the anti-trust squads from the Department of Justice and the SEC camped out up his ass for the next four/eight/twelve years.

  19. Gdragon

    Morning Banjos!

    I only went to Shaolin one single time during more than a decade living in Manhattan and Brooklyn and it was for an all day music festival so I didn’t exactly tour the area. But I’d be going to that bar every day now if I were still there. Fanfuckingtastic, love that guy!

    • l0b0t

      The toll to cross the bridge to get to Staten Island is now $13 each way. It’s nice, particularly the old Sailor’s Snug Harbor (17/18th century estate that was established as a retirement home for US merchant sailors), but it’s a pricy trip.

      • Gdragon

        Oh my God really? Yeah that’s definitely too much to pay unless you have a particularly good reason (basically an “I have to go” situation).

      • Chipwooder

        Each way now?? Jeez.

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

  20. Pope Jimbo

    Speaking of anomalies, has anyone brought up the fact that they kept Kanye off the Wisconsin ballot because he was 14 seconds late filing his paperwork.

    So can we say Biden’s victory there is tainted because of disenfranchised black voters?

  21. juris imprudent

    So here’s part of Powell’s case in Georgia.

    After touting this expert’s expertise comes this “Still, his conclusions are rather opaque to anyone without an enormous amount of training and experience in his field. This requires many of us to take what he says on faith.” Yes, that seems to be a rather common refrain with experts, doesn’t it?

    I conclude with high confidence that the election 2020 data were altered in all battleground states resulting in hundreds of thousands of votes that were cast for President Trump to be transferred to Vice President Biden. These alterations were the result of systemic and widespread exploitable vulnerabilities in DVS, Scytl/SOE Software and Smartmatic systems that enabled operators to achieve the desired results. In my view, the evidence is overwhelming and incontrovertible.

    Let’s consider why a court might consider this not all that credible. First, the suit is filed in Georgia against Georgia officials, therefore any discussion of what happened outside of Georgia is superfluous – not a good way to impress a judge on the facts (or the law). Second, not one of the vulnerabilities is even discussed in detail, let alone posed as who actually used the vulnerability and to the exact effect. Again, it only matters what happened in Georgia, and I would assume that only one of the cited systems was in use, so again, material not germane to the issue in Georgia. He also peddles the Hammer & Scorecard myth. Finally, his evidence, which isn’t elaborated completely vindicates his opinion.

    Let’s put that last point in another context we all know and love: my model says this is so.

    • Heroic Mulatto

      It’s not about winning a court case, it’s about playing the long game. At this point, it doesn’t matter if the accusations are true or not. They have accomplished their purpose – to delegitimize Biden’s tenure (cf. the Democratic strategy to delegitimize Trump 2016-2020 through constant yammering about ‘the popular vote’ and the ‘flaws’ of the electoral college.)

      • juris imprudent

        If that’s the objective, fair enough. Then we all suffer for both sides contemptible actions. That is no reason for us to be taking part in such.

      • Drake

        Biden will be called things like “His Fraudulency” for his short presidency and Harris will be called worse.

        This election is a dangerous turning point as now half the country has stopped believing we can vote out way out of the impending leftist-corporate-fascist take-over. (We need a better word for the prog / corporate oligarch elite)

      • juris imprudent

        Fascist is perfectly descriptive, and progs are notorious for projection, so I don’t see the problem.

      • Atanarjuat

        Consider the term coined. Did you just make that up? It’s pretty good.

      • juris imprudent

        Brilliant!

      • Threedoor

        That’s another shitty Rush album isn’t it?

      • Drake

        Gyno-Fascism

        The ruling class is now a needy girlfriend with a personality disorder, demanding we drop everything to hear about her day.

      • R C Dean

        They have accomplished their purpose – to delegitimize Biden’s tenure (cf. the Democratic strategy to delegitimize Trump 2016-2020 through constant yammering about ‘the popular vote’ and the ‘flaws’ of the electoral college.)

        To what end? The delegitimization of Trump was a pretext for the administrative state to #resist, for a bogus independent counsel investigation to paralyze his administration, for anti-Trump Republicans to kill his legislative agenda during his first two years, fodder for the endless spew of sewage from the DemOp Media. I don’t see any counterpart for Biden. So what if a sizable minority of Americans think he stole the election? What difference will it make?

      • Atanarjuat

        Maybe some Republicans will get into local election bureaucracies, either to make them fair or to cheat for their side.

      • juris imprudent

        No one wants fair, they want to win. That’s what we are descending to – at light speed.

    • creech

      Speaking of Georgia, there were apparently about 1 million new registrations since 2016, more than 50% of whom were minorities. Even if the percentage of black voters for Trump rose from, say, 5% to 10%, that leaves a huge new margin for the Dems, even if all the other registrations split 60-40 for Trump.
      Could the Biden wave, that overwhelmed the higher vote totals for Trump, have been due to the Dems registration and GOTV drives instead of outright fraud?

      • Drake

        If true, they would be be playing it straight instead of continuing shenanigans.

  22. The Other Kevin

    Good morning Banjos! I hope all the Glibs who are returning to work today are doing better than I am. I’m not ready for this.

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Man. Proctor and Gamble is running a giant ad blitz this morning to let me know what a homophobic racist asshole I am. Why do I go around oppressing the black folks, and victimizing the militantly queer?

    I just can’t help myself. It’s who I am. A white heterosexual man who believes in capitalism and meritocracy. In short, a MONSTER.

    • leon

      But it’s just your bad luck that has made you a horrible racist monster. See when you get rid of a belief in merit you also get rid of culpability.

    • Chipwooder

      The previous wokester Gillette ads were such a smashing success, why wouldn’t they try to recreate that magic?

    • EvilSheldon

      Why do you watch advertisements?

  24. The Late P Brooks

    They have accomplished their purpose – to delegitimize Biden’s tenure (cf. the Democratic strategy to delegitimize Trump 2016-2020 through constant yammering about ‘the popular vote’ and the ‘flaws’ of the electoral college.)

    Don’t forget “foreign interference” (both ways).

  25. The Late P Brooks

    The toll to cross the bridge to get to Staten Island is now $13 each way. It’s nice, particularly the old Sailor’s Snug Harbor (17/18th century estate that was established as a retirement home for US merchant sailors), but it’s a pricy trip.

    Ouch. I was only on Staten Island a couple of times. I can’t recall why; probably chasing down Mini parts. It was like an alternate universe, right there in the shadow of Manhattan.

  26. Pope Jimbo

    Screw the political BS! I had a great weekend. All the kids were home and we had a blast playing cards and hanging out.

    Had a great dinner at my sister’s house on T-Giving. No one talked politics at all. We just gave each other the normal family ribbings about silly things people had done in the past.

    Got my snowblower running with the help of one of the Alter Boys (we changed the carburetor) . Bought an induction range to replace our old broken stove.

    Things are good. I’m going to ignore all the other stuff as long as I can so I stay happy.

    Hope all the rest of you had a great holiday and things are going well in your life.

    • leon

      I had a great holiday too. Now being very sloggish at work.

      • TARDis

        #metoo

        This will my first 40 hour week since the end of March. I need to pace myself.

    • juris imprudent

      Shine on you crazy diamond!

  27. The Late P Brooks

    A spike, in a surge, atop a tsunami

    Across the country, medical personnel are now bracing for what they fear will be a new wave of infections after millions of Americans ignored the advice of public health experts and traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday. Already, hospital resources are being stretched thin, with many institutions reporting a dire shortage of beds and personnel to handle the influx of new patients.

    “We may see a surge upon a surge,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday. “We don’t want to frighten people, but that’s just the reality. We said that these things would happen as we got into the cold weather and as we began traveling, and they’ve happened.”

    ——-

    For the moment, daily deaths are lower than at their peak this spring, when doctors hadn’t yet figured out the most effective treatment methods. But with daily deaths hitting 2,000 twice last week, they’re approaching the record of 2,700 set in the spring. Many fear the nation will soon hit 3,000 — the equivalent of a Sept. 11 attack every single day.

    You people ignored Saint Foochy (PBUH!).

    Death is too good for you.

    • WTF

      Oddly, seasonal flu deaths have declined by 98%.
      Unrelated, I’m sure.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Got my snowblower running with the help of one of the Alter Boys (we changed the carburetor) .

    I finally broke down and surrendered my soul to Jesus ethanol free premium gasoline. My snowblower (I just needed to move it) fired right up. I’m ethanol free in the blower and the generator, from now on, praise de lawds.

    • Pope Jimbo

      The original carb on the snowblower was pretty gunked up. I was all set to figure out how to clean it when the Altar Boy suggested we see how much a new one cost on Amazon.

      $15 for an entire kit. What a deal. I probably would have felt more manly if I had figured out how to clean/refurb the original, but I can live with myself only having to replace the entire assembly.

      Didn’t even have to bother my neighbor who is a small engine god. I would have, but he was off doing other stuff every time I dropped by.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I probably would have felt more manly if I had figured out how to clean/refurb the original

        Save the old one as a backup. Small engine carbs are usually not that hard to clean as long as you don’t lose the springs or damage the gaskets. It’s mostly a “keep track of which side is up” exercise.

      • Tundra

        It’s probably not re-buildable. For $15 it’s disposable.

        And Holiness, drive to the Holiday on BLR & 494 and buy non-oxy gas. Your carb will love you for it.

    • leon

      Funny how all server machines, hard drives and computer equipment break down when they come under any political scrutiny

      • UnCivilServant

        On one hand, computers fail constantly. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have much to do.

        On the other hand, some failures are too convenient.

      • EvilSheldon

        I’ve said it before, and I’m gonna keep saying it until it becomes mainstream thought – the appearance of impropriety is impropriety.

      • leon

        I’m thinking of the IRS scandal when something like 7 hard-drives “catastrophically failed”. The odds of that happening are so rare that it is insane that people just went along with it.

      • UnCivilServant

        Taking a wire brush to the platters tends to reliably cause catastrophic drive failure.

        Not sure how deep you have to scour to totally prevent data retrieval, at least with spinning platters there were some electron microsope techniques that could pick up on latent magnetization of the platter itself due to the data being in a particular arrengement for long enough.

        It’s been too long since I was involved in data recovery, since I don’t know any of the SSD related techniques when it gets down to physical reconstruction. (Not that I’ve had the chance to use an electron microscope for data recovery either…)

      • Nephilium

        I always love it when some manager/user deletes something from a non-backed up area, and then sends in a ticket for data recovery.

      • UnCivilServant

        I miss forensics.

        Fun fact, I was in the running for a job as a computer forensics examiner with the state police, but at interview it was mentioned that a large part of the case load was child porn cases, and it didn’t take an expert interviewer to spot my discomfort at the idea of having to see that day after day.

        It’s probably a good thing I didn’t get that job.

        Still, I liked the technical side of it and the necessary orderliness of the process.

      • EvilSheldon

        Well, we wouldn’t want a bunch of people who hate us to call us conspiracy theories, would we? That’s almost as bad as ‘RACIST!!’ or ‘DENIER!!’

      • Surly Knott

        Caesar’s wife used to be a thing.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Sarah Fuller. Remember the name. #PlayLikeAGirl | #AnchorDown — Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) November 28, 2020

      #PlayLikeAGirl

      They lost 41-0 and are 0-8.

      • WTF

        Apparently, her publicity stuntkick wasn’r very good.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        People who have never watched football are now experts on the squib kick, which is a super secret play that you call when you are down 21-0 at half.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        It wasn’t even a squib kick, which you try to ride along the ground so that it’s difficult to field. It was a pooch kickoff, which is what you do when your kicker and punter are both out of commission and nobody else has the leg or accuracy to get the ball to the goal line.

      • Gdragon

        I just watched it for the first time. It was (unfortunately) dreadfully bad. The guy calling the game said “he got chills”. I think he should definitely see a doctor.

      • leon

        why don’t the best punters commit to vandy? so much playing time and exposure to scouts, compared to punters from other schools

      • Certified Public Asshat

        She is a soccer goalie, so she has a lot of experience punting. And yet…

      • SugarFree

        It’s not #WinLikeAGirl

      • Nephilium

        Bah. We got that beat here in Cleveland. Just about every commercial break we were told how historic this was.

      • Agent Cooper

        Maybe she did better than the kicker-girl.

      • Nephilium

        Well the Browns won. It was an ugly 2 point win, but it was a win.

        First non-losing season since 2007! We go for baby steps here…

    • CatchTheCarp

      Towards the end of the game one of the announcers proclaimed she was destined for the HOF……

  29. PieInTheSky

    it snowed for 7 hours but it was warm and it all melted. weird. Usually an hour’s snow melts but 7?

    anyhoo no work today so I had time to watch the snow

  30. robc

    Pouring rain and fire alarm in office this morning. Yippee.

    • leon

      If it’s pouring rain, wouldn’t that counteract any reason for a fire alarm? Seems like staying put is the best option.

      • robc

        Too loud to stay in office. Fire trucks ran up ladder then back down. Was false alarm, but taking forever to turn off.

      • robc

        Just got back to desk…sat down…alarm goes off again. Just a quick beep, but still. Hopefully that is last one. It had been intermittent for last half hour, I came back after a good 5 minute break in the alarm.

      • leon

        That just makes you extra safe!

  31. The Late P Brooks

    (We need a better word for the prog / corporate oligarch elite)

    “Swamp” works for me.

    • TARDis

      I consider the underlings to be the swamp. The leaders are the cabal.

      • R C Dean

        I consider the underlings to be the swamp apparatchiks. The leaders are the cabal nomenklatura.

      • TARDis

        Too soon, too soon! Victory must first be secured, and the camps built. Then they can ardently express their love for their communist party.

    • Gdragon

      I do in fact click these every time. The “I love you dad” picture that they’re putting at the end of every one now really bugs me though. It was was one thing when they just kept telling us repeatedly how much she loved eating peanuts but this seems way creepier.

  32. leon

    I have a prediction for Carter Page’s lawsuit: “qualified immunity”

    And for the longshot, he gets Judge Emmet Sulivan, who appoints an amicus to investigate weather or not Page should be charged for treason.

    • juris imprudent

      *rimshot*

  33. Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

    Reading back through older threads. Diggy is gone. NOOOOOOO! A sweet, funny giant of a commenter that will be sorely missed. Fuck 2020!

    • UnCivilServant

      Not sure what happened. Are we talking ‘not coming by the site anymore’, or something more permanant?

      • leon

        He’s not dead, if that’s what you are asking. He just had to quit glibs for personal reasons.

      • UnCivilServant

        Oh, okay. Festus’ phrasing had me worried.

      • Festus' Mustache's tits keep calm and carry on.

        He went all Christian on us. Happy Wife, happy life. Sorry to mislead. He is one of my favorites of you lot of miscreants and ne’er do-wells and will be sorely missed.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    They lost 41-0 and are 0-8.

    GRRRRRRRRL POWAAHHH!

    • EvilSheldon

      Sounds like they could have played Auburn to a tie…

    • Jerms

      CNN ALL OVER IT!!

    • leon

      Well i think smoking has been banned inside federal buildings for several decades.

    • R C Dean

      I’m sure they will wrap up their “nothing to see here” in a couple-three years.

      • Urthona

        Was just about to say the same thing.

    • juris imprudent

      Oh ye of little imagination – the FBI will go after the group for misappropriating data and violating voter privacy!

      BTW, before you get all excited (about either prospect), Braynard is nothing but a Republican political flunky.

  35. Gadfly

    Good start.

    Red State needs to hire better editors. The link for that story reads “pubic-school-withdrawal” instead of “public-school-withdrawal”.

    • SugarFree

      Q WAS RIGHT!

      • PieInTheSky

        which Q?

      • SugarFree

        The one that works at the boy-touching factory.

    • leon

      with the predators that get hired it might as well be called pubic school

  36. PieInTheSky

    Hedge apples are fascinating. They’re too large/unpalatable to be eaten by humans or almost any (living) animal. The species is an evolutionary anachronism—a “ghost” of evolution—that co-evolved to be spread by huge extinct animals like mammoths or giant sloths (Thread to come)
    Hedge apples were likely dispersed by giant extinct fauna: mammoths, mastodons, and possibly ground-sloths. Today no species besides humans efficiently spreads their seeds. Their range pre-European settlement was mostly restricted to TX and OK.
    Now, of course, they are found throughout the US (and other countries). That’s mainly because:

    1) their wood is extremely useful, for a variety of reasons…
    2) they make incredibly good hedgerows…
    3) they are very hardy and resistant to disease/decay

    https://twitter.com/Douglas_Main/status/1332472248465313794

    • Threedoor

      I wondered if they weren’t spread by some extinct critter. Like the wierd bean tree.

    • rhywun

      horse high, bull strong & pig tight

      I get that a lot.

      • Agent Cooper

        How I like my women?

  37. DEG

    The lawsuit filed Friday accuses the FBI, DOJ and Comey of violating Page’s constitutional “and other legal rights in connection with unlawful surveillance and investigation of him by the United States Government.”

    I will go out on a limb here and predict nothing else will happen.

    A Staten Island pub located in a coronavirus hot spot is stealing a page from Seattle’s anarchist cookbook, declaring itself an “autonomous zone,” free from the public-safety restrictions its owners say they will refuse to abide by.

    Good. I’d proudly patronize his pub if I were in NYC.

    A number of folks are bidding farewell to public education.

    According to a report by The New York Times, some states are seeing their public school students find other means.

    A silver lining to the Lil Rona Panic bullshit might be the breaking of teacher’s unions.

    Squirrel Nut Zippers are good.

    • leon

      Union Bustin ain’t easy, but it’s honest work. Cuomo 2024! Greatest Union Buster of All time!

    • Nephilium

      Seeing it was a Squirrel Nut Zipper song, I figured it would be this song, as it’s now allowed to be linked.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    Oddly, seasonal flu deaths have declined by 98%.
    Unrelated, I’m sure.

    COILED

    TO

    STRIKE!!!

  39. leon

    https://twitter.com/SethMacFarlane/status/1331862840995528704

    Gorsuch, if you can’t make the distinction between the risk level of a small business like a liquor store and massive indoor gathering like a church with regard to a raging pandemic, you are more scientifically illiterate than the man who appointed you.

    Buying liquor (something that has been constiutionally banned in the past) is more protected by the constitution than going to church.

    • leon

      Roberts focused his dissent on the fact that the injunctive relief is not needed at this time, as the regions housing both Agudath of Israel and the Diocese of Brooklyn are no longer in the red or orange zones, which would require the minimized attendance, even though he concedes that “it may well be that such restrictions violate the Free Exercise Clause.”

      https://thefederalist.com/2020/11/26/scotus-blocks-cuomos-covid-restrictions-on-church-attendance-in-new-york/

      I haven’t really looked at this yet, because i was enjoying Thanksgiving. What a shitty opinion. “We shouldn’t grant relief, because even though it might be a violation, and they are still under threat of it returning, they aren’t under it now. And in any case that they are under it, they can take the 10 months it takes to get the injuctive relief they need from us, if they are still under threat”

      This is neither principled nor good reasoning.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Ripeness and mootness shouldn’t apply to civil rights violations.

      • R C Dean

        There’s even a doctrine for that, to prevent exactly what Roberts did. Blanking on the name, but it basically says if a civil rights violation is likely to recur, the court should rule on it even if the case before the court is technically moot. Individual civil rights violations are ridiculously easy to moot. Oh, all your guns were seized under an ex parte red flag order, and SCOTUS took your case? Here, have your guns back, while we continue to issue red flag orders and gun confiscations by the dozen.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Yeah, now that you mention it, that sounds familiar. I can’t remember what it’s called, either.

      • juris imprudent

        Exactly as happened in the case before the Court that NY State and City changed the law on (gun permit limitation on transport) to moot it.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        At his core, Roberts is an unprincipled chickenshit coward.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Do they understand that this will actually KILL people of faith? The people whose votes they ship for? Like…”don’t kill your constituents” is the first rule of how you win.

      Informed consent and free will don’t exist in America. We all must be instructed from above or we will die.

      I do sincerely hate these morons.

      • juris imprudent

        In fairness, MacFarlane needs to be instructed in humor.

    • KSuellington

      Well, it really does look like the SC is now a 5-4 split with conservatives holding the edge over progressives. Hopefully it will stay that way for a while.

  40. AlexinCT

    My girl was not happy with my point that anyone willing to label their opponent as an orange incarnation of Hitler, calling his supporters Nazi racists, misogynists’, homophobes, and evil, then running a four year racket of constant lies, all while trying to run a coup from within the corruptocracy by peddling a totally fake Russia collusion bullshit story for years in order to force the orange guy’s hand so they could impeach him on obstruction charges, and nominating the most idiotic of possible candidates on their side to run against him, sure as hell would feel no problem cheating. After all, it is for a good cause!

    She was really mad that people still don’t believe the propaganda of the last 12 years that she does, and the desperate need people that believe like her have to think this election was just fine, because it went the way she wanted it to.

    • juris imprudent

      She was really mad that people still don’t believe the propaganda of the last 12 years that she does

      Wow, is the sex really that good? I don’t think you need to have a partner that mirrors you, but damn, when one is a Scientologist-level believer…

      I don’t think I fit in anywhere in this modern world.

      • leon

        Hey man! Don’t get down. You fit in here at Barracks B in Gulag 21!

      • AlexinCT

        She is a good person and usually very smart except when it comes to politics, because she is both low information and a follower (everyone in her family and community is a raging moonbat). The sex is not bad, but not the main reason I still am with her. Maybe I am running an experiment hoping to get her to learn enough about how misinformed she is – and I am already seeing a lot of this when she talks to the other moonbats and she calls them out – and flip her. Maybe that is my lot in life: converting womenfolk that are woke through some serious education and workouts…

      • juris imprudent

        That is weird, that she can be informed/intelligent about non-political matters; maybe politics really is just religion without the god part.

  41. Idle Hands

    #inthistogether

    https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/527901-almost-one-third-of-small-businesses-in-new-jersey-have-have-closed

    A third of small businesses in New Jersey have closed down in 2020, according to a report from The Star-Ledger newspaper.

    “It’s really bad… And without federal dollars coming into New Jersey, the Main Street stores and other establishments are not gonna make it through the winter.” said Eileen Kean, the state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.

    Harvard-based data project TrackTheRecovery.org estimated that 31 percent of businesses have closed down so far as of Nov. 9. This number is just above the national average estimated by the website. The New Jersey Business & Industry Association reported similar numbers, estimating 28 percent of businesses had closed down by October.

    I’m guessing we are going to lose approximately 50% of small business’s before this is over.

    • Idle Hands

      As a first order effect how much of the remaining we lose a year down the line as a second order is anyone’s guess.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      without federal dollars coming into New Jersey, the Main Street stores and other establishments are not gonna make it through the winter.” said Eileen Kean

      I can think of a better way to revive main street. How about you, Eileen?

    • Urthona

      In places that are still lockdowns.

      in places that aren’t locked down evidence suggests they’re doing ok now.

      this will all be handwaved by the media.

      • Idle Hands

        even in places without lockdowns everyone’s zombieing. You can’t take a quarter of zero’s and be in the red for only so long.

      • Urthona

        I’m sure it’s not as great as it could be but I can see restaurants and bars near me are packed now.

        i can see the homebrew and aquarium stores I frequent are teeming now. Both small local businesses.

        My state has 30 million people.

        It could certainly be way worse and i think many of these places will survive.

      • Idle Hands

        That’s certainly good news. I’m glad to hear it.

    • Agent Cooper

      Come on, Eileen.

  42. banginglc1

    Between a new job, hunting trip, and Thanksgiving I haven’t seen a single bit of news in over a week. Let me guess what I missed:

    Massive amount of evidence of voter fraud and cheating and no one gives a shit

    • banginglc1

      on a positive note, I took my first deer with a handgun

      • R C Dean

        What kind of handgun did it have?

      • UnCivilServant

        Is there more than one? I mean, once you’ve made a gun that fires hands…

      • banginglc1

        S&W 686 in .357 mag. Got it at about 15 yards. The bullet hit the spine on the neck and it dropped immediately.

      • Jarflax

        What did you use?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      David Gorski, MD, PhD
      @gorskon
      That’s because libertarianism, by and large, supports privilege and white supremacy. It’s always all about MY freedoms, which lockdowns impact but police violence does not. Scratch a libertarian, and all too often you will find a fascist underneath the veneer.

      You really should ask for your money back. Or at least, learn to read sources other than Occupy Democrats.

      And the replies of I WAS A LIBERTARIAN… are chock full of stupid.

      • juris imprudent

        Lincoln was wrong, God doesn’t love the homely, he loves the stupid – that’s why this world is full of ’em.

  43. Count Potato

    “.@AliVelshi
    is covering the horror story of @KristiNoem
    ’s — I don’t know of another word for it — war on the sovereign tribes in South Dakota who are trying to prevent a fresh round of being wiped out by germs and disease, in the state with the worst Covid death rate ON EARTH.”

    https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/1333046537082056706

    She just makes shit up, over and over again, and still keeps her job.

    • Urthona

      wouldn’t the place with the worst death rate on earth be New York?

      • robc

        New Jersey is worse than NY.

      • robc

        SD is among US states.

      • juris imprudent

        Not really; it has the highest rate per capita of the last week or two. At that rate it will only take them A YEAR or more to catch up to NY/NJ (assuming they have zero additional deaths in that time).

      • robc

        Some how my “ninth” between is and among got deleted.

      • Count Potato

        I think it’s actually NJ, if the reported numbers are accurate.

      • robc

        I thought Belgium might catch NJ, but their 2nd peak turned about 3 weeks ago.

      • Urthona

        It will be interesting to see if we turn within a week or so.

        i’m beginning to suspect these cycles have nothing to do with the government.

      • robc

        They don’t. I linked a study last week, a French study of nations and regions (US states, for example) showing that government policy has negligible effect.

        The big factors are being rich, old, fat, and in a temperate climate.

    • leon

      JoyAnnReid is one of those names that for me is so well known for spewing made up shit that i don’t even bother fact checking things. If it raises the bulshit alarm, it’s bulshit.

    • Idle Hands

      These people in positions;s of power who pushed for this have to be held accountable personally. I don’t care how unlibertarian that idea is something must be done politically, a covid Nuremberg trial of some sort.

    • EvilSheldon

      Her job is making shit up.

    • leon

      ar on the sovereign tribes in South Dakota who are trying to prevent a fresh round of being wiped out by germs and disease,

      Also i want to make a note of something i was thinking about the other day. It is so in vouge (and has been for years) to perpetuate the idea that the utter annihilation of the tribes by disease was intentional (often by anachronistically pointing to the handing out of smallpox blankets to Indian tribes in the 18th and 18th century, a century well after large parts of the Americas were ravaged by Old World Diseases).

      If that’s the case then i guess we should say that the black death was a genocide of the Europeans by the Orient, since that is where the disease originated.

      • R C Dean

        I’ve always wondered about that theory, since it seems like the “intentional” infection of Indian tribes occurred before germs were identified as the cause of infectious disease.

      • leon

        Yes they didn’t know about germs, but they did know that disease could be transmitted. Even before the New World was discovered, they were launching fetid cows and diseased remains into cities under siege in hopes to spread disease. (Not to mention large wooden bunnies)

      • juris imprudent

        Shhh. If we want to impute knowledge and motives that didn’t exist at that time to support our narrative, then dammit we shall do so and you will accept it without questions. /progtards

      • Urthona

        also note: there is no evidence that natives were given blankets in an attempt to wipe them out. it a myth.

        also note 2: blankets are terrible transmitters of disease. it wouldn’t have worked well.

      • Raven Nation

        There was almost certainly one attempt to deliberately infect Indians by using blankets which had been used by smallpox victims. This happened at Fort Pitt in 1763. We know that at least some people at the fort thought it was viable because they refused to get involved over fear for their lives. However, as Urthona notes, it didn’t work because it’s an ineffective way to transmit disease.

        Based on a lot of historians’ research, this was the only time from 1600-1800 that this was attempted, so it certainly wasn’t a widespread practice.

  44. EvilSheldon

    2020 has apparently driven me completely insane.

    I’m actually thinking about putting together a 9mm AR.

    • R C Dean

      Because 9mm ammo is so cheap and readily available?

      • leon

        He did say he went insane.

      • kinnath

        I bought a Ruger PC9 because I have three times as much 9mm in stock as 5.56 Nato.

      • EvilSheldon

        I have plenty of 9mm ammo and reloading components. About 1500 rounds of defensive ammo, 2k of factory ammo in my emergency reserve, and enough reloading components for another 12k. That’ll get me through 2021 even at my current rate of consumption. (/bragging)

        This would be a short-barrelled rifle built on the ‘bag gun’ concept – something very small and light that I can carry discretely in a shoulder bag. I want it in a pistol caliber because I might plausibly have to use it from inside a vehicle.

      • leon

        At the begining of the year i thought about getting reloading equipment set up and doing reloading and then thought “Nahh, i don’t have the time for that, and 9mm is cheap enough”.

        If only if only, the woodpecker sighed.

  45. The Late P Brooks

    Informed consent and free will don’t exist in America. We all must be instructed from above or we will die.

    We’re all wards of the State, now.

    • juris imprudent

      I asked that of a FB friend (in California) the other day – do you need the state to tell you what to do? Are you not a competent adult?

  46. PieInTheSky

    I had 3 very weird realistic dreams last night which is weird

    Firs one there was a spree of people being kidnapped in the subway an taken in some secret tunnels for unknown reasons. In that dream Iw as taken with a woman. I had a knife but did not want to risk pulling it out because the kidnappers were much stronger than me. The woman started screaming creating enough distraction for me to pull the knives and stab them in the back and get away.

    Second in a post covid world the government had fitness requirements and I had to pass a military style fitness test or be sent to a government fitness camp involuntarily

    the third I was listening to US news about the 17 members of the US supreme court having to decide whether affordable housing was a right the government needed to grantee

    I need to drink less before bed.

    • R C Dean

      I think the last one would be a nightmare, wouldn’t it?

      • PieInTheSky

        the first one was the worst subjectively

      • Jarflax

        Yeah go ahead and flaunt your Romanian privilege! You’d think differently if your country had to deal with socialist totalitarians!

      • creech

        You woke up before all the grateful women made themselves available in your bedroom?

      • PieInTheSky

        that too

      • Threedoor

        The second as well. It’s a little like having to get a DOT physical.

    • Hyperion

      I had crazy dreams this early morning as well. It poured down rain most of the night and I kept waking up. around 4am or so I finally dozed off for a few hours. During that time, I dreamed that me and my brother-in-law were partying like crazy, we were just bringing in carts full of booze and we ran out of carts, so this one chick who I did not recognize, was going around the neighborhood trying to borrow more booze carts. My BIL, who I have not seen in a while, has Parkinson’s and I haven’t seen him in around 2 years. So I texted my sis this morning and asked how he is because the dream worried me. In the dream, he was the same guy I used to actually party with back in my 20s. Seems he’s doing about the same, which is not great.

      After that dream, I had another one where I had a new job, and I couldn’t figure out what the job was, what I was actually supposed to be doing. But in it, I would be approached by people who asked me to go to a different department in the company and steal stuff. That seemed to be the entirety of the job.

      • PieInTheSky

        so how is he?

      • Hyperion

        Not too great. They’re trying to come up with a more effective treatment regimen, but I don’t think Parkinson’s ever gets too much better, usually worse. He was having hallucinations and I guess that’s a bit better now.

    • UnCivilServant

      My odd dream was last week. In it I attended a diner protest where everyone had crammed into a restaurant with more tables than normal, and there was still difficulty in finding seating. Then the police tried to shut it down, so while the waitstaff was going around trying to take and deliver orders, whole sections of the building were going dark, then lighting back up again. At some point I was the one shouting at the police to leave.

      I woke up before it got past that.

  47. Urthona

    BTW,

    My 94 year old grandmother who was this weekend sent to the hospital with covid despite being inhumanely locked in a care facility for 9 months?

    She’s fine now. Off oxygen after 1 day. Didn’t understand why she went to the hospital because she thought she had a cold.

    question now: she’s immune now. can she freely leave and enter the facility?

    also note: these lockdown protocols failed miserably in the end. everyone in the facility got covid.

    • The Other Kevin

      Based on what I learned from my MIL’s illness, you are no longer contagious 10 days after the first symptoms, but if you were on oxygen in the hospital they add another week to that.

      • Urthona

        It feels like everything they did was mainly because she’s 94.

    • DEG

      It’s good that your grandmother recovered.

      Any possibility of getting her out of the facility permanently?

      • Urthona

        That’s one thing we were talking about. Yes we can do that. problem is she can’t go back in.

        We can’t actually easily take care of all her needs and would have to hire someone.

        she would have to live with one of us.

        it’s a possibility though.

    • UnCivilServant

      Glad to hear she’s better.

    • Count Potato

      Glad to hear she’s OK.

    • KSuellington

      Sorry about your grandma, but good she’s out the hospital at least.

      Recently I was reading about an Antarctic scientific expedition in the 70’s. I believe it was 12 guys that were completely isolated from all other humans on the planet for a couple months when one of them got a cold. A number of the rest got the cold within a week. Viruses find a way. The idea that we can “quarantine” large healthy populations is right up there with cargo culting. We have regressed hundreds of years scientifically.

  48. leon

    Walking to Church yesterday with the girls and saw a Young buck (maybe 3 point) came limping down our street.

    • juris imprudent

      An arrow to the knee?

      • banginglc1

        I was skinning a deer once and it’s leg was all green and gross once the hide was removed. Upon further inspection, we pulled out an arrowhead. The deer show no limp and no external signs of a problem. It makes me wonder how long it was in there.

  49. Jarflax

    So I just received an email urging me to take advantage of cyber Monday prices to stock up on 9 mm. So I checked it out. This is the teaser landing page.

    70 cents a round, limit one 50 rd. box per customer….
    The ‘bulk’ options below are $1.20 a round.

    • leon

      If you’re going to charge me 70 cents a round don’t also limit how much i can buy.

    • EvilSheldon

      Dude, it’s Cheaper Than Dirt. This is par for the course for them. Don’t patronise those assholes.

      • Jarflax

        I’m on their email list from one purchase 15 years ago of 7.5 x 55.

      • Raven Nation

        *quietly deletes CTD bookmark*

    • AlexinCT

      Mulled wine tastes terrible and is an abomination. And that comes from someone that has eaten ass.

      • PieInTheSky

        oh I agree

      • DEG

        Nein!

        Glühwein is good.

  50. KSuellington

    Well, the one silver lining to the upcoming Biden admin is that the bet I made with my brother is now on. I have until January 2023 for Harris to succeed in getting Joe to trip over his dog again, break his hip and step down for the good of the country. I like my chances.

  51. The Late P Brooks

    My 94 year old grandmother who was this weekend sent to the hospital with covid despite being inhumanely locked in a care facility for 9 months?

    She’s fine now. Off oxygen after 1 day. Didn’t understand why she went to the hospital because she thought she had a cold.

    Numbers were boosted.

  52. Hyperion

    “Staten Island pub declares itself an autonomous zone”

    That’s real good. We need more of this. After the fake resistance, it’s time for a real one. Give em hell!

    • UnCivilServant

      It had plenty of room for the motorcycle.

      No idea what went wrong…

    • Count Potato

      Maybe they are half jewish.

      • juris imprudent

        Barry Goldwater’s great quip about not being able to play a round of golf at a course that didn’t allow Jews – I’m only half-Jewish, can I just play the back 9?

  53. DEG

    Impeachment inquiry withdrawn

    Just one week after NHJournal first broke the news of their plans, seven NHGOP lawmakers are dropping efforts for an impeachment resolution against Gov. Chris Sununu.

    Instead, they’ll shift gears and aim to change the underlying law that granted the popular Republican emergency powers in the first place.

    “By enacting meaningful reform to the emergency powers [law], we can ensure that even in our most trying crises our Constitutional form of government, with checks and balances, stays intact,” Melissa Blasek (R-Merrimack) told NHJournal.

  54. The Late P Brooks

    Nuke it from orbit

    “This was an unexpected event, but that does not mean it was unforeseeable and there is a duty on operators to protect those in their care,” said WorkSafe chief executive Phil Parkes.

    In the weeks before the eruption, New Zealand volcano monitoring service GeoNet raised the alert level on White Island to Level 2 out of 5, meaning there was “moderate to heightened volcanic unrest.”

    Forty-seven people were on the island at the time of the blast, including honeymooners and families, and Parkes said they had gone there with the expectation that systems were in place to make sure they made it home safely.

    ,strong>”That’s an expectation which goes to the heart of our health and safety culture,” he said. “As a nation we need to look at this tragedy and ask if we are truly doing enough to ensure our mothers, fathers, children and friends come home to us healthy and safe at the end of each day.”

    They should send a SWAT team to apprehend God and put him on trial.

    • Jarflax

      The Chinese model of ‘justice’ in action. It is not important that blame be assigned to the correct party, only that the State be seen imposing a punishment.

      • juris imprudent

        Don’t kid yourself about just how many normal humans are fully satisfied with that.

    • Agent Cooper

      “our health and safety culture”

      I think I found the problem.

    • PieInTheSky

      Dont forget heart disease

    • EvilSheldon

      Uh, yeah, I would be quite pissed if some dimwit told me that I can’t eat sugar anymore because some other people have glucose tolerance issues.

      • Jarflax

        Did you click the link?

      • EvilSheldon

        It was a Twitter link, so, no.

      • Jarflax

        That explains your beating up a strawman.

  55. DEG

    How to motivate people to get the Lil Rona vaccine, or any vaccine.

    Although Health Ministry Director Hezy Levy yesterday insisted to reporters that “we won’t force people to take a vaccine. Israeli law doesn’t allow for it,” speaking before the Special Knesset Coronavirus Committee chaired by MK Yifat Shasha-Biton, Sheba Medical Center Chief Medical Officer and Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Eyal Zimlichman listed measures that are being planned to “maneuver” the population into vaccinating as a way of regaining freedom of movement.

    The issue of how to “motivate” vaccine compliance has generated increasing interest, with commentators such as Mike Cernovich writing: “Government won’t force you to take vaccine. Amazon will. Airlines will. Banks will. You won’t be able to buy, sell, or trade without the vaccine.”

    As if underscoring Cernovich’s words, Dr. Zimlichman told the committee: “Another thing that will apparently come into our lives, starting in small numbers already in January which is soon, and that’s the vaccine.

    “If we’re discussing how to create motivation for Israeli citizens to vaccinate, I agree, you can’t force the population; it won’t work. We can talk about it until tomorrow, it won’t work.

    “What is possible is to create motivation. Whoever is vaccinated will automatically receive ‘green status’. Therefore, you may vaccinate, and receive Green Status to go freely in all the green zones: They’ll open for you cultural events, they’ll open to you the shopping malls, hotels, and restaurants.

    • Urthona

      Do you also get “green” status for having gotten and beaten the disease?

    • Hyperion

      IOW, do what we say or else. Today for the vaccine. Tomorrow for being able to buy and sell.

      Nothing at all Orwellian there.

    • rhywun

      IIRC only about 70% of the population “needs” to take it for it to be effective. They way the world has been whipping up hysteria over this thing, I doubt they will have any problem reaching that figure.

      No need for bullshit “zones” or the forced vaccinations that I’m sure are coming.

      • Urthona

        Or fuck that concern and just take it for yourself if you wanna be immune.

    • juris imprudent

      Green stars of David?

  56. Threedoor

    I have to prove my ‘humanity’ now?!

  57. Count Potato

    “Let’s see if Big Tech censors a mainstream news story about a new court order forcing the sequestering and preservation of Dominion voting machines in Georgia.

    Judge freezes voting machines in three Georgia counties – POLITICO”

    https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1333429923042758661

    “Interesting . . . Trump margin of “defeat” in 4 states occurred in 4 data dumps between 1:34-6:31 AM. Statistical anomaly? Fraud? Look at the evidence and decide for yourself.(That is, if Big Tech allows u to read this)

    Anomalies in Vote Counts; ”

    https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1333145534765428737

    • Urthona

      I still don’t understand.

      maybe someone could explain. why did the recount not find these problems if they exist?

      did the recount just use the dominion machines again? proof? is there anywhere i can read about the method?

      if republicans thought dominion machines were cheating why did they recount 0 counties i wisconsin where dominion machines were used?

      what is the 10 days supposed to get us? are we allowed to look at the machines?

      • juris imprudent

        So the argument, at least in CP‘s link (which I shared previously) is with the reporting, not necessarily the actual votes. So recounts do not show any problem – the votes have all been tallied again. The anomaly in reporting is the focus – that the count of mail-in ballots, which ran very strongly in Biden’s favor – came late at night. What has yet to be produced is even a single fraudulent ballot in either the initial count or recount.

      • kbolino

        So recounts do not show any problem

        To my knowledge, this is false. The recounts, even though their methodology should lead to identical results (it amounts to, run the computer program again), have actually found cases where votes weren’t counted. The number of votes hasn’t been statistically significant, on the order of tens to hundreds, in elections with margins of victory orders of magnitude larger. However, the fact that a computer system which is supposed to count votes without any human intervention cannot even do that right hardly inspires confidence.

      • leon

        Ballots get lost, ballots get destroyed. The problem is that too many people are able to vote.

        If only Glibs were allowed to vote, this would be much easier, as we would only have to count 2 votes, Mine and Tulpa’s.

      • robc

        See my discovery point above. Discovery phase is where you find examples of fraud, statistical analysis is good enough to grant subpoenas for discovery, IMO.

      • R C Dean

        Statistical analysis is admissable as direct evidence of fraud, as well. CMS uses statistical analysis all the time in bringing fraudulent medical billing cases. When they bring a case claiming 10,000 bad bills were submitted, they don’t submit every single bill, each accompanied by an argument that that particular bill was fraudulent.

  58. Hyperion

    “People Are Pulling Their Kids Out of Public Schools”

    This is exactly the best thing that could happen. Close down their indoctrination centers and go back to a model that actually provided a real and useful education. Public education is a big part of why we find ourselves in the Idiocracry+ that we now live in.

  59. Mojeaux

    My mom’s going for her WuFlu test today in preparation for her surgery Wednesday. Fingers crossed that she tests negative because she REALLY needs this surgery (frozen diaphragm). It’s painful listening to her try to breathe.

    • DEG

      Hopefully everything goes well for her.

    • rhywun

      Good luck ?

    • Count Potato

      Hoping for the best.

    • PieInTheSky

      godspeed

  60. Count Potato

    “Not only did government persecute certain businesses to the benefit of others, it also provided incentives, handouts, and other pork in the CARES Act that continued to favor big business. Twenty-five percent of the initial $2 trillion (remember, those are your tax dollars) went to big business, with $58 billion going to the airlines alone and another $17 billion to the military-industrial complex giant, Boeing.

    Only $350 billion was earmarked for small businesses, and of that, $243 million “accidentally” went to large companies instead – leading some companies to return the money over the ensuing outrage. All in all, only 5 percent of the first round of PPP loans reached small businesses.”

    https://fee.org/articles/how-big-government-stacked-the-deck-against-small-business/

    • Drake

      It’s glaringly obvious that covid is an excuse to smash small businesses and the middle-class.

    • kbolino

      Why wouldn’t we give $17 billion to the company that promoted everyone to the level of their maximal incompetence and insisted that their product wasn’t at fault until after it downed two airliners and killed hundreds of people? Fuck me, that is even more galling than bailing out the automakers and the financial industry.

  61. PieInTheSky

    All this faff about alpha males, beta males – shite. Just-so stories about obsolete concepts of male dominance, told by sweaty children.

    There is only one aspiring class of anything, anywhere, ever: glorious.

    LOOK.
    AT.
    IT.

    Are you not happy to live on the same planet as something this beautiful and heavily armed. Like someone stuffed the concept of luxury full of straight razors.

    https://twitter.com/jamesheathers/status/1332798224432771072

    • rhywun

      Trumpycat?

    • Hyperion

      And he is so fluffy and well groomed.

    • Hyperion

      I think we need to find an on site class on toxic masculinity and enroll him.

  62. The Late P Brooks

    LOOK.
    AT.
    IT.

    NO

    FUCKING

    WAY.

    • Urthona

      Holy shit.

      I live in the same planet as that fucking lion?

      fuck yeah.

  63. The Late P Brooks

    More hysterical shrieking

    Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, warned Sunday that Americans who traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday and attended large gatherings should assume they were infected with COVID-19 and get tested within the next few days.

    “We know people may have made mistakes over the Thanksgiving time period,” Birx said in an interview with “Face the Nation.” “If you’re young and you gathered, you need to be tested about five to 10 days later. But you need to assume that you’re infected and not go near your grandparents and aunts and others without a mask.”

    It’s like an “America’s Biggest Drama Queen” competition.

    • leon

      But you need to assume that you’re infected and not go near your grandparents and aunts and others without a mask.”

      This war on Americas Uncles needs to end.

      • UnCivilServant

        People already don’t go near their uncles.

    • EvilSheldon

      No.

      Thanks for stopping by.

  64. leon

    FRED’s M2 Graph:

    https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2

    Convince me that Trump isn’t Nixon 2.0. The funny thing about Trump losing this is that it makes it more likely that the fallout for the monetary chicanery will fall on Joe Biden’s head.

    • kbolino

      Maybe Nixon 1.5. I think you’ve got to try a little harder to outdo the original.

      • leon

        The Sequel is always less impressive.

  65. leon

    https://thefederalist.com/2020/11/30/stuck-in-online-schooling-u-s-kids-are-failing-more-classes-than-ever-and-will-never-recover/

    The problem with (modern?) conservatisim is that because they have no principles, they can’t coherently form an argument and are easily turned into arguing in favor of their enemies. The problem isn’t Online shcooling. The problem is that Parents are not ready to help there kids, and a sandbagging Teachers union that creates an environment where it is “acceptable” for teachers to half ass online school.

    • kbolino

      To be fair, modern liberalism has no principles either. Free speech was an unquestioned good and sign of patriotism 10+ years ago. It is now an unacceptable avenue for hate speech, Nazism, and white supremacy to proliferate. FDR said public sector unions had no place in a functional government and could only work against the public. Twenty five years later, JFK makes public sector unions the norm.

      • leon

        I’m not going to disagree, and maybe it’s just my skew, but on the conservative side it seems filled with incoherence on a weekly level. The Left is certainly incoherent as well, but they embrace that as part of their identity. The Right just ends up assuming it as part of their “shallowly opposed to the left” style. In other words, the right is incoherent because they don’t ever make a principled stand against the incoherence of the left but constantly react to it.

      • kbolino

        There’s plenty of reaction on both sides. The modern left seems to be composed primarily of those who want to stick it to their grumpy conservative uncle.

      • kbolino

        On that point, I know politicians have always been full of shit, but that one is kind of galling. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” went from important (inauguration, January 1961) to irrelevant (E.O. 10988, January 1962) in exactly a year.