Wednesday Afternoon SugarLinks – Badliking edition

by | Dec 9, 2020 | Daily Links | 351 comments

A fine addition to the Journalism of Nothing genre, call it an adjunct to the “Rednecks In The Midst” genre, the “Rednecks In My Netflix Trending” panic piece:

What Is Virgin River, the Show Topping Netflix’s Charts?

Lately I’ve come to think of the list Netflix provides on its homepage of its Top 10 most popular shows and movies at any given time as the streamer’s version of the roll call at the Democratic National Convention this summer: Taking it in, one can only marvel at what a big country this is and how many, many different people, with very different entertainment preferences, occupy it. Where else does one find prestige programming like The Crown and The Queen’s Gambit cheek by jowl with docufiction about aliens, a Christmas movie from 20 years ago, and, always, between one and five options you’re convinced don’t actually exist beyond their thumbnail images?

For the past week or so, the honor of most fake-seeming show on the list has belonged to something called Virgin River. In contrast to the monthslong publicity campaigns that precede some Netflix releases, others, like Virgin River, just seem to show up one day, their Rotten Tomatoes pages suspiciously lacking in reviews. With its blandly scenic setting and its generically good-looking leads, Virgin River feels, even more than most Netflix shows, like it could have been generated entirely by artificial intelligence. So what is it? Where did it come from? Why were so many people watching it last week? And should you? Allow me to be your River guide as I attempt to answer those questions. Surprise No. 1: There was actually already one season of this show last December, and this is another one.

The lingering suspicion that someone somewhere might like a TV show you’ve never heard of. They might be Trumpers enjoying themselves or wrongthinkers not binging The Crown as they are supposed to. Pearls clutched. Heavens forfended.


My Stint as a Government-Sanctioned “Cuddling Companion” During Lockdown

When the government announced “KnuffleContact,” I was having dinner with a friend. Then Beth texted me: “OK, Esther, it’s time to choose who your best friend is.”

Thinking about it, it’s a very funny question—it sounds like one of those things from kindergarten—but in this time of pandemic, it was a serious matter. In Belgium, during the second lockdown, the government added a very surprising act of humanity in its restrictive measures to protect citizens: the KnuffelContact, literally a “cuddling companion.” Everyone could have one, and singles could have two, a novel measure designed to help people deal with the second wave of confinement, which began on Nov. 2 and will continue until Dec. 13. You can choose your boyfriend or girlfriend, of course, but friends or whoever you want as your KnuffelContact as well. She or he must be a person you trust, because you will have dinner together, hug each other, and lead life together, just like a family. Following the rules is essential, though, because you cannot become a dangerous presence.

(SugarFree could not be reached for comment.)


Covid: ‘How a picture of my foot became anti-vaccine propaganda’

The picture showed purple and red sores, swollen and oozing with pus.

“Supposedly this is a [vaccine] trial participant,” read the message alongside it. “Ready to roll up your sleeve?”

Within a day, those same feet had been mentioned thousands of times on Instagram and Facebook. The picture went viral on Twitter as well.

“See they are trying to deliberately hurt us with the vaccine,” one tweet read.

The feet belong to Patricia – a woman in her 30s living in Texas. And it’s true – she was a participant in a trial for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that started to be administered on Tuesday.

But this is also true: Patricia never received the actual vaccine. Medical records show that she received a placebo, a small injection of salt water. (Researchers do this as a matter of routine, to compare groups that receive a drug or a vaccine with those who receive the placebo.)

Her illness had nothing to do with injections. But that didn’t stop activists twisting her story to advance their own agendas. And on top of the physical pain caused by her condition, Patricia received a wave of online abuse.

Would you cook it first, or would that kill the authentic infected blister flavor?


 

About The Author

SugarFree

SugarFree

Your Resident Narcissistic Misogynist Rape-Culture Apologist

351 Comments

  1. Tres Cool

    ‘sup fam

    • Tres Cool

      “OK, Esther, it’s time to choose who your best friend is.”

      Why did I read that in Fred Sandford’s voice?

      One of the best lines of his: “Esther, you so ugly I could mash your face in some dough and make gorilla cookies.”

      • Spartacus

        Heh. “Gorilla cookies” is what we used to call quaaludes.

      • rhywun

        +1 show that couldn’t be made today

        /look at all these niggas in here!

      • Count Potato

        Sesame Street couldn’t be made today.

      • l0b0t

        “Julio, if all Puerto Ricans were like you, Harlem would be a paradise.”

        https://youtu.be/aZsVuaj4xWU

      • Tres Cool

        When Fred was in court complaining about the speeding ticket? I loved that episode.

        “there’s enough niggas in here to make a tarzan movie!”

        And to think that was on Prime Time. How did our republic manage to keep it together ?

        Oh, I know. Nobody really gave a shit.

      • rhywun

        Fred was just playing to his racist white audience.

        /in before Slate

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      Thank you for keeping it gender neutral.

  2. Gustave Lytton

    I think on H&H days, the links duy should go to someone other than SF. My stomach isn’t strong enough for the battered wife level beatings.

    • Tres Cool

      “I dont know what the big deal is about battered women. I think they taste fine raw.”

      -some joke I heard someplace once

      • The Other Kevin

        When I first met my FIL he had a bumper sticker similar to that on his truck.

    • Not Adahn

      I just figured Wednesday is the slow day in the library.

      • Gustave Lytton

        But not at the vomitorium!

    • Gadfly

      I disagree. Having an SF day is a great idea. It’s like Mardi Gras. You get all the sin out at once, and though you know you’ll probably regret it later it’s fun in the moment.

  3. The Late P Brooks

    Following the rules is essential, though, because you cannot become a dangerous presence.

    I, uh…

  4. Trolleric the Goth

    I was getting hungry for dinner prior to seeing that foot

    now, not so much…

  5. Chipwooder

    Well, I can certainly relate with the author of that Slate piece. I spent several years refusing to believe that anyone voluntarily watched that wretched piece of shit Girls. Who would willingly inflict Lena Dunham on themselves?

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Posted by SugarFree

    • SugarFree

      Industry on HBO MAX, another show the Slates are going ga-ga over, is also Dunham, but they aren’t promoting her involvement.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Industry follows a group of hungry, young graduates competing for a limited number of permanent positions at Pierpoint & Co., a leading bank in London, while being thrown head-first into the exhilarating world of international finance.

        The eighties did it better.

      • Ted S.

        They did it with cocaine, of course.

      • wdalasio

        while being thrown head-first into the exhilarating world of international finance.

        Oh, yeah, the exhilarating world of junior analysts.

        Watch them go balls out doing the 12th revision of the PowerPoint pitchbook!
        See the thrill and chills as they build out a valuation model!
        The utter audacity of reviewing comps!
        The utter excitement of building out pivot tables and macros!

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        Go on…

      • Sensei

        Well first you get to the office, do nothing for 7 or 8 hours, and get told what all the revisions are after the 5pm meeting wraps up.

        Not to mention that all the modeling will be done from a predetermined share price. You just need to create the model that justifies the price.

        And as a bonus – Terminal Values for fun and profit – picking an interest rate.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Not many did, the ratings for that show were pretty awful. It was one of those annoying shows that is more talked about than watched.

      • Chipwooder

        Right, because while very few people actually watched it, the ones who did all worked in media and wrote about it incessantly.

      • zwak

        Well, vapid whores love shows about vapid whores.

    • Agent Cooper

      1. The writing wasn’t terrible on Girls.
      2. Adam Driver?
      3. Zosia Mamet (butterface) has an absolute smoking body?

      • B.P.

        I thought it was a decent show. The show absolutely trashed a stereotype of urban, narcissistic, vapid, listless, millennial dopes, but I think the writer thinks it cast them in a sympathetic light.

    • Idle Hands

      Girls was easily my least favorite show I’ve ever seen than when I found out it wasn’t a satire of my generation of women and Lena Dunham was unironically her character in the show I had to vomit for about thirty minutes because of how repulsive she truly is.

  6. juris imprudent

    Sidney Powell’s Kraken lawsuits have been dismissed in Michigan and Georgia. I don’t doubt there was fraud in this election, but this legal effort was obviously completely bonkers, even if there were a lot of clicks and viewers in pretending otherwise.

    womp, womp, wahhh

    • Homple

      I don’t doubt that there was fraud in this election either, and it’s fine with me. It might as well be because that’s how future elections will be run.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I fully expect the GOP to fraud harder next time but do they even have it in them?

      • EvilSheldon

        Signs point to ‘No’.

      • juris imprudent

        They did seem to figure out how to do competitive ballot harvesting.

  7. Not Adahn

    “They say the vaccine is safe, even though one of the trial participants developed horribly ulcerated feet after joining the study”

    -NPR scriptwriter.

    • Hyperion

      “They say the vaccine is safe”

      They have no idea about long term side effects, yet, the damn thing is still in clinical trials. Anyone who takes it now is, well, I won’t.

  8. juris imprudent

    The stench of attention whores.

    The Federal Trade Commission and 48 state attorneys general

    • juris imprudent

      screwed up that link royally…

    • Gadfly

      What would breaking up Facebook even involve? I guess spinning off Instagram and a few other places they’ve acquired, but it’s not like you can break up the site itself. Not that you should, just contemplating what the goal is here.

      • rhywun

        I have no idea. Apparently they have a lock on social media or something but I don’t know because social media is fucking cancer.

  9. Count Potato

    “Would you cook it first, or would that kill the authentic infected blister flavor?”

    Well, let’s find out…

    “The Redditor Who Ate His Own Foot – Tales From the Internet”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b4VXX-CFSs

    • Not Adahn

      That was a Steven King short story.

      • Chipwooder

        It was also a tabloid headline in Airplane!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Ooooo… is that sort of like “the redditor with two dicks”?

      • Count Potato

        He did one for that too.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    one can only marvel at what a big country this is and how many, many different people, with very different entertainment preferences, occupy it.

    I hear some people actually voted for Nixon. Can you believe it?

    • The Other Kevin

      Who? I don’t know a single one!

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      It’s like there are kinds of diversity that they never even thought about, and that they certainly wouldn’t celebrate.

      • Gadfly

        An Inconvenient Diversity.

  11. DEG

    In Belgium, during the second lockdown, the government added a very surprising act of humanity in its restrictive measures to protect citizens: the KnuffelContact, literally a “cuddling companion.” Everyone could have one, and singles could have two, a novel measure designed to help people deal with the second wave of confinement, which began on Nov. 2 and will continue until Dec. 13.

    The cuddle companion isn’t an act of humanity. It’s an attempt to put lipstick on the pig of lockdowns. If the government wanted to be humane, it would stop the lockdowns.

    • Gadfly

      Next you’ll be telling me that having cellmates in prison isn’t an act of humanity.

    • Sean

      Christmas came early.

      • TARDis

        Sure. If he gets buried/cremated Christmas Eve.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Now if he got it while playing power bottom to his Health Commissioner, I would truly celebrate.

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        You are a bad man.

    • PBRstreetgang

      I think he makes the 6th Governor to test positive. So either they aren’t following their own rules, or the rules really after terribly effective.

      • Sean

        Why not both?

      • Count Potato

        This.

      • Nephilium

        And how many of them have we lost to this virulent plague?

      • Sean

        Not enough.

        A virus so terrible, he didn’t know he has it. That’s the take away.

      • juris imprudent

        Not ONE goddammit – I want to talk to the manager of this virus!

      • rhywun

        I can’t imagine picking another random group of 50 people and 6 of them caught the plague.

        It’s gotta be because this cohort spends all day gasbagging.

    • Idle Hands

      Why can’t these people just wear a mask?

      • juris imprudent

        Because then your whole face isn’t on television, and what politician can bear that?

  12. Stinky Wizzleteats

    And thus ends my foot fetish. How in the hell am I supposed to masturbate to that?

      • Not Adahn

        Slowly, and then all at once?

    • SDF-7

      If that is your sole problem, you could just shoe it in somewhere else in your day.

      • The Other Kevin

        It’s not his fault he’s a pedophile.

      • PBRstreetgang

        That was mean. You’re such a heel.

    • Pope Jimbo

      If people can jerk it to Lena Dunham, you can jerk off to a measly ulcerated foot.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Try some different footage.

    • Ted S.

      Rule 34 implies it’s a fetish for somebody.

      NB: As always, I am not that somebody.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      With a blistering pace.

    • Claypoolsreservoir

      Well see, now you have a hole.

    • Mad Scientist

      Just think of it as one of these that hasn’t quite blossomed into its full potential yet.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Well I’ll be…

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Grudgingly or Morosely

  13. The Late P Brooks

    You don’t say

    “I would not be a buyer of Treasurys,” Dimon said Tuesday at an annual Goldman Sachs financial services conference. “I think Treasurys at these rates, I wouldn’t touch them with a 10-foot pole.”

    The yield on the 10-year Treasury was last at just 0.9% and has stayed below 1% since breaking below that threshold during the March pandemic collapse in stocks. Since bond prices must move inversely to yields, people like Dimon see little room for Treasurys to rally with rates already at such low levels.

    Come on, be a patriot. Buy War Bonds.

    • Gadfly

      Who wouldn’t want to buy something that is guaranteed to lose value when you factor in inflation? Although, the bond sellers will have the last laugh, as they can guarantee that everything else loses value as well.

  14. Pope Jimbo

    Minnesoda Nice. Today’s a good day. It would be fantastic to see this catch on.

    It all started at the Brainerd Dairy Queen at 522 C Street Northeast with an act of kindness.

    According to Store Manager Tina Jensen one man paid for the car behind him last Thursday, spawning a chain of kindness that spanned nearly two and a half days, across over 900 vehicles.

    • KSuellington

      Back when we used to have toll booths on bridges here my buddy would always pay the car behind him as well. He would often get people catching up to him to excitedly give him a thumbs up. Kind of funny as he is a fairly misanthropic sort most of the time.

    • The Hyperbole

      This makes no sense, after all 900 people paying it backward only the last guy through got a free meal, I’m not getting why this is inspiring or uplifting or what ever it’s supposed to be.

      • R C Dean

        That’s because you are a cold-hearted misanthrope. NTTAWWT.

      • Fatty Bolger

        I don’t get it either, but I’ve learned that pointing things like that out makes most people look at you like you’re the evil Grinch personified. So I don’t.

      • R C Dean

        900 people in a row did something nice for a complete stranger.

        Interesting that you process it as “but only one actually benefitted personally, directly, and financially, so what’s the point?”.

      • The Hyperbole

        So the lady pulled up and I said just to let you know the gentleman in front of you paid for your order. If you like I can pay it forward and you can pay for the order behind you and we can keep this going

        With the window lady laying it out like that she twists the original good deed and turns it into some weird game, How is “here, your meal is free but we’re going to pressure you into buying the next meal” some altruistic* sentiment.

        Also I call a bit of bullshit here, 900 people and at some point one dude didn’t only have a ten spot for his combo meal and finds out it’s free but he owes 50$ for the family behind him? What’s he going to do, run to the ATM machine?

      • Gadfly

        Most people these days seem to use cards.

      • The Hyperbole

        Also

        I can pay it forward” “You can pay for the order behind you” “We can keep this going”

        This woman has a great future ahead of her in the new socialist utopia.

      • The Hyperbole

        If it means most people leave me alone I consider it a positive.

      • Tres Cool

        Just eat your damn Deli-Style Hearty Garlic Slices, grumpy.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Only one person got the free meal. But 899 people could have taken the free meal, but decided to pass it along to the next person in line. Each of those people got a shot of joy when a bit of whimsy intruded in their day. They then passed it along because they wanted the next person to have that same little bit of joy.

        I don’t think you can call the last person selfish, but you can say the 899 people were unselfish.

    • mrfamous

      Superspreader event! 900 future COVID casualties!

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Pa Gov Tom Wolf gots the Covid.

    He did everything by the book, I’ll wager.

    • Sensei

      If only his constituents did as well. Obviously he caught from one of them.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Classic

    • SDF-7

      Not where I expected that to go — figured it would be more on the lines of “Ahh…. I don’t know what to do… I’m so depressed” — “Clean your damn room and take some responsibility for what you CAN change!”.

  16. R C Dean

    Patricia is suffering from an unexplained skin condition

    Her illness had nothing to do with injections.

    If its unexplained, I’m not sure how you can rule out the injections.

    When the sole of her other foot also blistered and it became difficult to walk, she visited a number of doctors, who mentioned a number of possible causes.

    One of several possibilities they mentioned was fixed drug eruption – a bad skin reaction to a medicine.

    Their minds then went to the vaccine trial she was participating in at the time. She had received her second injection five days before the blisters first developed on her feet.

    Seems an awful coincidence, no? Here’s a theory: they accidentally gave her the real vaccine for the second injection.

    • Sensei

      Not possible!

      /s AstraZeneca

    • Pope Jimbo

      Are you trying to tell us that the experts – EXPERTS! – might have screwed up and a didn’t come clean?

      Next you’ll tell me that the election of 2020 wasn’t the cleanest election evah!

      • SDF-7

        No one on YouTube says anything different… it must be true!

    • The Other Kevin

      When Mrs. TOK got an MMR shot as an adult, she got severe joint pain and could barely move for a week. Then her doctor did a blood test and found she had a severe allergic reaction to part of the shot. So yes, reactions happen, and no vaccine is 100% “safe”.

      • Gadfly

        So yes, reactions happen, and no vaccine is 100% “safe”.

        Anti-vaxxer!

        The modern era is too enlightened for nuance. All people are entirely equal, in every respect, replaceable cogs in a machine, excepting of course those who run the machine, and those we are celebrating this week. The idea that everybody is different, and that the same medicine that works for 99% of people may cause an adverse reaction in the other 1% is too much to handle.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      It happens. I was part of a clinical trial (as a researcher not participant) where the doc fucked up and gave treatment B to a patient who was supposed to receive treatment A and still marked it down as treatment A. I caught the error over a year later when auditing the data files in preparation for publication. It missed the onsite clinical team and the outside vendor monitor.

    • Chipwooder

      It does seem a bit odd to categorically reject the possibility when they can’t figure out why she suddenly got massive blisters out of nowhere shortly after being a guinea pig for a pharmaceutical company.

    • one true athena

      Nah, they gave her the real placebo for the vaccine. She had a bad reaction to the nanobots in the microchip.

      Obviously.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Doesn’t incitement need to be credible and specific?

    • R C Dean

      “So this is just a warning to you Trumpers. Be careful, walk lightly, we ain’t playing with you. Enough of the shenanigans. Enough is enough. And for those of you who are soldiers, you know how to do it. Do it right, be in order, make them pay,” Johnson says in the video

      Sounds like free speech to me. Really, really stupid free speech. I don’t think its even coherent enough to rise to the level of a threat.

      • Count Potato

        Now imagine reaction if Trump, for that matter, any Republican, said it.

    • kinnath

      I take stuff like that a face value.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Yes. If I’ve learned anything over the last decade, it’s to not ignore then when they’re telling you what they will do.

  17. Gustave Lytton

    https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/12/north-mississippi-ave-occupation-launched-spontaneously-now-prepared-for-long-haul-with-barricades-shields.html

    ? ?

    He said the city should bring in “big snowplows” to clear the street and disperse the activists and campers. “That’s what it’s going to take.”

    Silly rabbit. That would have been a year ago. Now, the city would need to MOVE to end this. Crew served weapons and hang the survivors from the lampposts pour encourager les autres.

    • B.P.

      “He said the city should bring in “big snowplows”…”

      Go the Soylent Green route and use front-end loaders.

    • Hyperion

      Unreal. No mention form the ‘protestors about whether the former occupants had paid for the property they bought. Nope, they were evicted just because they were black. Right, that doesn’t happen. It takes a long time to foreclose and if you make any effort to pay at all, you can typically succeed.

      Why don’t the protestors just go down to the local coffee house, order some coffee, then walk out refusing to pay. Because obviously, paying for stuff is bad.

      Fucking morons.

      • Gustave Lytton

        From a previous article. The family owned it free and clear for something like 45 years before mortgaging it in the early 2000’s to raise money for a family member in jail (bail? Legal fees? Dunno). They fell behind apparently and lost it to foreclosure proceedings two years ago.

      • Hyperion

        I wonder how much they borrowed? It should be really difficult to foreclose if you have really high equity. Something doesn’t sound right to me.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Yeah, a lot of unanswered questions and the suspicions that the truth doesn’t fit the easy purported narrative.

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Despoiler of the planet strikes again

    The Trump administration on Wednesday finalized a rule that could prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from strengthening measures to combat air pollution and the climate crisis in the future.
    The new EPA rule is one of several last-minute federal regulations that President Donald Trump’s political appointees are finalizing ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration next month, including a number that loosen existing environmental regulations.

    It would require analyzing the cost and benefit of proposed policy changes under the Clean Air Act, regardless of whether the environmental impacts outweigh the potential economic ones, which could have significant long-term effects on policymaking at the agency.

    Wait, what? I guess that means we can no longer presume all rules are beneficial, and that is an onerous burden.

    • wdalasio

      It would require analyzing the cost and benefit of proposed policy changes under the Clean Air Act, regardless of whether the environmental impacts outweigh the potential economic ones…

      That doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense. How the hell can you tell if the environmental impacts outweigh the “potential” economic ones if you don’t analyze the costs and benefits?

      • Gadfly

        That’s exactly what I was thinking. The implication behind that sentence is that the writer thinks all the rules are so good all costs should be ignored.

      • rhywun

        QUIET YOU!

  19. limey

    Good evenoon, glibs. Thank you very much for all the kind and supportive messages yesterday after my crash.

    Excuse the drugs in my diaper, but has anyone posted about the new mystery illness in India? It reads like some kind of hazardous substance/toxic waste/industrial effluent type story rather than a pathogen, but the gubmint there is claiming no air or water pollution. Vomiting, seizures, burning eyes? That’s chemical, Shirley?

    • Gustave Lytton

      Sounds like a nerve agent.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Sounds like sarin or something. Do the Indians do chemical weapons?

      • SugarFree

        They don’t do chemical weapons, they ingest chemical weapons on orders from their neurophysiologist.

      • B.P.

        Or when Union Carbide is feeling generous.

      • limey

        Not officially, but it’s not like being a signatory to the CWC means anything. Ask Bashar al-Assad about that.

    • Trolleric the Goth

      sounds like a chemical, but looking around eluru on google maps doesn’t show any obvious local heavy industry, just some Jute mills.

    • BakedPenguin

      Any CCP controlled businesses in the area?

  20. DEG

    Belknap County, NH county delegation defy Clown Prince’s orders

    In defiance of Gov. Chris Sununu’s mask mandate and contrary to the advice of a county attorney, the Belknap County Delegation held a public meeting Tuesday night during which wearing a face covering was optional.

    The all-Republican legislative delegation was led by Rep. Mike Sylvia of Belmont, who was reelected as chairman 11-6 during the meeting. Sylvia recently joined six other GOP lawmakers in calling for Sununu to be impeached because of his face-covering executive order.

    Earlier in the day, Sununu said in an e-mail that the maskless meeting was a bad idea.

    “To hold an in-person meeting with limited space and no remote access is incredibly irresponsible and flies in the face of open government while putting public health at risk,” Sununu said.

    Just after 6 p.m. Sylvia opened the meeting, which was to feature a presentation from the Belknap County Commission on the proposed 2021 county budget. One by one, each of the delegation members introduced him or herself. Only a handful wore face coverings.

    • Chipwooder

      Not only that, but Florida was 10 EVs then and bears virtually no resemblance to the Florida of today.

    • Idle Hands

      Our chattering class is a herd of fucking ahistorical dunces.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That just makes it easier for them to relate to the average American.

    • Gadfly

      Hey, Illinois and Texas were totally on the up and up. Those Texas counties with more votes than voters were not enough to swing the election, and the Chicago cheating was totally balanced out by cheating downstate.

  21. DEG

    Gauleiter Baker decides to do ineffective things harder

    Citing “disturbing trends” and a recent spike in COVID-19 cases, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker says the Bay State is forced to roll back to Phase 3, step 1 protocols, establish more stringent mask requirements and reduce capacity limits.

    The changes, which affect several business sectors including, but not limited to, restaurants, gyms, offices, places of worship, retail, museums and other entertainment venues, go into effect Sunday.

    “These new measures are designed to do three things: No.1 prevent infection and viral spread, especially in indoor settings. No. 2 to create stronger mask compliance, more social distancing and limits on the time spent with people outside your immediate household, and step three to reduce mobility,” Baker said.

    Changes to restaurant dining include wearing masks at all times except when eating and drinking — including while interacting with restaurant staff, seating of no more than six people per table, encouraging customers to only dine with members from the same household and imposing a 90-minute time limit on tables.

    Under the adjusted protocols, everyone must wear a mask while in offices when not alone in their own workspace. Employers are encouraged to close or limit the use of break rooms and offer teleworking when possible.

    Masks will now be required to be worn at all times in gyms and fitness centers.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Environmental groups said it undermines efforts to protect clean air during the coronavirus pandemic. They also called on Biden to reverse the rule once he takes office.

    Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the Climate and Energy Program at Union of Concerned Scientists, said the rule “has no scientific, public health, economic or legal justification, and is a sharp break with past precedent.”
    “It’s aimed purely at rigging the rulemaking process in favor of polluters,” Cleetus said in a statement Wednesday. “The EPA’s political leaders are directing the agency’s staff to ignore benefits and undervalue human health, making it harder for the agency to protect people, but cheaper and easier for powerful industries to pollute our air with impunity.”

    I’m going to go dump some cadmium in the Yellowstone River to celebrate.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      For a Mosin? You could buy a crate of those things for that much.

      • DEG

        I considered it, but I already had winnings from another auction.

    • Sean

      That’s a weapon of war! Ban it!

      • Gadfly

        Which is a funny turn of phrase. Every weapon has been a weapon of war, at some point, and still has utility as such in the right situation.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      What?! Did it belong to Brezhnev or something?

    • Animal

      That’s an expensive tent pole.

    • The Gunslinger

      Nope. Birmingham beauty.

    • kinnath

      I wonder why the hard-left Democratic Attorney-General of Iowa didn’t join the parade?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      That’s enough states for a proper country. Maybe we can just roll this doomed effort into something useful like secession.

    • SugarFree

      It’s not illegal to knock up a stripper and stiff her on child support, yet. Oh, wait…

      • Count Potato

        Also, I think that would be state not federal.

      • SugarFree

        Not if you knocked her up across state lines.

      • R C Dean

        Which reminds me of an amusing tale, told extremely well by a veteran trusts and estates lawyer, of a very wealthy and elderly man who was taken on a car ride by one of his offspring. The inheritance turned on which state he actually died in. Can’t recall how it turned out, as I heard it over 30 years ago.

    • The Other Kevin

      If his dad wins (which he probably will), I’m also confident he will be cleared.

    • R C Dean

      Confident prediction:

      The IRS determines Hunter Biden is due a sizable refund.

      • DEG

        And I thought I was cynical.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Quick. Indict Donald Jr so we can have parity and a distraction.

      • rhywun

        Workin’ on it.

        /the perpetually busy Southern District of New York

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      Good thing Biden isn’t president yet. He’d have to bomb something as a distraction.

      • The Last American Hero

        Time for that later based on his pick for secretary of war.

    • R C Dean

      “The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a comprehensive search for their balls came up empty, and so the the case was dismissed.”

      I actually have no idea on the merits.

      I do believe everyone has learned that there is such a thing as “too big a steal to fix”, though. A couple of hundred vote margin based on a small pile of sketchy ballots? No problem. Hundreds of thousands of votes with no discernable chain of custody and ballot processing machines running on black box software that give inconsistent and wrong tallies? We have a winner!

      • kinnath

        One death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        The black-box software is no good, but it should be easy to see if it’s doing something by doing a hand recount. The biggest vector for fraud IMHO is the mail in ballots. The GOP should have been suing for recounts and validation of signatures from day 1 instead of spinning tales of the machines changing votes. If the hand recount then uncovers changed votes, then they would have had some hard evidence for those tales. It pisses me off that they spent so much time barking up the wrong tree. But what do I know? I’m not a lawyer.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        A major issue is the GOP in some of these states, especially GA, is in on the fix. It’s no coincidence that the fraud happened where it happened. The federal 3 letter agencies have stonewalled Trump, so it’s a much more difficult battle.

        But Trump has been pursuing the mail in ballots and not the Dominion software for fraud claims. The 1600 page lawsuit in GA highlights 200k illegal ballots, including 66,247 from underage voters. Just the underage voters are more than enough to erase Biden’s 11,779 vote margin.

      • Don escaped Two Corinthians

        The judge who torpedoes that will be from which 3 letter agency?

      • Don escaped Two Corinthians

        This slapdown from today’s case in AZ: “Allegations that find favor in the public sphere of gossip and innuendo cannot be a substitute for earnest pleadings and procedure in federal court.”

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I’ve been hearing rumors that Guiliani and team really suck at federal court procedure.

      • Don escaped Two Corinthians

        I think it was Shanin who coined the notion of the RedX (the critical problem, the root cause, the central thing). Here’s where this red X probably goes (assuming they have a case, standing, etc):

        Brother Trump sucks at picking lawyers.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        He sucks at picking basically all people. He’s a poor judge of character and competence (probably because he has no character)

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        What does a judge have to do with initiating lawsuits and investigations?

      • rhywun

        They make laws in PA so why not. ?‍♂️

      • juris imprudent

        The merits hinge on the expert statistical declaration of a PhD in Econ, Charles Cicchetti, and I’m unable to copy from the pdf, so I’ll summarize.

        He was engaged to do analysis, first on Biden (in ’20) outpolling Clinton (from ’16) – as though that, in and of itself was statistically suspicious. Second, that the mail-in ballots – counted after the counting of votes cast in person – should have conformed to the same vote distribution as the day-of voting. That it did not, and that Biden got more votes than Clinton is the entire basis of his 1 in 1 quadrillion statistical improbability.

        So let’s break that down. First, assume Biden can’t muster the same or more votes than Clinton. Second, assume that ’16 and ’20 are exactly conducted the same way. Nothing about the two elections could be different. Third, assume that all votes day-of and mail-in MUST conform to roughly the same distribution (despite the fact that people motivated to mail-in and those motivated to vote in person would seem to have different levels of concern about COVID).

        Now, I’m sure some will just waive away any questions or concerns about those assumptions – credit them fully in fact. As though that in itself exhibited no bias at all.

    • wdalasio

      The suit’s going nowhere.

      And I genuinely do believe that the election results were the result of fraud.

      It just doesn’t matter. The media’s declared Biden the winner and wide swaths of the country have either celebrated it or at least accepted it. And even acknowledging the obvious irregularities has been fixed in the public’s mind as a fringe view. So, no matter how obvious the fraud, the courts aren’t going to overturn the results that have been established in the public’s mind. There could be videotape of every step in the chain of fraud proving conclusively that it was fraud and everyone involved is going to sweep it under the rug.

      What it means longer term, however, remains to be seen. The media has been steamrolling this as the result. But, a lot of people simply aren’t buying it. I don’t think you’re going to see riots or the right-wing equivalent of pussy-hats. Instead, you’re going to see something a lot more sullen. I think a lot of people are going to look at this and decide they no longer have much of a stake in the system. I don’t know for sure, but I wonder how possible it is to govern when the only hold you have over them is fear of getting caught? And does it matter if a large part of that population is the population you always counted on to follow the rules?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        When those who followed the rules and bought into the legitimacy of the government no longer think that’s the case the jig is up. We won’t see it boiling over just yet but in ten or twenty years we could see enormous problems.

      • wdalasio

        I’m thinking closer to ten and maybe sooner. At this point, all you need is for someone to formulate it in their minds. I think the last year or two has changed things. In a real way. They might change back. You never know. But, I hear a lot of the sort of people you wouldn’t expect treating the whole system as a scam.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I think a lot of people are going to look at this and decide they no longer have much of a stake in the system.

        I’ve said it here before, but I’m done voting once and for all. It’s one thing to compromise on a least worst candidate. It’s a completely different thing to participate in a clearly inequitable system.

        I’ve also said that my cynicism extends well beyond the electoral process. I’ve prided myself on being a person who is responsible for himself and his family. One who focuses not only on the present, but on protecting his family from risk and on saving for the future. I’ve laid bare some of the sacrifice required to do that in the GlibFin series.

        The left is battlespace prepping to completely fuck over the people who find personal responsibility to self and to family a matter of duty and personal honor. That chump article a few weeks back struck home.

        Strike 1 will be when they forgive student loans, and it will kick off a series of actions on my part to protect my family from what comes next. Strike 2 will be when they enact single payer healthcare. That’s the sign to start preparing for a post-responsibility society. Strike 3 will be when they start taxing retirement accounts. This will probably happen in combination with a wealth tax (or shortly after the wealth tax doesn’t actually pay for Healthcare).

        I’m one of those disaffected people, and I’m going to become one less productive person for them if they try to make me a chump.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Hey y’all. Long time lurker and first time poster on Glib. Finally doing the mason-dixon line two step with you guys and unreason.

        So, I predicted Trump winning and is more popular than 2016. GOP win majority in the US Senate and win enough House seats that census 2020 gives GOP majority in House. Census 2020 takes 10+ House seats from blue states and gives them to red states like Texas and Georgia.

        Massive democrat election fraud with mail-in ballots and changing election rules without state legislatures approval. My home state of Georgia has over 1 million absentee ballots by mail and the Secretary-of state refused to check signatures or eliminate illegal ballots. Likely over a million of these ballots will get rejected (both republican and democrat). Not only would Trump likely win the in-person legal vote count but senator perdue would win 50% of the legal ballots cast.

        Throwing out illegal ballots would also expose that Trump did win WI, MI, PA, GA, AZ, NV, and probably a few more states that would shock people.

        Once it was clear that kungflu was the means to commit the most massive democrat election fraud scheme in US history, I predicted the SCoTUS would hear the case and toss millions of mailin ballots for various reasons. The courts like to decide on elections after they happen so people dont know specifically if their ballot was tossed.

        Then Texas filed a legal action joined by 18+ states.

        I predicted this would go to Trump via the 12th amendment. The founders realized their mistake with presidential elections not being resolved and the 12A resolves the situation one way or another. The 12 A also allows court bureaucrats off the hook from making a politically dicey decision and passes the buck to congress.

        The MSM is really upset and attacking anything challenging Bidens crowning.

        To me Thomas has not announced retirement for a reason. He is voting against Biden. likely Alito, kavanaugh, gorsuch, and barrett know how evil democrats are, so it will likely be 5-4 against Biden. Rejecting state certifications of EC sends it to the House via 12A a d we know Trump wins there.

        They dont call democrat strategies like this “all or nothing” plans for nothing. Either democrats got Trump to concede and the election fraud was swept under the carpet or Trump gets his second term and democrats are getting indicted. It took Trump almost 3.5 years to get people into positions that could oppose democrat bureaucrats in DC.

      • wdalasio

        The MSM is really upset and attacking anything challenging Bidens crowning.

        That’s why, as much as I hope you’re right, I’m skeptical. Because it isn’t just the media. It’s also social media, They’re going full blast to lock in in the public’s mind the idea of a Biden win. And they’re banning any investigation beyond just blind acceptance of the narrative. To get where you’re going, you need both the Court and Congress to step up and do the right thing in the face of the tremendous social and political pressure traditional and social media have been able to generate. And as much as I do believe the results were bogus, there isn’t definitive proof. That proof should have been either substantiated or refuted in a thorough investigation of the results following the election, when the incredibly implausible results surfaced. That investigation hasn’t happened. And people even urging one get branded kooks or conspiracy theorists. So, the Court and Congress both have been handed an easy out to avoid any fallout. They can say “Oh, well, golly, there’s no proof anything happened. I guess we just have to accept the results.”. And that’s going to be very easy for them. They get to avoid the backlash of “stealing” an election. They get to not cause any chaos. And that is an important set of priorities for the political class.

    • Hyperion

      I truly believe from what I personally witnessed sitting right here watching this until 5am the next morning, that they absolutely cheated. I have never seen a case before where I’ve seen 4 states just stop counting and then start up in the morning with everything flipped around for Biden, when Trump was well ahead in all 4 states. It looked like they tried the same thing in NC, but failed.

      I think people are taking this too lightly, if they get away with this, we’ll never have another fair election again.

      • prolefeed

        Around 3 am election night, I watched MI and WI both simultaneously flip from Trump up by a huge margin, to Biden in the lead, in under a minute. Just hit refresh, and voila, pink to blue in two states.

      • The Hyperbole

        I’m sure you have both heard that those states didn’t allow processing of absentee ballots until election day, and that mail in ballots would heavily favor Biden. (Trump told his base, not to trust mail in and to vote in person) . After they counted the in person votes they started counting the absentee votes that’s the where the big swing comes from. If not that what exactly do you think happened?

      • prolefeed

        If not that what exactly do you think happened?

        Two states SIMULTANEOUSLY added over 100K votes for Biden and none for Trump? That seems legit to you? No chance of fraud?

      • juris imprudent

        The mail-in vote in PA ran to Biden – across the whole state. Hell, in my county it was 2-1 Biden, but a smaller total number than the day-of vote which went 3-1 Trump.

      • juris imprudent

        You’re including PA in that right?

      • Hyperion

        Yes.

      • juris imprudent

        There were no voting irregularities in blue areas (Philly or Pittsb) – Biden won by getting more votes than Clinton in the suburbs of Philly and in the rest of the state. He won the suburbs and lost the rural areas, but it was still enough. The mail-in vote IN THOSE AREAS went Biden, so it is pretty much impossible to be a coordinated scam by a few elections officials.

    • creech

      Our democratic republic rests on four boxes. Jury box, soap box, ballot box, cartridge box. To one extent or another, all are under assault.
      Let’s not willingly give up serving on juries, speaking our mind, demanding fair and transparent elections, and having fewer boating accidents.

      • Hyperion

        “demanding fair and transparent elections”

        How? If they can change the rules by fiat in the middle of an election cycle and allow anyone who wants to, to fill out a ballot and throw it in and unsecured box somewhere? No voter ID. I can register on the same day as 50 different people at the polls and vote 50 times. They cannot know who I am. So how can we have fair elections? Other counties have actual rules and security, democrats have gotten rid of that here because enough people will not vote for their shitty insane policies, so they have to cheat. And not a fucking one of them seem to feel any guilt about it. We’re going down the shithole of history and they just want to grab as much as they can before there is nothing else left to grab.

      • creech

        Lobby your legislator. That’s probably less effort and may be lots more effective than resorting to the cartridge box.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        may be lots more effective

        Look at the optimist over here!

        In seriousness, I have absolutely no inclination to go hat in hand and beg my representatives to have a fair election, pretty please.

      • Hyperion

        I think at this point, unless we have state seceding, there is no solution.

    • The Gunslinger

      Do you know what sometimes happens on a hail mary play? The ball gets tipped a couple times and then is caught for a game winning touchdown.

      • Hyperion

        Or you just have some dude wide open on the pass.

      • Ted S.

        Or M.D. Jennings can intercept it only to have the referees give the game to the other team.

    • Urthona

      This will never win.

      But the idea that a special counsel should be appointed to investigate this is an excellent one.

      You will not change the election. That ship has sailed.

      What you can do is prosecute every asshole that cheated, interrogate the hell out of them, fire people, etc.

      We all saw how much investigative power those guys are given.

      Moreover, this will be a turnabout is fair play situation for what the Democrats did.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Trump won the legal vote count where it mattered. Biden and his democrat and RINO sympathizers changed the election with legal ballots and election rules.

        Luckily the 12th Amendment is the constitutional resolution. Democrats will complain and riot more but they will accept it just like they accepted bush vs gore. The cheaters got caught cheating and they have other plans in the works. They will never stop cheating because they cant win over America as a whole. Democrats declared war first in the American Civil War and they have declared war on America again. You either fight or submit.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Are his parents going to sue the FBI for intentional infliction of emotional distress now as well?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Trump should fire Wray now and force Biden to rehire that cocksucker. What a fucking bad joke.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Why rehire Wray when Comey is available?

      • Drake

        He should fire the top 50 people there. That place has become a disgrace.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Maroon them on a desert island so they never come back.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      JHTFC

  23. ttyrant

    I have a confession — I kind of like The Crown (admittedly I’ve only jumped in on this current season showing Thatcher). I’ve been surprised that they actually don’t portray Thatcher in too terrible of a light (at least so far). She delivers a line regarding the virtue of having *some* enemies that was just excellent.

    Babylon Berlin, on the other hand… strange show. I’m not an expert in that era of history, but I’d bet their portrayal of the 20s- and 30s-era commies was far too favorable.

    • Gustave Lytton

      I really liked the first two seasons, third less so, but the fourth a return to form with the exception of Gillian Anderson’s cringy performance. Not as anti-Thatcher as 80’s BBC, but clearly liking to put a shank in the Iron Lady.

      • creech

        My wife remarked on the incredibly snotty British accent that Thatcher is portrayed with. And pretty much any mention of the economic miracle that Thatcherism wrought.

      • Gadfly

        They handled Thatcher poorly, IMO, and it caused a bit of internal dissonance because they didn’t omit the fact that the Queen gave her one of the highest awards that it is within the royal prerogative to give, the Order or Merit, so that scene felt off given what the show had shown previously.

      • zwak

        If I remember right, even the Guardian ragged on the show for its portraits of Thatcher and Diana.

  24. The Other Kevin

    The Cobra Kai season 3 trailer is out. Looks like Danny and Johnny will team up as expected. Looks pretty great.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      That’s a great series, much much better than I expected.

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        Yeah, I expected it to be cheesier than a fondue joint, but it’s really good.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Yeah, I dig the redemption story arch for Johnny. The ‘We are about to be best buds, but then something terrible happens that screws it all up,” angle is getting a bit tiresome though. I still liked it, absurdly over the top school-wide karate fight and all.

    • Urthona

      when’s the season out?

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      That looks so bad that it’s gotta be awesome.

    • Gadfly

      Between that and the recent Mel Gibson film (“Fatman”), I’m going to say this is a great year for trash-concept movies.

      • The Gunslinger

        Speaking of fat men we watched the movie “Unhinged” this weekend. Damn Russell Crowe was fat for that role.

      • Count Potato

        Fatman was very good. So was Freaky.

        I wonder what is going to happen at the Academy Awards when so few movies were released this year?

      • Gadfly

        I have not seen it, but trash-concept in no way precludes a movie from being good.

        Also, the Academy doesn’t have to worry, as a streaming movie only needs to be shown in select theaters for a limited time to qualify. Netflix has done that for a few of their movies in the past, and I’m sure a lot of that will be done this year (the streaming studios are probably salivating at the opportunity to get some wins).

      • The Last American Hero

        They’ll give recognition to some film you’ve never heard of about survival as a QWERTY person in a Trump death camp.

        And they’ll nominate a couple of Medea movies to fill the race quota.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    That doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense.

    Thank you. I thought maybe I was having a stroke, for a while.

  26. Sean

    Gf’s school got closed down today. One of the kid’s non custodial parent tested positive yesterday.

    The whole staff (small) had get tested today. All neg. Still, 14 day shutdown, which will carry them into the holidays.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I was listening to someone yesterday blathering on about how important it was to do distance learning and that claims that kids were being harmed were way overblown.

      It made me think that Trump should have simply installed a few PCs that could be used for distance learning in those cages down on the border and then no one could have complained about them immigrant children being mistreated.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      This is what should happen to each and every one of these hysterical ninnies.

  27. Pope Jimbo

    Now that The Hype has harshed my good feelings for the day, I might as well complain to you jerks who were discussing this story about Fort Hood naming a gate after a heroic POC murder victim.

    The family of Spc. Vanessa Guillen visited Fort Hood, Texas, on Tuesday to see design concepts and survey the proposed site of a memorial gate that will be named in Guillen’s honor, according to the central Texas installation.

    Guillen, a member of 3rd Cavalry Regiment, went missing April 22, sparking an extensive search that came to an end June 30, when her remains were discovered near the Leon River. Prosecutors now say Guillen was killed by a fellow soldier in an armory on post.

    Why do I need to complain? Because you shitlords didn’t even point out that the fort itself is named after a Confederate general! Seems like a country that really cared about its military would rename the entire fort after Guillen, not just a gate.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Why stop with her? Let’s rename all sorts of things after crime victims. PFC Barry Winchell Memorial Barracks at Ft Campbell.

      Meanwhile at Ft Bragg: https://www.wsoctv.com/news/trending/2-fort-bragg-deaths-shine-light-army-paratroopers-unsolved-may-killing-decapitation/Y5QYPR56BVHBNPCT7INFZHUXBQ/

      Kind of confusing article. Three mysterious deaths in the last couple of months, including of one guy who previously killed a fourth soldier two years ago in self defense.

      • Hyperion

        Fuck it, just get rid of all the other memorials, stuff named after people, and museums and only do any of that stuff for victims. From now on, the greatest achievement you can make in life is becoming a victim, everything else will be meaningless. From the time we’re old enough to walk, our first goal will be hitting our head on the coffee table, falling down a stairs, or maybe running into the street to get hit by a speeding vehicle.

      • Gustave Lytton

        “Crunchy Memorial Training Area at Ft Victim. Excuse me, Joint Base Victim-Participation Trophy.”

      • Gustave Lytton

        *don’t bed down in an area open to vehicular traffic without marking and protection

      • Fourscore

        Hey, I got one of those Ft Hood Participation Awards, over 40 years ago, probably drove out the soon-to-be newly named gate.

  28. Yusef drives a Kia

    Landed a bit hard I guess,

    • The Gunslinger

      That’s what she said?

  29. Gadfly

    Not Adahn posted this on the last thread, but I feel it deserves a repost: America’s ‘highest-earning sex worker’ sues over lost wages on lockdown.

    She apparently makes a cool $1M a year. I didn’t know prostitutes could make that much. Also, the original headline (per the link) was better: America’s Highest Paid Legal Hooker Sues for Lack of Work.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      She must be making it up in volume.

      • Not Adahn

        She’s like 4’8″. She can probably charge more to make guys live out their porn star fantasy.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Better to be a big fish in a small pond.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      If things get too bad I’d be happy to let her crash on my couch for a few weeks…no hookin out of Casa Wizzleteats allowed though.

    • Count Potato

      “The ginger Ireland native — who has 106,000 followers on Instagram — worked for the Moonlite BunnyRanch, which closed its doors in March in line with statewide coronavirus lockdown measures. Around a year prior, Irish Central reported that she was pulling in around $1 million per year.

      “Nevada’s governor has unfairly kept the legal brothels closed while allowing other high-contact businesses, such as massage parlors, spas, and salons, to reopen,” wrote Little on a GoFundMe page aiming to raise $50,000 for the lawsuit.”

      At the very least, her whoring is consistent.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    America’s Highest Paid Legal Hooker Sues for Lack of Work.

    She’s a lobbyist?

    • Gender Traitor

      No – she has a respectable profession.

      • Not Adahn

        Yup. Hookers provide a valuable service that people are willing to pay for without coercion. That costs extra.

  31. Count Potato

    “Johnny Roman Garza, 21, a member of the neo #Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, was sentenced today to 16 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release for his role in a plot to threaten journalists & advocates who worked to expose antisemitism! ”

    https://twitter.com/StopAntisemites/status/1336758113698013188

    Huh, looks someone found an actual neo-nazi.

    • Not Adahn

      Plot to threaten? That’s prison time? And I thought attomwaffen was a legitimate terrorist group that actually killed people and suchlike.

    • juris imprudent

      Garza’s attorney, Richard Suzuki, told The Associated Press last week that Garza was remorseful and has sworn off the Atomwaffen Division. He said Garza is a U.S. citizen of Mexican heritage.

      White supremacy just isn’t what it used to be, is it?

  32. Count Potato

    “SCOOP: President-elect Joe Biden is considering a high-profile ambassadorship for Pete Buttigieg, possibly sending him to China”

    https://twitter.com/axios/status/1336505607721906176

    As long as he doesn’t come back.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      He should send Swalwell given his connections.

      • Fourscore

        I can see see Swalwell wanting to sell his little yellow Book of Color to Buttigieg and Butty refusing it, lack of interest.

    • Hyperion

      At least Fang Fang won’t have any effect on the Buttplugged.

      • straffinrun

        Fang Pegged.

      • Hyperion

        lol

    • dbleagle

      Yep that’ll work. Sending an out-n-proud gay dude as ambassador to a country that still criminalizes homosexual conduct is setting us up for succeeding with diplomatic work. Maybe if he does really goodly the pre-Harris president can follow that up with a second ambassadorial gig in Iran.

      • grrizzly

        Actually sodomy is not criminalized in China. It’s a crime in Singapore, though.

      • Urthona

        The way I do it it is.

    • Urthona

      that seems like a waste of the only guy in the democratic party with charisma.

      i say go for it.

  33. Hyperion

    A commie?

    OFFS! Everyone knows he’s a commie, that’s what makes him so popular with the dems.

  34. Not Adahn

    Fry-up breakfast for dinner tonight: eggs, sausage, fried polenta.

    Why isn’t fried polenta on diner menus? It’s cheap, fast and delicious.

    • BakedPenguin

      Carbs? Still, I can relate, since most breakfast foods don’t make it onto dinner menus outside of the 24 hr breakfast places. (If any still exist)

      • Not Adahn

        Can’t be carbs — hash browns are a diner staple.

  35. Hyperion

    Downloading Cyberpunk 2077 right now, pre download. Looks like it’s released in less than an hour.

    I seriously doubt it will be as good as AC Valhalla. Hope so, but doubt it. I’m about 90 hours in Valhalla now. We’ll see…

    • Urthona

      no way it’s gonna because as good as crusader kings 3.

      • Hyperion

        I like CS 3, that’s some deep stuff. But a strategy/RPG hybrid, not an action RPG.

        I have it, but didn’t get that far with it. On my first try, I married the meanest ginger in the British Aisles, a Welsh girl. She was so mean, I stayed away at battle all of the time so I didn’t have to sleep with one eye open every night.

      • Hyperion

        Oops, CK3.

    • LJW

      My download is stuck. Steam servers probably getting pummeled.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m processing the preload.

        This is the first time I’ve seen CPU usage over 67% on this machine. But ~60GB of data to decrypt does take a few cycles.

      • Hyperion

        LOL, I’m getting a whopping 1.5MB per second, about 1/20th of what I typically get. The servers are being crushed. I guess the hype worked, this will be the most downloaded game first day in history. Try to keep up with the comments on Steam, looks like about 3000 per minute, lol.

        I can’t wait until people complete the download and the cyber riots ensue. They downgraded the graphics! Shitty console port! Sue CDProjekt! I want a refund now!

      • UnCivilServant

        Never read the comments.

      • Hyperion

        You’re missing the best part.

      • UnCivilServant

        No, the game is the best part.

        Dealing with human beings is never fun or entertaining.

      • Hyperion

        You’re seriously underestimating the deep deep derp of Steam comment game day release.

  36. straffinrun

    My family had a large get together (22 including the little ones) for Thanksgiving. They all ended up testing positive. For AIDS. I ass raped all of them.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Should have worn your gimp mask.

      • straffinrun

        This is an N95 grade rubber ball.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      Didn’t see that coming. Neither did they, apparently.

      • Hyperion

        He pulled a STEVE SMITH on them. Beware of glibertarian family members.

    • Hyperion

      Wait, what did they do? Another aborted launch today?

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        No, they launched it, glided it in, flipped it up for landing with the rockets, and slammed it into the ground.

      • Hyperion

        Oh, FFS!

    • Fatty Bolger

      We watched it live, I told my wife beforehand not to freak out if something happened because it’s a test, and it would be more of a surprise if it went flawlessly than if something went wrong. Actually looked pretty good until the landing, you could tell it was coming down too fast.

      • Hyperion

        So, do they have some backup for all that lost metal? That thing looks enormous.

      • Fatty Bolger

        The next prototype is almost complete already. The nice thing about making it out of steel is that it’s a lot cheaper and easier to build. Every test is meant to push the limits. and they keep popping out prototypes one after another.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        you could tell it was coming down too fast.

        I thought the same thing until I saw a wide angle view. It actually nearly leveled off before they ran out of fuel.

  37. Scruffy Nerfherder

    And in local news, the new chairperson of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Board of Trustees is…. dun, dun, duuuunnnnn…..

    Carly Fiorina

    FFS, these idiots never go away once they ruin a major corporation or two.

  38. Not Adahn

    My loden cap came in tonight. I got the biggest size they had (Euro 62 whatever tf that means) and it’s only slightly too small, which is a nice improvement over all my other shooting headgear.

  39. Not Adahn

    Speaking of TV series, doesn’t The Expanse come out next week?

    • Hyperion

      My wife has been watching that for a long time. I don’t watch TV, I haven’t seen any of it in a longtime I can tolerate, I mean that doesn’t suck.

      • Not Adahn

        It’s the hardest sci-fi show I’ve seen on TV in maybe ever. They only occasionally break physics for plot reasons.

      • Fatty Bolger

        And when they do, they apologize for it.

      • Urthona

        Except for all the alien bull crap.

    • rhywun

      Huh, you’re right. I haven’t watched the last season yet. The years just fly by too quickly.

      Hyp, watch it. It’s fantastic.

      • TARDis

        I’m going to have to watch it by myself. My wife didn’t like it. *shrugs* I’m ambivalent so far. I may or may not have watched any of it sober.

      • Fatty Bolger

        No kidding. I keep looking for a break on this ride, but can’t find one. Seems like there’s only an accelorrater.

      • Not Adahn

        I’m looking forward to see what they do without the alien magic.

      • Hyperion

        I will try it. We have 4 TVs in the house now, 3 that work, including my monitor, so I’ll give it a try.

        The last few Scifi shows I’ve enjoyed, including zero TV series, are District 9, Serenity, and Passengers.

    • Urthona

      Love it, but my least favorite season was the last one. Just a different scope.

      This will be the second to last season and it now has a planned end date.

      • rhywun

        My only gripe is it moves too fast, especially S03. I assume S04 will be the same.

        Still loved it.

  40. straffinrun

    Go to the convenience store for my morning coffee. At the door, the middle aged guy in front of me squirts three hot loads of hand sanitizer into his fleshy hands and slathers the stuff on himself. He’s in front of me at the checkout, looks down and notices his feet aren’t exactly placed inside the social distancing box sticker on the floor. He quickly adjusts his feet so they are correctly in the box then looks at me and nods in apology. I’ve never felt such contempt for a human.

    • TARDis

      You should have whipped out little straffin and pissed a circle around yourself. Then said, “Shields raised.”

      • straffinrun

        Criss Cross Applesauce?

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Carly Fiorina

    FFS, these idiots never go away once they ruin a major corporation or two.

    Couldn’t they get Meg Whitman?

    • wdalasio

      Welcome gentlemen to Credential Society(tm).

      No matter how badly they screw up, they remain the anointed. Totally destroy a company? That’s okay. Your failure is a “learning opportunity”. Play with your putz in the middle of a Zoom meeting? Hey, we all have urges! In fact the only rule of Credential Society(tm) is that there is no Credential Society(tm)!

      Seriously, though. Our society’s elites wonder why the public has become unwilling to defer to them. It shouldn’t come as a surprise.

    • Mad Scientist

      Elizabeth Holmes is available.

      • wdalasio

        Holmes is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. She was caught in outright fraud. Her entire business was a fraud. People have been put in jail for a lot less. Bernie Ebbers’ BS never actually put anyone’s life at risk. And what’s her status? Oh, she’s married to a hotel heir and isn’t going to see a trial until sometime (maybe) in 2021. I’m not a very carceral guy. But, what the hell gives with the different standards?

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Why isn’t fried polenta on diner menus? It’s cheap, fast and delicious.

    Isn’t polenta a lot like grits?

    • TARDis

      No. It doesn’t take a can of Rotel, a pound of Kielbasa, and a block of a cheese like substance to be appetizing.

      • wdalasio

        Shrimp. Bacon sauce. Grits.

        Some assembly required. And out of this world.

      • Don escaped Two Corinthians

        NewWife puts a hint of some sort of cheese in the grits

      • wdalasio

        Oooh! That’s nice.

      • TARDis

        Agreed. But basic grits with butter, salt and pepper? No thanks.

        Wife once sent back breakfast at a restaurant because the grits that she cancelled were touching her eggs. I said, “Great, now they dick swabbed your plate.”

    • Not Adahn

      Yeah, which makes the absence of the crispy-fried up version of it even less understandable.

    • wdalasio

      Pretty much. I think it’s a slightly different type of corn. Both are absolutely delicious.

    • westernsloper

      No, Polenta is Eyetalian grits.

  43. DEG

    NH House Speaker Hinch dies

    I think this bodes poorly for those of us that want the state of emergency ended and NH to get back to normal. Hinch, even though he wasn’t Reopen NH endorsed, has spoken well of Reopen NH. He had a NH Liberty Alliance endorsement.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    I have been educating myself about the arcane workings of the steering column on my 84 GM pickup truck. Strange things are happening, between turn signals, instrument panel lights and wipers. I hope it miraculously heals itself when the new wiper motor goes in.

    What a Rube Goldberg contraption.

    *Still better than a circuit board, I guess.

    • Tulip

      “I have been educating myself about the arcane workings of the steering column on my 84 GM pickup truck.”

      Hawt!

    • tripacer

      My first car was an ’85 Chrysler Lazer. It was pretty neat. It had the talking computer with all the buttons. Said things like “Please check your disk brake pads”. Any way, it did this thing where if the cruise was set and you changed the electrical load in the right way, i.e. turned on the high beams, it would start accelerating at a steady pace until you chickened out and turned off the cruise control. Never did figure that one out.

    • tripacer

      My first car was an ’85 Chrysler Lazer. It was pretty neat. It had the talking computer with all the buttons. Said things like “Please check your disk brake pads”. Any way, it did this thing where if the cruise was set and you changed the electrical load in the right way, i.e. turned on the high beams, it would start accelerating at a steady pace until you chickened out and turned off the cruise control. Never did figure that one out.

      • tripacer

        Any idea why I always double post? It’s like typing with the hiccups.

      • tripacer

        Any idea why I always double post? It’s like typing with the hiccups.

  45. juris imprudent

    Shut up and take my money!

    The new firearm will look similar to a standard AR-15 but will in fact be a battery-powered railgun capable of firing 3 million rounds per minute. It will also feature a fingerprint sensor, Bluetooth capability, heat-seeking ammunition, and a chainsaw bayonet, to name a few.

  46. juris imprudent

    This! This is our new plan, with 10 sure fire options!

    • juris imprudent

      Dammit, missed the link again.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    Palpable desperation

    Dr. Anthony Fauci is urging Black Americans hesitant to take the Covid-19 vaccine to trust the process — in part because one of the scientists at the forefront of the vaccine’s development is a Black woman.
    The nation’s top infectious disease expert, speaking at an event hosted by the National Urban League on Tuesday, said it was important to acknowledge the US history of racism in medical research and understand how that has fostered mistrust among some Black people.
    But Fauci stressed that the upcoming Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective, adding that African American scientists have been involved in their development.

    Panic is setting in. I hope that little shit strokes out on live teevee hyping his bullshit snake oil.

    • Gustave Lytton

      “They’re all Dr Toms!”

  48. The Late P Brooks

    “So, the first thing you might want to say to my African American brothers and sisters is that the vaccine that you’re going to be taking was developed by an African American woman,” Fauci added. “And that is just a fact.”

    So pathetic.

    • Mad Scientist

      Biden tomorrow: If you don’t take the vaccine, you ain’t black.

    • rhywun

      Literal LOL.

      I won’t take it unless Joe can trot out some representatives of MY identity group.

      • rhywun

        And if Fauci gets to use “brothers and sisters” I’ll just go with “girlfriends!” (in my loudest screech).

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s almost funny.

  49. Hyperion

    Fucking Sick

    When we get hit by SMOD, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Society is fucking sick, we’re sick dude!

    • commodious spittoon

      Nm, he was playing at 4k and then turns it up to 8k with not great results.

  50. Loveconstitution1789

    Adding to my other post, Georgia does not have mask or social distancing mandates. No lockdowns. Businesses and schools are open. Fulton county is fond of less freedom since its heavily democrat.

    I dont wear a mask, I have family gatherings, and visit businesses mostly like its a past normal year.

    We have a bunch of out of staters come to georgia and we have weathered this wuhanvirus well. A death rate of <1% will do that. Of course this means that crazy Lefty Hollywood types are trying to turn Georgia Blue….again. Lefties try to destroy what makes Georgia great with Communist policies that failed in other states.

    So Im here and looking forward to discussions.