As someone who basically doesn’t drink enough to get drunk, I do amuse myself by watching others get to the Vowel Phase. Unfortunately, I usually have to leave the Zoom chat early to make dinner. SP joins in after I’ve gone to bed, but is happy to report to me the next day just how shitfaced everyone had been, and who actually passed out on camera. This is amusing and (in an odd sense) gratifying- I love that people in our “community” feel so comfortable with one another and that another regular activity has become so popular. I know that I greatly enjoy it despite my (relative) sobriety.
Birthdays today include the William Henry Harrison of Russia; a pretty fair guitarist; someone who shows up in every goddam crossword puzzle I try; a vastly under-appreciated pianist; Kamala Harris’s spirit animal; a guy whose movies projected a quiet calm; a pretty fair singer; a very effective legislator, unfortunately; a perfect foil for Clint Eastwood; a perfect foil for Bruce Willis; and the piece of shit who supposedly represents me in the Senate.
We have apparently criminalized being a non-violent asshole.
White supremacy strikes again.
I am absolutely shocked that there’s grifters in high places. Shocked.
Old Guy Music is kinda fun. Chick Corea keeps staring at Roy Haynes playing because… well, who wouldn’t? 85 at that time. Fourscore should be heartened.
What happens in Zoom stays in Zoom. Except what Brett did.
How are you up already?
I checked out early last night. Fri night? I couldn’t tell you when I checked out.
Right around the time we heard her puking.
What happens in Zoom stays in Zoom.
you sure about that?
Good point. Ok, it stays with us and the Chinese.
The NSA would like a word.
Do you mean “jumbo”? I can get them at my local walmart.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s two daughters will have to quarantine for seven to 10 days after returning from their now-infamous trip to Cancun
With the coverage this guy is getting you’d think he sent seniors to their death in old age homes and then lied about it.
Apparently AOC went down to Texas to hand out blankets, or some such. No word on where she’s staying, ie is she occupying hotel space that could go to a needy local? And if she’s staying in a private home then why are those people not sheltering their neighbors without power instead?
And as is often pointed out when certain presidents golf, there is the whole entourage of aides, press, security, etc.
Texas has 3 indian reservations, and Im sure they’re economically disadvantaged and likely hit hard by this weather. She should stop in and drop some blankets off to them.
Or maybe they’re just not a significant voting block.
Um, the last time government officials gave blankets to native americans, it didn’t go so well.
Urban legend. Smallpox viruses can’t be spread by blankets. From the CDC’s page on smallpox:
Before smallpox was eradicated, it was mainly spread by direct and fairly prolonged face-to-face contact between people. Smallpox patients became contagious once the first sores appeared in their mouth and throat (early rash stage). They spread the virus when they coughed or sneezed and droplets from their nose or mouth spread to other people. They remained contagious until their last smallpox scab fell off.
These scabs and the fluid found in the patient’s sores also contained the variola virus. The virus can spread through these materials or through the objects contaminated by them, such as bedding or clothing. People who cared for smallpox patients and washed their bedding or clothing had to wear gloves and take care to not get infected.
Rarely, smallpox has spread through the air in enclosed settings, such as a building (airborne route).
Smallpox can be spread by humans only. Scientists have no evidence that smallpox can be spread by insects or animals.
Here’s a better debunking:
The High Plains smallpox epidemic of 1837 has been analyzed by numerous historians. None of the previous histories have indicated any U.S. Army presence in the vicinity, much less any military involvement in genocide. None have mentioned a word about a boatload of blankets shipped from a military smallpox infirmary in St. Louis. None have mentioned any medical personnel as even being present in the vicinity, much less deliberately violating quarantine by sending infected Indians out among the healthy population.
Historians agree that smallpox was brought to the High Plains in 1837 aboard the steamboat St. Peter’s—which was owned by a fur trading company—as it made its annual voyage up the Missouri River from St. Louis, delivering goods to the company’s trading posts along the way. The disease followed in the steamboat’s wake, making its appearance among the southern-most tribes along the river before it spread to the Mandans at Fort Clark and tribes north (Connell, 1984; Ferch, 1983; Dollar, 1977; Hudson, 2006; Jones, 2005; Meyer, 1977; Pearson, 2003; Stearn & Stearn, 1945; Sunder, 1968; Thornton, 1987; Trimble, 1985; Trimble, 1992; Robertson, 2001).
Many eyewitness accounts of the 1837 epidemic have survived. None mention any U.S. Army presence in the vicinity of Fort Clark. Only two government employees were on board the St. Peter’s as it approached the Upper Missouri. Joshua Pilcher was the Indian Bureau’s sub-agent to the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Ponca (Sunder, 1968). Pilcher left the boat at Fort Kiowa, where he was posted, before the boat arrived at Fort Clark. Pilcher’s letters to his superior, Superintendent William Clark, indicate that the disease was carried by a number of sick passengers on board the St. Peter’s.
In short, the smallpox virus can only survive a limited time outside a host, and only in droplets of body fluid. It can’t be spread by “infected” blankets, only by contact with fluids that might be transmitted by bedding that was very recently used by a patient. There’s no evidence that the U.S. Army ever deliberately transmitted the virus to anyone.
“There’s no evidence that the U.S. Army ever deliberately transmitted the virus to anyone.”
Look at this guy, trying to indoctrinate us with his false white supremacist history!
If only they had masked and socially distanced…
Did she scream at empty parking lots while she was down there?
Rule #1 of disaster remediation – don’t add to the fucking problem.
The chance that AoC, or Cruz, or any other politician can actually help in a disaster is less than zero. Well, maybe Tom Massie. He probably knows how to start a generator at least.
Stay the fuck out of the way!
Over cooking a steak might just be Trump’s biggest flaw.
He has numerous flaws but I doubt they are any different than most upper crust people. Having worked for more than a few, ya, they are weird as fuck.
?
Half the time, it’s just because they can.
Normalcy is the aberration at the high levels of society.
If you are rich you are eccentric, if poor you’re just weird.
Freed from all other considerations of survival, the human brain goes off on some strange tangents.
What I find amusing is that the article confirms what anyone who knew anything about Trump already knew, he’s a germaphobe.
The man famously wrote that he doesn’t shake hands back in the 90’s. Obviously that changed for the purposes of politics, but I think it provides some useful background in his approach to COVID. A notorious germaphobe was more opposed to restrictions and lockdowns than our credentialed class.
A Carnival spokesperson confirmed to the Post that Murthy had advised the company “to support our ongoing efforts for developing enhanced protocols and procedures for the return of cruise based in the latest knowledge around protection and mitigation.”
Or else?
I have never been to Guinea.
Now you’re just taunting us.
Westernsloper’s itinerary
Places Western has “been”
I wish.
But you have been to Oklahoma?
In Oklahoma, not Arizona?
What does it matter?
If you only make it to Needles, it matters.
So I guess you’ve never been to Spain, or listened to Three Dog Night?
No way. The ladies are insane there.
…Tuscon to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonapah…
Burned by the sun, every time I go to Mexico.
We watched the first episode of Resident Alien last night. The show has potential.
‘syfy’ had the first 2 posted for free in full on yt. I’ve downloaded them to watch at some point in future.
Someone else said that too. It looks schlocky in the commercials.
Is schlocky bad?
I don’t know. Maybe. But it was the first word that came into my head.
I like Gymkata, so I like schlock, but I wouldn’t put Resident Alien in the schlock category, it is still finding it’s footing on the comedic tone, but the first episodes have been enjoyable to me as an Alyn Tudik fan.
“And when the star appeared, you had to stick to the script. A “Standard Operating Procedure” document, recently obtained by Washingtonian, outlined step by step exactly what to do and what to say anytime Trump dined at BLT Prime, the hotel restaurant.”
So why didnt they just post an image of it ? I mean, it seems someone took the type to type it out….
Because they’d rather parse through it to make it appear unreasonable.
^^
Now do every other pol in DC.
Does anyone doubt for a second that Pelosi isn’t a tyrant when it comes to being waited on?
But I’ll bet Bill Clinton and George Bush were decent customers. Much more personable, even if they’re fundamentally evil/stupid.
I bet Hillary’s fun to wait on.
Makes me wonder how much snot and other body fluids she has unknowingly consumed with her meal while out dining.
I had not thought of that but now that you say it…
Generally, I don’t return food. But occasionally, it’s warranted, such as a mid-rare steak cooked mid-well, I’ll eat medium, and probably not say anything. That changes if I’m at a steak restaurant. I’ll eat the medium steak, but I will say something when asked if everything was alright with the meal. I don’t make a big deal out of it, and it doesn’t come out of the tip, just informing them. If it’s mid-well, it gets returned. Having worked in a white linen steak place, these complaints get back to the kitchen and are treated professionally. I’ve never seen a reasonable return get the “Waiting” treatment. Now for unreasonable returns…
Someone linked this the other day, but it’s appropriate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okNc-9Txjdk&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=JunaidDawood
I’m glad somebody took one for the team. I would rather gouge my eyes out than read that tripe.
If you’ve ever read an A&R doc, or been in any way involved with high-level event planning, it’s really pretty boring.
The Tldr version is, “let’s all pretend that rich and powerful people are mild and decent people, except for Trump and anyone he knows. BTW, let’s all gloat about the damage panic theater has done to one of Trump’s property values!”
While Murthy is expected to narrowly win confirmation, the financial disclosures could complicate his standing, especially as conservatives have already criticized Murthy due to his repeated advocacy of treating gun violence as a public health issue.
Common sense!
So he wants to mandate everyone wear body armor?
John has a sad.
No silly, guns are the vector of violence; remove the guns and voila, the violence is contained!
In the pictures he looks as surprised as everyone else.
“Who, me?”
Good morning, peeps!
I have it on good authority that the SoCal town of Carlsbad is defying various COVID edicts en masse, so that is where I’m heading later today with my visiting gal pal from Minnesota.
It’s supposed to be about 72 today for the high, so a short stroll on the beach is in order.
I’m looking forward to seeing some massless faces today!! As the restaurant and shop owners say, “if I comply with the rules, I’m going out of business anyway. So it’s worth the risk of opening up fully to try to survive or at least go down swinging.”
I will be doing my part to boost the local economy,
I hope everyone else is warming up this week too!
I have it on good authority that the SoCal town of Carlsbad is defying various COVID edicts en masse,
?
There is a most excellent motocross track there from what I hear. See if there is a race. Nothing like the smell of burnt two cycle oil in the morning. It smells like………
Freedom
the sun is shining, 25, but warm on my face, Winning!
I went to the beach, but the snow is knee deep,
Good morning! I hope your rebellion goes off smashingly, however small it may be.
0620 and I can see the light of the sun behind the mountains. That warms my heart. The sun coming up earlier is a very good thing.
And in three weeks we’ll be plunged back into early morning darkness because of DST.
Sunday Morning Clean and Sober Links
I’m still drinking. Fuck you.
?
Good! I’ll join you in a minute.
I’m drinkling!
Old guy music is a bit too jazzy for me but then again I just like to complain.
Maybe.
HA!
America’s long arduous journey back from the brink of totalitarianism
Most people know Judge Merrick Garland for what didn’t happen to him. Five years ago, the Senate never acted on his nomination to the Supreme Court.
This week, that will change, as a new chapter begins in Garland’s life-long commitment to public service. Garland, 68, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday as President Biden’s pick to serve as attorney general. This time, few obstacles stand in his path to confirmation. But the institution he’s likely to join operates largely in a state of shock.
The Justice Department is still reeling from political scandals from the Trump years — and racing to neutralize the threat from homegrown, violent extremists who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Over a legal career that spans 44 years, Garland has confronted those kinds of problems before. It’s one of the many reasons the White House selected him to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.
“Having a well respected judge as attorney general will help get the department out of the quagmire of partisan politics that many people think it devolved to under President Trump and Attorney General [William] Barr,” said Georgetown University law professor Paul Butler.
Sweep clean, new broom. Sweep out the detritus and shame of Trump’s Amerikkka.
This week, that will change, as a new chapter begins in Garland’s life-long commitment to public service.
Government service, not “public service”.
The correct title for people who call themselves “public servants” is “boy” or “girl”, as the case may be.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrick_Garland
This guy’s credentials reads like the ABC’s of how to be a Democrat swamp creature.
that many people think it devolved to
Those many people are called Democrats.
The usual tripe from totalitarians as they plow ahead at break-neck speed towards totalitarianism. How many EO’s has Puddin’ Cup signed now while congress sits around picking their noses?
I guess there were just too many scandals to name any of them.
He was impeached twice! SCANDAL!
Were any of them not fabrications? I cant think of any.
I’d call it a scandal that DoJ folks were discovered actively collaborating against the president….but I don’t think that’s what they’re referring to.
Odds that Nephilium will remember he was trying to ask me some kind of question for 30 minutes last night? Odds that the question he was trying to ask for 30 minutes is so critical that one would need to spend 30 minutes trying to ask it? ?
Live footage of Neph trying to talk last night
https://youtu.be/0Au_8GMUxVs
Love that video. That guy is a legend. Been there.
Oddly accurate
?
You guys always wait ’til I leave before the cool stuff happens.
You never say goodbye!
P.S. like the hair cut. I would have said something but I took a vow of silence
I assume the question was “Wannafud?”
I could answer, but I would get Banned,
I may have to join in sometime. computer is in the living room and wife always has the TV cranked up, additionally we go to bed around 7. That is why I have not so far.
I must have missed that part. I’m not sure if I showed up at the end or near the middle – I was only on for an hour or so.
I tried to get my ten-year-old to wave and do a quick cameo but he’s the shy type.
So who passed out on camera last night?
It was much better than that. One of the participants peed themselves.
You weren’t there to witness the reason he peed himself. It was awesome.
Because he was fumbling at his fly and couldn’t get it open in time?
Please hit Brett with this when you chat with him today.
I was sober as a judge last night, but that blue curacao stunt made me want to puke!
That’s what happens when you chug 1/2 a bottle of Blue Curaçao from a sugar rimmed glass.
Good lord.
Well alrighty then….
Tony Romo’s a Glib?
Not I. I don’t do Zoom.
Obvs, gramps.
Sadly, I had to go to work this morning. Like physically, at 0500. Though, I may have risked it if I weren’t having technical difficulties.
What happens on zoom, stays on zoom
No, we at the agency have it all captured and microfiched. And we’ll be poring over it later with those weird lenses.
That’s my point, All is Seen……..
I will not tolerate any denigration of Sexy Blue Drinks. The blue Curacao is for coloring, one isn’t meant to drink a tumbler full of blue Curacao and lime juice; although he gets mad points for the frosted sugar rim on the glass. The sugar rim is what elevates one’s everyday, common or garden blue cocktail to the level of Sexy Blue Drink.
? It. Was. Awesome!
I’m glad he didn’t follow up on my suggestion to drink a glass of creme de menthe on top of that, or I’d be partially to blame for his death-dealing hangover this morning.
Fixed. And yet, his corpse would be minty fresh!
Just about the only criticism Garland’s nomination has drawn is in the area of civil rights, where his record is less robust.
“Garland is a moderate so I don’t see him as the bold and visionary leader on racial justice that some people were hoping for,” said Georgetown’s Butler. “That he’s not an ideologue is both good news and concerning for people who want an attorney general to meet this moment of national reckoning inspired by the movement for Black Lives and the killing of George Floyd.”
Butler said he thinks Garland will take his cues on racial justice from the White House. And, he said, the civil rights community will be cheered by other members of the leadership team Biden has announced for the Justice Department, including civil rights advocate Vanita Gupta, nominated to be associate attorney general, and Kristen Clarke, to lead the department’s civil rights division.
Wade Henderson, of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said Garland is up to the task. But Henderson said it’s a big one.
“The next attorney general, for example, has to do everything in his or her power to fight for voting rights, police reform, criminal justice reform and LGBTQ equality,” he said.
They want to rewrite the rule book. Nothing short of equal outcomes will satisfy them.
Wikipedia: Carter > Clinton > Clinton > Obama > Biden
Moderate…. uh huh.
As always, it’s still 1955 for these types.
SO MUCH WORK TO DO!
They’ve extended the franchise to people who 1) aren’t constitutionally eligible and 2) don’t exist. I think they won that one.
They just rattle off these phrases as if they have some meaning or relevance whether they actually do or not. Orwell had something to say about this phenomenon.
Today’s MSM.
Why in the fuck would Netflix need Covid consultation? I am more jaded after reading that article.
First linked story contains no information so I got nuthin’.
After five years of nothing but absurd, transparent lies about the guy I dont believe a word anyone says about him now.
Half of the population of my parish fled ahead of Laura and again ahead of this ice storm. I bet a lot of people in Texas did as well. Is Cruz going to be the next Trump-like target of the pinkos? After all, they must have a target for their seething hatred and he did beat Beta out of the office.
Sarah is a staunch conservative. I dont know what that means regarding the Vatican. They do have a commie pope so I imagine there was some head butting going on.
Get ready for the country to be sold out in ways we have never seen before. The Biden admin is the most corrupt bunch of assholes in our lifetime and I imagine Clinton and Obama are pulling a lot of the strings behind the scenes.
Good morning all. Keep your powder dry people.
I can imagine some of their correspondence with countries like Russia, China, and Iran must sound like one of the TV commercials for a local furniture store/car dealership/etc back in the 80’s – “Crazy Joe will do anything for your business! No offer will be refused! Everything must go!! Don’t wait to come down and make a deal!”
We are back in the Paris Accord. Third world dictators rejoice and reopen their Swiss bank accounts.
Or are the Caymans the place to hide stolen money now?
They’ve been gunning for Cruz for a while and they just see this nonsense as an opportunity to score political points. Just think of it as a bunch of people displaying fake outrage, kind of like a play. That being said, him jetting off to Cancun and then implicitly admitting wrongdoing by returning immediately was tone deaf as hell.
tone deaf as hell
chickenshit
the word is chickenshit
Ted is chickenshit, he’s a Trump-sucking little bitch
He does fold pretty quick when called out. He doesn’t seem to be a dummy, seems like he’d have more sense than that.
I thought about joining last night but was getting some work done and then decided sleep was not an optional thing for me. Hope everyone’s all OK.
I just hate turned off NPR. JFC insufferable drivel.
Your tax dollars at work.
Just don’t hate fuck it.
Way ahead of you. I’ve been hate-never-turning-them-on since the morning they announced that they were 100%, uncritically, on the AGW train.
Uncritically = SCIENCE!!!
“Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole: Critical thinking, as we’re taught to do it, isn’t helping in the fight against misinformation.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/opinion/fake-news-media-attention.html
Stop with the critical thinking already, it’s bad juju.
I remember that one. The NYT have always been commie shitbirds but now they are unabashedly so.
Their version of critical thinking is criticizing anyone who doesn’t agree with all their emotionally derived talking points.
I’ve never listened to NPR. ??♂️
Then you ain’t really gay, man.
Plotters!
Former President Donald Trump will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, next Sunday, according to a source familiar with the matter, while former Vice President Mike Pence declined an invitation to speak at the conference, two sources told CNN.
——-
The source familiar with Trump’s plans to attend CPAC, who is also familiar with the former President’s speech, told CNN on Saturday that “he’ll be talking about the future of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.”
“Also look for the 45th President to take on President Biden’s disastrous amnesty and border policies,” the source added.
The speaking engagement would mark Trump’s first public appearance following his departure from the White House last month and comes as senior Republicans are split over how to treat the former President, with his loyalists paying him visits recently in Florida.
One of Trump’s campaign managers, Brad Parscale, met with the former President at his club in Mar-a-Lago this week for a lengthy meeting, according to a source familiar. Utah Sen. Mike Lee is holding a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago Saturday night, according to another source familiar, a potential sign of more visits to come.
Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 House Republican, met privately with Trump on Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago, CNN reported, the day before Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell vowed never to do so.
Trump and the rest of the Right Wing Agenda are going to usurp DEMOCRACY.
Just you wait and see.
Good morning, all!
Wow! Sounds like I missed an epic one last night! I hope everyone survived.
I’m no jazz guy, but that is a fucking amazing drummer. Thanks for sharing it!
I miss all the fun zooms. Every time I’m available it just ends up with me and WesterSLOPEr watching LoBot stock shelves at 3am.
That hurts. You should have been there last night. LoBot was working when I left.
I was working last night, and having a phone at work, much less zooming, is a no-no.
We shut it down around 6:15 AM EST, after I got home from work. It was just me Straff and NW at the end. Thank you very much to everyone who joined; y’;all make my work nights fly by.
Wow! And you’re up
There are some great drummers out there.
Whoa.
Grand Daughter #3 arrived! Wendlyn Frey,
6 lb. 10 oz. 18.5 inches, little thing from little parents,
Hooray!
now I have 6
Mazel Tov! : D
Great news! Congrats, gramps!
Congratulations!!
Congrats to the participants but you get a cameo trophy, Yusef.
You have double the # of grandchildren that I have, 2X to love and enjoy.
Enjoy them quickly, too soon they get too busy to remember Ol’ Grandpa but that’s the purpose of life.
Congratulations sir!
Laboratories of democracy? Fuck that
Texas and California may be worlds apart in their politics and climate policies, but they have something in common: Extreme weather crashed their power grids and left people stranded in the dark.
The two sprawling, politically potent states have devoted massive sums to their power networks over the past two decades — California to produce huge amounts of wind and solar energy, Texas to create an efficient, go-it-alone electricity market built on gas, coal, nuclear and wind. But neither could keep the lights on in the face of the type of brutal weather that scientists call a taste of a changing climate.
That presents both an opportunity and a challenge for President Joe Biden, potentially aiding his efforts to draw support from lawmakers and states for his multitrillion-dollar proposals to harden the nation’s energy infrastructure to withstand climate change. But he’s already facing entrenched resistance to his pledges to shift the nation to renewable energy by 2035 — including from fossil fuel advocates who have sought to scapegoat wind and solar for the energy woes in both states.
——-
Though scientists haven’t definitively tied climate change to the polar vortex that sent temperatures plummeting this week, evidence is starting to show that years of rising temperatures in the Arctic may be playing a role in altering the path of the jet stream that fed the frigid winds into the southern states.
“The way I think about it is you’re opening the door to the freezer,” said Katharine Hayhoe, atmospheric scientist and professor of political science at Texas Tech University.
And while Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler said the link to climate change hadn’t been settled, it’s undeniable that climate change is fueling more “tail risk” events that were once considered rare. And both Texas and California, which suffered both a devastating heat wave and record wildfires last year, present important questions for how to safeguard critical infrastructure in a warmer world.
Feel the SCIENCE. Let it flow through you. Be healed.
“Extreme weather crashed their power grids”
California’s power grid failures have nothing to do with weather and everything to do with regulatory bureaucracy and political incentives.
Harden it against climate extremes by more dependence on solar and wind power.
East TX starts getting rid of the trees
Blah blah blah. The AGW people are so full of shit. Government money turns ‘scientists’ into lying whores.
The two sprawling, politically potent states have devoted massive sums to their power networks over the past two decades — California to produce huge amounts of wind and solar energy, Texas to create an efficient, go-it-alone electricity market built on gas, coal, nuclear and wind.
Bullshit, all of it.
Devoted massive graft. Physically their power grids have devolved.
So, what exactly is the problem in TX? I haven’t been following it closely. Bit’s I’ve read have blamed demand, downed lines, not enough peak power.
Is it that power lines went down because they have no idea how ice affects them and everyone is using electric heat because it doesn’t get cold there that often?
I mean if it were just demand from electric heat vs ability to create power, electric heat doesn’t use up much more than AC on the average, so they should have the capacity. If it’s all due to downed lines from weather, that’s just shitty planning.
It’s not downed lines. There wasnt an ice storm in TX. It was demand due to near-record cold basically overwhelming the system. The fact that many of the generation resources weren’t winterized for the temps we saw also caused the grid to be overwhelmed.
Wind turbines disproportionately froze. Nat gas was susceptible, too. Even a nuke site had some sensors freeze up.
It’s a combination of record demand and downed power lines. We had a heavy rain just before the freeze. I lost 2 trees to ice weighing them down and breaking limbs. Driving around for work, I saw this throughout the Austin area. Lots of trees sagging on power lines as well. Add in it stayed below freezing for over a week (previously the worst I remember in my 25 years down here was 72 hours in a row but not with freezing rain preceding it, so it was mostly a non-event). I literally heard a transformer go in one area I was working and due to the sheet of ice on the roads at the time, response time was dismal. Basically, it was an unusual set of circumstances, and people are pissed because they didn’t have every single amenity every moment of the event, therefore TX failed is how the media is reporting it. I don’t know anyone personally who has died from it or had some of the extreme things happen that is being reported. The worst I’ve heard is people who have crashed their cars. Of course I’m a mechanic, so I guess that’s why I’m getting those calls, but they usually like to tell me what else is going on.
Hmm, I thought y’all got snow, too. Didn’t realize y’all had ice.
We started with ice, then came the snow.
But using “Emergency Heat” takes up MUCH MORE power than just using regular heat, and electric heat pumps switch over to emergency heat once the temperature drops below about 20, or when you’re trying to heat your house up more than a couple of degrees.
a/k/a “Reality”.
Unity/healing/etc.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/02/20/national-security-experts-gop-behaving-like-a-terror-group-to-be-viewed-as-enemy-combatants/
I’m sure this rhetoric will have no negative consequences.
From “The Root,” which is about as rational and reasoned as the Nation of Islam.
National security experts not named save one.
“US Navy veteran Pam Keith”
I am sure she has rock solid qualifications to be a ‘National security expert’.
The scary part is that her opinion is not far off from mainstream leftist thinking. Keep up the spinelessness Republicans. I am sure it will work out well for. you.
What is it about social media that causes people to be such assholes?
Friend was taking a poll on border policy and I responded with “high wall, wide gate” as I see the need to control the border but think our immigration policy is overcomplicated and too restrictive.
Some idiot replied with “I guess you don’t give a crap about your children…”
I was not kind in my response.
He meant all those kids you have in Mexico, like him, where the women don’t get abortions, because the Catholic Nazis have them brainwashed and it isn’t free!1!1!!1!1!
What is it about social media that causes people to be such assholes?
Is it the social media that makes them assholes, or are assholes attracted to social media?
I guess it’s a rhetorical question.
But as many others have noticed before me, people are very willing to say things on the internet that they wouldn’t dare say in person. I don’t know why I’m surprised by it, but I’ve had more run-ins with it lately than before, from both sides of the political aisle.
I think people are itching for a fight as of late. Being cooped up for a year combined with economics creating an unhealthy cultural mixing as Cali and NY refugees escape combined with a particularly toxic media culture combined with the prog-puritans gaining cultural ascendancy has resulted in people being quite prickly.
Most people are assholes. The potential anonymity added to zero possibility of every facing the people they malign in person brings out the true colors.
My run-ins haven’t been anonymous. That said, it’s unlikely I would see them in person.
One of them however, would probably get a couple of teeth knocked out if I did. I’ve known him for a long time and I don’t take being called a racist kindly.
A 15 year friendship of mine ended abruptly when he half jokingly called me a racist within 5 minutes of me walking into his house. The half serious part was so over the top that I immediately concluded he had succumbed to his Bay Area surroundings. Saying “maybe I should have a hot tea on a hot day like today. They swear by it in India” is not racist.
I’m not.
You just play one on TV?
*If you don’t have anything nice to say*
*turns over new leaf*
I really don’t think it’s social media per se. Before I pulled the pin, I belonged to a couple of subject-specific Facebook groups that were pretty universally positive, sweetness and light. I still kinda miss Ratsnakes in Predicaments…
I think it’s more that Progressives are assholes, and Progressivism is the dominant culture, so all kinds of media are leaning heavily towards the dominant culture.
“Trump Hotel Employees Reveal What It Was Really Like Catering to the Right Wing Elite”
I suppose there were a lot of towels involved.
“Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole: Critical thinking, as we’re taught to do it, isn’t helping in the fight against misinformation.”
BELIEVE
OBEY
“Sen. Ted Cruz’s daughters have to quarantine after family’s tone-deaf Cancun trip”
Healthy people are not quarantined.
And I still do not understand why this is a “scandal”. Wtf is a senator supposed to do about the power situation? Best that politicians just get/stay out of the way.
Astronauts doth protest.
Wtf is a senator supposed to do about the power situation?
Wave his magic wand.
This society is so fucked when people’s first inclination is to look to senators when their power goes out. That’s not healthy.
Especially considering senators have very little to do with state politics. They’re barking up the wrong tree but this is mostly contrived faux outrage anyway.
Anything to get Cuomo out of the news.
Correctamundo. And an re to your re from yesterday. Ok maybe TX broke some records with this storm, my point was it gets fricken cold there on occasion and always has so it is not “unprecedented”. I lived just north of where you are for damn near a decade and had my power go out for at least three days on several occasions due to ice storms. “boil your water” and all that shit. It was just back when nobody gave a shit and we just went on with life. I-35 was a bit sketchy but whatever, you still went to work. To you or whoever also pointed out the freezing temp of Nat gas, ya, thanks. Why in the hell do they have regulating equipment in the elements so that they will not work when it gets a bit cold? Like I pointed out, we move a shit ton of Nat gas out of ND. How does that happen? No we do not need the gov to get involved but some mother fuckers need to lose their jobs when a company can’t move its product to market.
(That may sound more dickish than I intended but I am going with it)
I lived just north of where you are for damn near a decade and had my power go out for at least three days on several occasions due to ice storms. “boil your water” and all that shit.
I think we’re getting to the same point from different directions. Whether it’s an ice storm or record cold, the power goes out on occasion. This is not a TX thing. It’s an everywhere thing. Turning it into some political football is shameful, and the people doing so should be publicly humiliated.
Sure, there are things to learn from this. Probably should make sure that there’s enough weatherized capacity to keep people’s heat on when it’s -2. Probably should do something about those nat gas wells and windmills that froze up.
The real story here is that people got complacent and many got caught with their pants down when something abnormal happened. People should buy heaters and bottled water and get the hell off their high horses.
He should have sent the wife and kids, who probably would have gone unrecognized, and stayed home. Hope the dog was OK.
Put yourself in Cruz’ shoes. Ask yourself if you want to get re-elected. Step One – call my buddy senator from Ark. and get a name at Walmart HQ. Call the C.E.O. and discuss Walmart making emergency shipments to TX. Brag about it in the media. Step Two – make calls to various bottlers of water and see what they can do to step up production to send more to Texas. Etc. – Call your FEMA contacts. Call TX Red Cross and see what they need in the way of volunteers, then get e-mail out to your contributor data base and ask them to help. Maybe some of this is very cynical (I don’t know Cruz’ heart) but all of these are ways a U.S. Senator can be seen to help in a crisis like Texas is experiencing.
Put some boots on NEX!
Check out creech over here, the pure of heart. FEMA will have guys with M-16s block those shipments.
FEMA has sweet contracts to pass out for those supplies, contracts to the connected and cronies. Donations will circumvent the need for those contracts so donations will not be allowed. See: The aftermath of Katrina. I saw it with my own eyes.
Let’s say FEMA did block the supplies. It’s Joe Biden’s FEMA now. Cruz and the GOP would raise holy hell if that happened.
Don’t fall for that critical thinking stuff, it only leads to madness and despair.
Tell me again, who the authoritarians are.
“Pope Francis Accepts Resignation Of Conservative African Cardinal”
Wat was his cardinal sin?
Avatar checks out.
Losing Albert Pujols to the Angels?
::also notes RS’s avatar & nods knowingly::
He wasn’t red…
Nice.
Blancolirio on the 777 engine thing yesterday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkieg1ZFcPE
Great job by ATC asking if they want a left or right turn, even though the published procedure is for a left turn. If they had an engine failure, they may only be able to turn one direction. Very perspicacious.
Yup, I noticed that.
When a pilot declares an emergency, he or she owns the airspace. They can choose to violate any regulation necessary to ensure the safety of flight. Because the pilot in command is the ultimate authority on and bears the ultimate responsibility for flight safety, ATC is required to make whatever accommodations are necessary. Too many pilots don’t understand this, and often get themselves talked into dangerous situations by ATC. Usually ATC has really no idea what’s going on in the airplane, and so at that point they should stop issuing instructions and focus on clearing everyone out of the way of the emergency aircraft and helping to get on the ground safely. They can be a great help when a pilot excercises emergency authority, but can be a hindrance if the pilot relies too much on them.
As the saying goes, ATC is on the ground to help you solve your problems in the air, not the other way around.
Fuck it, I don’t have to go to town today. Whiskey in the coffee it goes.
Right out of the gate, Chuckie goes big.
500,000 deaths- far greater than early estimates!
I thought we were going to see 2 or 3 million dead by Christmas. I guess that got memoryholed.
Now change the cause of death classification process to pre-COVID standards and let me know what the number is.
From that other site but, yeah, estimates were around 2 million:
https://reason.com/volokh/2020/03/31/2-2-million-american-deaths-from-covid-19/
He’s retconning history but that’s how it’s done now.
Ture, but didn’t one of our Glibs here predict that the death toll would be less than 20,000?
I wrote a model as a way of thinking about these things:
a/ suppose 1% of Americans get it
b/ and further suppose that 1% of them die
That’s 330,000
I just think it’s important to understand the percentages so that one manages one’s perspective.
ugh 33k
Even if a glib did they are armchairing it and not actively making policy on millions of Americans using models.
Whoever said that is closer than the number being reported.
They’re talking about pregnant women. Many health care providers wanted to be vaccinated because the risk from the snifflecooties is greater than the risk of harm to the baby from the vaccine.
Sure Foochy. Pull the other one.
Blathering quack blathers.
Herd immunity? Noooooooooo!
Cling to the narrative.
KEEP WEARING YOUR MASKS!
Go suck on a tailpipe.
Let’s ask Randi Weingarten what she thinks. She’s an authoritative voice on any topic you can name.
(…just ask her!)
My preferred expert is Joanna Gambolputty.
It is nice to just have one expert, I can’t keep up with all these experts now.
“People are scared.”
No shit, Shirley? How could that have come to be?
The solution, as we all know, is more money. Lots and lots and lots of money, sprinkled liberally like fairy dust, will fix anything.
After years and years of shrieking about teh GLOBAL WARMINGZ, we have been blindsided by the effects of this massive cold snap.
And it’s somebody’s fault, and I think we can guess whose.
Is this a black eye for Republikkkins and deregulation? Of course, duh.
Get thee to church, heathen! *goes for another beer*
Have y’all learned nothing yet? A massive cold snap is 100 and eleventy leven!!!!! %%%% PROOF OF WARMING!
It’s Sunday. For methis is church. Praise be to Allah or whatever the fuck you want praise to be toward without fucking with someone else.
>:-(
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/textbased/news/text-9283391/Couple-rescued-Labrador-reported-POLICE-breaching-lockdown-rules.html
Irish narks this time.
We desperately need to get back to a snitches get stitches mentality. It has its drawbacks but it sure beats what we, and Ireland too apparently, have now.
IIRC, in Ireland, snitching is known as grassing and a snitch would be called a grass. Time was, grassing could get one a visit from the Provos and a consequent loss of a kneecap.
Hey L0b0t! Speaking of Ireland, Colm Meaney, and Roddy Doyle, have you seen The Snapper or The Van? Much more CM in those. I found the Barrytown Trilogy novels at last but found I might as well watch the fillums. I have to quote them to myself because nobody else would ever get it.
I have seen them and there is a reason The Commitments is really the only well known installment. The other two are ok, but not as strong (IMO) as the story of the hardest working band in Dublin. I have never read the books.
Aw, I liked ’em. Pre-€ and -Celtic Tiger atmosphere. /kicks pebble
Oh no, I enjoyed them, but I do see why they didn’t have the reach of “Decko the fookin’ bus conductor! Is that top Decko or bottom Decko?“
“On a fuckin’ Suzuki?”
They only did it because they were caught by the fuzz.
+1 Belfast sixpack
grrrrr……
P Brooks is watching the Sunday shows again. God help him
That and breaking threads.
The real story here is that people got complacent and many got caught with their pants down when something abnormal happened. People should buy heaters and bottled water and get the hell off their high horses.
What are the odds the utilities’ (and regulators’) models were all heavily skewed toward extreme high temperatures, with little to no consideration given to extreme low temps?
Earlier this winter (not this month where we’ve had most nights below 0F for the past couple weeks) we were having a mild Wisconsin winter, My boss asked me if I remembered the last time we had a Winter this mild (at the time), I said yeah, ten years ago, when The Packers went to the Superbowl in Dallas it was colder in Dallas than in Green Bay. Unprecedented! Nothing is cyclical!
The forecast by the experts said it would be hotter. RESPECT THE EXPERTS!
We should have listened to the “Little Ice Age” experts of the 70s!
Well, the experts of those days were certainly right that we’d be out of oil in 10 years… oh, wait…
Which is why they cynically took ‘Global Warming’ and renamed it ‘Climate Change’. It used to be that CO2 was a one-way ratchet; now it’s a magical, vile force that causes all bad weather events, like a witches’ evil powers. Science!
“now it’s a magical, vile force that causes all bad”
Just change that sentence by a couple words and you have Covid19.
I was sitting in Jimmy Buffetts bar in Key West in the early 90’s (don’t judge) and these guys walked in. My buddy yelled, “Black Crows!” and they threw their hands in the air and roared. They were as fucked up as we were. Which was really fucked up and then we all continued to get more fucked up. But none of us pissed ourselves. Unlike…………..
Along with the grungers they were one of the groups that hammered the nails into hair metal’s (not that they were metal, it was just the dominant subgenre of the time) coffin and for that I’m eternally grateful.
I remember Shelly from Northern Exposure liked them, and was trying to talk to the old lady shop owner about them.
One of my film school profs wrote for that show, this is prolly only time that’s given me some street cred.
They were Hard to Handle.
Poor Brett.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/louisiana-shooting-spree-leaves-3-dead-armed-citizens-credited-with-saving-lives
Heartbreaking. I bought a Mossberg 500 there, many moons ago ($159.99 + tax – can we go back to them days?).
Fraid not, comrade. The Chiney Jo has all the pieces in place. The 2nd amendment is as good as gone before 2 years from now. China will be glad to know that no one has any guns when they invade.
Nice. I want a Mossburg 500 for 160 clams. I need to
buy more gunstake up quilting.Wrong headline, Faux News!
The headline should stress that this would have never happened if there were no guns!
It was a “spree!”
I feel like someone should set up an elaborate hoax on the reporter about them winning a shopping spree at Dillards or some shit and then stop them after 2 items.
Hey, LCDR_Fish! I really enjoyed your review of Tears Of The Black Tiger. It was quite serendipitous as I just got that film and was wondering if should watched soonish or dumped in the giant pile of when-I-get-around-to-them movies. After your detailed description, I’m looking forward to viewing it this afternoon.
JP takes on the TX disaster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyEWREHxjJQ
OMG!!!! Cruz has totally lost me as a fan. Dark blue dungarees paired with running shoes and topped off with a TUCKED IN golf shirt?!? I thought I left all that abominable Junior NCO at a Mandatory Family Fun Day fashion behind when I left Army.
Dark blue dungarees paired with running shoes and topped off with a TUCKED IN golf shirt
I resemble that remark.
Undateable
I had the alarm set for 3:30 am, wanted to watch the final of the Australian Open live. Woke up after 8 am. No recollection of the alarm. But I was assured that I turned it off myself.
Yeah, that’s why I set 5 alarms to wake me up….5 alarm chili…I should make some spicy chili again soon…
I lose interest at the tail end of these things. Nobody I like ever makes it near the final.