Tuesday Morning Texas is Frozen Links

by | Feb 16, 2021 | Daily Links | 338 comments

Good morning my Glibs and Gliberinas and what a freezing cold and beautiful morning it is!

 

Our pipes are frozen, we finally managed to regain our power late last night.

 

The return of Parler.

 

Enemy of the people.

 

That’s all I got for today.  I’m going to go crawl back into to a warm bed. Fill in the rest for yourselves.

About The Author

Banjos

Banjos

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

338 Comments

  1. UnCivilServant

    Morning, Banjos.

    Frozen pipes suck. Did any burst?

    • AlexinCT

      I sure hope not… Burst pipes means turn off water…

    • Fourscore

      -28 this morning. I thawed my supply lines yesterday, no problem this morning. My daughter in Temple, TX, 24 hours without power. Says water is running and cold cereal is what’s on the menu. Son in Austin has winter clothes I gave him a few years ago, wearing his snowmobile suit, looks like the cool kid in high school, needs to go outside though to really show it off.

    • Tundra

      If it’s a newer house it may have PEX. Amazingly resilient to ice.

      • UnCivilServant

        I can’t assume that. I don’t know anything about their home. I mean, in my house, even the drains are copper.

    • Sensei

      Absolutely. We live in an old house so in serious cold it can be a problem.

      If they have already frozen you can still crack the taps now so that when they thaw there is less shock on the joints.

      I’ve learned here anytime it gets to low single digits to trickle the water.

      • WTF

        Same here – our house was built in 1940 and the insulation is not great. Whenever we get toward single digits we need to trickle the water overnight so the pipes don’t freeze.

      • slumbrew

        1940, that’s cute.

        1895 or so – always new and exciting “WFT?” moments with this place.

      • slumbrew

        *WTF

      • banginglc1

        1895, that’s cute.

        1850 for the oldest part. 1885 for the first addition, 1986 for the second addition. Doesn’t everyone see bark on the hardwood floor joists in the basement?

      • slumbrew

        Yeah, this place isn’t _that_ old, especially for the Northeast. Most places around here are of similar age, though there have been so many gut rehabs they’re like the Ship of Theseus at this point.

        Still, I’ve got fun things like a half-fieldstone, half-brick foundation and a solid 1 1/2 of settling from the outside wall to the center of the house (stabilized, but everything still wants to roll to the center).

      • Not Adahn

        That was SOP when I was growing up, but it was “wheneve it gets below 30 degrees.”

    • The Last American Hero

      Fake news.

      By 2020, children in the northern hemisphere won’t know what winter is like.

      Who am I going to believe – you guys with your burst pipes or SCIENCE?

      Stay warm, stay safe.

  2. Not Adahn

    *whew*

  3. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Glad your power is back up. Put sloopy out there with a blow dryer thawing those pipes.

    • Festus

      Hopefully working on fabulous hair-styles for the girls as well. Frozen/wet hair lends itself to horns etc.

  4. Tundra

    Ugh, sorry Banjos.

    Be safe, Texas Glibs.

  5. Not Adahn

    I can’t find it, but I know I read a statement from the capitol police dated Jan 7 that said the “beat to death” story was not true.

    • blackjack

      Yeah, that was first. Then they changed it to a more killed on duty leaning story except very light on facts. Almost like someone told them how it oughta sound?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        There was a story on Reuters on Jan 7th that called the narrative into question but that shit was buried and quick.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I’m neither a lover of the cops or Trump but what they did with this guy was disgusting. They basically made up a lie, had his corpse mounted for display, and used it to further opposite political ends than he would have agreed with when he was alive (he was supposedly a Trump supporter). It’s disgusting in a way that makes my skin crawl.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I largely agree with their analysis but we at least have the possibility of parallel institutions which may be our savior. The Chinese didn’t have that outlet.

      • Tundra

        Yes, I actually think they are going to lose, but is interesting to see the parallels.

      • Sean

        Blame his family for allowing it.

      • Tejicano

        I fully expect they received a phone call (or calls) from at least one influential person of power who made it clear that their cooperation was “required”.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        You see, that’s why recording devices were invented.

      • AlexinCT

        Have you missed the numerous cases of abuse of power when some top man/woman retaliated for people recording his/her criminal activities without his/her permission?

        Some states even have laws to allow them to fuck over those that expose them legally.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yeah, you have to be careful with that. If you or they are in a two party state you’re screwing yourself.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Single party state here

        I make it a policy to always have a recording device with me anymore. One that backs up to the internet almost instantaneously if I use it.

      • Nephilium

        Stinky:

        If you’re being called, you only need to know the laws in your state. If you live in a one-party state, you can record all the inbound calls you want. For outbound calls, you better know where you’re calling and the laws there though.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Ah, gotcha, thx Neph.

  6. Tundra

    So, Parler/Gab/Telegram/Signal are the options. Anyone have thoughts/experiences?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Signal seems to work. Haven’t really used the others.

    • Animal

      Parler went down right after I made an account. Gab is an utter shitshow of conspiracy loonies and general morons, with a few exceptions. Haven’t tried the others.

      • AlexinCT

        Parler is back up on its own infrastructure so they can’t cancel it anymore…

      • Festus

        “Parler is back! In Pog-Form. Remember Pog, Bart?”

    • Jerms

      I tried Parler and didnt really like it. Was told it was like facebook. Maybe i was doing it wrong but it just seemed like a newsfeed for different people you decide to follow. I guess you can comment on the different stories but i never did.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I thought it was sort of a right wing boomercon branch Twitter.

    • juris imprudent

      Why would anyone expect it to be different from any existing social media, or are we just into novel forms of cancer?

      • Tundra

        Thanks for your insights.

      • juris imprudent

        Unless it’s a club that wouldn’t have me as a member, why would I want to join?

      • Festus

        Antifa confirmed!

      • juris imprudent

        My enfant terrible days are long behind me. Being curmudgeonly is far more age appropriate.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Signal isn’t really social media, just an alternative texting/messaging app.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Yeah. It’s WhatsApp without the Facebook added spyware.

      • Festus

        But my Mom said that Glibs are cool…

      • Don escaped Qanon

        After decades of statistical observation of well-designed, tight processes, I’m always tickled by the monolithic success that some expect from social situations. Regarding the randomness and the inevitable disappointments, I encourage people to look at the human shitshow and generally think: how could it be otherwise. Adam Smith doesn’t predict perfection; he just helps us understand that free exchange is the best way. So
        > Texas doesn’t have enough NG on hand a few days each decade
        > weirdos, morons, and psychopaths get elected
        > movies about time-traveling Scottish separatists make money
        Get your popcorn ready: humans are fucking weird, especially in herds.

        I’ve probably said it here before: those morons who can’t merge on the highway: they’re your plumber, proctologist, and senator. They’re near-sighted bozos. It’s a wonder we don’t accidentally kill several million of each other accidentally every day. They don’t handle themselves one whit better when they’re installing your drinking water, scoping your ass, passing laws, or opining on facebook.

        Turning and turning in the widening gyre . . .

      • Festus

        We try not to think about these sorts of things, Don. What price for the living? You’re the smartest person in the room, what do you suggest?

      • Don escaped Qanon

        Texas doesn’t have enough NG on hand a few days each decade

        I was just giggling my way through the morning; I don’t have a five plan that saves everyone; I don’t know anything you don’t. We Glibs were made for this shitshow: lay in some extra firewood, don’t run out of whiskey, don’t marry a bitch you can’t spend several weeks snowed in with.

      • juris imprudent

        Thank you Don, for the explication of my overly concise thought. I wish I had put it as you did.

      • Festus

        Throw your hands in the air and moon the Citadel!

      • Chipwooder

        “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it”

    • Certified Public Asshat

      If you have an android you want signal to be your default texting app. If you have either apple or android but use group messaging in something like FB messenger then you want signal but have the unpleasant task of convincing everyone in your group to also switch to signal.

      Telegram is diet social media. Maybe you want it?

      Just pass on parler and gab.

      • Tundra

        Thanks, CPA. Precisely what I was looking for.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        x2 on Signal. We got rid of WhatsApp and switched everyone in the family over to Signal. Now trying to convince extended family to go to Proton for email but that’s been a much harder sell.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Warmer air is coming, Fourscore. I’m at ~30, on the good side of zero.

    Those infernal Canadians can have their air back.

    • Festus

      Nope, your welcome to it although I don’t really wish that shit on anyone. It got warmer here but just enough to give us a skiff of snow everyday. I’m about broken.

  8. Nephilium

    Happy Pączki day/Fat Tuesday all.

    Our local news after telling us all weekend how we were going to get 8-12 inches of snow (leading to the end times of course), just quietly announced that the national weather service cancelled the winter storm warning today after we only got a couple inches of snow.

  9. robodruid

    Sunny but cold.
    More snow on the way.
    Where is this global warming i was promised?

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      Weather is not climate except during heat waves.

      • Akira

        Any notable weather event is, by some tortuous logic, the result of Climate Change™.

    • Tejicano

      I think we’ve got your warming over here in Japan. Looks like low to mid 50’s all week with it jumping up to the 70’s this weekend. This winter’s been a real wuss over here.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    Today’s calculus lesson

    Distraught and exhausted parents are emerging as a new class of voters that could torment President Joe Biden — and the White House is moving quickly to head off the pain.

    Nearing a year into the pandemic, Biden’s advisers and allies recognize that they need to respond to the spiraling angst felt by families or risk driving them into the arms of waiting Republicans.

    ——-

    Within the GOP, there is a belief that the pandemic and resulting turmoil make Biden and Democratic incumbents especially vulnerable among those demographics. Republicans see room to capitalize on the grim public health and economic situation the White House inherited from Donald Trump by trying to put Democrats on the defensive for being too removed from the pain or too slow-moving to address it.

    GOP lawmakers, while offering no commitment to meaningfully engage on policy proposals, have responded to continued school closures by striking hard at Biden and Democrats, with more Republicans each week accusing the administration of scaling back their ambitious goals on everything from testing to school reopenings.

    There’s always another election to prepare for. It’s never too soon to demonize the Republicans.

    Those distraught peons will just have to keep their pants masks on until Comrade Joe gets done with the really important stuff, like ending global warming.

    • Ownbestenemy

      OOOH…new vocabulary to watch for. Capitalize instead of pounce. Will be interesting to follow its career in the news.

    • WTF

      …the grim public health and economic situation the White House inherited from Donald Trump

      Because Trump caused the Chinese virus and shut down the blue-state economies?
      The sad part is there are plenty of people who actually beileve this shit.

      • Nephilium

        It was the removal of the SALT deduction what done it!

    • Festus

      “Inherited” is like a magic wand that makes all of your mistakes go away. Funny how that works every time a Dem assumes Office.

      • hayeksplosives

        They act like they didn’t just move heaven and earth to put their guy in power.

        He takes office, and suddenly it’s “Don’t look at me, man. I didn’t sign up for this job.”

      • Festus

        I’ll cop to doing that. “Don’t look at me it was the higher-ups!” It was always the higher-ups.

  11. juris imprudent

    So this was interesting as an insight into local changes.

    Of course, Wyomissing’s rejection of Trump could prove an aberration. After all, it’s not modern progressivism but traditional values – reflective of this region’s conservative German roots – that make Wyomissing a Rockwellian community. Berks, moreover, is a GOP stronghold despite heavily Democratic Reading’s large population.

    In the near future, perhaps enough suburban voters, in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, could reflect the disposition of what The Week’s Matthew Walther recently called “Barstool conservatives.” As he put it, these Americans – including Barstool Sports’ CEO, Dave Portnoy – detest state-level lockdown policies, “the language of liberal improvement [and] the hectoring, schoolmarmish attitude of Democratic politicians.” Barstool is partly owned by another Wyomissing company, Penn National.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Trumpian policies without Trumpian personality quirks are a political winner.

      • juris imprudent

        OK, just what exactly are Trumpian policies? Because he was willing to spend like any Democrat. I’ll fully grant the reduced world wide military presence – though he never really did get far with that (after all, that cuts into the MIC which is as much a Republican constituency as it is Democrat). From my view his chief virtue was he pissed off progs – which is undercut by his willingness to make a deal with them.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The electorate likes big spending, economic and border protectionism, and reduced military adventurism…some of which we can make common cause with as libertarians and some not but Trump was largely a ‘90s blue dog Democrat. As there aren’t many of those left I feel comfortable calling his policies Trumpian but middle of the road populism would work too.

      • The Last American Hero

        90’s blue dog democrats did pretty well. The lefties that wanted to do national healthcare, not so much. But policies weren’t considered critical when the economy was roaring for several years.

      • Flawgic

        Maybe isn’t wasn’t Trumps politics that changed, it was the left/right watermark. They moved so far left that he became a de jeur conservative.

      • Chipwooder

        Much as it distresses me, I’ve come to accept that no one who actually wants to curb spending will every be elected to national office.

      • SandMan

        Same here.

    • DEG

      Wyomissing used to be one of the wealthier communities in Berks County. I don’t know its current rank.

    • AlexinCT

      If you still think they don’t want to be more like China, check this out….

      • juris imprudent

        The mystery of Brian Sicknick’s death clearly calls for 9-11 TIMES Benghazi investigating!

      • Rufus the Monocled

        She’s insane.No, I think literally. Like Biden.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        They burn down your business district and it gets hand waved away but if some goofy douchebags break some windows and take an unguided tour they spring into action. Maybe the average person will get what we already knew: We and our well-being don’t matter to them at all.

      • AlexinCT

        ^^^THIS^^^

        They are furious the rabble came after them (at least in their mind). As long as the rabble was fucking other rabble members, and especially those of political allegiance they didn’t like, they had no problem with that shit. It’s the same with everything they do. If we passed a law forcing congress to deal with the same shit they inflict on us, the stupid would stop.

        Don’t take my word for it. They gave us Obamacare and exempted themselves. They have no problem with illegal immigration hordes because the unwashed foreigners have zero chance of moving into their neighborhoods. They are all for green energy, but never in their own backyards. And so forth.

        Their anger/fear was because the capitol shitfest hit close to home and made it personal.

        We need a law forcing them to live by what they inflict on us…

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        “We need a law forcing them to live by what they inflict on us…”
        Agreed, unfortunately that has to be passed by them and even they aren’t that stupid.

      • The Other Kevin

        That’s why I never liked “campaign finance reform”. They are the ones who would write the law and vote for it. Why would they ever make it harder for themselves to be re-elected?

      • Fourscore

        When I see the word “reform” I realize that the first venture didn’t work because it was screwed up and now it’s time to try to cover up the mistakes.

        Obamacare reform, voting reform, tax reform…

      • Tulip

        And nobody cares about kids in cages now that Biden is building more

      • The Other Kevin

        I was wondering how they were going to waste tons of money and time on Trump now that the impeachment is over. Here’s my answer.

  12. juris imprudent

    Classic Republican blunder arguing about Big Tech instead of working on election integrity.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      How can you improve the most fair and secure election process in history?

      • juris imprudent

        I’ve been pointing to the NY House race as an example of the problem. Since the Dems lost that one they are a little more open to the idea.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released long-awaited guidance on the matter, which offered step-by-step advice to reopen classrooms that health officials said was “grounded in science and the best available evidence.”

    ——-

    White House aides and close allies acknowledge that getting kids back into classrooms is a thorny political challenge thanks to its visceral toll on families. But they insist they’re following the advice of scientists and health experts to keep children safe. They have framed their approach as part of a comprehensive, emergency effort to address several interrelated problems with necessary funding.

    In interviews, they made the case that the president’s $1.9 trillion rescue package — which includes direct payments, funds for pandemic relief and money to safely reopen schools and fund local government — will be welcomed by voters because it will work.

    “President Biden isn’t going to rest until students are back in school five days a week, and if Republicans agree, they should match their words with action and support the president’s Rescue Plan, which will get schools the resources they desperately need to reopen safely,” said Michael Gwin, a White House spokesperson.

    The CDC is intently focused on the best political SCIENCE available to them.

    We just need to shovel more pixie dust money at the unions and the bureaucracy.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      President Biden isn’t going to rest until students are back in school five days a week

      Or until it’s 3pm. Whichever comes first.

      • Not Adahn

        Whoa whoa whoa… you expect him to be awake from 10 am to 3 pm? Without a nap?

    • creech

      We are told that “Fight” now literally means means “commit violence.” I wonder if “not going to rest” now literally means “Joe is going to refuse to sleep or nap until all schools are re-opened?”

      • The Hyperbole

        Isn’t that the literal meaning of “fight”?

      • Not Adahn

        Surely you know the difference between “the” and “a.”

    • Pope Jimbo

      Two different coworkers have told me that when their kids’ schools opened that the teacher didn’t show up in person. The teachers (neither was old, but had some other “high risk” factor) claimed that they were particularly at risk of dying from the Rona and had gotten a waiver to work remotely.

      So the school district hired some schlub who physically sits in the classroom to keep order. The teacher is home “teaching” via Zoom.

      I guess non-union lives are expendable.

      Both coworkers were not shy about sharing their feelings that this was a sub-optimal solution to teaching their kids.

      • Fourscore

        That’s from a new Comedy Club, right? No one really does/says that, right? C’mon man, repeating the Bee is some sort of plagiarism.

        Next thing will be a Super Bowl with hired guns to sit in the stands between the cardboard cut outs.

      • Chipwooder

        This is exactly the system that is going to be in place here when (if?) the schools finally reopen in March. “Classroom monitors” will sit in the classroom while the kids watch the teacher on their screens. Madness.

      • juris imprudent

        Hold on, if the “teacher” is just a remote presence on a screen, think of how few we will need. One teacher for all the children in a subject in the whole state! This could be the best way ever to destroy the fucking teachers union for ever (which of course will then be replaced by the union of classroom monitors).

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        What’s the difference?

      • slumbrew

        think of how few we will need.

        That’s adorable.

      • Idle Hands

        Why would the system miss out on a whole new class of people that depend on that status quo continuing so they can keep their jobs. Just wait till the feds don’t go back and just hire new people to work in the empty offices in dc.

      • juris imprudent

        Just wait till the feds don’t go back and just hire new people to work in the empty offices in dc.

        Double the employees, double the budget! You just gave DC a boner that’s gonna last more than 4 hours.

  14. Festus

    If you’re not outside having a snow-man building/snowball fight with your little ones I will be sorely disappointed, Banjos!

    • Festus

      I know, I know. Snow is quite magical until it takes down the power grid. Stay safe you guys.

  15. Pope Jimbo

    In ’94 my daughter was 4 months old and Memphis was hit with a huge ice storm. The power at our shitty apartment was out for 10 days. During that time we were moving from friends’ houses to friends’ houses. What a drag.

    I feel for everyone of you bastards who have lost your power and heat. Best wishes for all of you.

    • Pope Jimbo

      The other story I have from that ice storm is a work one. I was a repairman at IBM and we had a contract with some customer where we had guaranteed that we’d at least show up within 12 hours or give them a big rebate.

      Well the customer had called in that their AS400 was off line and they wanted someone to come to northern Mississippi to look at it. The IBM dispatcher called me and asked if I could drive out there and at least be on site and avoid the penalties. I laughed and said that with all this glare ice there was no way anyone was going to make it down there. I said I didn’t even know the first thing about AS400’s and why was he calling me?

      The dispatcher said that since I was from Minnesoda he figured I would know how to drive on ice. I told him no one can drive on ice. Smart people will just wait for it to warm up. I also pointed out that we had a real AS400 repairman who was from Michigan. Why hadn’t he called Roy? The dispatcher said that he had and Roy had said the exact same thing.

      So listen up Southerners. No one drives on ice. We drive on snow up here. There may be a few patches of ice, but it isn’t like the glare ice that is being dropped down there.

      The ditches in Memphis were littered with big 4×4 trucks whose owners didn’t realize that.

      • Nephilium

        In the snow belt here, after the first real big snowstorm, you could always tell who bought their shiny new 4 wheel drive SUV’s that summer. They were the ones in the ditch.

        4 wheel drive does not mean 4 wheel stop (especially on ice).

      • PieInTheSky

        thats why we need flying cars

      • CatchTheCarp

        I still work on this platform – it’s called an IBM i Power System now.

    • AlexinCT

      I own a gennie specifically because I live in a small town and then in the woods, where the power distribution system often suffered outages. We had a pole that fed the entire town right at the bottom of a hill where any time there was a lot of rain, ice on the ground, or some snow, some moron would lose control and swipe the freaking thing. They solved that after the umpteenth time by moving that pole away and adding a second feed to the town. We still lost power frequently because of the follies of wind/snow and vegetation. Eventually they did a great job of clearing trees from powerlines to minimize this risk. That having been said, we still lose power at least once a year for a prolonged time. The last one was a massive wind storm just last summer that wrecked most of the state. Took them 6 days to get power back to my street. Took me 4 more days, because the event that cost me the power connection had fried my meter and it took the power company 3 days to come in to replace that, only for me to find out my main breaker in my panel had also been cooked. An electrician took care of that the next day. Without my gennie I would not have been able to work and lost a couple of grand worth of food stuff in my freezer/fridge.

      • Pope Jimbo

        The problem in Memphis is that they run all their power and phone cords above ground. So when the ice storm hit, all of those lines snapped.

        Here in Minnesoda we love to bury all those lines where we can. Reduces outages from snapped lines.

        The other fun story from the Memphis ice storm was that one of the first areas to get power back on was a tony neighborhood in the tony suburb Germantown. Turns out that that neighborhood had gotten their main power feed from the grid from the same feed as a hospital that was miles away. But when they were prioritizing who got power restored first, the hospital was #1. Just by coincidence that meant that the rich folks got their power back right away too.

        Story is funnier if you could see the map and realize what shysters those planners were in getting their power feed from so far away.

        A lot of initial outrage at the news that they had gotten power back so soon turned to grudging respect for those bastards knowing how to play the game.

  16. trshmnstr the terrible

    We’re still on the 45 on, 45 off electric plan here at casa trashy in the northern suburbs of Dallas. The worst of the cold should be over for us by noon and then hopefully we see the rolling blackouts end this evening. The worst aspect of this is that the baby didn’t sleep well last night, so we’re definitely counting our blessings.

    • Tundra

      Dang. Hang in there, Trashy.

    • bacon-magic

      RAND2024

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Too surly…good guy though.

      • Idle Hands

        going to be Desantis.

  17. Rufus the Monocled

    Why did Parler fire Matze?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Apparently there was disagreement over commitment to free speech or something of that nature. Matze took a hard line. I can only assume the board wanted to compromise on something, but I don’t have any details.

      • AlexinCT

        I heard it was the other way around from insiders… Matze made a lot of noise about free speech and its sanctity, then caved the fuck in to the other tech companies, only to get canceled anyway.

      • Drake

        A lot of people are distrustful of the new improved Parlour which now seems to be run by neo-cons.

    • PieInTheSky

      what difference at this point etc. Move on. Stop living in the past. If Trump stopped the virus as he should have it would never have reached New York.

    • Idle Hands

      There’s layers to this on one hand Cuomo was following Gates model that the hospitals were going to be overwhelmed and the whole country was fucking panicking on the other hand it took him months to change course and he purposely played political games in order to not give Trump credit and refusing to use the overflow hospitals the feds provided. He belongs in Jail no question but the fact people aren’t stark raving mad at the modelers for being wrong to such a degree they cost people their lives because of policies derived from their piss poor models upsets me to a large degree. Just stopping at Cuomo isn’t good enough.

      • rhywun

        Just stopping at Cuomo isn’t good enough.

        ^THIS^

        But as always, one and only one person will take the blame for the whole fucking shitshow.

        Usually it’s some low-level flunky but I’m OK with a governor going down. I’d be better with a whole mess of governors, mayors, and so-called “health experts” and everyone else who took part in ruining our lives over the last year going down with him. Did I miss anyone?

    • Pope Jimbo

      Is a Dutch Curfew when you pull the covers in bed over your wife’s head and start coughing?

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      But the virus comes out at night to feast on the living. Don’t they science.

      • PieInTheSky

        To be fair, apparently the young Dutch were going put at night doing naughty things to each other

      • commodious spittoon

        Covid parties?!

  18. juris imprudent

    Taibbi delivers a beauty…

    News outlets paid off old editorial promises with new headlines: Ponzi journalism.

    This technique of using the next bombshell story to push the last one down a memory-hole — call it Bombholing — needed a polarized audience to work. As surveys by organizations like the Pew Center showed, the different target demographics in Trump’s America increasingly did not communicate with one another. Democrats by 2020 were 91 percent of the New York Times audience and 95 percent of MSNBC’s, while Republicans were 93 percent of Fox viewers. When outlets overreached factually, it was possible, if not likely, that the original target audience would never learn the difference.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      I would say because the MSM is mainstream, it is more likely the right will have at least heard of the left’s point of view than vice versus.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Heard the left’s point of view?

        The left’s POV is shoved down everyone’s throat, everywhere you go. Unfortunately, leftism is endemic in society.

  19. PieInTheSky

    If Texas was not so reliant on backwards energy sources like oil and natural gas, there would be no energy problems. Also the market has failed and all energy needs to be nationalized

    • PieInTheSky

      All I am saying we would never have a blackout in civilized Europe

      • WTF

        Don’t hundreds of old folks die in Europe every time there’s a heat wave due to lack of air conditioning?

      • PieInTheSky

        air conditioning is a bourgeois affectation

      • Not Adahn

        And frankly old people are non-productive drains on The State. It’s just a shame that they’re not willing to autoeuthanize and require a heat wave to solve the problem of their existence. Hopefully continuing improvements in the public education systme will result in citizens who are more ethical and socially aware.

      • PieInTheSky

        and then we will be finally able to teleport hot chicks to our apartment for casual sex

      • AlexinCT

        I would rather go to their place… If they know where I live they may stalk me…

      • PieInTheSky

        well if you teleport them in and put they don;t know where you live

      • AlexinCT

        You must not have a lot of experience with crazy bitchez…

        A lawyer I dated back in my online dating days actually sent the private dick she used for her divorce cases to find me (after we spent a weekend together at her place and I decided she was just looking for ex-husband #4 to get alimony from) then showed up in my driveway to tell me she would kill me for not calling her back. Me pointing out that what she was doing right then & there was why I made that decision followed by advice about what her business would suffer after I call the cops on her encouraged her to leave without further encouragement, but her private dick followed me for at least a couple of months after that for some reason…

      • PieInTheSky

        jeez I was just trying to make a movie reference.

      • AlexinCT

        What movie? “Lord of the cock rings”, With Dildo Teabaggings and Frodo Poonhound?

      • PieInTheSky

        logan’s run actually…

  20. PieInTheSky

    ‘It’s as if there’s no Covid’: Nepal defies pandemic amid a broken economy

    https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/11/its-as-if-theres-no-covid-nepal-defies-pandemic-amid-a-broken-economy

    Traffic jams and soaring pollution levels are back. Political leaders are organising mass rallies, far more focused on fighting each other than any virus. If poorer Nepalis are struggling with the dire economic fallout from Covid-19, on the surface, at least, it appears daily life in the capital, Kathmandu, is back to normal.

    “It’s as if nothing has happened. The nightclubs are crowded. Schools and colleges are reopening. Sports venues are full. It doesn’t seem like there is any Covid,” says Sameer Mani Dixit, a public health specialist. “It defies logic.”

    • Ted S.

      I assume there’s little to no testing, and what was attributed to covid in other countries is being attributed to more traditional things in Nepal.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      Age 65+ is only about 6% in Nepal vs 16% in the US. They don’t have many people in the most vulnerable age group.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Enough of your crackpottery

    Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is at the center of an escalating controversy over deaths in nursing homes, how they were counted and how they handled requests for that data.

    Cuomo was lauded early in the outbreak for his forthright news conferences and passionate pleas for more medical equipment from the federal government. He published a book in October titled, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic.”

    ——-

    Cuomo himself said at a news conference on Monday that the state Department of Health has always “fully” reported all Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes and hospitals before insisting there’s “nothing to investigate.”
    He also took responsibility for what he said was failing to provide information faster to grieving people.

    “The void allowed misinformation and conspiracy, and now people are left with the thought of, ‘Did my loved one have to die?’ And that is a brutal, brutal question to pose to a person,” he said. “And I want everyone to know everything was done. Everything was done by the best minds in the best interest.”

    ——-

    Cuomo said Monday there was no connection between the nursing home questions and his emergency powers, and he said his Covid-19 legal actions are only to protect the public.
    “These are public health decisions,” he said. “They’re not local political decisions, and they have to be made on a public health basis.”

    Wagons were circled.

    • Jerms

      We should be ashamed for even doubting him in the first place.

    • Akira

      He also took responsibility for what he said was failing to provide information faster to grieving people.

      Must be nice to be one of the Establishment bigwigs – when you fuck up, all you have to do is say the words “I take responsibility” and you’re completely off the hook. You will not suffer any legal ramifications, and the media will shout down anyone who ever brings it up again because you “took responsibility”.

    • Ozymandias

      He was sooooo busy dealing with a pandemic that he had time to write a fucking book – but not to manage transmitting the same data to two sets of people.
      Fucking amazing how stupid they think people are and how heartily the people validate it.

      • Plisade

        Speaking of books, I just ordered yours and shared the link with a buddy who’s also suffered from the GWS.

      • Ozymandias

        Thanks, Plisade! I appreciate it. I’ve had several guys I served with in the Corps reach out about their GWS issues and say the book helped them tremendously – even if just to validate that they weren’t crazy.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      “was lauded” by ignoramuses.

  22. juris imprudent

    Here is why we are doomed to always be on the outside looking in.

    But there are “conservative” brands of political paternalism, as well. Now in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s defeat in the presidential election, visions of a new conservative paternalism are being offered to “save” the conservative movement from both the collectivism of the progressives and from the free market libertarians who are accused of ignoring that there is more to life than liberty and material wealth.

    I of course have no objection whatsoever to being reduced to a one-dimensional political caricature. Stupid, stupid man that Mr. Cass. However, it won’t surprise me in the least if this isn’t the direction that “conservatism” goes, even if doing so harkens to 18th conservatism and not anything of more recent vintage.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Republicans really want us to take on the European model, where the choices are statist, really statist, slightly less statist, etc…

      • juris imprudent

        Excuse my pessimism please.

        But achieving it will require that the Right reinvent its political party. Unless it does so, there will be no future political victories — and no country left to defend. Ultimately, this is much more than the cause of conservatism. It is the cause of America itself.

    • Plisade

      “there is more to life than liberty and material wealth”

      That statement is what they want us to believe so that we will sacrifice our freedom and capital for those who do/can/will not generate their own wealth. We must give up our liberty and possessions so that the proggies can have wealth and possessions.

      If they really believed that statement as a principle then they could enslave themselves to a commune with all their hippie friends and live the dream. But we all know it’s more about making us suffer than elevating the masses, more about their attaining power without having to earn it.

      • R C Dean

        there is more to life than liberty and material wealth

        Indeed. There are all the things you can choose to do, or not do, if you have liberty and material security.

      • juris imprudent

        more about their attaining power without having to earn it

        Politician: Give me power and I will protect you.

        Me: Protect me from what?

        Politician: Other people that want power over you.

  23. The Other Kevin

    Indiana’s COVID numbers continue to improve drastically. Many fewer deaths and hospitalizations, and the warning level for most of the state is low. I think this is similar to the rest of the country. But it’s the middle of winter. What gives? Is this following the pattern that flu takes during the course of a year?

    • Ted S.

      What gives is that we have a new president.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        and a Dr. Biden.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Because the Rona has burned through a lot of the population?

      People are hunkering down because of the cold?

      Vaccines are helping?

      Lots of factors that might be playing a part. But we’ll never know because no one is going to take an honest look. My gut tells me that some sharp grant writer is going to get a ton of money to run a study that says that the reason numbers dropped is because you dumb Hoosiers finally started double masking.

      • PieInTheSky

        Joe fixed it?

      • The Other Kevin

        I keep hoping there are some honest people out there quietly looking into this, and in a few years they’ll come out with a documentary or a report about what actually happened.

    • R C Dean

      Is this following the pattern that flu takes during the course of a year?

      Not really. Flu usually peaks in February, and isn’t really gone until late April or May.

      I don’t know if there have been enough vaccines yet to really make much of a difference, especially considering the first round of vaccines was given to lower-risk populations (health care workers, pubsecs, etc.), and it takes weeks to months for the vaccine to fully take effect. For Moderna, you don’t get the full effect for two months after your first shot (1 month until the second shot, and another month for “full immunity”). It starts helping sooner, of course. Probably. Maybe.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Snippet of newsgirl chatter I just heard:

    “What auto maker WOULDN’T jump at the chance to work with Apple?” (on autonomous/magic cars)

    I don’t know. All of them, would be my guess.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I, for one, would love to have the opportunity to make my product wholly dependent on a closed-source system that I have no real leverage or control over.

    • Not Adahn

      News on the radio about Tesla building a factor in Germany. Apparenlty they’ve learned to grift even harder in Euroland. They’ve “partnered” with FiatChrysler in which FC gives Tesla gobs of money, and FC gets to claim that Teslas are part of their fleet for average carbon emmissions purposes.

    • Akira

      I know I’m an oddball, but the last thing I want on my car is more unnecessary gadgetry.

      • PieInTheSky

        nonsense. the more the better. also you should buy a new car

      • R C Dean

        Pie is salty after his break.

      • PieInTheSky

        why would you say something like that?

      • Mojeaux

        You are not the only one. Our cars are 2006 models for a reason.

  25. DEG

    Sorry about the frozen pipes.

    More than 150 million people were under a winter storm warning, winter weather advisory or ice storm warning in 25 states, stretching over 2,000 miles from southern Texas to northern Maine, the National Weather Service said.

    I woke up to an ice storm that appears to be turning into a rain storm.

    The site has reportedly moved to a new server farm that will allow it to operate without big tech interference.

    Good for Parler.

    “UPDATE: New information has emerged regarding the death of the Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick that questions the initial cause of his death provided by officials close to the Capitol Police,” the Times wrote.

    Surprise, surprise.

    • Not Adahn

      officials close to the Capitol Police

      Ooooh! Let’s parse this one!

      “officials” = federal employee?

      “close to Capitol Police” = works in a building patrolled by the CP?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Pretty neat, once you recognize the arm you can’t unsee it though.

    • SandMan

      Good camo!

  26. Mojeaux

    We are having planned rolling blackouts in our area. Unfortunately, no one actually informed us (by “us” I mean the whole service area) of that until last night. So our turn was this morning around 7:30 a.m. I was asleep and didn’t notice. I like it cold when I sleep and I was well bundled.

    However, yesterday I realized that, as it’s -9F and I am in a warm house, I am very blessed. It’s the first time I’ve really felt gratitude (instead of distress) in a while and I was surprised and pleased.

    • Fourscore

      Happiness, Mojo, comes in unexpected ways.

      • Mojeaux

        Yes, yes it does. It warrants writing down in my journal, even.

        For the first time in many years, my survival instinct has settled down into some manner of contentedness.

  27. robc

    In the pre-USFL days, the NFL made it clear that Trump would not be allowed to buy ownership. I don’t remember if it was the Jets or Giants (or someone else) he was interested in. If the NFL had let him buy a team, would he have ever run for President, or we he have just had fun being obnoxious like Jerry Jones and Al Davis.

    • PieInTheSky

      Jets or Giants – maybe if he had george rr martin would have finished the books

    • Not Adahn

      “Unspecified human characteristic” killed the cat, don’t you know?

  28. Certified Public Asshat

    How not to write an article: Ted Cruz Shares Fake Satire Disney Job Ad Post: ‘I Wish This Was Parody’

    Cruz shared the Babylon Bee’s article titled: “Disney Posts Job Ad Looking For Strong, Fierce Women Who Are Also Obedient, Submissive, And Docile.” The senator retweeted the story with the comment: “I wish this was parody.”

    He shared the tweet with his 4.3 million followers, which was liked more than 14,000 times and retweeted on more than 2,000 occasions.

    Cruz’s office did not respond to Newsweek’s requests for comment about why he originally retweeted the satirical news piece, but later shared Newsweek’s article on Twitter, suggesting his earlier tweet had been ironic.

    • juris imprudent

      That is obtuse is multiple dimensions.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of conservative paternalism:

    From my earlier Politico link. You have people who live in the swamp who hear this crap every day. The government is supposed to nurture its children (by which we mean everyone, young and old) and lead them into the light of selfless communitarianism and devotion to Society.

    “For so long, the public looked at Washington and said, ‘We’re on our own. These folks don’t care a lick about us and what’s going on’” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee. She has spent years working on paid family and medical leave policies.

    “They now believe that the federal government and Joe Biden want to do something, and they’re waiting for that. So, there is pressure on the administration,” DeLauro acknowledged. “But it’s pressure that they are aware of and they are talking about it.”

    ——-

    “The work of parenting, the work of raising children, has now been visible in a way it has not been in professional circles in a long time,” said Katie Connolly, a Democratic pollster. “People feel more comfortable in a government that invests in what is a good, which is raising our children.”

    Connolly said the pandemic and resulting policies present an opportunity for Biden and Democrats to solidify their standing with suburban women and parents across the board, continuing to attract voters who migrated to the party in droves during the Trump years.

    ——-

    “They have no message to parents. It is all shallow,” said John Anzalone, a top Biden adviser and campaign pollster. Families, Anzalone added, won’t feel like their needs are being met unless they see movement from the government. “They want action.”

    If we can just buy off those suburban mommies with free day care, we’re home free. We’ll never lose an election again.

    • R C Dean

      For so long, the public looked at Washington and said, ‘We’re on our own. These folks don’t care a lick about us and what’s going on

      For a big chunk of the public, that belief has been reinforced in recent weeks.

      They now believe that the federal government and Joe Biden want to do something, and they’re waiting for that.

      Indeed we are. But more with dread than anticipation.

    • KSuellington

      Moms demand action.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        One of my favorite pornhub channels.

  30. PieInTheSky

    SCOOP: The principal of East Side Community School in New York sent white parents this “tool for action,” which tells them they must become “white traitors” and then advocate for full “white abolition.”

    This is the new language of public education.

    https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1361370106283003907

    • Sean

      “Dismantling whiteness”

      GTFO.

      • juris imprudent

        Start by removing children from such an abusive environment – the school of course.

    • hayeksplosives

      If there is an upside to lockdown mania, it has been many parents’ realization that their kids are being exposed to awful social indoctrination while NOT learning reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic.

      Some parents have already decided not to stick their kids back into public schools.

      Problem is, they’re still paying taxes as if they’re putting their kids through public schools.

      • The Other Kevin

        The good news is that a growing number of states are passing laws allowing that tax money to follow the students.

      • juris imprudent

        And the more this shit spreads, and is exposed, the faster those laws will pass. The progs do not exert the control they think they do.

      • AlexinCT

        They are dumbing down and programming the rubes.

        This is by design. Either the ruling class is worried about the stupidity its inbred system has created and trying to stifle competition, or they feel dumb people that are more about emotion than logic & facts are easier to control.

      • Chipwooder

        I was actually pleasantly surprised to see that my son’s econ class has been giving him lessons with a noticeable free market orientation.

      • Akira

        My 12th grade English teacher had us read Anthem by Ayn Rand.

        I guess we do periodically encounter some good people working against the system from the inside. Almost makes me feel bad for acting like such a shitheel in her class.

      • Mojeaux

        My daughter read that when she was in the 7th or 8th grade, without my encouragement. She also read Aristotle. Then she got too busy to read anything but her phone.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      What is white abolition? I can’t make sense of that, even thinking like a SJW. Maybe they misspelled absolution?

      • PieInTheSky

        you ain’t down with the lingo old man

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Oh not in terms of ending slavery. Instead literally ending white people as an entity. That’s a bit chilling.

      • R C Dean

        When you combine their belief that white people are inherently white supremacist, and their goal of elimination white supremacy, well, you do the math.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Go

      Fuck

      Yourself

    • Rebel Scum

      Getting really far down the path of the language of genocide I see.

    • Fourscore

      Are the Glibs a crowd? A lot of wisdom here, outweighs this wisdom of the last election crowd.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    SCOOP: The principal of East Side Community School in New York sent white parents this “tool for action,” which tells them they must become “white traitors” and then advocate for full “white abolition.”

    SCOOP: enrollment at East Side Community School unexpectedly plummets.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Are the parents in the East Side Community School district rich enough to afford private education?

      Or are they stuck?

    • Not Adahn

      19th C. woodchippers. There truly is nothing new under the sun.

  32. Pope Jimbo

    Neph’s Rona Pr0n

    This year, however, the inspectors are in charge, and surveillance footage shared with The Federalist shows Los Angeles County inspector Jatinder Chhabra entering the building just over half an hour after they opened. They had to shut down right now, she informed the employee, who was ringing up two customers at that moment. Why? No food truck.

    When he protested, saying they were doing take-out only, Chhabra informed him that made no difference. She was “brash,” Bart recalls the employee telling him, and “arrogant, and she could give a sh-t less about shutting us down.”

    When the employee put Brian Avery, the brewer, on the line with Chhabra, he asked her to call her supervisor. In the 20 minutes Bart estimates it took her to “resolve” her misunderstanding, the brewery was not allowed to serve the customers who were waiting.

    Nor was she satisfied when her supervisor informed her that she was mistaken, the brewery and customers were correct, and business could go on. She then told the sole employee on site he had to make copies of 11 different forms — all while customers waited. While the employee filled out the forms, she can be seen rifling through the racks, exploring the bar tools, and even dancing on camera.

    I weep at the fact that an inspector danced in a business she was trying to wrongfully close and was able to leave safely.

    • AlexinCT

      Tar & feathers are not enough… Where are the fucking woodchippers?

      • Sean

        Yeah, that’s some rage inducing shit.

      • Nephilium

        Well, there was a group right there who could have dealt with the issue but didn’t.

      • Pope Jimbo

        How many revenuers never came out of the hills there in Tennessee?

  33. AlexinCT

    I bet this is why the Biden administration will fuck with SpaceX & Starlink: there is a shitton of opportunity to make a quick buck from bribes coming from China & Russia whom both need to see this fail. Not mentioned is that our own government might not want it to work unless they find a way to fucking monitor us on it themselves…

  34. Pope Jimbo

    America.

    We put a man on the moon 51 years ago. Now we can’t even go to Canada.

    • AlexinCT

      And there are strippers in Canada! Hawt ones too!

    • Fourscore

      Try getting a building permit to put an awning over your patio…

      • Pope Jimbo

        My loophole is that I am so mechanically declined that my home projects don’t rise to the definition of “construction” or “build”. My awning would look like the neighbors umbrella was blown away and got hung up in my eaves.

        I’m much more likely to get a ticket from the city to clean up my property than I am to take down unpermitted construction.

      • pistoffnick

        The city wouldn’t let my buddy attach a deck to his house – so we just built a free standing deck instead. Completely detached from the house.

      • Agent Cooper

        On wheels so you can just move it directly up to the house? That would be cool.

      • R C Dean

        “See? There’s a half inch gap between the deck and the house. Not attached, no permit required. Thanks for dropping by.”

      • Timeloose

        I did the same as a FU to the building inspector. I have one easily removable pair of brackets that couples a stair from the deck to the porch on the house. It’s not needed, but locks the two together.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        What’s a permit?

        My county technically has permits, but I think it’d take me knocking my house down and rebuilding to actually need to pull one.

      • Fourscore

        I got fined X3 the price of the permit after I unknowingly put up a rather nice deck (un attached to the structure, same at PO Nick’s friend with out a permit). Assessor caught it. Was the beginning of several more ‘discussions’ at the County Courthouse and lots more money spent to reclaim my own property.

      • juris imprudent

        Wouldn’t a few sticks of dynamite have solved that problem a lot cheaper? And I don’t mean under your deck.

      • Jerms

        I need a permit to take a tree down in my yard. Put a shed dormer on my house cost 5k between permits and drawings before the project even started.

      • pistoffnick

        That’s ridiculous.

        I replaced a garage roof, including the rafters, in a large mid-western city on a busy thoroughfare without a permit.

        Tear off one weekend. Rebuilt the next. Shingled the third.

        Forgiveness is sometimes better than permission (unless you are unlucky like Fourscore)

      • Sensei

        Around these parts they simply make you tear it down if you didn’t get permission.

    • Sensei

      Let me discuss the windows that we have that are about 3/8 inch too low to the floor.

      I understand the need for people not to fall out of an open window so I understand the reason for the building code. My uncle just plain made one of those dumb mistakes. When he was framing the windows measured from the subfloor and forgot about the finished floor. He’s a professional home builder and just made a mistake.

      Fortunately, if you prevent the windows from opening more than some ridiculously small amount you’ll pass inspection. Even the inspector knew what was coming next – you screw in some blocks, get your CO and unscrew the blocks after that. Of course it meant two tries to get the final inspection.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    Are the parents in the East Side Community School district rich enough to afford private education?

    Or are they stuck?

    To be honest, I assumed that was a private school.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Uffda. If it is a private school that is totes the kind of BS that they are paying top dollar for.

      The ones you feel bad for are the poor minority students that they gave scholarships to in order to get a little melanin into the student body. Those kids went there to get a good education and are now stuck with that?

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Try getting a building permit to put an awning over your patio…

    “Who said you could do that?”

    • SandMan

      The Bee article was great, and they got on it quick, those guys/gals are sharp.

  37. AlexinCT

    Now this is how you punish him!

  38. The Late P Brooks

    The ones you feel bad for are the poor minority students that they gave scholarships to in order to get a little melanin into the student body. Those kids went there to get a good education and are now stuck with that?

    Exactly. Those kids need readin ritin and rithamatick drilled into their heads, not a bunch of nonsensical crap designed to give them a lifetime supply of excuses.

  39. Pope Jimbo

    Weep for your betters, you deplorable jerks!

    We are living through a historic, technology-fueled shift in the balance of power between the media and its subjects. The subjects are winning. The internet in general—and social media platforms in particular—have destroyed one of the media’s most important sources of power: being the only place that could offer access to an audience. When Musk can say whatever he wants to 40 million Twitter followers at any time with no filter, it is little surprise that he does not feel compelled to listen to unpleasant questions from some reporter who wants to know why he busts unions and wildly accuses people of pedophilia.
    As journalists, we all view this as a horrifying assault on the public’s right to know, and on our own status as brave defenders of the public good. And that is all true, for what it’s worth. But this is about power. We need to take some back, lest the rich and powerful run away from one of the last forces restraining them.

    Written last October, but just found it now via this wonderful fisking of it by Larry Correia

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      They want to be the gatekeepers, it is known. Musk (and others who get mouthy) must be silenced in order to further the public’s right to know. At least they realize it’s all a power play.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Ahhhh, Hamilton Nolan, douchebag extraordinaire

    • R C Dean

      The internet in general—and social media platforms in particular—have destroyed one of the media’s most important sources of power: being the only place that could offer access to an audience.

      Just ignore the Tech Lords deplatforming anyone not spouting the party line. We are closer to the old media monopoly on the narrative now than we have been in a generation.

    • Rebel Scum

      between the media and its subjects

      This is how they view you and are no longer attempting to hide it.

      As journalists, we all view this as a horrifying assault on the public’s right to know, and on our own status as brave defenders of the public good.

      You are a cunte and you waxing tyrannical damages my calm.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    As journalists, we all view this as a horrifying assault on the public’s right to know, and on our own status as brave defenders of the public good.

    No kidding.

    “We believe deeply in the public’s right to know exactly what and how much we decide they should know.”

  41. The Other Kevin

    Forgot to tell you guys how proud I am of my kids. We were talking about the proposed minimum wage hike, and the 20 year old said “that’s stupid, everything will cost more.” The 16 year old said “that’s stupid, lots of people will lose their jobs.” I don’t really talk to them about these things much, but it seems school hasn’t drilled out their common sense.

    • Akira

      I don’t really talk to them about these things much, but it seems school hasn’t drilled out their common sense.

      Well that’s what college is for – to replace their plebian notions of “common sense” with noble truths based on Scientific Consensus™ handed down by Experts™.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Good for them. Now they will be little cancers roaming through your school’s system infecting others and becoming malignant tumors that will kill the State.

  42. Scruffy Nerfherder

    dammit…. frikkin’ disabled php modules still causing problems

    uninstalling them of course goes into total lockup

    • slumbrew

      “php”

      I see your problem…

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m not a php programmer, just trying to get my website updated.

        !*&^#%^!!

  43. The Late P Brooks

    Unity Healing Truth

    Republican Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson on Monday criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s remarks blaming former President Donald Trump for inciting the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Johnson also said the January 6 Capitol riot “didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me,” focusing especially on the lack of guns involved in the attack.

    ——-

    In a separate interview with WISN, Johnson said, “The fact of the matter is, this didn’t seem like an armed insurrection, to me. When you hear of armed, don’t you think of firearms? Here’s the question I would’ve liked to ask [at former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial], how many firearms were confiscated? I’m only aware of one. If that was a planned armed insurrection, you really have a bunch of idiots.”

    ——-

    Five people were killed during the riots, including a police officer who was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher, and over 138 police officers were injured.

    Those protestors had arms; two each, for the most part. If that’s not an armed insurrection, what is?

    Also: another lie which will be preserved for posterity.

    Go ahead, you supercilious media fucks. Keep talking down to me.

    • R C Dean

      Five people were killed during the riots, including a police officer who was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher

      I’m aware of one who was killed, rather than died. I’m not even sure how many actually died “during the riots”. I think its pretty well established the cop wasn’t beaten to death by a fire extinguisher. But keep flogging that narrative, Newsweek!

      • slumbrew

        If they’re going with “five people”, killed is wrong – 1 heart attack, 1 stroke; I suppose you could claim “he was killed by a heart attack”, but that would be torturing the language.

        Sicknick died of… something, but it’s not at all clear he was “killed” in the sense they’re going for.

        2 people were unambiguously “killed” – the person trampled and Babbitt getting shot by a panicky officer.

      • Not Adahn

        I’d let the two suicides pass as “killed.”

      • R C Dean

        “During the riots”?

      • Chipwooder

        They refuse to give a cause of death for Sicknick, which leads me to believe that they know goddamned well at this point that he died of natural causes.

    • Rebel Scum

      the January 6 Capitol insurrection

      Definably not what happened.

      “didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me,”

      Because it was not one.

      Five people were killed during the riots

      Lie by context.

      including a police officer who was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher

      No he wasn’t.

      138 police officers were injured.

      Define “injured”.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Our local paper had a story tsk-tsking that interview by Johnson today. Lucky for us we are so much better than Wisconsin and have sensible Senators.

      I can’t believe that they had the gall to claim that Sicknick died from being beaten with a fire extinguisher. Even the NY Times has retracted that story.

  44. Rebel Scum

    This contemptable cunte.

    Blumenthal said, “We need to reverse the rising tide of extremist violence in this country. The mob that Donald Trump mobilized was armed. The Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police recovered firearms on that day. That mob is still out there and still dangerous, and part of the reason that I believe we need a 9/11 commission, that type of commission. I’m drafting a bill that I hope will be bipartisan, to uncover the causes and impose accountability, and provide more protection against that kind of a mob, that violent extremism.”

    He added, “There’s a need for more truth-telling. There’s a need for more facts. That’s why a 9/11 type commission will be important to uncover the larger causes, the individuals who should be held had accountable, and as you have said, an unsuccessful coup attempt without accountably is a dress rehearsal. The would-be Trump tyrants waiting to mobilize that mob again must be stopped.”

    Everything you say is a lie.

    • R C Dean

      The Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police recovered firearms on that day.

      Where? Whose were they?

      • juris imprudent

        Who has been charged with what violations?

      • Rebel Scum

        They discovered they were wearing sidearms? Or the ones supposedly in a truck somewhere around the general area?

    • R C Dean

      protection against that kind of a mob,

      We need protection against non-leftist mobs. The leftists mobs, not so much.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      Buffalo Guy was carrying a spear, and his hat could have put an eye out.

      • Endless Mike

        Someone could have been gored!

    • rhywun

      the larger causes

      Such as the coup your team attempted to pull?

      • R C Dean

        Attempted?

        I still don’t know, and never will, who got more legal votes where it mattered. And that’s a problem in and of itself.

  45. The Late P Brooks

    also you should buy a new car

    Will there be computers?

    • PieInTheSky

      yes.

  46. Festus

    TBH I don’t know whether to shit, quit or go broke. Probably all at once. This fuckery must end.

    • Festus

      Remember when wee Conan pushed the wheel? That’s me right now. Dude! I’m old. I’m built fine but my joints don’t work that way anymore. “Come closer to my Fire! Would you like to see my Fire?”

      • slumbrew

        On the plus side, your warlord master will throw hot chicks into your cell in order to continue your valuable bloodline. So you’ve got that going for you.

      • Festus

        Yeah, but it seems so empty.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    The Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police recovered firearms on that day.

    Produce them.

    • Festus

      Haha!

    • R C Dean

      If the Metro cops recovered firearms, wouldn’t they have done so outside the Capitol zone?

    • juris imprudent

      And of course they arrested people for violating the gun control laws of DC, right?

    • db

      Technically, if the police and/or legislators had dropped and/or lost their firearms in a panic, they could have been “recovered.”

  48. KromulentKristen

    Our video production/photog team has been operating without a full-length mirror so the people they’re filming & photographing couldn’t check themselves beforehand.

    I want you to guess how long it took them to purchase a fucking mirror.

    I wonder how much it cost?

    • Not Adahn

      Just the mirror, or the layout, facilities review, scope of work, planning, supervision and installation also?

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      A couple thousand bucks by the time you add on all the purchasing and installation costs. Probably 3 months start to finish.

    • db

      I’ll be generous and say one week to select a mirror, another two to find a vendor that meets the procurement guidelines for inclusion, two to get the vendor set up in the purchasing system, another week to determine that the vendor doesn’t stock that mirror and select a new style, then a week to get it ordered and delivered. Then a week to schedule installation and 8 hours of union time to install it.

      So, about 8 weeks?

  49. The Late P Brooks

    yes.

    No computers.

    • PieInTheSky

      but think of my bonus

    • R C Dean

      They are trapped in a feedback loop. Not enough power for everyone, so rolling blackouts. During the blackouts, people’s houses get cold, so when the power comes back on, they draw max power to reheat their house, so there’s not enough power for everyone, so rolling blackouts . . . .

      • Sensei

        Is most of the heating there fully electric?

      • kinnath

        yes

      • R C Dean

        Dunno about most, but there’s a fair amount of it, I’m sure. I was always surprised when looking for houses in TX at the number that didn’t seem to have natural gas (going mostly by the stove, but also plenty of electric hot water heaters). Because the emphasis is on airco, I suspect there’s quite a few that are heat pumps with no gas.

      • prolefeed

        The heating at our house is natural gas, but with electricity to ignite it, if I understand it correctly. So, power goes out, so does heat. The first nite of single digits, we naively set the house to the usual winter nite time low of 69F. So when the power went out, we were huddled up in layers of clothing in the bed as the house got colder and colder, hitting 59F before the power went back on.

        So now I’ve got the heating set at 80F, but it seems to be currently too cold outside for it to get warmer than 75F on the bottom floor even if the power is on for much of the day and the heat is going nonstop the moment the power is back on.

        The problem isn’t really a feedback loop. It’s that the power generating system was – rationally – built for the temperatures we’d expect 99.99% of the time. Except now it’s that 0.01% outlier, coupled with lines going down due to snow. So rolling black outs so everyone whose power isn’t down from line failures gets power long enough to get the house heated up some, before it is the next group’s turn to get warm.

      • slumbrew

        Same deal here – gas furnace but forced hot air, so need electricity to ignite it and run the fan. Tankless hot water heater too.

        I was _just_ perusing small generators and trying to figure how big I’d need to run those two things should the power go out.

        I should probably include the fridge I guess. Plus some spare cpacity.

      • db

        I was able to run an oil furnace, fridge, chest freezer, and most other lights and appliances minus clothes dryer and hot water heater on a 5500W portable generator when our power was out for a week about 10 years ago.

        The lack of hot water was a real problem, so I rigged up a heater with copper coils over an open fire outside and a circulating pump to keep the hot water tank hot.

      • pistoffnick

        My 5K/6K genny will power our natural gas furnace, water circulation pump, fridge and freezer as well as the neighbor’s freezer.

        If I had to buy it again, I would get a dual fuel (gasoline/propane) or triple fuel (gas/ nat. gas/ propane) one.

      • slumbrew

        It’s rare that we lose power – I’m in the city – but if it’s not too much I may spring for a dual-fuel gennny – I already have the tanks for the grill…

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        You can get a 8k watt triple fuel generator (gasoline, propane, nat gas) for $600-700. That will run you entire house.

        I have a dual fuel (propane and gasoline) I use. It runs an oil furnace, well pump, hot water heater, fridge, chest freezer, lights, tv, and everything else. Install a generator outlet and an interlock. Turn on/off right from your panel to control fuel usage, though you’d have an unlimited supply with nat gas. I wish I had nat gas but have to ration propane instead.

      • db

        I recall being told, when I was in the power industry (on the generation, not distribution, side) that the grid operators used to be mandated by law to maintain a minimum of 15% excess installed capacity, but that had been whittled down over the years to about 8%.

        I can’t remember what the spinning reserve requirements were, but the grid had to be able to compensate for the loss of several large generating units through a combination of spinning reserve, rapid-start capable units, and importation of power from adjacent grid operators.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Dunno about most, but there’s a fair amount of it, I’m sure

        Most of the new build north of Dallas is heatpumps, whether or not gas is run to the house. This situation simply wasn’t contemplated (nor should it have been. This is 3 standard deviation weather)

        Water emergencies are now being declared across the area, so I’m in the process of filling a couple bathtubs just to be safe. The “log lighter” in the fireplace heats the living room enough that we can power through indefinitely. Here’s to hoping for an uneventful 5″+ of snow tonight. ?

      • Don escaped Qanon

        north of Dallas is heatpumps

        Exactly: the developer must run AC through the subdivision, but nothing says he must pipe for NG.

        I thought it was stupid but wasn’t going to re-order my life around a water heater, so I lived like that for 20 years . . . .

        all the while I was sitting on the Barnett play: my natural gas / mineral rights worth around $50k NPV

      • Mojeaux

        This is why I hate electric stoves/ovens.

      • PieInTheSky

        electric ovens are quite better imo than gas

      • Sensei

        I would agree.

        In the US if you have means and the service is available many people have a gas cooktop and an electric oven.

      • R C Dean

        That’s our set-up.

        Although the best range we had was a Dacor, all gas. The oven had some kind of gas-fired quartz(?) broiler. Muy caliente.

      • PieInTheSky

        I also have a gas stove and electric oven. it is common in Romania. Then again gas gas is the most common here.

      • slumbrew

        Ive been contemplating dual-fuel for when I replace my range, but I don’t bake enough for the advantages of electric (dry heat, etc.) to be worth the upcharge.

      • Mojeaux

        That may be so, but I grew up poor in a cold house and our gas oven kept part of the house warm, especially when the power went out.

        Also, the pilot light didn’t work so we used a match to light the stove and oven.

        So I not only think of an oven as a place to bake things, but as a source of heat when there is nothing else, or a supplement to heat.

    • Don escaped Qanon

      Texas solves virus vaccine storage problem by turning every house in the state into a deep freezer

      This one bitch in IND was whining about her daughter in AUS: $2,000 for a night in a functioning hotel room is ILLEGAL!!!!! Well, what’s your breakeven: how many nights in the hotel before you would have paid for an NG generator, automatic switch, NG storage tank and compressor?

  50. Festus

    Crapping out. Apparently no goddamned good for anything, this morning. Best wishes, Glibs!

  51. Drake

    Milo just got himself banned on Parler to prove a point. I guess the point is that it’s free speech only up to a point there.

    • Festus

      “Pog-Form”!

  52. Rebel Scum

    Serious news for serious people.

    President Biden has expressed a preference for a fire built in the Oval Office fireplace, and sometimes adds a log himself to keep it going.

    Unlike his recent predecessors, he’s more of an early-to-bed type. Here’s how Biden is settling into his new job.

    He is also prone to napping and finishes an entire bag of Wherther’s a day.

    • R C Dean

      sometimes adds a log himself

      Real man-of-the-people, he is.

      • slumbrew

        I picture him killing time by himself in the Oval Office while his handlers pillage our government.

      • db

        Don’t forget to give President Puddin’ Cup his shawl and hot chocolate while he snoozes by the fire.

      • db

        He’s basically Abraham Lincoln–working by firelight, out there chopping his own wood, unifying the country.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I’d pay to see Biden wrassle people like Lincoln did.

      • rhywun

        I for one don’t want to hear about Joe’s activities in the Presidential Shitter.

    • The Other Kevin

      He’s been a politician in DC for decades. I doubt his routine has changed much.

    • KromulentKristen

      Is that the log from the cherry tree that George Washington chopped down?

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      Sounds terribly environmentally unfriendly.

    • creech

      Why are we wasting time with this twaddle when we could be looking into the serious issue of Duchess Markle and their new Royal twit to be?

  53. The Late P Brooks

    sometimes adds a log himself

    I’m surprised he doesn’t just have the Mint deliver pallets of money.

    • R C Dean

      “Chilly today. Think I’ll throw some $100s on the fire.”

      President Dean would absolutely do this, with the bills that were going to be destroyed anyway.