Monday Morning Links

by | Mar 22, 2021 | Daily Links | 385 comments

Good morning my Glibs and Glibertarians!  And what an absolutely beautiful day it always is!

 

Man made famous through branding and his social media posts is going to create his own social media platform after being banned from social media.

 

AZ to hand count 2.1 million Maricopa County ballots.

 

New emails heighten mystery around presidential vote count in Georgia’s largest county.

 

GOP rep says he intentionally sidestepped House metal detectors to get legal standing to sue Pelosi.

 

Unpossible, I was told repeatedly online, while arguing with Branch Covidians, that our betters knew exactly what they were doing and that I needed to follow the plan or I hated science.

 

Biden Admin to pay $84 million in hotel rooms to accommodate illegals that he allowed to flood into the country.

 

Mexican officials admit Trump’s policies curbed illegal migration.

 

Tiger never hit brakes during car wreck.

 

US box office cratered 80% in 2020.

 

That’s all I got for today.  I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day.

About The Author

Banjos

Banjos

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

385 Comments

  1. AlexinCT

    AZ to hand count 2.1 million Maricopa County ballots.

    After it is too late to do anything about the fortified election of 2020?

    • Tejicano

      I can only hope that it will spur some percentage of those who went along with it all to reconsider their contribution to the degradation of democracy

      • AlexinCT

        You are far more optimistic than I am… Most of the fuckers that admitted they knew the election was stolen are fine with it because it got rid of the evil orange man (and more importantly, fucked the people that voted for him in the ass). There is zero rational thought in that circle of douches. They already know this happened, but have rationalized it away. Remember that these are the people that never see the unintended consequences of their impulsive behavior.

      • Tejicano

        I have no wild, half-awoke fantasies that a significant number of them might be thinking about how they may have eff’ed up. I just hope that some number of them get the feeling that what they voted for isn’t what we are all getting.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I hate to say at this point what difference does it make but at this point what difference does it make?

      • Banjos

        My understanding is that it is more than a recount. It is suppose to be a full audit including examining the ballots themselves, the signatures of the envelopes, and a forensic audit of the machines. If they can prove serious shenanigans then it can lead to massive reforms. So it’s a huge difference.

      • Agent Cooper

        “then it can lead to massive reforms”

        Hope in one hand and uh, well, you know the saying.

    • R C Dean

      The question isn’t so much “How many ballots in that big pile over there were for each candidate” as “How many ballots should have been in that pile in the first place”. The recount will do very little to answer the second question.

    • mrfamous

      There is no end to the uselessness of the Arizona Republican party. They won’t lift a finger to rein in all of the COVID theater, but are happy to “play to the base” when it comes to pointless theater of their own.

      I didn’t sign up to live in a blue state, but that’s where I shall find myself after the 2022 elections: a blue governor and two blue senators.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Given what’s happened to AZ’s Team Red, that isn’t good, but it may not be the worst outcome.

        The Team Red officials here have taken more than a nominal dose of crazy pills.

    • robc

      There is still investigation going on in GA too.

      This is the right thing to do, you can still prosecute people and/or fix the system.

      • AlexinCT

        You are far more optimistic than I am. The people in power like the broken system, because they know after the last 2 election cycles that they can’t leave the job of picking the top men to the fucking unwashed serfs. The serfs twice voted against the top men’s interests, and forced them to fortify the 2020 election to make sure the winner wouldn’t piss in their corn flakes like that orange man had for 4 years after not only managing to win an election they had fortified for Clinton, but spending 4 years unraveling their racket despite them going at him 24/7/365 and trying to run a coup to stop him from cock blocking their sellout of our country to the CCP.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Not populism! ?

      • robc

        Well, not so much optimistic as moderately hopeful?

  2. UnCivilServant

    Good morning my Glibs and Glibertarians!

    Morning, Banjos.

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

  3. Sean

    The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department reportedly executed a search warrant to retrieve data from the black box that was in the 2021 Genesis SUV Woods was driving at the time of the wreck.

    Really? Why?

    • AlexinCT

      Woods is not woke enough for the people that give the orders?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Maybe a positive drug screen or something? It sounds like he nodded off but no one was hurt other than him so I’d just chalk it up to no harm no foul.

    • invisible finger

      To fine him a higher amount.

      And to get the public used to this being s.o.p. for all routine traffic stops.

    • DrOtto

      Good chance the info belongs to Hyundai and that they required the warrant. Look in your owner’s manual of your car and there is usually a statement regarding who owns the data in the black box and for what purposes it may be used. It’s a liability CYA for Hyundai.

  4. UnCivilServant

    US box office cratered 80% in 2020.

    People still spent too much on hollywood shovelware.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      If it finished off the comic book movie craze then at least something good came out of all of this.

      • UnCivilServant

        If it finished off this movie fad, then something good came out of it.

      • Certified Public Asshat
      • SDF-7

        I do wonder how that will work out. I’m fine with walking away after Endgame and the rumbling on line at the time indicated I’m not alone.
        We’ll see how that actually holds up…

      • Festus

        I haven’t sat through an entire movie for two years.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I just rewatch old movies but, like listening to Led Zeppelin over and over, that’s getting old.

      • Festus

        They can’t make them like that anymore. No worries, Tox, I love you from the distance!

  5. AlexinCT

    The woke kids are in charge:

    “The Biden Administration last week set a new historical record by threatening sanctions against Germany, India, Russia and China in the space of 72 hours. Germany and India are, or at least were, American allies.

    Washington is angry at Germany for building a natural gas pipeline with Russia, at India for purchasing a Russian air defense system, at Russia for mistreatment of President Putin’s opponents and at China for treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority.

    None of Washington’s recent threats is consistent with identifiable policy objectives. On the contrary, recent outbursts from Biden and his cabinet will cement a Sino-Russian alliance against the US, undermine US efforts to rebuild relations with European allies and damage US efforts to create a “Quad” alliance against China in the Pacific.”

    But orange man was the real bad guy, and had no fucking clue what he was doing….

    • SDF-7

      It isn’t like Germany getting natgas from Russia or India getting military hardware from Russia are new things. Or that big of a deal really (well, other than Western Europe being morons who are setting themselves up to be blackmailed by Russia instead of going for energy independence, but that’s their lookout, not ours.. other than telling them our opinion, we should stay out of it…).

      Sanctions on China for the slave camps and cultural (and probably literal) genocide? Fine by me. That’s one country I’m fine with Divest initiatives – I don’t think “opening trade” and moving all of our manufacturing there has helped liberalize their society. (Yes, this is one of the reasons I don’t call myself libertarian, I know… free trade, yadda yadda… I just don’t think it has worked here and we need to cut it out).

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Agreed on the Chinese trade, if anything it has staved off the collapse we saw in the rest of the communist world and and has enabled the CCP. Then again, as far as material wealth goes it’s helped the Chinese people immensely so it’s a bit complicated.

      • UnCivilServant

        The worst thing Nixon did was normalize relations with Red china.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Heh, I’ve been thinking the same thing.

      • mrfamous

        In any event, it does certainly bring into question the libertarian dogma that free trade with an unfree nation helps liberalize that nation. In fact, the opposite appears to have happened: instead of our relationship with China influencing them to become more free, it has wound up influencing us to become less so.

        I recently tried to purchase a computer keyboard not manufactured in China. Was unable to do so and anything approaching a reasonable price point.

      • UnCivilServant

        Did you find one at an unreasonable price point?

        If so, do you have a link?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The Taiwanese still make computer products at reasonable prices but not mainland China manufactured reasonable. It’s hard to undercut products produced with quasi slave wages it seems.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m willing to pay a premium to not give my money to the CCP.

      • UnCivilServant

        My current keyboard was $150, but since it has lasted a decade, it is cheaper than the $15 keyboards that break in less than a year. A model M chassis, if faithful to the original could easily last twice or three times that. (I miss my model M, you could brain a moose with that thing and it’d still type.)

      • Plinker762

        Is there really free trade with a facist country?

    • rhywun

      Washington is angry at Germany for building a natural gas pipeline with Russia

      They’re only doing that because of Germany’s own “green new deal”. You’d think Biden’s handlers would be happy with the Germans impoverishing themselves with windmills and shit.

    • Festus

      No worries. Biden will just continue Failing/falling upwards as has been his wont for his entire life.

      • rhywun

        falling upwards

        literally

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      This is a true WTF.

      Trump was a carrot/stick kind of guy. This is just flailing about like you’re trying to hit a pinata but whacking all the party guests.

    • Agent Cooper

      We are always at war with Russia …

      • juris imprudent

        Obama: The 80s called and they want that foreign policy back.

  6. SDF-7

    Morning, Banjos — while the links don’t do much other than increase my rage level, I did want to say that (not being my bird feeder) that squirrel brought a smile to my face this morning. Little bugger just looks like the epitome of “Wheeeeeee!!!”

    And for that, I thank you.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Does look fun. Reminds me of those old user-propelled playground carousels.

    • Banjos

      Mornin’! Wheeeeeeeeeee!

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Die in a fire, Gottlieb.

    • PieInTheSky

      death threats on the internet ought to be illegal

      • Festus

        Threats against the 1st Amendment should be a shootin’ offence!

      • juris imprudent

        Not so much a threat as just a Death Wish.

  8. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    Alotta lynx for a Monday morning.

    Our betters are really bad people, aren’t they?

    • AlexinCT

      “,em>Our betters are really bad people, aren’t they?”

      That is one heck of an understatement, considering they are also the most inept and unaware bunch of assholes ever to run the machine.

      • Festus

        Odd how wealthy they become. Funny that.

      • AlexinCT

        Yeah, that is totally a coincidence of why these public servants take these sorts of jobs….

    • juris imprudent

      They are only better than me at being insufferable, greedy assholes.

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

  9. PieInTheSky

    Horrible weather this March. I am unsure the apricot trees are going to produce much this year.

    The again the sour cherry tree I planted last autumn in my moms yard seems to be doing well. Also the lilac tree.

    • AlexinCT

      You need to plant a few money trees like our political class here in the US has…

    • PieInTheSky

      My mom also got a bitter cherry tree to plant. And a quince but I don’t think there is room in the yard for that one. Back in the day she also wanted a walnut tree but no room. Unless the lawn is abandoned and turned into trees

      • Tonio

        Bitter cherry…is the quince at least a bit cynical?

      • PieInTheSky

        you obviously have not tasted my home made bitter cherry infused gin. It is quite good.

    • Rat on a train

      The weather here has been pleasant so far. Not the constant rain of past years. The daffodil and forsythia are already in full bloom. The maple and pear trees are budding. The azalea, phlox, and cherry should start in another week or two.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    Tiger never hit the brakes?

    C’mon. We’ve all said, “I can take this corner flat” at one time or another.

    • juris imprudent

      He hasn’t been able to carry a dogleg since his back problems.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    death threats on the internet ought to be illegal

    I never said, “I’m going to come to your house, drag you out of bed by your feet, douse you in gasoline and set you on fire.”

    That would be wrong. I merely expressed a vain hope of cosmic retribution, Your Honor.

    • PieInTheSky

      On the Brave New Internet what you said is pure hatespeech

      • leon

        What if we find out that Gootleib was into racism as a teenager? How does the brave New internet deal with that?

      • PieInTheSky

        given everyone is racist Gootleib probably was and is

  12. leon

    Morning glibs!

    You ever have one of those nights where you sleep but your dreams are so stressful that you don’t feel any rest?

    • Festus

      Yep. My stupid brain wont shut the fuck up. They tried to fix it one time but it just didn’t take. I just do screenplays, now.

      • juris imprudent

        Barton Fink is that you?

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      I would definitely take a dream-suppressing substance.

      Leon, where do you find these faux Bayeux tapestry pics?

      • leon

        I just google “Bayeux tapestry memes”

        Its a cult sub-genre of memes

      • Akira

        Haha those are great.

        I don’t know if anyone used to be on a site called YTMND back in the day, but there was a meme of recreating modern cultural tropes in Bayeux Tapestry form (there’s a generator site somewhere out there) with the music being This Endris Night by Heather Dale. Fun times.

  13. Festus

    Thanks for the mostly positive links, Banjos! Reminds me to play it forward if I can.

    • Tundra

      Uh…

      *re-reads lynx*

      Uh…

      • Festus

        I scanned them. Sooory.

      • Festus

        Trump starting his own social media enterprise will go over like the XFL.

      • juris imprudent

        Splatter?

      • SDF-7

        *coughs* Again… “Wheeeeeeeeee!” 😉 Danged rodent has enough positivity to tip the scales.

    • Banjos

      Mornin’

  14. leon

    I skimmed the Fox news article and they referred to Jan 6 as an insurrection. Why does the right constantly validate the fantasies of the left?

    • Animal

      Stupidity?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Controlled opposition…

    • SDF-7

      Paging AlexinCT to the elites-two-sides/same-coin courtesy line. AlexinCT, to the elite courtesy line, please.

      • leon

        It’s not just the elites though. I’m sure if you talk to the regular right wing person they will talk about the “insurrection”.

      • AlexinCT

        Not in my experience, unless these are low information people claiming to be on the right. Note there is a difference between those that say any violence was a bad thing/idea because it douches running around taking selfies and not using any real fire arms, an insurrection is not, and the elite pretending to be on the right that are OK with the left’s agenda and narrative, cause they really worry about the serfs actually being done with them lying about being different than the left.

      • SDF-7

        Hmmm… I’m not at all sure about that, but then again — I’m in CA with a work-from-home job, so I barely talk to anyone outside of family and here.
        Other than having to grit my teeth and smile when the chatty-checkout-clerk started on about how great it was that Congress passed the stimulus checks a little while back. Yeah, I could have unloaded on him — but didn’t see the point.

      • Animal

        Which is pure idiocy; it was, at the worst, hooliganism.

      • juris imprudent

        Millwall shakes its head in disappointment.

  15. robc

    I looked at baseball birthdays and they were mostly boring and I forgot. Not bad, just boring. Ramon Martinez was in there. So yeah.

  16. AlexinCT

    NO FUCK’N WAY!…

    Yeah, this is old hat to me. My kid brought that Kung Flu shit home in late January and I had it the first week of February. My kid had flu symptoms for 2 days, likely because of he was fatigued because of his schedule, but then bounced back like nothing. My only symptom was a cough that required a doctors visit for some medication to stop that as I was coughing my throat raw. Everyone around me thought they had the flu if they got sick. No problem with my lungs, no loss of smell, and I didn’t go gay like the frogs did. I got confirmation from the Red Cross that they found the antibodies in my March donation and they told me want my blood like a crack addict wants his fix.

    When we finally get the numbers on how many people had this and had no real issues, and we revise the mortality, we will find out this whole shitshow was one fucking disaster we should have simply avoided after the first 2 weeks of lockdown went nowhere.

    • Festus

      Last November. Judi was laid low for a week and I had some sniffles. Seeing as we’ve cured the flu and the common cold, what else could it be? She works in an airport and I work in a postal plant.

    • Atanarjuat

      If you donate to a patient who has not had Covid or the vaccine, will their body use your antibodies to create more antibodies, thus conferring immunity?

      Sorry if that’s a dumb question. I think I heard babies get immunity from their mothers this way.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Don’t think so. What triggers their body to learn to produce their own antibodies is a stimuli (this is how vaccinations work, even the covid ones). Introducing antibodies directly would just be eliminated in time (though long enough to fight off infection, see monoclonal antibody therapy).

      • Akira

        (this is how vaccinations work, even the covid ones).

        It’s funny – all the “official sources” and people who religiously listen to them have been telling me that naturally acquired COVID immunity only last 3 months, but they now tell me that the vaccine will protect you forever.

        Wish we could rediscover the basic textbook knowledge that long-term immunity comes from the activity of T-cells, not antibodies that just stay there forever.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Exactly, although I’d caveat that with immune response over time is not uniform and does fade for some other known diseases and vaccinations. Where covid will end up in the long term is mostly speculation at this point.

      • AlexinCT

        Correct. The Red Cross was going out of its way to get people with the antibodies because yes, that would transfer the building blocks of immunity to the virus. I am sure they charged premium dollars for blood with Kung Flu immunity. In fact, while they usually ran real weak ass promotions (like chance to win a $25 card to Dunkin where your odds were about as bad as those for Powerball), for people with Kung Flu immunity, they were willing to give you a t-shirt!

        I have been donating steadily since I was in the military and they paid us to donate back in the 80s, and kept it up hoping someday everyone that got my blood would be cured of whatever commie insanity they had from my blood (joking), but these days it is about the free sammichezs and snacks.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I would donate if they didn’t ask for one’s SSN. Eff that.

  17. robc

    Where is sloopy to discuss Ohio St this morning?

    GT lost, but without the ACC player of the year due to COVID, we still played Loyola closer than Illinois did. So we got that going for us. Well, that plus an ACC title. We were moderately underseeded, Loyola was massively underseeded. Kenpom has them ranked at 3 level, so with the way the committee treats lower level leagues, they should have been a 4-6. 8 was stupidly bad on the part of the committee.

    GT was at 8 level on kenpom. I thought with the way we played down the stretch, plus the ACC title, that would bump us to 6 or 7.

    • juris imprudent

      So Michigan is the only B10 that didn’t crap the bed? And that other Ohio school is now outperforming toss-U?

      • robc

        Yeah, I meant to throw in my typical “Go Bobcats!”

      • robc

        But that other Ohio School, you mean THE Ohio University, the one that was operating before Columbus was even settled.

    • Agent Cooper

      Ohio State was overseeded. Much more a 4.

      I had to turn off the Oklahoma State/Oregon State game. I couldn’t stand to watch such terrible basketball.

  18. Tundra

    I see that Festus asked about Fourscore in the last thread. My apologies, i neglected to update the Forum (done now)

    I spoke with Fourscore again on Saturday. He had PT in the morning which hurt like hell, but he was in pretty good spirits overall.

    He has a bunch of books and his friends are keeping him supplied.

    We did have a laugh over the terrible honey he was served with his oatmeal. He’s gonna get his buddy to smuggle in some of the good stuff.

    • Festus

      Thanks for that Tundra! You are a solid guy.

    • Swiss Servator

      PT already – excellent. Thanks for keeping us informed.

    • Pope Jimbo

      To chime in, I went up on Sunday and tried to get him online. Ran into a couple issues that I think can be fixed and we can get him online. For example, I learned that Fourscore is a left handed trackball user. You can imagine how well using a regular mouse went.

      I did sit and bullshit with him for several hours. He’s pretty upbeat. He is also fairly realistic about the impact this is going to make on his life. He’s in a nice room and has cute nurses so it isn’t all bad.

      Fourscore says that unless he moves he is in zero pain and all they will give him anyhow is the extra strength tylenol, so it isn’t worth malingering.

      When I talked to Fourscore’s bee partner last week he said that Fourscore is always talking about us (and in a good way) and he thinks any visits we can make to him would be well appreciated. Normally, I’d suggest that we carpool up and visit, but the hospital only allows one visitor at a time in the room. I’ll be damned if I have to wait outside in a car waiting for Tundra to get done talking. Not sure the Crosby police have the means to solve The Mystery of Cobwebbed Skelaton In A Car. But for all of you in the area, I’d urge you to drop in if you can.

      When I left, I slipped the cute nurse a little something extra to upgrade to the ribbed suppositories (for Fourscore’s pleasure).

      • Tundra

        They have bars in Crosby, Holiness!

        Thanks for the update!

      • Pope Jimbo

        Dude, I know you. I can’t afford to drink all day long in a bar (money or liver wise)

      • Animal

        When I left, I slipped the cute nurse a little something extra…

        Phrasing?

        Good to hear that about Fourscore. Thanks for the update.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Aw, what a mitzvah*.

        *says the gentile

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        and all they will give him anyhow is the extra strength tylenol

        It’s good that he’s doing okay without opioids, but fuck those doctors.

    • DEG

      This is good news. Thanks Tundra and Jimbo!

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Oh, for fuck’s sake

    U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, a Republican from western New York who was accused last week of rubbing a female lobbyist’s back and unhooking her bra without her consent in 2017, apologized to the woman on Sunday and announced that he will not run for reelection next year.

    Reed, 49, said in a statement that the incident involving then-lobbyist Nicolette Davis occurred “at a time in my life in which I was struggling.” He said he entered treatment that year and realized he was “powerless over alcohol.”

    Reed apologized to his wife and children, and to Davis, and said he planned “to dedicate my time and attention to making amends for my past actions.”

    Reed, who was first elected to Congress in 2010, had been among the members of Congress calling for the resignation of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo over sexual harassment allegations. In late February, Reed said he was seriously considering running for governor against Cuomo should the Democrat seek a fourth term next year.

    Reed said in his statement Sunday that he would not seek any elective office in 2022.

    Just cut all boys’ nuts off on their fifth birthday.

    Only then will society be a safe and nurturing environment.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Meh, he’s an asshole.

      “I was struggling! It was the devil juice!”

      • AlexinCT

        That’s what she said!

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I don’t know, unhooking the bra seems a bit extra iffy…if you live in a glass house don’t etc.

    • Festus

      Unhooking one-handed is nearly a lost art. NEVAR APOLOGIZE!

    • Tulip

      JFC expecting adult men to keep their hands to themselves is exactly like cutting the nuts off five year olds. Seriously?

      This absolutely was out of bounds behavior and fuck him and his demon rum made me do it bullshit.

      • juris imprudent

        He would’ve been more credible blaming being elected to office – the intoxication of power overwhelmed me, I just expected everyone to do my bidding and loooooove me.

      • KromulentKristen

        It doesn’t shock me that some of these people think it’s fine to go around unhooking random women’s bras.

      • Festus

        But if you’re really good at it?

      • Animal

        When I was in junior high school it was a popular way for boys to pass the time in between classes.

      • Old Man With Candy

        One more reason for women to eschew those horrible harnesses.

      • pistoffnick

        *sings*

        Free, free, set them free!

    • R C Dean

      accused last week of rubbing a female lobbyist’s back and unhooking her bra without her consent in 2017

      As ever, one wonders what took so long. Convenient time (when the Dems are desperately thrying to shore up a razor-thin margin) is convenient.

      I’ll admit, my first thought was “He should have said ‘I didn’t think it was a big deal, since she had her head in my lap at the time.'”

  20. PieInTheSky

    Mark Carney’s Value(s) moans about free markets – but his Brave New World alternative is a muddled farce

    https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2021/03/21/mark-carneys-values-moans-about-free-markets-but-his-brave-new-world-alternative-is-a-muddled-farce/

    According to Carney, however, our “marketised society”, governed by this principle, corrupts society’s “values”, because it blurs the distinction between market prices and “social value”.

    We therefore need to move away from “unfettered capitalism”, he says, to an economic model where, rather than pursuing our own subjective interests, society forges “consensus” on its objectives based on our “shared values”. Markets can then be “marshalled to help discover and drive solutions in a form of mission-oriented capitalism”. So we might call “sustainability” our value and make mitigating climate change an objective. Capitalism should be harnessed to deliver that goal.

    On cue, Carney unveils his list of values that he thinks should drive individuals, business and governments: “solidarity,” “fairness,” “responsibility,” “resilience,” “sustainability,” “dynamism,” and “humility.” Conspicuously absent is “freedom”.

    all this unfettered capitalism needs to go and we need to forge a consensus that will look amazingly similar to the plan various asshole have for the world.

    • Festus

      All of those silly buzzwords add up to “Communism”. I’ll not partake of that beverage.

    • SDF-7

      Sounds a lot like he’s trying to Confucious the issue.

    • PieInTheSky

      I somewhat grudgingly admire these people that they can publish this bullshit and feel no shame

    • juris imprudent

      his list of values that he thinks should drive…

      And why does he think I should give a shit about what he thinks?

    • Tres Cool

      “solidarity,” “fairness,” “responsibility,” “resilience,” “sustainability,” “dynamism,” and “humility.”

      Isnt that like the 7 things from Kwanzaa ?

      • juris imprudent

        That appropriating bastard!

  21. Atanarjuat

    Unpossible, I was told repeatedly online, while arguing with Branch Covidians, that our betters knew exactly what they were doing and that I needed to follow the plan or I hated science.

    I used to have discussions with lefties in real life and on FB and one thing I have learned is they will never issue a retraction for something in which they were proven wrong, nor will being wrong repeatedly scratch their smug armor.

    • Festus

      Dude. You need to lose that Face-Derp feed, post-haste.

      • Atanarjuat

        I do get certain people contacting me through there who I want to hear from so I haven’t deleted it yet. But i don’t log on and look at posts ever anymore. It’s refreshing.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      “…You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Meh, he’s an asshole.

    Yes, and she should have knocked him off his bar stool then and there.

    • Tundra

      This. What the hell was she doing texting her friend?!?

      • Tulip

        Documenting

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      And then she’d be in prison for felony assault of US Rep.

      • Swiss Servator

        I think if she walloped him doing that, she’d get more praise than anything else. At least from me anywyas.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Me too. But I doubt the King’s Men would see it that way. And she would have assaulted a member of the King’s court.

    • Tulip

      She’s a lobbyist. What happens to her job if she does that?

      Sure, sure, it’s ALL her fault. I mean why would she ever expect that ba d things would happen to her if she fought back in the moment.

      • Tres Cool

        ” I mean why would she ever expect that ba d things…”

        B, A, and D. I submit those are all cup sizes.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    We therefore need to move away from “unfettered capitalism”, he says, to an economic model where, rather than pursuing our own subjective interests, society forges “consensus” on its objectives based on our “shared values”. Markets can then be “marshalled to help discover and drive solutions in a form of mission-oriented capitalism”. So we might call “sustainability” our value and make mitigating climate change an objective. Capitalism should be harnessed to deliver that goal.

    Something something stated vs revealed preference.

    • Festus

      Huh Can’t access the galleries no mo from archive.

    • UnCivilServant

      You links make me want to slaughter tattooists until there is no one left to ruin good skin.

      • Lord Humungus

        Remember the days when tattoos were only on sailors and freaks? Pepperidge Farm remembers!

    • DEG

      Nice gallery. No face diapers.

  24. Wood Chipped Wednesday

    Right now at my school, we’re having meeting almost Friday now, about, slurs and using the word retard, instead of mentally gifted or mentally challenged, because retard is now bad

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      So moron and idiot, then.

      • Festus

        Samizdat.

      • Wood Chipped Wednesday

        Mhm

      • Rat on a train

        Definitely need a dumbass label for some kids.

      • juris imprudent
      • Wood Chipped Wednesday

        Wouldn’t every kid have it then?

    • Rat on a train

      There is a difference between retarded and delayed. Last time I recall hearing, the local school district used “disabled” with a type modifier. Learning disabled (dyslexia), developmental disabled (autism), intellectual disabled (retarded), physical disabled (color blind, wheelchair) and emotional disabled (the problem kids).

      • Wood Chipped Wednesday

        It’s basically talking about all of those except for physically disabled. It gets bunched up together

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        “…she’s a pilot now”?

  25. Atanarjuat

    Sanctions on China for the slave camps and cultural (and probably literal) genocide? Fine by me. That’s one country I’m fine with Divest initiatives – I don’t think “opening trade” and moving all of our manufacturing there has helped liberalize their society.

    Sanctions have certainly impoverished a lot of people in Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba etc and starved a bunch in Yemen. They must be shown to do a lot of good to make up for that.

    • Festus

      I’ll admit to quietly laughing at the Chinese Ambassador’s twenty minute snark-fest and the limber-dicked response.

  26. PieInTheSky

    After Sarah Everard’s Killing, Women’s Groups Want Change, Not More Policing

    A rising movement in Britain asserts that the police are part of the problem and seeks recognition that violence against women must be addressed at the societal level.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/21/world/europe/sarah-everard-police-uk.html

    yes magically address things at societal level and bad things will go away.

    • PieInTheSky

      Women’s safety and freedom, they argue, can come only from much deeper social changes — and any policy change in response to Ms. Everard’s death should focus on those.
      As public anger grew after the killing of Ms. Everard, the government promised new actions to improve women’s safety: more CCTV cameras, better street lighting, and plainclothes police in bars and clubs to watch for attacks on female patrons. But for many women expressing fear and outrage, especially those at events organized by Sisters Uncut, that was precisely backward. In their view, the police were themselves a source of trauma and danger.

      “Rape has been decriminalized, frankly,” said Emily Gray, a lecturer at Derby University who studies policing.
      A 2019 report by the British newspaper The Independent found that 568 London police officers were accused of sexual assault between 2012 and 2018, but only 43 faced disciplinary proceedings. And from April 2015 to April 2018, there were at least 700 reports of domestic violence by police officers and police staff, according to documents obtained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalists from 37 of Britain’s 48 police forces. – No rape has not been decriminalized though some of the queren’s men get away with it

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        In their view, the police were themselves a source of trauma and danger

        I mean they aren’t wrong about that. Same with the defund the police movement here in America. We could easily cut 95% of law enforcement and the country would be much safer.

        Of course, I strongly disagree with the proposed replacement in both movements. My approach would involve removing barriers to firearm ownership while increasing legal protections for self-defense.

      • Akira

        My approach would involve removing barriers to firearm ownership while increasing legal protections for self-defense.

        + End the drug war that is perhaps the biggest contributor to violent crime in the US

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Yes, absolutely. The 95% reduction in law enforcement would be accompanied by comparative reduction in laws. No more victimless crimes. And compensation for damages would actually go towards the victim/victim’s family and not the State.

      • Agent Cooper

        THIS. I always respond to the “ending gun violence” BS with “legalize drugs.”

      • leon

        “Rape has been decriminalized, frankly,”

        I am genuinely confused by the thinking. In progressive worldview, society= government. They want less cops (government) but complain that rape is decriminalized (I.e less cops). It is very incoherent.

        Now if you want societal change, I agree that government isn’t going to have a good go at it. That comes from parents and culture. I also think that rape should be a crime (and doubt that it had been decriminalized, though this is UK so..)

      • leon

        I realized that i might have been incoherent. My argument is not that her position is untenable. Rape decriminalization is bad. Cops are perpetratiors. However society is not government, and people who think that government == society, and that policy == culture, are going to be in a bad time because their solutions inevitabley mean “MOAR COPS”

      • juris imprudent

        They want all men to be properly indoctrinated/trained (/castrated if necessary) to be “good” members of society.

      • WTF

        Cute switcheroo where they complain about rape and then give stats on sexual assault allegations, as though all sexual assault is rape and all allegations are proof of a crime. And this “women’s safety” crap really irritates as well, since statistically men are more often the victims of violence than women are.

      • Akira

        Cute switcheroo where they complain about rape and then give stats on sexual assault allegations

        That’s how they got that “1 in 4 women raped on campus” thing. It was from the “Sexual Experiences Survey” by Mary Koss published in Miss Magazine in 1988. First off, using crime stats from the ’80s in any other situation would immediately be called out, but not here… And the survey was about sexual assault, not rape. Furthermore, the definition of sexual assault included things like being spanked on the butt, being kissed against your will, and having sex that you regretted later.

        Sadly, most people have abysmal critical thinking skills and immediately swallow any official-sounding number that they hear on TV.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Thank you, Heather McDonald! (But do you mean Ms. magazine?)

        I’m old, but: if you aren’t injured, impregnated, or given a disease, then just get on with life. Now you know that guy is an asshole to be avoided. And I felt safer on campus than in the city; I wonder why.

      • Akira

        I’m old, but: if you aren’t injured, impregnated, or given a disease, then just get on with life.

        Our society today is very anti-Stoic. Complaining is a virtue, and anything traumatic should be made a key part of your identity forever. It’s the opposite of what you should do if you actually want to heal and move past the trauma, but it’s gratifying for some reason. Figuring out that reason is beyond my knowledge level, but I can’t help but think it has something to do with attention-seeking behavior driven by social media. If life is all about likes, comments, and subscriptions, people will do just about anything to get those things – and a good way for no-talent people to achieve that is loudly complaining about being victimized.

      • juris imprudent

        but it’s gratifying for some reason.

        Being a victim today is like being what a martyr used to be – without having to die.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        but it’s gratifying for some reason.

        When you incentivize being a victim, you get more victims, or at least those pretending to be victims.

        Hence the grievance ladder, “reverse-passing”, etc. In our current culture, everyone but straight, white, men can wiggle their way to victimhood, and people seem to be giving a good go at it.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Many people mistake a good memory for a good intellect. I did when I was young.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have a great memory (for some types of information).

        I long regarded myself as only ordinary intellect. But people around me keep proving themselves dumber than I thought possible.

        If I am of ordinary intellect, the average person should be at least as smart as I am. If this is not borne out by observation, I have to reassess my hypotheses.

      • Wood Chipped Wednesday

        The 97% survey is bs and people somehow believe it

      • Wood Chipped Wednesday

        Especially when they call staring, and/or saying someone is cute or pretty or whatever, whistling, sexual harassment

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        “Oh no! This is how Mummy met Daddy!”

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Sanctions have certainly impoverished a lot of people in Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba etc and starved a bunch in Yemen. They must be shown to do a lot of good to make up for that.

    Wasn’t it in one of P J O’Rourke’s books, where the South Africans said, “Stop the embargo. We need to raise money to buy guns to fight the government with.”?

    • Festus

      I’d up-vote your comment but then I might be added to a list.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    A 2019 report by the British newspaper The Independent found that 568 London police officers were accused of sexual assault between 2012 and 2018, but only 43 faced disciplinary proceedings.

    Needz moar training.

    • Festus

      Those 43 were worthless and weak.

    • Tres Cool

      “As of 2019 the force had a workforce of 1,207 including 756 full-time police officers and 451 support staff.”

      So you’re telling me that 75% of the force was accused, yet only 5% were disciplined (found guilty of something). Lord knows Im not a fan of cops, but that tells me there were likely a lot of baseless accusations.

      • R C Dean

        I find it difficult to believe that London (population 9mm+) has 756 cops, or one per 12,000 residents,

      • Tres Cool

        Thats the City of London, according to the article. Not to be confused with the Metropolitan Police (formerly Scotland Yard).

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Yeah, business district few people live in.

  29. Atanarjuat

    Apparently after 4 years of whining about kids in cages* we now have this happening:
    https://mobile.twitter.com/stillgray/status/1373952339195748354

    Although if they put them all up in hotels, it will be a disaster akin to what happened when they did that in Britain, but it will at least be consistent with what they say they want.

    *I don’t have a problem with people who are genuinely concerned, just the 99% who used it as a political cudgel and stopped caring once Trump left.

    • Pope Jimbo

      They just need to learn the 5th Movement if they want to escape. (I hate whichever one of you it was who made me watch the OA)

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Dude, that show was deep on like so many levels and shit. Blew my mind man.

  30. Scruffy Nerfherder

    I think the official health department goon squad just drove into the parking lot. This should be “interesting” given my sarcastic compliance signs.

    • leon

      Someone snitched on you?

      • UnCivilServant

        So we have to stitch somebody?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I doubt it. They’ve been making the rounds.

      • UnCivilServant

        Start chastizing them for every violation of social distancing they engage in.

        Hold them to every standard they’re enforcing.

    • bacon-magic

      Ask if you’re being detained.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Gah. Not sure who that was. He was with the city but he was nosing around. I was expecting him to come inside so I was in my office.

      Fuckers are looking for a violation of something.

      • juris imprudent

        You have to find the man first, then you decide on the crime.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    She’s a lobbyist. What happens to her job if she does that?

    Sure, sure, it’s ALL her fault. I mean why would she ever expect that ba d things would happen to her if she fought back in the moment.

    Yes, she’s a lobbyist. She wants something from him. He wants something from her. The terms of the transaction were a bit muddled.

    “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

    I’ll stop digging, now.

    • WTF

      Surely you’re not implying she would use flirtatiousness to get what she wants!? Because women never do that!

      • Tres Cool

        Yet it becomes an issue 4 years later, when shaming pols in the media is a way to get yourself noticed.

    • Plinker762

      Is 7am too early for popcorn?

  32. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Ozzy Man reviews porch pirates:

    https://youtu.be/P6TunfVgL9E

    It just amazes me that people will risk prison, physical thrashings, and even being shot if you pick the wrong house to steal the unknown contents of a small UPS box.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      People are stupid.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        What are the odds that the widget will have personal and/or resale value to the thief? Sigh, see above.

      • pan fried wylie

        “SCORE! ….a box of plastic razor blades….”

        “YES….a pair of aquarium air pumps. I can keep one and get $2 for the other!”

        I guess if they get lucky and snag the box full of noctua fans…nah, nobody that porchpirate knows is paying close to retail value for those anyway.

        I think it must be more for the thrill, like playing scratchoffs.

  33. The Other Kevin

    5 years ago, if I had said, “I think it’s important for people to believe in the integrity of elections, and if there is anything that seems sketchy, it should be investigated”, people would have yawned and said “yeah no shit.” But saying that today makes me a white supremacist and gets me censored. Thankfully states are still taking charge of their own elections, even if the Dems at the national level are fighting tooth and nail.

    I could accept “experts” being wrong, if they had just said, “Based on what we know now, this is what we recommend, but that could change as we get more information.” But instead, if you disagreed, you were denying science. And also a white supremacist.

    Biden’s administration so far has been a disaster. In many areas, he hasn’t bothered to think things through, he’s just reflexively doing the opposite of what Trump did. Even if you hate Trump, you have to admit a blind squirrel can find a nut every once in a while. I guess that’s what blind partisanship can do to you.

    • leon

      The foreign Policy can only be considered a “Success” if you are part of the Raytheon Sales team.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Fuckers are looking for a violation of something.

    Checking your signage?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Who knows? Could be checking my fueling station.

      Usually when they show up for an inspection of those they want to check all the trucks to make sure I’m not putting off-road diesel in them to duck the taxes.

  35. Festus

    Alright, I’m done. Good day folks and I hope it’s a bright one. I need to go eat some processed food and get a little shut-eye.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    I could accept “experts” being wrong, if they had just said, “Based on what we know now, this is what we recommend, but that could change as we get more information.” But instead, if you disagreed, you were denying science. And also a white supremacist.

    The people who accused anyone who disagreed with them of being morally abhorrent and criminally indifferent to the suffering of others are disappointed in you for politicizing this vitally important issue. You’re a bad person, and should feel shame and remorse.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      People need to revise their understanding of the word “expert”. An expert isn’t infallible. The world is too big for anyone to know everything. Hopefully an expert is correct more often than your average person, but these days I’m not even sure that is true.

      My brother is a PhD, so he’s an expert. He likes to say that when you get your bachelor’s you think you know everything. When you get your master’s you realize you don’t know as much as you think you did. When you get your PhD, you realize you know nothing.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have to disagree with him – based upon the behaviour of a number of PhDs in the wild.

  37. Lord Humungus

    My weird 3AM thought the other day:

    What happened if the airplane was created without the invention of gunpowder (though one could argue the two went hand-in-hand but that’s another discussion) ?

    How would say the Romans have used a rickety Wright Brothers type of plane as a weapon of war? Drop rocks? Some sort of mass dump of darts?

    • The Other Kevin

      Never underestimate the ability of humans to find creative and cruel ways to kill each other.

    • Animal

      Drop caltrops in front of an advancing enemy.

      • juris imprudent

        …and behind them as well.

    • The Other Kevin

      A well-built bunker would become impossible to breach.

    • UnCivilServant

      The first valuable use of air power is reconnassaince. Knowing where the enemy is gives a significant advantage. All that requires is eyeballs.

      • Lord Humungus

        Yep – the first planes in WW1 were for reconnaissance… and the someone said “I’ll carry a pistol. Maybe I could toss this little bomb over the side…” and off to the races they went.

      • pan fried wylie

        Balloons.

    • Akira

      How would say the Romans have used a rickety Wright Brothers type of plane as a weapon of war? Drop rocks? Some sort of mass dump of darts?

      I would guess dropping flaming substances onto enemy ships and buildings.

      Damn, now I want to replay Age of Empires 2 with SPQR fire planes.

    • Atanarjuat

      There was a weapon the US used en masse in the Vietnam War against soldiers hiding in dense jungle. The Lazy Dog. Basically a 50 Cal bullet with fins. No propellant needed, obviously. I saw one in a display case at a Naval Air museum next to the runway in DeLand FL. Found it a horrifying prospect. In DDGing to remind myself of the name I found that darts were used some in ww1 too. So your mind took you to the same place other weapons designers were led.

      https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/terrifying-steel-darts-wwi/

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Gravity is a real bitch sometimes.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Not aliens and almost certainly either US or Chinese or Russian technology. Still pretty neat though.

      • Hyperion

        The only way to accomplish such a thing is by white supremacy. So yeah, either the USA, Russia, or some of them white people of colored Asian folk.

    • Hyperion

      Let’s ask Brennan next time he appears here as Tulpa. I wonder if any extreme right wing terrorists or libertarians were riding on that UFO?

  38. Count Potato

    “San Francisco school board member refuses to resign for her 2016 tweets calling Asian Americans ‘house n****rs’ who embrace ‘white supremacist thinking’ to get ahead

    The entire senior staff of the San Francisco schools has denounced a black school board member’s tweets that claimed Asian Americans use ‘white supremacist thinking’ to get ahead.

    In her tweets, she also referred to Asian Americans as ‘house n***ers’.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9387179/Entire-senior-staff-San-Francisco-schools-denounces-school-board-members-tweets.html

    • Lord Humungus

      you know who else used white supremacist thinking’…

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Margaret Sanger?

      • Hyperion

        +1 Eugenics

      • leon

        Modern Web Designers?

        (Seriously why does every site have to be blindingly white?)

      • Tres Cool

        Sen. Robert Byrd ?

      • juris imprudent

        According to the modern left – MLK Jr.

      • bacon-magic

        Blacks beating up Asians?

      • R C Dean

        denounced a black school board member’s tweets

        The entire staff of the San Francisco schools?

      • Agent Cooper

        The Boston Red Sox?

    • Lord Humungus

      A white supremacist in a black man’s body!

    • The Other Kevin

      At this point that white supremacist narrative is being barely held together with bubble gum and string.

      • Tejicano

        “… and we’re all out of bubble gum”

    • leon

      I first read that is if his Name was “Thug”

    • Hyperion

      Not a real black person. /News at 11.

    • Old Man With Candy

      NYPD said on Sunday that they did not yet have evidence that the attack was racially motivated.

      So shouting, “You Asian motherfucker!” while beating him isn’t evidence. Okay.

    • R C Dean

      Thsi white supremacist movement is surprisingly diverse.

      So shouting, “You Asian motherfucker!” while beating him isn’t evidence.

      Well, “I didn’t shoot those women because they were Asian” apparently isn’t evidence, either.

      • juris imprudent

        White supremacy is like pornography – you know when you see it (and especially when you want to see it).

  39. Count Potato

    “EXCLUSIVE: ‘People are the new dope.’ Mexican cartels are seizing on Biden’s lax border policies to run multimillion-dollar human trafficking scheme and are using families as DECOYS to smuggle single adults and drugs from elsewhere

    Sources tell DailyMail.com Mexican cartels are exploiting Biden’s lax policies now that they realize there is serious money to be made from human trafficking without any of the distribution issues faced with narcotics”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9367713/Mexican-cartels-ratchet-human-trafficking-operations-amid-Bidens-relaxed-immigration-policy.html

    Good thing they removed that wikipedia entry about rape trees.

    • Lord Humungus

      Unintended consequences!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Business is business…

    • Ownbestenemy

      I remember the day when some young reporter would see this as an opportunity to do a truly Pulitzer Prize worthy piece on where exactly these dirt poor people are coming up with $6000+ of cold hard cash to pay a coyotesmuggler.

      • Hyperion

        Some of those dirt people are living and working here in the USA. My wife worked with an undocumented alien worker and she paid, I think it was right about that $6000 figure, to get coyotes to smuggle her 2 daughters, 11 and 13, here from El Salvador.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    “Thug, 36, is charged with punching 68-year-old Sri Lankan immigrant in face while yelling ‘you mother-f****** Asian’ on NYC subway”

    “Thug” you say. Indians are Asian, aren’t they? Asian on Asian violence.

    • Tejicano

      And history comes 360 degrees..

      The word “thug” comes from the “Thuggees” – a Sanskrit word meaning concealment, who were an organized gang of professional assassins in India.

  41. Lord Humungus

    If anyone cares – I’ve made a video about Chet Baker, junky trumpet player, and my favorite records of his from 1952-1965.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiV2MGa1_Hk

    Both EF and I came down with a cold – COVID??!!!??? – this weekend so not much of anything was done except whiskey gargling ‘n’ bad movie watching.

    • Old Man With Candy

      You should have joined us on Zoom, where you and I could have bored everyone else by talking about Miller effects, partition noise, and grid leakage.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        ugh, Miller Effect….

        Nothing like designing a compensation circuit that starts shrieking at a fundamental tone.

      • Old Man With Candy

        I was very proud of a circuit I invented that essentially eliminates Miller but (unlike cascodes) has high PSR. Unfortunately, it relies on jFETs, which are a rapidly disappearing technology.

  42. Hyperion

    “Man made famous through branding and his social media posts is going to create his own social media platform after being banned from social media.”

    How much would anyone like to wager this will be a total bust?

    Why? Because bad orange man always surrounds himself with the wrong people. Not always, but Sessions and Deputy Dawg? C’mon man!

    If Trump was actually smart, he’d enlist Peter Thiel, Glen Greenwald, and Elon Musk.

    But he’s not smart so he’ll go with Rudy Guliani, Bill O’Reilly, and Newt Gingrich. And it will be a total joke.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Trump’s neither the idiot his detractors think he is nor the genius his fans think he is. He’s just muddling through like most of the rest of us but he might manage to fall ass over elbows into social media success if he plays his cards right. You’re 100% right about his hiring though, I wouldn’t take his recommendation for a yard man much less something actually important.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Not only does he surround himself with too many sycophants, but he has no follow through. If he wants to build his own platform, he will have to dig in and concentrate on building it for at least a couple years. He’ll be distracted by the next shiny thing in a couple months and that will be it.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Learn to code, Donny!

    • Banjos

      Social media is going to splinter. The far right moved to Gab and Telegram. Many independents also moved to Telegram. The boring right of center are using Parler. Old fucks are still using Facebook. Trump will pull in the MAGA crowd and leftist trolls into his platform and draw attention to it as corporate media is addicted to him. Twitter will remain to be a circle jerk for journalists and celebrities. The day of there being a handful of social media platforms is dead in the same way there is no longer a handful of media outlets. Our society is splintering as well as is should.

      • Hyperion

        Parler is back up now. Haven’t even logged in there, too many there are like right wing clones of the left wing clones. There’s one person who is one of the most frequent posters who jumps on any wild conspiracy theory without even bothering to try to vet it. I remember once, he posted something from a parody site and on the home page at the top of the page it reads ‘We are a parody site’. He would have at least a dozen misspellings and grammatical errors per paragraph, to the point it was comical.

      • juris imprudent

        Our society is splintering as well as is should.

        And everyone will complain that no one listens to them anymore.

      • Hyperion

        What I’m seeing in my own observation is that it is indeed splintering, into 2 camps who are increasingly hostile to the other side.

        On one side, you got the Trumpets. On the other side is the commies. The bad part is that both sides are dumber than rocks and buying whatever the team is selling.

        Then you have the 1% who are free radicals, also known as libertarians. Those have no part to play in this war, too few of them. They just stand around and heckle the other 2 groups from the sidelines.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I don’t know. I doubt the number of hardcore Trump supporters is very high. Most of his base are people who sick of the system, see no choice between the Dems and establishment GOP, and back him as a fuck you vote. I suspect this includes many libertarians and posters here.

        Everyone has a part to play in this war unless you are somehow situated in place where politics has no effect on your daily life. If so, I envy that person and ask them to sell me some ammo at 2019 prices.

        The liberals are absolutely going scorched Earth in this war and couldn’t care less if you support Trump or not. All they care about is if you support the progressive cause. If not, then you are their enemy.

      • Hyperion

        “Most of his base are people who sick of the system, see no choice between the Dems and establishment GOP, and back him as a fuck you vote. I suspect this includes many libertarians and posters here.”

        That’s exactly why I voted for him.

        Both sides hate libertarians more than they hate each other.

        This is an easy experiment to do, with only 2 short posts on a article almost anywhere on the web.

        Post 1: I think weed should be legal, it’s an individuals business what they put into their own body.

        Post 2: I fully support the 2nd amendment, shall not be infringed.

        Post 1 will cause the conservotards to spring into action and accuse you of being one of them liberals.

        Post 2 will cause the commies to spring into action and accuse you of being one of them Trumptards and deplorables, and probably a Nazi.

      • UnCivilServant

        it’s an individuals business what they put into their own body.

        Next you’re going to say piercings, guaging and tattoos should be legal.

      • kinnath

        yes

      • kinnath

        Call me Ellen.

      • DEG

        If so, I envy that person and ask them to sell me some ammo at 2019 prices.

        #metoo

      • juris imprudent

        Oh that small faction has a role to play – just not a happy one.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    It ain’t over ’til we say it’s over

    Other experts have said that plateauing of cases the US is reporting could serve as a predictor for another surge. Emergency physician Dr. Leana Wen told CNN last week she believes the US could be on the cusp of another surge.

    According to my model, when the numbers are going up it means they will go up forever. If the numbers are going down it means they are going to go back up.

    SCIENCE!

    • leon

      Until everyone has died of COVID, it could always get worse!

  44. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Finally found a non-Chinese carbon fork that fits my bike frame (I hope).

    Shipping all the way from Portland. There was one in the whole damn country.

    • leon

      Portland? I mean is that really much better than buying from the communists in China?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        At least it was made in Italy.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      #stopasianhate you bigot.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Sowwy dude.

        I just get nervous about trusting my neck to the reliability of a Chinese carbon fiber assembly.

      • UnCivilServant

        Asians are fine.

        Communist Slave Labor is not.

  45. Count Potato

    “The metastasizing “Diversity, Inclusion & Equity” (DIE) bureaucracy at @OhioState. There are 150+ “diversicrats” at an annual cost of $12M (= tuition for 1,000+ in-state students) including 88 staff in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.”

    https://twitter.com/Mark_J_Perry/status/1373367530492985348

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      This may be what put the bureaucracies over the top and kills them.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s a self-licking ice cream cone. Diversity officials call for more investment in diversity, which means more diversity officials, who call for more investment in….

      You get the idea.

      until the higher ed bubble pops, it’s going to continue, but the inevitable meltdown is going to be glorious.

      • Akira

        until the higher ed bubble pops, it’s going to continue, but the inevitable meltdown is going to be glorious.

        I sure hope so. I think one good thing that will come out of the COVID situation is the realization that the in-person university education is a ridiculous anachronism and that a huge majority of it can be replaced with online education.

      • The Other Kevin

        The Mike Rowe “go to trade school or community college” type of thinking was gaining traction, hopefully it’s now in overdrive.

      • Ownbestenemy

        It took many years to convince my wife that the “trade school or community college” path was a much better road for our boys to take unless they land some wicked scholarships AND go into a major that is worthwhile. Otherwise, get a trade, take some classes to better yourself and get out there and be somebody.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I’d also add educating yourself is your own responsibility and a lifelong journey, not a checkmark. Always need to be learning, even if it’s not in a formal classroom.

  46. Banjos

    So many black-pilled miserable fucks on this website. Be the squirrel, people. Be the squirrel.

    • Count Potato

      I’ve been thinking about that lately too, but it’s not easy.

    • UnCivilServant

      I’m not sure what “be the squirrel” means, but the nihilistic tendencies I’m seeing from some regulars has reduced my engagement.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Not so much miserable as bemused, it’s hard to not chuckle darkly at what’s going on now and it’s hard to not be cynical.

    • Tejicano

      I’ve pretty much taken up the DGAF philosophy and lifestyle. Not much I can do about it anyway.

      Not that I don’t care, I just don’t have energy to waste on it all. Let it burn. I’ll figure out what to do when it’s over.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      Hey! I represent that!

    • R C Dean

      Interesting convo with Mrs. Dean this weekend.

      She is feeling a lot of free-floating anxiety, as are a number of her clients (she only mentioned the women). We agreed its likely due to rejection of the mainstream narratives, mostly about COVID. If you don’t buy the narrative, you are constantly in a state of tension from resisting it and wondering, inevitably, if maybe you’re the crazy one. TMITE, indeed. Of interest was that a couple of her formerly committed lefty clients are starting to turn – one was a BLM supporter who has completely rejected them, can’t remember what incident caused that. As her clients trend older, many have gotten the vaccine, and are Not Happy that the official guidance is “Doesn’t matter, sucker. Wear your mask.”

      We’re looking more seriously at how to reduce exposure to/mitigate risk from the fraying social fabric and likely economic . . . difficulties. Expatting is still on the table, but we’re also relooking at what we might do short of that. Could be relocating/downsizing somewhere more rural, could be “fortifying” the Casa Dean (solar, maybe a good-sized propane tank, unfortunately I think a well is off the table). As we live on the very edge of Tucson, civil unrest making it to our neighborhood would mean a complete breakdown of society. She laughed when I told her one of my amusements while walking the dogs is scoping out firing positions ‘ “Nice sightlines, decent cover, difficult approach, but hard to withdraw from.” I told her next time we are walking the neighborhood I would show her my faves.

      • kinnath

        If I have to worry about roaming bands of thieves at my rural home, then society is completely gone.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        ^And my rural neighbors would be completely gone too. Roving bands wouldn’t receive a warm welcome around here.

      • R C Dean

        Assuming a breakdown in our (recently-shown-to-be-fragile) logistics that would mean people in the cities are starving, Tucson would have to chew through miles of suburban and residential communities to get to our neighborhood. Of course, those same communities would also be starving, if maybe a little slower.

        If a convoy of technicals is heading down the single, dead-end road to our little neighborhood, the shit has mos def hit the fan. Which reminds me: I do need to check the zero on my sniper rifle and my battle rifle.

        Food is definitely the weakest link, IMO. We started thinking about what it would take to be semi-self-sufficient. Which would be impossible in our current house.

      • kinnath

        I just ordered a chain saw. The quarter acre of crappy trees that I have not cleared yet (because I am lazy) will be clear by the end of this year.

        I have acquired enough mason jars to can a year’s supply of veggies for the two of us.

        The garden will go in next spring.

        Chickens will not happen until things look dramatically worse than they do now.

      • UnCivilServant

        So you’re going to be canning the trees?

      • R C Dean

        I’m going to do some more research on raised bed gardening. We do have an option in the backyard for some raised beds. Many gardens in Tucson are a lost cause because of the critters (deer, javelina, rabbits, even packrats); not sure we could solve for deer without a ridiculous fence.

        Livestock is right out in our neighborhood, though. Even chickens.

      • kinnath

        I will definitely be putting in raised beds. Much more efficient use of space even on a quarter acre.

        I have apple trees and pear trees already planted. I will be adding cherry trees and grape vines in addition to planting beds for veggies and berries.

      • Ownbestenemy

        She laughed when I told her one of my amusements while walking the dogs is scoping out firing positions ‘ “Nice sightlines, decent cover, difficult approach, but hard to withdraw from.” I told her next time we are walking the neighborhood I would show her my faves.

        Yeah, Mrs OBE gets the “this is how I would immediately secure our cul-de-sac for short term while we work to get the hell out of Dodge” speech ever so often from me.

      • R C Dean

        We are working on a 15 minute evac plan. Initially because of last year’s wildfires (the only kind of natural disaster we would have to evacuate from – we were in the level 3 (start preparing) zone for a couple of weeks last year. Our biggest challenge on that front is the dogs – basically, one vehicle for them and their gear, and one for us and ours.

      • Ownbestenemy

        That is our goal too for any major disaster such as fire, but that risk is low where I am at in Southern Nevada. Dogs know the command “go to the car”, we would just have to grab our tiny fire safe that has important documents and the teens. Same here with the two vehicles – one with the dogs, the other with the teens and the ice chest with grab and go food/water I began to put on rotation.

    • Jarflax

      Politically things are bad now. But the world is still a place of beauty and wonder. Yesterday morning I saw a pair of hawks mating, so I will get to watch fledgling hawks learn to fly later this year. Morning Banjos!

  47. Rebel Scum

    “When all the work is done, there will be a full report for the Senate and County to review.”

    And nothing else will happen.

  48. Rebel Scum

    Miller did not go into detail regarding the proposed platform’s functions, but did say that the “new platform is going to be big” and that it will draw “tens of millions of people.”

    It’s gonna be YUGE.

    • The Other Kevin

      They should call it Yuge. Or maybe Bigly.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        That would be funny, srsly.

      • juris imprudent

        Maybe Cofveve?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Even better, but the pronunciation question…

      • Swiss Servator

        “Bigly” would work!

  49. Rebel Scum

    Uncertainty arose regarding the ballot processing operation at Fulton County’s State Farm Arena on and after Election Night, when ballot-scanning apparently continued even after most election workers had reportedly been sent home.

    Two separate sworn affidavits from Election Night poll workers claimed that, at roughly 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 3, an official directed workers to stop working and to return the next day at 8:30 a.m.

    And other bs that we already know about. But what’s a little election fortification among friends?

  50. DEG

    ‘Mornin Banjos

    Miller did not go into detail regarding the proposed platform’s functions, but did say that the “new platform is going to be big” and that it will draw “tens of millions of people.”

    It seems a little quick to me to get something that will handle that scale.

    Republicans in the Arizona legislature will perform a full hand recount of the nearly 2.1 million votes cast in Maricopa County in the 2020 presidential election of, a state GOP leader announced this week.

    A little late for this.

    “I did that so we would have legal standing to take the case to federal court, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Clyde, R-Ga., told Fox News. “And I’m all teed up to do that. People have to stand for the Constitution. And if I have to get fined in order to give me a legal standing to do that then I’ll be fined.”

    Nice plan. John Roberts says hi.

  51. Rebel Scum

    “I did that so we would have legal standing to take the case to federal court, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Clyde, R-Ga., told Fox News. “And I’m all teed up to do that. People have to stand for the Constitution. And if I have to get fined in order to give me a legal standing to do that then I’ll be fined.”

    As if scotus will agree…

  52. The Late P Brooks

    I’m old, but: if you aren’t injured, impregnated, or given a disease, then just get on with life. Now you know that guy is an asshole to be avoided. And I felt safer on campus than in the city; I wonder why.

    Back when the Rolling Stone campus rape panic was at its peak, I thought back to my college days, and asked, “If it was really this dangerous to go to a fraternity’s parties, the jungle telegraph would have broadcast the news far and wide. Nobody would show up.”

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      No parents would let their daughters go to college either.

  53. Rebel Scum

    or I hated science.

    Blanche Kovidians freakin’ love science.

  54. The Late P Brooks

    you and I could have bored everyone else by talking about Miller effects, partition noise, and grid leakage.

    Prognosis: grim.

    • Old Man With Candy

      This is antiques; you’re far too young to und… oh wait, you’re not.

  55. Rebel Scum

    Officials have said there was no evidence he was impaired at the time,

    Just a mistake while trying to be fast and furious I suppose.

    • Wood Chipped Wednesday

      Fast and furious 10?

      Can’t wait.

  56. Rebel Scum

    Thanks to the nationwide coronavirus closures and lockdowns in major movie markets from New York City to Los Angeles, the U.S. movie box office take crashed 80 percent last year, according to a new report by the Motion Picture Association.

    I hope I can expect the new Top Gun to be released. I do not care to see it in theaters and I have a more than sufficient entertainment system to view it at home.

    • Wood Chipped Wednesday

      It better have fucking highway to the danger zone, the trailer didn’t show it

      • db

        It’ll be lines with license plate reader cameras and remote engine shutdown transmitters.

      • db

        s/lines/lined

      • Rebel Scum

        It definitely better have something to help one get pumped.

        But they showed an F-14 tribute in the trailer. I don’t see how they could leave out the signature music.

  57. Count Potato

    “Really wild stuff downtown. A Stop Asian Hate rally is clashing with a Pro-Uighur drive by. The pro-Uighur group is shouting “F— China!” The Asian rally is responding by calling them “racist.””

    https://twitter.com/NicXTempore/status/1373691318208245764

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Damnit, my intersectionality meter just exploded.

    • Hyperion

      Unity!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      https://twitter.com/ewg118/status/1373705536739377152

      Are the pro Uighur people actually Uighur/human rights, or are they thinly veiled anti-Chinese (govt or ethnicity)?

      The side that never argues in good faith thinks nobody else does either.

    • Agent Cooper

      And now there’s a third group of pro wrestling fans chanting “This is awesome!”

  58. The Late P Brooks

    The Mike Rowe “go to trade school or community college” type of thinking was gaining traction, hopefully it’s now in overdrive.

    Baristas don’t have work-from-home privilege. You might as well learn a valuable skill, if you’re going to have to show up every day.

    • Hyperion

      “The Mike Rowe “go to trade school”

      Trade School. Yet another name for white supremacy. Why learn an archaic skill that was last used by white slave owners, like 100 years ago, when you can learn a real skill useful to society, like gender studies?

  59. Rebel Scum

    Your rights are too easily and cheaply exercised.

    He then ridiculed the Georgia legislature for working on strengthening Georgia’s voting laws instead of working on gun control, saying, “But right now, what is our legislature doing? They’re busy under the gold dome here in Georgia, trying to prevent people from being able to vote the same day they register.”

    Warnock continued, “I think that suggests a distortion in values. When you can buy a gun and create this much carnage and violence on the same day, but if you want to exercise your right to vote as an American citizen, the same legislature that should be focused on this is busy erecting barriers to that constitutional right.”

    The Associated Press (AP) noted that Gabby Giffords’ gun control group, Giffords Law Center, also reacted to the Atlanta-area shootings by pushing for a longer process for gun purchases.

    • R C Dean

      the same legislature that should be focused on this is busy erecting barriers to that constitutional right.

      Said unironically about a legislature that is not considering bills that would erect barriers to a constitutional right.

  60. The Late P Brooks

    So many black-pilled miserable fucks on this website.

    Maybe I need a little yellow pill.

  61. Ownbestenemy

    Wife’s business has absolutely exploded in growth. We took full advantage of ‘too scared to look out the window’ folks and capitalized on that by providing the mobile grooming service. This month will be two years in business and have gone from 15 regular dogs to over 60 regulars–pushing the limits of time in a day and days in a week without working 7 days straight.

    That growth has spurred discussions about investing in a grooming van and hiring another groomer. That is a whole other headache as my wife has very strict standards (as she should with her name on the line) and has narrowed it down to three possible candidates when the time comes. The way the industry typically works is groomers get up to 50% of the cost of the groom. We were thinking of going the salon model and the groomer pays us to utilize our equipment and they keep the full cost of the groom. However, with twits in government trying to make everyone some wage slave, those options might be disappearing.

    Both our boys have worked for her, with one pretty steadily working to pay for his girlfriend addiction and save for a car. The other gets to go into summer job applications with some experience in his background that isn’t “helped neighbors weekly”.

    Other things we need to start looking into is business investments and that is all foreign land to me.

    • UnCivilServant

      I hope Mrs OBE Pet Grooming takes over the pet salon business.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I’m thinking that your son who is a groomer and has a girlfriend addition must have some awesome pics on his phone.

      Think of the sales pitch when a guy asks the son for pics of his work and he starts showing the interesting things he’s done to his g-friend’s pubes. “I call this the FiFi and would be perfect for your poodle”.

      • Swiss Servator

        *strongly narrows gaze*

      • Ownbestenemy

        Dude..she’s 16, stop staring

      • Sean

        *applause*

      • R C Dean

        your son who is a groomer

        *bites tongue*

    • R C Dean

      Mrs. Dean’s business (home personal training, wellness) has benefited from the same dynamic, to the point where she had to cap the number of clients and sessions she would do in a week. Downside: since some of her clients come to our garage gym, I have to keep the garage presentable.

    • DEG

      Congratulations!

  62. The Late P Brooks

    Wife’s business has absolutely exploded in growth

    Congrats and good luck.

  63. R C Dean

    Not reported:

    Texas announced it was lifting its lockdowns 3 or so weeks ago, and did so nearly two weeks ago (03/10). Cases have continued to decline ever since. The window for new cases attributable to the lifting of the lockdowns closes later this week (03/24).

    • Akira

      I think all declines will now be chalked up to the vaccine and Joe Biden by the corporate media. Not enough of the general public will question whether Biden actually had anything to do with the rollout or whether enough people in a given area got vaccinated to plausibly be the cause of the improvement.

      The narrative in the history books will be “The deadly virus continued to ravage the country while Donald Trump did nothing. Thankfully, Joe Biden was sworn in and immediately mobilized the vaccine supply, swiftly ending the pandemic and saving untold millions of lives.”

  64. Suthenboy

    All of you black -pilled MoFo’s…..your sudden realization of how awful things are is just in your head. It has always been this way and yet we always seem to bumblefuck our way through it. Relax and enjoy the good things in life. Family, good food, good music. Do something nice for your wife. Today I am making lobster bisque and navaho fry bread for dipping.
    Do that and the awful shit will be like water off of a duck’s back.

    • Agent Cooper

      I am listening to The Lincoln Conspiracy and around the time of Lincoln’s inauguration, there was a fervor about DC about an impending attack on the Capitol. Also, in 1856, congressman Preston Brooks nearly caned Senator Charles Sumner to death on the Senate floor.

      And of course, there was the Civil War. However, the circumstances for that conflagration were much different than those of today. Today, there are deep divides but no singular defining issue. Also, there’s no sharp geographical contrast. One may argue urban vs. rural, but political differences are so intermixed across the land it would be hard to read the fault lines accurately.

      Politics haz always been cray cray.

  65. pan fried wylie

    Is 7am too early for popcorn?

    Depends when you brush.