“We have to get you ready for the Presidential Address to Congress tonight,” Kamala said, her voice a buzzsaw.
“Not until we do something about the ghost,” Joe said, pulling at the hairs on his arm.
“There is no ghost!” Kamala said.
“Strawberry said there was a ghost,” Joe said. “She told me all about it. It was in the press room. The press room is haunted.”
“The press room is not haunted!” Kamala screeched.
“Stop yelling at him!” Finnegan snapped. “He’s afraid of ghosts!”
Joe hit the Diet Coke button and said, “Strawberry, find Strawberry, I need to talk to Strawberry.” The hole in the desk belched frost and closed.
Kamala opened the Oval Office door and said “Someone fetch Jen! She’s probably taking a shit in the press bathroom!”
“I’ll never go into the press room again,” Joe muttered.
“We should be preparing,” Kamala whined.
“He’s fine,” Finnegan said, smoothing lank hairs back on his head. “He’s perfect. He’s America’s great-Grandpa. Everyone loves great-Grandpa, unless he’s like a gropey old creep or something.”
Jen limped into the Oval Office and said, “Mr. President.”
Joe waved his arm around and said, “Who’s there? Step into the light.”
“It’s Jen, Mr. President.”
Joe’s brow furrowed.
“Strawberry, Mr. President.”
“Get over here and let me smell your hair. There are spies all over the place. We can’t trust anyone,” Joe said.
Jen crossed the room and bent down so Joe could smell her hair.
“You haven’t been smoking, have you? Joe asked accusingly.
“Just a couple the other day,” Jen said guiltily.
“They smell funny.”
“They were menthols.”
“Menthols?!?”
“I dated Black guys in college, sir.”
Joe looked around the room, grinned, and said, “Well, who didn’t?”
Kamala glared holes into the back of the old man’s head.
“Sir,” Jen said, “We have discovered that there are no ghosts. There was a robot camera in the press room that was making the groaning noise.”
“Robot camera?” Joe asked, alarmed.
“He’s afraid of robots, dammit!’ Finnegan said and hip-checked Jen to the floor.
“Ghosts! Robots! Women his age! Is there anything he’s not afraid of?” Kamala asked and then stomped out of the room.
Jen clawed her way up the side of the desk to stand.
“There are no ghosts, Grandpa,” Finnegan said, “And no robots in the press briefing room. There are just reporters–friendly, tame reporters.”
“I still don’t like them. Look what they did to Ted Kennedy! I drive off bridges all the time!”
Finnegan took a deep pull off her vape and blew fat clouds at the vaulted ceiling.
Joe, his eyes tearing, motioned for Jen to bend down to him again.
“I’m afraid of being poisoned,” Joe whispered to her. “Braid a lock of your hair into a ring for me to wear. It wards off witches.”
Jen patted his hand and felt some tiny bone break.
HUZZA! Joemala Wednesday!
WTF is this about a ghost robot camera?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/jen-psaki-abraham-lincoln-ghost-b1838574.html
Imagine the “think-pieces” musing about the dangerously superstitious states of mind that lead one to believe in ghosts and the potentially damaging effects that a Presidential Administration obviously founded on such primitive thinking could have if this had happened during a Trump administration press briefing.
A lot of talking heads video now uses remote-control cameras, particularly in a fixed studio situation like the press room. I’m guessing that it could be a servo-motor issue.
If it took everyone in the room as long as is implied in the article to look in the direction of the sound and associate it with the movement of the camera, it explains a lot.
Local news in studio is all done with remote control cameras from the control booth. Last time applied 6 years ago or so, only one station still had studio camera men. Part time. I got my degree at the very wrong time.
Ghost Robot and Ghost Lincoln, both Venture Bothers characters.
Also Ghost Pirates!
Zoinks.
The Ghost Robot is old man Biden.
He would have got away with it, too, if it weren’t for those darn kids.
They need to send Billy Quiz Boy and Albino in to fix things!
They should send Dr. Orpheus. He’d fix their soft pink insignificance.
There are just reporters–friendly, tame reporters.
Unvarnished truth.
Sycophants.
Does she make that fist for Joe?
She looks like she’s practicing for Jeopardy.
The hole in the desk belched frost and closed.
It’s the little touches that mean the most. No ret-conning here!
The hole in the desk belched frost and closed.
Ha! Pure gold!
yeah, it’s telling that htey haven’t refilled the dispenser iwth pudding cups.
The last sentence makes the story. Bravo!
Yep.
Well now that the funny stuff is over, I guess I gotta do some work.
“Jen patted his hand and felt some tiny bone break.”
Kind of startled me…SugarFree wins this round. Again.
This balances out that horror story from yesterday.
Oh, just you wait for tonight…
Yes, that was sublime.
On the Epix ‘Get Shorty’ show, starring Chris O’Dowd, his daughter dated a guy who called him self ‘Fat Vapes’. Is Finnegan dating ‘Fat Vapes’?
Finnegan is Fat Vapes, bro.
“Friendly, tame reporters… Ted Kennedy… bridges…”
That part is PHAKE NEWZ! Joe doesn’t drive! He bikes or takes AmTrak or the No Malarkey bus everywhere!
Does he not do a Mayor Pete, and jump out of his chauffered SUV a couple of blocks away from the office to finish the journey on his photo-op bicycle?
Would his handlers/SS let him loose on a bicycle? I’d like to see that.
If he managed to mount it without tripping over the training wheels I’d be impressed.
If he managed to mount it without
tripping over the training wheelsfracturing his pelvis I’d be impressed.Ol’ Fourscore knows…
FACT: There is nothing dorkier than Mayor Pete with a bicycle helmet,
Is that called a “Peter hat?”
She does resemble the original Strawberry Shortcake! https://www.brandchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Classic-Strawberry-Shortcake-664×1024.jpg
Uncanny.
So which is the hawtest redhead?
1. Strawberry Shortcake
B. Raggedy Ann or
III. Pippi Longstocking?
Trick question, any answer gets you on a list.
You can always just click “unsubscribe”.
Right?
Pippi is the bad-ass, so I’mma go with her.
Aren’t those all children?
They’ve all been around long enough to have reached the age of consent.
We need some of those “age progression” images like they use for the milk carton kids.
Like this?
Pretty sure clicking that put me on another list.
Pippi grew up.
And how!
That right there is Yusef bait.
Yes it is!
Wendy.
Wendy and Wanda (not red-haired though): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095159/mediaviewer/rm276337665/
Hot Donna.
D)
IV)
You
Awwww! You’re sweet! And VERY kind! 😉
Vica Kerekes.
@Mojeaux regarding your post on the morning links. I’ve been where you are. It’s horrible. It might be worth me starting a thread in the forums later with some thoughts I’ve had about being in that situation and encountering that disdain and contempt, knowing anything you say will be chalked up to conspiracy crazy, “where did you read that”, etc. Feel better, please. Treat yourself to something comforting and know that cool yet compassionate folks are out here who have been in that situation who sincerely empathise.
Thanks, Limey. What complicates the situation is that I owe that particular brother a great debt of honor, and I don’t want to ruin that relationship, even if that means I just bite my tongue. I try to find ways to debate in good faith, but I can’t at whatever particular moment. Even if I could come up with snark, I wouldn’t, for the additional reason that snark doesn’t persuade anyone.
If you really want to maintain a relationship with this person, assuming you feel up to it, you should be honest with him. Not necessarily then and there or a similar situation, but at least in a one-on-one setting. It’s a difficult line to walk since your goal is to communicate your feelings not convince or be convinced, but you will be at an emotional disadvantage if you feel you owe this person your company but they purposely or carelessly offend you. And if he can’t respect you after doing that, then lift that debt burden off your shoulders because he’s not worth it.
I was very smart in my choice of parents. They’re true-believing nightly Maddow watchers, but I’ve been able to get through to them shamelessly using guilt against them.
*some raint about anti-maskers*
“Mom, masks don’t work.”
“You just heard that from Fox News.”
“No mom, I make microchips. You know I’ve been dealing with airborne particle transmission and filtration for seventeen years now. Why do believe someone on TV more than me mom?”
“But you’re not a virologist”
“Neither is Rachel Madow, mom. She just reads things other people write.”
“But the people that give her the information are experts.”
“How do you know that mom? You know that I’m an expert. The legal department gets my opinion before they make a decision. I know what I know becasue I take the measurements, do the analysis and interpret the data. It just makes me sad that you’ll believe someone on TV more than you’ll trust me.”
Guiltjitsu!
Stealing.
Freely given.
Dude, you’re messing with Mom’s religion.
Reminds me of my convo with my SIL, who is deep in the Standard Narrative, including COVID. I was expressing my skepticism about, well, the whole COVID Narrative . After, Mrs. Dean had an interesting 3rd person view of it that she shared.
Basically, she said that SIL was obviously just dying to really get into it, and I kept shrugging it off. SIL works in Big Media, and believes she is surrounded by sharp, critical thinkers who are skeptical about everything they hear. I eventually wandered off for more of Pater Dean’s Scotch. She was just waiting for me to disassemble my SIL, and it never happened.
I told her there were a couple of reasons. First, it was Thanksgiving, and I wasn’t going to go anywhere that would involve someone raising their voice. Second, there was no way I was going to change her mind, so what was the point? You can’t reason somebody out of a belief, etc. No upside, all downside.
I’ll say this – we did touch on D & I training, which she and her staff have to sit through on the regular. I expressed concerns about it, and she just laughed it off. Deep inside a proggy media organization, everybody just sees it as the latest management fad. Nobody buys in, they’re just waiting for it to blow over. Kinda lowered my temperature on it.
Deep inside a proggy media organization, everybody just sees it as the latest management fad.
The fact that only 146 people (or fewer) out of ~9,000 people in my company took advantage of the D&I matching-gift program similarly buoyed my spirts. There’s a lot of noise, but not a lot of traction.
It’ll be like sexual harassment training. It’ll creep its way onto everything so that no one can even tell you that you look nice today (unless you like them). It’s the mission creep that’s scary. People may not buy in, but it will still ruin your life.
This. Already had one chick try to ruin mine “as a joke” on this I&D stuff.
I’d like to back this up. I work with people like your brothers. It’s infuriating at times but misery loves company and I don’t want their bad attitudes to affect my mental health. Laugh at their bullshit with your real friends and stay focused on the stuff that matters to you. They probably didn’t mean any offense to your or your mom personally but even if they did you don’t have to take the offense.
None of them *mean* offense to you, because they simply can’t imagine that anyone within reach of their social circle could be so wrong-thinking. If they knew, they’d have to submit themselves for cleansing because they got too close to the bad, scary ideas.
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN COMMENTING ONE. SUBMIT FOR CLEANSING YOU SAY?! ZARDOZ IS PLEASED.
ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
They did not mean offense. As others have said, they simply can’t imagine anyone would disagree with them.
I needed to get all that off my chest so I could stop taking offense because no, none was meant.
We got to the point where my MIL realized and was concerned by how much I was avoiding her recently.
Why was I avoiding her? Because every third word out of her mouth was Covid related and generally condescending toward anybody who didn’t buy the TMITE proffered line. After she sat us down and had a “heart-to-heart” lecture about how we were doing too many activities with our kids during “a pandemic that is going to be the worst yet through March”, I was done. Add in the fact that the first thing she does when she comes over is turn on and crank up the nightly propaganda feed from TMITE, and I was seething under my calm facade.
Here’s the thing, though. I would confront her if I thought it would be remotely productive, but it won’t. I don’t get to draw the boundaries with MIL, that’s up to my wife (and she has been doing a good job of adjusting those boundaries as MIL has gone off the deep end). I can’t convince her that she’s wrong because she didn’t reason her way to her opinion, she generally doesn’t reason to decisions in the first place, and she has “a friend who studied epidemiology” who parrots the TMITE line to the letter. If I went off on her, she would be confused because she doesn’t even know how offensive and inappropriate she’s being.
The only thing left to do is disengage. Disengage from her generally to reduce the opportunity for her to piss me off. Disengage from conversation with her that drift towards these topics. Disengage the TV from being able to play TMITE when she’s over. Just like at work, she gets a carefully curated slice of me, and the real me gets put in a closet while she’s over.
That is the consequence of being a zealot. People disengage from you and put on a facade around you because they’re sick of your shit and don’t want to get you going, yet again.
Exactly!
The link Toxteth gave below was of some help. Basically, “you can’t do anything except wait them out”.
Ironically, wife walked in and asked “is it okay to have Mom over for dinner since kiddo doesn’t have soccer tonight?” seconds after I hit post on that comment.
Of course it’s okay, I have disc golf league tonight and won’t be here ?
Americans have been waiting them out for decades. We are all enjoying the benefits of this approach. Most people don’t even have an opportunity to hear an intelligent voice that disagrees with the received narrative.
???
My filters are switched off.
If I’m not willing to lose friends and alienate people over my principles, then I don’t have principles.
The way you put it really resonates with the way I view the American church. All of the deep thinkers have been relegated to the back room for so long that entire generations have never been exposed to deep thought surrounding Christianity.
There’s a good chance that the same thing is happening here with Liberty. “Only idiots and naive teenagers think that a modern country could function under the Constitution”
Dis right here. I fully understand the desire to keep things civil and calm especially in the arena of the family. And I won’t judge where anyone draws their line as only they know the limits and puts/takes in their relationships.
But without people willing to say “No, that’s wrong, I will not lie to myself or you about this”, no-one ever hears a contrary POV, the narrative is never challenged and we continue down the slippery slope. I don’t know the answer or whether it’s productive or not – and I don’t have the challenges on the family front that a lot of people have – but ‘waiting them out’ doesn’t seem right. Cue C.S. Lewis and the tyrant quote.
Word. Though I’m fortunate to work in a company whose executives are brave and aggressively stave off the woke culture. It’s clear that the yearbook committee that is our (and probably most all corporations’) HR department is desperate to force feed us all some good ol’ D&I training, but they face an E team that openly jokes about defunding the HR department.
I can’t say that I wouldn’t just keep my head down in a woke company, but that’s not my nature.
but they face an E team that openly jokes about defunding the HR department.
Y’all need a patent attorney? ?
Or a database developer?
I guess what it comes down to is, I am not that intelligent.
But I would have to be unfailingly calm, polite, and Socratic. I’m usually amiable enough but I don’t know if I can consistently manage all that.
I’m guessing you’re joking, but we’ve a small army of WFH developers, so if you’re not, message me* and I’ll link you to our careers page.
*Idk how that works on this site, but hopefully I’ll get a notification… ?
I think I’m joking.
Not totally apt, as it regards EST, but JP on relatives with cult thinking: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1OCxGlJ5mzE (TLDR: they likely crave belonging and the thrill of infatuation; accept them as they are or they’ll dig in further; it might be temporary, or permanent.)
Thanks. I’ll take a listen later.
1.5x speed worked fine for me (as usual with most spoken word).
I saw the post after the thread died.
Sorry Mojeaux.
I have relatives I’ve cut off. I have been seriously considering cutting off other relatives over the current Covid Instanity.
Thanks. I’m not going to cut them off. We don’t talk enough as it is (one brother lives in Seattle and the other in Orlando and I’m in the middle) and we usually stay on the subject of the church, in which we are somewhat simpatico and can discuss in good faith.
Having something you can talk about in good faith is a good thing. I think that would help the situation.
SF, now that I’ve heard from SP what you’re like IRL, I hope someday we have the opportunity to meet in person.
I’ll take you for a ride in my Subaru.
IT’S A TRAP!
Heard this earworm on the radio yesterday: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lQS0t5Hdc6M
Lies, all lies. [hisses, scurries away]
Following comments by… OMWC, mebbe? – I keep picturing SF like this
Nah, more like:
Psaki’s head seems turned at least ninety degrees. I wonder how far it goes. Does she display any other lizard person tells?
Perhaps her eyes are so large that she has to turn her head to move them, like an owl.
Psaki’s head seems turned at least ninety degrees. I wonder how far it goes.
Let’s just say she’s hard to sneak up on.
Oddly enough, Biden chose a woman who has evolved a natural defense mechanism against from-behind hair and neck sniffing for an important role in his administration.
It just makes me sad that you’ll believe someone on TV more than you’ll trust me.
*rises from chair, applauds enthusiastically*
War nerves?
Just as a note, our resident teen libertarian intern, Woodchipped Wednesday, has just won a National podcast competition for middle schoolers. Over 3000 entries, and his (and a classmate’s) won first prize!!
Wow! Congrats to him!
Huzzah!
*blares airhorn*
Woot! ???
Hey, that’s great! What was the winning criteria? From my experience with podcasts, I’d give top prizes for not stretching 15 minutes of interesting commentary out to 1.5-2 hours.
https://www.wuky.org/2021-student-podcast-challenge#stream/0
Better link
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/15/650500116/npr-student-podcast-challenge-home
In short, everything from writing to recording to editing.
They did it all. They wrote the script, set up and recorded it all, edited it completely, added in sound effects, etc.
It had to be around 8 minutes in length.
Their podcast was interviewing service staff at the school to get an idea how the stuff most kids (especially in a ritzy private school) don’t see happens. How the school couldn’t operate without maintenance staff..
Dirty jobs!
Not a bad parallel.
MR would be proud. Send him a link.
Wow, that’s great. Good job Woodchipped.
Congratulations!
That is great! I assume he used his platform to shine a light on the gay frogs and lizard people?
Why, of course!
Or not. I don’t know. ?♂️
I’ll assume he is thieving from The Hat and The Hair: Animated, and file suit accordingly!
I’m not convinced that the judges at NPR would be all that amused with H&TH.
Reading their feedback be worth it.
Totally.
It makes fun of Drumpf! They’d be too dense to understand the nuance. That is why I’m convinced he stole from me!
Excellent! Great news!
Excellent!
I had made it with my friend in 7th grade, the npr people are being flown out to here on Monday to interview us, there was a middle(my entry), high school, and college. They’ll be formally recognizing us next week sometime on the site.
Austerity kills
It’s an unfortunate situation for builders, buyers of newly constructed homes, or anyone else who uses lumber. But it’s also an unavoidable long-term consequence of some horrific policy mistakes that were made after the Great Recession. The only way to deal with this problem sensibly is to keep running the economy hot so that new supply can come online to catch up with demand.
Let’s review some history. During the 2008 financial crisis, the lumber industry was among the worst-hit. The disaster was centered in the housing market, and the immediate effect was a collapse in home construction and residential investment (the primary consumers of wood, along with paper producers). Many lumber companies went belly-up, and those that remained were forced to slash their costs to the bone.
But what happened next was worse. President Obama’s Recovery Act was probably less than half the size of what would have been needed to fix the economy, and by early 2010 he pivoted to austerity to cut the budget deficit. That meant very high unemployment in November 2010, a sweeping Republican victory in the midterms that month, and the end of any prospect of further stimulus until 2016 when Donald Trump took office. Even with a quasi-stimulus in the form of tax cuts for the rich in 2017, the economy remained weak all the way up until the pandemic struck.
The result of these choices was a prolonged depression in housing construction. After 2008, residential investment as a share of the economy plunged to the lowest level recorded since 1947, and recovered with grinding slowness — only returning to the level of the previous record low in mid-2014. So not only did the lumber industry take a massive hit, it did not experience any kind of rebound in demand for over a decade.
We never should have looked at the asset values underlying the boom. That was our mistake. If you’re headed for the ditch? FLOOR IT.
When doubt, throttle out!
Dead stick landings are the best.
AusterityNot stimulating demand to excessive amounts above natural values kills… Obama’s Recovery Act was probably less than half the size …
Now with twice the graft as the name brand!
+1 drunken sailor
Listening, Joe?
I do alot of asset analysis/financial analysis in the lumber industry. From lumber mills, lumber fabrication, retail lumber, to wood flooring and other wood products.
I have no idea what this article was getting at. Maybe the writer should have actually talked to someone at a lumber mill?
Possibly too stupid to understand and/or too fragile to listen.
Krugabe circa 2002 approves mightily.
These morons never learn.
GTFOH.
The economy was weak throughout Trump’s presidency?
Bull. Fucking. Shit.
It was the best economy we’ve had in my lifetime, and perhaps one of the strongest economies ever.
What a fucking hack.
I’ve stated on several occasions that I ran the numbers for the first year of the Trump rates for both the new and old brackets, and saved a good $400.
Or, to put it another way, I earned about $3K more in 2018 than in 2017 and paid almost the same in actual dollars, not a percentage, in both years.
The idea that the 2017 tax reform only helped the rich is bullshit.
That’s not even a stolen base. That’s an entire MLB stadium.
“Great Recession”
Now I can ignore the rest of the article.
Alas, the lumber problem will likely take some time to get sorted out. The last quarter of 2020 saw residential investment reach a recent peak of 4.6 percent of GDP, but that barely qualifies as average in the postwar period. It also takes a long time to build new sawmills and warehouses, and decades for trees to grow to maturity.
What policymakers could do is implement regulations and trade rules that ensure that fresh lumber capacity comes in the form of sustainable harvesting, not clear-cutting old growth forests. In Finland, for instance, wood products are a large fraction of its exports, and forests are tightly regulated to ensure that the wood supply remains steady over time. Aside from the environmental damage, it’s simply bad business to chew through whole forests for a one-off profit — this is how timber companies around Chicago drove themselves into bankruptcy in the 19th century.
Yes, yes. of course. Artificially inflating prices and constricting supply is exactly what we should do.
This is so stupid. There is more forest in the U.S. today than in the 19th century. (Note Europe too). So, what counts as old growth? One thing the Brits wanted to exploit in North America was tall trees for masts. Look up the pine tree wars. All over Europe the tall, straight trees were gone, so what is old growth. Also, does that idiot really think lumber companies aren’t aware that if they cut a whole area, they won’t have lumber in the future? I suspect they don’t understand tragedy of the commons either and the role that played in deforestation. Just…..(*screams in frustration*)
Don’t you see? The commons just needs to be regulated better!
Just, the whole companies went bankrupt because they cut all the trees is just such a stupid statement, I….don’t even know where to start. This person probably thinks that because medieval peasants didn’t have iPhones, they were dumb.
ok Libertarians, Given that there should be fewer commons that doesn’t mean you can get rid of all public space. How should the commons be regulated? Maybe the Anarcho-capitalists have come up with some ideas already.
What “public space” outside of government buildings (of which there should be few) can’t be removed?
Why?
If you can define “the public,” I’ll think about it.
“ Aside from the environmental damage, it’s simply bad business to chew through whole forests for a one-off profit”
This is not how the modern lumber industry in the USA operates. This writer should have gone to a lumber mill and talked with the owner and operations manager.
Or our very own suthenboy – ISTR that he is a supplier for the industry, albeit at a smaller scale than some. Also, lots of landowners in southern Alabama sell timber to mills on a regular basis – any of them would be able to describe current management practices quite well. Assuming that anyone that writes for The Week would step foot in LA or AL.
Or at least the Pacific Northwest. You can go from Seattle/Portland to timber country and back in less than a day and be back in the safe proggie paradise of your choosing.
They don’t understand most things in their article. Like what actual inventory levels are at various stages of production and distribution. Or the stumpage prices (spoiler: they haven’t risen like retail price, or really futures prices, which is what is getting quoted).
Highly recommend Uneducated Economist for a boots on the ground view
Much like the regular in the 2A, his understanding of forest regions lacking. Of course there are government regulations, but forest regulation refers to exactly what he claims the US doesn’t do. A forest owner regulates the harvest of timber such that there is a continuous supply. To do otherwise is obviously stupid.
our resident teen libertarian intern, Woodchipped Wednesday, has just won a National podcast competition for middle schoolers.
“Take this mask and shove it”?
One can wish.
I had a doctors visit today – he verified that I ruptured the long head tendon on my right bicep. No discomfort and no surgery needed. However I now have an impressive looking “popeye” bicep. My wife thinks it’s gross looking. One thing I noticed is the questions they ask have changed – I still got asked the usual Covid related questions but now they are asking Have you been vaccinated? This is new. Wonder what they are doing with the info? I’m probably on a list now.
They’re pushing it thru all the doctors. Just filled out a pre-check-in for my urologist that included multiple vaccine questions including whether or not I planned to and what would incentivize me to get one.
My incentive would be to prove to me that having the illness doesn’t grant immunity like every other virus. If not if would make the vaccine itself an issue as if the disease can’t grant immunity why would the vaccine.
Those who recovered from SARS COVID-1 still have decent immunity 17 years later based on antigen tests.
COVID should be no different.
Went to the doc yesterday for a leg injury and got asked if I’d had the COVID and/or flu vaccines.
Is your vaccine status “confidential” ? Anyone know?
It should be covered under HIPAA, but I’m not that optimistic. I’m sure sooner or later the insurance companies will find out.
Once again:
HIPAA restricts what health care providers and health insurance companies can do with your medical information. It does not restrict them from asking you for medical information. Once they have it, they can only disclose it for certain allowed purposes.
It does not restrict your employer from asking you for medical information.
It does not restrict you from disclosing your own medical information to anyone.
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060923232929/muppet/images/thumb/b/ba/Mrlizard.jpg/300px-Mrlizard.jpg
That is: Thanks, Mr. Lizard!
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060923232929/muppet/images/thumb/b/ba/Mrlizard.jpg/300px-Mrlizard.jpg
Went to the doc yesterday for a leg injury
Sorry. Get well soon.
Thanks. I was being a klutz.
Does your battleship tattoo fire its guns when you eat spinach?
I hate spinach but will eat it if it’s in something that tastes good, like artichoke dip.
Sorry about the ruptured tendon. I hope it heals up soon!
I tore it while bowling….. The worst part, I was eight frames in with 7 strikes and locked in. I felt a 279 was possible. Right at the bottom of my swing at the release point I felt a *pop*. I had to finish bowling left handed and shot 228.
So the FBI raided Giulianis apartment as part of an investigation into his Ukraine business dealings. Interesting how selective the FBI is when it comes to Ukraine business deals.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/feds-search-giuliani-apartment-ukraine-investigation?cmpid=prn_newsstand
Don’t fuck with the FBI’s gravy train. The ghost of Hoover will haunt you.
The various federal LE agencies need to be eliminated. They’ve been politicized beyond all redemption.
Were they ever not?
The fallacy of the Church Committee was the belief that a bunch of fancy rules would prevent people from abusing their power. Or if you’re more cynical, the purpose of the reforms enacted was ultimately to shift control from conservatives (in either party) to progressives (again in either party, though of course most are Democrats nowadays).
Probably not but the degree of politicization seems to be worse now. They used to feel the need to maintain a facade of neutrality at least.
I think they still do, it’s just that they’re so far to the left of us on the Overton window that their sense of neutrality looks like blatant partisanship (and I’m not taking their side here).
I think Church believed that it could be reformed. I also believe that if he could come back and see it, he would agree that the reform was a failure and to nuke the fucker from space.
I would not be super surprised if Rudy was on the take. While he is a pretty straight arrow, for an NYC politician, he is still an NYC politician.
“On the take”? He is in no government position or such. How would he be “on the take”? Stupid and venal, sure. But some sort of official misconduct or being bribed?
I will take that down to generalized scumminess, rather than out and out corruption.
No one is pursuing Hunter Biden, only the people who exposed Hunter Biden for the slimy piece of shit he is.
The enforcement arm of the DNC.
“ They Really Are Going After Meat”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/they-really-are-going-after-meat
Beef in particular. Keep your grubby hands off my Monthly Big Mac.
I’m diabetic. I’m on a near paleo diet out of health concerns. I’m going to take this personally as if they are trying to kill me.
This is one of those things where they will say “We’re not trying to take your steaks away, but we really should take your steaks away”.
Then “Hell yes, we want to take away your steaks”, followed by cheers and applause.
Cold. Dead. Hands.
At this point, there are no words to adequately express the depths of my hatred for these people.
OFFS.
I need that plugin that blocks certain websites from any search results.
The list gets longer every day.
I have no idea what this article was getting at. Maybe the writer should have actually talked to someone at a lumber mill?
What would they know about anything?
It isn’t likely there is someone there with a PhD now is there?
https://babylonbee.com/news/cuomo-regretting-killing-all-those-elderly-after-losing-house-seat
Okay, I disagree with the theory that one of us is writing for the Bee, because none of us are this smart or funny.
‘We Must Stop Eating Beef To Fight Climate Change,’ Says Scientist Who Looks Suspiciously Like Chick-Fil-A Cow In A Lab Coat
They’re too good. I don’t know if anyone has ever done satire as well as they have for the last few years.
The roll they’re on right now is amazing.
So much material…so much fucking stupidity… spiced with the perfect blend of smarmy arrogance that you can only get by mixing morons and ideology.
Of course, you need to have a completely ineffectual public education system that breeds compliance and dumbs people down as a base layer to get where we are, but I can’t blame the Bee for harvesting from that sea of putrescence.
Went to the doc yesterday for a leg injury
Muscle pull from pushing the throttle pedal so hard?
LOL No, but my shoulders were sore from fighting that nasty cross-wind all day.
RE: Census district apportionment.
The level of cope on Twatter right now is amazing. The blue checks are twisting themselves in knots trying not to admit that people don’t like living in progressive hellscapes and move.
You’d think at some point some of them would realize that we should increase the number of representatives in the House but the blue-check brigade seem to be utterly incapable of original thought.
Yes the NPC meme is very apt for that crowd.
I feel like I must be missing out.
Nope, it wasn’t that, just some gas.
I Twitter vicariously via the YouTubers and the like that I follow. Occasionally I lurk but I will not wade into that pit of human excrement.
With all the other radical changes the left has proposed, i’m surprised that modifying the apportionment method and the amount of seats to benefit the Democratic party hasn’t been floated out.
I bet they will now. Anything that stymies their quest for power is bad and must be torn down.
I just looked at UHaul, for May 1st. A 20ft truck from Los Angeles to San Antonio is $3899, and from San Antonio to Los Angeles is $635.
Heh.
Markets don’t lie. Although I never thought about using that as an indicator to gauge the volume of people moving.
The uhaul index has been used to gague the movement of people for years now.
Well la-tee-dah, Mr. I-knew-something-that-Frank-didn’t-know 😉
Given that first price, I’m a little surprised the second price isn’t closer to zero.
They dont want people using them as rental cars, which is apparently happening in Hawaii.
I wish I had thought of that on my last trip there! I could’ve saved money on a hotel too!! The wife probably wouldn’t be happy with the accommodations though.
How much if you do it round trip? That might be worth the gas and plane ticket.
Feel free to look it up
I thought you were actually moving…
Nope, just curious as to the premium to leave various blue states. NJ TO FL is not quite as high, CA to UT is about the same.
*decides to open reddit and see what’s going on in the land of the idjits*
It might as well be Democratic Underground over there, except with more porn.
There are a few subreddits i follow that are generally apolitical, others i flee.
I like aww, greyhounds, and cake decorating, and fermenting, and canning. I stay far, far away from anything political and I do not have an account.
There’s stuff on Reddit that isn’t porn?
Is that where all the Tumblr porn fled to?
Could be…there’s LOTS of subreddits that specialize in (sometimes very particular niche) porn. Heck, you could probably verify rule 34 just by subreddit titles.
DEG’s sleuthing of Q’s links had me stumble onto /r/fitgirls.
I immediately deleted my history and never again allowed it to sully my browser, of course. Probably.
A friend of mine wanted me to ask if theres a hot girls with armpit hair subreddit. He’s a real perv, that guy.
It’s not Suggestion 34.
IM NOT YOUR FRIEND, BUDDY
Try scrollr dot com (NSFW, for god’s sake, NSFW).
it’s an aggregator for subreddits with pictures and has a NSFW area. You can likely find your poison there.
Friend says thanks, he’ll take a look later.
correction, scrolller dot com.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HairyArmpits/
NSFW
There’s a Rule 34 subreddit even
Sometimes they are linked!
Reddit has lots of decent conversation over nerdy computer questions, FWIW.
Yes, there is stuff on reddit that isn’t porn.
And that’s coming from someone that probably spends too much time on the porn subreddits.
Well, he does have experience in acquiring cushy jobs for which he has no experience.
Hunter Biden is set to appear as a guest speaker at Tulane University as part of a 10-week course that is being offered to students in the fall.
The course, called “Media Polarization and Public Policy Impacts,” is described as focusing on “the current state of the media landscape in the United States and how media polarization, fake news and the economics of the new business impact public policymaking in Washington D.C.”
A spokesperson for Tulane University confirmed the inclusion of President Biden’s son to Fox News.
Is the course on getting no-show jobs, negotiating with hookers, and judging the quality of crack? Because that is all he seems to be qualified to instruct.
TBF, those are all relevant skills in New Orleans.
That is something I did not consider. It is good for these kids to have a fallback plan.
He is Arrested Development’s Gob brought to life.
LOL yes
Very good analogy, but in this case reality is more absurd than fiction.
They Really Are Going After Meat
Like I suggested yesterday, if they aren’t actively trying to touch off a civil war, it’s hard to think of what they would do differently if they were.
Meat, menthols, guns, internal combustion engines, probably god knows how many things I’m leaving out-it’s like they’re trying to piss off everyone who isn’t a Starbucks barista.
They Really Are Going After Meat
These euphemisms are getting a little on the nose don’t you think.
No, not on the face.
It was seen, the thing you did there.
What part of them having a mandate don’t you understand? Obviously almost everyone agrees with them. Pay no attention to that election fortifying and court packing.
Their cause is righteous, which justifies any means to that end.
Maybe I’m just a loser in flyover country. But the line for prime beef at Sam’s last weekend tells me this isn’t popular even with most progressives. The Sam’s I was at is in prime Biden voter territory.
I imagine all my younger brewing friends that keep posting photos of the smoker and its output. Yeah, those working class, blue collar folks are really gonna give up their smoked brisket to save the planet a hundred years from now.
I just looked at UHaul, for May 1st. A 20ft truck from Los Angeles to San Antonio is $3899, and from San Antonio to Los Angeles is $635.
There are an awful lot of trucks accumulating in Bozeman. I sometimes wonder if they pay people to return them to the west coast.
Montana is picking up a seat in the House. Growing like crazy huh?
After renting several trucks in my lifetime, I will always choose Penske, no matter the markup. Reliability and Customer Service matter, even if it’s only a cross town move.
also, if I ever move again, it’s mover’s all the way. I’m too old for that shit.
also, if I ever move again, it’s mover’s all the way. I’m too old for that shit.
So very, very much this.
We’re using full-service movers in our ongoing move, to carry the rest of our crap from Colorado to Alaska, and the price was pretty steep – and that’s after we hauled maybe a fourth of our crap up here in our trailer.
But, like you, I’m too old for that shit. I’ll pay the piper.
My grampa did something similar as his retirement gig, only he did rentals and just drove them to and from locations in the greater Toledo metro.
“I dated Black guys in college, sir.”
Joe looked around the room, grinned, and said, “Well, who didn’t?”
Kamala glared holes into the back of the old man’s head.
I loved this bit.
RIGHT WING BACKLASH Twenty generals call for coup against Macron warning of ‘civil war’ and ‘disintegration of France at hands of Islamists’
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14775366/france-generals-macron-ousted-coup-islamists/
A new this time right-wing French Revolution?
This might actually be good for America as well. If the French military takes over and the leftists revolt, all they will be able to do is riot not actually fight back because they don’t have guns. Maybe just maybe American leftists will see this and think what if there was a right wing coup here, how would we fight back without guns?
But that requires logical thinking so probably not.
No, the leftists would see it as a need to takeover and crush the right entirely.
We all knew a reactionary wave was coming. I guess it makes sense that France would be leading the way on it.
Yeah, they’re always revolting.
“Revolting? They’re absolutely disgusting!”
“You said it, they stink on ice.”
If the past is an indicator they will likely end up wildly overshooting their mark and going into the ‘Cult of Reason’ territory.
It is about time for France to get a new Republic isn’t it?
I volunteer to take Benjamin Franklin’s role this time, Ambassador and Panty Dropper in Chief.
It’s not often appreciated that Franklin was America’s first legitimate international celebrity.
Hm. There’s a Profile in Toxic Masculinity there, I think.
Ben Franklin had a skullett haircut, wore glasses, had a pot belly, wore stockings, and played with kites.
Do you not?
And got more ass than a toilet seat while he was in France.
Macron’s government has actually swung right of late. They were even accusing Le Pen of being soft on Islamic radicalism, which is pretty funny all things considered.
The lead signatory was Christian Piquemal, 80, former commander of the Foreign Legion who lost his privileges as a retired officer after he was arrested for taking part in an anti-Islam demonstration in 2016.
Gee, who might have thought arresting and delegitimizing a popular officer might possibly cause people with similar views to be alienated from the powers that be? It’s almost like they’re trying to invite a civil war.
There’s a lot of that going around.
Are they going to hire Charles Calthrop to get rid of Macron?
“I’m afraid of being poisoned,” Joe whispered to her. “Braid a lock of your hair into a ring for me to wear. It wards off witches.”
He should be! Thanks SF!
OT: Worst Amazon Suggestion evah!
I searched for potassium chloride supplements per doctor’s orders. Can’t find it in CVS brick and mortar so I went to Amazon.
Under the listing there was a suggestion for Upgrade Telescoping Camping stool
Hilariously bad graphic, and not what they meant, I’m pretty sure.
Here’s the link (if I don’t SF it)