Thursday Morning Links

by | Apr 15, 2021 | Daily Links | 454 comments

Good morning My Glibs and Gliberinas!  And what an amazing super awesome fantastic day it always is!

 

Democrats eager to cause a national divorce.

 

Biden expected to announce sanctions on Russia.

 

I’ll believe it when I see it.

 

Veritas used a honey pot.

 

Sexy.

 

Major Democrat fundraiser says he was U.S. intel asset, alleges spy agency ‘abuses’.

 

Man who ran the second largest Ponzi scheme dies is prison, people currently running the largest still not held unaccountable.

 

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.

454 Comments

  1. Shpip

    As much as $1 trillion a year in federal taxes may be going unpaid because of errors, fraud and lack of resources to enforce collections adequately, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig, told lawmakers Tuesday.

    And even if they collected every red cent of that, the amount still wouldn’t cover the FedGov’s prodigal spending.

    • AlexinCT

      How much of that money is from people now members of the Biden cabinet that under/miss report their taxes while taking about fucking the rest of us all over with higher taxes they won’t pay?

    • SDF-7

      Government agency complains its budget is too small. Film at 11.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      We spend so much that I wonder why we bother to collect taxes at all at the federal level. If it’s all funny money anyway then why bother?

      • Mad Scientist

        Taxes are not about raising revenue. They are punishment for creating wealth.

      • Rat on a train

        Like the rest of government, it is for rewarding friends and punishing enemies.

      • AlexinCT

        Taxes are about providing the old guard with a gating mechanism to control the NEW wealth producers that could come up with the latest massive wealth generation concept and to make sure nobody they disapprove of gets to make a ton of money and thus threaten their hold on power & wealth.

  2. AlexinCT

    I’ll believe it when I see it.

    I bet they will start banning anyone that points out this didn’t really happen (because I am sure it will not) on social media because it makes them look like the crooked idiots they are, and they will do it to fight “fake news”…

    Like all shit they ban, we will later find out that it was not only true, but far worse than even the worse shit we had people point out.

    The country is being run by a cabal of America hating globalist morons that’s only real agenda is to steal shit while hiding their incompetence and evil from the serfs they look down on.

    • Tejicano

      Don’t forget the part about standing on a balcony singing “It’s raining it’s pouring” at the top of their lungs while peeing all over everybody.

  3. The Late P Brooks

    “Packing the Supreme Court would destroy centuries of hard work from Democrat- and Republican-appointed justices to insulate the high court from partisan politics,” Davis warned. “It also raises serious red flags as to what unconstitutional actions President Biden is planning that a more favorable Supreme Court might tolerate.”

    Unity and healing.

    Good and hard.

    • Rat on a train

      Stop playing games and just pass an enabling act. You know you want to.

    • creech

      I wonder how many Dems would back a Court expansion bill if it contained a provision that it wouldn’t be until after the Jan. 2025 inauguration that a president could nominate the new justices?

    • juris imprudent

      I’m thrilled. They want to get crushed in the ’22 mid-terms – who am I to talk them out of that?

      • Mad Scientist

        Crushed by a bunch of yahoos on the right who will in no way be an improvement.

      • juris imprudent

        That’s the sad truth.

      • The Last American Hero

        and who will in no way roll back any of the shit that gets rammed thru now.

      • Mad Scientist

        I’m thinking there’s a pithy, reverse iron law for politicians. Instead of “you today, me tomorrow” it’s along the lines of “the power my enemy accumulates today will be mine tomorrow.”

  4. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    I’m up for a national divorce, but I’m not sure if Biden gets us into a war with Russia that it will matter much. What are these fuckwits doing?

    Anyone follow The Ethical Skeptic? I’ve been down the rabbit hole of this guy’s sites and it’s really interesting. He makes a pretty compelling case that the ‘vid was raging at least a year earlier than the Cathedral claimed.

    China is asshoe.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      It does seem like Russia is prepping to invade Ukraine and China is doing the same for Taiwan. Could be saber rattling but feels a bit different.

      • Tundra

        I’m just really happy that we are fucking around with nuclear superpowers. No need to worry, I’m sure.

      • Tejicano

        Don’t worry. I’m sure the pre-Harris administration has been thinking about assigning some underling the task of drafting the points for a sternly worded letter if things get out of hand.

      • Swiss Servator

        Every Pole we (IL ARNG) worked with said that “The Russians will be back”. They have been building up their military.

        Ironic that the Germans are sheltering behind the Poles…

      • Chipwooder

        Well, given their history, I can’t blame the Poles for being paranoid. Such a tragic national story.

      • Rat on a train

        They are probably betting that Biden’s red lines are as meaningful as Obama’s.

      • Agent Cooper

        Take one look at Biden and what would you do? You’d go for it.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      With the way we’re agitating in Ukraine I don’t blame Russia one bit if that’s where they stop. I have no problem with it if that’s what happens.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        A takeover of Ukraine I mean, leave Poland and the Baltics alone…

      • Drake

        I thought that the Biden’s already looted the Ukraine for all it’s worth? I don’t understand what they think they’ll gain.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Russia is keeping their port on the Black Sea. Period.

      Any attempt to fuck with that will get us in a hot war.

      • Swiss Servator

        They sure tore off a hell of a lot more of their neighbor than a port…

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Well, the Ukraine did give up their nuclear deterrent….

        I’m not arguing right or wrong here, just that the geopolitical value of the Ukraine to Russia is massive. It means far more to them than it does to us and it would be a mistake to underestimate Russia’s commitment to the task.

    • Akira

      He makes a pretty compelling case that the ‘vid was raging at least a year earlier than the Cathedral claimed.

      Just an anecdote here, but… Since I started working out and eating healthier, I almost never get sick. In late October 2019, I got wicked sick with a horrible cough and chest congestion. The doctors just kept giving me cough suppressants and steroids, but it didn’t seem to touch it. I was very ill for about 6 weeks, then it started winding down and I was pretty much better by New Years.

      I tested negative for antibodies, but those go away after a few months. What I’d really like is a test of my T-cells to see if I’ve been exposed before.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Same. Back in January, we had something rage thru the office that was a weird flu with a lot of respitory issues. Everyone got it but the severity was wildly all over the place.

        I was really sick for a week, but still had symptoms for another month.

        Doc said “probably influenza A”. But nobody tested positive for it.

      • Rat on a train

        We had the same January-February lingering respiratory illness running through the office. We had all recovered by the time the sent us to WFH.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        I didn’t go, but I know that loads of people caught NAMMthrax after the NAMM convention in Jan 2020 (in CA). There was no Rona at that point (at least not that is/was officially recognized in the US).

        I’d bet real money that it was the Rona they all caught.

    • Endless Mike

      Holy shit this is interesting

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I listened to that. It’s Russia’s no shit red line. Imagine if the Russians were setting up a similar situation in Mexico. We’d rightly have a collective heart attack.

    • The Wanderer

      Hi, sarcasmic. Checking out glibertarians, at your invitation.

  5. Tonio

    Re: The Honeypot. I’m glad to see the right (finally) going on the offensive. I just hope it’s not too late.

    • Sean

      Narrator: It’s too late.

      • Festus

        The general public never see these stories.

    • juris imprudent

      I personally hate to see the right emulate the left. Being a better fraud is no improvement.

      • AlexinCT

        The alternative now, after decades of the right fighting with Marquis of Queensbury rules while the left was gang shanking them prison yard style – clearly – show they will never win that fight. I would rather not lose nobly in this case, but that’s me. If we are gonna get fucked either way, at least I want to make sure those at the left that don’t like prison shower scenes are also forced to be passed around.

      • juris imprudent

        Then fuck the people of this country, to the last, that are suckers for that. FUCK THEM ALL.

      • AlexinCT

        That’s where we are.

      • juris imprudent

        Fine – don’t blame the left because they can fool people. And I personally won’t support further deceit for the sake of power.

      • Plisade

        All warfare is based on deception.

      • juris imprudent

        Living in the same country shouldn’t be warfare. If it is, let’s give up all pretenses then.

      • kbolino

        Some pretenses should be given up, yes. The press is not trying to “inform the public” nor to “hold the powerful to account”; the press is an ally of power. The academy is not trying to “enrich young minds” nor even to simply pass on a credential; the academy has an agenda. Blue tribe shibboleths like “white people are the worst”, “men are trash”, “black lives matter”, “our planet is dying”, and “wearing masks saves lives” should be treated as facially insincere just like the red tribe shibboleths “family values”, “law and order”, “strong national defense”, etc. Judge by actions and your own values, not empty words.

        But do not reduce to absurdity the metaphor of war. Not every blue tribe peasant is an out-and-out enemy; not every red tribe peasant is a dedicated ally; no one is taking up literal arms and hopefully none ever will. But there is a concerted faction, which is most closely related to the blue tribe, that wishes not just to wage cultural war but win it. And the war is not a fight over abortion, or gay marriage, or trans rights; it is a fight over who gets to teach your children and who gets to participate in society (hold a job, express an opinion, run for office, etc.).

        “Voting doesn’t matter” is a defeatist attitude. But “voting is all that matters” is an absurdity.

      • kbolino

        The left owns any and all effective tactics? You can’t win if you start off having already decided you’ve lost.

      • juris imprudent

        If the left wins by deceit – then what exactly does that say about any notion of self-government?

      • AlexinCT

        That those that don’t care for that concept will have a far easier time undermining it than those that do will have of keeping it. Our forefathers warned us of this, and they were right…

        People that believe just because you are good and of the right conviction you should win, are idiots. The universe rewards those that fight the hardest, regardless of how they do it.

      • juris imprudent

        Might makes right. Thank you Hobbes.

      • AlexinCT

        No, being stupid and not fighting to win, makes you a loser. But go ahead and pretend being fucked over and going down is the right thing to do here. You do that. I plan to go down fighting, and fighting dirty if that is my only option.

      • kbolino

        I think it is folly to share a government with people who hate your guts. For it to be self-government there must be at least a semi-coherent notion of self.

        One of the earliest lessons of the alt-right/new right/whatever you want to call it is that even the founding of the United States is a myth. The Boston Massacre was instigated, the Boston Tea Party was propaganda, the Revolutionary War required foreign assistance, and known Loyalists were expelled without due process or compensation after the war. The version they teach you in school is a sanitized lie.

        Does that mean independence was wrong? Does that mean what was fought for, the goals of the Revolution and the Enlightenment were all hollow? Or does it just mean that history didn’t end in 1776 any more than it did in 1991 or 476?

        You fight to have a place where you can express your values openly and raise your children with those values. You do exactly what’s necessary to achieve that outcome, no less and ideally no more.

      • juris imprudent

        I think it is folly to share a government with people who hate your guts.

        Then it should be suggested to them that if it is going to be a life or death struggle – they might as well be the ones to die in it. The prospect of their own deaths might sober them up a bit.

      • kbolino

        There’s two basic reasons they are not likely to realize that right now:

        1. They are comfortable
        2. They believe their faction will win

        To comprehend the Iron Law “me today, you tomorrow” you must believe it is a possibility that you’re not going to come out on top. Of course, when the knives come out, who wins and who loses approaches total randomness. Neither Strasser nor Rohm expected to die that night, and Hitler and Himmler get the benefit of the doubt through hindsight.

        Both of those points can be attacked. First, they should be made at least as uncomfortable as they want their enemies to be. Second, they should be given every opportunity possible to realize their victory is not guaranteed. Going after their high priests in the media and academy seems like a good way to advance both of those fronts.

      • juris imprudent

        I’m not sure they are comfortable – the whole woke bullshit is right out of Calvinist predetermination: I am of the elect? What if I’m not? Jesus, they are so rife with contradiction and insecurity – and that is exactly what they play on in other people.

        Comfortable? I think they spend their existence in sheer terror.

        They may believe they are going to win, but that is no reason for anyone else to believe that.

      • kbolino

        Mao never sat in a struggle session. He was comfortable from the day Chiang Kai-shek last set foot on the mainland until the day he died. Most of his inner circle could say the same (though they had each other to scheme against). The worries you talk about are for the peasants. “Am I a good person?” is a question that the leadership never asks themselves. The Inner Party does not wonder, they already know (they aren’t good people) and it doesn’t matter (the object is power).

        So at this point it becomes necessary to get a little more specific. In my previous post, I am referring to the blue tribe in general. The blue tribe is not all socialists (see: Glenn Greenwald) nor all Democrats (see: Scott Alexander, Noam Blum) nor all professors (see: our own Heroic Mulatto) nor all members of the press (see: Glenn Greenwald again). Your Biden-voting neighbor is not necessarily a member of the blue tribe. And lots of members of any tribe, this one included, are naive about it anyway (a sort of nascent “my country, right or wrong” attitude combined with, sometimes willful, ignorance).

        The blue tribe is roughly the people who are willing to accept corporate press propaganda (CNN, MSNBC, NTY, WaPo), corporate sponsored censorship and activism, hubristic government-sphere personalities (Avenatti, Vindman, Cuomo, Fauci), high-profile politically motivated firings (Eich, Schnatter, Damore, Cafferty) because they believe it’s never going to be used against themselves. Membership in the blue tribe is synonymous with virtue. You are absolutely right that these people are constantly concerned over whether they are going to be seen as virtuous or not. But they are by and large still comfortable (office workers, well paid, secure job, nice house, etc.). Their illusions rarely get invaded (“reality has well known liberal bias”) and their sense of security has a high floor (the consequence of not being hip to the latest sign of virtue is temporary social approbation, not getting relegated to the dregs of society).

        Once labeled bad by one of their priests, prophets, saints, or visionaries, you will be canceled and they will not feel bad about it. Because it’s not going to affect them, and they know it.

        So the question becomes, how do you remove the floor to their comfort, or at least lower it?

      • Chipwooder

        I hate it too. Unfortunately, I don’t know how else they could effectively fight back. National Review’s stern editorials aren’t changing anything, nor is Ben Shapiro’s podcast.

      • Tonio

        I will note that there is also completely honorable pushback such as the Tuttle Twins books.

      • kbolino

        I think it’s a mistake to associate a tactic like this with either left or right. “Oh no, the right is stooping to the level of the left!” implies both that the right was carrying around some kind of moral superiority (it wasn’t) and that the left holds the initiative by default (it doesn’t). It’s just lost cause loserdom to think this way.

      • blackjack

        Shapiro was so happy when it became cool to accept the 2020 election loss. It was very good for his business. He’s right back in the ineffectual loser seat, constantly pointing out how dire the scene is and how hypocritical the dems are. Just like all the rest of the “conservatives”, it pays well to lose constantly and just sit and bitch about things. I lost whatever little respect I had for him because of his performance on this.

      • db

        Agreed. I’m tired of the Debbie downers who make their living convincing others they can’t win. Sure, the situation’s difficult, but what we need is solutions to problems, not lamentation and defeatism. Yes, it’s important to understand the obstacles you face, but without a plan to surmount or skirt those obstacles, awareness of them is pointless.

      • Endless Mike

        Pundits are always more popular when the object of their scorn is in power. Bill Clinton made Rush Limbaugh.

      • juris imprudent

        The NRA and the AARP have never exercised their power via the fucking media. They do because they deliver votes.

        Of course if votes just don’t matter any more and the left is winning the war of words (and a sideshow here or there doesn’t change that), what exactly course of action is left to you? We know principles don’t matter – so power just becomes a matter of violence. You can win that way – for whatever it is victory is worth.

      • kbolino

        The NRA has (or had) a vision: you can keep your guns and use them to hunt, for sport, to defend your family, or just for cooling off at the gun range.

        The AARP has a vision: you can live your best life in retirement, reaping the rewards you earned from decades of hard work, keeping your health and mind, and not being hassled by the young.

        Both of these visions are aspirational and at least a little bit bullshit, but they motivate people. And neither required everybody to agree on everything. No violence was needed to achieve their goals, no naked exercise of power carried the day. For a long while both advanced their agendas, primarily through legislation, but in other ways as well (gun safety training, discounts and rebates, legal advice, etc.).

        The enemy’s victory condition is total control. Our victory condition need only be the freedom to live our lives mostly as we wish.

      • blackjack

        The NRA’s biggest achievement in California was to get some gun control laws PASSED! Fuck them.

      • kbolino

        Yes, and they’ve sold out on most of the national gun control initiatives: 1934, 1968, and 1986. They got more “radical” in the 1990s and 2000s but then got soft again and corrupt too by today. I’d imagine AARP has a similarly sordid history, in its own way. I wasn’t endorsing the NRA so much as extracting what they did well and what we should learn from that.

      • juris imprudent

        The influence of both organizations had to do not with lobbying and certainly not with buying political favors. There is what you need to do then – get people out and voting.

        Except of course I am told that voting no longer matters. If you truly believe that, then you’re really down to one option (assuming you don’t just get the hell out).

      • juris imprudent

        I mean hell, I did get out of California, deliberately and for cause.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m not certain what the issue is with this. The guy is a loudmouth dolt who should have kept his trap shut.

        Wake me when the GOP fabricates an entire treason conspiracy with the assistance of the FBI/CIA and sells it thru the national media for years on end.

      • leon

        Look what they make you Give. I dislike the arguments that “You have to stoop to the deceitful stratetgies/tactics of the other side” or else they will win, as if deceit is a dominant strategy.

  6. The Late P Brooks

    Non-compliance

    “We’re having a lot of conversations about what makes sense to contribute to bringing down the spread but here’s what we know: national experts with whom we consult have said you don’t have a policy problem. Michigan still has some of the strongest protocols in place, capacity restrictions, we’ve got a mask mandate,” Whitmer said during her Wednesday, April 14, virtual press conference.

    “Other states have dropped all of these things. We still have them in Michigan and yet we have high positivity. So it’s not a question about whether or not the policy is the right policy, it’s really more of a testament to the fact that we have combining issues.

    “We have variants that are very present here in Michigan at greater numbers than other states are seeing. We have reservoirs of people who didn’t get COVID, thankfully, but are now vulnerable to these variants, and we have exhaustion, the fatigue where people are dropping their guard.”

    Whitmer doubled down Wednesday, encouraging residents to continue to wear masks, practice social distancing, avoid large crowds, and get vaccinated when a shot is available to them, instead of turning to more restrictions.

    Other states have abandoned most of the theatrical mumbo jumbo. Their numbers must be soaring.

    Tens of thousands of rotting corpses in the streets of Texas.

    • Nephilium

      Well don’t worry, the CDC is on Michigan’s case!

      Man if only there was some word that could be used to describe the leadership saying one thing, but constantly doing the opposite.

      • Cy Esquire

        Lamp post fodder.

      • DrOtto

        CDC – then put them on double secret lockdown!

    • rhywun

      instead of in addition to turning to more restrictions

      “instead of” LOL

    • blackjack

      “Other states have dropped all of these things. We still have them in Michigan and yet we have high positivity. So it’s not a question about whether or not the policy is the right policy, it’s really more of a testament to the fact that we have combining issues.

      Wait, this means it’s NOT a question of whether it’s the right policy? She’s not too bright, on top of being evil.

      • Translucent Chum

        She won’t order another shutdown because she’s up for re-election next year. It just shows how evil she is that if she truly believes any of this works, she’s willing to toss it for politics.

      • blackjack

        She doesn’t have any policy problems. There’s no question she’s done the right thing. She just got jacked by ” combining issues!”

    • Chipwooder

      In the immortal words of Mo Wanachuk, “That cunt is no good.”

    • Agent Cooper

      You didn’t order enough vaccine and you have large urban populations highly skeptical about getting jabbed in the needle by government (for some sound and some stupid reasons) you mid-wit.

    • Plisade

      “…the fatigue where people are dropping their guard.”

      We citizens are such a disappointment. If only we could all be like Boxer: “Napoleon is always right. I will work harder.”

  7. The Late P Brooks

    But on Monday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Michigan’s surge can’t be fixed with vaccines alone.

    Instead, mitigation strategies like closing schools, restaurants and large gathering spots would be more effective, Walensky said, explaining that the protection provided by vaccines takes two to six weeks and wouldn’t immediately address Michigan’s needs.

    “Really, what we need to do in those situations is shut things down,” Walensky said.

    ——-

    Gov. Whitmer has requested that the federal government send more vaccines to hotspots like Michigan, but Walensky disagreed with that tactic. She told White House reporters that diverting vaccines away from states that aren’t surging to fix hot spot states could open the door for more outbreaks, according to the AP.

    Nobody’s talking about more shutdowns.

    What a fucking clown show. We don’t want to disrupt our carefully crafted vaccine plan. That’s like a fire chief saying he won’t send anybody to put out a burning house because it would ruin the symmetrical distribution of men and equipment.

    • Translucent Chum

      Ah, yes. The policy was perfect! You serfs are just not following the rules!

      Michigan is doing everything it can to pump up case numbers. My kids have to get tested at least once a week to play sports. The only reason is to try to find positives because once they get one, they contract trace and quarantine the rest of the team. Voila, you have now shut down youth sports.

      • Translucent Chum

        And even more evil is that the kids have to quarantine even if they: test negative, have already had covid, or have been vaccinated. They is no road back other than sitting out of school and sports for 10 days.

      • Festus

        It’s like “Wall-E” was a tutorial.

      • db

        Honestly, more of this, please. This insanity won’t end until normal folks get pissed off by the ridiculous effects of ridiculous policies.

        I’m also looking forward to the first stories about crazy parents sabotaging opponent teams by working the contact tracing systems to let little Susie’s soccer team skate into the playoffs because the one of the top teams was DQ’d on a COVID technicality.

      • The Last American Hero

        Soooo much this.

  8. db

    OT already, but:

    I missed the overnight “would you go to space” post. While the question was more specifically about space “tourism,” I think it applies to the general question as well.

    Many of the objections people stated had to do with hygiene, comfort, food, ability to get out and about, which I think are probably more applicable to early tourism than mature stage tourism, and certainly less applicable to long term stays–at least of a planetary nature.

    I don’t believe that long term resettlement will have those issues as much, because that’s going to depend on having dealt with those problems in resilient ways. Space suits adequate for casual and unscripted EVA/surface walkabouts will be probably the most important part of that. Concerns like sanitation and fresh food supply will already have been dealt with, or will provide plenty of opportunity for entrepeneurs and small businesses to sell solutions.

    The longer term concerns of centralized control of social activity will depend greatly on *how* we enter and conquer space outside Earth orbits. Musk’s all-out rapid push is, IMO, an attempt to outpace the governments and get to Mars first, establishing an independent colony that will not be beholden to the conventions of Old Earth.

    For those concerned about humans being human and screwing it up, Timeloose had the answer in that thread: in space, there will always be a new frontier, or at least for the next several hundred million years in this galaxy there will be. Frontiers (physical locations where people can go to escape stultifying social structures) are limited on a planet’s surface, but the more planets and living spaces that become available, the more people will be able to live out on the edges, relatively free. I think the future of liberty is in space for that reason.

    • Nephilium

      Somewhat related, as a long (as only the Slate Star Codex guy could do) write up on a new development zone starting up in the Honduras:

      Prospectus on Prospera

      TLDR version: New privately owned development starting out in the shithole of Honduras. Currently it’s tiny (58 acres), but they hope to purchase land to expand as they get rolling. Vertical property rights, limits on taxation, able to use building codes/hospital regulations/professional accreditation from any location on a long list of Best Practice Peer Countries (and Honduras) or a member of any of the countries (the example provided was using Houston, Texas’s building regulations).

      • Fatty Bolger

        Interested? All you need to do is sign the social contract, pay the membership fee, get Honduran residency (they promise it’s pretty easy, and they have lawyers who can help) and you’re good to go.

        Wait, sign the social contract? Yes. Contra your Political Science professor, there’s a literal social contract which you literally sign (officially: “Agreement Of Coexistence…which stipulates that the resident is explicitly, freely, and voluntarily consenting to the governance structures, rulemaking systems, and authority of Próspera”).

        Well, it would be nice to finally have one I actually signed.

      • Rat on a train

        It didn’t need your approval and can be changed without your approval.

      • Nephilium

        This one requires your signature, and has rules about how it can be changed.

    • sarcasmic

      My main problem with going to space is atmospheric reentry at 17,000 miles per hour.

    • Tonio

      They’re on to us.

      Venkatesan and her colleagues argue that in addition to promoting colonialist ideals, such concepts promote space capitalism and a lack of regulation.

      And our space orbiting thingies prevent primitive peoples from gamboling.

      Potent symbols of this trend are the more than 3,000 operational satellites currently orbiting Earth, many of them privately owned. For people who use the stars to navigate, or who incorporate celestial bodies into cultural, spiritual, and religious practices, this intrusion into the skies threatens to compromise a way of life. And it is a sobering reminder that space and the sky don’t really belong to everyone after all.

      • rhywun

        OFFS.

      • db

        Let’s see them try to stop us without resorting to tools of colonial violence.

      • Swiss Servator

        So, no GPS navigation for you! Someone who thinks fusing balls of hydrogen are gods or goddesses might be put off.

      • Tonio

        Just like a libertarian to impose terrestrial rules of gender normativity on those bodies.

      • Rat on a train

        I navigate by landmarks, so nobody is allowed to change anything.

      • Nephilium

        Reminds me of a character (Ghenghiz Cohen) from the Discworld books. When told that some things didn’t belong to anyone, his response was to say: “Fine, I’ll nick ’em. They’re mine now!”

      • sarcasmic

        To be fair if Elion Musk succeeds in putting 42,000 Starlink satellites up there, stargazing just won’t be the same anymore.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Take my love, take my land
        Take me where I cannot stand
        I don’t care cause I’m still free
        You can’t take the sky from me…

    • Festus

      Who the fuck wants to live in a plastic bubble? Lots of us, apparently. I don’t mind being away from most human contact but we are social creatures and stuffing us together in close proximity always leads to strife. I’ll go to Mars when I can freely gambol about without restrictions, Man! In the meantime I’ll just continue living in my own self imposed bubble.

      • db

        That’s the whole point of my objection to the naysayers. “Living in a plastic bubble” is not the end state of moving to space. The people who go will figure out better ways. The idea that we can’t go until central planners sitting in offices have imagined all possible problems and discovered the ultimate solutions to them is completely anathema to the spirit of exploration. If the European explorers of the middle of the last Millenium had waited until they could move to America and build the complete equivalent of European society in a few years, they never would have gone.

      • sarcasmic

        Life on a sailing ship wasn’t the end state of leaving the European continent. True. However all off-Earth human living environments will be completely artificial. A large plastic bubble is still a plastic bubble.

      • AlexinCT

        WE WILL TERRAFORM THE SUN!

        And before you go all sciencey on us, we know it is hot so we will go there at night with members of all different genders!

        /libs

      • Fatty Bolger

        Who cares? I mean that seriously. Does it really matter how the environment is created, as long as its suitable and sustainable?

      • sarcasmic

        I was responding to his objection to the naysayers.

        Though to answer your questions, that depends on what “suitable and sustainable” means. If “suitable” means regular showers and broiled steak, space probably isn’t for you.

      • db

        If you need regular showers and broiled steak to live, you’re not a frontiersman.

      • sarcasmic

        I never claimed to be one.

      • Nephilium

        So… not in favor of a Dyson Sphere?

      • sarcasmic

        If the vacuums are any indication of the cost, I doubt it’s feasible.

      • Festus

        I hear that but humans are humans. A selfish, ungrateful lot for the most part and some of us have evil tendencies. I don’t see any Utopia there. More of the same, I’d wager.

      • db

        There is no Utopia, as we all know. My hope is that the ever expanding frontiers that space will offer will afford us enough edge space to keep liberty alive rather than dying in its cradle on a single planet that is ever more centrally controlled.

      • Chipwooder

        Eh….I’m semi-social. I enjoy being sociable with people I like, but there aren’t a ton of those. Absent such people, I am quite content to be alone.

      • Surly Knott

        We are also ecological creatures. The ‘easy’ overlook are such things as cats, dogs, fish, birds, plants. But it extends as a network of interconnected genera and species, from the micro-biota to the macro-.
        This is, I believe, going to turn out to be the major obstacle to space habitats.
        If all we take are bacteria, molds, and funguses, and we unavoidably will take (are taking) those, we’re gonna have problems. Lab-grown meat is years, probably decades, away from being extra-terrestrially sustainable. Lab growth of useful/desirable life forms, presumably from frozen ova or early-stage fetuses, is even further out.
        Space colonization is going to crash hard on these rocks; the outposts will become penal colonies without the comforts of Australia.

      • db

        Again, I think those rocks are obstacles to be overcome, not absolute barriers that should serve to enforce defeatism.

      • l0b0t

        I just want to have the bar concession at the Rec-Station closest to where the asteroid miners are working.

      • Festus

        And three tittied whores!

    • Cy Esquire

      That’s all good and well, but the vast majority of comfort tech and even more reliable space travel tech, isn’t going to be a thing in our lifetime, at least, to a standard I’d jump on for a ride. I think it’s quite feasible to say humanity should easily reach a “the expanse” level of tech within the next 100 years. But, I’ll most likely be dead by then.

      I used to think that I may see immortality in my life time, after watching the world masturbate on the internet for the last 10 years while reality crumbles around them, i’ve decided that humanity has found it’s heroin, the OD is just a matter of time.

      • Surly Knott

        Hah. The OD has already happened. The meat is just twitching while the brain dies.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Stop playing games and just pass an enabling act. You know you want to.

    Just dissolve Parliament Congress and assert your divine right to unfettered absolute rule.

    • Festus

      If we get a new Cromwell that bans twerking, I’m sanguine. (Pace HM)

      • Rat on a train

        If you ban twerking, how will we commission ships?

      • Festus

        Old ladies wearing fur coats wielding champange bottles, just as it ever was.

  10. Festus

    Haha at the CNN dude. Who of us hasn’t bragged a bit to get some trim? I’d almost feel a little sorry for him if he wasn’t such a cunte.

    • Nephilium

      Bragged? NEVER! (song NSFW).

      • Ownbestenemy

        Knew it…good stuff Neph

    • pistoffnick

      When I got a few drinks in me
      I was a doctor, a lawyer, a senator’s son
      Brad Pitt’s brother and a man on the run
      Anything I thought would get the job done

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRfKfZHUg84

      • blackjack

        Around supper time, with a can of dinner and a bunch of lies?

      • Festus

        It’s on the horizon, to be sure. It’s not like the UFCW has any teeth anyway. May as well keep getting worked to death and go out slowly. I’ll die on the stairs some random night and that will be all.

      • Rat on a train

        If corporate wants an app on my phone, they can provide me a phone. They already require a management app to access GSuite, so I only access on my corporate issued computer.

      • Nephilium

        Yep. Current work asked me if I had installed Office and the like on my cell phone. My reply was that my personal phone doesn’t support their security policies, so I don’t feel that it’s allowable under the current security best practices that we strive to follow. If you provide a work phone, I’ll gladly install the software on it as required.

        No work phone has been provided.

      • Festus

        That should have been my answer! Fuck me for rolling over so easily. God-fuckendammit! Now they have my personal # and e-mail. And they are relentless.

      • Nephilium

        Work’s got one of my phone numbers (that’s kind of necessary for communication), and the rest of the double speak comes from working in IT for two decades. A couple of people have my personal e-mail (from when I was originally getting interviewed and hired), and it has leaked out to a couple of people due to people trusting autocomplete. But those aren’t going to get me to jump, and I remind them of the correct e-mail address. There hasn’t been any issues with that in the past year or two.

    • Not Adahn

      Also, doesn’t he realize that after the third date, you’re supposed to give up? Or is he some sort of finsub?

      • juris imprudent

        All the soy delays the testosterone kicking in.

      • Festus

        Sometimes you get hermerized. I remember chasing a few that stayed just out of reach when I was young man. Looking back it must have been the hunt not the prize. They stayed tantalizingly close to capture. After awhile you realize that you are just getting played for points. I was a pretty earnest young feller, happened to me at least a half dozen times. I can see how that would turn many kids away from the scene.

  11. Rebel Scum

    Democrats eager to cause a national divorce.

    Team Red had their go at it 160 years ago. And like Team Red I expect they do not intend to let anyone exit the union peacefully.

  12. Rebel Scum

    The Biden administration is expected to announce wide-ranging sanctions against Russia over allegations of a massive hacking campaign into federal agencies and for election interference, multiple reports said late Thursday.

    Oh, joy. We are going to poke the bear at a time of rising tensions with a rising China. I see that we are back to that smart foreign policy.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Treacherous lies

    The most popular link on Facebook about the Johnson & Johnson news was shared by a conspiracy theorist and self-described “news analyst & hip-hop artist” named An0maly who thinks the pandemic is a cover for government control.

    It’s a stark example of what experts warn could be a coming deluge of false and misleading information related to the one-shot vaccine.

    When most Americans went to bed Monday evening, the news about Covid-19 vaccinations in the U.S. was overwhelming positive: the average number of shots administered per day was well over three million, leading to many rosy predictions that pandemic restrictions could ease in the coming months and some semblance of normalcy could return.

    But that story shifted on Tuesday after federal health officials recommended a temporary halt in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, after a handful of reports about blood clots surfaced among the millions of people who have received the shot.

    Many doctors argue this sort of delay should actually be seen as a positive for vaccine safety: officials are paying close attention to the reports of side effects and acting quickly to maintain public confidence in the vaccination effort.

    But experts who follow internet trends are bracing for the worst when it comes to how this news is understood and received by the public.

    “This is what I would call the perfect storm for misinformation,” said Jennifer Granston at Zignal Labs, a media intelligence platform.

    We cannot allow anyone to undermine the approved narrative. We know what’s best.

    Before you know it, they’ll be telling people the sun revolves around the earth.

    • Not Adahn

      who thinks the pandemic is a cover for government control

      Whait, are they caliming this is untrue?

    • Rebel Scum

      who thinks the pandemic is a cover for government control.

      I wonder what would give anyone that impression. . .

      deluge of false and misleading information

      But enough about the msm.

    • blackjack

      It’s less than one in a million. I heard that the control group during the admittedly brief trials had the same issue in .04% of subjects. The Vax group had .06%. They didn’t just up and stop lying suddenly. Trump’s probably right on this.

    • db

      experts who follow internet trends

      That there are people in the world who have this on their resume is a major concern. How easy to create a MinTruth.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      The only people that don’t hate the neocons are the neocons (and I’m not so sure about them).

      • kbolino

        Allying with neocons is a fool’s game. The GOP went from ascendance to decrepitude by allying with those Trotskyite fucks. What turned Virginia into a blue state? Couldn’t have been the massive infusion of cash that built all those McMansions in the name of fighthing “the war on terror”.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Hopefully the neolibs will learn the same lesson before things get too bad.

      • Chipwooder

        And the highly paid bureaucrats, contractors, and consultants who swelled the federal payroll post-2001 and bought those McMansions and who vote almost lockstep Democrat.

      • kbolino

        Turns out “compassionate conservatism” leaves everybody wanting more of the “compassionate” and less of the “conservativism”. And “compassionate” ends up meaning “gimme, gimme, gimme”.

      • juris imprudent

        Virginia was a blue state much longer than it was ever red.

      • kbolino

        Virginia was a Southern Democrat stronghold. That is not the same as being a blue state. Most of Virginia, including many of the solid blue counties today, voted for Republicans for President from 1968 to 2004, even as Democrats held the state legislature and governorship.

        The blue state-red state phenomenon did not cement until about the year 2000 (in some places it happened earlier, in others it happened later). The party system that existed in the middle of the 20th century was a different animal than the party system that exists today.

      • juris imprudent

        And the party system in 20 years won’t be what it is today.

      • kbolino

        Very likely so, yes.

    • Swiss Servator

      Only takes 20 years to sink in…

    • Chipwooder

      Some of it is, no doubt, transactional. Breitbart exists to attack Dems, so they’re attacking this. Some of it however is a change in beliefs. I know mine have shifted dramatically over the past 15 years. I actually enlisted several months before 9/11, but I was extremely gung-ho after it happened. Had no problem with invading anyone. I thought we were getting the hell out eventually, though. Now there are soldiers serving in Afghanistan who weren’t even born when the first US troops set foot in that country. That’s insane and this nonsense needs to end immediately.

    • juris imprudent

      Anti-war right?

      Remind me again, what did Trump do to McCain’s war-boner… stomped all over it didn’t he? Guy got elected on shutting down endless wars – might even have got re-elected if he had followed through on that.

      Trump’s idea of military prowess is having a HUGE parade. With lots of flags and fireworks and FUCK-YEAH!

      • Agent Cooper

        ” might even have got re-elected if he had followed through on that.”

        Trump’s get-out time was May 1, the same time Biden’s plan is to begin.

      • juris imprudent

        That was too late. Trump needed to actually show he got us out to reap the reward.

        He couldn’t do that because he lacked courage of his own convictions (which shows they weren’t really convictions). He didn’t get us out of anywhere and I believe that cost him.

      • Agent Cooper

        “He couldn’t do that because he lacked courage of his own convictions (which shows they weren’t really convictions). He didn’t get us out of anywhere and I believe that cost him.”

        I don’t think it cost him that much politically to be honest. Covid was the driver.

      • Mojeaux

        Well, really, the NeverTrumpers left and right didn’t give a fat rat’s ass about the troops or where they were, and they didn’t give a fat rat’s ass about brokering peace in the ME. Whether or not he brought the troops home is completely irrelevant.

        He doesn’t have any convictions.

        He can’t hire good people worth shit.

  14. robc

    Baseball birthdays: Willie Davis, who at 60.7 WAR has a legit HoF argument. How many votes did it get? Zero. Why? He was never on the ballot. Inconceivable!

    His similarity scores show a list of non-HoFers, but without looking, I am sure all of them received votes. Also, Davis is mostly better than them:

    Buddy Bell (880.6)
    Marquis Grissom (879.4)
    Jose Cruz (875.5)
    Vada Pinson (857.9)
    Bill Buckner (850.0)
    B.J. Surhoff (847.7)
    Julio Franco (847.4)
    Amos Otis (845.6)
    Mickey Vernon (840.1)
    Nick Markakis (838.9)

    Okay, I decided to look.
    Bell 1.7%, , 66.3 WAR
    Grissom 0.7%, 29.6
    Cruz 0.4%, 54.4
    Pinson 15.7%, 54.1

    Okay, I stopped there. You get the idea. Davis wouldn’t have been elected, but not being on the ballot at all makes no sense.

  15. Not Adahn

    Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood

    What a boring, SWERFy place.

    • rhywun

      Single White Ejaculate-Resistant Female?

      Park Slope is that way →

      • Not Adahn

        Sex Worker Exclusionary Radical Feminist. You know, women who service men are just as much a part of the patriarchy as men are and will be put against the wall when hte revolution comes.

      • Tonio

        Whoa, I had heard about them but never the acronym. Thanks. Words for me are like parm chz for Hunter Biden.

      • pistoffnick

        “Words for me are like parm chz for Hunter Biden.”

        Share a smoke, make a joke, grasp and reach for a leg of hope
        Words to memorize, words hypnotize, words make my mouth exercise.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbWoTV15qHo

      • Rat on a train

        Cheese is racist.

      • Not Adahn

        Lactose tolerance was created by Yakub.

  16. Rebel Scum

    President Joe Biden spoke from the Roosevelt Room today to announce that the US would be pulling troops from Afghanistan. The withdrawal will begin May 1, though a treaty signed by the Trump administration stated that the US would leave the nation by that date.

    Push back the Trump timeline, repackage it and take ownership. Joe Biden, peacemaker.

    “It’s time to end America’s longest war, it’s time for American troops to come home.”

    Something will happen and you will do a complete 180 because the warfare state requires it.

  17. robc

    Man who ran the second largest Ponzi scheme dies is prison, people currently running the largest still not held unaccountable.

    • robc

      Thanks to the edit fairy, I wasnt actually expecting it to happen.

  18. Rebel Scum

    Project Veritas reportedly used the dating app Tinder to lure a CNN technical director into spilling his guts about the network.

    Dude thought he was bragging to impress some chick. Nice.

  19. Rebel Scum

    As much as $1 trillion a year in federal taxes may be going unpaid because of errors, fraud and lack of resources to enforce collections adequately, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig, told lawmakers Tuesday.

    The gov’t could just make the tax code more simple.

    • Rat on a train

      Use reason pols. If you simplify the tax code this year, that opens up plenty of opportunities to exchange code changes for bribes in future years.

    • Translucent Chum

      I saw a bit that went like this:

      Person: How much do I owe?
      Govt: Do you taxes!
      Person: Okay done.
      Govt: That’s not right!
      Person: Why do I need to do my taxes if you already now what I owe?

      • Rat on a train

        So they have the opportunity to throw you in jail if you don’t report what they already know? Mistakes are at their discretion.

      • Surly Knott

        Hey, it worked for the Inquisition.
        “You know what you did, confess!” without ever revealing the charges or suspicions.

    • kbolino

      If you paid as close attention to the audit avoiders as you do the tax avoiders you’d probably discover the IRS is coming out ahead already. I don’t want a nonconsensual sexual encounter with the tax man so I don’t push my luck when filing my taxes.

      Also, could he be any more of a weasel? The last time this story made the rounds it had such definitive language like “could be”, “as much as”, and “or more”.

  20. Gender Traitor

    O/T, but awww! Please forgive the brag, but one of my co-workers just gave me 50 points in our internal “thank you” program. She said, “…you are always so nice when you go around each morning to take temperatures.” Just 630 more points gets me to 20K, which I can cash in for a $200 gift card! w00t! ?

    • Rat on a train

      That’s an interesting rewards system.

      • db

        I was thinking of that comic with the bunnies living in a social credit system…

    • sarcasmic

      You’d be better off getting an Amazon Visa. The points add up faster.

      • Fatty Bolger

        I actually did that last year, and can’t believe how fast the points are building up.

      • Plisade

        The Company Store.

      • Mojeaux

        Social credit.

      • sarcasmic

        Just checked mine, got $95 dollars. Time to buy some magazines. Poly or steel…?

      • Gender Traitor

        I work for a credit union, so I feel a bit disloyal using any other institution’s plastic.

      • UnCivilServant

        Is that loyalty rewarded?

      • Gender Traitor

        They make more interchange income. I get bigger annual raises and, if the CU does well enough, occasional incentive$.

      • sarcasmic

        I’m loyal to my Amazon Visa. I pay it off every month yet they give me points anyway.

    • AlexinCT

      Where are you taking us Glibs for drinks when you get that card?

      • Gender Traitor

        There’s a new tavern close to my office, but y’all gotta pay your own way to Dayton.

      • Nephilium

        That’s just half a tank of gas away. Unfortunately, working Monday – Friday means no brunch for me next week. But when I rode past the little crepe place last weekend, they were packed.

      • UnCivilServant

        If Ohio ever drops the mask mandate, I’d come out and visit you lot.

        Any realistic chance of that happening?

      • Gender Traitor

        Last I’ve heard, our “case” numbers are going in the wrong direction. ?

      • Nephilium

        Not based on the current numbers and DeWine’s (Cunte – OH) target numbers. There’s a chance with the bill limiting his power that was vetoed and passed over the veto. But that doesn’t take effect for a while.

      • UnCivilServant

        How long was “a while”?

      • Nephilium

        Just did the count, the bill limiting the governor’s power takes effect in the end of June (22nd/23rd).

      • UnCivilServant

        If it takes effect then the weekend just after looks perfect, because It meshes with other things I’ve got to do in the week leading up to July 4th.

      • Gender Traitor

        90 days from passage, so late June? Don’t know if DeRINO may yet challenge it in court.

      • UnCivilServant

        So – how does that time frame work for Ohio Glibs?

      • Gender Traitor

        Last weekend in June is good as far as I know. Where in the state might you land?

      • UnCivilServant

        Being mobile, I’d be able to get to both ends.

      • UnCivilServant

        In short, if I go to Dayton, I’d have to pass Cleveland each way regardless, so I can visit a goodly number of Ohioans.

    • Pine_Tree

      We just implemented that very system, actually.

      We’re all interested to see how it goes. Not enough time on it yet to get a sense of that.

      • db

        Pine_Tree’s Boss: Pine_Tree, we’ve noted that your positive rating in the ThankYou system has been holding steady for the last three quarters. We really encourage our employees to strive for a continually increasing score. We feel you need to interact on a more positive level with your colleagues.

      • Nephilium

        Pine_Tree… I’ve got a group with about a half dozen other people. We’ll all give you a share of our thank you points if you agree to split your points with all of us.

      • db

        Pine_Tree’s Boss: Also, we’re concerned that you haven’t issued any positive ThankYou points to your colleagues since the program began. It’s important to recognize the contributions of your fellow employees, and we like to see that our team members show appreciation for their workmates’ effort. Now, this is just a mid-year review, but I have to tell you, we expect your participation in the ThankYou program to improve before your next annual appraisal. Keeping up the morale of everyone in the company is very important to us, and the ThankYou program is a key part of our strategy to make sure that all of our team members feels included in the company’s success.

      • Mad Scientist

        Just sprinkle in some “actualize,” “leverage,” “collaborative,” and “impactful,” and you’re qualified for middle management.

      • db

        I’ve spent some time in middle management and I know how the rest of those assholes around me play the games.

      • db

        Note how the boss subtly threatened the employee’s participation in the company bonus program in the last sentence there.

      • Gender Traitor

        We’re given a certain number of points to give out each quarter. I recently gave a bunch to Reliable Co-worker for giving me a K-cup when I’d left my coffee at home.

    • UnCivilServant

      You make it such a friendly dystopic kabuki.

      • Gender Traitor

        It’s a calling AND a gift!

    • Swiss Servator

      Some people appreciate a good, warm rectal thermometer.

      • sarcasmic

        Q: How do you tell the difference between an oral thermometer and a rectal thermometer?

        A: The taste.

      • Fatty Bolger

        lol. Just like Mama used to do.

      • blackjack

        The Chinese? “We test for Covid, long time!”

    • Festus

      Work that Social Credit Score Home-Girl! Soon you’ll have a two bedroom apartment! J/k nice to be nice. Good for you and good for her!

    • l0b0t

      How does this thread go on so long without a link to Thank You Mask Man?

  21. The Late P Brooks

    In most cases, the social media companies say they can’t do much to respond in cases like this, since people largely are sharing articles based on factual information, even if the commentary and subtext around the posting is meant to further false ideas.

    Many anti-vaccine activists have adopted this tactic as a way of getting around social media networks’ policies designed to halt the spread of false information.

    An0maly, the influencer with the widely-shared posting about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, shared a CNN story with a misleading caption to his 1.5 million Facebook followers.

    “The issue is this is a factual report,” said Sarah Roberts, an information studies professor at UCLA. “But the people reading the report either have such deeply-held preconceived notions about its meaning or they lack appropriate context to receive the information.”

    I suppose I should confess to some grudging admiration for the sheer ballsiness of this.

    “This is why the peasants should never have been allowed to learn to read. They see the Holy Writ, but their stunted untrained intellects are incapable of appropriately processing and comprehending it. They are nothing but feckless children who must be carefully led to the Truth.”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I watch his stuff on BitChute. He can be a bit repetitive but good guy.

    • leon

      Many anti-vaccine activists have adopted this tactic as a way of getting around social media networks’ policies designed to halt the spread of false information.

      Damn. It takes some serious chutzpah or sheer ineptitutde to say this.

      “Those wily pricks! They are using the TRUTH to spread their lies!”

  22. Festus

    Unrequited love – https://youtu.be/6KW67D6cnPw I’ve never been a teenaged girl but this is spot on.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Logic is a crazy conspiracy theory

    Dr. Anthony Fauci has condemned Tucker Carlson for spreading a “crazy conspiracy theory” after the Fox News host questioned the effectiveness of COVID vaccines.

    Speaking on Fox News on Tuesday, Carlson said: “If the vaccine is effective, there is no reason for people who have received the vaccine to wear masks or avoid physical contact.

    “So maybe it doesn’t work, and they’re simply not telling you that. Well, you’d hate to think that, especially if you’ve gotten two shots, but what’s the other potential explanation? We can’t think of one.”

    Fauci, the president’s chief medical adviser, responded to Carlson’s comments in an interview with CNN, saying: “That’s just a typical crazy conspiracy theory. Why would we not tell people if [the vaccine] doesn’t work? Look at the data. The data are overwhelming.

    ——-

    It is not the first time Dr Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has hit out against COVID conspiracy theories and urged people to base their decisions on the health data.

    That’s always a sound debate tactic. Completely ignore the questions you have no answer for, and respond to something nobody said.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      You can get and spread the vIrus you’ve been vaccinated for and the vaccines are effective are mutually exclusive when looked at with any modicum of skepticism. What’s Fauci’s operational definition of vaccines working I wonder.

      • Surly Knott

        It’s “we stuck a needle in your arm and injected one or more of our approved liquids.”

      • rhywun

        Of course you can get it. Because it’s not a vaccine, it’s a shot.

        Nobody questions this for the annual flu shots.

      • robc

        No one wears a mask after getting their flu shot either.

      • Not Adahn

        Question, what definition are you using that makes this not a vaccine? I’ve noticed that you also think the flu vaccine isn’t one either.

      • rhywun

        “one and done”

        Maybe the occasional booster.

        The ‘vid whatchamacallit is going to be an annual affair and the public doesn’t seem to be aware of it yet.

        PS. I’ve never heard the annual flu shot referred to as a “vaccine”.

      • Not Adahn

        Anecdata: I have heard it called thus. Also, the flu vaccine is annual becasue it’s for a different strain(s) of the influenza virus.

        If that’s what they’re planning on doing with the coofbug, it’s be the same thing.

        Honestly, I’m not aware of any vaccine that truly is permanent. Teatnus and chicken pox aren’t. Heck the natural immunity from chickenpox isn’t permanent.

      • Gustave Lytton

        And yet, that is the case with polio vaccines.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I meant large scale hence the continued mask stuff and denial of large gatherings but I like to try to stay pithy.

    • blackjack

      Tucker can’t imagine that these are draconian tyrants who refuse to relinquish control? I have no doubt that the vax prevents the ‘vid. I have a number of questions as to what else it might do, long term though. Anyone who can’t see that this virus has been morphed into the biggest comeback win the dems ever considered is just plain naive.

  24. The Other Kevin

    That court-packing commission sure worked fast.

    • Rat on a train

      Findings first, then research to support findings. SCIENCE!

    • Agent Cooper

      Their fingers are small enough to polish the insides of the shell casings.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    What’s Fauci’s operational definition of vaccines working I wonder.

    It enhances his “prestige” (and budget) and keeps the Morlocks in their place.

  26. Rebel Scum

    Chelsea Handle hates black people and wants them to be killed by police.

    In response to the fatal shooting of 20 year-old African American man Daunte Wright, at the hands of Minneapolis police, Handler did what her and her fellow Hollywood colleagues do best in the wake of tragedy and that is make a bunch of assumptions about the event and make it MUCH WORSE for everyone else.

    Though people better pump the brakes on taking Handler’s latest point seriously, cause it might get them in serious trouble with the law, or worse, killed. The woman tweeted, “Why would any person of color ever comply with a police officer when there is a 50/50 shot of getting ‘accidentally’ shot?”

    If you are under arrest you are under arrest. Best to not escalate in any way because that is when bad things happen and you might not live to get your day in court.

    • blackjack

      Especially nowadays. They’ve lightened up on criminals so much, that dude would probably have already gotten out by now if he’d have just let them take him.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      My takeaway is that Handler’s an idiot but I already knew that.

    • Cy Esquire

      This is another one of those situations created by a criminal that had not so surprising consequences. Yet somehow… racism. Then the media starts their work turning a demon into an angel and ruining some rent seeking government enforcer’s life. All the while, a bunch of people who didn’t know the criminal who got shot run around with their excuse to inflict chaos on a world they have no intentions of ever making better.

      • Pope Jimbo

        It doesn’t help that so many people are flat out distorting the story so it fits the narrative.

        He may have had warrants for pot smoking and disorderly conduct, but he also had one for an aggravated robbery charge. Or maybe technically, the warrant was because his bail for that charge was revoked because he didn’t contact his parole officer and was spotted on Facebook flashing a gun in violation of bail agreement.

        This moron did eventually correct the record that he wasn’t pulled over for dangling air fresheners, but because he had expired license tabs.

    • Akira

      “Why would any person of color ever comply with a police officer when there is a 50/50 shot of getting ‘accidentally’ shot?”

      Um, pretty sure the rates of being shot by police – even by poor inner city black people – is nowhere near 50%.

      • leon

        Either you get shot or you don’t. That’s how probability works right?

    • The Gunslinger

      Nope. Nothing short of sensational.

    • blackjack

      Her astrologer told her that she needed to get as high as the stars themselves.

    • juris imprudent

      Oh c’mon – that’s entirely different, a DOCTOR prescribed them!

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Enemies of the State

    <emThe day after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, surveillance video from a hotel in Virginia showed participants in the alleged Oath Keepers conspiracy carrying what appeared to be rifle cases and an object under a sheet that had the “outlines” of a rifle, a federal prosecutor told a judge on Wednesday.

    The government’s long-standing theory in the case is that the extremist group came prepared for violence on Jan. 6 and stashed firearms just outside of Washington, DC, which they could easily access via a “quick reaction force” or “QRF.” Until this week, though, prosecutors had shared little evidence other than text messages that referenced a special force. Wednesday’s hearing featured the government’s most comprehensive presentation to date that such a plan was at least partially put into action.

    ——-

    During Wednesday’s hearing — where the government successfully argued to keep Harrelson behind bars pending a trial — Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey Nestler said the evidence didn’t include images of guns, but that investigators had studied the footage from the Comfort Inn and believed it showed Harrelson and other members bringing out weapons the day after the insurrection.

    None of the defendants indicted in the Oath Keepers conspiracy have been charged with weapon-related crimes, and the government hasn’t presented evidence that any of them brought guns to the Capitol. Nestler told US District Judge Amit Mehta that the government believed other people affiliated with the armed extremist group, whom he did not name, were monitoring events on Jan. 6 from the Comfort Inn and communicating with members who were at the Capitol. These other individuals were “prepared to come into DC and ferry these weapons to the ground team that Mr. Harrelson was running.”

    In ordering Harrelson to remain in custody, Mehta cited evidence that he was prepared “to bring weapons into the mix” on Jan. 6 and remained in contact with members of the Oath Keepers — particularly leader Stewart Rhodes — in the weeks that followed. Harrelson has been in custody since he was arrested on March 10.

    “That is … strong evidence of future dangerousness,” Mehta said.

    Once we get the composition of the Supreme Court properly arranged, we can do away with the Bill of Rights and deal with these traitors and insurrectionists as they deserve.

    • Pope Jimbo

      So prosecutors can use pics of me holding a gun here in Minnesoda as “evidence” that I might have been prepared “to bring weapons into the mix”?

      A judge who actually cared about constitutional limits would have had to call a recess until he was able to get his laughter under control. Then he would have found the prosecutor in contempt for such dereliction in their duties.

    • Rebel Scum

      the insurrection

      That they insist on this gross mischaracterization makes my blood boil. It was not an “insurrection”. It was a small riot (arguably…) that was exceedingly peaceful by Antifa/BLM standards. But keep up the lying, you mendacious cuntes.

    • Agent Cooper

      “Future Dangerousness” was my nickname in college.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Mistress actually has a lot more classiness than other terms that indicate such but sidepiece it is I guess.

    • The Hyperbole

      Because it’s a reference book for journalists not an actual new reporting entity?

      • kbolino

        That’s two degrees of useless instead of just one!

    • UnCivilServant

      If the Mistress said ‘No’ there would be no affair. Whycome you deny womens’ agency?!?!?!!?!!?!

    • kbolino

      What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
      By any other name would smell as sweet

      William Shakespeare, showing more intelligence than the people who no doubt think they’re smarter than him. (And he was hardly the first, either).

      • Plisade

        Indeed…

        “Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal supporter; prudent hesitation, specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness;” etc. etc. etc.

        —Thucydides, 460-400 BC

    • rhywun

      it ‘implies the woman is solely responsible for the affair’

      wait wut?

      • leon

        Yeah i’ve never got that vibe. I asked my wife and she said the same. I will say that saying mistress over “prostitute” does give me the idea that it was mutually met upon emotions rather than a buisness transaction, and so i would say that a mistress bares some responsibility for an affair, as opposed to a prostitute, who’s just selling what the guy will buy somewhere else anyway. Maybe that’s the problem, stating that a woman could in any way be responsible for an affair.

  28. UnCivilServant

    *sigh*

    This vendor’s minimum specs are given as if the server is going to be on its on dedicated, standalone rackmount or PC. So they go and say “2x1TB SSD in RAID1”. Now this application isn’t that big in the scope of what we do. The (pre-upgrade) disk usage is only about 15gb. We don’t get into terabyte usages until we’re talking about enterprise-scale applications that serve more than the single unit this one is for. And since it’s going on a VM in an ocean of VMs, I’m certain the SAN is something like RAID5 or 6 (Not that it matters, since the cabinet-sized SAN arrays are a lot more reliable than an in-box mirror)

    I’ve got to find out a more realistic sizing number, because I’m not about to ask for three terabytes for this tiny little thing.

    • Mad Scientist

      Twitter and stupidity go together like fish and barrels.

      • Pope Jimbo

        The whole “Girl in car rants” genre is played out isn’t it?

        It is so obvious and fakey.

      • Akira

        Social media is a massive motivator for attention-whoring behavior.

        Why was that a video? If it was just a monologue with no visual element required, why wasn’t it just text? There’s all kinds of shit like this, mostly the “pictures of text” genre of Facebook/Instagram memes*.

        * I call them that because they get viewed, shared, reposted, and passed around, but most of them are not even attempting to be funny.

      • Pope Jimbo

        That gal could be visited by the ghost of Christopher Hitchens and Winston Churchill and they could offer to help her write the greatest take down of anti-maskers and Gov Abbott in the history of blog posts and she’d decline.

        “But no one would see me! It would just be written words. None of my friends would be able to watch me emote”

      • Chipwooder

        Why are they always in their cars, anyway?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’d hit it.

      And run like the wind.

      • R C Dean

        Something stick it something something crazy.

    • Akira

      When there’s a spike in cases, you’ll know who to blame

      Yea, except these predicted “spikes” after lifting some kind of restriction almost never happen, then it becomes memory holed.

      • Rebel Scum

        Cases is a meaningless statistic. And that girl is 1) ignorant and 2) nuts. I blame public schools and the mainstream propaganda machine.

      • Akira

        I blame public schools and the mainstream propaganda machine.

        I know I keep ranting about social media today, but I would just add that it rewards the most neurotic, unhinged, lip-quivering, I-am-literally-shaking type of outrage. I call it anti-Stoic. Being calm, collected, and putting things in perspective never does as well on social media as freaking the fuck out and encouraging everyone else to do so. No wonder it’s so closely associated with anxiety and depression (especially among young girls).

  29. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. A classic case of “don’t be on my side dude”. Michael Harriot at The Root makes a valid point about cops being jumped up revenue generators for the state, but does it in such an insultingly dumb way that you cringe.

    Of course it is all about racism. Poor white people are never fucked over by the cops. Nope never happens. And Daunte Wright was an innocent kid who was killed for fun. Warrant for pulling a gun on a woman in a robbery attempt (which he also strangled the victim as well)? Nope. Never happened. It was just for pot and “noisy behavior”.

    Daunte, clearly not wanting to die, jumped back in the car. During an ensuing struggle, Kim Potter, one of the debt collectors’ posse, pulled out a device she carries that is specifically designed to kill people. Potter, who was professionally trained to use the instrument of death, didn’t need it. She also carried a substance that poisoned a person’s skin and another device that sent enough voltage through a person’s body to power 400 refrigerators. Although she had the option of poisoning or electrocuting Wright for owing money because he owed money when they stopped him for owing money, Potter used the machine meant to kill people.

    Yup. They were clearly just about to kill Duante and his only hope was to fight with the cops and run away.

    • Mad Scientist

      If all they wanted was money, they wouldn’t have killed the golden goose.

    • blackjack

      What kind of stupid asshole thinks a taser could power 400 refrigerators?

      • Sean

        “But, they’re 50,000 volts!”

        Those people.

      • Rat on a train

        There was no mention of duration. A taser can power many things, some for just over plank time.

      • Nephilium

        The same idiots who think you can power a house by riding on a stationary bike for an hour.

      • Ownbestenemy

        People who think voltage powers things

      • Pope Jimbo

        What is funny is the original story actually links “400 refridgerators” to this SCIENCE article. And yes, the claim is based completely on a fridge needing a 125V connection.

    • Cy Esquire

      This is getting so old. All of those poor shop keepers that’s only crime was not running away from a blue hell hole.

    • robc

      electrocuting

      electrocution is the combination of electricity and execution. No death, no electrocution. While TASERS are deadly force, in that they can kill, it isnt standard operating procedure, so she didn’t have a real choice at electrocution.

      Why are they making me defend cops? Especially a clearly incompetent one, if not an outright murderer?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That’s beyond dumb.

      But it’s The Root so….

    • Festus

      Most people are just born stupid. This is known.

    • Agent Cooper

      “. Poor white people are never fucked over by the cops.”

      I’m sure he did a ton of research. The problem is, the poor white people are never media darlings.

      • Akira

        The problem is, the poor white people are never media darlings.

        And there’s no white advocacy group that makes a bunch of noise when a wypipo is unjustly killed by the police.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Straight up racism is what it is.

        A poor white thug who is killed while he has a warrant for armed robbery gets no riot at all. Everyone just says “good riddance”. Where is his statue? His own square in an autonomous zone?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Or that poor sap that opened the door and the cops instantly popped him over a noise complaint. Yep us whiteys enjoy such great privileged.

      • R C Dean

        Most importantly:

        Where are the millions donated to grifters? Where is the 8 figure settlement for his family?

    • Rebel Scum

      clearly not wanting to die

      I’d argue otherwise if you fight the cops.

      And stop making me defend cops because you insist on lionizing shitstains that got what they had coming.

    • EvilSheldon

      While peak deep can never be reached, that’s probably a week’s record.

    • R C Dean

      Daunte, clearly not wanting to die be arrested for a violent crime, jumped back in the car.

      When you start with that level of misrepresentation, the rest of it can (and likely will) be easily dismissed.

  30. Pope Jimbo

    Minnesoda Man has had enough of mask mandates and isn’t going to take it anymore.

    A Hutchinson man was arrested Wednesday after assaulting a Menards employee and later dragging a police officer with his car and hitting him with a hammer.

    According to the Hutchinson Police Department, police responded to a report of a man assaulting a Menards employee with some lumber just before 2 p.m. on the 1500 block of Montreal Street Southeast. The altercation reportedly began with a dispute over wearing a mask.

    The 61-year-old man left the store but was spotted by an officer shortly after in the Walmart parking lot just down the road. The officer tried to stop the vehicle but was led on a low-speed pursuit that ended when the man stopped about a block away, near Highway 15 and Freemont.

    Police say the officer tried to engage the man through the driver-side window, he got stuck, and the driver took off with the officer hanging onto the vehicle. The suspect hit the officer in the head with a hammer during the struggle.

    The guy might have gone a bit overboard, but maybe cops shouldn’t be sticking their heads in people’s cars?

    • Cy Esquire

      How much violence is forgivable when multiple layers of the state declare war on your rights?

      • Festus

        How many Divisions are under your command?

    • R C Dean

      a low-speed pursuit that ended when the man stopped about a block away

      I’ve gone that far for a safe place to pull over when stopped by cops. That’s a “pursuit” now?

    • Cy Esquire

      TURKEY cancels the deployment of two destroyers to the Black Sea.

      FTFY

      I’m curious how much longer NATO is going to be a thing with how uppity Turkey has been this last 10 years.

      • sarcasmic

        Got to admin the Russian warships are pretty cool looking.

      • blackjack

        Apparently, the Ruskies were watching Caddilac commercials back in the nineties.

      • leon

        Letting Turkey into NATO may well have doomed the alliance.

        Not that i’m shedding tears

      • juris imprudent

        Made sense at the time. Of course that is a problem with alliances, time change but the alliance doesn’t.

      • juris imprudent

        times

      • Drake

        Once the Soviet Union was gone and it was decided that Turkey was never going to enter the EU, what was in it for Turkey? Our policies towards Russia are absolutely idiotic – I suspect they are partially based on resentment by some that they gave up on communism.

        We alienate Russia and kiss China’s ass despite it being the opposite of our national interests.

    • Drake

      So they expelled a few diplomats and restricted Russia’s access to American banks… that’s it?

      Why would Putin care? He’ll toss out the same number of American diplomats. As for banking, he can bank anywhere he wants in Europe (if they want their fuel), the Middle East, or Asia.

      • sarcasmic

        I was thinking the dick-waving with two warships and then putting it back into the pants was kinda significant. I could be wrong.

      • Drake

        It was just stupid. Begs the question of who the hell is in charge and making these decisions. Joe is a vegetable and Kamala is busy crocheting.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The comments are…. well see for yourself:

        One more reason to like Kamala Harris. There are a lot of old white ladies who just found out they have something in common with Black-Asian Vice President.

      • juris imprudent

        Not just American banks – this has more impact because the dollar is the world reserve currency. At least until we piss off enough people that they decide to use something other than the dollar.

        We will rue that day.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Priorities

    The city of Placerville, California, also known as Hangtown, is losing the noose on its logo.

    The logo, which the city manager believes is only about 40 years old, depicts a miner and a noose hanging from a tree in the background. It alludes to California’s Gold Rush and the rise in crime that came with it.

    ——-

    After an impromptu citizens’ jury agreed to hang a man accused of a crime, the town became known as Hangtown. It took on the name Placerville in 1854.
    The City Council’s unanimous vote to remove the noose came after more than three hours of emotional comments from community members during a Zoom meeting.
    Many argued the logo is racist.

    “A noose is a symbol of death,” one resident said. “A noose is a symbol of lynching. A noose is a symbol of racism. I think we’re better than that.”

    Too bad “City of Brotherly Love” is already taken. Nomenclature is destiny.

    • Akira

      A noose is a symbol of racism.

      I’m pretty sure that nooses have been a standard method of execution for centuries and were not exclusively used on black people.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Probably close to a millennia but yeah, it is only relevant to the past 300 years and only in America and only connected to slaves.

      • Rat on a train

        Leo Frank agrees.

      • Festus

        I want Deadwood renamed because it offends older men such as myself.

      • sarcasmic

        They have pills for that.

      • Festus

        The willing is spirit but the weak is flesh. I don’t care anymore.

    • Festus

      All sense of history is lost in current year.

      • Rebel Scum

        All sense of history is lost in current year.

    • blackjack

      They would have done this earlier, but they were tied up. Now, after leaving us hanging for a while, they’ve roped us into this debate. I’m knot going to stand for it.

      • Plisade

        Not meaning to upbraid you here or bight your head off, but there is a limit to the number of links allowed in one post, should there knot also be a limit to the number of puns?

    • Rebel Scum

      A noose is a symbol of death

      Of convicted criminals in this context.

      • The Hyperbole

        Convicted by an “Impromptu citizens jury?” Was there a trial? if not what differentiates that from a lynching?

    • rhywun

      A noose is a symbol of death,” one resident said. “A noose is a symbol of lynching. A noose is a symbol of racism. I think we’re better than that.”

      That is a lot of nooses.

      *faints*

  32. The Late P Brooks

    The whole “Girl in car rants” genre is played out isn’t it?

    It is so obvious and fakey.

    The terrified eyes really sell it, for me.

    That girl looks like she’s seconds away from hysterical sobbing.

  33. Rebel Scum

    Unity, healing, etc.

    Addressing former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, Reid said, “The idea that Afghanistan could go on forever. We can’t stay anywhere forever, especially when we got home security threats in terms of violent white nationalism that is threatening our Capital. When we have got our own former president inciting people into violence and pushing them more into this violent white extremism much the way Bin Laden you know, did, sort of inspiring people to be this way.”

    She asked, “Do you feel as someone who ran DHS that we have to turn our focus here because we have our own internal terrorist threats to deal with?”

    Johnson said, “My short answer is yes.”

    I am sure labeling average citizens “white-supremacists” and comparing them to islamic terrorists because they have the audacity to disagree with your political agenda will not have negative consequences.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      We have to withdraw from Afghanistan because we need the troops to fight white supremacists.

      I guess if it gets us out of Afghanistan…

    • Cy Esquire

      “I am sure labeling average citizens “white-supremacists” and comparing them to islamic terrorists because they have the audacity to disagree with your political agenda will not have negative consequences.”

      To them, that’s a feature not a bug.

  34. DEG

    Mornin’

    The sanctions will call for 10 Russian diplomats to be expelled and a new executive order will expand prohibitions on U.S. banks that trade in Russian government debt, the Wall Street Journal reported.

    War on the way?

    As much as $1 trillion a year in federal taxes may be going unpaid because of errors, fraud and lack of resources to enforce collections adequately, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig, told lawmakers Tuesday.

    One trillion unpaid? That’s a good start.

    Colter Wall… they’ve been linked before right?

  35. Pope Jimbo

    Dumb minorities not only don’t have any idea how to get ID to vote, they also don’t know that you can’t drive around without valid license tabs.

    The fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright on Sunday is drawing fresh attention to two minor infractions in Minnesota law that many motorists might not realize can prompt a pullover.

    Minnesota law forbids motorists from driving without current license tabs, and it also bans motorists from driving with anything obstructing the windshield, including air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror.

    I’ll give them the air freshener bit. I didn’t know that was an actual petty bullshit law about that either. But Wright was pulled over for expired tabs and EVERYONE knows that you will get pulled over for that.

    Again, this is another example where I completely agree that we should rollback all these stupid laws, but am irked that they want to do it because of racism and not just because liberty.

    Let’s go! The following will no longer be primary offenses that can be used to pull people over: Air fresheners, tinted windows, seatbelts, cell phones. I’m sure I can come up with more if I actually go look at all the BS rules.

    • Pope Jimbo

      It also irritates me to no end that all this racism is dropped on the cops plate. I’m no copsucker, but if laws like this are really racist, we should be asking why legislators passed them?

    • Drake

      He was pulled over for the expired tabs. He was pulled from the car and they attempted to arrest him for an armed robbery warrant.

      • Bobarian LMD

        There was a single warrant for failure to appear that said “the defendant in this complaint be apprehended and arrested without delay …” for charges involving carrying a pistol without permit and fleeing a police officer.

        Additionally, he had been previously arrested and charged with 1st Degree aggravated robbery, which were still pending and he was due to stand in court for in August. There was no warrant in the robbery case, but I would expect the pending charges of what was a possible 20 year sentence would have colored any arresting officer’s caution.

    • Nephilium

      Let’s go! The following will no longer be primary offenses that can be used to pull people over: Air fresheners, tinted windows, seatbelts, cell phones. I’m sure I can come up with more if I actually go look at all the BS rules.

      The same people who would say wee need those laws will also say you’re being extreme when you point out that all laws eventually end with a punishment of death.

    • rhywun

      I heard the “air-freshener” thing was conjured out of thin air – that he didn’t have any.

      • leon

        What i have heard, was that it was his Mother who is the source of the air-freshener thing. He called her on the phone and told her he had been pulled over for Air fresheners. If we grant that she didn’t make it up, (which i think is fair to grant), then i could easily see it being a case of Cop pre-textually pulling him over for the air-freshener, and then coming up with the expired tags once shit went south as a more palatable reason for the stop.

        I could also see it that he was pulled over for the missing tags, and the cops mentioning the air-freshener when they talked to him and that is why he told his mom he got pulled over for the air-freshener.

      • Rebel Scum

        I thought something didn’t smell right.

      • juris imprudent

        If only he had axed.

      • egould310

        I pine for the days cops needed an actual reason to pull you over.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Missing tag laws need to change anyway. Is there a cruiser in the country that isn’t connected to the DMV database (which will also have valid insurance on file)? Missing plates is one thing, but seriously just an excuse for a stop.

      • blackjack

        All traffic enforcement has been subverted. The idea that traffic laws are in any way related to helping ensure safety on the roads is laughable. They want to run people for warrants, search cars and interrogate random people they have deemed likely to be subject to arrest. Sure, they also sometimes just jack people out money to help pad the budget, but the main thing is to bust the people they think look bustable.

      • DEG

        I think PA did. Some relatives of mine said that they don’t have tag stickers anymore in PA. According to them, cops rely on plate scanners to look up whether or not your registration was paid.

        Maybe one of the PA glibs can weigh in.

      • juris imprudent

        This is correct. The concern is driving through another state that expects to see the current mo/yr on your plate.

    • Rebel Scum

      forbids motorists from driving without current license tabs

      Every (?) state does. Maybe don’t cruise around while you have a warrant out for felony assault and then resist when you are caught and under arrest. Lady cop made an error, but this shithead escalated the situation first.

    • Count Potato

      ” it also bans motorists from driving with anything obstructing the windshield, including air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror”

      That’s just a stupid law.

      • B.P.

        It’s cool if a driver of a police car cruises around all day staring at a mounted iPad, though.

      • Nephilium

        They’re TRAINED PROFESSIONALS! TRAINED! Do you know what that means? They sat through a PowerPoint man!

      • Rat on a train

        Same restriction in Virginia

  36. DEG

    Too Local News Lazy Edition: Andrew Manuse op-ed on pushing back on the governor

    Last week, the New Hampshire House showed it understands the gravity of our time, advancing reforms within its budget to end the current State of Emergency and restore a balance of powers in our state. We owe these men and women a debt of gratitude.

    The recently-passed House budget incorporates fiscal responsibility, tax cuts, elimination of unfilled positions, and, yes, even State of Emergency reforms that are more than appropriate—they are essential.

    The people don’t just need relief, they need an immediate course correction to restore our republican form of government and protection of our natural rights over our own lives, families, and businesses that once made us the envy of the nation.

    With the help of a complicit media and a cadre of “experts” who “earn” their designations by repeating consensus doctrine rather than investigating the truth, the governor has slowly ramped up his stranglehold on society—in essence, “boiling the frog”—, which has enabled him to go from “two weeks to flatten the curve” to more than a full year of one-man rule with little resistance.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Letting Turkey into NATO may well have doomed the alliance.

    Not that i’m shedding tears

    Bringing Turkey into NATO never made sense to me. Mutual assistance pledge? Sure,

    • juris imprudent

      It was balance, bringing in just the Greeks would’ve upset the Eastern Mediterranean balance. So they were brought in as a pair.

  38. Festus

    Heck with it. I’m out. Have a great day Glibbies and we’ll see you om the flip side!

  39. Drake

    AstraZeneca knows how discontinue a vaccine.

    • LJW

      Hey they’re not social distancing!

    • Count Potato

      Holy fuck

  40. hayeksplosives

    This Russia noise is no good. I’ve been watching this coming for a long time.

    I’ve read a number of books lately on Russian history and how she sees herself and her history. Ukraine isn’t just a neighboring country to them.

    One thing many people don’t realize is that Ukraine is split down the middle into east and west, and that split is centuries old. West Ukraine is mostly Catholic, in communion with Roman Catholicism. Tends to be Europe-oriented and to see Ukraine as a distinct nation with its own language and culture.

    East Ukraine is mostly Eastern Orthodox, aligned with Russia. Sees Ukraine as part of the greater Rus region. Kievan Rus was the “origin” of Russian culture in this view.

    Any major military action between Russia and the Ukraine is likely to cause a civil war in the Ukraine that splits it into east/west pieces. Letting the East go to Russia might be the least bloody outcome, but either way, there will be thousands of people under the thumb of a government they see as illegitimate.

    • Not Adahn

      But that would make Ukraine weak!

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      ???

      If we were intelligent, we would be negotiating a peaceful path to that outcome.

      • Mojeaux

        Why should we care?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Because a broader hot war in that region could easily spiral out of control.

      • Mojeaux

        Spiral out of control to us? Does getting involved in their hot war defend us in some way (say…oil?)? Or are we just sticking our nose where it doesn’t belong? Do we have a treaty with Ukraine to protect them? Russia and Ukraine get into it and then what?

      • Mojeaux

        Also, I am not being snarky. I really want to know what’s in it for us.

      • leon

        Nothing’s in it for _you_, but i’m sure there’s something in it for Joe Biden.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        We won’t fight Russia directly for Ukraine unless we really are nuts but we will try to fight to the last drop of Ukranian blood. It’ll last a few weeks if it happens followed by some some low intensity stupidity elsewhere (meaning Syria).

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m merely suggesting that it is in our interests to facilitate a peaceful solution. I’m concerned that we will not be able to resist involvement in any broader hostilities.

        That peaceful solution would probably involve the further splitting of the Ukraine. Does that suck for them? Yeah, but so does war.

    • Pope Jimbo

      You’d think someone in DC would be smart enough to figure out that we need to be allies with either Russia or China. Use the tension between those two countries to our advantage.

      The current plan seems to be “let’s antagonize both China and Russia to the point where they agree to set aside their long standing differences and work together against the US”.

      Biden has to be a serious contender for the Nobel Peace Prize if he can pull that off.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        When you’ve got asshats like Samantha Power in DC, you can be assured that we will pursue the path most likely to end up with us entangled in the wrong war for the right reasons. Power is less geopolitically astute and more bleeding heart than Obama, and that’s saying a lot.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Don’t forget her dipshit husband and his iron fisted “voluntary” nudges.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        The current plan seems to be “let’s antagonize both China and Russia to the point where they agree to set aside their long standing differences and work together against the US”.

        The plan seems to be working. I saw the below the other day.

        Russia, China warn Biden at same time to stay out of Ukraine, Taiwan
        https://americanmilitarynews.com/2021/04/russia-china-warn-biden-at-same-time-to-stay-out-of-ukraine-taiwan

        On Tuesday, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned President Joe Biden’s administration against getting involved in Ukraine, amid Russian forces massing on the Ukrainian border. Also on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian warned the Biden administration against getting involved in Taiwan.

    • Pope Jimbo

      there will be thousands of people under the thumb of a government they see as illegitimate.

      Why should those peasants be any better off than we are?

    • Akira

      I’ve read a number of books lately on Russian history and how she sees herself and her history.

      Any recommendations on a good introductory “overview” of that nation’s entire history?

      I’m on kind of a quest to learn at least the basics about every major region, civilization, religion, empire, etc. in history. It started out as an effort to learn more about Middle East history to make a better informed decision on all those issues there today, but then I realized that to understand one region, it helps to understand what came before it and what was happening in neighboring areas, and it spiraled and turned me into a full-blown history dork.

      I guess Russia is going to be significant in coming years (even if only in the fever dreams of Democrats) so I better bone up on that one too.

      • hayeksplosives

        Lost Kingdom by Serhii Plokhy. It’s a long one, but gets into the psychology of history. I did that one as an audiobook.

      • Akira

        Thanks! I’ll check it out.

        I’ll probably go with regular paper format – I like to have letters in front of me for histories that involve spelling/pronunciation that I’m not familiar with (like Russian or Chinese). I typically reserve the audiobooks for things where I can spell them if I want to look up people/places later 🙂

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      If Russia rolls in Western Ukraine will become the permanent buffer zone they desire. It’s unfortunate but our constant expansion of NATO which ran counter to earlier agreements makes it a necessity in their view.

    • Urthona

      Have we tried triple secret sanctions yet?

    • Rebel Scum

      I always take the Ukrainian region as Russia in TW.

    • juris imprudent

      A considerable chunk of post-WWII Ukraine used to be Poland.

    • db

      Very interesting. I wonder which side of the divide the Bidens’ Burisma contacts fall on?

  41. Count Potato

    “The perpetual pandemic

    Why politicians, pundits and ‘experts’ don’t want COVID to end

    The coronavirus pandemic was a black-swan event the likes of which this planet hadn’t seen in almost a hundred years. It caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and crashed the global economy, resulting in the largest socioeconomic change since 2008. It was, in short, not good. Yet there are pockets of public health experts and corporate media pundits who seem content to play out an endless cycle of pandemic porn. This runs contrary to what the majority of the population wants to watch and how most Americans are choosing to live their lives.

    As COVID cases and deaths in Michigan soar, under a #girlboss governor who received endless praise in New York Times puff-pieces, the free state of Texas is almost completely open, with full baseball stadiums, no mask mandates — and a steadily declining COVID death rate. Dr Anthony Fauci must be scratching his head at how this could possibly be. Of course, Fauci is the same expert who praised Andrew Cuomo’s handling of managing the pandemic as well. He’s one of several public health officials who see their time at the podium possibly coming to an end. His tenure skipping from media outlet to media outlet, offering mixed messages on vaccines and a return to normalcy, is soon to expire…..”

    https://spectator.us/topic/perpetual-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccines-elites/

    • Pope Jimbo

      Whitmer seems to have figured out though, that if she listens to Fauci and tries to shutdown MI again the peasants won’t listen.

      With Trump gone she has the leeway to ignore Fauci and try to save her own political skin. Besides it is nearly boat season

  42. The Late P Brooks

    It was a failure of budgeting

    Members of Congress on Thursday will hear for the first time public testimony from the U.S. Capitol Police inspector general that will detail the most extensive findings yet in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

    The inspector general, Michael Bolton, will tell a congressional committee in prepared remarks that the agency must pivot from its reactionary role as a police department to one that works in a protection posture to deal with rising threats to the Capitol.

    U.S. Capitol Police responded Wednesday to reports of Bolton’s findings by acknowledging that “much additional work needs to be done,” but that it will need “significant resources” from Congress to implement the new changes.

    “January 6 was a pivotal moment in USCP, U.S. and world history that demonstrated the need for major changes to the way USCP operates,” the agency said in a statement.

    “Pivot from reaction to protection”? Like intelligence gathering? Undercover 9nfiltration of insurrectionist cells? Don’t we already have multiple federal agencies specifically designated to do this?

    You just can’t have too many SWAT teams, I guess.

    • kbolino

      Never let a crisis go to waste!

      One must marvel at the narrative’s ability to allow people to believe two (or more) contradictory notions simultaneously. The Capitol Police (employees: 2,300, budget: $460 million) is dangerously understaffed and underfunded to protect 535 people and a handful of buildings, but also we need to defund, desegregate, decolonize, and otherwise disestablish police forces across the country because they’re racist and deadly and structurally imperialist.

    • rhywun

      January 6 was a pivotal moment in USCP, U.S. and world history

      OFFS get over yourself

      • Ownbestenemy

        Seriously this is how people think that live near me. I also get: It was unique! *points out other times people have rioted, bombed, shot in the capitol* and their response is no one died or lost eyes in those! So I confirmed with them that they enjoy standing on dead bodies to advance their causes.

      • AlexinCT

        A bunch of idiots led by a guy wearing a hat with horns going into the capitol building was the worse terror attack since Pearl Harbor, but fucking marxist leftists burning down the country is mostly peaceful protests. Also not that they want ANY cop that shoots a black person trying to resist arrest – regardless of the facts – t0 be fucked over, while giving the mother fucker that shot Ashli at the capitol a pass. Fighting Nancy felt threatened and that’s why that was the worse terror attack ever. The aristocracy was threatened. The fact that the fucking plebes are seeing their country burn down around them is nothing of the sort however, cause the aristocracy sees that as a way to further their totalitarian takeover.

      • B.P.

        I guess it is a pivotal moment in world history for the mass of dopes who couldn’t name what decade the Civil War took place or atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    Why didn’t we think of this years ago?

    To be clear: there also exists an uncomfortably large coalition of anti-maskers in this country — from proudly getting kicked off flights last June to protesting outside a Sephora in Beverly Hills just the other day (seriously). Plus, there are millions more Americans who sort of casually eschew mask-wearing. These people are sick of the pandemic, and as masks are the face of the pandemic, they’re sick of masks, too.

    But for those of us used to wearing them, and willing to wear them in the name of public health, this moment actually offers a unique opportunity. Instead of outright banishing our masks the second we reach herd immunity, it might be prudent to hang on to them, and deploy them for purposes beyond putting a stop to COVID-19.

    Earlier this year, a bunch of people hopped onto Twitter and pointed out that they haven’t been sick in a year. They hadn’t just dodged coronavirus, they’d completely avoided all manner of respiratory illness, including the flu and the common cold. This tracks with actual research. A study published by the University of Oxford in January found that the flu has dropped by 95% (bringing it to a level not seen in 130 years). Even amid peak flu season, Mayo Clinics in various American cities were seeing a 0.2% positivity rate against tens of thousands of flu tests.

    Face coverings aren’t the only factor at play here — international borders are closed, germy grade-schoolers are remote learning and most people haven’t shaken a hand in a year — but they’re likely the X factor. According to Dr. Jay Woody, the chief medical officer of Intuitive Health and a co-founder of Legacy ER & Urgent Care, the science is actually pretty simple: “Masks reduce the transmission rate of your respiratory droplets spreading to others. When we cover our noses and mouth, we’re less likely to touch our faces or sneeze onto surfaces and transmit bacteria. This is the most common way viruses spread. People touch surfaces and leave behind traces.”

    It just makes so much sense. Who could possibly object?

    • Akira

      But for those of us used to wearing them, and willing to wear them in the name of public health,

      You mean “in blind obedience to corporate media and government officials”.

      Earlier this year, a bunch of people hopped onto Twitter and pointed out that they haven’t been sick in a year. They hadn’t just dodged coronavirus, they’d completely avoided all manner of respiratory illness, including the flu and the common cold.

      Isn’t it pretty common medical knowledge that if you obsessively avoid every single pathogen, your immune system will become very weak and unable to protect you from any kind of bacteria or virus when you inevitably encounter it?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It hasn’t occurred to anyone that the flu usually originates in Asia and spreads to the US? And that the almost completely severed travel between the two probably cut that transmission path off at the knees?

    • R C Dean

      Earlier this year, a bunch of people hopped onto Twitter and pointed out that they haven’t been sick in a year.

      I haven’t been sick in at least 25 years. Do I get a medal, too?

      A study published by the University of Oxford in January found that the flu has dropped by 95%

      As ever, not explained: why masks being widely worn per guidelines somehow eliminated the flu but did nothing to stop the summer or winter COVID spikes.

      This is the most common way viruses spread. People touch surfaces and leave behind traces.

      Even the CDC says this is bullshit.

      • Urthona

        “As ever, not explained: why masks being widely worn per guidelines somehow eliminated the flu but did nothing to stop the summer or winter COVID spikes.”

        This is my favorite.

        So wearing masks killed the flu but had at most a 1.5% statistical effect on COVID?

        That’s odd.

      • Ownbestenemy

        “This is the most common way viruses spread. People touch surfaces and leave behind traces.”

        I think they added that line just because the CDC said it isn’t a vector of notable transmission. Gotta keep people on the plantation. And they wonder why people think there is some conspiracies…

    • CPRM

      sneeze onto surfaces and transmit bacteria. This is the most common way viruses spread

      #SCIENCE!

      • Urthona

        lol

      • Ownbestenemy

        Good catch but take that sentence in full even:

        When we cover our noses and mouth, we’re less likely to touch our faces or sneeze onto surfaces and transmit bacteria.

        Oh they mean with a mask…cause we like walking around after chucking snot into a mask and leaving it there. Fucking retards who wrote this and retards that gobble this up.

      • R C Dean

        When we cover our noses and mouth, we’re less likely to touch our faces

        I have my doubts. People wearing masks are constantly fiddling with them.

      • Ownbestenemy

        People are going to start dropping dead from the common cold if we continue this path.

    • B.P.

      “…international borders are closed…”

      I know of one place where this isn’t the case.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    Isn’t it pretty common medical knowledge that if you obsessively avoid every single pathogen, your immune system will become very weak and unable to protect you from any kind of bacteria or virus when you inevitably encounter it?

    I certainly hope so.

  45. The Other Kevin

    The wife and I have been watching Dharma and Greg on Hulu lately. We used to watch it when we were first married. The humor does hold up. But now I identify a lot with Dharma’s dad. Not the communist part, but when he goes on about big corporations and the government watching you, he sounds downright sane.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I always liked the actress that played Dharma or was that Laura Dern? Either one used to get me revved up back in the day.

      • The Other Kevin

        Jenna Elfman. She also appeared in an episode of Two and a Half Men. And Jon Cryer was in one of the first episodes of Dharma and Greg. He shows up for a date with her and finds out she got married the day after he met her.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I shoulda remembered that…Danny Elfman’s daughter.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Uh….Niece in law I believe. She married into that family.

      • Mad Scientist

        The woman who played Dharma’s naughty friend Jane was the one who revved my engine.

      • Ownbestenemy

        She was definitely a stick it in crazy chick, but I think neither would be kicked out of my bed.

    • kinnath

      The world would be a better place if the ground opened up and swallowed CNN headquarters entirely.

      • Urthona

        Serious question. How do they make money?

        How even is there a market for this much tv news when I can get whatever I want from my phone?

      • UnCivilServant

        They don’t. They’re a cost center for their parent company, and supposted mostly by a web of bundled content contracts with cable companies. If you pay a cable bill, you’re funding their propaganda.

      • Urthona

        Oh I see.

        I’m funding their propaganda.

        Of course I am.

      • Urthona

        Would love to cut the cable bill, but….. SPORTS.

      • juris imprudent

        I would imagine you can stream most of what you want. Of course the streaming services are now going to bundles too.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That Glasser comparison is astounding.

      It is of no surprise to me that she used to edit Foreign Policy magazine.

    • Urthona

      Jesus

    • Agent Cooper

      Fox does the same thing inversely. However, there’s one Fox (OANN and Newsmax have low low reach right now) and there’s NBC, CBS, 60 Minutes, ABC, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, WaPo, NYT, Virtually all major city papers outside of New York Post, etc.

  46. B.P.

    That gif with the raccoons chasing the girl… Is that supposed to be adorable or terrifying?

      • Tundra

        Kind of an inappropriate song, though.

      • sarcasmic

        In my head I replace “love” with “drugs” in most 70s songs. “Feel like taking drugs…” Yeah, still inappropriate.

    • Cy Esquire

      It’s exactly what it should be, hilarious. Raccoons are one of the coolest creatures out there.

      • Rat on a train

        Trash pandas are fun as long as you don’t have anything for them to mess with.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    It hasn’t occurred to anyone that the flu usually originates in Asia and spreads to the US?

    That makes no sense. Those wise Asians all wear masks. They have been wearing them for years and years.

    The flu has been completely eradicated in China and Japan.

    • Urthona

      Also we’ve already extensively studied flu spread in countries that wear masks during flu season vs. those that don’t.

      No difference.

      Admittedly, though, in these countries you don’ wear a mask ALL THE TIME. Because that would be fucking insane. You publicly wear a mask when you are sick. This is supposed to prevent you from coughing and spreading the disease to others as well as signifying to others to keep their distance. And this actually makes some logical sense.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    Jenna Elfman.

    Yummy.

    • Ownbestenemy

      You don’t have enough thetans for her.

      • rhywun

        I think it’s the other way around. He has too many.

      • Ownbestenemy

        My extent of Scientology knowledge comes from South Park. So yeah I have no clue other than thetans are a thing. lol

      • rhywun

        I used to pore over that clambake site. I know way more about it than I would like.

  49. Homple

    Today is Leonhard Euler’s birthday. OMWC would noticed.

    • Homple

      have noticed.