About The Author

Banjos

Banjos

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

344 Comments

  1. robc

    Baseball birthdays: Darrell Evans, Ben Zobrist. That is all.

    • Translucent Chum

      I was shocked to see Evans played 20 years in the majors. And in one of his worst statistical years, he won the world series.

  2. Cy Esquire

    The Rona is on the ropes! Keep up the good work you scallywags!

    • Nephilium

      It’s on the ropes? Quick! RUN FROM THE ROPES!

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Yet another great 1970-80s movie that could not be made today.

        “I was born a poor black child.”

      • pistoffnick

        “I found out what my “special purpose” is for!”

  3. The Late P Brooks

    Currently, travelers are required to show a recent negative COVID test to board a plane. LaJoye was asked if he thinks the U.S. should require travelers to provide proof of vaccination before they are able to board an aircraft.

    “I’m pretty clear and encouraging everyone to go get vaccinated, but just to alleviate any potential confusion, it is a federal mask mandate irrespective of one’s vaccination status, or state or local ordinances,” he said. “It is a federal requirement to wear a mask on all forms of public transportation.”

    Ja vohl.

    • WTF

      I wonder where in the constitution the federal government is granted that authority. Other than the FYTW clause. In the past they at least used try to cite some bullshit clause to justify their actions, but now it’s pretty much just a dictatorship.

      • Tonio

        Well, first you’d have to be granted that elusive standing thing by the courts. Then you’d have to have a crap-ton of money to mount a good case.

      • SDF-7

        And then they’ll just use Wickard as precedent and say that if you’re going anywhere at all, it has an impact on interstate commerce somewhere/somehow and thus the Feds can regulate everything however they want.

      • WTF

        And that totally makes sense, because the framers of the constitution obviously intended that a minor clause to ensure interstate commerce was free-flowing would mostly invalidate the rest of the constitution.

      • Festus

        You forgot the Emanations and Penumbras Clause written on the back in lemon juice.

      • WTF

        That’s a very selective clause, for example it doesn’t apply to the second amendment.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Do we need to call Nic Cage to find out what the Constitution actually says?

      • SDF-7

        Yup.. obviously. 😉

        Besides getting a Congress that dismantles a good chunk of the bureaucracy (by defunding the whole mess), a Court that goes out of its way to call out Wickard for the horse dung that it is is one of my “Never gonna happen” fantasies.

  4. Cy Esquire

    We’ve had enough rain in Texas now that I’m wondering when they’re going to change our climate to Rainforest. Seriously my fucking yard is a god damn jungle!

    Which also brings up another question, have there been any actual modifications to “official” climate maps? ocean levels? in the last decade?

    • Banjos

      Don’t get me started. My girls are stir crazy from being stuck inside for what feels like weeks on end.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        *thousand yard stare*

        If I have to do another tea party….

    • l0b0t

      After SuperDuperStorm Sandy, FedGov reclassified The Rockaways into a different flood zone and caused everyone’s insurance to rise and started programs to lift all the houses.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        Coming from the land of hurricanes, and after having suffered Andrew on my 16th birthday, the whole “Superstorm Sandy” thing makes my ass burn.

        It wasn’t a fucking Hurricane, or a tropical storm. It was just a fucking storm that at one time before striking had been a tropical system. But they had to make the narrative feel somehow uniquely devastating, and in response, they got the Weather Channel to propagandize for them by creating an entire new class of storm.

        The Super Storm.

        Get. The. Fuck. Out.

      • WTF

        Yeah, just a fucking storm like any other:

        Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy)[1][2] was the deadliest, the most destructive, and the strongest hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm inflicted nearly $70 billion (2012 USD) in damage and killed 233 people across eight countries from the Caribbean to Canada.[3][4] The eighteenth named storm, tenth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the year, Sandy was a Category 3 storm at its peak intensity when it made landfall in Cuba.[5] While it was a Category 2 hurricane off the coast of the Northeastern United States, the storm became the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spanning 1,150 miles (1,850 km).[6][7][8]

      • Sensei

        I see you lived it too. Destroyed my grandmother’s house and I was without power for two weeks.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    CNN’s drop in viewers is larger than its competitors, but all major cable news shows have experienced a drop. MSNBC had the second-largest drop in viewership since January, losing 49% of its total viewership between January and May. In the 25-54 age demographic, the network lost 63% of its viewers. During primetime hours, MSNBC lost 42% of its total viewers and 58% of viewers between the ages of 25 and 54.

    And let that be a lesson to you. Don’t kill the villain, or people will stop watching your melodrama.

    • Nephilium

      No, you have the first villain be just the pawn of an even greater villain. Of course, then you run into the power creep problem.

      • blackjack

        This is coming in ’24. The propaganda machine is such that the next guy will be worse.

      • Not Adahn

        Power creep isn’t a problem if you want the hero to be omnipotent.

    • Drake

      Last week I dropped my cable plan to “basic”. No ‘news’ or ‘sports’ channels at all. And none of my money going to any of them. Seems weird that my cable company would want an extra $50 a month to show me more channels that all still air commercials.

      • UnCivilServant

        Because the cable company doesn’t get any of that ad revenue unless they own the channel.

      • Festus

        I don’t watch any broadcast or cable or streaming anymore. I can pick up the gist from independent content providers. Plus, Glibs has killed my attention span.

      • R.J.

        I killed everything except internet. Saved a ton of cash. I miss nothing. Over the air only works to me.

      • Festus

        It’s still in the house but I never watch it, especially since sports coverage went to shit.

  6. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Wow. Pound made the news?

    That hasn’t happened since Francis Gary Powers got shot down.

    I’m probably related to half of the town, probably more.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      “Although Pound is not a hotbed of crime, the county struggles with drug laboratories and an increase in heroin use, Mullins said.”

      Kind of surprised heroin got mentioned and not the bazillion trailer meth factories.

      • Rat on a train

        They need to bring in a calligrapher.

    • Rat on a train

      I’m probably related to half of the town, probably more.
      It’s west Virginia not West Virginia.

      • juris imprudent

        Only an imaginary line that distinguishes the two.

      • Tres Cool

        At times, a difference with little distinction.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s actually on the Kentucky border. Over the border from Harlan County, made famous by Justified.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Hey bro.

        You’re probably Scotch-Irish then. Whereas I’m of the melungeon dirt/rock/coal/meth farmers.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Yup, you got it. Any current day relatives there would be rather distant, but grandpa has “cousins” out that way.

      • Drake

        Last year we drive west from Harrisonburg into WV. There are some hellacious hills separating them there.

      • juris imprudent

        Sure, that border, it must be around here some-whars. 😉

    • PieInTheSky

      I’m probably related to half of the town – the good looking half?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The half with the family tree that looks like a cloverleaf.

    • SDF-7

      Well, it is Pound Town — I expect the relations and relationships there get rather complicated.

      • slumbrew

        Now my wife wants to know what I’m laughing at…

  7. leon

    Morning glibs

    Is there a bigger snake and more vile human being in the US than Anthony Fauci?

    • Sean

      Soros?

      Bloomberg?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      *glances at CIA and FBI leadership*

      • leon

        We’re aflood with vile humans

      • juris imprudent

        And they congregate in government.

      • Sean

        And the media and Hollywood and higher education and…

    • rhywun

      All that’s missing is a flute album.

    • ignoreLander

      Cortez.

      • ignoreLander

        Edit^^

        Now she says she needs therapy and she’s “served during wartime” because she was in her office a couple blocks away while senior citizens calmly walked through the Capitol and took photos.

      • Ownbestenemy

        A willing media to canonize that is the only reason she says it.

  8. l0b0t

    The NYC Board of Education has decided that one can’t be too careful, so they have declared that children will remain masked upon return to school for the 2021-2022 school year. I’m at the end of my rope.

    • Cy Esquire

      It’s easier to program the kids when they’re low on oxygen.

    • rhywun

      The whole theater is coming back with the next round of cold weather so might as well get used to it now.

    • Agent Cooper

      They should be at the end of your rope.

  9. Cy Esquire

    Can we take a moment and contemplate how awesome that thumbnail was from yesterday?

    • Festus

      Acktually a Gif… (joke made yesterday)

  10. The Late P Brooks

    Unity, healing, justice

    Portland police on Tuesday declared a riot amid a destructive downtown demonstration held on the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder.

    About 200 people gathered Tuesday night outside the Multnomah County Justice Center. Some in the crowd lit fireworks and a dumpster fire, tagged the Justice Center with graffiti and broke windows at nearby Portland City Hall.

    Some also threw water bottles and fireworks directly at police officers.

    Police declared a riot about 10 p.m.

    Marchers later smashed windows at locations including a jewelry and precious metals business, Starbucks shops, a credit union and Ruth’s Chris Steak House.

    Police said they made an unspecified number of arrests.

    Peaceful protest.

    • WTF

      “The peaceful protest intensified.”

    • Tonio

      Some in the crowd lit fireworks and a dumpster fire, tagged the Justice Center with graffiti and broke windows at nearby Portland City Hall.”

      The default phrasing used to be “the crowd lit.” At least they aren’t using the passive voice like the fires just lit themselves. But, yeah, a blatant attempt to keep up the myth that the protestors are (mostly) peaceful. Compare with “some were very fine people.”

      • Festus

        Portland and other Cities are being held hostage by groups of 200 anarchists. This is insane.

      • slumbrew

        200 anarchists with the implicit backing of those in power who think the monsters will come for them last.

    • Necron 99

      “Police declared a riot about 10 p.m.”

      It would have been peaceful had the cops not declared it a riot.

      /s

      • DEG

        It was mostly peaceful.

    • Rebel Scum

      Some also threw water bottles and fireworks directly at police officers.

      At what point is it ok for the cops to open fire on these cuntes?

    • ignoreLander

      Some in the crowd lit fireworks and a dumpster fire

      The crows WAS a dumpster fire.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    All you need is love.

    • Cy Esquire

      and Vaseline. Assloads of Vaseline.

      • db

        And then, more love.

      • juris imprudent

        STEVE SMITH SAY, SING IT ROBERT.

      • Rebel Scum

        And water. Gotta stay hydrated.

  12. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos.

    My, that’s a lotta lynx.

    Rand is right. Fauci deserves the entire Flynn treatment.

    Which of course will never happen. More likely a fucking Nobel prize or something.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Flynn didn’t kill anybody.

      Fauci deserves far worse.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    We’re aflood with vile humans

    Neck deep in scum.

    • WTF

      Which is what the second amendment was actually intended to address, which is why it has been completely gutted.

    • Festus

      Better than ankle-deep in fresh air. We’ll see. Push back seems really possible now that the other side has started to remove the barricades. Too much, too soon the greedy fucks.

      • juris imprudent

        They fail to realize that society works as a pendulum.

      • The Last American Hero

        Since when? The ratchet has been going in one direction for more than 20 years.

      • Rat on a train

        The pendulum only swings from left to far left.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        You forgot the 1 in front of the 20.

        I like the river analogy a bit better. Liberty is upstream, totalitarianism is downstream. There may be eddies and whirlpools that occasionally let a small portion of the river flow upstream, but there ain’t no way water is flowing back up to the head of the river.

      • UnCivilServant

        Not with your attitude, mister.

      • juris imprudent

        The previous Great Awakening receded as well, and was followed shortly by the decadent roaring 20s, and later by the even more decadent 60s. Reagan rode the counter to all of that with the important caveat that having won on smaller govt, he never delivered on it.

      • Rat on a train

        Too few people want smaller government.

    • Rebel Scum

      Not all scum is equal.

  14. Festus

    Banjos, that is a really great Punk tune! Your other links were just the perfectly piquant lead-in to it. Bravo and Mornin’!

      • Rat on a train

        variety pays better

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Light Entertainment? A commenter pointed out that that is a very Mike scheme.

      • egould310

        I dig that Vox that Captain Sensible is playing.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      *stands and applauds*

    • db

      That’s how you create a market for your new, shitty comedy: convince people that good, older comedy “hasn’t aged well.”

      I’d love to hear George Carlin’s take on all of this.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Rogen is a twat.

    • Drake

      Neither does Seth Rogan.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Really, Superbad was 14 years ago. Has he done anything decent since?

    • juris imprudent

      Really appropriate from a guy who’s humor has never risen above the 7th grade level.

      • Festus

        I really dug his work from his early career. Something broke his brain about 5-6 years ago. What could it be?

      • Ask your doctor if BEAM is right for you

        I was pleasantly surprised by An American Pickle.

    • Agent Cooper

      I hope some comedian does a set that is just 25 minutes of shitting on Seth Rogen.

  15. Not Adahn

    NPR ran a sob story about an adorable old couple that caught the ‘vid and died… back in January.

    Also, NYAG convenes a grand jury to indict OMB. Is it ham sandwich time, or is she using this as a way of ending the prosecution while saving face?

    • Festus

      The CBC’s reporter was audibly flicking xer bean about the entire situation. “It’s not often that a Grand Jury doesn’t return indictments but it does happen, rarely.” We’ve got him this time!

  16. PieInTheSky

    An online store had 40% discount on select whisky bottles yesterday and I bought 3 and now I wish I had bought more. I did not want to spend to much money at once but could have added a couple more to the order

  17. The Late P Brooks

    CNN does some halo-polishing

    After weeks of facing fierce attacks from Republicans, top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci now has a new critic: Chinese state media.

    “US elites degenerate further in morality, and Fauci is one of them,” was the headline of a blistering opinion piece penned by Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the state-run Global Times this week.
    In the article Hu accused the top US infectious disease expert of “fanning a huge lie against China” by hyping the theory that the coronavirus was leaked from a Wuhan lab. Another article in the Global Times declared that Fauci had “betrayed Chinese scientists.”

    The anger is centered on Fauci’s remarks this month that he is no longer convinced the Covid-19 pandemic originated naturally.

    “I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened,” said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at a fact-checking symposium on May 11.

    The comments appear to be a shift from Fauci’s earlier view that the disease likely was the result of animal to human transmission.

    LEAVE SAINT FOOCHY ALONE!

      • Festus

        Is that what Johnny Wad calls his Grandson?

  18. The Late P Brooks

    Standing athwart history

    The lawmaker with the most influence over President Joe Biden’s agenda right now isn’t a member of his party.

    Biden’s Democrats technically control Washington: Chuck Schumer runs the Senate and Nancy Pelosi is speaker. But the president’s biggest priorities, from immigration to infrastructure, at the moment revolve around Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s hold over his 50-member conference.

    That’s an unwelcome sight for Democrats who just spent a decade without full control of Washington.

    “He believes that he should have a veto over anything that the president of the United States and the majority elected to Congress want to do. It’s wrong,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), an advocate for killing the filibuster to hobble McConnell. “This was his playbook when Obama was president, and he’s dusted it off again.”

    Biden’s goals are noble, and only a monster would impede his agenda.

    Trump, on the other hand…

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Fuck it. Just kill the filibuster and get this freight train going full steam ahead. The faster we plunge this country into cultural suicide and economic depression, the more people who will come out the other side with some semblance of a life left.

      • WTF

        You’re way too optimistic. Once a country is turned into a socialist shithole, it doesn’t reverse its fortunes very easily or quickly.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        It only took the Russians 75 years give or take and Cuba’s doing just fine from what I hear. If only we could have a peaceful national divorce I’d be all for the accelerationism but things would likely get pretty ugly.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      “That’s an unwelcome sight for Democrats who just spent a decade without full control of Washington.”

      Poor babies

      • WTF

        Just look at the wondrous nirvanas that are the states and cities where Democrats have had exclusive control for decades! How could anyone want to oppose such glory?

    • rhywun

      The lawmaker with the most influence over President Joe Biden’s agenda right now isn’t a member of his party.

      The human with the most influence over Biden’s agenda is not only not a member of his party, but also no longer holds an elective office.

      • Festus

        Oprah Winfrey?

      • rhywun

        Not orange enough.

    • Rat on a train

      Next they will be complaining that the Constitution is blocking them from doing what they want. They have 7 more seats in Congress. It’s a mandate!

    • Rebel Scum

      “He believes that he should have a veto over anything that the president of the United States and the majority elected to Congress want to do. It’s wrong,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren

      “What is ‘representative government’?” – Fauxcahontas

  19. rhywun

    As vile as Hollywood.

    I just have one question:

    Why is China’s taste in movies so dreadfully awful?

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Anything besides banal shlock could lead people to think for themselves and is therefore forbidden.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yeah, it’s not so much that the people have bad taste, it’s the prudish CCP apparatchiks.

      • rhywun

        Fair enough, but when faced with nothing but crap like “F9” ?, there remains the choice to, you know, not go see it.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Even so, take whatever percentage of the American population that would want to see that in the theater and multiply it by four and you get the reason the entertainment industry loves them some CCP schlong.

      • juris imprudent

        That is indeed the stupid math applied. Does anyone ever stop to think that the average Chinese worker/family does not have the disposable income of the average Western country? No. All the stupid, greedy fucks ever see is ONE BILLION UNTAPPED CONSUMERS. They deserve every bit of CCP dick up their asses as they get.

      • juris imprudent

        Ding-ding-ding.

        I rarely watch movies because there is rarely one worth watching. Ford v. Ferrari was the last one I saw in theater.

    • Festus

      Why do they eat the terrible things that they do?

    • rhywun

      Science!

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Yes, we do, in rainy 45-degree weather after walking through the woods all night and digging a hole in the ground to sleep in. Then it is okay, encouraged even, to spoon another dude.

      • Not Adahn

        Doesn’t it fill up with rain?

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Poncho hooches. But yes drainage is… less than ideal.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Vox should rename itself to wellackshually.com

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        That domain seems to be up for grabs, btw.

        It could work as a libertarian site too.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Straight guys love pounding a sixer and spooning while watching mixed martial arts on the weekends, it is known.

      • Not Adahn

        A “sixer” is a dude with washboard abs, right?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Average sized genitalia, no one wants to cuddle with a freak.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Are we sure that’s not an emerging Xenomorph?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Not sure at all.

    • Cy Esquire

      Gaaaaaaay….

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Do straight men even like cuddling straight women?

      • Not Adahn

        (N =1) Yes.

      • Not Adahn

        Also puppies and kittens. And CZ pistols.

      • Nephilium

        Cuddle? What a fag. (borderline NSFW, nothing explicit, but two guys in bed with no shirts on).

      • UnCivilServant

        It depends on the women in question.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Sure, and where it is leading.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Well, I’d have to answer that I have slept in the same bed as a buddy back in the day.

      Not because we were well adjusted but because we were poor mother fuckers who couldn’t afford our own rooms. Wasn’t uncommon for 4 guys to split a room with two double beds when out on a trip.

      If anyone had tried to spoon someone I’m pretty sure the fight would have been epic.

    • The Last American Hero

      The football field, any number of sports in the squared circle, yep – checks out.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, no. Like the pic in the article… that is not a cuddle.

    • Festus

      Well that’s a load of bollocks.

    • Old Man With Candy

      If either Spud or I tried that, the spoonee would immediately punch the spooner right in the nuts. And we would both give up drinking.

    • Rebel Scum

      Straight men cuddle with other men. A lot.

      Not in my experience.

      • Fourscore

        Is never a lot?

      • ignoreLander

        Straight men cuddle with other men. A lot.
        Not in my experience.

        It’s the Vox, and even more so the Left’s, modus operandi. Repeat the lie that you desperately want to be the truth enough times, the gullible will begin to believe it.

        Gullible 1″ Hey, did you know Straight men cuddle with other men? Like, a lot?
        Gullible 2: Oh yeah, I heard that somewhere.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Back to Politico:

    McConnell’s outsize sway as minority leader could be fleeting. Senate Democrats are preparing a unilateral approach to physical infrastructure, climate change and the care economy if Republicans deadlock with Biden. Democrats can unilaterally confirm Biden’s nominees as long as they have the majority. Schumer still controls the floor, and the authority it gives him to force tough votes on McConnell’s conference.

    “Minority leader”?

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but the breakdown is actually 50 R, 48 D, and 2 I(ndependent).

    Without Harris, the Biden agenda is dead in the water, in the Senate.

    But don’t let that stand in the way of your TYRANNY OF TEH MINORITY! narrative.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Pointing out the truth of the situation is all well and good but it does no good. They don’t care.

    • juris imprudent

      Why do you think schools have been teaching new math?

    • Nephilium

      Unilateral action is only bad when you do it!

  21. Rebel Scum

    How media shifted on COVID lab leak theory after months of dismissing it

    I’m getting whiplash from the pivoting.

    • WTF

      1984 was an instruction manual.

    • creech

      Next narrative will be “Trump failed miserably to inform Americans about the Wuhan Lab leak and to take forceful action to punish China. Now the Biden Administration is heroically cleaning up Trump’s mess by exposing the truth.”

  22. Rebel Scum

    WaPo top fact-checker explains how the ‘lab-leak theory suddenly became credible’ after discrediting it for a year

    Political convenience is political and convenient.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They consulted their Magic 8-Ball.

      • juris imprudent

        They came out of their burrows and didn’t see OMB in office.

      • Festus

        Or anyone in office.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        ?

  23. Rebel Scum

    Conservatives pounce by denouncing antisemitism, New York Times columnist writes

    There is no antisemitism in the Democratic Party.

    Cicilline said that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) apologized for her past comments “almost immediately. But I see no evidence whatsoever in the Democratic caucus or in the Democratic Party of antisemitism at all. In fact, the strongest voices that have condemned acts of antisemitism and this rise in antisemitic violence have been members of the Democratic caucus. But everyone should be condemning it. This is unacceptable in America that American Jews face any kind of discrimination or violence or harassment. And we’re the party that’s speaking out against hate and division and bigotry and racism and antisemitism. We don’t get the same from our Republican colleagues, sadly, and Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of the most recent and I think most despicable examples of that and it should have been easy for the Republican leaders in the Congress to condemn what she said, to immediately call upon her to apologize, and they didn’t do any of that. Because she’s welcome in their caucus.”

    1) But are you?
    2) What, exactly did she say that was so bad?

    • juris imprudent

      POLITICO tried that too in an article about how anti-semitism is straining both parties. The Republican anti-semite is apparently MTG. No, it doesn’t make sense, but that’s the narrative they’re running with.

      • Rat on a train

        Are they still blaming Trump for the rise in attacks perpetrated by Democrats?

    • Rat on a train

      They don’t hate all Semites, just Jews.

    • Plisade

      They’re children, siblings blaming each other for the broken vase.

    • Pope Jimbo

      As a Minnesodan, I remember the epic spanking Omar received from Pelosi and fellow Dems in the House for her “all about the benjamins” comment.

      Uffda. She couldn’t sit down for a week after Pelosi passed that resolution completely and fully condemning anti-Semitism. Omar learned her lesson.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Meanwhile….

    Australia’s second most populous state reported on Wednesday its biggest single-day rise in COVID-19 cases in more than seven months and warned the next 24 hours would be critical to limit the spread of a cluster without clamping on tough new curbs.

    The six new cases were the largest daily rise in the southeastern state of Victoria since October 2020. Authorities warned that more than 300 close contacts of sufferers had been identified, with many having visited crowded locations.

    “These cases are linked and that’s a good thing, but we are very concerned by the number and by the kind of exposure sites,” the state’s acting Premier James Merlino told reporters in Melbourne.

    “I cannot rule out taking some further action.”

    ——-

    The cluster has been traced back to an overseas traveller carrying a variant first found in India who had completed quarantine in South Australia, although officials have not worked out how it spread.

    The unnamed man tested negative in hotel quarantine and flew back to the state capital of Melbourne this month but tested positive six days after he arrived.

    Authorities in Victoria believed they had reined in the cluster but an error in tracing the man’s movements has stoked concern that scores of infections could have gone undetected for a couple of weeks.

    ——-

    Australia’s use of swift contact tracing, local shutdowns and tough social distancing has helped keep its figures low versus other developed countries.

    They’re behind the curve. Unless they plan on going full Hermit Kingdom, it’s just a matter of time.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Looks like the Aussies are going to be on intermittent lockdowns forfuckingever.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Yup

        FFS they’ve locked out their fucking citizens from returning home. They’re out of their goddamned minds.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Strange that, I remember seeing an article a few weeks back where Paul Hogan was wanting to return home and he couldn’t. It’s freaking nuts. If an icon like that couldn’t manage then the average citizen is screwed.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They’re abusing their citizenry in the hopes they can avoid the inevitable, which they cannot.

      • Festus

        Australia and New Zealand are a special case. They’ve been told for decades that invasive species are A Very Bad Thing. Now other humans are akin to cane toads. Never forget, they kept immigrants on islands until they went home.

    • rhywun

      SIX CASES OMFG IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD

      They are so fucked.

    • Plisade

      The covid sky has been falling for a long time.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    What, exactly did she say that was so bad?

    I think it boils down to copyright infringement. Any time any non-approved person makes a non-authorized Holocaust reference it’s a crime against humanity.

    • Not Adahn

      (((SPACE LAZORZ!)))

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Let’s try that Reuters link about Australia again.

    Six cases,

    SIX!!!!

    • commodious spittoon

      What if it MORE THAN DOUBLES to thirteen?

      • Sean

        Kill the hosts. It’s the only way to contain it.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Trying to keep out what is now an endemic virus is a fool’s errand, you may as well try to catch the wind.

      • Rat on a train

        Tried, but only broke it.

      • Festus

        Me too. Just now. I have to be careful because I’m growing older.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Meh, movie studios are barely anything more than goodwill as their value fluctuates wildly based on the franchise popularity.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I’m not sure there is a solution but agreed.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        1) simplify the tax code so they can’t write off their stupidity more than their smaller competitors can

        2) kill regulatory capture

        It may not eliminate these monstrous companies, but it’ll put the smaller companies on an even playing field.

    • Not Adahn

      I don’t know what the solution is, but corporations are getting too big.

      Once a corporation reaches a valuation of $1,000,000,000 or more, the CEO is entered into a lottery. Each year, one CEO is picked at random to be executed in a gruesome yet humorous way.

    • juris imprudent

      I seem to remember that kind of talk (more amongst the left) about AOL-TimeWarner… ok, stop laughing.

      • The Other Kevin

        Remember the anti-trust push against Microsoft?

      • Nephilium

        /raises hand

        I do!

        In entertainment news, I’ve seen some rumblings that Disney “may be forced to buy D.C. comics” as part of another Warner merger.

  27. Count Potato

    “Walmart has apologized after a racist email saying ‘Welcome to Walmart, N*****’ was sent to hundreds of customers on the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder.

    People in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom reported waking up Tuesday to see they’d received the offensive email from the company’s official help@walmart.com email address.

    Many posted screenshots to social media and expressed their fury at the company.

    Walmart apologizes after racist email with the N-word is sent to hundreds of customers around the world on the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder

    Hundreds of customers around the world received an an email saying ‘Welcome to Walmart, N*****’
    The company apologized and blamed a ‘bad actor’ for signing up customers to its online database and changing their first name to the N-word
    A Walmart rep says it is unsure how many offensive emails were sent, and has blocked servers from sending out racial slurs
    Detroit woman Courtney Rhodman said she was angered to receive an email with ‘such a hateful word like that’ on the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder
    A security expert said the email addresses had probably been acquired after a previous unrelated data breach

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9619125/Walmart-apologizes-racist-email-N-word-sent-George-Floyd-anniversary.html

    • Count Potato

      FUCK!

      Edit fairy, please help.

    • Count Potato

      “Your comment is awaiting moderation.”

      OK, just delete it please.

      • Old Man With Candy

        I sorta edited it, but who the fuck knows. I’m trying to figure out if they meant “Nigerian.” The asterisks are a weird touch.

    • Rebel Scum

      Walmart has apologized after a racist email saying ‘Welcome to Walmart, N*****’

      I never expected niggards to be particularly welcome at Walmart.

      • Animal

        I would think that would be Walmart’s primary target market.

      • R C Dean

        They are a low cost retailer. Niggardly people are their target market.

      • R C Dean

        *sigh*

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Kill the hosts. It’s the only way to contain it.

    Just like the end of Hud. Dig a big hole with bulldozers, herd all the cattle into the hole, and start shooting.

  29. Count Potato

    “Walmart has apologized after a racist email saying ‘Welcome to Walmart, N*****’ was sent to hundreds of customers on the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder.

    People in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom reported waking up Tuesday to see they’d received the offensive email from the company’s official email address.

    In a statement, Walmart said it was ‘shocked and appalled’ and blamed an ‘external bad actor’. The company said someone had created fake Walmart accounts using the email addresses possibly obtained after a previous data breach, and changed their first names to a racial slur.

    Walmart said it had blocked emails containing a racial slur from being sent from its domain. Reuters reported the company was unsure how many emails had been out, but its systems were not hacked and no customer information had been compromised.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9619125/Walmart-apologizes-racist-email-N-word-sent-George-Floyd-anniversary.html

    • Not Adahn

      that has /pol/ written all over it.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Wow, I edited this reel gud.

  30. Festus

    HaHa! A partial bank of lights went out last week. I told them that if they all went out at the same time that it wasn’t bulbs. Would they listen? No. They contracted a crew to come in to replace, scissor-lift and all. The bulbs remain dark. I work for imbeciles.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Do any of them mention that time he held a loaded gun to a pregnant woman’s belly? The guy didn’t deserve to be murdered but the canonization of the man is ridiculous.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Dude, he loved his mama. Why do you want to disparage him?

      • Surly Knott

        You know who else loved his mama?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Jimmy Cagney?

      • BakedPenguin

        His papa, I hope.

      • Fourscore

        He was getting ready to get a job, start a new career and move on with his life. He moved to Mpls from Hou because of the heat.

      • Pope Jimbo

        FAKE NEWS!!!! He only forced his way into a home during a home invasion and let a group of other criminals in. There is no proof that it was actually Floyd who pointed the gun at the pregnant woman. Or that she was pregnant.

        The full story of George Floyd home invasion of a pregnant woman goes like this. Back in 2007, on August 9 in the summer, George Floyd was with 5 other men who forced themselves into a house. One of them, allegedly Floyd, pretended to be a government employee from the water department and attempted to enter the house. But the pregnant woman realized that something was wrong and attempted to shut the door. At this point, he brute-forced into the home. Meanwhile, A Ford explored pulled over in front of the house and five other men entered the property. Once in the house, a robber pulled a gun out and pointed it towards the pregnant woman’s stomach. So if you were asking here did George Floyd hold a pregnant woman at gunpoint? His name is not mentioned in the story pointing to the gun.

        Nevertheless, the story says, while all this was happening, Floyd was searching the house for money, drugs, and, Jewelry.

        This could also be proven by going through that report, which was filed later. Where there is no mention of the pregnancy, nor is there any indication that it was Floyd doing the act. Thus it is all rumor and without any base that he beat or pointed a gun at a pregnant woman during a robbery act

        I, for one, will not stand idly by while the good name of a home invader is tarnished with scurrilous lies!

      • Plisade

        Since we can’t prove he held a gun to a pregnant woman’s belly, he’s quite obviously a hero, worthy of admiration, monuments, holidays. Duh!

      • Pope Jimbo

        Now you are getting it!

        Keep practicing and soon you will be able to fit into any social gathering of right thinking people.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I stand corrected. How big a donation should I send to BLM in restitution?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Truly the Frederick Douglass of our time.

    • Rebel Scum

      George Floyd and his legacy.

      Being a repeat violent felon that resisted arrest and dies of a drug overdose?

      that time he held a loaded gun to a pregnant woman’s belly?

      I believe the latest on this is that he held up a woman who was not pregnant but her kid was in the home. Either way, Fentanyl Floyd was a bad dude.

      • creech

        Knock off the badmouthing. George was turning his life around and thinking of applying to college.

  31. juris imprudent

    Yet another election revelation.

    In exchange for the money, elections divisions agreed to conduct their elections according to conditions set out by the CTCL, which is led by former members of the New Organizing Institute, a training center for progressive groups and Democratic campaigns.

    I don’t see how a private entity providing money to set the conduct of an election is not illegal. No municipality should’ve accepted the money – they are funded by taxes to conduct elections. Not that Philadelphia or other corrupt Democratic strongholds would let that stop them.

  32. Rebel Scum

    Ratings from Neilsen Media Research reported Tuesday indicated that CNN lost 67% of its total viewers since January, when Donald Trump left the White House.

    People can’t get their daily hate-boners going because there is just nothing to criticize the Biden-Harris *administration for. It is like the most popular and competent admin. evar.

    • Rat on a train

      Journalist could possibly find something to criticize if they could keep up with him.

  33. Rebel Scum

    Cenk Uygur
    @cenkuygur

    Israelis & Palestinians kill each other over which Sky God they pretend to speak to and it’s politically incorrect to point out there is no Human God, let alone one that favors Jews or Muslims. All this violence over the equivalent of which character they like better in the MCU.

    Maybe you should sit this one out.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Nobody could’ve pegged that asshole as a smug atheist. Nobody!

      • Festus

        I don’t dislike him for his atheism. The smug, shitty part, sure, but not that. He’s just a cunte. I’m an atheist, he’s a dishonest, leftist hack.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      LOL. Leave it to Cenk to dumb the conflict down to the lowest possible level.

    • Nephilium

      In the Civil War, I’m on side Team Cap!

      • SDF-7

        MCU Cap? Sure. Comics Cap — probably not so much.

        And just because it seems an apt time to say it (and I still love the avatar….) Hail Lobster!

      • Festus

        I’m more on the side of you try to grub up my turnips, you die.

  34. Sean

    Anyone know why I can’t find Colonel EH Taylor small batch bourbon in PA anymore? I can’t even find it on their website now for special order.

    • Tejicano

      Well, just how much of it did you drink? You realize it was a small batch, right?

  35. DEG

    Darby LaJoye, senior official performing the duties of the Transportation Security Administration’s administrator, told Just the News that TSA agents are handling mask mandate violations in airports the “same way” they would travelers trying to take firearms or other prohibited items through security checkpoints.

    Fuck the TSA.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Huh. I read that completely differently.

      When they said they were treating them the same, I thought that meant that they were not noticing 95%+ of the violations.

  36. The Other Kevin

    I know we’d discussed this, but I still can’t wrap my head around why, at this point, they are reporting that perhaps the virus came from a lab. Last I checked, that was still a right vs. left issue and they could still easily portray people as conspiratorial kooks who believe that theory. What is there to gain from this? Maybe better ratings?

    • Pope Jimbo

      My guess it is to get everyone really mad at the Chinese and to stop paying attention to the dumpster fire of the Biden administration.

      If the neanderthals aren’t distracted soon, they might get a bit pissy about why gas is $1 more expensive now than it was 4 months ago.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Didn’t you read the fact checker that Biden isn’t responsible for the higher prices?

    • The Last American Hero

      The lockdowns and mask mandates were imposed by super nazi President Trump and the KKKochsucking Teathuglicans.

      -High School US History book from 2040.

  37. Rebel Scum

    Because this is a legitimate prerogative of the US government.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday announced another $112 million in relief for Palestinians and other relief projects in Gaza and said the U.S. will reopen its consulate in Jerusalem, a move aimed at enhancing diplomatic relations with the Palestinians after they deteriorated under former President Trump.

    The U.S. will commit an additional $112 million helping Palestinians and for other relief projects in Gaza, including $75 million in development and economic aid, $5.5 million in disaster relief in Gaza, and $32 million for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), a U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees.

    Blinken said that the U.S. is in the process of providing a total of $360 million to support the Palestinian people. The secretary of state has promised that no aid will go to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and has long been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S.

    Sure…

    • Pope Jimbo

      It is astonishing to see the “adults” in the foreign service completely ignore what happened in the Trump administration and go right back to policies that haven’t worked since 1967.

      The Abraham accords should have demonstrated that you can ignore the Palestinians and get things done. The other lesson being that if you don’t give the PA money, they can’t get up to much mischief.

      Nope. Those things will be completely ignored and we won’t even be phased when the Palestinians immediately start rocket attacks after Biden sends them more money.

      Things are good. The country’s foreign policy is back to being run by professionals who know what they are doing.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Ivy League twits

        Seriously, their ineptness is only eclipsed by their egos.

      • SDF-7

        I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t know exactly what they’re doing.

        After all — who needs so many Middle East experts at State (and on CNN, MSNBC, etc.) if things stabilize there? Got to keep that sweet, sweet trough set up.

      • Pope Jimbo

        What is the downside?

        Some icky Israelis and Palestinians get killed? Yeah, not nearly as important as making sure you and all your buddies from Yale have an important job in State and can attend the right cocktail parties.

    • Plisade

      I no more want my looted earnings going to the people of the middle east than I want it to be obliterated in the form of our own weapons expended there.

  38. PieInTheSky

    GREAT thread on Argentina’s economic history told via the life of a scion of a landowning family who became economy minister under the military junta. One life tells the story of agricultural boom & bust, liberalism, Peronism, neoliberalism, labour repression & political chaos

    https://twitter.com/pseudoerasmus/status/1391843846238134284

    I see al this talk of liberalism and then also how the government imposed wage freeze, had various price controls, took over bad debt from banks, nationalized stuff etc… It seems strange. Liberalism has the component of living all aspects of economy free and no bailouts for fuckups

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Argentina is a revolving door of oligarchs and communists and has been for a long time. There are no heroes to be found in that story.

      • PieInTheSky

        I am sure there are no heroes but liberalism ain’t the issue

  39. Rebel Scum

    I think we know (((who))) is responsible.

    One person was killed and two others were injured in an explosion and fire at a petrochemical plant in Asaluyeh in southern Iran along the coast of the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, in the third such incident in the past four days, according to Iranian media.

    The explosion occurred along an oxygen transmission line between the Mobin Petrochemical plant and Damavand Energy Company in Asaluyeh due to an “unknown issue,” according to an update on the Damavand Energy Company’s website. The fire was contained and extinguished, and the director of public relations of the Mobin plant told Iranian media that the complex is still functioning without any issues.

    • UnCivilServant

      Not necessarily.

      Poor maintenance is rampant in their infrastructure, so it could just have easily failed all on its own. “An oxygen transmission line” sounds like a fine place for something to start burning.

  40. Pope Jimbo

    Damn those Aussies!

    First they completely put the US to shame in their response to the Rona. Now they are leading the way in electric car technology.

    An SUV powered by 150,000 litres of sewage has hit the road in Australia.

    Officially named the Number Two, it relies on the waste of 1000 people to generate enough power for a single charge — which lasts 450 kilometres.

    I’d be willing to bet that a non-zero number of electric car owners would refuse to charge their vehicles if they knew the electricity was generated from shit.

    • UnCivilServant

      “Just say no to dirty electricity!”

    • SDF-7

      Please… that’s “powered by biomass reclamation”, of course. They’ll be fine with it.

    • Not Adahn

      it relies on the waste of 1000 people to generate enough power for a single charge

      This seems somewhat impractical.

      • Sean

        Build more Taco Bells?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Not if you are looking for green ways to power the AC and lights in the U.S. Capitol building.

        The Minnesoda delegation could keep the lights on for decades just by themselves.

      • Nephilium

        One car per thousand people seems right in line with the rest of the watermelon’s goals.

  41. juris imprudent

    Way too early to call this the dumbest of the year.

    The comedy highlight of Leonard’s column is the assertion that it is the Clean Air Act, regulatory obstacles to new pipeline investment, and general “regulatory stasis and dysfunction” that have yielded the “outsize profits” enjoyed by the Kochs. Leonard seems actually to believe this: “Just by letting the broken market limp along, Koch Industries reaps extraordinary profits from a broken system.” So the Kochs are vastly more powerful than anyone could imagine, responsible for the regulatorymorass, for the ideological leftist political opposition to fossil infrastructure, for NIMBYism, and for allowing the “broken market” to “limp along.” Just as the pipeline owners win whether the pipelines are operating or not, Leonard clearly believes that they earn “outsize profits” whether the regulatory environment is light or dysfunctional. Who knew?

  42. The Late P Brooks

    We’re gonna need a bigger bucket of whitewash

    A US intelligence report found that several researchers at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill in November 2019 and had to be hospitalized, a new detail about the severity of their symptoms. It’s not clear the researchers contracted Covid-19 and the lab strongly denied the report, calling it a lie to push the so-called lab-leak theory for the disease origin.
    Scientists affiliated with the institute have previously said the institute did not come into contact with Covid-19 until December 30.
    The US had actually provided some funding for the study of coronaviruses and their transmission through bats, which had made it to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
    On Capitol Hill Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it would have been a “dereliction of duty” not to fund earlier coronavirus research in bats in China.
    “You don’t want to study bats in Fairfax County, Virginia, to find out what the animal-human interface is that might lead to a jumping of species,” Fauci said, adding the US had to go “where the action is.”
    Separately, at the White House, Fauci said many scientists still believe the disease occurred naturally, but it’s also imperative to get to the bottom of it with more investigation.
    An adviser for the World Health Organization, Jamie Metzl, said the lab-leak theory is possible while scientists were “poking and prodding and studying” viruses with the good intention of developing vaccines.
    “Then I believe what possibly happened was there was an accidental leak followed by a criminal cover-up,” said Metzl, who served in the Clinton administration in the US Department of State and is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

    Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the US, also said this week he is not convinced the disease occurred naturally and pushed for more investigation.
    That is the takeaway here: There needs to be more investigation.

    Let’s farm out this “research” and hope for the best, instead of maintaining control.

    Top infectious disease expert should be used as Guinea Pig Numero Uno.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council

      ????

      This person’s sole purpose is to signal the prog-fascist narrative to TMITE. That is the entire reason for the Atlantic Council to exist.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They’re eliding over the most important part of this.

      They weren’t just collecting viruses for study, which is a defensible area of research, they were altering the viruses to make them more pathogenic and virulent, aka “gain-of-function.”

      Gain-of-function has been one of Fauci’s (and Collins’) pet research areas for a while and warnings from a number of virologists and epidemiologists have been studiously ignored for years.

      • Pope Jimbo

        What is the non-evil explanation for gain of function research?

        I’ve never been clear on why people would be trying to make viruses worse. Other than biowar, why?

      • juris imprudent

        The presumption is that all a lab does is speed up what can happen naturally, and then in theory, you are prepared for what nature does. The problem is, nature isn’t predictable.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        As Peter Daszak put it, the point is to create the monster virus so we can develop treatments for it before it occurs naturally.

        Of course, there are also military applications and if you do this extremely dangerous research in a facility with piss poor controls and safeguards, you’re a fucking fool.

        They truly are acting out the old adage of “They were so concerned with whether they could, they never stopped to consider whether they should.”

      • Pope Jimbo

        Well it sure didn’t seem to work very well.

        If the theory was practical, wouldn’t we have been able to combat the Rona right away because of all the awesome gain of function research that had already been done?

        Seems like the idea is that you practice driving while blindfolded just in case you ever find yourself having to drive home real drunk. Theoretically it might help, but the practice is far more dangerous than any benefits that might be gained.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        In all seriousness, we got off lucky. It could have been far, far worse.

        MERS and SARS-1 have much higher infection fatality rates. If they had managed to maintain that lethality with the virulence of COVID-19, we would be in a world of hurt.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Now they know what happens when one of these viruses get released. It won’t be accidental next time.

      • Festus

        ^This! I can’t take any more. I’m going to bed. Have fun Glibbies.

      • juris imprudent

        Hey, he’s the TOP.MAN – you don’t gainsay his directives. Nevermind that the Obama Admin did put a stop to it and he slid the money out the door due to early Trump Admin incompetence.

    • Cy Esquire

      We’re all just supposed to ignore the gigantic coincidence about where the virus started and the lab next door?

      They just keep pissing on us and bragging about how nice the rain is.

      • Not Adahn

        Warm and fragrant!

  43. juris imprudent

    This is disturbing, mostly because he’s right.

    The United States, virtually alone among nations, found its identity in shared historical experience, English-speaking culture, and in the dedication to freedom of thought, trade, and belief. American monuments, flags, and traditions honor this classical liberal creed and make it a fundamental element in the cohesion of American society.

    If compelled to internalize the Biden administration’s transformational ideology, the U.S. Armed Forces will cease to be a national military establishment. And it is this emphasis on denationalization that leads many Americans to privately harbor the suspicion that the real goal of the Biden administration is to turn the American military into the armed wing of the left or the Democratic Party.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      They absolutely intend to fully politicize the military.

    • SDF-7

      Dear lord, the comments…

      My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

      • kbolino

        Disqus is like catnip for crazies

    • Cy Esquire

      “Biden administration is to turn the American military into the armed wing of the left or the Democratic Party.”

      I mean… the FBI. IRS, CIA, TSA, ATF and BLM are already there. It seems to be the natural order of things. Top government men with government guns here to help!

    • Count Potato

      So militarize the police, and de-militarize the military.

    • Gustave Lytton

      It tickles me every time MacGregor is the voice of reason (although it shouldn’t, I picked up Breaking the Phalanx when it was creating a buzz).

      Thirty-six percent of the U.S. Armed Forces have tattoos.

      Which wouldn’t be bad if it was one or two that weren’t visible when in uniform but the ones today look like jailbirds with sleeves and more.

    • kbolino

      How “national” was the military when Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to forcefully integrate the University of Alabama? Right or wrong, that wasn’t a very “national” act. Eventually the South relented on segregation (and thereafter, segregation’s center of mass moved to the Northeast) but at the time it looked to many in the South like they just got Reconstructed good and hard again. Indeed, there are many parallels to the position of the military then vs. now (major war had recently ended, the military was bloated and soft compared to where it was at the height of that war, Washington DC had an overinflated sense of its importance to the country, the bureaucracy felt ascendant, etc.).

  44. Pope Jimbo

    At first I read this story as “Unstraffed store in Tokyo sells entrails 24 hours a day” and wondered why an un-Glibinated store was such a selling point that entrail mongers would advertise it. Turns out it was ‘unstaffed”. So I guess Straff is still huge in Japan.

    Ever since the coronavirus pandemic hit Japan last year, unstaffed stores have become increasingly popular, with customers now able to purchase everything from ramen to used clothes without having to interact with another human being.

    Now, there’s another product being sold from a store without staff, and this one is not for the faint-hearted, as it specialises in offal. That’s right — this pretty, inviting-looking space with pink lights contains fridges filled with entrails.

    • UnCivilServant

      Sounds like clerking that store was a job so offal that no one wanted it.

      • Pope Jimbo

        It takes guts to poke Swissy with a pun so bad that he can’t stomach it.

      • juris imprudent

        Maybe it’s the stench that makes him narrow his gaze?

      • UnCivilServant

        We’ll just spleen to him what’s going on.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Make sure to add an appendix to your explanation and cite all your references.

      • Animal

        :

      • Nephilium

        I can’t believe you have the gall to do this.

      • Tejicano

        I tried to figure a witty pun to add to this train but all the good ones have already been taken.

        I’m gutted.

      • Agent Cooper

        I’m sure he has the intestinal fortitude to carry on.

    • Sensei

      JFC, given the declining fertility and cost for low skilled labor there has always been a preference for automation (i.e. the economic term “capital”).

      Aside from creating Gundam and creepy robot maids it’s one of the reason Japan keeps looking so much at robots as much as it does human nurses from the Philippines.

      • Sensei

        The JFC – was aimed at the press and not you Pope Jimbo

      • Pope Jimbo

        *slowly uncurls from fetal position*
        *wipes tear stains from face*
        You guys like me! You really like me!

      • Fourscore

        It may be a trap, Jimbo! Why would anyone li….

  45. The Late P Brooks

    They weren’t just collecting viruses for study, which is a defensible area of research, they were altering the viruses to make them more pathogenic and virulent, aka “gain-of-function.”

    Gain-of-function has been one of Fauci’s (and Collins’) pet research areas for a while and warnings from a number of virologists and epidemiologists have been studiously ignored for years.

    There is a whole “public health” doomsday cult subculture devoted to gaming out superpandemics. They get themselves all aquiver running simulations in which tens of millions of people die from fantastically lethal and utterly unstoppable viruses.

    Then they tell their governments they need more money.

      • Nephilium

        I was expecting this.

      • EvilSheldon

        Sad, I used to love that game.

        There are some other ones that use a similar rule base though.

      • Nephilium

        Never been a big fan of co-op games. Played a couple of them, and they seem much better suited to solo play on a computer.

      • robc

        Agreed. A co-op game in which player choice was truly the players choice with methodology to limit discussion would be great. Like, you can only talk if your players are adjacent to each other, or something.

        And some fog of war, so you wouldn’t always know where your teammates are.

    • Pope Jimbo

      That was Osterholm’s gig for years and years. It got so bad they finally canned him from the Minnesoda dept of Health. Until this pandemic hit, he was stuck up in Duluth as an obscure professor.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    Early in the outbreak, which China did not appropriately warn the world about, Chinese officials blamed transmission on an early hotspot, a seafood market in Wuhan, although that seems now to be essentially a lie, according to Metzl.
    In fact, there’s ample evidence the Chinese government tried to cover the existence of the virus up. In February, CNN published a look at whistleblowers and truthtellers who warned of the virus as it was taking hold, and who paid the price. Some have gone missing, others have been detained by Chinese authorities, while others contracted and died from Covid.
    That report includes a timeline of warnings from doctors in China compared to inaction by the government.
    “Whatever the origin of the pandemic, that first month when China was spending all of its energy trying to cover things up rather than fix the problem, that was what allowed the stove fire to become a kitchen fire to become a house fire to become a world fire,” Metzl said.

    It’s easier to cover up your pandemic when it doesn’t actually kill that many people.

    • Not Adahn

      Bats are seafood? Man the Talmud makes no sense at all.

      • UnCivilServant

        Only if they catch fish like the seabirds do.

        /lent rules

      • Pope Jimbo

        Who did you borrow the rules to? And when will they return them?

    • Tejicano

      China continues to berate any person or organization which repeats the idea that this virus was accidentally leaked from a lab in Wuhan.

      So I am starting to wonder if this might possibly be correct. Maybe the truth is that it wasn’t an accident.

      • Sensei

        I’m about 90% it leaked from the lab.

        It wasn’t some bio-weapon, but some lab leak. I’ve no idea if it was natural and simply a leak of a specimen or if it was something they messed with.

      • rhywun

        I’m leaning about 50% it was intentional at this point. Maybe not even the CCP – although I wouldn’t put it past them – hell, maybe just a disgruntled individual.

        We’ll never know so it’s “fun” to speculate.

      • Ownbestenemy

        My Bingo card has: accidental, modified on purpose

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        ???

  47. Pope Jimbo

    CPRM there is a free pair of fancy shoes and a nice hand bag loose in your neck of the woods.

    May 24 (UPI) — A private zoo in Wisconsin said an alligator might be on the loose in the area after apparently escaping from his enclosure.

    Doc’s Zoo at Doc’s Harley Davidson in Bonduel, Shawano County, said an alligator named Rex was discovered to be missing from his enclosure on Saturday.

    Steve “Doc” Hopkins, the owner of the zoo, said Rex has been at the facility for 35 years and is “typically very docile” and unlikely to pose a danger to the public.

    “He doesn’t go hunt for his food. He’s never had to do that, I don’t even think he knows how,” Hopkins told WLUK-TV.

    The zoo said in a Facebook post that Rex “has severe arthritis in his jaws making it very difficult to open his mouth more than an inch.”

    When you do catch Rex, remember that problem he has with his jaw and restrain yourself to “just the tip”.

    • Ownbestenemy

      They definitely trained for a marathon. I applaud them for their stamina.

  48. Surly Knott

    The bad news about Gretchen Whitmer keeps piling up.
    What a shame /sarc

    • Ownbestenemy

      Couldn’t have happened to a nicer, more benign and benevolent ruler.

    • rhywun

      What difference, at this point, does it make?

    • Ownbestenemy

      So forsake your religion…that will not bring out the zealots at all.

    • rhywun

      I am shocked.

      • Sensei

        But NYC is so “tolerant” unlike those places in the middle of the country.

      • Rat on a train

        Yes. This advice only applies to Jews traveling in Republican neighborhoods.

  49. Hyperion

    Does anyone work?

    Rand believes Fauci committed perjury.

    Corporate media is the enemy of the people.

    Look, we got rid of bad orange man, right? Why do you people keep asking so many questions? It worked!

    • Ownbestenemy

      Im paying attention to glibs while I participate in a safety panel for some new system getting implemented here at Vegas. Safety First!

  50. Hyperion

    “Absolutely repugnant.”

    We got rid of orange bad man, it worked! Why all the questions? Is’nt a few minor inconveniences and little white lies a small price for saving our democracy?