Friday Morning Links

by | Jun 4, 2021 | Daily Links | 384 comments

    Reading (the first page) is fun-damental!

Poor LeBron.  Oh well, now he can dedicate more time to reading those books he’s always taking selfies with with him on the first chapter. Now if the Nets can also get bounced, this would be a hilarious postseason. I watched a full hockey game last night for the first time in a long time. And I gotta say, it was enjoyable.  I still miss some of the physical play, but what can you do? Anyway, I may watch more. And last but not least, Johnny Football Fuckface is going all-in on bridge burning. And I’m here for it.  You go, you lovable loser! And that’s sports.

Take off those gold pants. Gold pants are for winners.

One of the many men who helped in the founding of the United States, King George III, was born on this day.  The dude that got bitch-slapped by a bunch of farmers shares it with hovercraft inventor Christopher Cockerell, sex therapist Dr Ruth Westheimer, baseball manager John McNamara, actor Bruce Dern, pro wrestling legend Gorilla Monsoon, pitcher Art Mahaffey, actor Keith David, baseball player Tony Pena, infielder Kurt Stillwell, catcher Scott Servais, actor Noah Wyle, actor Russel Brand, the lovely Angelina Jolie, and super-sexy Bar Rafaeli.

That list was weak as hell.  Anyway, on to…the links!

Oh, shut the fuck up. I swear, anything to keep people living in fear will make it to the top of the pile at CNN. Newsflash, assholes: we’re over it.

So verifying that an election was legitimate is “unsustainable for democracy”? You know, even when the rules for how an election are held are basically thrown out the window? Ok, sure thing.

California is pretty much at full-retard. And this isn’t even about that housing proposal (which I’ll probably get to later).

Boss

Not all heroes wear capes. Some of them wear unbuttoned polo shirts and almost certainly douse themselves in Drakkar Noir.

I’m pretty sure this will get overturned, but seriously…WTF? Our system of trials is part of what separates us from some very bad regimes. Allowing this ruling to stand will set an awful precedent, regardless of the defendant.

Forced association is not free association, asshole.

Here’s a novel idea: drop out and go somewhere else. Also, Title IX doesn’t apply, you idiots. Well, it shouldn’t. But I’m sure some judge will interpret it based on “intent” rather than, you know, the actual text of it. Also, Title IX shouldn’t exist.

Apparently I missed this insanity a month ago. It started making the rounds yesterday on Twitter, and I gotta say…it’s the stupidest thing I’ve seen in a while. Which, if you’ve clicked through any of my CNN links lately you’ll understand, is saying something. Sadly, I bet people line up to “take advantage of this wonderful program”. Idiots.

The pressure is on! Let’s see if Manchin cracks or not.  I bet he does. Which means this will become the law of the land until the court steps in and points out that the federal government has no oversight on state election processes. Or until the court punts like it always does on plain constitutional issues where the government oversteps its authority.

Man, this is such a great song. And the video does it justice. Just four guys who you wouldn’t expect to rock out as hard as they are…rocking the absolute fuck out of shit. Awesome. Enjoy it.

Now get out there and have a great day and an even better weekend, friends!

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

384 Comments

  1. Tres Cool

    Yo Sloop.

    suh’ fam ?

    • sloopyinca

      He-yo!!!!!!!!!!

      Sorry for the depressathon with the links. They’re worse than the hemorrhoid I had yesterday that apparently ruptured some time while I was in the waiting room at the car dealership, leading to much embarrassment. I can’t go back now. The last time I was there, I accidentally farted and my salesman caught the sound and gave me a look that said “I know what you just did”, and now this? Now I gotta drive an extra 30 minutes to the next-closest dealer.

      Shit.

      • AlexinCT

        Sounds like a pain in the ass problem…

      • sloopyinca

        The pain subsided. But at the expense of a nice pair of shorts and (probably) more than one person thinking I was a tranny on xis period.

      • AlexinCT

        Bitching man… You prolly will be offered a Biden admin job now…

      • Festus

        Asstra?

      • Swiss Servator

        Well played, Northerner. Well played.

      • Tres Cool

        “…actor Russel Brand…”

        Im on the fence with that guy. No doubt he’s lib to the core, but some of the interviews Ive seen (Rogan et al) he seems very smart.

        “…almost certainly douse themselves in Drakkar Noir.”

        Ah, the 90s.
        /hides Drakkar that’s still on my dresser

      • Festus

        It has probably evaporated down to be 100% effective, 60% of the time.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Fahrenheit FTW. Still like it even if the EU has castrated colognes.

  2. robc

    Re: Moody’s

    Why would they wait two years?

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      To make sure there was enough “damage” to “justify” the lawsuit.

      This kind of thing was inevitable. Eventually it will succeed. That will be the final nail in the free association coffin, eliminating the “wink wink, nudge nudge” freedom of religion backdoor to freedom of association.

      • robc

        I didn’t read the whole article, maybe I misunderstood. I thought Moody’s waited 2 years before they started questioning her. If I misread, ignore my question.

      • leon

        Needs to be called “religious freedom loophole”

        Over the last year I’ve become astounded by how fundamentalist and repressive the American public is. It seems to be a generally held belief that it’s ok for the state to prohibit anyones religious activity or choices. the idea being that it’s not a violation of conscience to tell someone that can’t act according to their beliefs, as long as you say it’s legal to still believe something, you just can’t do anything about it.

      • sloopyinca

        I knew religious freedom was dead in this country when the left leaders all said “nobody is saying you can’t pray during the pandemic. You can pray at home. You just can’t go to church.”
        They know fellowship is an important part of the religious experience for a majority of religious people. They know it and simply don’t care that the free exercise clause exists.

      • Festus

        That’s what bothered me. I’m an atheist but freedom of association is hard-baked into your Constitution. What the fuck is going on here?

      • Not Adahn

        Listen you stupid redneck, freedom of religion means freedom FROM religion! Keep your stupid racist sexist homophobia out of public and do it behind closed doors like you do your sister you inbred trumpalo!

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        At least a federal case was made of it. Thanks, Trump! And South Bay Pentecostal Church’s lawyers, clergy, parishioners, and donors.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        it’s not a violation of conscience

        I’d be surprised if many people got that far in the analysis. Most of these people are illiberal and hold freedom of conscience in contempt.

      • juris imprudent

        You shouldn’t be free to believe bad things.

    • Raven Nation

      Yeah, IF the article is accurate, I think Moody screwed up here. She’d completed the program, passed all the classes, etc. THEN the school decided to block her graduation solely because she’s gay.

      I’m not talking about the law here because I don’t know it. But that’s some BS

      • juris imprudent

        Read the whole thing – they didn’t block her graduation. She got her diploma.

        She has NO TORT.

  3. The Late P Brooks

    Safety board staff member Eric Berg said the proposed rules incorporate the latest scientific evidence and have been reviewed and supported by the state Department of Public Health.

    They recognize key differences between employees and the public at large, including that employees have “longer cumulative exposures” in the workplace than with casual social contact, Berg said.

    Allowing some to wear masks and others to go unmasked would create significant enforcement issues for employers and Cal/OSHA, Berg said.

    The single most important thing to consider is the convenience of the regulators.

    • Nephilium

      Allowing some to wear masks and others to go unmasked would create significant enforcement issues for employers and Cal/OSHA, Berg said.

      Who doesn’t want to wear the ribbon mask?

    • blackjack

      We just had a safety meeting where we discussed some particular brand of grease. In it, they said, ” this product does not fall under CA prop 65.” I had to stop them and ask for verification. You mean there’s something in CA that actually doesn’t cause cancer?

      • Rat on a train

        Even the warning labels cause cancer.

      • db

        Helium

      • Not Adahn

        It doesn’t, but the container it’s packaged in does.

      • Sensei

        Heck I’d think lard has a Prop 65 warning.

      • juris imprudent

        Warning lard causes Lena Dunham.

      • Tres Cool

        DONT KINK SHAME ME!

      • juris imprudent

        If your dick gets hard for that, you’re dead to me.

      • Chafed

        Ew.

  4. robc

    Schumer does realize that if he pushed Manchin too hard, he becomes minority leader, right?

    At some point, Manchin will realize his best chance at reelection is to flip parties. I would think McConnell would be more than willing to make it worthwhile for him.

    • sloopyinca

      I’d agree, but I think Manchin is done after this term.

      • robc

        That was the other possibility. I know he won’t be reelected as a Dem, but wasn’t sure if he wanted to run again. If he is gonna retire, he won’t flip parties.

    • Nephilium

      But does Manchin have the testicular fortitude and ferrous spine to withstand being called the worst possible thing in today’s world? He would immediately become a racist nazi!

  5. The Late P Brooks

    Blue Wave on the rocks?

    Major pushback on how the progressive Left sees American history is also brewing. Americans by and large remain patriotic, including the poor and working class. This patriotism stands in stark contrast to the prevailing view among progressives, which casts America as the intrinsically and irredeemably evil spawn of slaveholders and racists. This simply does not constitute a popular program to the middle and lower classes, a gap that could become more and more meaningful—especially as the message of the Left spreads.

    ——-

    Of course, it’s not just Hollywood. Much more consequential—and potentially more disastrous for the Left—has been the attempted takeover of public education, and, with the support of the Biden Administration, attempts to inject critical race theory into secondary school curricula. This has created a mounting pushback in school districts across the nation, many of them voting to ban critical race theory altogether.

    The progressive case also increasingly suffers from its own manifest failures in urban bastions like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago, which have been losing residents and attracting far fewer immigrants while suffering among the poorest job recoveries since the onset of the pandemic. Meanwhile, there’s a clear acceleration of growth in less dense, lower cost “boomtowns” like Nashville, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Austin, Nashville, Columbus and Des Moines.

    ——-

    But it’s climate policy that may prove the most damaging aspect of the Biden agenda, and the one most likely to inspire a significant backlash. Policies pushing massive electrification are likely to accelerate the current surge in energy prices, and these will hit the household bottom line long after the stimulus checks have stopped coming. And this despite the fact that relatively few Americans—barely three percent, Gallup found— view climate as their primary concern and, according to one recent survey, barely one in ten registered voters would spend $100 a month on climate mitigation.

    California provides a precursor for the emerging climate regime. Our state’s fixation on renewable energy, along with the closure of natural gas and nuclear plants, has helped drive the cost of electricity and gas to the highest in the continental U.S. It has also systematically undermined key blue collar industries like energy, construction and manufacturing, which have stagnated or shrunk, while regulations designed for climate reasons have helped boost home prices to the nation’s highest.

    The middle class isn’t going to put up with being fucked over by a bunch of preening socialist save-the-world-ers?

    • AlexinCT

      I still am unsure if that won’t happen. There are too many people that are fine bending the knee.

      • leon

        You don’t need everyone to be courageous.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Yeah, without looking at the source or author, the article reads like a right-winger, possibly even an establishment journo, writing a puff piece on how “we will win the midterms”.

        All that is written is technically true. However, it’s mostly irrelevant. The people fighting CRT in schools didn’t vote Biden. The anti-americanism isn’t turning off all that many democrats. The urban failures aren’t really causing the #walkaway movement to blow up. Climate change legislation? Please. Nobody is changing their vote based on laws that haven’t been passed yet.

        Wishful thinking in print. That’s all it is.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Austin is “lower cost”?

      • Agent Cooper

        Compared to LA, NY, and SF? Yes.

        It’s also a state capital, so it’s more economically resilient than other places. So even if it’s expensive, it’s still more ‘affordable.’ It’s practically a mirror to Columbus, Ohio.

  6. Timeloose

    The music selection is great, but F’off Bono.

    Stephen Morris is a GD machine.

    • sloopyinca

      I fixed the link. Nobody needs to see that dickhead ruin a perfect song/video.

      • Timeloose

        Thanks! Also thanks for the great content every morning. I do appreciate it.

      • sloopyinca

        ::blushes::

      • db

        Yes!

    • Nephilium

      The girlfriend was very excited that she got to meet Bono. I think it was one of the first adults she met that was the same height as her.

      • Tres Cool

        Dustin Hoffman & Tom Cruise haz mutual sadz.

      • Festus

        How many Courics was he?

      • mrfamous

        She would absolutely tower over Glenn Danzig

      • l0b0t

        I saw The Undead at the FSU student union in 1994. Bobby Steele hates him some Glen Danzig and likes to talk all about it. Despite my screaming In ’84 until I was hoarse, they never played it.

  7. Rat on a train

    Win #3 – California taxpayers and state budget that will face only minimal new costs.
    I’ve heard that before.

    • AlexinCT

      How much more money are the feds sending their way to fix their budget problems?

  8. Not Adahn

    “But to see the lack of concern when I expressed the way I was being treated by my peers, the lack of respect, that was just (hard).”

    What word got replaced there by the journalismist?

    • Nephilium

      Turgid?

    • db

      arousing

    • Tundra

      Obsequious? Clairvoyant? Omnipresent?

      • Old Man With Candy

        Purple.

    • Rat on a train

      ego deflating?

    • R C Dean

      Inevitable?

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Seen on the google news:

    NYT headline about Manchin and Sinema’s NIHILISTIC BIPARTISANSHIP!

    Compromising with a bunch of evil racist Nazis who somehow or other have become Senators and Congressmen is going to destroy the world.

    • Count Potato

      Say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism…

  10. leon

    Morning glibs. A short work week that had gone on to long already.

    • Nephilium

      Agreed. But I have had the pleasure of watching someone repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot in an e-mail chain with their leadership. When nearly every response starts with, “As explained previously”, it’s not a good look.

      • db

        Sounds like a few failures there: failure to adequately communicate a concept, failure to understand the concept, and failure to understand that a different strategy of communication is probably called for (by both parties, as applicable).

      • leon

        I hate when two people talk past each other, both unwilling to try to understand the other out of pride of needing to be right.

      • db

        Agreed!

      • Nephilium

        This has been an issue with this department for years now. They kept getting complaints (they’re an internal support department) that no one was answering their phones, and their VM boxes were filled up. So the manager’s response was to say, “We shouldn’t be getting calls, the numbers not publicized any more.” Only to find out that it was the main freaking number listed on their internal support and web page. So they decided to make changes, and have their agents log in. Which the agents didn’t do, nor did they check the mailboxes. So they cleared the mailboxes out, and then neglected to check them for the next several months until they were full and they were getting complaints again.

        Now they want to change the call flow, they sent a half baked version to us near the end of May, and asked if it could be done by June 1st. After three calls, we still don’t have the call flow even documented to begin getting an estimate of the work. It’s getting to the point that even the other internal call center managers/supervisors on the calls are losing their patience with this group.

      • juris imprudent

        Where the hell is the executive with responsibility over those bozos?

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        It’s an internal support team. “Hard to work with” is a feature, not a bug.

        /I keed

      • Nephilium

        If I put on my corporate games hat, I see the changes as a way to remove the position of the person causing the headaches, and migrate the team under them (~12 agents) to be under the greater internal support umbrella (currently ~80 agents). The leader of that greater internal support group has already been exasperated on several calls with the current leader.

      • sloopyinca

        I’m confused. Why doesn’t the head honcho just get them on a group call and say “tighten your shit up or I’m firing every single one of you. We’re paying you. Do your fucking job.” And then hang up.

        That’s how I’d handle it.

      • Not Adahn

        Ugh, such toxicity. I can’t even with this cishet mayo monkey.

      • juris imprudent

        This sounds more like govt than corporate, and granted when a corporation gets to a certain size, it is all but indistinguishable from a govt bureaucracy.

      • Timeloose

        Ugg that sounds awful.

      • Timeloose

        I work with a lot of people that are not native English speakers. I have to routinely stop, ask them if they understand what I have been talking about, and if they could review it with me. Then we discuss and ask questions be for moving on.

        To prevent loss of face of the other person(s) I frame it as my misunderstanding or issues with communication. This also allows them, to feel more involved and also slows down the conversation with the native English speakers, so they don’t dominate the conversation.

        It’s easier with email, as I usually am dealing with a time zone displacement. I respond and clarify every question asked if possible and reframe it before responding. I do this during real time so I can answer during normal business hours for me if possible.

      • Festus

        Ugh. I hate “Please to do the needful” when dealing with my corporate overlords. Text me or E-mail.

      • Nephilium

        All native English speakers on the issue I’m dealing with. I deal with quite a few non native speakers as well, and usually try my best to use no contractions, idioms, or figures of speech.

      • db

        These are really good tactics for dealing with language/intercultural issues. It never hurts to use the “understanding” framing. It works well for me too.

      • AlexinCT

        I have a reputation amongst the non English speaking community as one of the most interesting individuals to work with/for. Stems back from my solution to dealing with the fact the particular country’s culture of never admitting you don’t know or understand something because it makes you look bad. I go tired of being told they knew what was being discussed/asked, and made a rule where anyone that admitted they needed help would get as much of my time as was needed to help them get proficient on the subject, while anyone that told me they knew and then fucked up or turned out not to be able to deliver would get the “Wrath of the Titans” treatment. I only had to go off on 2 people, one of which I then also got replaced after the second time, for the events to become part & parcel of what these contractors teach each newcomer that would be dealing with me.

        Now I have a whole bunch of people that will immediately tell me they need help when they don’t get things, which means I spend a lot of time educating, but I never have to worry about someone claiming they can do the work and never delivering, which reflects far more negatively on me. And the funny thing is they all want to work with/for me. Guess it helps so many of them after working with me went on to get new jobs where they got paid far more, whether it was with the company they were already with, or some new entity. So some days I do feel like I am more of a educator than a technical lead/architect.

      • Sensei

        One thing that has taken me awhile to discover with non-native speakers is to be really blunt. I won’t do this on anything but phone calls or emails only to that one person as I don’t want there to be a misunderstanding.

        The reason is that they sometimes don’t understand either the polite questioning or indirect questioning that we’d use to ask the same question or voice the same concern to a native speaker.

      • Rat on a train

        My wife is a non-native speaker. Even though she has been using English since childhood, she still has trouble with cues, idioms and gendered pronouns. The kids have learned they have to use more direct language with her than me.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    While a majority of speakers at the hearing opposed the proposed rules, the plan was supported by worker advocates and unions including those representing teamsters, machinists, utility workers, engineers, nurses and other health care workers, and school employees.

    “Worksite outbreaks are still occurring,” said Maggie Robbins, occupational health specialist with Worksafe Inc., an Oakland-based worker advocacy group, noting that the majority of Californians are not fully vaccinated.

    “The workplace is not the same as deciding to go to a dinner party or the gym or go to a movie,” she said. “There’s a lot of work to be done before we have a substantially immune population where we can relax more of the controls.”

    “Worker advocates” are the most honest, noble and selfless humans on the planet.

    • Nephilium

      “Worker advocates” are the most honest, noble and selfless humans on the planet.

      Truth check: Mostly false. Worker advocates are behind community organizers.

      • db

        The more prosperous a society/organism, the more parasites.

      • Jarflax

        The more benign the words used to make the job title, the more malign the job.

    • Master JaimeRoberto (royal we/us)

      “Worksite outbreaks are still occurring.”

      Are they? Or did she state this without evidence?

  12. Tundra

    The song nearly negates the awfulness of the lynx. Nearly.

    Good morning, peeps!

    • sloopyinca

      It’s easily a top 10 song for me. Banjos just listened and said “I know it’s your thing, but I just don’t get it.”

      I swear, sometimes I wonder about the mental health of the people I love most dearly.

      • Festus

        Enh, I like some of their stuff but not everything.

      • Tundra

        Yes, it is a good reminder that people can be simultaneously beautiful, intelligent and flat-out wrong.

  13. Timeloose

    CA will own 45% of the home “take advantage of this wonderful program”. Idiots.

    No potential for a new bubble there, no siree. Also giving free money to people to buy a house and continue to restrict new construction by regulation will not create even worse housing shortage and increase prices.

    5 years from now the state will up the % to own the majority of the house, as prices are too high for some reason.

    10 years from now the state owns the house and you live there.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Won’t home prices just essentially double overnight with that arrangement? Seems like the solution would be to make it easier to build.

      • Festus

        “Are you mad?”

      • Timeloose

        Your talking crazy, what about the historical significance of the hippy that once took a dump in this building or the whooping condor that nests in those trees.

    • Rat on a train

      If you think home prices are high now, wait until the state adds a 45% subsidy.

      • Not Adahn

        It worked so well for college tuition!

  14. Sean

    *looks at links*

    Everything is stupid and I hate people.

    Related: I’m done with idiot drivers. I’m reverting to full on Jersey driving style. Fuck everyone and my blinkers no longer work.

    My commute is done with year 1 of a 4 year construction project. 3 more years of hell. Yay.

      • db

        Anyone here know how he splits the various tracks out? Does he have access to the masters, or just some really good software?

      • Timeloose

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IArxakPsPE0

        David Lee Roth

        Great example, I believe this is a software extraction, as you can hear some of the rest of the tracks in the background.

        Plus it sounds funny as hell.

      • db

        I love the little rotary whistles, which I never noticed in the original track.

      • sloopyinca

        That’s honestly the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while. Thank you so much.

      • Festus

        Yeah, I’ve wasted a few good hours watching Rick.

      • Agent Cooper

        I’ve recommended this series as well.

    • Timeloose

      This is a great web series. Stuff like this is why you tube can be great.

      I think he has some friends in the industry as well as great software.

      • Festus

        He does the bass line from “Possum Kingdom” by The Toadies on one video. You can tell that he really digs what he does.

      • db

        That’s hilarious

      • db

        “Try to keep it at like, 1, 1 and a half, to make sure there’s like, no presence on this.”

      • Timeloose

        Get that “Scum Bag Tone and Reverse Crazy Train”. Ha

      • kinnath

        I watched two of them. He is great.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    “We have pockets of this country that have lower rates of vaccination,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. “I worry that this virus is an opportunist and that where we have low rates of vaccination are where we may see it again. And so really the issue now is to make sure we get to those communities as well.”

    Sentient viruses are worse than Illinois Nazis.

    • Rat on a train

      sentient, nazi virus, possibly in Illinois

    • Festus

      Much like Jewish ghettos, we must concentrate the bad-thinkers and cleanse them. It’s the only way toward freedom and safety!

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      They’ve got to dumb it down to appeal to the rubes.

  16. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “Drakkar Noir”

    I was never up to that level, only the classiest of douchebags could pull off drenching themselves in that stuff.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      *hides old bottle of Drakkar from the 90’s*

    • Animal

      I never liked any manner of stinkum on anyone. I think girls smell best when they smell of soap and water.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Hai Karate ftw.

    • AlexinCT

      Azzaro… Spanish fly in a spray bottle!

  17. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Well those are some shitty links.

    • Festus

      You expected good news in Biden?Harris! America? I’ve some dubious chocolate to sell you, half price.

      • sloopyinca

        The chocolate is made from shit, isn’t it? Human shit.

      • Surly Knott

        But look at the Polish on it!

      • Rat on a train

        Festus is the civet of chocolate.

      • Festus

        By the by, I am claiming Biden?Harris! as my own.

    • Tres Cool

      I was dumb enough to watch the video.
      Not only is the dude named Mohammed Nuru, but the reporter is Jaxon Van Derbeken.

      They’re trolling the viewer- those have to be joke names.

      • Festus

        Either one of or The Bee infiltrated the site.

  18. Nephilium

    Well, in local good news. Almost everywhere has removed the one way entry and exit signs, arrows in aisles, and mask mandatory signs (replaced with mask recommended). Local spin studio has gone from about a dozen stationary bikes to over 30 (and brought back lockers and changing rooms) which means classes don’t fill up a week in advance (which makes it much easier to jump in on rainy days). Masking in the grocery store yesterday was at about 15-20% (not counting staff).

    Local fancy cocktail bars are almost all open (waiting on one last one to open, they’re shifting to a patio model), and it looks to be a good weekend to get some rides in to check out how the local businesses are reacting.

    • sloopyinca

      You need to tell the gym to change their locker room policy from Male and Female to Vaxxed/unvaxxed and then use the one with the better looking chicks in it.

      • Nephilium

        It’s a spin studio. I’m one of a handful of guys, and I’ve got about a decade (at least) on most of the students. I don’t want to take over OMWC’s shtick.

      • Festus

        If there’s grass on the lawn, it may be mown…

    • Tres Cool

      At work, we never fucked with the mask-quereade. 3 employees got legit sick, 2 had to be hospitalized even. But nobody else seemed to fall ill.
      Like me, most of them said them were sick AF winter 2019-spring 2020 with some upper respiratory junk. Im betting it was the ‘vid. and we all have antigens now. Short of licking doorknobs and public toilet seats, Ive gone out of my way to get it just so my (80 proof) body can for a natural immune response. No luck.

    • Tres Cool

      Petite.
      She needs some Domino’s and a couple Wendy’s burgers.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Well she has an OnlyFans account now. It’s only a matter of time until the first labia slip and then she moves on to getting chewed up by the homemade porn cycle of increasing deviancy.

      • Festus

        “And that’s what we call a slippery situation!”

  19. Count Potato

    “Minneapolis Police shoot dead armed black man in his car as they serve arrest warrant and cops fire tear gas on protesters furious over the dismantling of George Floyd Square”

    Police in Minneapolis spent the night dispersing rioters with tear gas and responding to reports of looting and vandalism at local businesses after a black man wanted on a warrant was shot dead for allegedly pulling a gun, and barriers were dismantled in George Floyd Square.

    A US Marshals task force moved in on the unnamed suspect, wanted for possession of a firearm by a felon, outside a parking garage at around 2pm on Thursday in the Uptown neighborhood, just three miles away from George Floyd Square.

    The man, who was in a parked car, ‘produced a handgun resulting in task force members firing upon the subject,’ Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department said. Officers attempted to revive the suspect but he was pronounced dead at the scene. ”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9651125/Minneapolis-cops-tear-gas-protesters-lit-FIRES-workers-dismantled-George-Floyd-Square.html

    So was it the Feds, the county constabulary, or the city cops?

    • leon

      “A US Marshals task force moved in on the unnamed suspect,”

      Remember when the US Marshalls were Trump’s personal storm troopers? I remember.

    • db

      Why’d they shoot a dead man?

      • Count Potato

        He was black?

      • AlexinCT

        Just to watch em die.. If it was in Reno..

    • Tres Cool

      “Minneapolis Police shoot dead armed black man in his car…”

      They shot a dead guy ? Those bastards.

      • juris imprudent

        I’m glad I’m not the only one who read it that way.

      • Festus

        His poor dead arms…

      • Rat on a train

        he just flew in

      • Not Adahn

        US Marshals task force moved in on suspect, wanted for possession of a firearm by a felon, outside a parking garage at around 2pm on Thursday in the Uptown neighborhood, 3 miles away from George Floyd Square

        Only THREE MILES away from St. George Floyd Square Autonomous Zone!

        Don’t Brits think that three miles is a significant distance?

      • Tres Cool

        Well, its 5 km to those people.
        Wait…do they do distance in miles and temperatures in ºC ? Or is it weight in kg/stone and not pounds ?

        They drive on the wrong side of the road, regardless.

      • Tres Cool

        Why are Chuck Norris and the US Marshas (+2 Marsha) getting called in on a warrant, for felon in possession ?
        Im not looking up his sheet, but Im betting non of them are Federal crimes.

      • Rat on a train

        It impacts interstate commerce.

    • Pope Jimbo

      The deceased felon was supposed to do 48 months in jail for aggravated robbery, but 36 months was stayed by a judge. That was why this guy was on the streets.

      I grew up with the judge who stayed the sentence. Great guy and very smart. He may be a bit lenient when it comes to sentencing though.

      • Tundra

        Uptown got looted pretty good. Not sure if you already follow it, but CrimeWatchMpls does a pretty good job.

  20. leon

    So yesterday it was on the local news that the SL County school board had a kiddie pr0n enthusiast. He was arrested, but the board was asking him to resign, I guess because they have no mechanism to remove him themselves?

    • R C Dean

      School boards are usually elected, so board members typically can’t be fired.

    • Count Potato

      That was a blow job while listening to Juan Atkins, not a blow job from Juan Atkins, just to be…. clear.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I read it as a blowjob from Juan Williams.

        Whatever blows your skirt up.

    • Ownbestenemy

      What did Barron Trump have to do with the story? AI headlines are the worst.

    • Agent Cooper

      Did he sound slurpy?

  21. sloopyinca

    Anybody here spend any time in a Maserati Granturismo? I’m seriously considering trading the Boxster in for one but I’m still a little uneasy about buying an Italian car.
    I’m going to go drive one today after the bloody shorts and fart episodes at the Porsche dealership over the last month.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      bloody shorts and fart episodes at the Porsche dealership

      I hate it when that happens.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        *looks upthread*

        Ahhhh, I see.

        You need the rubberband treatment.

    • Tres Cool

      You have a boxster ? Did it come with a tampon case and place to stow your purse ?

      • sloopyinca

        Don’t underestimate it. It’s an incredibly fun car. And I never intended to keep it for very long…just long enough to see if I really wanted a 911. But now I’m thinking of ditching that idea (I went to the dealer to drive one yesterday but they sold it a few hours before I got there because I didn’t call ahead) and getting a drop top Maserati.

    • Gustave Lytton

      No, but i heard they do 185mph.

      • sloopyinca

        I hope I don’t lose my license.

      • robc

        do you have a limo and ride in the back?

      • sloopyinca

        Yep. keep the doors locked at all times, too.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Maseratis are notoriously unreliable even for Italian cars but I’d bet you’re already aware. As long as you know what you’re getting into I guess.

      • sloopyinca

        All my research says they’ve become a lot more reliable in the last decade or so. The big complaint now is a lack of tech in the infotainment system relative to German carmakers. And I can live with that trade off for the sweet engine noise it’ll generate.

      • Count Potato

        Or go the other way and buy a 356. It’s basically a fast beetle, so very easy to fix. It’s also likely to go up in value, unlike buying a new anything.

      • Tres Cool

        Tres Ver. 2.0 will be of driving age in a couple years, and he thinks he likes to turn wrenches. Ive mentioned this previously on here but Im constantly looking for a project car/kit for us to work on together.

      • db

        That sounds like a great project. I’ve known several father/son duos who have restored and/or built airplanes, and it’s a great bonding experience for them.

      • Count Potato

        I’m not a fan of replicas. Kit cars are often a PITA, and have don’t have much resale value.

      • R C Dean

        The big complaint now is a lack of tech in the infotainment system

        That’s a legit feature, not bug, to me. I want (a) satellite radio, (b) Bluetooth connection with my phone for music and audiobooks, and (c) Bluetooth connection to my phone for hands-free phone calls. That’s it. Anything more than that falls on the spectrum from “don’t care” to “hate”.

      • db

        Same here. I don’t even care about the satellite radio.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I’ve given up on it all. I’d like physical buttons and dials. Such things are hard to track down in newer cars unless you want a base model of a cheap car. Touchscreens and capacitive buttons suck when you’re going 75 mph down the road and you want to turn the temperature down a click.

        I want my phone to connect to the car audio system. I want to be able to display maps from my phone on the screen. I want to be able to see the rear view camera on the screen. Beyond that, everything else is of limited value or an outright reduction in value.

      • R C Dean

        I don’t even want a screen. I can do maps straight from my phone. My rear view camera shows up in my rearview mirror – its small, but big enough.

    • Sensei

      They depreciate like a rock and parts are expensive.

      I’d never buy one new. If you are ok with parts prices I’d consider.

      I’d pick a a Cayman personally. I guess that’s the maxipad to the Boxster, however.

      • Tundra

        Second the Cayman. It’s a terrific car and IMO way cooler than the 911.

      • Bobarian LMD

        The GTS versions of both the Boxster and Cayman are in super-car country of performance.

      • Sensei

        Given unlimited funds that’s the one I’d pick.

    • prolefeed

      You might consider test driving the top of the line Corvette instead. For way less money, 755 HP versus the Maserati’s measly 454 HP. I’m guessing the handling might be comparable.

      • Tundra

        You can’t get them, though.

      • Tres Cool

        I agree with both of you. I was a long-time subscriber to Car & Driver and they would have an annual “best bang for your buck” article. GM’s corvette, for the money, easily kept up with the best “super cars”.

      • prolefeed

        If you want a super reliable sports car at half the price with more HP than the Maserati (471 versus 454), the Lexus LC 500 is their top dog. Basically a Toyota, but if the hood emblem isn’t what you care about …

      • sloopyinca

        If I’m being totally honest, I’ll admit that the badge does matter. Yes, it’s vain but I don’t care. If my and Banjos’s daily drivers are both Porsches, I’m not gonna have my toy be a Lexus. It feels like going backwards, for some reason.

        Yes, I’m petty.

      • sloopyinca

        OK, off to the dealership. Wish me luck.

      • sloopyinca

        Hard pass. I have zero interest whatsoever in anything made by GM. The new Vette is pretty, but I don’t buy new cars ever. And I’m not waiting three or four years for the first of the mid-engines to hit the used market at a substantial discount.

        Also, I need/want a convertible, so the Cayman is out. There’s a ’97 911 for sale at another dealer I may go look at, just because I would really like an air-cooled one, but part of me wants to mix it up a little in the driveway, which is what’s drawing me to the wop cars.

      • db

        Anything keeping you away from the M series? I covet an M5, but my money goes to finishing this airplane, for the time being.

      • db

        oh, convertible required.

      • Not Adahn

        You can get M versions of 3, 4, Z, and 6- series convertibles.

      • db

        I feel like the M Sport badge is not quite the same unless it’s on a sedan. Not the same handling.

      • sloopyinca

        Thought about a used 650i. I can’t come close to affording an M6. The lines aren’t as sleek. It looks like a mobster’s car, not a playboy’s. I’d rather have the playboy’s car.

        The convertible component somewhat limits my options, and I’m ok with that. Banjos is fired up for a new 6-series with the gigantic buck-tooth grille. But I am not paying for a first-year version of a new car. Even from BMW.

      • R C Dean

        Banjos is fired up for a new 6-series with the gigantic buck-tooth grille.

        I saw one earlier this week, and my first thought was “That’s hideous”.

      • Sensei

        I used to love BMW. Now we have a brand where on a certain M car rod bearings are just a regular wear item.

      • Not Adahn

        I used to love BMW too, but their fun/price ratio went to shit. Really liking my WRX STI, but I’ve got to admit it looks like something a 14 year old would draw on his notebook cover.

      • Sensei

        Yeah, I’ll take the occasional head gasket to what BMW considers the new “normal” for wear and tear.

        Your Subaru looks tame compared to the new Civic Si. I think the Honda is brilliant and I’m OK with it being front drive, but I can’t get over the styling. And I detest non-functional ornamentation of which I think the Si leads the pack with all of those fake vents.

      • Contrarian P

        What airplane are you building? I’m working on a Glastar project.

      • hoof_in_mouth

        I’m not db but just finished a Zenith 750, working on an article about it.

      • db

        I’m working on an RV-10, currently on fuselage assembly.

      • Not Adahn

        Also, I need/want a convertible

        Yup. When I lived in TX, the only time I put the top up on my Z3 was when it was raining.

      • Mojeaux

        I love the 1976 Stingray. I have since I was a kid. Otherwise, I was meh on Corvettes–until we toured the Corvette factory in Bowling Green. I didn’t want to go, but I loved it!

      • Sensei

        That’s called the C3 generation. I prefer that generation earlier with the vertical back window instead of the hatchback and the so called “chrome bumpers”. The bumpers are much smaller and better proportioned to the car instead of the built in bumpers. GM had no choice as it had to meet the 5 MPH crash standard.

    • PieInTheSky

      I don’t have the money tree in my backyard sadly

      • Festus

        Your Grandma has a pear tree, right? When we’re wiping our bums with dollar bills that must mean something!

      • PieInTheSky

        I am not in possession of a Grandma

      • Tres Cool
      • Festus

        Wow! That was awful, even for you.

      • sloopyinca

        Go plant some pennies.

      • Festus

        Plant some buttons and grow a fitted tuxedo!

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Party of Wealth Envy

    Perhaps the biggest issue for Democrats is that once they are more fully engaged on tax increases, they’ll find they have almost zero margin in Congress with which to pass this latest vision of big government.

    All this has left progressives increasingly impatient with any Democrats worried about the political implications of big tax hikes, especially given how consistently polling shows voters like tax increases on the rich and corporations.

    And if Democrats don’t seize the moment right now, progressives are concerned that there’s no telling when the party might get another shot to directly address income inequality and what they view as a tax code too tilted toward wealthy interests.

    Democratic Socialism is wildly popular. Just ask a Democratic political consultant. If not now, when?

    • juris imprudent

      The people will rally to us as we lead them over this cliff. Have no fear!

      • Festus

        Repubs just need Kyrsten Sinema to cross the aisle and then cross her legs in a Senate hearing, repeatedly.

    • sloopyinca

      Eh, I hope he doesn’t do anything about it. We need less regulation, not more.

      • Count Potato

        Isn’t granting big tech special protections a sort of regulation?

      • sloopyinca

        To a degree, yes. But I fear Little Marco’s solution would be more, not less.

      • Akira

        Knowing the Republican Party, it would be something really stupid that doesn’t even begin to solve the problem, then it would poison the public against the whole idea, and they would forever believe that we must let Big Tech do whatever they want.

      • AlexinCT

        ^^^THIS^^^

      • juris imprudent

        Marco is the perfect answer to Boehner’s bullshit about smaller-govt Republicans. Little fuck is all over sugar subsidies, DoD and paternalistic federal govt. What a shitstain in Johnny-boy’s boxers.

    • kbolino

      Gosh, if only you held some sort of political office that could do something about it.

      To what end?

      Better to realize who the enemy is and what they’re up to than to pretend the government, already captured by the same forces that control those five companies, is going to do anything good about it.

      The best you can hope to come out of legislation is controlled opposition, which is worse than the status quo.

  23. Tres Cool

    I dont know why, but someone linked a Tom whats-his-name song in the previous article. That caused some long-dead and alcohol-soaked synapse of mine to fire-up and think about the only Todd Rundgren song I find tolerable and even a bit enjoyable.

    Cheers.

    • Tres Cool

      (featuring Bobby Womack)

    • Timeloose

      Tom, my voice is made of a gravel truck, Waits

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Costco yesterday; masks optional. There were even a few employees without masks. I bet the Karen Army haz a sad.

    And, of course, the checkout lines were stupidly long. Because why would you focus on getting people checked out as quickly as possible so they don’t spend time in close proximity, if you really believe in the Doomsday Germ?

    *I looked at the lines, picked up my eye drops at the pharmacy, and bailed. There wasn’t anything I needed enough to stand in that line for.

    • PieInTheSky

      but I thought you had to pay membership for that. Why pay if you don’;t buy much? Although I understand they also had cheap gas, I think I read somewhere

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Only $60/year.

      • Festus

        Yup, membership fee gets rolled over every year and we get cheaper gas. In order to get the benefits I’d need to go to (shudders) Costco. Judi goes every two weeks. I remember being really pissed that the only people that could attain membership 30 years ago were business owners and public service union members. We get more back than we pay in but we also buy too much of everything.

      • Ownbestenemy

        We have narrowed our shopping list for Costco. Bread, rice, meats and vodka (for a store named brand at 12/bucks, makes do for what it is)

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        No Costco delivery in Canadia?

      • Ownbestenemy

        $3.65 at a corner gas station here in Vegas while Costco and Sam’s Club is $3.06

        So yeah for the business it is worth it plus two teens that eat everything in sight

    • Rat on a train

      There were even a few employees without masks.
      I went to Lowe’s this week. The checkout employee had his mask pulled down under his chin.

      • Sean

        Lowes regional guy stopped in the other day to chat.

        Walked right in, no mask, and shook my hand.

      • Festus

        I hope you dunked that hand in the bucket of Hydrogen Peroxide that you keep close by.

    • prolefeed

      The self checkout lines at Costco move way faster than the regular lines, rarely more than 0 to 3 minutes wait. Sometimes the attendant will scan groceries for you there.

      Still about 2:1 masked versus unmasked there.

      • Ownbestenemy

        At ours here they do all the scanning for us in the self-checkout and it moves fast, real fast that way. No need to uncart and box/cart.

    • Mojeaux

      I haven’t been outside in days, much less gone to any stores, but I have to go to the doctor today, so I am sure I will be wearing a mask there like everybody else.

  25. creech

    I didn’t see it but heard that the “Today” show folks were mildly critical of St. Fauci this morning. Give it another week or two and TMITE will be in full throated cry about how OMB foisted the evil Fauci on the American people and unnecessarily ruined the great economy that St. Barack had passed on to OMB. Biden will claim that he fought heroically against evil Fauci for 40 years but the GOP controlled Senate was too busy passing white supremacy legislation to do anything about it.

    • Festus

      That’s not even a fever dream, Friend.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Nope he was sainted and right now for the Dems they are going for the doddering old man just being old as hip and cool.

  26. PieInTheSky

    I found out I am less a Lakers fan than I though because I don’t give a shit they lost. At all. Honestly I will be more upset when the Clippers beat the Mavericks.

    • Festus

      Why the fuck do you care about cheater-ball?

      • PieInTheSky

        I like playing it as a yute

      • Agent Cooper

        College basketball is infinitely more enjoyable and interesting than the hot garbage that is the NBA.

  27. PieInTheSky

    3 weeks after mask mandates were removed for outside in Bucharest I estimate about 20% of people still wear masks on the streets. What I find strange is teenagers and couples where only one is wearing the mask (more often the man)

    • Not Adahn

      The chick is embarrassed by how ugly her dude is.

      • juris imprudent

        Updated version of the old dog joke?

    • rhywun

      Masks have never been required outdoors in NYC except that six-feet distance horseshit.

      Probably 90% of folks on the street are wearing them at all times.

      I had to wear one to commute this week and the thing gets funky and disgusting in our extreme humidity within ten minutes.

    • Agent Cooper

      We’ve trained young people to be perpetual victims.

    • Festus

      That’s a tamed bear until it isn’t anymore.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        “You all can call me Lefty.”

  28. The Late P Brooks

    They depreciate like a rock and parts are expensive.

    I’d never buy one new.

    Seriously. A three year old Maserati is probably 20% of list price, and I still wouldn’t buy one. But I’m crazy.

    I’d buy something like a mid-80s M6.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Second the Cayman. It’s a terrific car and IMO way cooler than the 911.

    mid-engine > rear-engine

  30. wdalasio

    Isn’t granting big tech special protections a sort of regulation?

    At this point, I’m inclined to agree. As far as I can tell, Section 230 protection had a reasonable and legitimate goal. Control and responsibility are and should be intimately tied. And if a platform doesn’t or shouldn’t have control over what is posted, it’s perfectly reasonable to say they aren’t responsible for it. But, the social media giants are obviously playing fast and loose with these rules, trying to play the role of Schroedinger’s company, simultaneously both a publisher with control (for editorial decisions) and a platform with no control (for liability). Well, yeah, well, that’s BS. If they can decide whether Bad Orange Man is allowed to post of if they are able to decide to remove content saying that COVID might have originated in a Chinese lab, they can perfectly well control whether libel is posted or if IP laws are infringed. And, at this point, I don’t particularly give a tinker’s damn what it does to their business model. If your business model doesn’t hold up to obeying the same laws as the rest of mankind, maybe you need to reconsider your business model.

    • Count Potato

      Yes, and by publishing their own “warnings” about what and what isn’t true is definitely publishing.

      It would be like if I sent you an email, “Dave is an idiot” and the ISP added a little note ” * actually, Dave has a degree from Harvard (!)”

      • AlexinCT

        This analogy is inaccurate. It would be more like you saying that based on Dave’s comments he has shown he is a fucking retard with no clue, and the ISP overriding you to tell the people that the problem is you, because Dave belongs to the right political ideology they want to pedlle.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Section 230 was primarily created as protection for hosting services that had no control over what was on the servers in their facilities.

      At the time, there was no Facebook, Google, or equivalent.

      • wdalasio

        I understand. But, those hosting services don’t have control over content. The social media giants are trying to contend that the same protections granted hosting services apply to them while controlling content.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I agree. I was just drawing the distinction on why 230 was created and how the social media providers are abusing it.

        230 was so that a hosting facility provider wouldn’t go to jail because one of their clients stored kiddie porn on a virtual machine.

      • kbolino

        But, those hosting services don’t have control over content.

        Bullshit. AWS took down Parler because of its content (though I wouldn’t be surprised if they really did it because some three-letter agency told them to). Old-school ISPs ran moderated discussion boards, indeed part of the competition between AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe back in the day was over their own offerings. Pre-cloud shared hosting providers just gave you a folder to copy some files to via FTP, but they reserved the right to shut you down if they didn’t like how you used the service.

        Nothing Twitter does is that novel.

      • Count Potato

        The difference there is that they weren’t arbiters of truth.

      • kbolino

        The real difference is that the Internet was a place for nerds back then, and now not only is it used by normies too, they far outnumber the nerds. The transition happened in the late oughts/early tens. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it has placed major Internet sites under the scrutiny of the cultural gatekeepers.

    • kbolino

      This is not what Section 230 does. This is not how it works, this is not how it has been applied in the courts, this is not what the statute even says. No company has been let off the hook for its own statements because of Section 230. There is no distinction in this law between a “platform” and a “publisher” that says any company can’t be both.

      Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does two things:

      1. Interactive computer services cannot be held liable in civil court for the otherwise legal content they may host that was posted by others
      2. Operators of interactive computer services are allowed and in fact encouraged to moderate the content posted by others for basically whatever reasons they deem fit, and their choice to moderate and how they moderate does not in any way affect the aforementioned liability shield

      There is no special protection, it does not uniquely protect Twitter, and though it may be a part of their business model, it is just as much a part of Glibertarians’ “business model” insofar as it allows SP and OMWC to run the site on a shoestring budget without having to worry that one of us might defame someone and bring the site operators into a multi-million dollar judgment.

      There remains this pervasive belief that FAANG and company are getting away with murder and Section 230 is the reason why but it’s just not true. The real protection Twitter enjoys comes from their close and cozy relationship with the academy, media, and government. To the extent Section 230 as written is honored, it is a far greater protection of little podunk outfits like this one than it is of megacorps like Twitter.

      • wdalasio

        Looking at the CDA language here, I see nothing supporting your second claim. And if that’s the case, then we’re left with a simple question – does curation and editorial control define participation in content creation? I would say they do. There’s a reason, editors are cited in anthologies, to cite just one example.

      • kbolino

        The EFF only cares about the first bullet; R C Dean below quoted the exact part of the law that covers the second bullet.

      • kbolino

        does curation and editorial control define participation in content creation?

        This is an interesting question, and I think it would be difficult to extricate the two. I think there is a valid claim that Twitter misrepresents itself: it is not an open platform for the participation of all and the sharing of ideas; it is a curated platform for the participation of some and the reinforcement of certain ideas. The key point though is that both of those things are equally permissible under Section 230. Twitter’s problem is its owners’ and operators’ dishonesty.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Just to be clear, I don’t in any way “run the site.” SP does the engine room work, but the site is run by the Glibertarians Foundation, and neither of us are officers, board members, or anything else. Sloopy is chairman (I think) and Swiss is General Counsel.

        “Shoestring” is a generous way of describing things- we are absolutely shitty libertarians for not monetizing the site. The foundation brings in enough from your generous donations to keep the site up, not enough to actually pay someone to do the grunt work. The leftover scraps are donated to organizations fighting the good fight (like IJ.org). This of course makes us essentially judgement-proof. And unlike Reason, SP is ready and willing to nuke everything if we ever get subpoenaed to reveal ANY information about the posters.

      • Tundra

        Ha! Guessed it!

      • PutridMeat

        Reminds me to go to that donation button. Oh, and I have to renew the monthly IJ contribution.

      • kbolino

        Fair enough, I did not mean to misrepresent how this site works.

      • R C Dean

        Operators of interactive computer services are allowed and in fact encouraged to moderate the content posted by others for basically whatever reasons they deem fit, and their choice to moderate and how they moderate does not in any way affect the aforementioned liability shield

        The statute says:

        (1) Treatment of publisher or speaker

        No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.

        (2) Civil liability

        No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of—

        (A) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected; or

        (B) any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers or others the technical means to restrict access to material described in paragraph (1).

        The first section worked fine back in ye olde days before Facebook and Twitter. It is not a good fit at all with the way Facebook and Twitter actually operate. How you would create a statute that makes the distinction between websites and blogs, on the one hand, and social media on the other, is not at all clear to me.

        The current kerfuffle is mostly about how the bolded language in paragraph (2)(A) should be applied. As written, it is very broad indeed, and potentially allows ISPs to claim immunity for any kind of moderation/censorship. Its not written as “objectionable to a reasonable person”, so it can be read to mean “anything that anyone claims is objectionable to them” (which is pretty much the way it is being used by the Tech Lords).

        I think the “in good faith” language provides a potential angle of attack. It implicates applying a standard for objectionable even-handedly, and could even bring in an objective (“reasonable”) standard, since most of the time when somebody does something unreasonable they call their good faith into question.

      • Count Potato

        So where does Big Tech adding stuff — where they are the authors — fit into that? Clearly, it’s not “any information provided by another information content provider”. It’s “information” provided by them.

      • R C Dean

        I would say that is clearly stuff that falls outside Section 230, if they provide it directly. Its easy enough for them to set up a bogus “independent” outfit to add that stuff and stay withing Section 230.

      • kbolino

        I don’t know how much testing the moderation provision has gotten in the courts, but I think you’re right that the avenue you highlight would be the best one to attack for an aggrieved party claiming unfair censorship.

        The misconstrual of NYT v. Sullivan‘s “actual malice” and “public official” standards doesn’t give me a lot of hope, though.

    • Tres Cool

      Now do authority vs. responsibility

  31. PieInTheSky

    By abandoning belief in free will and the notion of just deserts, we can can look more clearly at the causes and more deeply into the systems that shape individuals and their behavior, and this will allow us to adopt more humane and effective practices and policies.

    https://twitter.com/GreggDCaruso/status/1400446538653052931

    • kbolino

      By abandoning … the notion of just deserts

      Dude is a pedophile, rapist, or other sort of wicked.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        ???

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The abandonment of free will as a concept means the abandonment of responsibility for one’s own actions.

      • leon

        I’d say that it’s wrong of you to imply that he’s a pedo, but you really had no choice.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It was predetermined.

      • juris imprudent

        Sometimes Occam’s razor cuts quick.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Another how to book on manipulating people en masse? I’ll pass.

    • ruodberht

      This will allow us to do no such thing, because if we lack free will, there’s nothing we can do any different. If the unthinking causal processes that cause us to abandon belief in free will also cause us to behave better in some way, THOSE processes are also out of our control.

      • PieInTheSky

        Nonsense there are top men who are just better and they can guide us to Utopia if they don’t have to give a shit about our freedom, not that they do much

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      He’s just a half a step away from where they really want to go.. Pure unadulterated nihilism. Moral judgment? What are you, some sort of icky religionist?

    • db

      That’s so blatant a conflict of interest that it’s impossible they are not just thumbing their noses at the rest of the world now.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yeah, it’s an obvious fuck you.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That guy has dirt on somebody because they keep putting him in charge of investigations even though he has an obvious conflict of interest.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Maybe, getting someone just as crooked but less well known would be more effective though.

      • AlexinCT

        I think that the issue isn’t that he has dirt, but that he has incentive to get the right conclusions that the people bought & paid for by the CCP want him to get, that keeps getting him assigned to this….

        This shit coming out will leave egg on the faces of a lot of powerful people that are doing Obama’s 3rd admin run…

    • Festus

      The last time I clicked one of your swim-suit links I was assailed with a litany of Claire Gerhardstein videos on my phone. Thank You for that, Dracula!

    • PieInTheSky

      I’m in a remote, backward town that’s full of primitive, hyper-paranoid people who don’t know anything about science and don’t read the news. They even believe that vaccinated people should wear masks. Please send help. The town is called San Francisco.

      They worship a child-God who they believe can control the weather.

      https://twitter.com/ThaddeusRussell/status/1400531492334292993

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Stanhope’s funny but he can be a little too brutally honest sometimes. I thought his routine about ODing his terminally ill mother was a bit much.

  32. Nephilium

    Off topic, but I will see if there are any suggestions from the Glib-mind. Anyone have any recommendations for compact rain resistant/windbreakers? I’m looking for something that can be folded up in a bag about the size of a pint glass (or smaller), and relatively light weight. I’d like to be able to toss it into the cycling kit to have an option in the case of random rain blowing in while I’m out and about. I can find a crap load of them on Amazon, but I’m guessing most are cheap quality and about as water resistant as masks were virus resistant. I thought I’d be able to find one through Voler or the local bike shop; however, Voler doesn’t seem to have any, and the only ones I see at the local store are over $150 (a bit more then I’m looking to spend).

    • Count Potato

      I have a Marmot that I bought mostly for bike riding that does that. It was years ago, so I don’t know what the price or model is.

    • Festus

      I’ll ask Judi. Okay Columbia seems to be the one. Seems to fold up tiny and has good ratings. They’re alpine trekking this Summer so taking it pretty seriously.

    • Timeloose

      Frog Toggs.

      I use their pants and the quality is great. Breathable but water proof and can be rolled up small.

      They are relatively cheap as well.

      https://www.froggtoggs.com/

    • Nephilium

      Appreciate the suggestions all. I’m going to do some comparisons and probably order one today.

  33. Count Potato

    “The symbolic standoff occurred on June 4, 32 years ago today, the day after Chinese troops attacked pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Time magazine called it one of the 100 most influential images ever. Ironically, it is banned in China.”

    https://twitter.com/jimgeraghty/status/1400817619431743495

    “You’ve seen the famous Tank Man photo, taken on today’s date in 1989. But have you seen the wide-angle version?

    The one that makes it clear he wasn’t just standing up to a couple tanks, but the whole Chinese Communist regime?

    Now you have:”

    https://twitter.com/LoganDobson/status/1400807246997639177

    • kinnath

      One of the most amazing things I have seen in my life.

    • Festus

      The same year that the Berlin Wall fell. Nothing has changed. I want that fucking dam to fail.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        A great few years to be young anyway.

        Poor guy surely never got to consume the contents of his shopping bags.

      • Chipwooder

        I was in my early teens and it was quite exhilarating. Little did I know that we’d have mobs of communists attacking people in the streets of American cities 30 years later.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Shoulda kept them and maybe the Soviets as enemies, to be object lessons.

      • AlexinCT

        These people are really pissed that anti-communism ideals and reality won the Cold War, and they plan to punish us all for that..

      • robc

        This was before and some in East Germany talked about using the “chinese solution”.

    • Q Continuum

      That guy has the biggest balls in history.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That’s what the briefcases were for.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Ironically, it is banned in China.

      I think Alanis Morissette was closer to the dictionary definition.

      • leon

        And isn’t that ironic?

      • Count Potato

        True, it’s exactly what you would expect.

    • db

      Standing at the edge of Tiananmen Square about 10 years ago gave me one of the creepiest feelings I’ve ever experienced in life.

    • Tundra

      Still gives me chills.

      • Sensei

        Same!

    • R C Dean

      The symbolic standoff

      I don’t think it was really “symbolic”. Symbolic standoffs usually don’t end with piles of corpses.

  34. Akira

    One of the many men who helped in the founding of the United States, King George III, was born on this day.

    His story is pretty interesting. They made a movie about his later mental illness called The Madness of King George. I recommend it if you’re a history dork like me.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Or if you’re a fan of Sir Humphrey Appleby.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Alan Bennett FTW. And Rupert Graves, rowr rowr.

    • Festus

      “I have you in my eye, Sir…”

      • Akira

        “Scabby bumsucker! Lincolnshire lickfingers!!”

    • Raven Nation

      Agree. Excellent movie.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    I used to love BMW. Now we have a brand where on a certain M car rod bearings are just a regular wear item.

    I loved my ’70s BMWs, but I lost interest in the brand completely in the ’90s. That “idrive” thing was the final nail in the coffin.

    • Sensei

      I would say I retained enthusiasm until roughly the early 2000s.

      The new nose on the latest 3 series is just ridiculous. They can claim otherwise, but one reason for it was the Chinese market is incredibly conspicuously brand conscious. Best part is they kept it for no reason on their electric variants.

      • Tundra

        My neighbor owned nothing but BMWs since he started driving. He said the one he got rid of recently will be his last.

        I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the Audi he replaced it with will be the last of those he buys, too.

        These fucking cars are getting too complicated and expensive to own. My old Tahoe had 250K on the clock with no major work on the engine or transmission. Unfortunately GM has atrocious body integrity. I love my F-150, but no way it makes it that long without big dollars.

        I may be taking a serious look at the Jap offerings next time around.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      I remember Ozzy cursing at it (as a passenger, I think) in the early aughts. To be fair, technology often eludes him.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        (at iDrive, that is)

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Ironically, it is banned in China.

    I had no idea “ironic” meant “completely unsurprising”.

    • Festus

      I always wondered what it it would be like to live under an autocratic regime. Mystery solved.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of BMW wear items, I have seen a couple of things (on youtube) about the valve guide seals on the BMW V8 being good for about 25k miles or so. Something ridiculous.

    • Sensei

      Let’s see how much plastic we can add to an engine. I mean between heat cycles, age and oil and gasoline that shouldn’t impact the plastic right?

      Not that BMW is alone in this cost cutting. But I’ve more about BMW plastic timing guide chain failures than I have other manufacturers.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Mercedes did that. One of my older cars, I think it was a W126, had a spectacular failure of those guides, with the chain actually bursting through the valve covers.

        Really, really stupid idea.

      • Festus

        Gah! Drive belts and clutches on mid-90’s Hondas… When the belt went it would fuck over the valves. So much of my young adulthood frittered away with that fucking lemon of a car.

      • Sensei

        Most modern engines are still negative clearance. It’s just belts have gotten better and more engines went back to chains.

        They still break and grenade motors, however.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Aw. I thought they were tanks. Most of the 25+-year-old cars I see around are Japanese.

  38. Count Potato

    “Ohio football coaches allegedly force Jewish student to eat pork for missing practice

    CANTON, Ohio (WOIO) – A high school football coach was placed on administrative leave Wednesday after he reportedly forced a football player to violate the tenets of his religion by eating pork.

    The Canton City School district also suspended an additional seven other members of the high school football coaching staff.

    “I mean it just crosses a line on every level, it’s just wrong,” said the family’s attorney, Edward L. Gilbert.

    Coach Wattley Marcus and seven assistant coaches forced a McKinley High School football player to eat a pepperoni pizza after the 17-year-old student-athlete missed a weight lifting session on May 20, according to the family’s attorney Edward L. Gilbert.”

    https://www.wistv.com/2021/06/02/ohio-football-coaches-allegedly-force-jewish-student-eat-pork-missing-practice/

    • leon

      The coach is saying it’s not his fault he didn’t know it was against Jewish religious tenets. “I’m deeply sorry for being an uncultured swine”

    • Surly Knott

      “Which are you prepared to give up — your sport/team or your religious tenets?”

    • Rat on a train

      Jewish? Samoan? It’s difficult to tell them apart.

    • juris imprudent

      At least it wasn’t pineapple on that pizza.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Ò fame.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    I may be taking a serious look at the Jap offerings next time around.</em.

    Everybody raves about the Toyota Tundra.

    • Tundra

      Yes, a friend just got one. It will be interesting to see what time brings.

    • Sean

      If their vaccinations did not work, they rely on the rest of the population to get vaccinated.
      This should inspire people who have not been vaccinated to roll up their sleeves, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins told CNN Thursday.
      “Even if you think you don’t need to, think about this as a donation of your own goodwill to those who are more vulnerable,” Collins said. “That’s the best hope they have.”

      More propaganda. I don’t care about other people. Sucks to be her.

      • Sensei

        I do.

        But I think others should be asked and not shamed. And as part of that they have the right to say no without repercussion.

      • invisible finger

        A vaccination that doesn’t work should inspire me to get the vaccine?

      • Akira

        “The vaccine may not work” is yet another one of those things that is a deranged conspiracy theory that is prohibited on social media unless it’s stated by a government official or one of their allied media figures.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of BAT, $382k for James Dean’s transaxle.

    I saw that. Yikes.

    • Rat on a train

      It better be haunted at that price.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Never stop panicking! It’s all bad. We can’t leave our homes.

    True American patriots are terrified of everything!

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      ?