359 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    They’ll just waffle on the definitions.

    • waffles

      Leave me out of this.

  2. R.J.

    Making eggs and bacon and enjoying the links!

    • Nephilium

      So shouldn’t you throw some sausage in the pan too?

    • waffles

      Lucky! I never get eggs on weekdays because I’m always just getting into work in time for lynx.

  3. waffles

    Joel Souza recalls how the actor was sitting on a church pew practicing cross draw before pointing the revolver at a camera when the weapon fired, court documents show.

    I thought only pigs could use exonerative passive voice. What gives?

    • Rat on a train

      That evil gun was just waiting until someone pointed it in the direction it desired.

      • AlexinCT

        He is lucky that he is currently in the good graces of the reality creating crowd, so they are creating a reality to favor him…

    • TARDis

      The sources claim that some crew members would go off for target practice using real bullets, and some believe a live round from those practice sessions found its way onto the set.

      Bullets are sneaky that way. They’re like farts, you just can’t trust them.

      Effin’ Jornolists can go right to hell.

      • Drake

        Somebody is criminally incompetent.

      • TARDis

        Probably, but it may be worse than that. Baldwin may have pissed somebody off, and they set his ass up.

      • waffles

        It’s hard to put forth that kind of story without insider info else you sound like a schizo though.

      • db

        I can’t imagine that’s very likely. I mean, that would be really really indifferent to the danger posed to others.

      • TARDis

        I can’t imagine that’s very likely.

        My faith in the future of humanity is pretty low right now. News story after news story just boggles my mind. There are people who stand around and watch a woman be raped and do nothing. There are people who sucker punch people and have a laugh. There are people who burn shit down and call it protesting. And so on and so forth.

        It is unlikely the bullet was intentionally left in the gun, but certainly not impossible.

      • banginglc1

        Furthering this thought, Would anyone put that kind of thing past that vapid, soulless, disingenuous crowd that inhabits Hollywood?

      • Brawndo

        Or it was a hit for the Clinton gang. Latest conspiracy theory is pointing to the victim’s husband being a lawyer for a firm that defends the Clintons. I’m too lazy to confirm it, but I read it on the internet so it must be true.

      • Michael Malaise

        I’ve read that the cinematographer’s next project was a documentary on Hollywood pedophiles, so …

      • Animal

        Would still be impossible of Baldwin had been instructed in safe gun handling. One of my kids once remarked on me and an old friend passing an old revolver he had just bought back and forth; he was pointing out some things on the piece, we passed it back and forth several times, and every damn time whichever of us was taking the gun opened the loading gate and rotated the cylinder to visually clear the gun.

        The kids were all taught that – any time you pick up a gun, you clear it, no matter what. Baldwin, if he had had elementary training, would not have picked up the gun on that set without knowing precisely it’s status from the moment it was in his hand.

      • Akira

        Bullets are sneaky that way.

        Bullets “find their way” into guns, and then guns kill people all by themselves. Of course those things should be illegal!

    • Count Potato

      “The search warrants reveal how Assistant Director Dave Halls handed Baldwin the gun, claiming it was ‘a cold gun’ without realizing there were live rounds in the chamber. He had been working with ‘inexperienced’ armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

      Industry experts are lining up to ask how a live round ever made it on to the movie set, much less into the gun that Baldwin was handling. Hours before the shooting, crew had walked off the set in a row over ‘payment and housing’. They were replaced that morning by local workers.”

      Why weren’t they using blanks?

      • robc

        In Hollywood speak, blanks are considered “live” rounds.

        It gets confusing, since these were apparently real live rounds.

    • Count Potato

      “Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (left) was fatally shot with a prop gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin in a movie set in New Mexico on Thursday, while director Joel Souza (right) was injured”

      So one round hit two people? Did Alec Baldwin also shoot JFK?

      • Urthona

        Went right through the first, killing her.

        Also another note on the language: it wasn’t a prop gun. It was a normal gun intended to be used as a prop.

      • robc

        I thought I saw the opposite, it went thru Souza and then killed Hutchins. He got hit on arm, IIRC, she got hit in stomach.

    • Count Potato

      Also, it was a single-action revolver.

      • Fourscore

        Oh, so a single pull on the trigger makes it into a Gatling Gun. Baldwin is to commended for his cool action in saving the lives of others on the set.

      • R.J.

        Old west revolver at close range is definitely able to go through a person and lodge in the person behind. It is fairly normal for staff to cluster around a camera and eyeball the frame during shooting. Meaning film shooting, not person shooting.

      • Count Potato

        That would a hot round for a blackpowder gun. After further reading, allegedly the crew were using the guns for target practice. So there is a lot of stupid here.

      • db

        “Single-Action” means that it’s sole purpose for existing is to kill and maim people. /smug proggy explanation

      • db

        “its” not “it’s”

    • ruodberht

      Passive voice was not used in any of that quote.

      • waffles

        You’re right. Not passive voice, just exonerative.

      • db

        They must teach that in J-school now.

  4. UnCivilServant

    He funded the research that unleashed Covid, but dog experimentation is going to take this fucker out?

    Having bugs eat cute animals alive is easier for people to understand and get mad over than gain of function viral work.

    What was that dog “research” even trying to discover?

    • waffles

      The research is trying to discover what how depraved of project we can fund and still have no one held to account.

    • AlexinCT

      People will reject any explanation/discussions using logic and analytics, on the spectrum ranging form the terribly complex down to the easiest/simplest things, if it leaves them emotionally unsatisfied. They want heroes to cheer for and villains to hate. That’s why Cuomo could murder 25K elderly people and barely get people to pay attention, but then some shit came out about the guy being handsy guiney, and BOOM, bye bye beoatch. This might also be how Fauci finally gets the justice he deserves, but it will take effort. Cause I can tell ya that the machine has no desire to punish those doing its dirty work otherwise…

  5. Sean

    Dads on Duty is comprised of about 40 fathers who take shifts at the school, according to CBS. They greet students in the morning and carry an air of relaxed authority which helps to preserve a positive learning experience for students, the outlet reported. No fights have been reported on the campus since the dads arrived.

    I like it. Plus, it looks like they needed to get off the couch.

    • waffles

      Better Dads than cops.

    • Fourscore

      Have the Dads reported any sexual harassment?

    • Urthona

      I also like the idea of dads actually knowing what goes on in schools.

      • AlexinCT

        ^^^THIS^^^

    • TARDis

      I’d like it better if they reduced the pay of the teachers and admin staff indoctrination specialists and wardens to pay the dads.

      • invisible finger

        If this were Illinois, the state would force the Dads to pay union dues.

      • TARDis

        I could see that.

        I could also see someone filing a grievance against the school for letting a dad prevent a fight during his mandated coffee break.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      When do Dads on Duty meet Moms Demand Action?

      • juris imprudent

        [wild standing ovation]

      • Zwak, sensual panzer

        Once a month, if they are lucky.

      • Rat on a train

        4th period biology?

  6. Count Potato

    “”Our investigators show that Fauci’s NIH division part of a $375,800 grant to a lab in Tunisia to drug beagles and lock their heads in mesh cages filled with hungry sand flies so that the insects could eat them alive. They also locked beagles alone in cages in the desert overnight for nine consecutive nights to use them as bait to attract infectious sand flies.”

    That sounds cruel, and people love dogs, but $375,800 is nothing in government spending.

    • Tres Cool

      To the Tunisians it probably is.

      • Sean

        That’s more than a million dinars!

      • Count Potato

        You must not each much.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Uffda. Don’t you usually have to start putting out after the third dinar?

      • AlexinCT

        You wait too long…

      • Fourscore

        Huh! I never did. Oh, that was in Morocco, not Tunisia.

    • waffles

      It’s just a drop in the bucket. But who knows what other evils lie in that bucket. If they’re willing to fund dog torture it seems there’s no practical limit to what they’ll fund.

      • AlexinCT

        WHAT DID THEY DO WITH THE GERBILS????

      • waffles

        I really just don’t want to know. However, the internet ruined me and now I will find out.

      • Ted S.

        Ask Richard Gere.

      • Pope Jimbo

        The Gerbils rumor is a Big Lie

    • Urthona

      Yeah I was impressed with the government’s frugality here. Not even half a million!

    • invisible finger

      It’s hard to use The Boats in a desert.

  7. Count Potato

    “It did, however, make an unusual move to fast-track oral arguments by setting them for November 1.”

    Is that unusual? I’ve fast-tracked oral arguments to prevent an abortion.

    • Tres Cool

      So she swallowed ?

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Science sleuthing is unappreciated

    Now, however, the stakes of getting things wrong are unbelievably high. In June, a group of scientists wrote in JAMA Pediatrics — another prestigious journal — that children in face coverings were inhaling “unacceptable” levels of carbon dioxide. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University professor of medicine, praised it on Fox News and called mask-wearing “child abuse.” Soon after, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom Bhattacharya has advised, blocked schools from requiring masks in the classroom, claiming in an executive order that “forcing children to wear masks could inhibit breathing.”

    That study was retracted by the journal after scientists complained about its methodological problems. (The authors have said they stand by their findings and that their critics were not qualified to judge them.)

    One of the study’s most outspoken detractors was James Heathers, a longtime data detective. He believes that many are taking advantage of the pandemic to build their personal brands. “There are people in science who think basically any crisis is an opportunity, anything that becomes a topic du jour is something they should chase,” he said, adding that he wasn’t referring to anyone in particular. “A lot of COVID work is an extension of that same mentality” — that is, “maximally flashy and minimally insightful.”

    Long bit (TW: Buzzfeed) about woman who devotes her time and energy to debunking faulty science. So far, so good. She points out discrepancies related to a hydroxywhosis study. Okay. She took one look and said, “That doesn’t sound right. I bet he just wants to get in good with Trump.”

    She’s a heroine fighting for scientific integrity and truth uber alles. Yay.

    NOTE: Nowhere in the article is there any mention of curiosity about the quality of pro-mask, pro-lockdown “studies” or the computer models which never passed the laugh test from day one and have been proven to be spectacularly wrong. Somehow or other, she never got around to questioning the incredibly sophisticated and trustworthy methodology of those mask experiments which used high tech plant misters and ventriloquists’ dummies.

    • rhywun

      I bet the 14 previous mask studies that don’t provide any statistically significant support for the torture were mentioned either?

      • AlexinCT

        Shut up and do what you are told already you fucking serf… KNOW YOUR PLACE!

      • AlexinCT

        The credentialed elite class laughs at your lack of understanding how any crisis should be used to advantage them and their agenda….

      • Fourscore

        Old people in nursing homes vote too, you know. Politicians understand this and insure that they get a chance to vote correctly.

      • AlexinCT

        You are forgetting a key voter demographic for one of the political parties: dead people…

  9. The Late P Brooks

    An this:

    “There are people in science who think basically any crisis is an opportunity, anything that becomes a topic du jour is something they should chase,” he said, adding that he wasn’t referring to anyone in particular. “A lot of COVID work is an extension of that same mentality” — that is, “maximally flashy and minimally insightful.”

    Remind you of anybody?

    • Drake

      Those are people in politics, not science.

  10. rhywun

    It Sure Seems Like the DOJ Is Covering Up FBI Instigation of January 6th

    It seems like yet another “conspiracy theory” about this administration is coming true.

    • AlexinCT

      Whenever team blue accuses the other side of doing something crazy, you can bet your money they are the ones doing it already or looking on how to do it. Have no doubt that the mandarinate has become desperate as their globalist efforts all keep unraveling because too many of the fucking serfs turned out to be non-compliant.

      • waffles

        For all of this I don’t understand why they had any reason to expect everyone to be compliant. Alec Baldwin killed more people than the January 6th rioters. People know this is all insane except for a weird and intense core of proggy loyalists.

      • AlexinCT

        Why do you harsh their mellow by challenging the reality they desperately want to be the real one, huh?

      • waffles

        I just want them to stop punishing us. I want us to live in an America where you can just completely ignore government.

      • AlexinCT

        I just want them to stop punishing us.

        Oh fuck. That made me laugh. These miserable evil people do the shitty and evil things they do precisely because it punishes those not suffering from the mental diseases they do waffles.

      • pistoffnick

        “I want us to live in an America where you can just completely ignore government.”

        I…I…I think I love you, waffles, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

      • Count Potato

        “People know this is all insane except for a weird and intense core of proggy loyalists.”

        From what I can tell, plenty of people have bought into it.

      • UnCivilServant

        From what I can tell almost no one has bought into it.

        It might be a matter of location and perspective.

      • db

        You bring up a good point. No one remembers who Ted Kennedy is anymore, so the “Ted Kennedy’s Car Has Killed More People Than My Gun” lacks the punch it used to have. Baldwin has offered a refresh.

      • trshmnstr the terrible


        People know this is all insane except for a weird and intense core of proggy loyalists.

        And 100M of their low info friends

  11. Count Potato

    “The man in the video has not been arrested nor charged with a crime. Again, the FBI is holding grandmas in indefinite detention, but a man on tape telling people to enter the Capitol Building hasn’t even been touched by federal authorities? Does that sound plausible to you, if that man is just a random citizen? Or does it sound like the guy was an FBI agent or informant?”

    Wasn’t it the same thing with the wicked witch in Michigan?

    • Plisade

      Has the man been identified? Seems improbable that nobody has seen it who can do so.

  12. limey

    I just applied for a job, but the ad said:

    All employees must have had two Covid vaccinations

    It’s a shame as it seems as good as I’m likely to get around here, in terms of being suitable for the direction I’m trying to head in right now.

    • UnCivilServant

      I tell ya, illegally immigrate to the US.

      • AlexinCT

        This would certainly preclude the need for Kung Flu fake protection injections…

    • waffles

      I am applying for jobs but have yet to see any mention of the vax. Must be the relatively conservative field I’m looking in.

    • robc

      So J&J isn’t a thing in the UK?

      • limey

        I do not believe I am eligible for the Johnson & Johnson and Johnson & Johnson, no.

      • Sensei

        No he can get the other clot creating vaccine – AstraZeneca which functions the same as J&J, but is approved in the UK only as two doses.

  13. Rat on a train

    Metro extension to Triangle would cost $27 billion

    The executive summary estimates that each proposed Metrorail extension would cost between $18 and $27.5 billion up front, the extended BRT would cost $2.4 billion to $3.6 billion, VRE improvements $116 million to $174 million and enhanced bus service $37 million to $54 million.

    The most expensive must be the best, at least for graft potential.

    • AlexinCT

      It should sadden us tax payers that depending on where you are, anywhere from 60-95% of any public project’s cost today is money pissed away on zero value add, government mandated, make-work, peripheral nonsense. Often shit that moves money to entities that then give a good chunk of it back as campaign contributions to grease the palm of the political and bureaucratic top men that have to rubber stamp the work.

    • rhywun

      Make sure to use those big deep-bore tunneling machines. If they do this right, they can drag it out for twenty years or more.

    • Fourscore

      Even Podunkville High School has a trap shooting team, maybe the first year?. I am surprised and happy. Now they need a skeet shooting team.

    • AlexinCT

      Ten years from now, when that bedonkedonk is size 10X, come back and lets have this discussion…

    • The Gunslinger

      Nope. Figure-hugging mom jeans.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Gain-of-function research is defined by the Department of Health and Human Services as research “that improves the ability of a pathogen to cause disease” to “enable assessment of the pandemic potential of emerging infectious agents.” It warns these studies “may entail biosafety and biosecurity risks.”

    Scientific curiosity. It’s insatiable.

    • AlexinCT

      The problem for me is not that they were doing gain of function work at all. I am adult and smart enough to understand you need that work in a world where your military enemies are thinking of using biowarfare like this.

      What really, really should be freaking and pissing people off however, is that our woke and preening credentialed elite ruling class banned that shit from being done in the US (where we had competent people once that would make this work less risky), all so these asshats could then outsource it to a country whose leadership clearly has ambitions of fucking enslaving the rest of the world and will not balk at killing half or more of the people on the planet (including their own fucking people) to make it so, to make more money I am sure.

      That’s why this is so evil. Not because we want gain of function work, but that we helped the ChiComms to be better at making weapons they can use to fuck us with (see Clinton selling rocket tech and Obama letting the steal hypersonic engineering work for other examples).

      • Urthona

        Excellent articulation.

      • juris imprudent

        Off-shoring something icky is what proggies do. Mine rare-earths? Process those into raw materials for high-tech gadgets? Manufacture the actual gadgets (keeping them cheap enough for mass distribution)?

        Take your stupid cell phone into the wilderness to take pictures and then whine because you can’t get on social media?

      • db

        It even happens within the US. In the 1960s, when “acid rain” was a big pollution problem, the large electric utilities on the East Coast decided that what they needed to do was to move most of the power generation out further west where it couldn’t cause environmental problems in NYC, Philly, etc. So they got together and build a number of very large and efficient coal burning power plants in western PA and West Virginia, and also some high voltage transmission lines to bring the power back East efficiently. The plants were designed to burn high sulfur, high energy coal available in the Appalachians that tends to make a lot of SO2 and SO3 when burned–the cause of acid rain.

        In order to reduce the local pollution levels, they built these power plants with very tall stacks to launch the pollutants high up. The irony of it all is that that put the pollutants high up enough that they blew right over the eastern seaboard and then rained out as acid rain.

        Hence the subsequent push in the 1970s and 1980s to install scrubbers on new (and eventually the old) power plants.

      • Zwak, sensual panzer

        Weren’t the tall stacks used for stoichiometric effect? To induce more efficient burning of fuels?

        Or am I completely remembering this wrong?

  15. Sean

    https://swampprince.com/

    Looks like SugarFree has branched out to merchandise sales…

    • waffles

      Risky click of the day. Worth it.

    • AlexinCT

      Getting an error and a virus warning…

      • Sean

        Nothing triggered for me. Running McAfee here (of course!)

    • Trigger Hippie

      That’s awesome.

    • R.J.

      Totally. Very awesome. Wouldn’t put my real credit card info in there, would also ship to an address other than my own.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    An NIH spokesperson told the Daily Caller that “because a mouse got sicker doesn’t mean it would make a human sicker” and added that “the mouse study doesn’t tell us anything about human biology except how the viruses interact with the human ACE2 receptor.”

    Now tell us why you’re pissing away millions of dollars “studying” it.

    • Urthona

      It doesn’t but mice are usually picked for these studies because biologically they’re pretty predictive of how something will work in humans.

      • Count Potato

        Except they were using humanized mice, with a “human ACE2 receptor”.

      • Urthona

        I don’t know what that is but sounds legit.

      • Count Potato

        They are genetically engineered mice.

      • Rat on a train

        Of the P&B or NIMH variety?

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Speedy trial

    Four years after White supremacists descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, for the “Unite the Right” rally, a civil trial starting Monday will decide whether organizers had predetermined the event would turn violent. Dozens were injured and one person died in the chaos surrounding the rally.

    “There is one thing about this case that should be made crystal-clear at the outset — the violence in Charlottesville was no accident,” the federal lawsuit argues.

    Sentence first, verdict afterward.

    • Rat on a train

      the violence in Charlottesville was no accident
      The police funneled people into conflict?

      • Brawndo

        ^^^^^^

    • AlexinCT

      It’s about destroying the ability to be logical so they can control and abuse the fucking serfs at their whim through stupidity. It’s evil.

  18. Mojeaux

    Okay, so our long-awaited move is complete except for the unpacking. “A place for everything and everything in its place”: Most underrated proverb ever.

    • db

      Buy some jerrycans of octane, heap the boxes in the backyard, and invite the new neighbors over for a barbecue.

      • UnCivilServant

        Barbecueing the neighbors?

      • db

        Guess who’s becoming dinner?

      • Mojeaux

        The trash restriction in KC (not the municipality I moved from) is so onerous that I considered burning cardboard and paper (like shredding) in my BBQ grill, always having hot dogs and marshmallows at the ready. Alas, My Dude thinks this is silly and won’t fool anybody, particularly the busybodies next door. Well, it worked in my childhood, so …

      • UnCivilServant

        “I’m just using it to start my charcoal.”

      • Mojeaux

        No, “I’m cooking dinner” with hot dogs and marshmallows, lawn chairs and roasting sticks in plain site. is the go-to. It’s been that way since I was a child and my dad would do bonfires in the dirt space behind our back yard up to the alley.

        That said, KC has an ordinance that you can’t BBQ on a wooden deck, so it’s really not as convenient as it sounds. My Dude just wants to stick with the indignity of keeping the trash around a week past its sell-by and attempt to parcel it out until we’ve caught up, and not try to sneak it past the nosy neighbors (who sit in their driveway from dawn to dusk and interrogated our moving dudes last week).

        We’re allowed two 30-gallon trashbags and 2 very small recycle bins. We can buy trash tags for $2.50 each and put out up to 10 trashbags a week. We don’t have trash added to our water bill like we did at the other place, with provided bins. There is very little incentive to recycle, especially when people use the recycle bins for regular trash. Right now we have a surplus of cardboard.

      • UnCivilServant

        The main incentive to recycle here is that there is no limit to the amount of recyclables I can put to the curb. I can offload my entire collection of cardboard in one shot. I’m limited to at most two cans, of which I currently only have (and need) one.

      • Mojeaux

        I think I will go ahead and burn shreds, since my only real shredding happens during tax season.

        (Oh, stop. I’m no Clinton. I just shred the 7-year-old stuff.)

    • AlexinCT

      Moving sucks.. I need to do that sooner than later to leave the commie state I am in, but am not looking forward to the actual experience. Have fun with the unpacking young lady.

      • Mojeaux

        We have about 75% less storage space here than at the old house. Bigger house, weird layout, less storage. So I’m about to add to Ikea’s bank balance. On the upside, it’s a super nice place and I have a gorgeous office.

      • UnCivilServant

        You just reminded me that I have to get to assembling the shelves and getting back to cleaning up the clutter.

      • Mojeaux

        Yeah, that’s another thing. Books and bookshelves and knickknacks. We’ve still got anton of crap in our storage unit. I was debating Ikea bookshelves versus nicely sanded and stained 2×12 floating shelves. Still don’t know what I want to do.

        And the art I’ve got! Holy hot damn, do I have a lot of art.

      • Mojeaux

        I really just don’t feel at home without my books on display.

      • Count Potato

        With the price of lumber, I’d just stack them on the floor.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Book fort!

      • Drake

        Start throwing out, selling, or donating all the accumulated crap you haven’t used in a year or more. Your future self will be grateful.

      • UnCivilServant

        That’s terrible advice, because then I’d have to go and buy a new set of tools when I next have a plumbing or electrical problem.

      • Mojeaux

        TBF, it’s mostly kitchen stuff, which I do use. There are very few things in my kitchen I don’t use.

        Also, the kitchen here has huge lower cabinets, but there are no shelves, just a great maw of space. Hiwever, I have lots of storage tubs and baskets, and I’m getting very creative.

      • Mojeaux

        Also, my spice/baking cabinet is ginormous, and I use all that stuff.

        The house does come with a pantry the size of a walk-in closet, so I’m organizing that first.

      • R.J.

        Yes, to a great degree this is right. I helped organize a dead friend’s house the past month. Each room took forever due to massive amounts of junk and “collectibles.” I understand books. I do. But junk for junk’s sake is bad news long term. I continue to scale back just so my daughter has less to sift through when I die.

  19. juris imprudent

    The derp must flow!

    How higher education can win the war against neoliberalism and white supremacy

    • juris imprudent

      And a big helping of anti-derp.

      Universities are making themselves not just disliked and disreputable but ultimately irrelevant and replaceable.

    • Count Potato

      I like how after having a black President for eight years the country is suddenly up to its eyebrows in white supremacy.

  20. db

    Re: Animal experimentation and Fauci.

    Experimentation on animals from mice to primates has always been controversial, but in many cases it is strictly necessary, as sometimes there is no other way to see how a disease or treatment behaves in a living system. Testing of non-essentials such as cosmetics on mammals has been particularly controversial because of the dubious or nonexistent claims to medical/scientific necessity. But animal testing for legitimate research into pathogens, parasites, and other conditions is necessary as long as we have no better models than the living creatures themselves.

    Does it creep me out? Yes. Would I be able to do it myself? No; that’s why I’m not involved in that kind of research. Does it raise ethical concerns? Always, but “medical ethicists” always seem to find a way to justify it.

    Bottom line, there’s no way this sinks Fauci, because it’s a long-standing controversy and you’ll have all the right people lining up to defend it.

    • Swiss Servator

      It will turn off any number of Karens who do support him, however…

      • Nephilium

        I’d guess most Karens are cat people, not dog people.

  21. Drake

    Yesterday the wife and I went to a hard cider mill for some seasonal refreshments. Couldn’t believe how much gas prices had jumped in just a few days. The one station that had not yet raised their prices had a big line. It was a bit scary.
    I want some if these stickers.
    https://i.redd.it/x6899w9iexu71.jpg

    • Rat on a train

      He will not be happy until the machines have to be updated to support another digit.

      • db

        Isn’t that the whole point of the thousandths place? It’s trivial to move the decimal point one space over and do away with the marketing fiction that that $0.001 makes people think they’re paying a penny less per gallon than they really are.

    • db

      I ordered a bunch of “Let’s Go Brandon” stickers to put on gas pumps and the like.

    • PieInTheSky

      Gas should be at least 10$ per gallon. If it is less than that it needs to increase

      • UnCivilServant

        Trolling level – weak.

      • PieInTheSky

        that is not trolling is basic economic reality to account for externalities

      • UnCivilServant

        Trolling level – sigh and head shake.

      • Sean

        What kind of euro car do you have, Pie?

      • PieInTheSky

        I am unsure. either 4 or 5

      • waffles

        Why do you hate freedom?

    • waffles

      It’s been a long time since I can remember a jump in gas prices that didn’t coincide with the summer season. Late October is not when this is expected to happen. This is not good and there’s no end in sight.

      • UnCivilServant

        My recollection is that they tend to follow the political seasons.

      • Nephilium

        I’m sure there won’t be any increase in any other energy prices (such as heating) just as the weather starts to turn cold.

  22. Brawndo

    If you weren’t mad at Fauci before the dog studies thing came out, you either weren’t paying attention, or you have really fucked up priorities.

    • juris imprudent

      Why not both?

      • Brawndo

        You’re right, it’s probably a combo of both for many

    • Rat on a train

      see Cuomo

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Desperately seeking approval from the cool kids

    If Democrats finally agree on the makeup of the bills, and Biden manages to include billions of dollars in funding to slow global warming, he will get a huge boost on a foreign trip beginning Thursday that includes the G20 summit in Rome and the United Nations climate summit in Scotland. A strong environmental component of the bill is crucial to Biden’s credibility as he seeks to put the US back at the front of the global campaign to save the planet — one of his top foreign policy goals — and would put pressure on other top polluting nations to follow suit.

    Just as long as those Euroweenie ultra-sophisticates accept him as a member of he club, your sacrifices will be worth it.

    • Trigger Hippie

      ‘A strong environmental component of the bill is crucial to Biden’s credibility as he seeks to put the US back at the front of the global campaign to save the planet — one of his top foreign policy goals —’

      Save the planet, funnel billions to grifters who aren’t saving shit.

      ?=?

    • PieInTheSky

      slow global warming – how is this measured and who is held responsible if it does not happen or the money is mismanaged?

      • AlexinCT

        You don’t know how to racket right brah… If the money is mismanaged, you just tell people you need more money. And how will you be able to keep the grift going if it actually has to end something, huh?

  24. robc

    The brawls ended when the lead Dad ate the kids?

    • R.J.

      Hey. Threats to sit in misbehaving kids are effective.

    • Spartacus

      Some of those dads look like they couldn’t make it up a flight of stairs. The one on the right looks like he’d be pretty effective, though.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    From Juris’ Am Greatness link:

    Do academics ponder over why the reputations of their universities are eroding in the public mind? What exactly is the campus responsibility for graduating students with bleak job possibilities and unsustainable debt? Why is the clueless 21-year-old graduate now the stock joke of popular culture and comedy? How did the enlightened institutionalize a two-tier system of privileged tenured grandees resting on the backs of exploited contingent and part-time faculty? Why are critics of a supposedly non-transparent American society so secretive about their own admissions, hiring, and budgetary policies? And how did the locus of cheap anti-corporate boilerplate become so deeply reliant on siphoning corporate cash?

    Such drollery.

  26. PieInTheSky

    Romania is now trying a new strategy for vaccination: more and more restrictions for the unvaccinated. For now it worked as there were record numbers of new vaccinations the last few days.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Record infections too.

  27. db

    re: Sudan coup;

    When we read stories about coups in countries like Sudan or Venezuela, we always see reference to “Prime Ministers” or Parliament, or Presidents, or whatever. If these governments really were parliamentary or republican in nature, they’d likely have fewer coups–if the forms of government were truly respected.

    Could we just ask them to stop using terms that imply representative democratic institutions? It’s kind of false advertising.

    • UnCivilServant

      Chief, King, Dictator, Caesar, Chancillor, Prime Minister, President, First Citizen, makes no difference what they call themselves.

    • PieInTheSky

      I think this may be the coup that finally puts Sudan on the road to prosperity

    • Rat on a train

      Chairman Biden?

      • Nephilium

        Shouldn’t that be Sittinglocationperson Biden?

    • kbolino

      For some reason, the magic of “representative democracy” never fully manifests in places where literal strongmen still exist. It seems that Westphalian sovereignty, quasi-elective oligarchy, and mass secularization of all facets of life are only palatable to docile post-industrial sheep.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Even so, the passage of several huge infrastructure and social care bills would secure one of the most significant legislative legacies of any modern president. The programs could fulfill Biden’s goal of using government power to tilt the balance of the economy back to working people.

    You should probably try to get people back to work, then.

    Instead of, you know, doing everything you can to destroy the economy.

  29. PieInTheSky

    The Highest-Rated Beer in Every State [MAP]

    https://vinepair.com/articles/best-highest-rated-beer-every-state/

    Delaware Bourbon Barrel-Aged World Wide Stout
    Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
    Stout – American Imperial | 18.30%

    18.3% is ridiculous for beer. Most seem over 10 which would be nonstarters for me.

    Indiana and Ohio are tied for second with 15%
    The lowest I could find is this

    Texas Atrial Rubicite
    Jester King Brewery
    Wild Ale | 5.80%

    • robc

      I saw that list, it is full of meh.

      • Rat on a train

        A lot of high alcohol and IPA. Where are the good beers?

      • robc

        The IPAs.

    • db

      I love good beer, and craft beer (which is not always good–but often better than mass market beer).

      But I’m afraid the craft beer craze is becoming a victim of its own success. The excessive recipes that have grown out of the craft beer explosion are tiresome–as are a lot of the beer snobs out there.

      I’m tired of Hazy IPAs, New England IPAs, Bourbon Barrel Aged anything, so many things. The very fact that I go to restaurants and ask about a beer on the draft list and the waiter says “I think it’s an IPA” tells me that no one knows what an IPA really is anymore, and they are way too common.

      • l0b0t

        I want more things like Dogfish Head’s Ancient Ales; they’ve partnered with a molecular archeologist and scrape the insides of old containers, run it through a GCMS and try to recreate the olde timey brew. Some have been amazing, one I poured down the drain, but I like the idea. https://www.dogfish.com/blog/ancient-ales

      • robc

        I have been on a german kick since I have been in FtC. I am kinda of really wanting to get a good IPA now (not that it will be hard to find), as my hop intake has been low the last few months.

        I think the final straw was getting a mediocre kellerbier from a supposedly good brewery (and the place was rockin’, so I think I just chose bad). Fjords to Valhalla is a very pretentious beer name, which is okay if it lives up to it. It didn’t.

      • db

        I’ve been seeking out simpler and more classic styles for the last year or so. I love my hops, but it’s becoming too much, IMO. I do like the idea of the ancient beers as a novelty.

      • Zwak, sensual panzer

        I like a decent IPA or sour, but that isn’t all that I want. I really like a good pale or amber, but it is getting hard to find a basic, drinking beer.

        Then again, there are times I want a super low alcohol level for all-day drinking, and it seems that there is an arms race for booziness.

      • robc

        On the other hand, session IPAs have become a thing, so there is race to lower booze too.

        The American Pale Ale does seem to be a dying beer. 5% ABV and enough hops to be noticeable but not overpowering doesn’t sell well. You seem to have the “more hops, more booze” group and the “I hate hops” group. A well made APA is a great beer for drinking multiple.

      • Nephilium

        There was also the trend of IPL’s about 10-15 years back as well.

        Locally, we’ve also got a large amount of lagers that are made to be all day drinkers. Usually, based on German or Eastern European styles.

    • Bones

      Meh. There so many good to very good options everywhere, it’s rare to find exceptional beers that are available to a large portion of the country. Drink what you like, it’s porter and stout season, but I always have a decent selection of IPAs in the beer fridge. For now though, I’ll be enjoying some Eddie Fitz and Founder’s Porter as staples in contrast to FBS and the host of seasonal giant stouts.

      Cheers!

    • PieInTheSky

      is it the green party?

    • Drake

      Does Rolling Stone start writing the retractions ahead of time, or do they wait for the public humiliation and lawsuits?

      • R.J.

        They will wait. The goal is to get that viral lie out in the public to keep the story going. The apologies would not come until after the 2022 elections. Only way to push back prior is a massive lawsuit which somebody has to pay for and expend energy on.

      • juris imprudent

        Didn’t RTA – was one of the sources “Jackie” by any chance?

    • db

      The two sources, both of whom have been granted anonymity due to the ongoing investigation fact that they are federal agents, describe participating in “dozens” of planning briefings ahead of that day when Trump supporters broke into the Capitol as his election loss to President Joe Biden was being certified.

    • db

      So let’s say that the organizers were just ordinary run of the mill guys, not feds, and that they did received promises, implied or explicit, of blanket pardons. That can still be evidence that the event was instigated. I mean, if you were a person in power and you wanted to screw a group of people, why wouldn’t you imply promises of leniency that would get them to stick their necks out?

    • Count Potato

      “Two of these people have spoken to Rolling Stone extensively in recent weeks and detailed explosive allegations that multiple members of Congress were intimately involved in planning both Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss and the Jan. 6 events that turned violent.”

      That’s when I stopped reading.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Breaking news!

    President Biden, as part of his pledge to make life better for working Americans, has unveiled a new plan to bring down the cost of a tank of gasoline. From today onward, all cars will be outfitted with a maximum eight gallon fuel tank.

    *canned cheering*

    • Sensei

      After “cash for clunkers” this is believable.

    • Fourscore

      “One little trick that the gas people don’t want you to know”

      • Zwak, sensual panzer

        A CARBURETOR THAT BREATHS WATER!!!

  31. The Late P Brooks

    The $1 trillion infrastructure bill, meanwhile, would honor Biden’s inaugural call for national unity and for Republicans and Democrats to find areas to cooperate despite gaping ideological divides. One of the core principles of Biden’s presidency and his effort to tame the populist anger that led to the Trump presidency is to show that government can be an effective force for good in the lives of working Americans denied the benefits of several decades of economic expansion.

    Stop it. You’re killing me.

    • Plisade

      “Force”

      At least he admits it.

    • juris imprudent

      Hell the gaping ideological divide is pretty well covered within the Democratic party itself.

    • slumbrew

      Talk about the banality of evil.

      “You totally would have prevented that civil disobedience if you had used our authoritarian social surveillance system”

      (assuming the subtitles aren’t bullshit)

  32. PieInTheSky

    In 2008-09, when the Fed started quantitative easing, I thought that inflation would take off. I was wrong. Instead, velocity – the rate at which money turns over per year – declined, taking away its inflationary sting. Velocity still is falling.

    Now we believe that three sources of deflation will overcome the supply chain-induced inflation that is wreaking havoc on the global economy. Two sources are secular, or long term, and one is cyclical. Technologically enabled innovation is deflationary and the most potent source.

    Artificial intelligence (AI) training costs, for example, are dropping 40-70% at an annual rate, a record-breaking deflationary force. AI is likely to transform every sector, industry, and company during the 5 to 10 years.

    When costs and prices decline, velocity and disinflation – if not deflation – follow. If consumers and businesses believe that prices will fall in the future, they will wait to buy buy goods and services, pushing the velocity of money down.

    https://twitter.com/CathieDWood/status/1452492768719343618

    • kbolino

      AI means no inflation is a take, I guess.

  33. Mojeaux

    My grocery store shrinkflated my orange chicken. Bastards.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Yeah big thing I have noticed is bacon is being packed into 12oz. I could have sworn it was 16oz but everything is fine, it’s all going swimmingly

      • db

        It’s all good, I noticed gas prices around here are down from $3.55 a gallon to $3.40 a liter now!

      • Mojeaux

        Right?! Saving money right and left!

      • UnCivilServant

        I was so happy when I crossed back into the US from Canada and the price per liter became the price per gallon. the numbers didn’t change but the total dropped.

      • Mojeaux

        My family vacationed in Europe in 1988. It was awful there and then too.

      • UnCivilServant

        I was just bacon shopping yesterday. I saw 8, 12, and 16 oz packs. The prices were higher than they had been, and a lot of “uncured” options had crept in. That last one confused me.

      • Sean

        My usual bacon.

        We go through ~a lb in a week to 10 days. Bacon…mmm…

      • PieInTheSky

        And here I thought you slice your own bacon

      • Ownbestenemy

        12 bucks a lb…better give me a greasegasm

      • Sean

        $9.99/lb these days in store.

      • Mojeaux

        That is why we don’t buy bacon much. It is a treat in our house.

        My Dude and I can pace ourselves, but we have a 16yo boy and he is a bottomless pit.

      • Mojeaux

        Better get a bacon grease strainer to save all that expensive grease, too.

      • Sean

        I probably should.

        #lazy

      • Pope Jimbo

        The problem with using bacon grease as a masturbatory lubricant in Minnesoda is that there are days when it is so cold that it remains congealed. At that point it is like jacking with a handful of marbles.

      • juris imprudent

        At that point it is like jacking with a handful of marbles.

        You know there is a Rule 34 out there, but I’m not looking for it.

      • Mojeaux

        Wow. Yummy. Yikes!

      • UnCivilServant

        They want me to commit to two pounds of any of their products. That’s more than I’m willing to try from an untested vendor.

      • UnCivilServant

        I think I’ve been there all of once. It gave off a very strong “You are not welcome here” vibe. I’m not sure I can articulate what about the place gave that impression, even closer to the actual visit.

        But I got the same feeling from the only Publix I’ve been to.

      • AlexinCT

        Was it your gloves? Prolly before the mask or die days?

      • PutridMeat

        My usual bacon. Just add smoker!

      • UnCivilServant

        Wait, I thought your meat was putrid, that looks too fresh.

      • Mojeaux

        your meat was putrid

        If he wears a condom, she’ll never know.

      • PutridMeat

        Putrid, fresh; Let’s not quibble about definitions here. Plus that’s what spices were invented for.

    • Loveconstitution1789

      Inflation has caused 20%+ price increases for many grocery items. Thats in 18 months.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Yawn

    CO2 levels in the atmosphere reach a 3 million-year high, putting the world ‘way off track’ on climate goals

    But one day, the wolf really did come. The little boy shrieked in terror and begged for someone to save him. But no one came. The wolf ripped the little boy to pieces and ate him.

    There was much rejoicing, and they all lived happily ever after.

    • db

      Finally we can get some rest around here, without that damn kid yelling his head off about wolves all the time.

    • Pope Jimbo

      THE GRASSLANDS ARE DISAPPEARING!!!!

      Minnesota’s grasslands continue to disappear to the plow, despite ongoing rescue efforts on multiple fronts. For every conservation win like Stoffel’s, more grassland is plowed into corn, soybeans and other crops to meet relentless global demand for food and animal feed, and for ethanol and other biofuels. Farm support programs such as crop insurance can encourage expansion.

      Minnesota lost nearly 2 million acres of grassland to crops from 2012 to 2019, according to the World Wildlife Fund’s Northern Great Plains program. That’s more than the state of Delaware. More is lost each year, though the rate has slowed in the past decade, said lead scientist Patrick Lendrum.

      I like this. I’d love for one of these “concerned eco-scientists” to give a talk to the hungry folks in the developing countries and explain why it is better that they be hungry than to have more cropland created in Minnesoda.

      • Fourscore

        “I need more ethanol, Mom”

        /Loud kid voice

  35. Sensei

    White House, Clarifying Biden Remark, Says Taiwan Policy Hasn’t Changed

    …Anderson Cooper asked, “So are you saying that the United States would come to Taiwan’s defense if China attacked?”

    Replied Mr. Biden: “Yes. Yes, we have a commitment to do that.”

    And yet OMB was the one that was supposed to start an international incident after speaking off the cuff.

    • db

      +1 “We begin bombing in five minutes.”

  36. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    I don’t really care which scandal rids us of the panic-gnome. As long as he is gone.

    I’m also really glad I’m not Alec Baldwin. I see that the narrative is already prepped and launched:

    Cameraman Reid Russell told a detective that Baldwin, who he said had been careful with weapons on set, was rehearsing a scene in which he was set to draw his gun while sitting in a church pew and point it at the camera.

    Not careful enough, it appears.

  37. db

    Last night I went to a dinner party that was a “murder mystery” themed party. My friends have been planning it for a month or so; hilariously enough the premise was a murder (or accident) on a movie set.

    • Drake

      Was the victim politically connected to people in bizarre ways?

      • db

        more financially that politically.

    • robc

      Or I just go home.

      I plan on living in CO the rest of my life, but KY will always be home.

      • juris imprudent

        California is only memories to me now. I wouldn’t think about living there unless it was post-apocalypse.

      • Ownbestenemy

        ^^^ I have great memories of Cali. I had a damn great childhood and young adult life there. But no way in hell will I move there now.

      • Zwak, sensual panzer

        Yeah, from ’75 to ’16, both parents were born in the Bay Area, both Grandfathers were born in the state, and their mothers as well. Our history with the state goes back to at least 1856, but my god, they have fucked the place up.

        Even sadder, my best friend lives in SF and just shrugs, even after his car has been broken into and he was attacked on the metro by a homeless dude. He’s got a kid there, I cannot for the life of me understand this.

    • UnCivilServant

      It’s the leftover space between Ohio and Tennessee.

  38. PieInTheSky

    f you ever feel bad about your art, remember that dozens of producers, directors, writers and designers working for the most powerful, wealthy film studio in the world spent 200 million for this

    https://twitter.com/Bolverk15/status/1452578801356087299

    that don;t look that bad

    • UnCivilServant

      Well, not for a Driver’s license or passport photo.

      For a movie advert, it’s awful.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    If you’re not doing anything wrong…

    “From the taxpayer’s perspective, literally nothing is required,” Sarin says. “All that happens from the [honest] taxpayer’s perspective is the lower likelihood of a costly audit, when the IRS is better at figuring out who might not be compliant and figuring out who is.”

    That’s okay, then, as long as they promise to only go after the fabulously wealthy, who have been stealing from the government for generations.

    Hound and persecute away.

    • AlexinCT

      “I promise I won’t blow a load in your mouth, babe”….

      • Mojeaux

        You went there straight off the bat. I would have started off with “the check is in the mail.”

      • Sensei

        “Package is on the truck.”

      • AlexinCT

        When dealing with government, it always devolves into government fucking someone, which is why I felt obligated Mojeaux.

      • UnCivilServant

        Every time I have said that, it was to inform someone that I’d literally just mailed a check.

    • kbolino

      Thankfully, no one is more magnanimous, benevolent, or competent than a U.S. civil service employee.

      • juris imprudent

        If only that lesson could be taught, very selectively, to those who actually believe that.

    • Fatty Bolger

      And I’m sure this will never be used to uncover petty violations by wrongthinkers, and then be found out, and then have a dozen hard drives with potentially incriminating emails mysteriously self-destruct, and then have the person in charge of the operation take the fifth and retire with full pension benefits, and then nothing else happens.

  40. Pope Jimbo

    OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!!

    The Right People love us, they really love us!

    Megan Rapinoe was honored as royalty at a St. Paul bar on Sunday.

    Rapinoe, a star on the U.S. women’s national soccer team, visited the 15-foot mural of herself on an exterior wall on The Black Hart of St. Paul, a Midway neighborhood bar which caters to the LGBTQ+ and soccer communities.

    “The Black Hart welcomes Madame President Rapinoe,” read the marquee facing University Avenue. Rapinoe is in town for a friendly match two blocks away from the bar at Allianz Field on Tuesday against South Korea.

    “This is so very special,” Rapinoe wrote about the mural on Instagram on Sunday. “… This outrageously beautiful mural from the outrageously talented @cyfione to commemorate when The Gays (TM) took over the world. … I am truly honored, thank you with all my gay little heart. Spaces like these can be sacred ground for us, and this is a special one.”

    I don’t have any clue why you deplorables think that she is a narcissist.

    • Tundra

      …a Midway neighborhood bar which caters to the LGBTQ+ and soccer communities.

      So, like 8 patrons, then?

      • AlexinCT

        Been to Minneapolis, done St. Paul, and both places have a lot of these special types, all with chips on their shoulders…

      • Pope Jimbo

        Black Hart owner Wes Burdine, a diehard soccer supporter and a co-founder of a nascent Minnesota pre-professional women’s soccer team, commissioned the colorful mural from Rock “CYFI” Martinez in August.

        8 patrons? Did every fan of Burdine’s pre-professional women’s soccer team show up with a friend?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Over/Under on how much govt loot will be funneled to this pre-professional women’s soccer team?

        It is only fair. We waste billions on stadiums for the NFL, NBA and NCAA teams. Why shouldn’t these gals get some too?

    • Fourscore

      Hey, my old neighborhood, 30 years ago

  41. The Late P Brooks

    The strong opposition from banks and congressional Republicans has put the administration and Democrats on the defensive. Just days ago, they scaled back part of their plans, but they still intend to push them through Congress. So far, the prospect of passage remains uncertain.

    “Put it in a different color binder and re-submit it. Maybe change the font, too.”

  42. Sensei

    No shit.

    In interviews, the experts bemoaned the limited data on the safety and efficacy of the booster shots. The data supporting extra doses of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines was “of very low quality,” Dr. Kathleen Dooling, a C.D.C. scientist, acknowledged at the committee meeting on Thursday.

    Still, some said they felt they had to vote in favor of booster shots of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines because they had already recommended boosters of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and did not want to deny other Americans.

    “The problem that troubled me is that we don’t know if boosters are necessary,” said Dr. Cody Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine and a member of the F.D.A. advisory committee.

    But “if you’re going do it for one group, I think fairness kind of dictates you have to do it for all the groups,” he added.

    In interviews, panelists were hesitant to voice their discomfort, saying they did not want to undercut the final decisions from the committees.

    “It’s hard to show some of the misgivings, because we don’t want to have mixed messaging,” said Dr. Camille Kotton, an infectious disease physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and a member of the C.D.C. committee.

    But several panelists who did not wish to speak on the record said privately that the final recommendations for booster shots were inevitable as soon as President Biden promised them to all adults.

    Are Vaccine Boosters Widely Needed? Some Federal Advisers Have Misgivings.

    • Ownbestenemy

      “Hey boss these friendly pharma reps here say it is imperative we mandate their product for health reason. By the way I need two weeks off I just remembered I had an all expense paid trip to any where I want to go”

      • db

        yep

    • PieInTheSky

      I say get one of each just to be sure.

      • rhywun

        Repeat every month.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Now don’t be ridiculous, just every 6.

    • db

      When science and health decisions are made by committee, you’re doing it wrong. Truth is not discovered through voting.

      • Sensei

        My only hope is all these leaks and stories stop the CDC from mandating boosters for J&J to comply as “fully vaccinated”.

      • Fourscore

        Consensus of experts

      • kbolino

        Truth is rarely discovered at all. The committee can do nothing but decide by vote. The fundamental flaw in “science-based” approaches to policy and law is the conflation of hard-earned truths sussed out over multiple generations (“science advances one funeral at a time”) with short-run “studies” and “facts” that give the appearance of empiricism but will require decades (and lifetimes) of further scrutiny (which they likely won’t get, attention having moved on to a new shiny thing before then).

      • robc

        hard-earned truths sussed out over multiple generations (“science advances one funeral at a time”)

        That isn’t what that phrase means. It means even scientists don’t change their minds, you have to wait for the old scientists to die for the new theories to be accepted.

      • kbolino

        The aside is not the only way in which the mechanism works, merely an example of it. The point is that, assuming a notion is closer to “truth”, it does not immediately and irrevocably conquer all minds. It takes at least a generation, and often many generations, for an idea that’s not vested with power to spread widely.

        Put another way, and contrary to journalistic fantasies, truth does not instantly translate into power.

      • db

        But we have all just received a clear lesson in how power can relatively instantly translate into “truth.”

    • robc

      When you have lost the NY Times….

  43. Sensei

    This should be interesting.

    Homeowner charged with murder after shooting motorist who had pulled into his driveway

    Mehdi Cherkaoui, an attorney representing Dghoughi’s family, said Dghoughi’s windows were closed when he was shot. “The bullet entered his hand before it entered his head. And the bullet exited the victim’s head, and actually there was enough force for it to travel through the passenger-side window,”

    Bullet through hand suggests a submissive posture. My initial thought is the guy was drunk or intoxicated and just pulled into the driveway. No ideas what happened after that, but it’s hard for me to come up with a plausible scenarios after that.

    • Fourscore

      Shooter meant to scare the deceased with a prop gun with blanks

      • Sensei

        Winner!

      • Fatty Bolger

        He was told it was a cold gun!

      • rhywun

        Oh lord…. *chuckle*

    • UnCivilServant

      There’s got to be more to the story.

    • creech

      Heck, if Ashli can be shot dead for trespassing, isn’t this a similarly “good shoot?”

  44. Pope Jimbo

    The local entrepreneurs have discovered that carjacking Uber and Lyft is pretty lucrative

    A crime alert has been pushed out for Minneapolis after multiple rideshare drivers have been assaulted and robbed at gunpoint.
    The city says everyone should be concerned. Police say since mid-August, more than 40 Uber and Lyft drives have been robbed or carjacked with 12 in just the last seven days.

    Police say many of these instances have happened in north Minneapolis. While officers have arrested some suspects, the trend continues.

    I look forward to the future stories saying that racism has caused Uber and Lyft to no longer go to North Minneapolis (a heavily black neighborhood).

    • Pope Jimbo

      Speaking of crime…

      Our neighbors across the Mississippi are about to get awesome 911 service

      Ramsey County 911 operators could soon dispatch social and mental health workers, child welfare staff and even nonprofit employees to crisis calls, in one of the most dramatic transformations of the emergency call system since its inception half a century ago.

      At a time when communities across the country are rethinking traditional models of policing, Minnesota’s second-largest county is trying a fresh approach in which teams of responders, including law enforcement, are trained to help people in crisis, said Scott Williams, Ramsey County’s deputy county manager of safety and justice. When a 911 call comes in, civilian co-responders could immediately be dispatched alongside traditional first responders, or even instead of them in some cases.

      In theory, this isn’t a bad idea. In practice, given who is planning this stuff, I expect it to be the worst of both worlds.

      • limey

        deputy county manager of safety and justice

        Calling this ridiculous in the face of it probably means I hate safety and justice. That’s how it works, yes?

      • db

        “Safety, Justice, and a Better World”

    • db

      Transportation desert!

    • Tundra

      CrimeWatch has been all over it.

      They regularly scoop and then hammer TMITE over the latter’s inability to tell the truth about what’s really happening in the Cities.

  45. Chipping Pioneer

    I watched a corporate media segment yesterday about using ketamine to treat depression.

    No mention of its use as horse tranquilizer.

    • Sean

      Horses get all the good drugs.

    • AlexinCT

      Someone should propose it be used to treat Kung Flu patients, and the media will go there faster than the speed of light…

    • Mojeaux

      I watched a corporate media segment yesterday about using ketamine to treat depression.

      My brother did that. He said it helped…for a while.

    • Rat on a train

      I am surprised Kamala’s family hasn’t taken up art.

      • creech

        Isn’t Kamala into artful flute playing?

      • AlexinCT

        Willy Brown approves this message…

    • The Other Kevin

      That’s a good indication of the rats jumping ship. Hunter’s been getting a lot of bad press about this, and despite all their trying, it’s really hard for the Democrat-friendly part of the media to make him look good. Biden’s poll numbers are bad, and getting worse. People don’t want to hitch their cart to that horse. At least, not in public. I would imagine there’s more behind the scenes sales going on.

  46. Pope Jimbo

    I’m so glad that the local news plays stories straight and doesn’t put in any bias

    The Sunday bulletin of St. Mary of Czestochowa Catholic Church offered the usual mass schedule, upcoming events, and budget items, but this edition also included an anti-vaccination message from the pastor.

    In a five-paragraph op-ed condemning the COVID-19 vaccines, Father Paul Kubista cites many popular misleading stats about vaccine side effects and deaths, gene therapy, and the power of natural immunity over vaccination.

    The article quotes experts who disagree with the vast consensus of medical experts on COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy. One quote states “the media and government are corrupted.”

    Obviously this Kubista needs to be dragged.

    • db

      Will no one rid them of this meddlesome priest?

    • rhywun

      One quote states “the media and government are corrupted.”

      That’s just crazy-talk. If we were a real country like Canada we could haul that liar in front of a judge.

      • Sean

        *Kif sigh*

    • Fatty Bolger

      misleading stats

      So real stats, then?

      experts who disagree with the vast consensus of medical experts

      So he’s quoting experts? But I thought we were supposed to listen to experts? Oh, only the “right” experts. Got it.

  47. Ownbestenemy

    Ugh. Costco didn’t have normal chickens, only organic. Sorry, I am not paying $2.49/lb. Maybe once all the kids leave, but for now, its the $.99/lb or I will even go to $1.49/lb. Also, pork belly is up $1.00 to $3.99.lb. Still cheaper than buying a finished product if I make my own. Tritip (which I made last night was fantastic treated as a brisket) was decently priced. Limiting paper products to 1 per customer per day.

    Beer is still cheap though and so is their house vodka which I actually enjoy.

    • Rat on a train

      Eventually, even cheap beer will be expensive.

    • robc

      Our Costco was so busy yesterday I had to wait for the next batch of rotisserie chickens. My daughter asked how many they make, they were at 400 for the day already and expected to go well over 500.

      • Sensei

        My understanding, similar to Wendy’s Chili, rotisserie chicken at Costco was originally a way for them to use up chicken that was about to be past its sell date.

        I wonder at this point if that is still the case.

      • robc

        No. Now it is a loss leader. They sell for $4.99 and they lose money on each one. But, you have to walk to the back of the store to get it and are going to spend another $300 on the way out.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Makes sense really. Even normal supermarkets will do that. What they can’t sell after marking down 30% (last day) they probably cook up and try to sell for a day.

      • l0b0t

        Costco (and our market) take the unsold cooked birds and make them into the various chicken salads in deli case. It’s a wonderfully efficient system.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Impossible! I was told we just throw out food and don’t try to maximize the life of the product! I refuse to hear this! Refuse I say!

      • B.P.

        I went to Costco on a weeknight last week. I asked the checkout person about the large, empty spot where the toilet paper is supposed to be. It was the same way when I went three weeks ago. She said the shipment comes in late at night, and it’s all gone early in the day. She suggested calling ahead to see if any is in stock. I’m okay making reservations at a restaurant. I’m less enthused about doing so for toilet paper.

    • Tundra

      Parking issues, traffic, tent cities, crime and grime. Who the fuck needs it? I love being far away in the “boring” suburbs.

      • Zwak, sensual panzer

        This. Small (50k) towns are the shit. I have everything I need.

      • UnCivilServant

        50k is not a small town.

    • robc

      Parking minimums are a bad idea. If a store needs parking, they will provide a parking lot, shouldn’t be expecting the city to provide the parking.

      • robc

        Parking maximums are also a bad idea.

      • robc

        I also don’t think the city should be providing parking for anything except government functions (courthouses should have government owned lots, for example).

        There should be no city owned parking garages or city owned street parking.

        But, you know, I am a real libertarian.

      • db

        I’m fine if a group of businesses want to get together in an association to build parking facilities (with their own land or buying it without coercion from neighbors) to provide their customers parking options. That’s about as close as it needs to be to a “government” function.

      • robc

        That is totally free market and not a government at all.

        Or they could outsource it entirely to a 3rd party who builds and runs the parking structure on their own.

      • Rat on a train

        Or they could outsource it entirely to a 3rd party who builds and runs the parking structure on their own.
        For profit? Then only the rich can afford to park.

    • rhywun

      My Jersey City office is surrounded by a dozen or more new high-rise condo towers (all of this land used to be waterfront manufacturing, railroad terminals, etc.) each parked on top of ten or twelve stories of parking. Fine. To each his own.

      My question was always… why would you want the worst of both worlds? If you’re going to live stacked up on other people the trade off is that you can walk around and do stuff. You can’t really do that there, thus the parking garages. So you’re living a sort of pretend suburban lifestyle without any of the good stuff that comes with that. I just don’t get it. But they seem to sell like gangbusters.

      • kbolino

        I think you are right about the greater need for mixed-use zoning. I live in an area that commingles commercial and residential a little more freely than typical of suburbia but there’s still a pretty visible divide between areas given mostly to residential use and those given mostly to commercial use (never mind those given to industrial use). I watched an interesting video on Japanese zoning recently and, though it wasn’t preachy, it was pretty clear that a big part of Japan’s town/city aesthetic is down to some extremely loose (by American standards) zoning rules.

      • robc

        Yeah, I prefer no zoning, but Japanese zoning is a huge improvement over US zoning.

      • UnCivilServant

        I am surprised that there is something we agree on.

        Zoning needs to die.

      • robc

        robc’s 2 rules of libertarianism apply here.

        Rule 1 specifically, since you don’t claim to be libertarian.

        1. Everyone agrees with libertarians on something.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I could have added “pretend urban” too. It’s neither one nor the other.

        Funny enough, on the other side of those condo towers is what’s left of “actual urban”, you know, the original downtown of Jersey City and adjacent residential areas. It’s the usual low-rise apartments and row houses and such. Some chunks of this were torn down for towering projects a few decades ago – you can imagine how pleasant those areas are. Not much different from the new condos except they’re surrounded by oceans of parking lots.

      • Rat on a train

        Urban planners are infatuated with imposing high-density, mixed-use on the suburbs. They’ve built a few attempts in the area. The problem is each is an island because they are built as infill to existing suburban development and public transit is limited. Most residents drive elsewhere for work, shopping and entertainment. They few businesses rely on people driving from elsewhere. Their real accomplishment is more traffic and crowded schools.

      • UnCivilServant

        Urban Planners should be summarily executed.

      • kbolino

        Mixed-use and high-density don’t have to be coupled together. Mixed-use low-density would work well in a number of places, but it would affect residential property values. Given the proliferation of households with 90%+ loan-to-value ratios, it’s a hard sell. However, it’s one of the few practical ways to get to “people living and working in the same general area” without totally murdering neighborhoods and accrued wealth.

      • Rat on a train

        people living and working in the same general area
        There was a time when I took a train to work while my wife’s work was less than 3 miles. Only WFH put our work locations close.

      • Drake

        I hate Jersey City. Last time I had a meeting there it took 45 minutes to to Jersey City and another 45 minutes to get through the last 2 miles to the hotel.

      • db

        I wonder how many of those towers of condos-on-top-of-parking today will be the collapsing towers of Surfside in thirty years.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Removing parking space requirements is about making it as inconvenient and painful to drive or own a car, not about removing government mandates. Just like torching SFH zoning and forcing densification.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    if you make it too difficult to park, people will go somewhere else.

    Nonsense. People will ride bicycles to the grocery store, just like those chic Europeans.

    • db

      It’s soooo much better to spend an hour and a half going to market every day rather than making one big trip a week.

    • Rat on a train

      Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these cyclists from the swift completion of their appointed errands.

  49. wdalasio

    All that happens from the [honest] taxpayer’s perspective is the lower likelihood of a costly audit, when the IRS is better at figuring out who might not be compliant and figuring out who is.

    Would it be really rude of me to rub this in the face of some of my friends in the service sector who voted for Biden? Or maybe I can be the bigger man and simply figure out a way to make a buck off of some service that lets them skirt the new tax laws.