Sunday Morning Detox Links

by | Jan 2, 2022 | Daily Links | 417 comments

Spent a delightful New Year’s Day with WebDom and Spud down at the café. The students are coming back, and man they were hung over. So were we, but we have to adult.

Speaking of which, another Tales From The Woke, but a funny-ish one. Our Snowflake has a little dog, Chihuahua-sized but not a Chihuahua, who she carries around in a little chest carrier that she wears. Though I’m not often fond of rat dogs, Rex is a sweetie and I always make sure to give him skritches. So when Snowflake came in for our morning shift a few days ago, she looked furious.

“You know that little dog YOU think is so cute?”

“Rex? Yeah, he’s delightful.”

“Do you know what that ‘delightful’ dog did????”

“Ummm, shit in the house?”

“No, that little fucker CHEWED UP MY VIBRATOR!”

I resisted the temptation to respond, “Oh, he likes seafood,” and instead tried to look concerned and said something anodyne like, “I’m so sorry this happened to you.” But I’m beginning to think that we have a generation that has no personal boundaries. This is a pity, because personal boundaries are the only thing that keeps me from going on a mass murder spree.

Speaking of mass murders, I absolutely fucked up yesterday. My birthday list should have been January 1 (like the biggest piece of shit of my lifetime,  the guy on Page 2 of Great Jewish Athletes, a literary one hit wonder; a guy whom I bet was a massively great croquet player; a guy so terrible that Chris Christie looked like a good alternative; a guy who had the best approach to foreign policy of any presidential candidate except maybe Tulsi Gabbard) but I used the wrong list and put up January 2 birthdays. So if you want to know who was born on this day, look at yesterday’s Links.

Well, that confession confessed, let’s look at Links.

 

I honestly don’t understand why being a gaping asshole can constitutionally be a crime. (had to open in porn mode)

 

When you scroll down, you find out that the poll methodology is hilariously bullshit, but I want to believe that it’s true.

 

If you can’t waterboard your own kids, you have no business being a parent.

 

Wait, what???

 

“Go ‘way, baitin’!”

 

And once more, you have to go all the way to the end to find out it’s bullshit.

 

Don’t laugh, this will be here this year.

 

The nutpunch at the end is worth the journey.

 

Old Guy Music is a terrific cover of a sadly true song that always makes me think of Dennis Miller when he used to be funny.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me. Wait, wrong book, I'll find something else.

417 Comments

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Yeah lady, Covid and all, but I gotta take a piss.

    • Rebel Scum

      Some people are stupid and/or malleable by propaganda.

  1. Not Adahn

    You were supposed to say “OMG I hope he didn’t swallow the batteries!”

    • UnCivilServant

      I would have gone with “And why did you feel the need to tell me?”

    • juris imprudent

      Nah, the perfect response would’ve been “I’m buzzed myself right now”.

      • Zwak, All dressed up in his ridiculous seersucker suit

        A certainly not “I’ll buzz myself in next time.”

    • Rebel Scum

      The seafood joke would’ve been good.

      • cyto

        Probably would have gotten you a trip to HR in the corporate world.

        I had one where a lady at the office started a casual conversation with a group about kids these days and all of the sex at a young age. In context of discussing “when to have the talk” I backed up my opinion that sooner is better by mentioning my wife’s niece, who got her period at 8. Waiting until 12 for her would have been problematic.

        So she files a complaint, saying it is offensive and horrible and sexist that I mention her daughters period.

        I told HR that she was nuts, they were nuts for bringing it up, and thanks for the heads up not to allow anyone to talk about non iWork topics when she was around. I have no idea what they thought as about that response as I blew them of and went on about my day. This was probably not a wise move on my part, but I was fairly well protected by my expertise and close relationship with the CEO and I honestly am not capable of feigning horror of over things which are not horrifying.

      • Fourscore

        I had a couple of 30ish women working for me, they initiated conversations and gave as good as they took. They were delightful to work with and productive as well.

      • cyto

        Normal people interacting normally?!?! The horror!

  2. Sean

    She only has one?

    • hayeksplosives

      See, I don’t care who you are—that’s funny right there.

      • hayeksplosives

        I have a “satisfyer Pro” which has rechargeable batteries.

        I have not yet unboxed the charging cable since the move. Cable might not even have been packed.

        I’m getting a little antsy…

      • robodruid

        It’s AC powered. Wife has proclaimed it “Best gift ever”.
        OMWC would probably get in trouble with this though.

      • hayeksplosives

        Duly noted!

      • SDF-7

        I read that as “get an interocitor

        She’d think it was out of this world, I suppose…

      • robodruid

        Never knew this one, cool.
        Thank you.

  3. hayeksplosives

    Herrrooo!! Harpy noyers!

  4. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Hoover is proof that the President of the USA should have the power to assassinate the occasional bureaucrat. Maybe one or two a year.

    • westernsloper

      +1 it’s a good start

    • juris imprudent

      Power? REQUIREMENT.

    • SDF-7

      Brings to mind the idea for a constitutional amendment mandating automatic sunset of all laws (so Congress would have to positively re-affirm them to keep them in play). Make damned sure it includes agencies / departments… be great to have DHS, DOE, etc. actually go away one of these days.

      And as long as I’m dreaming — I’ll take the goose that lays the golden eggs and all….

      • UnCivilServant

        You would have to make sure it’s paired with a ban on omnibus bills, or some other mathod for preventing a pro forma renewal

      • SDF-7

        Yeah, definitely so. And even then, people that can weasel around “shall not be infringed” and “Congress shall make no law” would find a workaround anyway. Ack-pbbbt.

    • EvilSheldon

      “Hoover is proof that the President of the USA any interested person should have the power to assassinate the occasional bureaucrat.”

      One or two a year is probably a good number to start with…

  5. westernsloper

    He arrived at a friend’s home shaking, upset and on the verge of tears

    Can relate.

    • Fourscore

      Every teen age girl…

  6. Gender Traitor

    Birthdays posted on the wrong day. IFLA posting a day early…

    I smell an…interesting…year in store here…

    ::pops corn & settles in to watch::

  7. hayeksplosives

    This is a pity, because personal boundaries are the only thing that keeps me from going on a mass murder spree.

    ::Chortle::

    • rhywun

      It’s funny because it’s true.

  8. westernsloper

    But as he watched Republicans across the country move to reshape election laws in response to former president Donald Trump’s false fraud claims,

    We really are living 1984 aren’t we.

    • robodruid

      more like a mix of 1984, yes minister, and barney miller.

      • Old Man With Candy

        And Brazil.

      • juris imprudent

        Buttle, Tuttle, what’s the difference?

      • cyto

        Definitely a huge dose of Brazil mixed in with our Orwell.

    • Old Man With Candy

      None of this crimespeak, Comrade.

  9. Not Adahn

    I resisted the temptation to respond, “Oh, he likes seafood,”

    If that were the case, she wouldn’t need the vibrator now would she?

    • Fourscore

      Did Debbie really do Dallas?

  10. Count Potato

    “The Ministerial Committee on Legislation voted Sunday morning to reject United Torah Judaism (UTJ) MK Meir Porush’s bill that would give every family with at least four kids a free dishwasher. ”

    Probably not the best way to wash dishes in a desert.

    • UnCivilServant

      If you have at least four kids it sounds like you’ve got four or more dishwashers.

      End underage unemployment.

    • Ted S.

      Teach the kids to wash the dishes.

      It should also be pointed out that (from what I can glean not speaking Hebrew) the current Israeli government, along with Israel’s equivalent of our Beltway Class, absolutely despises the haredi. They’re demonized for not being vaxed enough, but dissembling excuses are made for Arab Israelis having similarly low vax rates.

    • rhywun

      Don’t laugh, this will be here this year.

      But only for Black and Brown families in the fight against systemic racism.

      • UnCivilServant

        The secondhand market will then be flooded with them.

  11. PieInTheSky

    “Go ‘way, baitin’!” – sounds like a dick move tbh

  12. PieInTheSky

    So what is everyone drinking?

    I am on the second half of 2015 Chateau Lanessan I opened yesterday. It taste better today after 16 hours of oxygenating in the bottle

    • Not Adahn

      Rooibos with cinnamon and ginger.

    • Gender Traitor

      The same as every weekend morning since the weather turned cooler – a nice, hot chai latte.

      • PieInTheSky

        eeewww gross

      • Gender Traitor

        That’s just because you’re not a chick.

    • Old Man With Candy

      In the past few days, SP, Spud, and I have polished off perhaps 14 bottles, heavily weighted to local stuff. One of the foreign stars was a ’99 Clusel-Roch Les Grands Places, one of the most freakishly extracted wines we’ve ever had. Ditto the Cedric Bouchard Champagne we opened just before midnight on NYE.

      We finished off last night’s bottles with a Weis Vineyards Riesling Eiswein. But lots of Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, dry Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Gruner Veltliner, and a supposed Tawny-style Pinot Gris (which was far more like a vin doux naturel) have gone down our collective hatches..

    • Zwak, All dressed up in his ridiculous seersucker suit

      Black coffee.

      • Chafed

        Racist

  13. PieInTheSky

    The students are coming back, and man they were hung over. -really sour ciorba works for that

  14. PieInTheSky

    The New York Times
    @nytimes
    In Opinion
    “Our political life seems more or less normal these days,” writes the editorial board. “But peel back a layer, and things are far from normal. Jan. 6 is not in the past; it is every day.”

    https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1477379123941154819

    • rhywun

      January 6th is the new Donald Trump.

      It’s going to take something special to knock that out of their heads.

  15. juris imprudent

    So that Maine woman never did have drugs fall out of her ass.

    • Chafed

      Too soon!

  16. Don escaped Cancun

    “I’m not often fond of rat dogs”

    Small dogs are confrontational and loud because they think they are in control, that they are leaders of their packs.

    When a dog misbehaves, it should get the same correcting gesture every time; sometimes noncompliance can be serious enough that they need a poke in the ribs (what their mothers did when they were pups) or a little jerk of the lead. . . never their name: their name is a good thing, a come here thing. Bigger dogs get some attempt at correction because people (think, attempt to) treat larger dogs like dogs. With any consistency at all, an owner should be able to condition away undesirable behavior . . . which should be the obligation to one’s self, family, visitors, folks on the sidewalk, neighbors with ears, those kinds of folk.

    Little dogs, when they misbehave, are swept up into the arms of their “owner” and cooed to. They continue to bark while their name is repeated: Zoe! Zoe. The owner is high energy, contributes to the energy of the scene, emotionally FOLLOWS THEIR DOG because they ARE NOT the pack leader of their house, reinforcing and if anything ramping up the bad behavior. I ask you: is there a better way to create a high energy, no boundaries, I’m in charge kind of dog that the treatment that most little dogs get all day every day? Maybe give them a treat because they can’t bark while they’re eating?

    It’s worth mentioning this on a libertarian board because it’s a problem that comes from crazy, modern ideas that go against nature (dogs are people too). The nature of dogs is the nature of dogs, but culture tells us our little Zoe is so so special. Well, the truth is more like the case with bears: it was always a bad idea to feed the bears, to get too close to bears; because bears are vicious self-prioritizing people-eating bastards, no one is stupid enough to believe the Bear Laws of Nature have changed. And the Law of Dogs hasn’t changed: Zoe is a pack animal looking to be led by a pack leader because that’s what dogs do. the Law of Dogs is not up to Zoe’s mommy.

    But my little Zoe doesn’t like X, Y, Z, there there did that upset Mommy’s little feller?

    • WTF

      Yup. There are 2 pack positions in dog world: leader and followers. If you don’t take the leader position, your dog will.

      • Gender Traitor

        With cats, there’s never any question who’s in charge.

      • UnCivilServant

        Nobody, because domestic cats are not pack animals.

      • Not Adahn

        Says someone who’s ever seen a feral cat colony in action.

      • Don escaped Cancun

        Oops: absolutes are folly in a world of seven billion morons.

        I’m told there’s a book of a hundred ways to die in Yellowstone; there’s always someone.

      • l0b0t

        That second one is hilarious. The lady uses the bear spray, the bear ambles away, then she calls it back to get it away from her kayak.

      • TARDis

        The sound of her voice should have made the bear rip her throat out.

      • cyto

        She has been through her Karen Certification Course

      • Penguin

        She could have probably sprayed the bear in the other end when it turned from her. Probably would’ve had the same effect as on the face.

    • rhywun

      I was not aware of this horror show. What kind of moron would choose to participate in this nonsense? And when does it become not a choice?

    • SDF-7

      Hmmm… looks like a stable CAT-5 connection to me.

      • rhywun

        *chuckle*

      • cyto

        That is a ten

  17. Sean

    Re: food delivery

    Last week, some bimbo delivered an order at our business front door. She put it on a planter outside, took a pic and left. No one ordered it at our location. We left it outside for hours. Driver never came back and no one came to claim it.

    • PieInTheSky

      some bimbo – sexist

      She put it on a planter outside – this feels even weirder than non food packages

  18. Not Adahn

    So that Shark vacuum that was recommended on here by someone (SP?) is pretty amazeballs. Needs a bit more maintenance than I’m used to, but works extremely well.

    • Gender Traitor

      I’m very fond of my Dyson cordless. The ergonomics make me almost not hate vacuuming. I’ve heard good things about Shark, though – might have considered it, but happened to stumble onto a good deal on the Dyson at Sam’s.

      I hate dealing with electrical cords while vacuuming.

      • LCDR_Fish

        I had a good shark for a while (but it was kinda a hassle to connect/disconnect it for cordless use) – gave it to my folks. The dyson is a lot easier on the whole – more expensive up front – but use those BBB permanent 20% coupons when they have a big sale and you’re golden (saved a few hundred $ on my roomba that way too). Also their warranty is great.

    • Ted S.

      Does it intimidate Lily?

      • Not Adahn

        No. I’ve had to rewire it because she’s chewed off the cord and just this morning she stole the upholstery attachment whil I was disassembling the main body.

      • Not Adahn

        Loud noises don’t bother her. Animal noises and human screams on the TV however…

      • Ted S.

        I was watching the Spencer Tracy movie Cass Timberlane, which has a repeating bit about a cat in the house and the Tracy character’s cat allergy. Every time the cat was on the TV, Sonny would watch very intently.

      • Ted S.

        Yeah, my dog was guarding his rawhide bone in a doorway, blocking passage, so I had to get out the vacuum cleaner and start pretending to vacuum the floor so he’d attack that instead of me.

      • Not Adahn

        She has declared eternal enmity against anything with bristles. Using a broom is impossible unless I shut her outside.

  19. Rebel Scum

    A bystander chastised Graper, and she yelled at that person. As Graper returned home, the boy told authorities he heard Graper yell at him, using the n-word slur.

    That’s it. Lock her up. Hate speech is not free speech, obvs.

    • cyto

      Yelling hate-words is more violent than actual violence.

      This is known.

  20. Rebel Scum

    1 in 3 Americans say violence against government can be justified, citing fears of political schism, pandemic

    I believe that is about the composition when the question was brought up around 246 years ago.

    • Urthona

      should be 100%

  21. Count Potato

    “As we recognize that covid-19 is not a deadly or even severe disease for the vast majority of responsible Americans, we can stop agonizing over “cases” and focus on those who are hospitalized or at risk of dying.”

    https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1475851939371962368

    OFFS!!

    • rhywun

      Who’s going to tell the NYC Quarantine Authority?

      • Tundra

        Lol. I’m standing in line for a fucking test to get back into the country.

        If things don’t change this is my last fucking trip out of the states.

      • Fourscore

        Good luck, hope you don’t have to change planes in the US, news is that things are a little slow in the airports these days.

      • westernsloper

        Depending on which tropical isle you are on I would consider staying there and not coming back to the states. *reflects on life…….spits*

  22. Rebel Scum

    “In food delivery apps, the customer has the ability to increase or reduce the tips after drop off,” Lindstrom explained in the clip. “Tip baiting is when a customer offer a large tip to get their food faster and then take it away at the end. While it’s good to protect the customer from having bad service by holding the tip over your head, it leave a big opportunity to screw over the driver.”

    Messed. Up. If you can’t tip don’t order.

    • SDF-7

      I’m torn on this one. Yes, I do tip on food delivery (memories of driving pizza when I was much younger leap to mind) — but seriously, why the hell is it the expectation? Usually the driver has zero control on the promptness of the delivery, barring sheer jerkiness, I suppose — more to do with the cook staff / traffic / base distance, etc. So what is the “service” here that corresponds to the attentiveness (or lack thereof) of a traditional wait staff? It would make more sense to just include delivery charges as a line item up front, and pay the drivers from that fund rather than gamble on the generosity (or lack thereof) of the recipient who may or may not even SEE the driver, much less feel any service was provided.

      I also feel conflicted when placing “to go” orders at restaurants — I tend to tip there out of habit — but again, what service (other than “Don’t spit in my food, please?”) is provided there, realistically? When combined with the bizarre tip inflation over the last couple of decades (10% used to be generous… then 15 — now 20 seems to be “expected”, when combined with the food inflation, it is getting out of hand…), the idea that you have to actually provide extra service to merit a tip doesn’t seem that shocking to me.

      I’ll go yell at a cloud now or something.

      • rhywun

        I don’t tip for take-out. That’s just ridiculous.

      • DEG

        Normally I don’t either, but during the insanity when restaurants were restricted to take-out only, I tipped.

      • cyto

        Yeah… It would be like tipping the guy at the Advance Auto Parts counter who grabs you a new air handler cover and clamps from the back.

        Wait…. That isn’t a thing, is it?

        Am I supposed to tip the guy at Grainger who grabs me a capacitor and relay?

      • cyto

        I agree. The charge should be the charge and that is the end of it.

  23. robodruid

    I guess i was wrong….
    Earlier (last) year i predicted Biden would not last to the end of 2021.
    Well he is still physically here.

    Any body think he will survive till the elections in November?

    • Gender Traitor

      At what point can Cackle-a serve out the rest of his term and still have the possibility of getting re-elected twice?

      That’s how long they’ll try to keep Biden propped up.

      (I have a bet with Jarflax about this. Where’s he been lately?)

      • Rebel Scum

        2023?

      • Count Potato

        I doubt they will run her. She’s more unlikable than Hillary, if such a thing is possible.

      • juris imprudent

        Not even one Democratic delegate for the nomination. I take that as she is a bigger insurance policy on Biden than Biden was on Obama.

      • robodruid

        She really is in a wonderful position. They cant “fire her”.
        Those are laughs of power and joy.

      • DEG

        Jan. 20th, 2023.

      • cyto

        I suspect that her terrible performance in the public eye is the reason they have not shuffled him off.

        They have definitely had at least 3 separate flirtatious with sitting Biden down, and each time they back away… Probably due to her unfathomable bad likeability issues.

    • rhywun

      I dunno. He does have the best drugs taxes can buy.

    • DEG

      If he survives until after the midterms, Kamala can serve ten years.

      • UnCivilServant

        It would take an epic amount of “Fortification” to get her over the finish line, and I don’t think the machine wants to keep her around. Right now they’re stuck because no replacement nomination would clear the senate.

      • DEG

        They’ll do it.

        Will they succeed? We’ll see.

      • Gender Traitor

        I made the bet with Jarflax more than a year ago – late November 2020. I’ll honor it even if he never reappears, and I would be more than happy to lose. (The wager was $100 to the Glib Foundation. I pay if Biden finishes his term.) At this point, I just can’t imagine who the Dems would run in her place, and I certainly can’t imagine them running Biden again.

      • Mojeaux

        He is on the Book of Faces. Will email his @ when I get to my office.

  24. Count Potato

    “Welcome to 2022, here’s a #RoseParade float aimed to “encourage equity and global vaccination,” featuring an animatronic nurse with a giant needle, and a sign that says “Vaccinate Our World.”

    “The robot nurse is ready to administer vaccines,” says the host.”

    https://twitter.com/SteveKrak/status/1477345172589400065

    • SDF-7

      Can’t be melted down and repurposed like a Golden Calf, unfortunately. The New Religion needs its New Idols.

    • cyto

      OK, that is even weirder than the Honda “Women in Steam” float that broke the controversial ground that women (and particularly women of color) can do math and engineering.

      • juris imprudent

        Math and engineering are patriarchal white supremacist concepts. Sure, one or two can overcome the obstacles that stupid white man don’t have to in order to become brilliant mathematicians or engineers.

      • UnCivilServant

        You mean it wasn’t celebrating sauna culture?

      • cyto

        Now that would have been a float worth seeing, and one where the anachronistically diverse cast would have been a welcome divergence from actual cultural relevance.

      • cyto

        Why is the left 30 to 50 years behind the times these days?

        During the Michigan State bowl game the announcers went on and on about how brave you have to be to be a black head coach today. They spent a good ten minutes of game time basically saying Mel Tucker is Jackie Robinson and has to live up to the same pressures that Jackie Robinson did.

      • UnCivilServant

        only 30 to 50? They can’t even let go of discredited 19th century ideas.

  25. Rebel Scum

    The Ministerial Committee on Legislation voted Sunday morning to reject United Torah Judaism (UTJ) MK Meir Porush’s bill that would give every family with at least four kids a free dishwasher.

    If you have four kids you already have four dishwashers.

    • Sensei

      I’m really surprised they didn’t lobby for two.

      A high end kosher kitchen here usually has two dishwashers.

  26. Rebel Scum

    Elections are meaningless in the Democratic People’s Republic of Commiefornistan.

    It’s now official. California is a universal vote by mail state.

    Voters in all statewide elections will receive a ballot in the mail. Those who still want to vote in person can do so.

    While other states roll back access to voting — we’re EXPANDING IT.

    What could possibly go wrong? And no, states are not “rolling back access”. But they should be going even further for election integrity purposes.

    • SDF-7

      This assumes that rampant ballot harvesting keeping the state a uniparty dictatorship of incompetent morons is “wrong” to them.

      • juris imprudent

        The Republicans and middle-class aren’t sticking around there. Maybe some day some real opposition party will take root.

    • rhywun

      Everybody legally allowed to vote already has “access to voting”, you lying sack of dog-shit.

  27. l0b0t

    ““She also denied calling (the boy) a n—-r, but later stated it was because ‘they’ don’t know how to shut their n—-r pie holes,’” “

    That’s got to be the funniest thing I’ve read in quite a while. Keep diggin’, lady.

    Who tips via an application that requires a credit card? You’re just screwing over the poor driver on taxes.

    Why is that second trooper still employed? Why isn’t the NH State Police barracks being firebombed by a irate mob of Mainers?

  28. Rebel Scum

    Meanwhile, in the Democratic People’s Republic of Canukistan…

    Artur Pawlowski, the Pastor of the Cave of Adullam Church in Calgary, Alberta, Canada was swarmed by police and arrested in May 2021 after holding an “illegal” church service on that Saturday. …

    On Saturday night, New Year’s Day, Pastor Pawlowski and his brother Dawid were arrested after a peaceful protest outside of Minister of Health Jason Coppin’s home in Alberta, Canada.

    You have no rights.

    • westernsloper

      Canada is lost.

  29. westernsloper

    Had to make a store run. JFC it is cold outside. Not a cloud in the sky though so I will take it giving only minor bitching. Ok, a lot of bitching but still better than the past two days.

    • Rebel Scum

      70s here yesterday. 60s and rain today. Cooling through the night and possible snowstorm tomorrow morning. Go figure.

      • TARDis

        Same here. Temperature steadily dropping to freezing by sunrise tomorrow. First time I’ve had the windows open all day and night for more than 4 days since I’ve lived in this state. I had to plug in the dehumidifier in basement too.

      • rhywun

        Yeah it has been mid-50s and rain/fog all week here. Low 20s tomorrow.

      • westernsloper

        2 F when I ran to the store. I made the mistake of rolling down my window to check the mail as I left the driveway. No mail and it took me ten minutes to get the window back up but I drive a POS with a shitty window roller upper motor.

      • MikeS

        Look at you with your balmy above zero temperatures!

    • Rebel Scum

      Good.

    • rhywun

      Imagine being a goddamn bird and for some fucking reason the sky is fire all of a sudden, just a one-night nonsensical apocalypse of noise, explosions, and conflagration

      Imagine being a snotty social media asshole who rejects a glorious display of freedom in favor of pity for goddamn birds who by the way know how to fucking take care of themselves thank you very much.

      • l0b0t

        IIRC, there was considerable use of carrier pigeons on the battlefields of both World Wars. I think the birds will be ok.

      • EvilSheldon

        Being a human being, I find it impossible to imagine being a bird.

  30. Rebel Scum

    FFS: First case of ‘flurona’– Covid and flu merge to form horror double infection

    The first case of Flurona was found in a young pregnant woman in Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva. Flurona is a dangerous mixture of coronavirus and influenza. The young woman was unvaccinated and results from the hospital detected the co-presence of both the flu and the Covid 19 pathogens.

    Local press in Israel reported the woman was found positive for the two infections during analysis at the hospital in Petach Tikva.

    The Israeli Health Ministry is studying the results.

    The woman has presented with relatively mild symptoms of the disease.

    However, the health ministry in Israel is studying the combination of the two infections to detect if it could cause a more serious illness.

    Keep the fear alive.

    • Count Potato

      I seriously doubt it’s the first case. Superinfections are very common with respiratory infections.

      • rhywun

        You only find what you test for.

      • Chafed

        Exactly.

    • Not Adahn

      There was a time in this county when you could make a joke about herpescancerebolaAIDS and have it still be a joke.

    • Q Continuum

      “horror double infection”

      Horror? Really?

      “woman has presented with relatively mild symptoms of the disease”

      So… not horror then. JTFC, it takes more intelligence to be a jizz mopper at a peep show than to be a journalist nowadays.

    • KSuellington

      Muh muh muh muh, my flurona!

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Not a cloud in the sky though so I will take it giving only minor bitching. Ok, a lot of bitching but still better than the past two days.

    It was cold and sunny here yesterday. Much better than cloudy and warm(er).

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Our Snowflake has a little dog, Chihuahua-sized but not a Chihuahua, who she carries around in a little chest carrier that she wears.

    Nope.

    • TARDis

      Well, at least it’s not her spawn.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Flurona is a dangerous mixture of coronavirus and influenza.

    Have you ever seen me drink a glass of water, Mandrake?

  34. Q Continuum

    “non-criminal violation of the boy’s civil rights”

    WTF does that even mean? How can the State prosecute something that is, in its own words, “non-criminal”?

    • DEG

      You’ve never heard of civil cases?

      • rhywun

        Yeah, just watch them.

        You cannot mouth off to a protected class. More sophisticated countries give you jail time for that; it’s about time we catch up.

      • UnCivilServant

        “Sophistication” is the ailment of the ego that makes people blind themselves to reality.

      • Q Continuum

        IANAL, but I thought it was highly irregular for the FedGov to bring civil suits against private citizens?

      • DEG

        Also not a lawyer:

        a) You didn’t read the article. It was a NH state case brought for violating the state’s Civil Rights Act

        b) Off the top of my head, Fed tax evasion cases can be criminal or civil. I think it is the same for Fed securities law violations. Basically, the Feds have the choice as to which they bring.

      • Q Continuum

        “You didn’t read the article”

        Guilty as charged.

      • DEG

        As penance, we need busty women without face diapers.

      • DEG

        Excellent. I like #3.

      • slumbrew

        Looking at #1, all I can hear is, “Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!”

  35. The Late P Brooks

    So what you’re saying is you have been wrong about everything all along?

    “We’re seeing a surge in patients again, unprecedented in this pandemic,” Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital, warned on Saturday. “What’s coming for the rest of the country could be very serious and they need to be prepared.”

    I thought we were all supposed to be dead by now.

    • Ted S.

      Or it could be not very serious.

      • rhywun

        Look, are you prepared for more grim milestones or not?

      • Ted S.

        Yes, yes I am.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    The weather lady says it’s 2 degrees moonshot. I’m not going outside to verify.

  37. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Flurona: So the flu’s still out there and an easily spread but mild variant is out there. Of course you can get them both at the same time and I’m certain that’s been the case all along. The presumption that the flu disappeared last year is magical thinking and stupider than usual magical thinking at that.

    • Gender Traitor

      COVID in its current Omicron variant is too mild. We have to ramp the panic back up somehow!!!

      • Trigger Hippie

        Never gonna stop, give it up, such a dirty bug
        I’m always boosting up, till my blood is just pure Pfizer drug
        My, my, my, aye-aye, woo!

        M-m-m-my Flurona

  38. Q Continuum

    “1 in 3 Americans say violence against government can be justified”

    Ummm… this is about as milquetoast a statement as I’ve ever seen. For one, it says generic “government” not “the Government” or “the FedGov”. Then it says *CAN* be justified. I’d be hard-pressed to find anyone on the street who’d argue that violence against the Nazis wasn’t justified. This says absolutely nothing about MUH INSURECKSHUN or other right-wing boogeymen that keep the WaPo staff up at night.

    • rhywun

      As the anniversary of the day Democracy almost died approaches, expect a lot more of these sobering takes.

    • cyto

      Yeah, if that is the question, no real American Citizen should answer no. We are a nation founded on this very concept, actually put into action.

  39. DEG

    As of now, Dover resident Kristina Graper faces a non-criminal violation of the boy’s civil rights, according to a statement issued by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella. But Dover police said they are ready to forward their criminal investigation of the case to Strafford County Attorney Tom Velardi, now that Formella has acted.

    Dover? That’s kind of a woke town. I suspect bullshit, even though she lives in the projects.

    Oh, update: She was convicted:

    Kristina Graper, 51, of Dover, was convicted of violating the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act on Wednesday, after she defaulted by not filing a response to the attorney general’s complaint.

    Back to the linked articles:

    A South Korean has crossed the heavily fortified border in a rare defection to North Korea, South Korea’s military said on Sunday.

    This person is stupid.

    The widely photographed tourist attraction, which reads “90 miles to Cuba, Southernmost Point, Continental USA,” was charred when the vandals lit a Christmas tree on fire in front of the monument around 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

    I expect better from Florida Men.

    The Ministerial Committee on Legislation voted Sunday morning to reject United Torah Judaism (UTJ) MK Meir Porush’s bill that would give every family with at least four kids a free dishwasher.

    They have kids, why do they need a dishwasher? They want more lazy kids?

    Wilber illegally searched White’s handbag during the stop, finding heroin residue, according to the lawsuit. At this time Trooper Matthew Locke arrived as backup to Wilber. Wilber called the Franklin County Maine Sheriff’s Department to check for warrants on White, as she is from Avon, Maine.

    During the conversation with an unnamed dispatcher, Wilber learned that an unknown woman in Avon, Maine had recently been found to be hiding drugs in her vagina.

    “Whoever answered the phone had not heard of White but told defendants Wilber and Locke that Avon is a small town, and six months ago, in an unrelated case, the Franklin County Sheriff pulled over a woman who hid oxycodone pills in her vagina,” the lawsuit states.

    Ahh. A fishing expedition.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Despite a year of calls from public health experts to get vaccinated — and now boosted — only about 62% of the US population is fully vaccinated, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Inexplicable. Why don’t they trust us?

      • PieInTheSky

        goddamnit

      • UnCivilServant

        Anyone who knows anything about the history of steam technology knows that.

        Mine carts were pushed on rails before they had any self-propelled vehicles. The steam engine proper was first developed to drain water from mines. Some enterprising person whose name escapes me wedded the ideas for hauling the vast tonnages the mining industry needs to move. Then things snowballed from there.

    • cyto

      I have it on good authority that this is actually just fine and dandy. The nation’s leading libertarian publication says so….

      • Not Adahn

        The Daily Dot?

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Yeah, I’d never heard of ’em before, either.

        Google’s irretrievably broken. If you do the same search in Bing (ferinstance), the results actually make sense and don’t show any signs of tampering underneath the hood, so to speak.

  41. Q Continuum

    “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared a national emergency and sealed off a border town”

    Ummm… aren’t North Korean borders always “sealed off”?

    • PieInTheSky

      it is all those damned south koreans defecting to the north

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Wilber illegally searched White’s handbag during the stop, finding heroin residue

    WTF? Did he turn the purse inside out and lick it?

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      Doesn’t everybody?

    • Q Continuum

      *Jordan Peterson’s lobsters click their claws contentedly*

    • Q Continuum

      I am rather disappointed at not having sex with MK Ham. Not so much AOC.

      • Don escaped Cancun

        SEC chix FTW

        Mrs Escaped not necessarily looking forward to a certain rematch

  43. The Late P Brooks

    “mass formation psychosis.”

    The phenomenon formerly known as “mass hysteria”?

    • Count Potato

      Pretty much.

    • UnCivilServant

      Could be that it’s one of only a handful of primary sources that survive from that time period, and even rarer in that it was written by a participant rather than a few generations afterwards.

  44. juris imprudent

    Hmm, were there perhaps Nazis in the vicinity?

  45. Q Continuum

    “hid oxycodone pills in her vagina”

    She should consider herself lucky; in some jurisdictions the cop would his penis to look for the drugs.

    • PieInTheSky

      I think you missed a word in your haste

      • cyto

        I knew “cauterize” didn’t sound right…..

      • Not Adahn

        “utilize”

      • Not Adahn

        “Proactively implement a search procedure to uphold public safety in accordance with best practices and established procedures.”

        HTH. Smooches.

      • Q Continuum

        “best practices and established procedures”

        hawt

  46. PieInTheSky

    This apologism for Israel cannot conceal the fact that it’s a terrorist settler colonial state that’s stolen land from the Palestinian people.

    Let’s be clear, Palestine has an absolute right to armed resistance against the Israeli occupiers.

    https://twitter.com/DerbyChrisW/status/1477425671395807232

    • Count Potato

      Jews in Jerusalem? That’s crazy talk!

    • Rebel Scum

      “Stolen”…there is no historical context for this, of course.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    VOODOO

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the US Federal Aviation Administration have asked AT&T and Verizon to delay the planned launch next week of their 5G wireless services, citing aviation safety concerns.

    Failure to act will result in “widespread and unacceptable disruption as airplanes divert to other cities or flights are canceled, causing ripple effects throughout the US air transportation system,” according to a letter (PDF) Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Steve Dickson sent to the companies’ chief executives on Friday.

    The request for a two-week delay of the Jan. 5 service launch comes amid concern that some 5G signals could interfere with radio altimeters, which use similar signals to measure how far above the ground an airplane is at any given time. Airline companies filed an emergency request with the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday, threatening to sue if the rollout isn’t delayed for further study of whether the signals would disrupt cockpit instruments.

    If Mayor Petey says it, that’s good enough for me.

    • cyto

      Somehow I think this would have already come up at some point…. Is this frequency band not in use anywhere else?

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s the mind control wavelength, they just had some issues with the legacy systems they need to iron out before the cutover.

      • Not Adahn

        I just finished Invincible.

        The government puts chemicals in the water making Americans unable to perceive certain wavelengths of light. Then the perfom all their truly secret experiments under lights that only emit those wavelengths, making HUMINT impossible.

    • DEG

      Sounds like bullshit to me.

    • Don escaped Cancun

      Tragedy of the Commons datapoint #2357093842

      It’s hell developing some equipment for vehicles because of interference: there is priority in protocols en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_J1939 and right of way, but it’s a very fluid situation year to year and vehicle to vehicle. Ever had your cell phone go dead in the car for no particular reason or flick on your turn signal only to have your sat radio go dead for four seconds? And microwave ovens in trucks’ sleeper cabs were a beating.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It is a possibility. I’d have to look at the frequencies and coding standards to understand it though.

      Far more of a possibility than digital devices interfering with onboard instruments because of the power levels involved.

      • Don escaped Cancun

        exactly

        in my examples, the devices affected are digital, but the interference is an EM pulse at a level sufficient within a radius of under five meters

        On a control bus, the problem is that the new signal can’t replace the old signal; unless a plane is doing something critical like landing, I can’t imagine that even 20 seconds of interference much matter . . . not like you’re seconds from crashing.

        On your car, several sensors can can completely die and the system goes right on at the most recent setting or switches to an algorithm that doesn’t need the fine tuning or is fail-safe or good enough. Your outside air temp or sun load sensor could go out and you might not notice at all and question why the mechanic wants to fix it (he read the code in the error stack; it is indeed dead) . . . which, frankly, is a question of comfort and function . . . maybe you don’t care at all.

      • db

        But radar altimeters are typically used during the most critical phases of flight–generally landing, for some procedures requiring them to identify a Decision altitude during an instrument approach. Most instrument procedures used in general aviation just require the pilot to determine the DA from the barometric altimeter, but procedures for airlines (which can use their own FAA-approved procedures) may require a radar altimeter. In addition, any autoland approaches or Category III approaches that have extremely low minimum altitudes and visibilities may require use of a radar altimeter. If you’ve ever been on an airliner that landed in very low conditions, it’s likely your life depended on a radar altimeter.

      • Don escaped Cancun

        yup: “critical like landing”

    • kinnath

      https://www.icao.int/safety/FSMP/MeetingDocs/FSMP%20WG11/IP/FSMP-WG11-IP08_ICAO%20Flight%20Operations%20Panel%20and%20IATA%20%20IFALPA%205G%20problem%20statement.pdf

      There is a major risk that 5G telecommunications systems in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band will cause harmful interference
      to radar altimeters on all types of civil aircraft—including commercial transport airplanes; business, regional, and
      general aviation airplanes; and both transport and general aviation helicopters. If there is no proper mitigation, this
      risk has the potential for broad impacts to aviation operations in the United States as well as in other regions where
      the 5G network is being implemented next to the 4.2-4.4 GHz frequency band.

      • Not Adahn

        1. They figured this out… when, exactly?

        2. How does South Korea survive without air travel?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        So we’re looking at third order intermodulation interference. It’s not particularly high to begin with, but it will depend on the sensitivity of the sensors and their operating power levels.

    • PieInTheSky

      it is the envy of the world

  48. LCDR_Fish

    Weather always turns weird at the worst times for me. Supposed to have a follow-up appt for my dental stuff tomorrow but they’re talking about anywhere from 1-8 inches of snow where I live all the way out to Cville. Could be anything in between too – even though the ground should be too warm for it to stick – not getting down to freezing in the forecast but apparently still calling for accumulation.

    Always right before I have to drive anywhere for an appt. Don’t want to get on the road and then get a notification that they’re closed – and roads around here are always a pain to begin with. Hopefully I can get a reschedule to later in the week although it looks like I’ll be making up a LOT of hours during the second half of the pay period. May mess up my fridge delivery Tuesday too.

  49. LCDR_Fish

    BTW – Hayeksplosives – sent you a quick, random note in the forum. Nothing critical….

  50. Not Adahn

    Making a Three Sisters type stew for lunch. But adding meat because I’m not a stone-age subsistence farmer.

  51. The Late P Brooks

    Why not a skull and crossbones?

    As the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) changes its labeling rules for genetically modified foods in the new year, critics say the new move adds work for consumers and creates large loopholes for suppliers.

    Starting on Saturday, foods containing “genetically engineered” (GE) ingredients or “genetically modified organisms” (GMOs) will now simply be marked as “bioengineered,” according to The Washington Post.

    A phone number or QR code on the packaging may also direct consumers to more information, a decision some argue discriminates against people without access to a cell phone or smartphone, the Post added.

    The USDA has said the change “avoids a patchwork of state labeling regulations” to provide a national standard for the labels that were once set on a state-by-state basis. But critics say the term could create confusion among consumers.

    Everybody knows genetically modified foods will alter your DNA, and turn you into a newt.

    • rhywun

      They should call the vaccines “organic”. Because organic means “good” and “healthy”.

    • Chafed

      I thought Obama got every poor person a cell phone.

      • UnCivilServant

        That was more than five years ago, the planned obselescence has rendered them nonfunctional by now.

  52. UnCivilServant

    I should have found This a few weeks ago. Now it’s unseasonal.

    • DEG

      Heh. Nice.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Orthodox calendar?

    • Not Adahn

      I find it interesting that The Expanse is using the formation of the Clans storyline.

      • UnCivilServant

        The more I clan lore I learn, the more I’m convinced that they should be nothing more than destitute savages shooting each other for the last ration of moldy bread using broken-assed hardware because of the “we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us” supply chain and maintenance issues. Seriously, after three hundred years, they should make the soviets look productive and healthy.

      • DEG

        Yes, but how could FASA milk supplement sales with that? They already had The Periphery.

      • Not Adahn

        Eh, Wolfs Dragoons and Natasha Kerensky made a fuckton more sense than “power level too high. Nuke everything and reset.”

      • DEG

        Yes.

        The Battletech universe was never really about making sense.

      • UnCivilServant

        We have infantry and tanks capable of wielding mech scale weapons with fewer downsides yet they’re supposed to be weaker for the sake of giant stompy robots.

        I only accept that as it is one of the core tenets of the setting, though it still pings in my “Something doesn’t add up” alarm.

      • Not Adahn

        They’re not weaker, just more fragile.

        And having a SRM carrier break cover within range will ruin your whole lance day.

      • UnCivilServant

        60 ton vehicle blips in HBS’ BattleTech game still spike my blood pressure.

        /LRMs for days…

      • UnCivilServant

        I forget where I first ran across it, but regarding the “swarms of small missiles” versus “one big missile” question, I’d read a theory that the packs of multitube launchers were actually developed in response to AMS systems being more widespread, where one warhead was almost guaranteed to get popped, you could overwhelm the AMS with numbers. Then the AMS became lostech and people forgot why they did missile swarms, but that was how it was always done.

      • Not Adahn

        Then they brought back Thunderbolt missiles, and the circle was complete.

        I’d read a theory that the packs of multitube launchers were actually developed in response to AMS systems being more widespread, where one warhead was almost guaranteed to get popped, you could overwhelm the AMS with numbers.

        This theory is a lie. The true answer to all seeming issues and the reason only mechs are sealed against vacuum, can be dropped from orbit etc is:

        Anime is cool and Macross is the coolest anime.

      • UnCivilServant

        Real world reasons do not invalidate a rational in-universe explaination.

      • Not Adahn

        Has there been a legit lore update since FASA went tits up? I tried to get back into it but the last owners have done such a crap job that even after buying TWO stupidly expensive hardback books, they still haven’t provided the rules for designing new mechs. Which would be fine except some necessary start for the new equipment (critical slots?) isn’t in any table. Oh and in addition to being stupidly expensive and poorly organized, they’re not even available from the “publisher”‘s website.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have never played the tabletop. I first encountered the franchise by way of the video games (MW4: Mercs to be precise). Every time I looked at the tabletop, I gave up at the stage of just trying to figure out what rules were needed. It didn’t help that I didn’t know anyone who played, so there was no incentive to put any effort in.

        As for the lore, it has been updated by each round of owners through the dark age, the republic of the sphere, and the clans somehow taking terra. Someone’s gotta go roust those bums. Shame the blackout appears to have neutered ComStar. I guess pulling two hidden armies out of their rectum for the Clan invasion then the Blakist Jihad really left them hollowed out.

      • Not Adahn

        It was the first game of that class that had a dynamic setting.

        And pace DEG they actually did a decent job of making the lore hold together. The Federated Commonwealth made sense because the cultures were a lot more similar than those of their neighbors. The game greatly rewarded customization because the only things worse designed than the 3025 mechs were the 2785 ones. And the omni designation just legitimized what everyone was already doing anyway.

      • DEG

        The early stuff, say like the earlier Inner Sphere supplements example here, were well done. But there were always problems, like what UCS said about infantry and vehicles.

        A relative of mine told me about the new owner. I thought about getting back into Battletech, but just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

      • Not Adahn

        Oh yes, those were great. The updated versions of those… not so much. No idea about the Fanpro ones.

      • DEG

        My entry was via Battletech II in high school. Someone I knew new about a game store closer in King of Prussia that had a wider variety of games than the game store closest to us. That store is where I bought the boxed set and got started with the tabletop game.

        Despite my criticisms, I had fun with the game. I also spent a lot of money on supplements over the years.

      • Not Adahn

        I have all the FASA rulebooks needed to actually play the game (all the technical updates, etc) and quite a few of their flavor publications (40 Year Update, some of the Housebooks, Solaris VII, FedCom Civil War (was that FASA or Wizkidz?))

      • UnCivilServant

        The only thing about the setting more complicated than the in-universe history is the real world history of the IP.

      • PieInTheSky

        I have no idea what this is about and usually I can at least suspect without googling . anyway neeerds

      • UnCivilServant

        Embrace the nerdiness, it’s more fun.

      • PieInTheSky

        it does remind me of a game called Mech Commander I played as a kid

      • UnCivilServant

        It if was on PC, there were two MechCommander cames set in the universe.

        They need to make another one, shame the licensing is all messed up.

        I wonder how much money it would take to buy back all the pices from the individual owners.

      • PieInTheSky

        I never played anything but PC

      • Gustave Lytton

        I remember playing Mech Warrior when it came out.

      • Not Adahn

        On a 386SX!

        MW2 on a pentium was absurdly better. The consumer chip upgrades early in Moore’s law…

      • UnCivilServant

        Someone needs to get the license away from Pirahna.

  53. LCDR_Fish

    Hey Blackjack re: your new car post last night – was that a gov’t auction or just up at a local used place?

  54. Sean

    https://phl17.com/on-air/live-streaming/

    Mummers parade will be live streaming all day.

    It gets even better as the day goes on. Of course it does, people don’t stick around for the scrub acts.

    • westernsloper

      The fuck is a mummer?

      • Q Continuum

        Blow job from a MILF?

      • westernsloper

        They have a parade for that?

      • Q Continuum

        I would certainly hope so.

      • Not Adahn

        Dead Egyptian guy. They like to dance

      • westernsloper

        Huh. Daily I am reminded of shit I did not know.

      • Sean

        The real talents come out in the afternoon.

        I’ll be reposting in the afternoon thread.

    • DEG

      Maybe the live stream will work now for me. Earlier it didn’t work.

      I used to know a few mummers.

      • DEG

        Fuck. It’s still fucked for me.

        And to add insult to injury, in the little bit that I saw, where the fuck are the crowds?

      • DEG

        /thinks back to Mummers Parades when he was a kid

        This is fucking sad.

  55. The Late P Brooks

    “The worst part of this law is the use of the term ‘bioengineered’ because that’s not a term most consumers are familiar with,” Gregory Jaffe, director of Center for Science in the Public Interest’s biotechnology project, told the Post.

    “Bioengineered” sounds SCIENCE!-y as all get-out. And everybody loves SCIENCE!, right? I’s our new religion.

    If it doesn’t incite Pavlovian terror in the masses, they might not look to us for guidance.

    • westernsloper

      Al Gore told me they are all dead so fake news.

    • Animal

      They were all already commies anyway.

  56. The Late P Brooks

    The ability of humans to hold multiple completely contradictory ideas in their heads is truly remarkable.

    “GMOs are bad, because they go against nature.

    Those mRNA vaxxes are the greatest thing to happen to humanity. Please, Sir, may I have another.

    • CPRM

      GMOs are bad

      In the early 2000s I spent a week with my cousin in San Diego. She took me to Whole Foods for the first and only time in my life. She went on this spiel about them not having GMO foods. I take a look at the corn and see it is modern large kernel cobs. ‘Well, that doesn’t look like teosinte. Looks like it’s been genetically modified.’ She didn’t know how to respond, because I don’t think she knew what I was talking about.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Did you ask her if there was an inorganic food section?

      • UnCivilServant

        *shows Gustave to the salt aisle*

  57. CPRM

    I don’t want to have to do anything at work. Why do do stupid people make me have to do things at work? Do your job right, and I don’t have to do anything. I hate people. The first couple nights of this year do not portend a good year for me.

    • Sean

      That is not sexy.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Not thicc?

    • PieInTheSky

      a remote circle jerk?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Who’s in charge of hosing down Tres after he sees that?

    • CPRM

      WTF is a virtual sex party?

      Glibzoom?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      OnlyFans

      • PieInTheSky

        that is a simp party

    • Spudalicious

      All restaurants are Taco Bell.

  58. DEG

    I wasn’t going to do it, but I also wasn’t expecting my replacement french press to arrive today.

    Boozy coffee.

    • PieInTheSky

      never understood that. ruins both the taste of booze and of coffee

    • westernsloper

      ?

  59. The Late P Brooks

    Whut?

    Despite plunging unemployment, record-high job openings and the lowest level of layoffs since the 1960s, more than 5 million Americans have yet to return to the workforce after the onset of the pandemic. Hiring has remained strong, but the lack of steady improvement in labor force participation has limited the ability for businesses to meet surging demand.

    “All of the explanations that we thought were the reasons before — the fact that schools weren’t open in person, the fact that people weren’t vaccinated, the fact that the expanded unemployment benefits were still in effect — those have all since faded into history,” Pollak said.

    “And yet, labor force participation has still not rebounded very quickly.”

    This is the first reference to labor force participation I have seen in a long time. Somebody needs to slap this guy.

    • rhywun

      those have all since faded into history

      What color is the sky in that person’s world?

  60. Mojeaux

    If it was somebody here who left a lovely review on one of my books, THANK YOU!!!

    • Not Adahn

      I left one, but not recently and I doubt it was “lovely.”

      • Mojeaux

        Not the same book, but where did you leave it? I looked at Amazon and Goodreads.

      • Not Adahn

        I read it on a Kindle, and followed whatever “review this now” link was provided at the end. No idea where that went.

      • Mojeaux

        Can’t see it, but thank you!

  61. rhywun

    Liverpool arrives in Chelsea minus their top goalkeeper and their manager. Because those two are on their deathbeds or something even though the commentators seemed to brush it off for some reason.

  62. Not Adahn

    Holy heck, this stew is delicious. Beef, beans, hominy, hard squash, chiles.

    • PieInTheSky

      eeewww gross

      • Not Adahn

        I would be surprised if you’ve ever had hominy.

      • PieInTheSky

        I have not. I hate squash and am meh on beans

      • Not Adahn

        Chilis elevate them.

      • PieInTheSky

        Chilis are unpredictable. when you buy em you have no idea f they are hot or not

      • Not Adahn

        Eastern Europe needs to work on their chili technology. Here on their native continent, you can make highly accurate predictions.

      • Sean

        Grow your own.

      • PieInTheSky

        that only works in summer and if you keep seeds one year to the next. it is easier to buy 3 different types and some will be hot

      • rhywun

        Dittoes. My beef stew has potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms.

      • Not Adahn

        I am a big fan of winter squash, and beans are so neutral that there’s nothing to dislike about them. Only their preparation.

  63. The Late P Brooks

    Muzzled

    Twitter suspended a personal account for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after “repeated violations” of the Covid-19 misinformation policy, the company said Sunday.

    “We permanently suspended the account you referenced (@mtgreenee) for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation policy,” Twitter said in a statement. “We’ve been clear that, per our strike system for this policy, we will permanently suspend accounts for repeated violations of the policy.”

    Greene, R-Ga., appears to still have access to her professional account, @RepMTG, but Twitter did not say what was tweeted to earn a permanent suspension.

    Greene said, in a statement Sunday through her office, that she was suspended for tweeting statistics from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.

    “Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth,” Greene said. “That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies.”

    Rise up, twatter nation. Speak truth to power. Defend the narrative to your dying breath.

    • Urthona

      What exactly did she say that got her banned?

      • Not Adahn

        If they told you that, they might have to justify their decision.

  64. Not Adahn

    Looks like I won’t be going to work immediately tomorrow morning.

    Their policy is that anyone with covid-like symptoms (which is any semi-automatic cold with one of the following additional features…) had to call in to Health Services before returning, and they don’t open until 7:00 tomorrow morning.

    • UnCivilServant

      Are there fully-automatic colds too?

      • KSuellington

        Assault cold?

      • Sean

        High capacity sinuses.

      • KSuellington

        Snot rocket launcher

      • juris imprudent

        The thing that clogs up.

  65. The Late P Brooks

    Tragic losses

    In Missouri, the director of the Franklin County Health Department stepped down this week, citing threats directed at her and her family.

    “The daily verbal assaults, threats of violence and even death threats directed at the department, my family and at me personally for following orders I was directed follow, are not only unbearable, they are unacceptable,” Angie Hitson wrote in her resignation letter. “Resigning was not an easy decision for me, rather it was one I felt I had to make for my own safety and well-being.”

    Nichole Quick, the chief health officer in Orange County, California, resigned in June 2020 after protesters displayed an edited photo of her with a Hitler mustache and swastikas. Another critic read aloud the official’s home address at a public meeting. Quick had been behind the county’s first mask mandate, issued weeks earlier.

    Other officials, in states like Montana, New York, Oklahoma and Texas, have said they left their jobs due to persistent threats and a lack of support from lawmakers or other government leaders.

    Why don’t those ignorant hicks blindly obey the noble public servants who are only here to help them? Why do they spurn Salvation?

    • Not Adahn

      protesters displayed an edited photo of her with a Hitler mustache and swastikas.

      Edited you say? You mean to tell me she doesn’t really have a hitler moustache?

      • UnCivilServant

        Of course not, she sports a full Stalin.

    • rhywun

      Authoritarianisming ain’t easy.

    • Ted S.

      citing threats directed at her and her family.

      Lockdowns have been a direct threat at the economic livelihood of a substantial swath of society.

  66. Not Adahn

    Oh good, looks like the rain has stopped and transitioned to snow.

    • Ted S.

      It still identifies as rain.

  67. The Late P Brooks

    The exodus of public health officials is raising concerns with experts like Freeman about the country’s ability to respond to the highly transmissible omicron variant, which is putting further strain on the nation’s health system.

    “Our public health workforce has lost over 20 percent of its workers in the last decade due to disinvestment, so these losses are coming on top of losses to the field,” Freeman said. “And as we head into omicron and we’re hearing more and more about the seriousness of transmission, we worry about the capacity of our local health departments to continue to respond.”

    They have done such a fabulous job up ’til now, we cannot afford to be left without their leadership and hard work.

    These people are utterly shameless.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Our public health workforce has lost over 20 percent of its workers in the last decade due to disinvestment

      Bullshit. Public health departments have expanded their role and engaged in empire building. The only way there’s a 20% reduction in actual headcount is if they’re only counting specific limited subdepartments and excluding contractors.

      • UnCivilServant

        Contractors are non-personnel expenses.

      • rhywun

        disinvestment

        Whenever that word is pulled out, you can be 100% sure it’s a complete lie.

      • DEG

        The NH legislature cut the size of the state Department of Health and Human Services in the 2021-2022 budget.

        Sure, many of those positions had been unfilled for years, but, there were cuts.

        I’ve heard through the Reopen NH grapevine that there are many bills for the upcoming session to cut or reduce the powers of DHHS. I haven’t looked to see what they are.

        There’s at least one state where the state health officials aren’t getting what they want. Now… will that trend change? We’ll see.

      • Chafed

        I knew it!

  68. Mojeaux

    Re cats and @cat owners with a ventilation problem:

    Our cats need access to areas in the house that require a cat door, but I was loath to put actual cat doors in those 3 doors, despite my husband and daughter begging me to. Not our house, not our doors. Well, then I ran across this: Kitty Korner Door. I ordered 3. Yes, I know, they’re still not our house or doors, but I figure this is less obtrusive and maybe the next renters (no, don’t plan to stay here forever) will like them.

    I’ll let you know how it goes.

    • UnCivilServant

      You could do that yourself with a saw, a hinge, and some screws.

      • Mojeaux

        Can’t get the slide-lock hinge.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Dremel says watch my Beer,

    • MikeS

      That’s pretty cool. Thanks, Mo’.

    • db

      I didn’t know those existed–they’re definitely less obtrusive than the traditional style pet doors.

      • Mojeaux

        It’s relatively new, as far as I can tell. My order number is in the low 4 digits. I ran across it as a sponsored pin on Pinterest.

    • Ted S.

      I love that picture of the dog looking at the cat, unable to go through the door.

      My dad made a sort of baby gate to prevent the dog from going into the basement, but with a cutout to allow the cat to go through. The whole gate is also on a hinge so you can block off the living room if you need to go up and down the stairs, or if you want to put the dog in there when putting the cat downstairs for the night. Sonny consistently tries to get as much of his snout and head under the cutout as he can while the kitty cat is heading downstairs at bedtime.

      The cat really needs to learn to start cuffing Sonny on the bridge of the nose when he harasses her, however.

      • Mojeaux

        We have a cold problem, as in, where the litter box is (unfinished basement space) is cold but we have to keep the door open so they can get to it. The finished space in the basement (mancave) is also cold, but there is a door that can be closed, but, again, cats. Finally, there is XX’s room and the cat that has designated her as her human yowls to get in and out so XX has to keep her door cracked. Since it’s right off the mancave, she wants to keep the door closed at all times.

        If I put a little plastic flap over it, that should add an extra layer of cold protection. This will solve those problems without the unsightly ones nobody wants in their doors even if they do have pets.

  69. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    I’ve had two vaccine-related dreams nightmares this week. I’m just a hot mess, apparently.

    • db

      If there’s an opposite of a tangerine dream, a vaccine dream might be it.

  70. db

    “No, that little fucker CHEWED UP MY VIBRATOR!”

    “Jealous little fucker, isn’t he?”

  71. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    I think I may make some beef short ribs today or tomorrow. I normally do Anne Burrell’s recipe, which calls for whirring up the aromatics in a food processor. Bu I ain’t got no food processor anymore, so mine will have to be chonky.

  72. The Late P Brooks

    I’ll let you know how it goes.

    I hope they aren’t hollow core doors.

    • Mojeaux

      It is specifically made for hollow-core doors (contractor special).

      • UnCivilServant

        I am disgusted at the thought of a hollow core door.

        Admittedly, I would not be surprised of the cheapass crap in this house were hollow. Can’t afford to swap out my interior doors over that just yet.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      It screws to the internal frame, like the picture shows,

    • Not Adahn

      I have had very good luck precooking roasts to 135 before putting them in the fridge, then cutting steaks as needed.

      Of course, you’d need a band saw to do that for the bone-in types.

      • Sean

        GF did a standing rib roast recently. That was some good eatin.

  73. KSuellington

    The Family Friendly website no longer exists.

    • UnCivilServant

      yeah, it’s been gone for a while.

    • Not Adahn

      Is this one of those “he died doing what he loved” things?

    • Ted S.

      Obviously down to the racism of requiring people to pay to ride the subway.

  74. DEG

    More boozy coffee. Because fuck my heart and liver.

    Aahhh… the string band part of the Mummer parade is going to start up soon.

  75. Gender Traitor

    I just got back from the grocery, where I was attempting to procure rolls of turkey sausage for brunch. Not only was there no turkey sausage, there were hardly any rolls of pork sausage either. The bin was quite bare. I bought one roll of a brand we’ve never tried before. Is bulk sausage some folks’ New Year’s breakfast tradition?

    Now it just feels as if the economic string-pullers are just running a psyops experiment on us by depriving us of certain products at random,

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      About 1/3 of my grocery list was out of stick, and most of them did not have acceptable alternatives (no fresh thyme, no red potatoes, no organic whole milk…WTF)

      • Nephilium

        I did a quick stop in a grocery store yesterday, and they were out of bagged potatoes. None. The whole section was bare.

        I also started noticing a new sign all through the store:

        Product on shelf may not match tag.

      • Raven Nation

        My local store had pulled most of their packaged greens over some health scare.

      • Nephilium

        Yeah, that was a week or so back. The salad section is still pretty bare at the grocery stores.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        *stock

  76. Mojeaux

    So far, so good.

    • Nephilium

      Yep. Still need the Rams to step up against the Ravens though. Then it’s all up to the Browns to let me down one… more… time.

      • Mojeaux

        FFS, dude was wide open. ?

    • rhywun

      Stuck with Jets or Giants as usual.

      Jets are somehow leading The Tom Brady Football Team.

      • Nephilium

        As a counterpoint to that, I was talking to someone from Erie, PA who was complaining that they were considered part of the Buffalo market. So they usually don’t get either Browns or Stillers games.

      • dbleagle

        The season is almost over but bookmark it for next year. It is fascinating how broadcast markets get changed weekly.

        https://506sports.com/nfl/

      • rhywun

        Interesting. I don’t know Erie well enough to confirm which market they typically consider themselves in.

        I guess I would have to give Pittsburgh the edge if only because same state.

        OTOH, I did know a gal from Erie who chose Buffalo for the “move to the big city” thing.

    • Mojeaux

      Fuuuuuuuuuuck

  77. EvilSheldon

    Indoor ranges are fucking scary in January.

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      Which range you at?

      • EvilSheldon

        I was at ESS yesterday, but left before getting to shoot. Too near to closing time. I’m gonna give them another shot (heh!) in about twenty minutes.

        Everyone had their brand new Christmas gats out…

      • Sean

        Speaking of, mine is posing with some steaks up this post somewhere.

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        I haven’t been in a while. I’ve always had luck getting there right at opening, which means leaving my house at 8am.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Too much eggnog and woke up next to the paper targets again?

      • EvilSheldon

        I did have too much eggnog last night. That Alton Brown stuff really sneaks up on you.

      • ron73440

        I made a batch last year, but due to my recovery I only had a taste on Friday.

        Holy shit it was good.

        I know how I’ll be celebrating once I’m able.

    • ron73440

      I’m spoiled, mine is run by the Marine Corps, so I’ve never had issues.

      • EvilSheldon

        MCB Quantico? I’ve shot some matches out at the SAT range, it’s a great facility. Only problem is, I don’t have any federal creds, so getting on to post is kind of a pain.

      • ron73440

        Camp Allen, a little Marine base inside of Naval Station Norfolk.

        They have an excellent little indoor pistol range.

        You can shoot rifles, but the max range is 25m.

    • DEG

      /shudders

      It makes me happy I have a membership at the club that I’m at.

      On a related not, I’m not looking forward to going to the gym tomorrow.

    • westernsloper

      I ran out to mine but it is not indoor. A couple million (?) acres of public land. There was a broke down manure spreader down by the 4 way so I had to take the long way around. I got there and realized I forgot hearing protection so I called it a day and came home to cook some ribs.

  78. ron73440

    I watched Bubba Ho-Tep last night after my wife went to bed, can’t believe I had never seen it.

    I told her about it and she thanked me for not watching it with her.

    I don’t know about her sometimes,.

    • ron73440

      Gotta keep those numbers up!

    • DEG

      Fauci said if Americans take the necessary precautions, the U.S. might see some semblance of more normal life returning soon.

      Fuck you. I’ve been living life normally. Fuck you.

      • Urthona

        Yup. The last year was pretty much normal for me except the week i got covid despite being vaccinated.