Thursday Afternoon Links of Bile and Spleen

by | Jan 20, 2022 | Daily Links | 282 comments

Music link returns with NSFW lyrics.

 

 

HASTILY DELETED, BUT PEPPERIDGE FARM REMEMBERS: Wow, Bob, just wow. Seek help now for your violence ideation and misogyny issues. This is what they really think, folks. He later acknowledged having made the tweet and subsequently deleted it, but did not retract or apologize for it. “Widely misinterpreted and distorted by conservative media.” Bullshit. The plain meaning of your words made even clearer by context.

PEAK ORWELL, YET? Calls for curriculum transparency in government K-12 schools is equated with censorship.

ANOTHER DAY OF INCOHERENT BLATHERING: Biden/Harris administration gives presser, then another presser to clarify previous presser, finally veep is pressed and stressed, though not fressed.

GERMAN HEALTH MINISTER: Nobody gets vaccinated against their will. Even the obligation to vaccinate leads to the result that one ends up being vaccinated voluntarily.

DEPARTMENT OF NFW: Biden signs “infrastructure” bill which also mandates government-controlled kill switches for all new autos starting in 2025. What could possibly go wrong? Other than hackers, terrorists, hostile foreign powers, domestic government incompetence, system failures. Nobody mentions that this was a bill with bipartisan support.

 

 

GEE WHIZ DEPARTMENT: Sony plans to launch a six-unit cubesat with a full-frame camera later this year as part of its Star Sphere project that seeks collaboration with artists, entertainers and educators. Once in orbit 500-600 kilometers above Earth, the spacecraft and its built-in camera with a 28-135mm f/4 lens will be linked with an online controller via a ground station in Japan, enabling selected users to capture and record the Earth and stars using a broad range of camerawork options. Those interested in the project can experience how it works through an online simulator.

About The Author

Tonio

Tonio

Tonio is a Glibs shitposter, linkstar (Thursday PM, yo), author, and editor. He is also a GlibZoom personality and prankster. Tonio is a big fan of pic-a-nic baskets. His hobbies include salmon fishing, territorial displays, dumpster diving, and posing for wildlife photographers.

282 Comments

  1. Ownbestenemy

    NSFW, but a song for the first link.

    • Tonio

      I always pictured RR as more a Volvo C70 type guy.

      • SDF-7

        Worth it solely for “Johann Sebastian Aqua”.

      • Penguin

        *sighs*

      • Sensei

        Guy is talented.

      • Penguin

        Yeah, I’m torn between being impressed and being jealous.

      • Sensei

        There is always somebody better. Took me a while to deal with that learning Japanese at my age.

        Now I just enjoy my progress and the enjoyment from my learning itself.

        This was a close second on my YouTube list today, however.

        https://youtu.be/x0RV0kgdqJU

      • Penguin

        I’ve been partial to this version since I first heard it.

      • Sensei

        That fits the tune well surprisingly.

    • SDF-7

      Ackshually — wasn’t the first link the NSFW song Tonio linked?

      • Ownbestenemy

        This is why we can’t have nice things.

  2. Ownbestenemy

    The last ditch effort of a dying narrative. Keep their hooks in the scared.

    • ron73440

      The picture got my blood pressure up.

      • Ownbestenemy

        This line did it for me…”Fauci said younger children will likely need three doses, because two shots did not induce an adequate immune response in 2 to 4 year olds in Pfizer’s clinical trials.” Fuck you, you mass murderer.

      • ron73440

        Won’t bring myself to read it.

    • The Other Kevin

      Someday I hope we get to a point that he’s sitting in a cave somewhere talking to himself about the 71st dose.

      • Penguin

        With a torn, faded picture of himself on the opposing wall.

  3. Certified Public Asshat

    Conservative activists want schools to post lesson plans online, but free speech advocates warn such policies could lead to more censorship in K-12 schools.

    Hiding speech is free speech.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Does the open curriculum of college courses lead to censorship?

      • Tonio

        If you dig deep into the article it does mention college curricula and how ebil conservatives have gone from doxing uni profs to our valiant public school teachers.

      • ron73440

        I see you haven’t received the latest newspeak dictionary.

    • The Other Kevin

      On FB an acquaintance wrote a rant about one of those laws they were considering in Indiana. Apparently it would be a big burden for him or something. Did not read.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Cause he would have to censor out all the bullshit they are teaching….

      • The Other Kevin

        I would hope after years of teaching the same thing he’d have everything written out somewhere.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Scanning to PDF is such a burden.

      • slumbrew

        Given it’s already electronic to begin with…

        (I mean, unless they’re hand-writing their curricula)

      • Ownbestenemy

        Typesetting the plans daily.

        The pommel of the Spear they are.

  4. ron73440

    Somehow in my head, I always picture Robert Reich as Kramer’s midget friend.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I didn’t even have to click and now, forever, it is ingrained. Good show.

    • SDF-7

      Brain works in weird ways — I first read that as “Kermit’s midge friend” and took 2 minutes trying to figure out what Muppet I was forgetting or something….

    • Drake

      Kyrsten would kick the crap out of him then suffocate him with those thic thighs.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Can we throw in Penelope Cruz and Selma Hayek?

      • juris imprudent

        Why do you want him to die happy?

      • Tres Cool

        Even though Im already heading to my bunk, you have my attention.
        Go on….

  5. Tundra

    Tonio!

    Thanks for that exquisite music link!

    It almost makes up for that fucking kill switch article. Looks like I’ll have to get my vintage Land Cruiser sooner rather than later.

    • kinnath

      I am in the process of buying a 2015 Nissan Titan. That’s about as late as you can get without all the new electronic horseshit that is is modern vehicles already.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Wife’s 2017 Toyota has some electronics but no wifi connection, so should be safe. Our 02 Exploder and 05 Toyota 4-Runner will need to be given much love to keep running.

      • kinnath

        The wife’s 2019 Rogue has lane departure warnings (that can be turned off); blind spot warnings (that can’t be turned); and an automatic braking function (that can’t be turned off).

        So I was looking for mode years 2015 to 2017 or so. Happened to find a 2015 at a dealer three miles from my house.

    • UnCivilServant

      Is there any word on efforts to overturn that nonsense?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Depends on if we start seeing news reports on this sponsored by Geico and Progressive Insurance.

      • DEG

        I expect this will be a case of “the ratchet only goes one way.”

    • Pope Jimbo

      Maybe we need to start a Ghost Car company?

      • Ownbestenemy

        We do have a resident 3d printer…

    • slumbrew

      The “kill switch” thing isn’t quite as bad as they make out (but it’s still bad):

      original source: https://dailycaller.com/2021/11/29/barr-bidens-infrastructure-bill-contains-backdoor-kill-switch-for-cars/

      Thirdly, it will be an “open” system, or at least one with a backdoor, meaning authorized (or unauthorized) third-parties can remotely access the system’s data at any time.

      The concern is remote data access, not remote “kill switch”. Which is still going to be awful.

      I just downloaded the whole 1,039 page PDF & here’s the bit:

      (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
      (1) ADVANCED DRUNK AND IMPAIRED DRIVING PREVENTION TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘‘advanced drunk and impaired driving
      prevention technology’’ means a system that—
      (A) can—
      (i) passively monitor the performance of a driver
      of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that
      driver may be impaired; and
      (ii) prevent or limit motor vehicle operation if an
      impairment is detected;
      (B) can—
      (i) passively and accurately detect whether the
      blood alcohol concentration of a driver of a motor
      vehicle is equal to or greater than the blood alcohol
      concentration described in section 163(a) of title 23,
      United States Code; and
      (ii) prevent or limit motor vehicle operation if a
      blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit is
      detected; or
      (C) is a combination of systems described in subparagraphs (A) and (B).

      Ridiculous and vague. But not a “remote kill switch”. Yet.

      • UnCivilServant

        So what is clause A(ii) and B(ii) if not a means of remotely killing the vehicle? I mean the moment any user gains access to the system, they can trigger those functions.

        What should be done is the banning of computers from cars.

      • Fourscore

        ” IMPAIRED DRIVING PREVENTION TECHNOLOGY”

        Hey look, if you see me walking it’s because my car won’t start because of my impairment. I would like dibs on Biden’s Trans Am though, that doesn’t have the impairment Seal of Approval. He shouldn’t be driving, under any circumstance.

      • R.J.

        It’ll take five months for a company to come up with an override that plugs in the ODBII.

    • pistoffnick

      vintage Land Cruiser

      I had a 1976 FJ40 when I was 24. It was the most awesome beast! Well, except rolling down Cedar Ave at 55 mph (pretty much its top speed) in the middle of Minneapolis winter.

      I kept a hammer under the driver seat. When it wouldn’t start, I’d reach under the front wheelwell and bang on the starter a couple of times. Then she’d start right up.

      I never should have sold it.

      • Tundra

        DOOMCo has a beautiful one. They are sweet!

      • mikey

        Had a friend with an MG like that (needed a hammer whack to start it.

      • Tundra

        That wasn’t that unusual for those old starters. My buddy’s duck boat required similar persuasion.

        At least it was mechanical!

      • DrOtto

        Percussive maintenance

  6. SDF-7

    Cirriculum transparency would result in parents knowing what crap they’re trying to force on kids, attendance at school board and other meetings and political pressure to knock it off.

    ipso facto, censorship of their crappy ideas. 😉

    Re: the German health minister — well you didn’t physically stop us, right? Therefore you chose to submit, herr comrade…

    Really seems like re-unification was a bad idea and the East Germans just took over their government or something.

    I am seriously keeping my 2003 Monte Carlo running as long as humanly possible. No desire for the over complicated, crash and back door-tastic newer models.

    No real comments on the nano-Hubble from what it looks like. Not sure why “entertainers” are mentioned, though… whatever.

    Have a good afternoon, happy people.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Really seems like re-unification was a bad idea and the East Germans just took over their government or something.

      Germans are gonna German.

      They’re like pigeons. When they’re on top they shit all over you, when they’re down low they eat out of your hand.

      • Gender Traitor

        Remembered long-ago quote: “France loves Germany so much they want there to be two of them forever.”

    • Swiss Servator

      It sounds better auf Deutsch….”Schon die Impfpflicht führt dazu, dass man am Ende freiwillig geimpft wird”

  7. hayeksplosives

    Short summary of current headlines on Daily Mail.

    Note: these are all separate articles.

    DM headlines

    ‘Any incursion into Ukraine is an invasion’: Blundering Biden is sent out with a SCRIPT to read as White House scrambles to clear up mess caused by his press conference gaffe that was taken as a ‘green-light’ for Russian attack 

    Total disaster’: Critics crucify Biden over his ‘rambling’ first press conference in 78 days in which he claimed to have ‘over-performed’ during first year despite 7% inflation, tanking approval, COVID chaos and woeful Afghan withdrawal

    Normally-supine media lashes Biden for bumbling press conference: Washington Post says he ‘escalated partisan rhetoric’, Wall Street Journal calls it a failure and CNN’s Dana Bash says staff will now have to clean up his mess 

    The President does NOT think midterms will be illegitimate’: Psaki attempts to clear up Joe’s second press conference gaffe after he suggested 2022 elections would be corrupt if his voting rights bill didn’t pass

    Rough night? Touchy Kamala SNAPS at Savannah Guthrie and suggests midterms will now be UNFAIR after failing to get voting rights bill over line in round of car crash morning show interviews

    • SDF-7

      Yeah, the Brits are starting to criticize him — but you know it won’t get to the point of muppets or anything. That’s reserved for the latest Worse Than Hitler(tm) incarnation.

    • The Other Kevin

      Just out of curiosity I checked out CNN this morning. No mention of Biden’s speech, but the headline was how the Jan. 6 commission is interested in Trump’s wife, and another story about how Biden lies, but it’s just to prove a point and not as bad as Trump was.

      • creech

        Lots of men are interested in Trump’s wife too.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The idea that we have a dementia addled buffoon for a president making comments while we’re provoking the Russians unsettles me just a hair.

      • whiz

        Fortunately (I think and/or hope), Putin knows Biden is not really in charge and doesn’t take his comments seriously.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Frankly, it’s not Biden that worries me. It’s war lobby that infests most of DC. They’re not above provoking an incident to get their desired outcome.

      • Ownbestenemy

        ^^^ There is a gaping hole in need to churn out war toys right now.

    • B.P.

      “…and CNN’s Dana Bash says staff will now have to clean up his mess”

      Uh, staff is scripting this mess.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    If you have to tell people you’re a free speech advocate

    • ron73440

      I’m a free speech advocate, but…

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        I’m a gun rights advocate, but… We need common sense gun regulation.

      • Fourscore

        I promise not to holler Fire in an uncrowded theater

    • Ownbestenemy

      Congress moves to declare all such data national security and will be available to be considered for release in 2122.

    • Drake

      Pfizer isn’t answering that call.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    You probably couldn’t get 50:1 odds in Vegas on Li’l Bob in a Reich-Sinema cage match.

    • TARDis

      Don’t have the Tweeter. Has she responded with an open invitation to let him have a shot?

    • EvilSheldon

      We are thinking the same thoughts, you and I…

  10. Sensei

    It would seem after their failed merger they all went “WTF”, but realized that probably wasn’t a good idea.

    Willis Towers Watson releases new branding

    “We are now WTW.”

    Those were the words of Willis Towers Watson (WTW) chief executive Carl Hess when the company’s rebrand was announced. The branding shift coincided with the broking giant’s change in its ticker symbol on the Nasdaq stock market.

  11. JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

    So I’ve thought about why Kamala keeps reminding us that she’s the VP. I suspect it’s because Biden is out of it most of the time and can’t make any decisions, so his handlers make the decisions for him without her input. Kamala feels like she should be making decisions in his absence, because “I’m the VP”.

    • Bobarian LMD

      The handlers know better than that.

      “She’s worse than he is!”

  12. Drake

    Now that we know the vaccine doesn’t work and can have dangerous side-effects…

    Austria’s parliament voted Thursday to introduce a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for adults from Feb. 1, the first of its kind in Europe, with maximum potential fines of up to 3,600 euros ($4,000) for people who don’t comply after a series of reminders.

    • rhywun

      Four thousand bucks seems kind of low for an Indulgence.

  13. JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

    An idea for a movie or the next episode of Joemala: Russia has invaded Ukraine. Kyiv is in chaos. Hunter Biden’s diaries and other incriminating documents are at risk of falling into the wrong hands. Two FBI agents are sent behind enemy lines to retrieve them. After a final showdown with Vlad the Invader, Our Democracy is saved.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Can we get Larry the Cable Guy to star in this?

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        I was thinking George Clooney as Hunter, but sure, why not?

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        I think LTCG’s got too much gravitas for the rôle.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Heh…I was just thinking Delta Farce universe fits this pitch.

      • Drake

        Ray Epps and Richard Trask will be the leading men. They will locate the dumbest Ukrainians they can find and talk them into doing something so stupid it never even occurred to them.

        Then the Russians win, of course.

    • Spudalicious

      That’s like, a whole season.

  14. Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

    That German Health Minister should do a one-two comedy buddy act with the Premier of Quebec.

    As the saying goes, “Orwell’s 1984 was a cautionary tale, not an instruction manual.”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I actually prefer to hear the banal edicts of power-addled authoritarian bureaucrats in the original German. It sounds so much more authentic.

  15. JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

    My daughter got her booster yesterday because she needs it to return to college in a couple weeks even though the first 2 weeks will be online. She just came home early from work because she’s feeling crappy. So infuriating that she’s practically forced to get a shot that will do no good.

    • Sensei

      My son was in the same boat.

      Our decision was Pfizer over Moderna as the booster variant is the same as any other adult Pfizer does 30 mcg. Whereas Moderna is 100 / 100 mcg and even its booster is a 50mcg dose,

    • TARDis

      I’m annoyed enough with the will do no good, but it’s the this may kill you today or in 5 years that makes me angry.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      I’m still trying to connect the dots between feeling like shit after each shot, but having a mild case when infection inevitably happens.

      How does the entire experience compare to someone who is unvaccinated?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Dealt with like a normal cold/flu for me. That might be what I had, I don’t know.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Teen #2 requested I help him set up his appointment cause “everyone at school is sick!” I showed him the 250+ emails I have received in two weeks of “confirmed” positive cases in the FAA that denote the employee was vaccinated.

      If your goal is to not get sick, this isn’t how to do it.

      • grrizzly

        After testing positive for covid my partner started taking my vitamin D pills that I’ve been taking every day since May 2020. Better late than never I guess.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yep. I was never a daily vitamin taker as we have a well-varied diet, but why not boost it? D3, B12 (don’t know if that helps, but my wife takes it so do I), and Zinc on daily rotation. Any sign of sickness, quinine/zinc is rotated in.

  16. Winston

    https://www.discoursemagazine.com/politics/2022/01/20/presidential-rhetoric-and-the-return-to-normalcy/

    In many ways, Biden seemed like someone who was well-situated to do the same. He was long characterized, not always accurately, as a moderate, and he did to his credit maintain strong relationships with senators on both sides of the aisle

    So, when Biden assumed office, there were reasons to argue that he could be either divisive or unifying. But while the inaugural address used unifying language, once the hard choices of governing emerged, Biden’s choices tended more toward the divisive rather than the unifying.

    The fact that anybody thought Joe Biden was going to be done enlightened Centrist technocrat is laughable. What about his 50 year career showed that?

    Not to mention that anyone thinks some enlightened technocrat is a good idea or thinks that unity is more preferable to good policies….

    • Winston

      *some*

      Damn autocorrect

      • TARDis

        The 0.1% were unavailable for comment.

        Oh wait, no they weren’t.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      I don’t understand the fixation on unity. It’s another empty word. If we were unified, what would be the point of having elections?

      • slumbrew

        They say “unity” they mean “obey”.

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        I’m for unity! It’s all you assholes who disagree with me that are divisive!

    • creech

      “What about his 50 year career showed that?”

      Well, at no time during that career was he named “Donald Trump” and that alone was enough reason for smug, virtue signaling suburban Kens and Karens to vote for him.

      • juris imprudent

        There seem to have been a lot of people who wanted someone other than Trump – much as that mystifies people sold on Trump.

  17. The Other Kevin

    “Even the obligation to vaccinate leads to the result that one ends up being vaccinated voluntarily.”

    You always have the choice of doing what they say or taking a bullet in the head. It’s always up to you.

    • Winston

      The gas chambers were voluntary too according to that logic…

    • Ownbestenemy

      For now…sure, its ‘voluntary’ but given that poll about what certain portions of our population wants to do with the unclean, it will be Austria in no time.

  18. Certified Public Asshat

    An old friend has escaped Canada:

    Currently bound for Nashville for a LONG OVERDUE move!It's an exciting time, but I'm afraid there won't be any videos for several days as we get settled.Apologies for the break, but this should be the start of some really awesome projects!— Lauren Chen (@TheLaurenChen) January 20, 2022

    • Winston

      https://mises.org/wire/who-needs-personal-responsibility-when-we-can-just-trust-our-overlords

      We want a board of white-hat experts to look after us, not trusting ourselves with money, morals, information, diseases, sexual dimorphism, or even how many sexes there are in Homo sapiens.

      It’s better if someone else tells me how to think and act. I don’t want to look after my own health, either in practice or in theory, much preferring to have some CDC head or state administrator to tell me what I may or may not put into my body; what I should or shouldn’t eat; what medicine and experimental treatments I should or shouldn’t take.

      Even facing a manmade pandemic, we don’t seem to want much responsibility for our own well-being, but rather outsource the quick fix to some of the people involved in its creation. Take the opportunity to go outside and exercise? To eat good food? To get in shape? No, no, have the same authoritarian culprits you should routinely ignore invent a magic fix for you, so that you can comfortably relax and refuse to take much responsibility of your own. Any of the other treatments or precautionary measures available? No, thanks.

      Why is it that thus attitude is most prevalent after massive increases in wealth, urbanization and social freedom?

    • Pope Jimbo

      Escaping Canada is not as easy as it sounds

      Four people, including a baby, were found frozen to death Wednesday on the Minnesota-Canada border, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

      The bodies of an adult man and woman, as well as a teenage boy and the baby, were found on the Canadian side, about 10 yards north of the Minnesota line and 6 miles east of Emerson, Manitoba. The baby’s gender was not identified, and no further information was available on the victims.

      According to the RCMP, border patrol officials on the U.S. side notified Canadian authorities Wednesday morning that they’d detained a group of people who had crossed the border into Minnesota near Emerson. One adult possessed some baby gear, but there was no baby with the group.

      Concerned about the possible fate of the infant, officers began a search about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, and the bodies were discovered four hours later.

      • grrizzly

        This is the only way to leave the country for unvaxxed Canadians.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Uffda. I’m betting that they were all tested for the Rona. If positive, they will all be flagged as Rona Deaths.

        The “Dead Infant With Rona” headlines will make their way to my wife and I will have to hear all about how wrong and stupid I am.

      • Not Adahn

        The baby’s gender was not identified

        Well, duh. Since xey were dead xey couldn’t tell you now could xey?

  19. juris imprudent

    Interesting take.

    But Durham has made plain his dissent. In response to Horowitz’s report, the special counsel announced that his office had “advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.” Durham stressed that, unlike Horowitz, his “investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department” and has instead obtained “information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.”

    So contrary to some expectations, Biden and Garland have not pulled the plug on this. Perhaps to ultimately use it to keep Hillary out?

    • Spudalicious

      I’m hoping it’s gotten too big to cancel.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of cars

    The European Commission’s strategy to phase out combustion engines in favor of EVs is a political choice that carries environmental and social risks, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in an interview with European newspapers.

    Since merging Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot-maker PSA Group, Tavares has mapped out a 30 billion euro ($34 billion) electrification plan that helped Stellantis shares surge more than 60 percent in their first year.

    “What is clear is that electrification is a technology chosen by politicians, not by industry,” he said in a joint interview with France’s Les Echos, Handelsblatt, Corriere della Sera and El Mundo.

    He added there were cheaper and faster ways of reducing carbon emissions.

    “Given the current European energy mix, an electric car needs to drive 70,000 kilometres (44,000 miles) to compensate for the carbon footprint of manufacturing the battery and to start catching up with a light hybrid vehicle, which costs half as much as an EV,” he said.

    Talk like that could get him kicked out of Davos.

    • rhywun

      Yeah, you’re not supposed to talk about the batteries.

    • wdalasio

      That’s a good example of what I think we can call a progressive caste system. There are cheaper and easier ways of reducing carbon emissions, as Tavares shows. But, it what if the goal isn’t just lower emissions? What if the goal is to deny cars to the riff-raff, to make them live in cities, and submit to centralized control? I’m almost inclined to think they want a world of masked serfs.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s almost like you’ve met some Europeans before.

    • dorvinion

      SLD applies: Mandates are counterproductive and result in most players trying to forever chase the subsidy, etc etc

      So the EV starts 44k in the hole
      What’s the break even point? What’s the lifetime carbon balance vs gas and hybrid at 100/200/300k miles?

      Also have to remember, the grid gets cleaner over time, at least as long as government doesn’t muck it up, and as it does so the timetable for negative carbon also decreases from that.
      It would also decrease as efficiency and scaling of resource extraction and product production improves which it would as demand increases.

      As to cost, the typical hybrid and the current most popular EVs (Model 3/Y) are not in the same vehicle class, so price comparisons aren’t exactly fair.
      Price is also to some degree higher because the raw materials and battery production capacity are presently rather low, being primarily sized for meeting cell phone/laptop/portable device demand.

  21. Fourscore

    Whoever said something like taking a random page of the NY phone book would produce better politicians was right, paraphrasing

    The sign says 800 folks live in Podunkville Township, I daresay any one of the adults could have made a better the presentation than we saw yesterday.

    Any would be adversaries enjoyed it way more than the American people.

  22. rhywun

    PEAK ORWELL, YET? Calls for curriculum transparency in government K-12 schools is equated with censorship.

    The linked article is a steaming pile of mendacious, puling claptrap. Too many instances of carrying water for the DNC to even choose one to cite, and I could only stomach the first few paragraphs.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      An entire K-12 curriculum is already posted online at Khan Academy, for free. We don’t want parents comparing that with what the local school teaches.

      Although no “free” baby sitting.

      • Ownbestenemy

        For funsies, I am going to request the year’s curriculum from my teen’s teachers. See what they say.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Why don’t we just use prison guards?

      Seems more appropriate for the task.

  23. Pope Jimbo

    I am so looking forward to 2026 when a hacker blocks attempts by the cops to shut off his get away car and instead counter jams all the cop vehicles.

    Having the cop drive at OJ speeds down a hiway while everyone else is shutdown would be awesome TV. Bonus points if he drives a white Bronco.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Life imitates video games.

      • Nephilium

        Who would have guessed Watch_Dogs would be the game to predict the future the best?

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Whoever said something like taking a random page of the NY phone book would produce better politicians was right, paraphrasing

    I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.

    Wm F Buckley

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That’s rich coming from that warmongering, banker shoe wearing, upper class twit with soft hands.

      • Pope Jimbo

        The first time I met my wife’s family, a bunch of the women all were amazed by my hands. I had at least a dozen old Korean ladies grab my hand and paw at it.

        I thought it was because my hands were so big, but after asking my wife she laughed and said “No, it is because they’ve never seen a man with such soft hands”.

        Still one of my prouder moments.

      • Fourscore

        ” they’ve never seen a man with such soft hands”.

        Pornhub tested

      • Ownbestenemy

        Who said boomers can’t be funny.

      • Pope Jimbo

        That was back in the Poor Days. I couldn’t afford that much hand lotion. Rough and Ready all the time.

      • pistoffnick

        It’s all the lotion…

      • Fourscore

        Remember the old commercials?

        “I’m gonna need an ocean of Jergens…

      • Tulip

        I don’t think that was a compliment.

    • Ownbestenemy

      AHAHAHA I hate this rock.

  25. DEG

    Wow, Bob, just wow. Seek help now for your violence ideation and misogyny issues. This is what they really think, folks. He later acknowledged having made the tweet and subsequently deleted it, but did not retract or apologize for it. “Widely misinterpreted and distorted by conservative media.” Bullshit. The plain meaning of your words made even clearer by context.

    I was going to channel Keith Olberman on Rand Paul, but I see you did it better than me.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I’m cutting the cunning runt a break.

      If women want to be equal, then I think it is OK to make vague threats of violence. Would anyone have gotten that worked up if he had tweeted the same thing about Manchin?

      If you think that any blathering with semi-violent imagery is wrong (regardless of who is getting 5 across the eyes), go ahead and complain. I think you are overreacting, but you be you. However if you think it is horrible because violence against women is never right, then I think you are a hypocrite (and overreacting).

      Lighten up Francis.

      • Spudalicious

        The midget is still a runny cunte.

  26. DEG

    Remember: Hitler was Austrian

    Austria’s parliament voted Thursday to introduce a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for adults from Feb. 1, the first of its kind in Europe, with maximum potential fines of up to 3,600 euros ($4,000) for people who don’t comply after a series of reminders.

    Lawmakers voted 137 to 33 in favor of the measure, which will apply to all residents of Austria aged 18 and over. Exemptions are made for pregnant women, people who for medical reasons can’t be vaccinated, or who have recovered from the coronavirus in the previous six months.

    • Ownbestenemy

      So covid parties every 6 months….

  27. Winston

    https://theupheaval.substack.com/p/four-big-questions-for-the-counter

    In this view, the sweeping victory of secularism and the collapse of organized religion has had unintended consequences. Without religion, great numbers of people found themselves without any obvious source of meaning or higher structure in their lives, and a fuzzy, universalized “spirituality” did not provide any relief. Moreover, the loss of a community of fellow believers was a major blow, helping to advance atomization and inner despair. In response, these people increasingly turned to politics to fill the meaning and community-shaped hole in their lives once occupied by religion, widening and existentializing the psychological stakes of partisan societal divisions. The personal became political, and the political became personal. Soon, the New Faith emerged and took this process to its logical conclusion by transforming a matrix of seemingly purely political causes into a totalizing, dogmatic faith system with its own crude metaphysics.

    Interesting take. Even secular libertarians are increasingly aware that secularism has not to lead to libertopia. Or how New Atheist James Lindsay is a fervent opponent of wokism.

    There is also the fact that Western Liberalism is a response to post-Reformation religious violence so wouldn’t the end of Western Christendom undermine liberalism? For example freedom of religion was adopted thanks to the Religious Wars and set a clear limit on government and is the basis for Pluralism and Tolerance. Not to mention modern “pluralism and tolerance” is increasingly code for “shut up and obey the elites on everything” whereas freedom of religion resulted in serious theological differences that could not be ignored. For example even the Northeastern WASP elites had very serious religious differences between them. And we can see that freedom of religion is in decline (church lockdowns anyone?) After increased secularism…

    • wdalasio

      My (probably mis-)interpretation of Freud is that it’s a rare person who is a true atheist. If you accept the idea that the notion of God serves as an ersatz father figure, rejecting God is just a play on the Oedipus complex. But, the rejection can’t make the need for a father figure to kill go away. So, people just create a new God to slay. Usually that’s the state or some variant on the collective. They just transfer their innate need for religious thinking to a different

    • robc

      Organized religion collapsed? I will let my pastor know on Sunday.

      • Tundra

        Dude. God is dead. Remember?

  28. Winston

    So what would a Russian invasion of the Ukraine really look like? And a conventional war between US and Russia?

    And where is the anti-war left? Demanding that we wear masks and stay inside?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      What anti-war left?

      • Winston

        Weapons Contractors and the military are woke and pro-CCP so that resolved all the issues that the anti-war left really had.

      • Penguin

        Nice photo. It looks like Blinken just got done fondling the German Foreign Minister’s ass.

    • wdalasio

      So what would a Russian invasion of the Ukraine really look like?

      My bet would be a quick annexation of Eastern Ukraine and not much after.

    • Fourscore

      Keep us posted

    • Drake

      Godspeed.

    • DEG

      The people speaking, so far in favor, have been Free Staters. I think a bunch never bothered reading the advice from the NHLA about how to testify at these committees. Nobody (his legal name) is currently speaking, and his being a bit too melodramatic.

      • DEG

        They aren’t sending their best.

      • juris imprudent

        Oh, they might actually be.

      • DEG

        Heh.

        Sarcasm.

    • DEG

      Independence poll at the Union Leader came up. Something like 75% supported independence (i.e. NH secession).

      I remember the poll. The Free Staters spread word about the poll through their network. People that answered it skewed towards the Free Staters. It’s not representative of the general population.

    • DEG

      Someone speaking against the bill. He opposed the bill because he loves the country despite having seen the worst of the country because he is black.

      • DEG

        To be fair to this guy, he does think the Federal government is tyrannical.

    • DEG

      Committee chair says he is on the fence about this proposal. He says he likes the idea in theory, but he expects it will be a disaster in practice. He thinks the folks pushing for secession haven’t thought about a lot of things that need to be thought about.

      The committee chair has an A rating from the NHLA, so he’s a pro-liberty guy. He also seems to know some of the Free Staters that have been speaking.

      • DEG

        Oops.

        Baldasaro is the committee chair.

    • DEG

      Last speaker.

    • DEG

      Whoa. Someone who is not a Free Stater got in at the last minute to speak. This person supports secession.

    • DEG

      Hearing is adjourned but the livestream is still running.

      Committee secretary is speaking. She mentioned her husband was in Federal prison for five years and she thinks the folks pushing secession are doing good work.

      And… as I type that, the livestream ends.

      My expectation: ITL (Inexpedient to Legislate) recommendation from the committee.

  29. Winston

    https://theupheaval.substack.com/p/four-big-questions-for-the-counter

    Simplified, that argument goes like this: Liberalism made the radical autonomy of the individual its greatest good and highest goal. To achieve this total autonomy, man had to be freed from all external limits. On one hand, liberalism unleashed the power of technology and the machine of consumer capitalism with a mission to conquer nature and free us from all the material limits and wants imposed by her in her cruelty. On the other hand, Liberalism (far more influenced by the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau than it would admit) set out to free man from all limits of inherited culture, religion, custom, tradition, hierarchy, place, behavioral norms, associations, and relationships – all of which came to be seen as obstacles of oppression standing in the way of the full realization of individual desire and liberty, as presumed to have once existed in a fantastical “state of nature” present before the corruption of history and its sins.

    But there is a profound irony at the heart of Liberalism: as Deneen writes, “the more completely the sphere of autonomy is secured, the more comprehensive the state must become.” The more individuals are “liberated” from associations and traditions, the more there is a “need to regulate behavior through the imposition of positive law,” because the rights of individuals must be attained and guaranteed by something – and the state is the only option. Moreover, “as the authority of social norms dissipates, they are increasingly felt to be residual, arbitrary, and oppressive, motivating calls for the state to actively work toward their eradication.” This cycle is self-reinforcing as lighter and lighter burdens of obligation, responsibility, and restriction on individual desire and self-expression are felt to be intolerable. New rights are granted, which require a new expansion of the state to facilitate.

    Very worrisome take. For example isn’t lockdownism an attempt to save us from the tyranny of disease? And transgenderism to save us from the tyranny of biology?
    And aren’t covidism, wokism and environmentalism expressions of very deep dissatisfaction with modern life despite the massive increases in living standards?
    And the fact that socialism and Communism are becoming more popular as the memories of the USSR fade away?

    Or that the Engkish Civil War and the French Revolution showed that classical liberalism always had some totalitarian tendencies?

    • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

      I don’t think it’s liberalism (classical or otherwise) is what has “some totalitarian tendencies.” There appear to be humans involved.

      • Winston

        Well John Lilburne, sometimes called “the first libertarian” was a supporter of Cromwell until they had a falling out…

        And Tom Paine defended the Revolution from Burke…

      • wdalasio

        I don’t think it’s liberalism (classical or otherwise) is what has “some totalitarian tendencies.”

        Relative to what came before, almost certainly not. But, I do see where the argument flows. At some point, looking to liberate people from tradition, from culture, from history, from mediating institutions, or from physical reality becomes an exercise in authority. The anti-clerical French Revolutionaries may have thought themselves as liberating mankind from a corrupt and superstitious religious tradition. But, what happens when they find that large swaths of the population happen to like and support that corrupt and superstitious religious tradition? Do you halt progress and let mankind wallow in superstition and ignorance? To me, that’s always been the danger of “thick libertarianism”. That “thick” part will always subsume the libertarian part.

      • Winston

        liberating mankind from a corrupt and superstitious religious tradition.

        The public school system was supposed to do this. Glad that worked out…

      • wdalasio

        Well, that hints at an element of Chesterton’s fence in the entire matter that I wasn’t thinking about. But, you’re right. Those traditions and institutions often have centuries of learning implicit in them. Thinking you can simply replace them with one’s own more enlightened alternative puts you in the position of relearning all of those lessons. Even if not every implicit lesson learned is still relevant or meaningful, there’s a real cost to relearning those lessons that are still relevant.

  30. Winston

    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/07/how-american-politics-went-insane/485570/

    Middlemen have a characteristic that is essential in politics: They stick around. Because careerists and hacks make their living off the system, they have a stake in assembling durable coalitions, in retaining power over time, and in keeping the government in functioning order. Slash-and-burn protests and quixotic ideological crusades are luxuries they can’t afford. Insurgents and renegades have a role, which is to jolt the system with new energy and ideas; but professionals also have a role, which is to safely absorb the energy that insurgents unleash. Think of them as analogous to antibodies and white blood cells, establishing and patrolling the barriers between the body politic and would-be hijackers on the outside. As with biology, so with politics: When the immune system works, it is largely invisible. Only when it breaks down do we become aware of its importance.

    The biggest obstacle, I think, is the general public’s reflexive, unreasoning hostility to politicians and the process of politics. Neurotic hatred of the political class is the country’s last universally acceptable form of bigotry. Because that problem is mental, not mechanical, it really is hard to remedy.

    You haven’t heard anyone say this, but it’s time someone did: Our most pressing political problem today is that the country abandoned the establishment, not the other way around.

    • Winston

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Francis_Murphy#Early_life

      Murphy would make his boldest move yet in 1912 in striking a secret deal to swing the Democratic Party convention in Baltimore to New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson

      With the assistance of his protégés Robert F. Wagner and Alfred E. Smith, 1913 became a significant year for Tammany Hall in the promotion of progressive reforms. In the city, workplace health regulations were improved, fire alarms were mandated, working hours were reduced for women, a pension system for widowers was introduced, and requirements for insurance were made stricter. At the state level, a referendum on women’s suffrage was scheduled and the Public Utility Commission was provided broader powers. In Democratic Party circles, 1914 was a big year since Murphy supported a direct primary system for nomination to all state offices.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Wagner

      As Senator, Wagner was a leader of the New Deal Coalition putting special emphasis on supporting the labor movement. He was a close associate and strong supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He sponsored three major laws: the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, the Social Security Act of 1935, and the Housing Act of 1937.[4] Wagner resigned from the Senate in 1949 due to ill health, and died in 1953. His son Robert F. Wagner Jr. was mayor of New York from 1954 through 1965.

      In case anyone was ever under the delusion that Tammany Hall was some corrupt bulwark of libertarianism…

      • Ted S.

        Who, besides the strawmen inside your head, was under that delusion?

    • B.P.

      “…the country’s last universally acceptable form of bigotry”

      Paging Matt Welch.

    • wdalasio

      Because careerists and hacks make their living off the system, they have a stake in assembling durable coalitions, in retaining power over time, and in keeping the government in functioning order.

      Except, that’s not necessarily so. It’s certainly not so obvious as to be taken as a given. Any interest they’d have in keeping the system working would be offset in their more obvious, immediate, and compelling interest in self-dealing from that system. And in a stable system with a great deal of accumulated political and social capital, their marginal concern with keeping the system functioning would be highly limited. Put simply, if you take it as a given that our system is incredibly robust and will continue to “work” no matter how much pressure you put on it, there’s no reason for an establishment not to push the system to overwhelmingly serve their own interests.

    • juris imprudent

      The establishment does not wish to be held accountable for their actions. Sweet gig if you can get it, but why should anyone outside of that establishment buy in?

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Death walks among us

    You may think that store and restaurant workers in America who catch Covid-19 are staying home to recover and keep the public safe.

    But millions of frontline employees aren’t able to do that without missing a paycheck. So, many Americans, working precarious, low-wage jobs in the service industry, can’t stay home — even if they come down with the virus or are exposed to someone who’s been infected.

    ——-

    Bill Thompson, a cook at a Burger King in Independence, Missouri, also doesn’t have paid sick leave. He worries about being exposed to co-workers who are showing up with Covid-19 because they can’t afford to take off. (Burger King franchise owners set paid sick and Covid-19 leave policies, a spokesperson said.)
    “I feel like I’m playing Russian roulette with my life going in to make hamburgers and fries for $11.15 an hour,” said Thompson, a member of Fight for $15, which advocates for stronger wages and benefits for workers.

    ——-

    Isaac Pierce, a grocery manager at a Vons supermarket in San Diego, California, said some of his co-workers are coming in with coughs and cold symptoms. They “play it off” and say it’s not Covid-19, but there’s no way for him to know.
    A few weeks ago, one of Pierce’s co-workers at Vons showed up to work days after testing positive for the virus. One of the employees protested that he was back working so soon, so the store sent him back home.

    Everybody with a sniffle has the plague.

    Everybody who clears his throat, or inhales a crumb while eating,, is putting your life at risk.

    • R.J.

      Need to start a rumor that bad gas causes COVID to spread.
      “My Uncle Johnny has wretched flatulence and won’t take the vaccine! Every time I see him I double mask and stay six feet away, but it just isn’t enough to make me feel safe! Especially in a confined space!”

      • Tundra

        Uh, weren’t the Chinese pushing anal swabs awhile back?

  32. creech

    Anyone else getting a bit tired of those teaser “Biden’s approval rating is plunging” and “New poll shows spike downward in Biden’s approval” that keep appearing on Fox? Yet, when the poll is discussed, we find it is still (seemingly) always 42 or 43%. I guess it is just click-bait to keep tuned in but damn I keep hoping Brandon has fallen to 35% or something that he cannot conceivably come back from by November.

    • Sean

      Meh. Polls are bullshit.

    • Urthona

      42% is really bad honestly. I wouldn’t even think it were possible to get that low with partisan loyalty being what it is today.

    • DEG

      #metoo

    • Winston

      So time to ban booze again? I am waiting for the health issues with pot to be revealed so it can banned again…

      Remember the days when Pot legalization was supposed to lead to freedom rather than “ban bad stuff”? I don’t since was smoking tv ads banned in the 1970s?

    • Ownbestenemy

      Our species would have gone the way of the Dodo if this were even remotely true.

      • Urthona

        To be fair, it helps you reproduce and if you die at 75 vs 80 it makes little difference to the species.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Depends on the type of whiskey dick someone is prone to now isn’t it.

      • Urthona

        I told you not to bring that up.

    • Spudalicious

      I’m not dead yet.

    • Urthona

      damn there goes the theory that it gives you an iron and unstoppable heart.

    • Fourscore

      Mrs F said drinking would be bad for my health. I believe her.

  33. Ownbestenemy

    I have no idea why this has over 1.3 million views.

    • slumbrew

      Dudes be thirsty, yo.

      • Ownbestenemy

        It was known…shrugs.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Oh my…I need to bomb my YT to clear those out of the recents….

    • LJW

      Top comment says it all. “Can’t imagine the number of young women you are going to inspire. Great job!”

      • Ownbestenemy

        I mean, it is inspirational cause flying is accessible to anyone but that video is not geared towards women/girls. That is for da boys, especially the first 3 minutes in shorty shorts.

    • Tundra

      The Doctor Killer!

  34. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Shit. Transformer somewhere nearby is getting ready to blow.

    I can see the glow out the front window and the lights are fluctuating.

    Guess we’re losing power tonight.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Maybe we got lucky and it was just a branch that burned off the lines.

      Yay for now.

    • Urthona

      They can’t secede fast enough.

      • Winston

        Legault is an ex-Pequiste.

        Do the PQ, QS and Liberals even oppose lockdowns?

    • Ownbestenemy

      I am curious since liquor is used in cooking, how can you deny a person an item that is needed in cooking. Fuck em. I don’t like Quebec, but we will take them.

    • Penguin

      I’m thinking I know what Viva Frei’s next video will be about.

      • Ownbestenemy

        He should call for our generation to enact a Quebec Airlift (or boatlift) and Americans can ferry in alcohol.

    • Urthona

      Do any of these rules work? I got vaccinated a long time ago but if I had known this shit was coming I never would have. Don’t like being told what to do.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Do any of these rules work? Depends…for COVID? No. For compliance? Maybe

    • Not Adahn

      hard liquor, which is sold only in government stores, wine and beer are sold in supermarkets.

      Lol, a Montrealer was apologizing to me about their stupid backwards system of alcohol sales. I laughed and told him about 3.2 beer.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I gained so much weight in OKC cause of that…sooooo much weitght.

    • wdalasio

      Health officials say they hope the order will encourage more people to get vaccinated,

      Huh. They aren’t even pretending it’s about any sort of medical or scientific logic. They’re just doing it to punish people who haven’t complied.

      • Ownbestenemy

        It was a natural progression because of the data that says the shots don’t deliver as promised. Their window for maximum vaccination was the first 6-8 months in 2021. Now? It will be the boot that continues it and fear.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        My limited interactions with some die-hard vaxxers indicate that they feel it’s a civic duty that you should have already done. They truly resent the non-compliant.

        It’s similar to those who get all bent out of shape when you don’t show sufficient reverence towards the flag.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I think that is a good comparison. Throw in absolute reverence for military vets, “front line workers” and “respect for the presidency”.

      • rhywun

        I expected maybe rolling eyes, not so much the seething hatred that we’re seeing.

        Sigh, I should have known better.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Everybody is looking for some moral high ground to leverage. Makes them feel important.

        I’ve run an imaginary conversation through my head a few times that goes something like this:

        Asshole: The government should penalize the unvaxxed and prevent them from leaving their houses.

        Me: That’s cowardly.

        Asshole: What?

        Me: If you want me to get the shot, then come make me. Stop hiding behind the government and agitating for them to do your dirty work.

        Asshole: WTF

        Me: I’ll make you a promise. If you call for using force against me or my family and it comes to pass, I’m not going to win against the government, so I’m going to take it out on you, personally. And I’m armed. Consider yourself warned.

        Doubt I’ll have that conversation, but I’ve definitely had it rolling around in my head a lot.

      • Sean

        So, we’re done with the whole “Canadian nice” thing, right?

        Cuz those in power are straight up evil, petty tyrants.

      • Winston

        “Canadian nice” was always bullshit..

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Particularly in La Belle Province. Les Québécois loves them some authoritarian technocracy, they do . . .

  35. Winston

    https://twitter.com/TheEliKlein/status/1484287549619286020?s=20

    Eli Klein
    @TheEliKlein
    ·
    1h
    I just walked past a group of people standing outside in the freezing cold looking through windows. They were parents watching their masked kids play a basketball game. NYC is nowhere near recovery. Craziness this deep rooted doesn’t just disappear.

    City air will set us free!

    • Fourscore

      If they get sick and go to the hospital I hope they get a ground floor room with windows so the kids can visit .

  36. Winston

    https://www.dorchesterreview.ca/blogs/news/in-kamloops-not-one-body-has-been-found

    Remember those dead Indian Kids which resulted in Church arsons and the mass cancelation of Canadian historical figures?

    The exhumations have not yet begun and no remains have obviously been found. Imaginary stories and emotion have outweighed the pursuit of truth. On the road to reconciliation, isn’t the best way to seek and tell the whole truth rather than deliberately create sensational myths?

    Funny that….

    • Urthona

      So then how did they come to the conclusion there were a bunch of dead Indian kids?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Social Media said it was true. SMITE

      • rhywun

        Underground radar that turned out to be tree roots, IIRC.

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        Have they actually determined that it’s tree roots, or is that just one of the possibilities and we don’t know because no digging has been done?

    • commodious spittoon

      Something tells me this changes nothing for people who arson churches.

      • Urthona

        I don’t know. As a church arsonist, i usually seek out the ones who were historically cruelest to the indigenous peoples. Or who have the worst doughnuts after service.

      • Penguin

        Urthona, you should come to Southeastern Baptist churches. Krispy Kreme, all the time.

      • J. Frank Parnell

        Norwegian death metal bands?

  37. commodious spittoon

    They can show Sinema the backs of their ballgagged heads as she’s pegging their sorry asses.

    Nttawwt.

    • Urthona

      Read somewhere recently that Manchin’s approval is skyrocketing — unlike most of Congress’s.

      Good.

      • commodious spittoon

        I really like the hostility he’s engendered among forever online professional Twitterers who don’t seem to understand that if he or Sinema are backed into a corner, they can always, you know, not be Democrats.

      • Urthona

        It’s very scary how we were only two slightly reasonable senators away from such a horrible and radical agenda, however.

      • Winston

        Wait until the next Dem president…

      • commodious spittoon

        I have a theory borne of nothing but likely misbeggoten optimism that Dem seniors understand what a monumental, generational disaster uncontested rule would be for Democrats, and keep around the like of Sinema and Manchin to throttle the disastrous leftward lurches taken by the party.

    • J. Frank Parnell

      I was told there would be no kink shaming.

  38. Winston

    https://www.dorchesterreview.ca/blogs/news/stop-appeasing-the-woke-jihadis

    A defence against statue-toppling might therefore, often does, proceed by acknowledging the target’s faults, but arguing that his merits outweigh them. This often concedes too much to the attackers and only encourages them. It is a form of appeasement. The attackers will not be appeased. They are absolutists. Ryerson’s thoughts on schooling for the indigenous were genocidal. Whatever good he may have done, and they are not ready to concede he did any, cannot save him. He was simply evil and must fall.

    To plead in extenuation that people in his time thought his ideas were good only encourages the attackers. For their targets are only proxies for those who raised the statues, or named things, and, by extension, those who left them there for over a century, and those who defend them now.

    Sir John A. was targeted precisely because he is the central figure in Canada’s political history. Those who attack him will not be satisfied by having all statues of him and his name on buildings or institutions removed. The country he played such a large role in founding and led for almost two decades cannot escape so lightly. Cancelling Macdonald is only the first step in a revolutionary project.

    Usually statue-toppling comes after a revolution or regime change. The post-modern revolution begins with the superstructure of symbols and ideas and envisages a world without memory, or common understanding, in which fanatics’ dreams can be fulfilled.

    The argument is not about the past. It is about the present. What I have called the post-modern jihadis are determined that our public spaces and our public discourse, and even our private thoughts, must be purged of any memory of how people saw things in the past. The jihadis’ enemy is not dead people, but living people who appreciate how our world was built, by people who no doubt got much wrong, but also got much right. Like most of us.

    We are in an ideological war and despite the compelling defences mounted for Macdonald, Ryerson, and others, it is not going well. Appeasement and surrender are the most common outcomes of the battles so far.

    Getting rid of the Confederate Battle Flag fixed everything right? I was saying so at the time…

    • commodious spittoon

      If we let them gorge on cultural victories eventually they’ll become culturally obese and they’ll die of cultural corpulence, and then we can rebuild.

  39. Pine_Tree

    Hey, semi-emergency request for verbiage on a military vax religious exemption:

    Can one of y’all please point to (or paste) what you’d consider current “best practice” for this?

    Son needs to fill one out. Will have doc from an Elder confirming he’s a for-real member, and the presbytery’s backup resolution, but good verbiage would be helpful as well.

    Thanks

    • Tundra

      Did you check trashy’s language on the forum?

      • Pine_Tree

        no. will go look. thx.

        Found some of OBE’s the other day

      • DEG

        While you are there, send Ozy a note.

      • Pine_Tree

        k, will try. You know, I’ve never tried to participate much in the forum – didn’t even think about it when I asked my question. Just hang out here, and was gone for a few months, too.

      • Tundra

        I keep forgetting about it, too. Great resource.

  40. Ownbestenemy

    Well, Epoch Times is reporting that my agency, DOT, is storying and tracking my religious accommodation request with their creepy database…

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/25-federal-agencies-tracking-employees-religious-exemption-requests

    The agencies include the departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, the Treasury, the Social Security Administration, the Federal Election Commission.

    Look, I understood when I answered the questions they would be kept, somewhere, while the request was determined one way or the other. I also expect those answers would be deleted once the adjudication was passed down.

    • commodious spittoon

      If we feed them all of our personal information eventually they’ll try to swallow too much and then they’ll choke to death on all our most intimate, exploitable data, and then we’ll rebuild.

    • rhywun

      Assume the worst. Then double it.

  41. Tundra

    Bodies need to swing from lamp posts.

    I’m a Public School Teacher. The Kids Aren’t Alright.

    What’s most worrisome to me is that they feel deep worry and shame over the prospect of breaking the rules.

    Teenage girls are notoriously empathetic. I see that many of my students, but especially the female ones, feel a heavy burden of responsibility. Right before Christmas, one of my brightest 12th graders confided in me that she was terrified of taking her mask off. She told me that she didn’t want to get anyone sick or kill anybody. She was worried she would be held responsible for someone dying.

    I hate this more than government.

    • commodious spittoon

      I imagine some of the terror she feels is if another female classmates catches her without her mask.

    • Penguin

      Tundra, you can still hate the government as much – if not more! They have really been outsourcing the implementation of their evil through private channels for a while now. Making companies implement their policies so they can avoid blame, making Karens and Kens a social vector for shaming those who dissent, as well as cultivating potential sources for informants – if they can get the laws they want passed.

      Government is the cancer of society, and nearly every bad thing in society is either created by it, or worsened by it.

      • Tundra

        Oh, I still hate them, Penguin.

        I just think that the front line, children-harming shock troops deserve a special hatred. Because they ostensibly care most about The Children.

        Mine are almost done with college. I’m getting my head around home-schooling my grandchildren!

  42. commodious spittoon

    I heard a story I can’t Google search verify about a NASA probe that had a one-shot soil collector arm stymied when a lenscap landed where a sample would have been collected… anyone know what probe this was?

    • The Gunslinger

      ASK STEVE SMITH. HIM PROBING EXPERT.

    • Winston

      It was Soviet actually: Venera 14.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_14

      The lander had cameras to take pictures of the ground and spring-loaded arms to measure the compressibility of the soil. The quartz camera windows were covered by lens caps that popped off after descent. By mischance Venera 14 measured the compressibility of the lens caps instead, as these had landed in just the place where the probe craned down to measure the soil.

      • commodious spittoon

        Thank you!

    • Count Potato

      “BEFORE: The original M&M characters. Mars, the maker of the candies, has been criticized in the past for making the green M&M too sexy, and either pushing a rivalry or a possible flirtation with the brown M&M.”

      • commodious spittoon

        Everyone knows the green ones make you horny. Or impotent. Or sterile?

    • Count Potato

      No mention that the yellow M&M is in the Aryan Brotherhood.

      • commodious spittoon

        I saw him curbstomp Orange. If was delicious.

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      Don’t eat the red ones.