412 Comments

  1. AlexinCT

    Biden Admin Has Records on Nearly One Billion Gun Sales

    If you try to confiscate firearms without understanding the risk when you go after someone, you might end up dead. And the left wants to disarm people, because the serfs have continuously pissed off the elite by refusing to bow the knee and act impressed by their mediocraty.

    • Fourscore

      And no records on several million new arrival Americans…

    • R.J.

      It wouldn’t be confiscation. Look at the tactics tried by the left lately. Massive gun taxes and other official harassment would be the tactics used.

      • waffles

        That doesn’t really stop guns already owned. And with how many are in citizen’s hands there really isn’t anything they can do about that.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Ammo taxes would be a bitch, though.

  2. AlexinCT

    California Democrats Fail to Pass Single-payer Health Care Bill

    After we saw these fucking evil shitbags basically openly tell us that if government had the power of control they would punish anyone that opposed them by denying them service, I would hope most people would realize what kind of disaster allowing government to control healthcare would be for people that don’t want to live in serfdom.

    • The Last American Hero

      They passed a similar bill several years ago. Then they failed to implement it when they saw the price tag and required state tax increases. See, when you can hide the costs by printing money, you can’t run a single payor system.

  3. AlexinCT

    Rachel Maddow to announce MSNBC hiatus to make film with Ben Stiller

    I hear it is a reboot of the “Red Dawn” feature. Rachel will be playing a character that is fighting an orange guy with a wig that is a Russian governor of the recently occupied Washington State/California after the Russians take over America….

    She will be screaming “Meet my lill’e friend” over and over as she fires her plasma rifle in the 40W range into masses of unwashed truckers mad that they are being bitched out for not accepting the 90th booster shot.

    • Pope Jimbo

      That would be better than whatever they really are working on.

      I didn’t think Stiller could do anything to make me think less of him, but hats off to him because he managed it.

  4. Not Adahn

    More More than half-a-million traces were performed in 2021, according to the ATF, and just under half a million in 2020. The ATF, however, says it does not have the ability to determine if the database actually helps solve crimes.han half-a-million traces were performed in 2021, according to the ATF, and just under half a million in 2020. The ATF, however, says it does not have the ability to determine if the database actually helps solve crimes.

    If a modern-day Tim McVeigh blows up BATFE headquarters, I would not vote to convict.

    • UnCivilServant

      If Tim hadn’t picked a building with a day care, he might have had a better chance with a jury. But pictures of dead children really doesn’t endear oneself to the jury.

      • robodruid

        My wife was one of the responders for the children. (not a first responder)
        Wont go to site.
        Only think she has ever commented on was the smell.

      • Not Adahn

        That was my “where were you?” moment. I was in Organic Chemistry class and someone came by to summon all the ROTC people to respond.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I used to work with a guy who was a Recruiting Company 1SG and was in the far end of the building. The exit out of the office was sheared off.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Just like it doesn’t matter who votes but who counts the votes, dead children did nothing to convict those responsible for Waco.

    • Fourscore

      Some kid working out of the garage will figure things out.

    • EvilSheldon

      Funny thing is, ATF is one of the less obnoxious federal police agencies. If Firearms Branch were under the FBI or DEA, things would really really suck.

      Putting Firearms Branch out in WV was always kind of a weird move. Who the fuck did they think would be working out there, yuppies from Ashburn?

      • Not Adahn

        Funny thing is, ATF is one of the less obnoxious federal police agencies

        Matt Hooper disagrees.

        As does everyone who’d purchased a brace in the history of ever.

      • R C Dean

        On the Evil one’s side of the ledger, the ATF did just streamline their process for Form 4s (think, suppressors). Granted, its still onerous and slow (90 days) and utterly unconstitutional, but I can’t think of another agency that has done similar.

      • Not Adahn

        It’s cheaper than paying someone to scan in the paper forms into their illegal database.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    Twinkle twinkle, little star of the north

    “We won’t give in to those who fly racist flags, we won’t cave to those who engage in vandalism or dishonour the memory of our veterans… There is no place in our country for threats, violence or hatred.”

    He confirmed that he will not meet with this convoy of protestors.

    “I have attended protests and rallies in the past when I agreed with the goals, when I supported the people expressing their concerns and their issues, Black Lives Matter is an excellent example of that, but I have also chosen to not go anywhere near protests that have expressed hateful rhetoric, violence towards fellow citizens and a disrespect, not just of science but of the frontline health workers, and quite frankly, the 90 per cent of truckers who have been doing the right thing to keep Canadians safe, to put food on our tables,” Trudeau said.

    “There is always a right to protest peacefully that I and others will defend fully as part of this democracy. There is not a right to incite violence, to perform acts of violence or to spew hatred.”

    You have no right to disagree. You have no right to think for yourself.

    • juris imprudent

      Maybe he should really be called the little-shit-with-hair?

    • rhywun

      Just so you know, Trudy, there is footage of truckers heckling obvious “racist” plants. Assuming you didn’t place them there yourself.

      • Nephilium

        Come on, they’re against the government, so they must be racist/fascist/nazis/terrorists/etc.

    • Fourscore

      Black Truckers Lives Don’t Matter

    • Rat on a train

      I have attended protests and rallies in the past when I agreed with the goals, when I supported the people expressing their concerns and their issues
      I only listen to people I agree with. Everyone else can suck it.

    • ron73440

      “We won’t give in to those who fly racist flags, we won’t cave to those who engage in vandalism or dishonour the memory of our veterans… There is no place in our country for threats, violence or hatred.”

      What racist flags? Or is he calling the Gadsden flag racist?

      What vandalism? If there was actual vandalism, wouldn’t the news cover it? Or are they too scared about bringing attention to this by actually acknowledging that it’s happening?

      The hair that walks like a man is not an impressive person.

      • Nephilium

        There have been pictures of some assholes walking around with swastika flags from the Canadian protests. I’d put it at about 99.0% that it’s people attempting to discredit the truckers, about 0.9% that it’s a trucker trying to liken the Canadian government with 1940’s Germany, and about 0.1% chance it’s a neo-nazi trucker.

      • ron73440

        See, racists, this guy knows:

        AB against UCP
        @AB_AgainstUCP
        Replying to
        @_TRUTHSEEK3R
        and
        @CandiceMalcolm
        Nah, invited and welcomed by the rally.. otherwise that shit should have been ripped down before there was even a picture. It wasn’t, which means people at the rally condoned it

      • Tonio

        I think that says more about leftists. Because that’s what would have happened at a BLM rally if “allies” showed up with off-message signage. The right doesn’t exercise top-down control like that. The left knows that, which is what makes it easier for the left to run false flag ops against the right.

      • The Last American Hero

        BS – take a look at how many commie flags and symbols fly at rallies for things like “civil rights” or “women’s rights” and get back to me.

      • ron73440

        BS – take a look at how many commie flags and symbols fly at rallies for things like “civil rights” or “women’s rights” and get back to me.

        Those are not considered off message.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        The confederacy will rise again…in Canada.

      • Sean

        This time with maple syrup!

      • ron73440

        I see, I was wrong.

        Trudeau is right, they are all racists.

        I did see a woman with a FUCK YOUR WHITE SUPREMACY sign standing next to one of the truckers being interviewed.

        The trucker was an immigrant from India or somewhere and seemed really confused at being called a white supremacist.

      • Chipping Pioneer

        Yes. There are about a half dozen possibilities of what it could have been, but you’ll only hear about the one that conforms to the narrative, however unlikely.

      • Homple

        “How do you do, fellow fascists”

    • Ted S.

      They caved to the vandalism from the so-called First Nations.

    • Drake

      “I hate 80% of Canadians”

    • Certified Public Asshat

      We are not intimidated by those who hurl insults and abuse at small business workers, and steal food from the homeless.

      You…you went into hiding?

      With covid being the easy excuse.

    • wdalasio

      You know, every time I read about this story, I find myself almost humming the old C.W. McCall song.

      Does that make Trudeau Dirty Lyle?

    • Rebel Scum

      racist flags

      What’s the Canuk equivalent of a glowie? Dismounted Mounties?

      • UnCivilServant

        WTF is a ‘glowie’?

  6. rhywun

    Other critics have argued COS is a partisan initiative, noting most of the states in support of it are red.

    It is a mystery.

    • juris imprudent

      I wouldn’t trust a convention. Why should I? After all, who’s going to participate in it – all the same asshats in politics now.

      • R C Dean

        The imprudent one is . . . Prudent.

        The problem isn’t the words on the page. The problem is the words on the page, any page, don’t matter any more.

      • Rat on a train

        If the government won’t follow the current Constitution, what makes people think they will stick to any amendments?

      • AlexinCT

        Wishful thinking…

        It’s the whole “I swear I won’t come in your mouth” thing…

      • Lackadaisical

        It was just the one time.

      • Lackadaisical

        This times a billion. Nothing good will come out of it, and it would be misinterpreted on purpose by judges anyway.

      • db

        Yes. I have a friend who is a strong proponent of a Convention, and I’ve tried to argue with him a number of times that no matter what the organizing documents of a government say in plain English, it is the interpretation, who gets to intrepret it, and who gets to enforce it that matter.

        Without a fourth branch of government solely devoted to enforcing compliance with the law, or, dare I say, sabotaging the other branches’ power grabs, any document over time becomes a dead letter. And it’s likely that fourth branch would become compromised over time as well. In fact, it would be one of the first targets.

      • Lackadaisical

        Wasn’t that the judicial branch’s job?

      • db

        No, the judicial branch’s job is adjudicating the cases brought before it by the executive. Article III is the shortest Article of the Constitution that establishes a branch.

        If the executive sees fit to ignore its own transgressions, wel…

        A fourth branch having the power to at will remove laws (not create them) and to cancel directly the power grabs of other branches would help, but eventually it too would be corrupted, most likely.

      • Tonio

        Originally the federal judiciary was meant to resolve cases between the several states. Also to hear lawsuits where the plaintiff and defendant were in different states, under the theory that the state courts would always find for their own citizens.

      • ron73440

        I would say you should have punishments built in for those officials who violate the Constitution, but we all know those would never be enforced equally.

      • db

        That’s the main problem, along with the ability of the Executive to overlook transgressions. The only real power against abuse of power is impeachment, and we already know it doesn’t get used seriously.

      • rhywun

        Bureau of Sabotage has a nice ring to it.

      • db

        indeed

      • R C Dean

        Without a fourth branch of government solely devoted to enforcing compliance with the law

        Much like has happened with SCOTUS, that merely relieves the other branches of the responsibility to comply with the law from the outset. Every branch should be able to make its own independent determination that a law is unconstitutional. The legislature, by not passing or repealing. The executive, by refusing to enforce. The judicial, by overturning. Every branch should get a veto, which is pretty much the opposite of the way things work in reality now (leaving aside the legislature as mostly an ornament to the executive and to some extent the judiciary). As things are, if one branch wants to do something another branch thinks is unconstitutional, it just does it. It pretty much takes a consensus, which should be what it takes to start or continue doing something, not what it takes to stop. The ratchet is reversed.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Unless secession is a valid and respected option, there are no real controls.

      • Not Adahn

        Then what are the other options? Suicide? War? Licking the boot?

      • db

        There are always only three options for solving a problem:

        1. Go along and accept your fate.
        2. Take charge and do something, or persuade those who can to do so.
        3. Exit.

        One problem with “Exit” is that depending on where you draw the dotted line around your system, exit can be difficult. If you draw it at the boundaries of the US, that means you have to find someplace outside the US. Drawing the line around the Earth implies exit to Mars or The Belt, or something.

        In order to draw a boundary for “exit” where you get to live in the geographical boundaries of the US, then the political boundaries must change. The only way that can happen is to move to option 2. Option 2 can be peaceful or otherwise. “Otherwise” would be disastrous. So “Peaceful” needs to be an option–and the preferred one. That means persuading those who currently possess the power to turn the screws to back off and stop turning them.

        “Exit” need not imply suicide.

      • Not Adahn

        An article V convention could be the way to exit. And yet people are saying don’t do it. So if you’re not going to accept any attempt as valid, what are you left with?

      • db

        I’m not saying “don’t do it, full stop;” I’m saying that there are risks associated with it, and you have to go into a Convention knowing them and having a plan to deal with them.

        You don’t go into a negotiation of that magnitude and gravity without having backup positions and plans for exiting if it goes against you.

      • R C Dean

        Indeed. One of the fundamental rules of negotiating is “Know your walk-away option”. If you don’t have one, you aren’t negotiating, you are begging.

      • juris imprudent

        You want the truth – a bloodbath. That’s the only option left. A massive shock, after which, maybe, MAYBE, you can get back to a limited govt. But even that isn’t likely.

        So enjoy what you have while you have it. There’s virtually no scenario that ends well. If you believe in God and the afterlife – store up your treasure there.

      • db

        I disagree. There are always options other than violence. I think things can and will devolve into craziness and societal turmoil without a violent cataclysm. Eventually society will regain its collective sanity–it will be much poorer, and the US will be diminished, no question–but it won’t be violent, at least not in terms of a civil war or insurrection. Eventually people will tire of the continuous crises and walk away from it.

      • R C Dean

        Eventually people will tire of the continuous crises and walk away from it.

        That’s what the left is counting on.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Eventually people will tire of the continuous crises and walk away from it.

        And those in control will allow them to peacefully remove themselves?

        I’m not seeing it. The current division in this country isn’t due to an innocent misunderstanding that can be worked out or resolved. You have a large group of people who want to rule over others. They aren’t going to just give that up.

        Resistance resulting in a bloodbath or Civil War isn’t close to the worst outcome. The 20th century showed much worse consequences when people tried to walk away without resisting and the government decided to unperson them instead.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The technocrats (and their supporters among the college schooled) view themselves as morally superior to everyone else.

        It makes them arrogant and blind to reality.

        How else can you explain the absolutely idiotic response to almost every single crisis? And as it gets worse, they do not recognize their mistakes, they refuse to acknowledge their fallibility as that would undercut their moral authority.

        They will die before they release their grasp. The question is will the politicians turn on them if the crisis deepens. While I’m not hopeful, I’m beginning to see resentment among the political class growing, particularly at the state level.

  7. juris imprudent

    Win, show and place for Alex, and Bro hasn’t even made the turn.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    Canada’s prime minister also called out politicians who are “exploiting people’s fears,” particularly Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, who met with truckers on Friday.

    “I think all politicians need to think very carefully about who they’re supporting, about what messages they’re putting out,” Trudeau said.

    You can’t make this shit up.

    • rhywun

      “exploiting people’s fears,”

      LOL

      “Now put your masks on and get another jab.”

    • Chipping Pioneer

      Erin O’Toole is Canada’s Mitt Romney.

      • Festus

        He’s Canada’s David Frum. Wait a minute!

  9. The Late P Brooks

    The ATF and IRS need to get together and cross reference those gun records with the facial recognition database.

    Who says government can’t be efficient?

    • UnCivilServant

      *raises hand*

      We have five different HR systems for the same employee population and they can’t cross reference the information in each other, so we have them shuffling extract files back and forth despite the underly product having a myriad of realtime integration techologies built in.

      And then there was the group whose method for archiving electronic documents was to print them out and scan the printouts, then shred the paper.

      • Fourscore

        That’s the way we like it, uh-huh, uh-huh

      • waffles

        I’m shocked by how much government documentation is hard copy or scans of hard copies. I guess its what happens when you have to circulate a document to collect signatures.

      • Nephilium

        It’s not just the government sector with dumb shit like that. One place I worked had drivers faxing back logs for their daily work. As technology improved, these faxes were eventually scanned so they could be stored digitally instead of in massive file cabinets. Technology continued to improve to the point where faxes now arrived directly in e-mail with a PDF attachment. This group continued to dutifully print out the files, walk over to the scanner, scan them in, and then save them to the network drive.

      • waffles

        It’s obscenely time-consuming. I just mark up pdfs with my “signature” and send them out.

      • Lackadaisical

        Ha! I refuse to believe that. That isn’t a world I live in.

      • Nephilium

        Yes. Yes it is. To add to the comedy, the scanner sent the documents to them in an e-mail… as an attachment.

        I was IT support there, one time when I was working on the scanner, I asked them why they didn’t just save the PDF from the fax e-mail to the share. They all looked at me like I was crazy. I believe the process finally died when they “upgraded” to SAP (to be replaced by a more convoluted and complex process).

      • ron73440

        Let me guess, when you asked why they did it that way it was:

        “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”

        That answer and “Because it’s our policy.” are the two sentences most likely to give me a stroke someday.

      • db

        I’d add “We tried that 30 years ago and it didn’t work.”

      • l0b0t

        In 2018/2019 we got a new night crew manager at the grocer. Up until his arrival, we unloaded pallets off the truck, broke down the several that had products for multiple aisles and left the pallets that had products for single aisles. The unbroken pallets were then taken down the aisles and the goods placed directly on the shelf. Enter Steve, who refused to deviate from his training. He had us break down ALL the pallets. Instead of taking a pallet that was nothing but 30 packs of bottled water down the aisle and throwing the 30 packs on the shelf, we had to break down that water onto 6 or 7 small carts, then queue the items on the floor in front of the shelf space to which they belong, then put them on the shelves. So we got to enjoy lifting the products three times instead one. When I tried to explain why we did it our way, he freaked out and threatened to send me home for not following policy. He was out sick for week and was replaced by a night manager from another store who was absolutely baffled by the multiple lifting and cursed a blue streak about Steve’s inability to apply logic and common sense to the workplace. Sigh…

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I guess its what happens when you have to circulate a document to collect signatures.

        Government, ancient corporate processes, and signing digital documents. It’s like you want me to have night terrors.

        Seriously, I’ve sat in on entirely too many meetings talking about this exact issue. Like tens of hours of meetings. Tens. Of. Hours. On how best to collect signatures on documents.

      • Lackadaisical

        Heh, our best and brightest.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    If Tim hadn’t picked a building with a day care, he might have had a better chance with a jury. But pictures of dead children really doesn’t endear oneself to the jury.

    So what you’re saying is all government buildings should incorporate human shields?

  11. The Late P Brooks

    When asked specifically about individuals in Canada who have questions about COVID-19 vaccines, the prime minister stressed that vaccines are safe and effective, and are “the way to get through this pandemic.”

    “Polly wanna vaxx. Polly wanna vaxx. Bkaaaawww!”

    • Chipping Pioneer

      Dude is triple vaxxed and got Covid.

    • Rebel Scum

      vaccines are safe and effective

      If only saying it would make it so.

  12. AlexinCT

    Construction Defects Mar Green Housing Development Backed By Brad Pitt, Non-Profit Org Faces Legal Action

    Let me guess. They had all positions filled by studies type majors that felt math and physics are tools of the patriarchy?

    • PieInTheSky

      I blame New Orleans is corrupts things

      • juris imprudent

        I have a friend that lives there and would tend to agree with you.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The homes also lacked features essential to protect properties from New Orleans’ heavy rainfall, including rain gutters, overhangs, waterproof paint and covered beams, Insider reported.

      To me, that sounds like they hired some California architectural firm to do the designs.

      Architects can be notoriously oblivious to practical considerations like rain and soil conditions while they focus on their pet issues, like LEED and other green certifications.

      • PieInTheSky

        I understand many houses were insulated in England without taking into the account the fact that there is a bit of the old humidity in merry old E and that cause some of the old mold in the insulated houses

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s the rate of airturns in the house that matters.

        The trend has been to make houses airtight because “green.” This creates a moisture trap and high relative humidity levels in the structure.

        It also raises the CO2 levels in the building when occupied. Modern schools are notorious for this. When the CO2 gets above 2000ppm, kids start falling asleep in the classroom. It’s maddeningly stupid.

      • PieInTheSky

        A german coworker has one of those insulate houses and every room has some ventilators in opposite walls that constantly run for air circulation with some special thing to catch the heat of the air going out. I would find it annoying to have constant ventilator noise but he says you get used to it after a while./

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s wasteful at best. You’ve added complication, expense, and reduced reliability. All to satisfy arbitrary regulations that are not market driven.

      • Not Adahn

        I paid extra for an HRV unit, and it seems to work great — however the cellular shades to make the bedroom lightproof do trap moisture in the winter if I don’t lift them up during the day.

      • rhywun

        But they had solar panels!

        What a ??

  13. waffles

    Viktor Shokin was fired for not being corrupt enough.

  14. waffles

    I’ve been doing the wordle. Pairs well with the first sip of coffee in the office. It’s a nice distraction, if boring after the first half dozen or so. I wonder how the NYT will fuck it up.

    • Ted S.

      As I said when Wordle first became a big thing, Lingo was a game show back in the 1980s.

      • waffles

        I still like doing the jumbles, just like my father, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

  15. ron73440

    COVID Parakeets.

    • ron73440

      I Brooks’d a reply to Brooks.

  16. Lackadaisical

    Palak Shah is a funny name.

    Wonder if they’re spinach farmers.

    • AlexinCT

      I’M A LEAD FARMER MOTHER FUCKER!

  17. PieInTheSky

    PrettyLittleThing x Demi Rose Edit | PrettyLittleThing

      • AlexinCT

        Did the potato hijack your vampire account?

      • PieInTheSky

        I like to keep the potato on it’s toes now and then

  18. PieInTheSky

    British engineer who created WORDLE sells to the New York Times for seven-figure sum – where the hell does the NYT have that kind of scratch from

    • Nephilium

      Dark money?

    • AlexinCT

      If you play that game you might have mental issues…

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Carlos Slim is the largest private shareholder if I remember correctly.

    • Not Adahn

      Good on him for bringing the NYT $1M closer to insolvency.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Shocking

    The Republican continued, “And he’s also saying — it’s actually an insult to Black women. If he came and said, ‘I’m gonna put the best jurist on the court and he looked at a number of people and he ended up nominating a Black woman, he could credibly say, ‘OK I’m nominating the person who’s most qualified.’ He’s not even pretending to say that he he’s saying, ‘If you’re a White guy, tough luck. If you’re a White woman, tough luck. You don’t qualify.'”
    The comments from Cruz come as other Republicans have criticized Biden’s decision and some have concluded that his nominee to the high court, who the President has promised will be a Black woman, may not be the most qualified person and will likely lean far-left in political views.

    How dare they pretend “It’s her turn” is an insufficient and demeaning justification for appointing someone to one of the most important jobs in the country?

    *Whether it should be so important is a topic for another day.

    • Festus

      Someone’s unalterable physical characteristics should not matter for anything. Not one fucking whit.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    where the hell does the NYT have that kind of scratch from

    They get it from poor stupid people.

  21. Festus

    Turns out that conference call is just a lame “pat on the back” from management. Goddammit I wish that I didn’t have such a dark turn of mind. Sunny Ways!

    • UnCivilServant

      I’m relieved. I’ve seen all sorts, including those you had me worried it was.

      • Festus

        #Metoo. Now they are going to really start railing us.

      • Fourscore

        Festus Rides Again!

    • Lackadaisical

      Thank you for your hard work in these difficult times.

  22. Chipping Pioneer

    My wife’s parents know we listen to podcasts, and are very concerned that we are being misinformed by Ted Rogan.

    • Festus

      I get all my news from Ned Rogaine.

      • PieInTheSky

        I though Keeps was the latest thing

      • Festus

        He’s the French Canadian stoner-Hitler.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Tell them you agree with Rogan that Julian Assange should be free.

  23. PieInTheSky

    Tim Dillon
    @TimJDillon
    Biden will lose to DeSantis. People will cite the economy and cost of goods. They’ll also cite being uncomfortable with critical race theory in schools and changing definitions of gender every 5 minutes. Every article will be about white supremacy and Russia. Nothing new coming.

    https://twitter.com/TimJDillon/status/1488173976635465728

    I think it is way to premature to think about the next elections.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It is too early and he’s also correct.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    I Brooks’d a reply to Brooks.

    That was awesome. Thx.

  25. Brawndo

    What happens if a president is impeached and then removed from office? The VP takes over? I’m not entirely sure that’s a great idea. Never interrupt your enemy when they are in the middle of making a mistake.

    Then again, asking the US to survive until 2024 with Biden at the helm might be too much to ask.

    • AlexinCT

      They should impeach him, and then let it die in the senate to make the democrats feel the pain. One thing I hope is that going forward every president that lost congress gets impeached for something so impeachments become meaningless.

      • R C Dean

        Impeach him for what high crime or misdemeanor? Being senile and incompetent doesn’t qualify.

      • db

        Correct. That’s what the 25th Amendment is for. And I think Biden as a figurehead is still preferable to Harris actually in charge.

      • R C Dean

        The 25th Amendment is not impeachment.

        Alex has it, but the problem is, proving it with the FBI/DOJ/CIA firmly opposed. Where will Congress get the evidence?

      • db

        The 25th Amendment is not impeachment.

        This, I am aware of.

      • Fourscore

        ” high crime or misbehavior”?

      • AlexinCT

        Using the office of government to enrich himself selling out his country to the CCP and any other criminal entity willing to pay the Biden family.

      • db

        Now, *that* should be an impeachable offense.

        But we all know that they don’t work in terms of obvious quid pro quo while they’re in office. They get “campaign” money and seats on boards for their family members when they’re out of office with the understanding that they know who their friends were when they gain office. Also, they do the things they do while in office, knowing that there will be “deferred compensation” in the form of book deals, directorships, speaking engagements, etc., when they’re out of office.

        Everyone knows this, and it’s all legal, at least within the definitions of what the people who have the power to enforce the law and ethical requirements care to see.

      • Lackadaisical

        His executive orders violated the constitution, as proved by the supreme court. That ought to be a high crime, what worse crime than violating the highest law of the land?

        Easy.

      • Night Watchman

        “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.’ — Gerald R. Ford, (R-MI) then-House Minority Leader

    • db

      Let it become such an obvious clown show that even those with the biggest blinders can’t ignore it.

      If we want a serious country, I think we have to pass through the absurd first.

      • rhywun

        I’ve had about enough of the absurd.

      • db

        Me too, but there’s more in store. We’re just at the beginning of Heinlein’s “Crazy Years.”

      • R C Dean

        The trick will be keeping the Crazy Years from turning into the Burning Time.

      • Festus

        Yup. Having the leader of your Nation call hundreds of thousands, NAY MILLIONS of enthusiastic, flag-waving Canadians horrible names should be enough to dis-bar him. What the fuck, Justy?

  26. PieInTheSky

    European public goods: How we can supply more

    https://voxeu.org/article/european-public-goods-how-we-can-supply-more

    “In an environment of increased interconnectedness but also heightened vulnerability, with rampant externalities and spillovers, there seems to be an objective need for more European public goods (hereafter, EPGs). Health may be the newest entrant in the discussion, but the list is long: it extends from traditional policy domains such as defence, security, and development cooperation, to research and development (R&D) in large and risky projects, climate change mitigation, and an adequate digital infrastructure”

    I think not all people use the same definition of public good.

    • AlexinCT

      What goods cheese, champagne, and prostitution?

      • PieInTheSky

        those are all things I like

      • Not Adahn

        France does provide value.

    • R C Dean

      rampant externalities and spillovers

      Also known as “society and an economy”.

      • juris imprudent

        Further known as “things I don’t like even if they do me no harm”.

  27. robc

    My problem with a constitutional convention is that it can go rogue. Look at what the last one did!

    I would be in favor of a total rewrite with “this time we mean it” clauses included, if I was at all confident of who would be members and I could be James Madison. But, yeah, that seems unlikely.

    • db

      Think about who would be driving a Convention of States: state legislatures and, to an extent, governors. Also states’ Attorneys General.

      does that make you feel any better? I didn’t think so.

    • Drake

      If the States want power back, they could just repeal the 16th and 17th Amendments.

      Easier than try to agree on new ones,

      • robc

        If we are getting rid of two of the progressive era amendments, why not eliminate the other two also?

        **runs and hides**

      • juris imprudent

        My proposed amendment – if you pay no taxes you have no vote. [Idiots will of course leap all over that not realizing there is no one who doesn’t pay taxes.]

    • ron73440

      Why are you peddling Russian disinformation?

  28. The Late P Brooks

    To me, that sounds like they hired some California architectural firm to do the designs.

    Architects can be notoriously oblivious to practical considerations like rain and soil conditions while they focus on their pet issues, like LEED and other green certifications.

    Next you’ll tell me I can’t just transplant a glass mid-century-modern house from Palm Springs to the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. You’re no fun.

  29. PieInTheSky

    If Batman an put 99% of his wealth into social programs, mental health, job creation etc (and it wasn’t embezzled or misspent) Gotham could be free of crime in a few decades. But that wouldn’t stop Scarecrow releasing a fear gas cloud tonight, or the Joker poisoning kids tomorrow.

    https://twitter.com/RiotGirlComic/status/1488457546503446530

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Yeah, sure

    • UnCivilServant

      What a load of horseshit.

      And besides, how many people are Employed by Wayne Industries already?

      • ron73440

        Employment doesn’t count.

        Only filtering money through non-profits does any good.

      • PieInTheSky

        living wage or any random pay?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        He should have left Gotham and built his own city.

      • SDF-7

        Bat’s Gulch?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Wuhan.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Gotham could be free of crime in a few decades

      I know this isn’t the point, but this is the simple mechanistic thinking that enables profoundly damaging technocracy. We live in the “after” of this scenario. There are billions of dollars being funneled to “social programs, mental health, job creation etc”, and even the residual that isn’t embezzled or otherwise stolen is a massive sum. Yet there’s still crime. Because crime is a choice, not a consequence. Just like poverty is a lifestyle, not a number. Choices matter, and you can’t socially engineer that truth away.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        In their fever dreams, tearing down all of Chesterton’s fences and throwing money at their new, shiny social norms fixes everything.

        How many people actually believe that public schools can replace a functioning family unit? It’s a lot more than zero.

      • AlexinCT

        There are billions of dollars being funneled to “social programs, mental health, job creation etc”

        Once it became impossible to run legitimate scams like ponzi schemes or John Corzine investment rackets, you had to resort to this shit…

        /pissed of elite

      • Fourscore

        “Just like poverty is a lifestyle, not a number”

        So, passing out cash to the homeless is a good idea, then they won’t be impoverished and can move on up to the Eastside.

      • AlexinCT

        DE-LUX apartment in the sky?

      • rhywun

        Yeah, for example the left’s insistence that looting and smash ‘n’ grabs are done by “the poor” is fucking asinine and nobody in the MSM will call them out on it.

  30. PieInTheSky

    Whoopi Goldberg is facing a backlash after she said on a US talk show that the Holocaust “was not about race”.

    The actress and television personality said on ABC’s The View that the Nazi genocide of the Jews involved “two groups of white people”.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60209527

    I mean (((they)) could be white depending on definition of white…

    • PieInTheSky

      But off course Nazi definitions of race were special

  31. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “Russia accuses the West of trying to will a Ukraine war into reality”
    Well when you’re right you’re right.

  32. Pope Jimbo

    This story made me laugh at other people’s suffering. I think you will too.

    It is an interview with a director of a nonprofit who is moaning about how little they can pay employees. Basically, they are only allowed to bill Medicare at a certain rate, so they can only pay people that amount or less because of evul profits.

    MinnPost: One of the reasons that pay rates for your employees have been better than those for workers in the developmental disabilities sector is because your jobs require people to have a higher level of education. Why aren’t your salaries keeping up with the economy?

    JB: Our rates have been stagnant for years. In 2005, getting paid $40,000 a year when you first got out of college would’ve been great. Now, 17 years later, we’re still starting people at $40,000, maybe $45,000, depending on the role. The cost of college is a real burden to the people who work here. I’ve had people who’ve worked for me who have $90,000 in college debt and they’re making $40,000 a year, maybe topping out at $65,000 a year after years of work. That pay rate is based on a number that DHS and the state legislature set for our reimbursement, and there hasn’t really been any real move lately to increase those rates.

    • juris imprudent

      a nonprofit… because of evul profitsa number that DHS and the state legislature set for our reimbursement

      How fucking stupid do you have to be to be a director of a non-profit?

  33. db

    Just heard that at one of our union-staffed facilities, most of the mechanical maintenance staff are on “COVID list” this week. To my knowledge we have had no serious cases nor deaths company wide. My suspicion is that “COVID List” is code for “vacation when I feel like it.”

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      My suspicion is that “COVID List” is code for “vacation when I feel like it.”

      What would happen if they showed up at work with symptoms and popped a positive covid test? I think the social consequences for spreading covid are large.

      • db

        Yep. Totally. And I agree the responsible thing to do if you’re sick is not to go to work.

        But the weather has been quite unpleasant at this facility lately, and most of the maintenance work is of an outdoor nature.

      • db

        HAHA, just heard confirmation that some of these employees have been “quarantined” four or five times each. Many of them have had “COVID” multiple times.

      • R C Dean

        I have little doubt there is info circulating about how to make your COVID test return a positive result, every time.

    • Ownbestenemy

      We accept home tests and a photo to a manager as proof of positive. A worn out felt tip marker and you get 10 days off….guaranteed it is abused

  34. PieInTheSky

    So I took an antigen test today and it is negative. I will take the pcr tomorrow and hope no surprises…

    • Certified Public Asshat

      You are not contagious. Do not take a pcr.

      • PieInTheSky

        My company requests one… I thought might as well get it…

      • AlexinCT

        You getting the CCP sanctioned deep test?

    • ron73440

      Not evil at all.

      • ron73440

        Bioethics is the ability to torture ethics to make them compliant with whatever evil bull shit the scientists agree with.

      • AlexinCT

        THERE… ARE…. 57 GENDERS!..

    • Endless Mike

      Do you wat Reavers? Because that’s how you get Reavers.

      • UnCivilServant

        You would think the internal attrition rate in such a group would make them burn out pretty darn quick. Unless there’s something that prevents them from victimizing each other.

  35. l0b0t

    Ronald Reagan ran on a promise to abolish both the BATFE and the Federal Department of Education. He made no attempt to even rein in either agency. I hope there is a wee devil, think <a href="https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/814313.jpg&quot; title="Hot Stuff from Harvey Comics” target=”_blank” >Hot Stuff from Harvey Comics, repeatedly administering a molten lead enema to that jerk.

    • PieInTheSky

      I never heard of Hot Stuff from Harvey Comics,

      • Festus

        Well, you’ll be blown away by Little Lotta, good Sir! Don’t get me started on “Little Dot”…

    • db

      Not only did he not try to rein them in, he was complicit in increasing their power. See, especially, the “Firearm Owners’ Protection Act” *spit*.

      • EvilSheldon

        I hate to say it, but I would have signed the ’86 FOPA too.

        I feel bad about chucking the machinegun owners under the bus, but what the gun community got in exchange was much more important. Specifically, overturning the ban on mail-order ammunition sales and removal of the registration requirement.

        *sigh*

        Realpolitik sucks ass…

      • db

        He should have highlighted the language that was inserted by voice vote in the dead of night and vetoed the entire bill based on that conduct by Congress, indicating his desire to sign the beneficial elements of the bill. It was probably intended as a poison pill, but it certainly didn’t work.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It was a compromise with Bush on the DOEd.

      That family, along with Nixon, has done more to destroy the small government leanings of the GOP than anyone else. They’re socialists in capitalist garb.

      • Drake

        Way back when, there was a liberal side to the Republican Party (Hoover / Rockefeller / Bush) and a conservative side (Coolidge / Reagan). Since the Depression, the conservatives always had to compromise with the liberals – bit never vice versa.

        The conservative side is now dead. The party is firmly controlled by Dem-lite grifters who only punch to the right – McConnell / Graham.

    • Gustave Lytton

      And repeal selective service. Instead the Reagan administration persecuted those who failed to register.

  36. Q Continuum

    “Russia accuses the West of trying to will a Ukraine war into reality”

    They’re not wrong…

    • AlexinCT

      Xi told his bottom bitch Biden he needs to make that war happen and tie down US & NATO assets so Biden has an excuse when he is left to explain why the US commitment to help Taiwan when China invades them had to be ignored…

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Bad day at the rat colony

    A deadly clash at a federal penitentiary in Texas prompted the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to temporarily lock down all its facilities Monday, prison officials said.

    The bureau was “securing our facilities as a temporary measure to ensure the good order of our institutions,” spokesman Emery Nelson said in an email, adding that the measure was expected to be “short-lived.”

    “For safety and security reasons, the BOP does not elaborate on specific security procedures,” Nelson said.

    Multiple inmates were involved in an altercation at U.S. Penitentiary Beaumont in Texas about 11:30 a.m. Monday. Four were hospitalized, and two died after being transported for medical attention, the prison bureau said.

    Keep the stress levels up. Maybe we can export more of our carefully calibrated hopelessness and despair stimuli to the population (still) at large.

  38. Festus

    I’ve never seen my Country come together like this unless it was about a world war or a hockey game. This is unprecedented.

    • db

      It’s actually quite heartening to see this. I hope that Australians see this as an example. And maybe USians too.

    • Sean

      Canadian truckers, the heroes you needed.

      *points to avatar*

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      It’s been a beautiful sight

      • Festus

        Ha! I used to know most of those girls before they went over to Only Fans. What a sad little man I’ve become. :-/

      • R.J.

        I think a trucker themed post is in order.

    • Not Adahn

      I haven’t thought about that self-righteous circle-jerk in a long time.

      • juris imprudent

        The Republicans went with Dem-lite when they nominated Eisenhower – to avoid Taft winning and returning the U.S. to it’s normal post-war stance.

    • Drake

      Seriously – Can anyone under 40 even name a Niel Young song?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Just that Rockin’ in the Free World song. Not sure if that is the exact title or not.

    • AlexinCT

      Yeah, I know that 5 year olds tend to be into dinosaurs, and I suspect it is accurate to claim that Young asshole is a dinosaur, so I bet what’s happening is that the kid heard that a dinosaur had fucked itself over, and is now pissed someone is picking on dinosaurs…

      Cause that’s far more plausible than some kid liking Young’s shitty music.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That’s got to be a satire account.

      https://twitter.com/HollyBriden

      Passionate Progressive Influencer ~ Reluctant Caucasian ~ Sophisticated Vaccine Enthusiast ~ Substitute Dancing Nurse ~ Satire ~ Mask Up!

      • Urthona

        Well it does say satire

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Well it does say that, doesn’t it.

      • PieInTheSky

        Well even I miss satire on occasion

      • ron73440

        There has to be a singularity, where satire meets reality.

        I think we’re really close.

      • Not Adahn

        The way she nuked that dem candidate indicates she’s not one.

      • Lackadaisical

        Substitute dancing nurse, that got a sensible chuckle.

        Reluctant Caucasian is to close to the truth to be funny.

  39. Count Potato

    “A series of columns by this reporter in The Hill newspaper in spring 2019 exposed Biden’s threat and revealed some U.S. officials feared it had created the appearance of a conflict of interest. Trump subsequently asked Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in summer 2019 to investigate whether anything untoward occurred in Shokin’s firing.

    Democrats subsequently launched impeachment proceedings against Trump, arguing his request to Zelensky was an abuse of power because it targeted Biden, a potential 2020 election opponent. Trump defended the request as perfectly normal.

    During the House impeachment proceedings in fall 2019 and the Senate trial in January 2020 that led to Trump’s acquittal, House Democrats repeatedly argued Trump had no basis to request an investigation and that Biden’s effort to fire Shokin was legitimate because U.S. officials and the whole of U.S. government believed Shokin was either corrupt or ineffective fighting corruption.”

    It was obviously bullshit because any mention of Trump’s impeachment was conspicuously absent during Biden’s 2020 campaign. Seems a pretty big thing to leave out that your opponent was literally impeached by Congress. OK, maybe Joe forgot, but his supporters knew that if they brought it up, anyone looking into it would see that Biden was the one who was corrupt here.

    • R C Dean

      some U.S. officials feared it had created the appearance of a conflict of interest

      I do conflicts of interest governance for a living. This was not a mere “appearance”. This was a disabling conflict, the kind that can only be remedied by completely removing the conflicted person from decisions about the issue.

      • db

        completely removing the conflicted person from decisions about the issue.

        I agree completely. I think that’s a very difficult thing to do, especially if they retain their position. What’s to say that their subordinates or associates won’t make the decisions the offender would have made, in full knowledge that they still have to answer to him/her eventually?

        For this reason, I’ve never trusted that an official recusing himself really means much. You have to either fire that person completely or hand the decision over to a completely different organization for recusal to be credible.

      • R C Dean

        I think that’s a very difficult thing to do, especially if they retain their position.

        In the corporate world, there usually a peer or superior available who can take over the project, and scrutiny if the result just happens to benefit the conflicted person. Assuming a well-run corporation, of course. If the CFOs son is pitching some accounting software, the CEO, COO, even the CLO can make the call. And if they pick the son’s software, they better be able to back it up.

        In government, its probably not so easy when you are talking about senior elected officials.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Terrifying rhetoric

    With former President Donald Trump off mainstream social media, his messages aren’t as ubiquitous. It makes it harder for them to break through.

    But in recent rallies and statements, Trump has seemed to escalate a message rooted in racism and lies.

    Trump alleged during a rally in Texas over the weekend that Black prosecutors investigating him are “racist,” and he is again flirting with mob violence, calling for mass protests if they do anything he deems to be “wrong or illegal.”

    And after teasing a 2024 run — “to take back that beautiful, beautiful house that happens to be white” — he said one of his actions as president could be to pardon those convicted as a result of their actions during last year’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. More than 750 people and counting have been charged with crimes.

    “If I run and I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly,” Trump said. “We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons, because they are being treated so unfairly.”

    If you listen carefully, he’s plainly saying he wants to round up all the black people , load them onto barges, and then sink them in the ocean.

    • AlexinCT

      Leftists always hear everything anyone they don’t like says as “I am a racist/misogynist/homophobe/anti-vaxxer”…

    • Rebel Scum

      Trump has seemed to escalate a message rooted in racism and lies.

      Show your work.

      last year’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol

      Speaking of lies…

  41. Drake

    Fertilizer prices were already sky-high…

    Winston-Salem fertilizer plant burns and may explode.

    • PieInTheSky

      good. organic produce with no fertilizer is better

      • Count Potato

        That’s commonly known as “dirt”.

    • db

      well, that’s really not good.

    • db

      It’s fun reading all the accident reports that the CSB (chemical safety board) puts out and then seeing how the conclusions and recommendations are pretty much systematically ignored.

    • l0b0t

      That’s terrifying. Wasn’t it ammonium nitrate that exploded in Beirut a couple years ago?

      • db

        Man, there have been so many ammonium nitrate fertilizer mishaps in history…it’s hard to list them. But yes. Think Beirut.

    • AlexinCT

      Cuck.

    • Drake

      It’s one thing being married to a lesbian, but his wife turning into a fat dude?

      • Urthona

        On the other hand, my turning into a fat dude is completely ok.

      • AlexinCT

        Maybe he likes “The cock” but can’t admit it to himself?

  42. AlexinCT

    I think Biden should really show the universe whose boss and name Diamond & Silk to the SCOTUS. That way he gets to both expand the court and double his promise to put a black woman on the court…

    That’s what you call genius.

  43. PieInTheSky

    Cultural and public services favour city resilience

    https://voxeu.org/article/cultural-and-public-services-favour-city-resilience

    Cities are more vulnerable to political and economic dislocation than to physical destruction (Glaeser 2021). For example, mass layoffs shrink the local labour force by inducing some of the displaced workers to migrate (Foote et al. 2015), which may have permanent long-run effects on the city’s growth and socioeconomic composition. How the latter changes in the wake of negative economic shocks – and what city-level characteristics favour urban resilience – are not well known. In a recent study (Behrens et al. 2021), we shed some light on these questions.

  44. Rebel Scum

    Heating up in the great white north.

    Look west. A group of truckers parked across the Canada-US border between Alberta and Montana have been given a police SWAT team ultimatum to move. They just voted to refuse. We have two reporters on site. Follow along at http://ConvoyReports.com.

    • R C Dean

      One recalls a fed convoy after some ranchers (?) I think that turned around when faced with a group of armed citizens.

  45. Certified Public Asshat

    More than 100,000 Americans died from diabetes in 2021, marking the second consecutive year for that grim milestone and spurring a call for a federal mobilization similar to the fight against HIV/AIDS https://t.co/3nh9467YaE— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) January 31, 2022

    Federal nutrition guidelines failed, so the solution is more of the same.

    • Urthona

      I’ve really grown to hate the media term “grim milestone”.

      Mix it up people.

      • l0b0t

        At least they didn’t use “gate” as a suffix.

      • Nephilium

        Grim milestonegate?

        Grimgate milestone?

      • Urthona

        Lol

      • l0b0t

        Grimgate Milestone might just have to be the new name for the commander of my chaos dwarf army. Thanks.

    • PieInTheSky

      mandatory fat camp. It worked for private Pyle

      • Urthona

        Since half the left wanted concentration camps for the unvaccinated, why not camps for the diabetic?

        Diabetes is a much more serious and deadly problem than covid.

      • Swiss Servator

        If someone tries to lay a finger on SugarFree, I’ll shoot!

    • db

      a federal mobilization similar to the fight against HIV/AIDS

      So success. Much eradication.

      • The Last American Hero

        Have you seen the commercial for the HIV prevention meds? It’s pretty much like a viagra commercial for gay men.

        It’s also about as irresponsible as marketing Low-T drugs to men in an age group that is at risk for prostate cancer.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      How can you address diabetes without fat shaming?

      DOA

      • AlexinCT

        ^^^THIS^^^

        Type 2 is all about weight from bad eating habits and lack of exercise.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      This is not a fully built out idea…but how come churches/places of worship don’t have gyms/fitness classes? Especially with church membership in decline, wouldn’t this be a good way to pull people back in? Help build mind, body, and spirit?

      *I’m a lapsed Catholic, was horrified by pedo priests, not completely opposed to the idea of church*

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        There are more fitness and health activities at churches these days. At least for those that haven’t cowed to the COVID regime.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        So not an original idea…but it makes sense. How do we use these large buildings more than once a week and bring people into the community?

      • R C Dean

        how come churches/places of worship don’t have gyms/fitness classes

        Because it has nothing to do with religion?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Bettering yourself and others has no place in religion?

      • R C Dean

        Religion, like anything else, can be stretched to cover anything.

        And that’s the problem with modern Western Christianity – it has become non-spiritual/non-religious in any meaningful way. It is now a front for squishy New Ageism, social movements, etc. Hell, outright atheists now hold senior positions that should never be held by anyone but a devout Christian. This strikes me as more of the same – a marketing ploy that doesn’t really advance people’s relationship with God.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        +1 SBC
        +a zillion divinity schools
        +a majority of denominations

      • Not Adahn

        When you have an explicit body/soul dichotomy and map that to Heaven/Earth Good/Evil… yes?

      • juris imprudent

        Ah, the gospel of self improvement! You’re gonna love that Osteen feller.

      • AlexinCT

        Some people would enjoy Mel Gibson’s Passion running on a loop in the Steamroom/sauna….

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        but how come churches/places of worship don’t have gyms/fitness classes?

        I could write an article and a half on this. Generally, it’s because they don’t want to invest limited attention into something that is seen as “low priority”.

        Churches have lost the idea of being a nexus of a community. As such, prioritizing a fitness center would make many elder boards shake their heads in confusion. “we’re hemmoraging members and cash, why would we waste our resources on building a gym when there’s a gym down the street?”

      • R C Dean

        If we’re looking at businesses that could be the nexus of a community, why not bars?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Can I take my kids to a bar?

      • R C Dean

        Sure. I see them all the time in bars here in AZ, and in WI when I lived there. Bars also serve food, after all, or at least they can.

        There may be states that require you to be 21 to cross the threshold, but I don’t know of any.

      • Not Adahn

        Oklahoma waves “hi!”

      • Nephilium

        Well, there are quite a few bars here that purchased the pews from closed churches for seating…

      • Nephilium

        And I am disappoint in myself that I didn’t think of this until after hitting post. There are also bars/breweries in closed churches.

        Then there’s the breweries that just sound like they’re trying to be churches.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I’ll add that our church just acquired a plot of land and is looking at providing some areas dedicated to the general public (a park). Granted, the city pretty much requires such a thing to get approval for any construction, but they’re trying to embrace and augment the requirement to be useful to the community.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I’d be interested in reading it. Selfishly, I am thinking mass alone is not enough to get me to join a church, but if it offered ways for me to connect with other like minded individuals I could be persuaded.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        To be honest, as somebody who has been a member of a few churches and in the volunteer leadership of a couple of them, the issue is that you’re in the slim minority.

        Half of the average church wants to show up on Sunday morning and have their weekly religion badge in hand by the time the early NFL games kick off.

        Another 25% want the church to provide a weekly activity or two (with robust childcare) on top of the Sunday morning commitment. Of the remaining quarter, most are involved in leadership or volunteership to a level that they can’t take on yet another project. They’d love to expand the community aspect, so long as they can get somebody else to lead it.

        Here’s an example. I’m teaching a class at church starting this upcoming Sunday. I’ve been a member of the church for less than 2 months. I have no business being in front of a class when they hardly even know me. This is a healthy, growing church (relatively speaking), but they’re so desperate for leadership in the adult education realm that they tapped me to fill in for a month.

        They can get people to show up to small groups on Sunday or Wednesday night. They can get people to stay for 2 hours on Sunday morning. Beyond that, all activities/outreach/initiatives are in the hands of 15-20 people.

        I’ll think about how best to write that article, and I’ll make sure it gets done.

      • Fourscore

        4-H clubs for adults.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    More than 100,000 Americans died from diabetes in 2021, marking the second consecutive year for that grim milestone and spurring a call for a federal mobilization similar to the fight against HIV/AIDS

    The War on Diabetes is as good as won!

    Huzzah.

    • Urthona

      I can’t wait to surrender to diabetes in 20 years.

      • Sean
    • Rat on a train

      federal mobilization similar to the fight against HIV/AIDS
      Put Fauci on it.

  47. Rebel Scum

    The Biden administration is in possession of nearly one billion records detailing American citizens’ firearm purchases, far more than Congress and the public has been aware of, according to new information from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

    So the gun control debate is over, no?

  48. Rebel Scum

    Russia accuses the West of trying to will a Ukraine war into reality

    Not exactly incorrect…

    • Swiss Servator

      Not sure how that war happens without Russia invading…If they don’t, then all the Biden clucking and strutting looks silly.

  49. PieInTheSky

    BUCHAREST NIGHTLIFE DISTRICT ROMANIA 2021 [FULL TOUR]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuPO4WKVqFg

    autumn and pandemic this looks sad I haven been in the old town at night for like 3 years

    • ron73440

      Was it more crowded in the before times?

      • PieInTheSky

        yes by a lot

      • ron73440

        That’s a shame, it looks like an amazing area.

  50. The Late P Brooks

    how come churches/places of worship don’t have gyms/fitness classes

    Some do. I can’t remember the name off the top of my head, but there is a big Jewish community center in Indianapolis with gym and pool facilities open to non-members. My dad used to go there.

    • R C Dean

      Every YMCA/YWCA also counts, at least as founded. The “C” stands for Christian, after all.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I wouldn’t really consider JCCs to be places of worship. They sprang up as a free market response to the banning of Jews from country clubs in the 70s and 80s.

      My family was members of one throughout my childhood. It was fun a place, kind of like a hybrid country club and YMCA. There’s a Jewish cultural tie that imprints events, but many non-Jewish members as well.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        In my head I am not picturing anything like a YMCA. Basically a crossfit gym without the crossfit.

      • juris imprudent

        SWISS! If there isn’t a pun in there, he damn sure tried.

      • Swiss Servator

        Oh no you didn’t!

        *NARROWS GAZE*

  51. ron73440

    I will be going to Baltimore for the 23rd-25th of this month.

    How bad are the coof restrictions?

    I was stationed in MD a long time ago and I love the area, but the taxes and government made me sad.

    • juris imprudent

      I work in MD, and I live in PA, for reasons.

  52. Rebel Scum

    Just months before Joe Biden forced his firing, Ukraine’s chief prosecutor was told by U.S. State Department officials that they were “impressed” with his anti-corruption plan and fully supportive of his work, according to newly released memos that cast doubt on a key Democrat impeachment narrative.

    Well, son of a bitch.

    • R C Dean

      “Newly released” certainly is consistent with “previously covered up”.

      The question is, why release them now? A pressure campaign to get Brandon to step down?

      • Rebel Scum

        I always figured the Dems would force him out after his usefulness expired.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      “This just underscores how congressional oversight has really diminished over the years mainly because we don’t have enforcement powers,” he added.

      Bullshit. Congress has the purse. They just refuse to use it.

  53. The Late P Brooks

    The trick will be keeping the Crazy Years from turning into the Burning Time.

    Really looking forward to the Great Simplification.

    *A Canticle for Leibowitz reference

  54. Rebel Scum

    California Democrats Fail to Pass Single-payer Health Care Bill

    Damn Republicans always standing in the way of progress.

    • Urthona

      I was rooting for it. Really want to get to compare it to the rest of the U S head to head.

    • juris imprudent

      Yeah, the sponsor didn’t even bring it to vote despite Dem super-majorities in both chambers. Boy, I have to admit, I am impressed with Republican obstructionism.

  55. Rebel Scum

    Two more states call for convention of states to amend Constitution, as movement gains steam

    I’m skeptical of this. Modern politicians are not exactly Jefferson/Madison/etc.

    • Urthona

      i hadn’t thought about this.

      How many red states are there? enough to do anything?

      • R C Dean

        Better question: How many senior political operatives are there willing to do anything pro-freedom? The states can only ratify what is put in front of them, and that will be determined by our ruling class.

      • Urthona

        I don’t know. 3?

      • robc

        Enough to prevent anything crappy from getting approved.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        29

  56. Rebel Scum

    A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and The National Pulse finds that 50% of Likely U.S. voters support the impeachment of Biden, including 33% who Strongly Support it.

    The slow motion insurrection continues.

    • Drake

      He picked the right VP if his goal was to avoid impeachment.

      • Urthona

        haha.

        Well removing his on from office was never gonna happen.

        What could happen is republicans get power and do the same bullshit shenanigans they did to trump. I would enjoy that.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Discovery. It’s all about discovery to get access to some compromising documents.

  57. Rebel Scum

    Biden chose Harris as his VP because of the color of her skin and sex—not qualification. She’s been a disaster. Now he promises to choose Supreme Court nominee on the same criteria. Identity politics is destroying our country.

    I’ll be in my bunk.

    • Urthona

      That logic is perfect.

    • Not Adahn

      Yeeeeeees. *steeples fingers*

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Perfect

  58. Count Potato

    “Teenage girls as young as 16 were trafficked, drugged, beaten, groomed for prostitution, and raped at ‘mini mansions’ owned by Hugh Hefner’s friends and frequented by celebrities, a former president and state governor, Playboy insiders claim in interviews with DailyMail.com.

    Witnesses said that wannabe ‘playmates’ who didn’t pass auditions at the Playboy Mansion would be housed at a network of Beverly Hills homes where they were fed false promises of modeling contracts and movie roles while ‘traded like cattle’ between rich and powerful men.

    Jennifer Saginor grew up around the glamorous Playboy Mansion of the 1990s and 2000s.

    As the daughter of Dr. Mark Saginor, Hefner’s close friend and personal physician dubbed ‘Dr. Feelgood’ over his reported proclivity for prescribing Quaalude pills, she says she was exposed to the secret, dark side of the Playboy enterprise from a young age.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10443917/The-mini-Playboy-mansions-women-trafficked-drugged-raped.html

    Was it rape or prostitution?

    • db

      frequented by celebrities, a former president and state governor, Playboy insiders claim

      Name names, or it didn’t happen.

      • Not Adahn

        NARRATOR: “it didn’t happen.”

  59. Rebel Scum

    Rachel Maddow to announce MSNBC hiatus to make film with Ben Stiller

    ‘Along Came Rachel’? Needs more Jennifer Aniston.

  60. Count Potato

    “On Monday, Grammy winner Justin Bieber showed off his ‘lonely’ Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible token (NFT), which he bought Saturday for 500 ethereum worth $1.29M.

    The 27-year-old Canadian crooner – who boasts 516.1M social media followers – quoted his 2021 track Lonely in the caption of his Instagram post.

    ‘What if you had it all, but nobody to call, maybe then you’d know me. Cuz I’ve had everything but no one’s listening and that’s just f***in lonely,’ Justin wrote.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10462007/Twitter-roasts-Justin-Bieber-spending-1-29M-Bored-Ape-NFT-worth-five-times-less.html

    Whoever is behind this shit is making a fortune.

    • Urthona

      Justin Bieber is 27 now?

      fuck

      • rhywun

        I would have guessed much older. It seems like we’ve been subjected to his nonsense for decades.

    • PieInTheSky

      All hetero sex is rape

      • Not Adahn

        A Dworkinite, huh?

      • PieInTheSky

        Shit this was an answer to the playboy thing

      • Endless Mike

        Kind of works with NFTs

  61. ron73440

    My wife just had a large rock get bounced up from the car in front of her and it broke the headlight cover and scratched the fender pretty good on her ’09 Corolla.

    Said it scared the hell out of her.

    What is it with that car? She’s been rear ended, hit a deer, ran over a bucket, and now this.

    She is Okinawan.

    Coincidence? I think not.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      LAAAAACIST!!!!

      • ron73440

        If I tell my wife something is “lacist” she legitimately can’t tell if I used an “L” or an “R”.

        She also didn’t get the “supplies” joke in UHF.

    • R.J.

      I had a Honda Element that also seemed cursed to always have accidents and damage. When I sold it the curse went with it.

  62. Rebel Scum

    Aye, comrade Pol Thot.

    Thinking that people who work harder deserve more is just ableist bigotry. Meritocracy debate at Oxford.

    • juris imprudent
    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Couple of observations:

      1) As bad as it is, at least it’s an actual debate as opposed to the lunacy we have in the US debate forums.

      2) That voice, Jesus.

      3) What signal is she trying to send with that outfit? It was chosen for a reason.

    • PieInTheSky

      Honestly i am not a fan of the work harder thing. It is meaningless. You should keep what you earn irrespective of wotk. If you make an nft in one day and sell it for a low seven figures then dick off the rest of the year it is your business

      • UnCivilServant

        If you can defraud someone out of seven figures for something that doesn’t exist and is unenforcable, you really don’t fall into the same category as mere mortal workers.

      • PieInTheSky

        Why defraud? It is legitimate

      • UnCivilServant

        You’re selling something that doesn’t exist and doesn’t provide any enforcement mechanisms for the ‘rights’ it purports to represent. That’s effectively fraud.

      • PieInTheSky

        The buyer is perfectly aware of what they are buying so no

      • PieInTheSky

        Also the hard work thing stinks of the labor theory of value

    • wdalasio

      …a lot of that is determined by genetics. Why does that make you more liable to certain good things? Why does that mean you deserve certain good things more? Why does that mean you deserve certain rewards?

      Let’s take her biological determinist view at face value. Okay. Well, then, if it is genetic, it means their genetic make-up makes them more functional human beings. It means that the people with those genetic qualities are, for all practical purposes, genetically superior. If that’s the case, why should better genetic stock be sacrificed to their inferiors?

      Now, I’ll stipulate that I don’t buy into her biological determinist view. I think some biologically influenced things are important. But, I think a host of other factors based on personal choice are as or more important.

    • R C Dean

      Thinking that people who work harder deserve more

      In a modern economy, what is rewarded is working smarter, not harder. The people who work the hardest are often in the lowest paid fields, and the highest paid people are doing brain work, not physical work.

      • TARDis

        Onlyfans girls are pretty damn smart.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Did she voluntarily argue that?

      Or is this a debate where you are given one side to argue? Might not believe it, but you have to try to win and are willing to say anything.

      She should have spent less time with her dress and more time spitting mad rhymez

      • ron73440

        She should have spent less time with her dress and more time spitting mad rhymez

        I’ve seen that before, it kills a few brain cells every time.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        *head desk*

  63. Rebel Scum

    Spicoli says something not retarded.

    Sean Penn doubled down in an interview with The Independent on his belief that “men have become quite feminized.” The two-time Oscar winner generated headlines earlier this month after telling one newspaper, “I am in the club that believes that men in American culture have become wildly feminized. I don’t think that being a brute or having insensitivity or disrespect for women is anything to do with masculinity, or ever did. But I don’t think that [in order] to be fair to women, we should become them.”

    When asked by The Independent to clarify these comments, Penn said, “I think that men have, in my view, become quite feminized. I have these very strong women in my life who do not take masculinity as a sign of oppression toward them. There are a lot of, I think, cowardly genes that lead to people surrendering their jeans and putting on a skirt.”

    • rhywun

      Democrats pounce!

    • Gustave Lytton

      *cue outraged Scotsmen*

    • Urthona

      First time for everything I guess.

  64. db

    Here’s some fucked-up legal shit: The killers in the Arbery case, convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole, are now trying to work a deal with Federal prosecutors where they will plead guilty to Federal hate crimes and receive a Federal sentence of 30 years in Federal prison. The older of the two, the father, is likely to die in prison before 30 years are out. Supposedly, Federal prison is easier time that GA state prison, and the two might be less likely to be shivved in a Fed prison than a GA state prison.

    So these guys are in the position of now having to claim that they killed Arbery because of his race, so they can get convicted of more crimes, so they can do the first 30 years of their sentences in a supposedly “easier” prison.

    These guys fucked up big time and should never have attacked and killed Arbery. They were wrong to do so, being completely outside any legal protection of self defense or citizen’s arrest statutes. The craziness is now they have to plea to charges they might not really be guilty of, simply to avoid the hell their lives (short as they might likely be) would become in State prison.

    • juris imprudent

      I’m just not a fan of ignoring double-jeopardy.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The federal crimes shouldn’t exist.

      • TARDis

        ^^^Racist!

        *Sits next to Scruffy*

        We really do need a Convention of the States.

    • Not Adahn

      And the family is objecting saying they shouldn’t get any easier time.

      The prosecutor says that the fam signed off on the deal, the fam says they were never consulted.

      The judge rejected the plea deal but said xey’d let them plead guilty but without any sentencing deal.

    • Drake

      Meanwhile the Waukesha Christmas parade massacre is blamed on the SUV and that guy will never be accused of racism.

    • Pope Jimbo

      That is exactly why Chauvin plead guilty in Fed court. He gets to do his time concurrently in a Fed prison.

  65. waffles

    My employer has just asked about vaccine status. To be considered vaccinated you must be boosted. I should lie, right? They aren’t asking to see vaccine cards, just self report. Also seems like there’s no enforcement mechanism, but maybe if enough respond yes we can eliminate all masking, I hate this shit, wish I could ignore it completely.

    • UnCivilServant

      I have been refusing to tell mine one way or another.

      Then again, it was my personal line in the sand.

      • waffles

        Maybe I should just ignore the request. I got the J&J shot last April with the understanding that it was one and done. I’m not going to play these “I have altered the deal” vader games with anyone.

      • Pope Jimbo

        #MeToo

        I told the HR lady that I wouldn’t disclose my status officially. I didn’t want to be part of any effort to demonize or discriminate against my fellow workers.

        She was fine with my answer. Told me that unless I provided proof I’d be considered unclean and would need to follow those rules. No threats of being fired or anything.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I should lie, right?

      It’s up to you, but they’ll eventually find out. Self-reporting will eventually turn into having to supply records. Beyond that, don’t make their evil compromise your dignity. They’re not worth lying to.

      • R C Dean

        This. Plus, there are three databases maintained by the vax companies that between them are comprehensive. To think the feds haven’t combined them already is naive. To believe they will never be used to verify vax status is also naive.

        Lie if you want, but you are only postponing the inevitable.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        To think the feds haven’t combined them already is naive.

        *points aggressively at the ATF article*

    • Sean

      Put on a trucker hat and tell them “Fuck off, eh. Ya hoser.”

    • rhywun

      I wouldn’t lie. They can always turn around later and fire you for lying. Or, you know, report you to the Authorities or something.

      • waffles

        I’m going to not answer until asked to answer then be honest. No booster for me though. That shit is poison that cannot help me with my individual health outcome. Especially this late in the game, not worth the risk.

      • ron73440

        I wouldn’t lie, it gives them an excuse to fire you. Don’t help them with that.

        I have not provided proof for my J&J shot yet, and they have left me alone after making a big deal about it before Christmas.

    • PieInTheSky

      Tell them you are waiting for the omicron specific booster

    • Certified Public Asshat

      “The question is moot, I have had covid*.”

      *Assuming you have had covid.

    • hayeksplosives

      If you also contracted Covid, I’d consider that boosted, since the only function of the booster shot seems to be to aggravate your immune system as if you had the virus.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’m pondering it.

      If for no other reason, Tom tempers my language. He has a remarkable amount of verbal restraint. Mine is in short supply as of late.

      • ron73440

        I’m pondering it.

        #metoo

      • wdalasio

        #methree

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m in.

      • Grumbletarian

        Also in.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Nice idea, good marketing as well,

  66. robc

    Shopping at King Sooper yesterday (owned by Kroger), I remembered that in the late 90s I created a Kroger account and put a fake address. I listed my address as Galt’s Gulch, CO and picked a random mountain CO zip code (I didn’t check if it really exists, but if it does, it would be somewhere in the mountains or western slope). I had no idea that 20+ years later I would be living in Colorado.

    I haven’t used that account in 20 years, so no idea what zip I picked. I don’t even remember what phone number it was associated with, it was before portability. But the thought amused me. That is all.

    • Tundra

      How are you liking it? You’re up in FC, correct?

  67. B.P.

    “I didn’t think Stiller could do anything to make me think less of him, but hats off to him because he managed it.”

    Every time he shows up in a film, all of the comedy immediately evaporates.

  68. TARDis

    Rachel Maddow to announce MSNBC hiatus to make film with Ben Stiller

    Last year, Maddow signed a lucrative $30 million-per-year contract through 2024 to stay at MSNBC.

    They pay that snide, smug, snotty cunt that much? Man, this country is messed up.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Talking about overpaid. Maddow’s numbers are complete crap.