390 Comments

  1. Sean

    Mornin’

  2. Not Adahn

    Never seen Zombieland.

    • UnCivilServant

      I think I tried to watch it and wandered away within the first half hour.

    • Nephilium

      It’s entertaining, with one of the best cameos ever. The original pitch was for a television show, which leads to some strange artifacts in the show (such as the kill of the week).

    • Fatty Bolger

      I really enjoyed it, and I’m not into the whole zombie thing at all. The sequel was pretty good, too.

  3. Not Adahn

    Of course, the investigations themselves are irrelevant if no one ends up being held accountable by the end of them.

    I’m sure they’ll investigate how to get the maximum political advantage without threatening their incomes.

  4. Drake

    The Nevada news lady… that has to be Q’s main source of news.

    • Festus

      “Fringe elements…”

    • The Hyperbole

      All they hear is “Who wants cake?” Let me tell you something: They all do. They all want cake.

      • Festus

        We’ve yet to see the whirling dervish end of things.

      • Zwak, holding the spinal column of JFK wrapped in Marilyn Monroes neglegie

        So, you are saying Canadians are retarded?

        /quarter Canadian, all retard.

    • Fourscore

      She’s a veritable Marie Antoinette.

    • Ted S.

      Did someone leave it out in the rain?

  5. rhywun

    Governors in Democrat states announce plans to end school mask mandates as their polling falls

    Gov. Rached (NY-Wicked Witch) says “not so fast”. She’s planning to extend it.

    • UnCivilServant

      If she were to suffer sudden myocardia due to mRNA injection complications, who takes office?

      • rhywun

        I don’t know, but we probably won’t like it.

        The farther down the ladder you go in NY politics, the crazier they get.

      • Fourscore

        “Cheer up, it could be worse, so I cheered up and sure enough, it got worse”

        /Stolen

      • rhywun

        On the bright side, the indoor jab-or-muzzle mandate for non-children is supposed to expire Thursday and she said she will “probably let it expire” but will “make a decision” by tomorrow.

      • UnCivilServant

        I dislike squishy responses like that.

        Someone’s probably whispering that it’s a bad idea to keep it, but she dearly wants to.

    • Zwak, holding the spinal column of JFK wrapped in Marilyn Monroes neglegie

      Announced today that even Progtopia Oregon (ie Portland) is ending the mandate “no later than 3/31”

      This shit is polling lower than the Titanic.

      • Gustave Lytton ????

        Gee, after they went to the trouble of instituting permanent mask mandates in spite of overwhelming testimony against. The State Pediatrician needs to DIAF.

  6. Rebel Scum

    Rumble offers Joe Rogan $100 million to join platform

    Odysee offered 100 gazillion..

    • Rat on a train

      I demand escrow before I sign.

    • Not Adahn

      Is that them claiming Rumble doesn’t actually have $100M to offer and they’re just making a cheap PR move?

      • db

        That’s how I took it.

        Rumble probably doesn’t have it, but if they score Rogan, they may grab others and would certainly increase their membership, so maybe they made a projection and figured they could afford the $100MM if the business plan works out.

      • Zwak, holding the spinal column of JFK wrapped in Marilyn Monroes neglegie

        It isn’t Rumble, but it’s backers. Rogan would be enough of a PR coup that they could swing it.

        And it would FUCK Spotify.

      • Festus

        Isn’t it Rumble that is working with Orange Man Bad? That’s plenty of clout.

  7. Rebel Scum

    Frontier is buying Spirit Airlines in $3B deal

    That’s one way to expand the flight manifest…destiny.

    • SDF-7

      Sounds more like they plan on cornering the market, making their airline the final… frontier.

      • Necron 99

        Sounds like a good enterprise.

  8. Festus

    Mornin’ Banjos! Finally got the new payroll app installed. It only took about four days of misdirection from the corp and me having to reset four passwords to sync my devices. The greater good. Turns out that they’ve been winging it since December 11th because of the Kronos hack. All that OT. Paystubs were not forthcoming to those of us that worked long hours.

  9. Rebel Scum

    Four Republican AGs will investigate GoFundMe following removal of Canadian trucker fundraiser

    Give. Send. Go.

    • Festus

      Up here all the usual mouth-breathers are bleating about foreign interference.

      • invisible finger

        These would be the same mouth-breathers that called themselves “globalists” just a few weeks ago.

      • Nephilium

        Russian truckers? The horror… the horror.

      • Zwak, holding the spinal column of JFK wrapped in Marilyn Monroes neglegie

        Nah, Russians run the point-to-point courier biz, Punjabis and Sikhs run trucking now.

      • Festus

        Not up here. It’s Sikhs all the way up and down. Ask me how I know.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Do you wear a pahgri?

  10. AlexinCT

    Yo Glibronis! Hope you all well and will have a great day.

    I am off to court, where I plan to make them all sit and wait for 15-20 minutes before telling them that I guess my lawyer isn’t coming and I will go ahead and pay that $200 speeding ticket they gave me in 2019. I figure if they spend that time (and a huge chunk of change) to collect my $200 it leaves me still ahead of this exchange. The last time I did this was almost 20 years ago (I did it 3 times in a row then), and since that time I had not gotten a ticket when stopped until this one I am going in for. I have a cool Sci-Fi book on my iPad to read and will enjoy the whole event knowing how I will be shafting them.

    • Raven Nation

      *Narrator: Alex was arrested for contempt and was never heard from again.*

      • SDF-7

        That and — call me paranoid, but maybe if you’re planning to mess with lawyers and a court you shouldn’t say so publicly before you do so? 😉

      • waffles

        *sensible chuckle*

    • Fourscore

      Plus costs and interest?

    • PieInTheSky

      $200 speeding ticket they gave me in 2019 – In your defense you were high

    • Festus

      Try to ignore the lawyers and judges getting all chummy between cases and cutting deals left and right. They don’t understand that these decisions result in life or death decisions for the peons and they certainly could not give a steaming pile of shit. I was shocked by their behavior the first time I watched the “justice sausage” being made.

      • Fourscore

        Ol’ Fourscore remembers divorce proceedings, but it was worth it.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Family court is the worst. Absolutely skin-suited and molded to fit the Marxist hatred of men and family.

      • rhywun

        I read another one of those articles yesterday about a father’s son being taken away from him so his mom, the medical establishment, and the court system can turn him into a girl.

        It’s enraging but have a go if you dare.

      • Festus

        Nope.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        They don’t understand that these decisions result in life or death decisions for the peons and they certainly could not give a steaming pile of shit.

        Your interaction with the law is a momentous occasion in your life. Your lawyer’s interaction with the law on your behalf is their Tuesday 10am slot, and probably isn’t even the most important case that week.

        At least their incentives are aligned with yours, unlike when you hire a buyer’s agent in a real estate transaction.

      • Festus

        My case was minor and I wasn’t the one on trial. It sickened me to watch “officers of the court” discuss such matters like they were talking about their hockey pool. Deals, deals, deals. “Let’s get outta here and get some lunch!”

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Deals, deals, deals

        *nods knowingly*

        For civil trials, a vast majority of conflicts settle in pre-litigation. Of those few that make it to the complaint phase >95% settle out of court. I’m sure the criminal trials have different proportions, but a solid majority still settle out of court.

        Trial lawyers are primarily settlement negotiators who occasionally have to go to trial.

      • Rat on a train

        buyer’s agent in a real estate transaction
        I need to know how much you are preapproved so I can maximize my commission.

      • Pope Jimbo

        My father (probation officer) used to say that the trial in the court room was just for show. Almost all the real work got done in the judges chambers.

        Judge would get everyone back there and tell them to cut some deal and stop wasting time.

    • The Last American Hero

      Too late based on the time stamp, but in my area they have a deferred mitigation where you pay the ticket but they don’t tell the insurance company, unless you get another one in 7 years – in which case they report both.

      Shitty scam that does nothing to promote traffic safety but keeps the insurance guy off your back.

    • Loveconstitution1789

      You must not be in a state where you can demand a jury trial for traffic tickets.

      In Georgia, we have felonies and misdemeanors. No infractions. So you can demand a jury trial for a misdemeanor traffic ticket. Never demand a bench trial as the judge will find you guilty and assess a penalty fine for fighting it. They drop the case every time when you demand a jury trial.

  11. Rebel Scum

    Appearing on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy promised a slew of investigations if/when the GOP takes back the House in the midterms.

    “Fascist GOP goes after political opponents” – future headline

    • SDF-7

      Meh… like calling everything “racist” — if they’re going to call you it regardless of what you do, might as well just do what you need to do in the first place.

      • Zwak, holding the spinal column of JFK wrapped in Marilyn Monroes neglegie

        This. At this point, I basically consider any claims of racism to be abject bullshit. Fascism is in the same bucket.

        Now, it’s all like “OK, I am a fascist racist. Now what?”

  12. waffles

    Report shows largest cities debt grows despite COVID-relief funds

    The federal government dumped money on these municipalities. This is a time of fiscal nuttiness. What happens when the spigot is turned off?

    • UnCivilServant

      Depends, did we wall them in first?

      • waffles

        That seems to be in the cards, a crash is likely a matter of when and not if. NPR paints the rosy picture but everywhere else is telling me doom.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I was talking with my dad about this last night. He made the point that we’re not necessarily going to see a bubble pop resulting in prices crashing in various markets (housing, cars, etc). We could just as easily see it even out via price inflation. The problem, however, is that wages tend to lag in that scenario, which will really suck.

      • Q Continuum

        Stagflation my friend. Welcome to the ’70s minus the key parties.

      • Festus

        I’ve aged out of that demographic but I remember stagflation very well.

      • KSuellington

        I tend to agree with your Dad. I don’t see a huge pop coming in the real estate market, even here where absolutely insane prices are being paid for houses still. Yes, despite SF becoming worse and worse the housing is only going up. That absolutely doesn’t mean it won’t go down, but I don’t see something like 08 happening again anytime soon.

      • Fourscore

        For funsies yesterday I looked at AK real estate. Even remote areas had big city prices (compared to MN)

      • KSuellington

        Yup, I constantly scour real estate listing across the country, looking for possibilities. There are not a lot of great deals happening where I want to live in the US (mountain West). Portugal or Mexico are looking better and better as retirement destinations.

      • Zwak, holding the spinal column of JFK wrapped in Marilyn Monroes neglegie

        A friend of mine’s parents bought one of the Victorians off Haight back in the early seventies when no one really wanted one. But, sadly, by the mid-eighties, the city had become so shitty (one of many times) they sold it and moved to Atascadero.

      • Bobarian LMD

        When interest rates go up, real-estate will crash.

        All about the monthly payment.

    • Fourscore

      States with an Income Tax will bump up the rates so the deplorables can help out.

      “We’re all in this together”

      • waffles

        That won’t go over well, but more likely than not they will just take it. Rising debt plus rising interest rates makes for interesting times that’s for sure.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Most states don’t automatically index their brackets to inflation, so it’s even easier to confiscate more money.

    • rhywun

      Deblasio was spraying money like one of those cartoon characters holding a firehose and flying around in circles.

      The fall is going to be epic.

  13. SDF-7

    And of course, Morning Banjos! I assume you had to share the front page image because that particular server squirrel was just tu-tu cute?

  14. PieInTheSky

    Frontier is buying Spirit Airlines in $3B deal

    In 20 years al restaurants will be taco bell and all airlines ryan air

    • Festus

      G’Way! Batin!

      • PieInTheSky

        wrong movie reference

      • SDF-7

        Maybe Festus just has a thing for Sandra Bullock. She was quite the phenomenon after all….

      • Festus

        You’re right. I get my Idiot movies mixed up a little nowadays.

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        Welcome to Costco. I love you.

    • Rat on a train

      Please don’t eat rats.

      • PieInTheSky

        never ask what is in a burger you buy at a shack

      • Not Adahn

        While it would be good for the species as a whole, I’m hoping we go the “adorable household pet” route rather than “foodstuff.”

  15. Rebel Scum

    But muh-science!

    Virginia’s Supreme Court rejected a challenge from Chesapeake parents against Glenn Youngkin’s executive order to allow parents to opt-out of their children wearing masks in school in a move Attorney General Jason Miyares called “a win for Virginia families.”

    Miyares issued a written statement following the ruling.

    “Today, the Supreme Court of Virginia rejected a challenge out of the City of Chesapeake to Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order Number 2. The Governor and I are pleased with today’s ruling. At the beginning of this pandemic, Governor Northam used his broad emergency powers to close places of worship, private businesses, and schools and impose a statewide mask mandate,” Miyares wrote.

    • Festus

      A small victory but a never the less, a satisfying one. We’ll take them all.

    • Tonio

      While this is good, this is only one of the several jurisdictions challenging the masks-optional mandate, and SCOVA issued a very narrow and technical ruling:

      The state’s Supreme Court justices wrote “we deny petitioners’ motion to amend, and we dismiss the petition because the relief requested does not lie against any of the respondents.”

  16. PieInTheSky

    I saw over the last few days a bunch of people saying they no longer identify as libertarians. I never fully identified as libertarian but used the label for convenience / simplicity. I differed in several ways from many libertarians, but we cannot have a million labels. I need a better one though because saying libertarian these days then you still need to explain most your views. Many mainstream e.g. visible libertarians are morons and most left/right don’t really understand what libertarianism broadly means, just the strawmen their side created.

    CPRM was a hipster in this way, with his own labeling from the start. I am unsure what to use though.

    • Fourscore

      Independent Party of One?

      Along with the rest of us, I hear you, Pie

    • invisible finger

      I call myself an economic conservative. No other qualifiers and no further explanation needed. Anyone who can’t understand what an economic conservative is ought to be ignored with extreme prejudice.

    • PieInTheSky

      I have to confess my guilt of not inconveniencing myself to fight the state over last two years worth of tyranny. But I am vaguely black pilled and think there is no hope of it, at least in Romania.

    • PieInTheSky

      At a point I was thinking minarchist plus as in slightly more than full on night watchman state

    • Brawndo

      Libertarianism the philosophy seems to me to just be an American flavor of monarchism. I think a lot of libertarians (not necessarily party members) are starting to see that the small government we yearn for of our founding days is either a myth or inevitably leads to the tyranny we have now. Also, the Libertarian party is a joke, thinking they can suck up to the regime, though the Mises Caucus seems to have some fight in them.

      I’m hesitant to call myself an anarchist, but on the monarchy to anarchy scale, I’m a lot closer to anarchy than I was a few years ago.

      • Brawndo

        *minarchism, not monarchism. Stupid auto correct

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        I’m hesitant to call myself an anarchist…

        I’m not. It’s fun to see the normies get all discombobulated when a staid, quiet, employed, gray-haired engineer tells them he thinks all government is illegitimate.

        I’m not going to see anarchism in my lifetime, but I’m willing to plant a seed and water the tree as long as I can.

      • Brawndo

        I’m the same, I love calling myself an anarchist around normies because “anarchist” draws up a mental image that looks nothing like me. But in my head, there’s a few things I’m not sure anarchism has suitable answers for

      • Fourscore

        I was called an anarchist at a town board meeting by one of the elected officials. He didn’t really understand what he thought he was saying, I had to remind him of the first definition.

      • The Last American Hero

        I’m sure your grandkids will remember you fondly as they serve House Bezos against their hated enemy in House Zuckerberg.

      • Bobarian LMD

        My family was wiped out in the great purging of House Musk.

      • UnCivilServant

        I am a monarchist provided I am the monarch.

      • kbolino

        Libertarianism the philosophy seems to me to just be an American flavor of monarchism

        God, I wish.

      • Social Justice is Neither

        The problem is far too many Libertarians are either way too extreme or just assume their “leave me alone” attitude holds true without actually fighting for it. Far too often those fights need to be half-measures back towards liberty in the short term but they sabotage the whole undertaking by demanding total victory or nothing now.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        The founders were classical liberals and had successful small govt for decades.

        Libertarians are their decedents minus the slavery tolerance.

    • Rebel Scum

      just the strawmen their side created.

      Somalia is a libertarian paradise. It is known.

      • Brawndo

        Scott Horton talks alot about this but he makes the point that after their civil war, none of the factions had the will or means to prop up a government and they had one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Until the US decided to bomb the shit out of them 20 years ago

      • PieInTheSky

        It was always preferable, I believe, to be in the anarchic part of Somalia than in the government one

    • Rat on a train

      Liberaltarians? The were never for limited government. They loved libertarian views on drugs and equal protection for homosexuals. Now that those are pretty well on course they see that libertarians also support other liberties that they oppose. They either have to skin suit or leave.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The libertines took over the party and turned it into a dumpster fire.

        Instead of promoting the NAP, they wanted to promote moral relativism.

      • Rat on a train

        The party was a dumpster fire before the libertines took over. Maybe that made it easier to take over.

      • robc

        The party has managed to lose 1/2 its members at least once per decade since it was created.

        Imagine how large it would be without the schisms?

    • kbolino

      Just go with “fascist” or “racist”. It simplifies many discussions.

    • Urthona

      I’m just a liberal actually. But not a socialist whackjob like the American Democrat who commandeered the term.

    • Drake

      The problem is that our “elites” who run the country are so completely corrupt that no amount of political reform, new laws, and even non-rigged elections will make a bit of difference to them. They can casually ignore it all. Until they are replaced, nothing changes.

      RC Dean last night: Politics. Who gives a shit, really, about the horrible people in DC being horrible to each other? And that’s basically what the political “news” covers. I’ve mostly stopped caring; they are little more than the penguin shit on the tip of the iceberg of our Ruling Borg, which includes the administrative state, the major media and entertainment, academia, Big Tech, and their fellow travelers in the managerial class.

      The Federal government has become completely detached from the states and The People. Smug comments from The Jacket or Matt Welch are irrelevant.

      • Compelled Speechless

        You and Dean nailed it. What normies think of as “politics” is like professional wrestling. It’s all performative and fake and the “referees” are in on it. The problems go so much deeper than the performers in the ring, the real fights take place backstage by the men in suits. The crowd doesn’t even know their names, but they call all the shots while they pick the empty vessels we’re meant to cheer on as heroes and villains while they laugh and count our money. Until they’re gone nothing changes. They used your money to buy lots of guns, security cameras, goons and locked fortresses to make sure no one ever gets close to them. If they run out of your money, they just “legitimately” print more.

        I just finished my bottle of black pills. Does anyone have any spares I can have?

      • UnCivilServant

        No.

        Take some white pills.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Probably a good idea. I need Michael Malice to finish his white pilled book. I like the cut of his Glib.

    • Claypoolsreservoir

      Libertarian is my ideal. But I feel, like socialism, it all eventually devolves into fascism as power corrupts absolutely. I quite like some of the northern European systems of government. And having dealt with the monstrosity that is our health care system, I’m really beginning to think single payer healthcare, reduced military spending, reduced regulation, increased freedom, is actually achievable. The reality it that no libertarian solution will ever solve our healthcare crisis because no libertarian solution will ever be realized without a benevolent despot,

      As much as I don’t like the idea of government run healthcare. The current spiderweb of regulatory and private oversight is beyond repair. We’re paying more than if we just had a single payer system. We’re probably paying double…. But then I come back to the reality that unless this was designed by a truly benevolent and intelligent group of people, it would be an even bigger nightmare than it is already…

      Guess I’ll just continue to buy brass.

      • robc

        The example I always use: Yes, we may be paying double, but if you cut off your hand anywhere in the world, DEMAND they fly you to Louisville (you know, after they stop the imminent death). For some reason, the best hand surgeons in the world aren’t in a single payer country.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Never seen Zombieland.

    It’s not even the worst zombie movie I ever watched. It’s actually not bad.

    • PieInTheSky

      if you ignore the fat shaming

      • Festus

        I was more annoyed by Jesse Eisenberg but maybe that’s just me.

      • db

        Rule 1.

    • Festus

      It’s not bad at all.

      • Festus

        That vampire one was unwatchable.

    • Brawndo

      It’s a comedy, but it’s zombies are actually a lot scarier than many “scary” zombies. Mainly because they run fast instead of shambling along slower than Granny with her walker

    • Drake

      Avoid the sequel.

  18. LJW

    “Governors in Democrat states announce plans to end school mask mandates as their polling falls”

    Our kids school district announced on Feb 18th masks will optional. Apparently that’s the day COVID goes into hiding? Why not end the mandate immediately?

    • Festus

      And yet the Boy-King up here is doubling down.

    • Swiss Servator

      Governor Landwhale (D-comorbidity) is not ending anything. Every surrounding state continues to poiint and laugh.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Why not end the mandate immediately?

      Because SCIENCE!

      Noted scientists Jacob Frey and Melvin Carter are thinking about magnanimously lifting the vax passports in Minneapolis and St. Paul early.

      As the omicron surge continues to fall off, COVID-19 vaccine mandates put in place for restaurants could be lifted sooner than expected in the Twin Cities.

      In Minneapolis, Mayor Frey says he hopes to lift Minneapolis’ vaccine mandate for dine-in restaurants as soon as evidence supports the decision. The end of the week is a possibility, but he wants to review data with the experts.

      Across the river, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter is already there, with his staff saying: “[Mayor Carter] remains in close contact with partners at Saint Paul-Ramsey County Public Health, and is hopeful he’ll be able to lift the order this week.”

      Monday, both Mayor Frey and Mayor Carter told us they were unavailable for interviews to go deeper into what is ahead during this pandemic.

      Refusing to answer questions is how you know it is real SCIENCE.

      • db

        Honest question: If they need to coordinate this BS with each other, they probably need to coordinate everything. So why have two Mayors?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Those two aren’t talking to each other. I don’t think there is any love lost between them. Both of them look in a mirror and see the next Progressive Hero.

        They are lifting the bans independently of each other. Cases are plummeting and there is at least one court case out there where restaurant owners are suing Minneapolis saying that the mayor has no power to enact vax passports.

        I’m sure now that the rules are lifted the court case will get tossed and Frey will be free to clamp down again in the future.

      • db

        This whole “we rescinded the illegal rule so the court will find the case moot and not make a decision against us” tactic needs to be stopped, like, yesterday.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yep! In terms of government actions, there should be no moot clause. The government took action that affected livelihoods and caused real harm. To just say “Hey! We ended it all, so we good?” and the courts rolling with that is an affront to liberty and justice.

    • Sean

      Honk!

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Oof, I got sidetracked in some related thread. They’re going to cheer on the repression when it happens. The amount of unadulterated evil and joy espressed in the suffering of opponents is depressing.

    • EvilSheldon

      Maybe, just maybe, people who can operate and maintain heavy machinery have some practical advantages over people who need a TikTok instructional to microwave a frozen burrito…

    • Fourscore

      Tonka Toys approves this message

  19. The Late P Brooks

    And yet the Boy-King up here is doubling down.

    Is he wandering the parapet muttering “Something is rotten in Denmark”?

    • Festus

      One could only wish that he was belittling his advisors and drinking from a poisoned chalice. I hated that guy before but now I need to loathe him.

    • Pope Jimbo

      He’s saying “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome electorate?”

      If only some real patriotic Canadians would start killing the deplorables Brandeau could start ruling via Divine Mandate like he was destined to.

  20. Rebel Scum
  21. PieInTheSky

    I randomly remembered that in a linx thread a while ago I posted a stupid though experiment. Then after a while repeated it. I wonder if the past two years changed any minds towards doing it… I will re-repost here for fun.

    Stupid thought experiment time:

    Let’s say there was a Stargate like device that would lead to planets just like earth, gravity climate same flora and fauna – I mean exactly earth plants and animals, not analogs – just no humans, and nothing human made. You can transport for each opening of the gate, maximum 50 thousand people of the same ideology with a largest semi-trailer of stuff per person. Everything needs to be built and everything not brought from earth needs to be made. Although you could use the trailer as temporary/permanent housing. The stargate opens every 10 years for a trip each way, so if you stay on the planet you need to stay there 10 years. If you go back to earth it takes 10 years to return to the planet. People could talk in advance to form groups among people willing to go have a mix of doctor engineers farmers men women etc. You have many such planets for various groups. How many people would do it? I assume various religious sects would take the opportunity. Would any libertarians? Would 50k libertarians be willing to be isolated from earth in this way to attempt libertopia? Would they get enough women to come with? Would after 10 years another 50k be willing to go if the first built some stuff? Would the first 50k expect special privilege for pioneering, thus no longer being libertopia? Or would they selflessly trailblaze.

    Would it change if 100k people could go at a time? If you could take two semi trailers per person? Is it moral to take kids with you?

    I was thinking would I go? or what political changes to the world would drive me to go? I am closer than last time…

    • PieInTheSky

      I will probably repost this in two years time 🙂

      • PieInTheSky

        If we are still around.

    • SDF-7

      Hell yes I’d do it if I could. And it is very moral to disperse the species across the stars to avoid extinction events, so yes it is moral to take kids.

      My big problem would be justifying my participation with the type of folks you’d need to start up a good colony, being a desk jockey and all.

      • PieInTheSky

        I mean maybe getting enough people would be enough of a challenge so if reasonably healthy probably all takers would be in

    • pistoffnick the refusnik

      I’d go. I got skillz.

      • Fourscore

        You bring smoked salmon, I’ll bring a chain saw.

    • db

      Would 50k libertarians be willing to be isolated from earth in this way to attempt libertopia?

      Almost certainly.

      Would they get enough women to come with?

      You could certainly find enough women among the world’s population looking for an improvement. And, it’s “libertarian,” so if you had a deficit, you could always pay some women to come along.

      Would after 10 years another 50k be willing to go if the first built some stuff?

      Probably, but the artificial restriction of only one trip in 10 years restricts news of success. Do you mean one trip every 10 years per person or only one trip every 10 years per planet?

      Would the first 50k expect special privilege for pioneering, thus no longer being libertopia? Or would they selflessly trailblaze.

      Who knows how they would change in 10 years, but there’s no reason to expect any more privilege than the amazing advantage of a 10 year head start…

      Would it change if 100k people could go at a time? If you could take two semi trailers per person?

      I wouldn’t expect it would change much.

      I think the more interesting question is “Would the “colony” be more successful if the 50,000 got together and collaborated on everything they thought they would need ahead of time rigidly, or if each were free to bring what they wanted, thinking about what they personally would need, what tools they would need to start a trade or business, what emergency supplies they would need…

      The important thing to remember is that no one can survive 10 years on a truckload of stuff, but 50,000 people could survive on 50,000 trucks worth of tools and equipment if they understand specialization of labor, free trade, and libertarian ideas, which are inherently respectful of the amazing value of cooperation.

      I think the centrally pre-planned option, even if it were not an authoritarian setup, is more likely to result in either complete failure or low grade subsistence. The completely free option would be more likely to result in major success for some, utter poverty for others.

      I think a hybrid approach of freedom with freely-arrived-at mutual help organizations (preferably defined ahead of time) would be the most robust.

      Is it moral to take kids with you?

      People have been taking their children with them on pioneering trips throughout history. If there’s a morailty concern, it’s moot.

      • PieInTheSky

        I am thinking the gate opens once every 10 years for some days…

        Continuous travel but once every 10 years only for a given person is also a possibility I did not think of…

      • PieInTheSky

        I guess both work for my idea that you would have to commit some time, not just change your mind a few months later…

      • db

        If you have that option, you reserve between 1000 and 10,000 people at the beginning, then have them make their trips in sequence over the next 10 years to bring any supplies needed, and any trade goods back that could be sold or traded. Each person who elects to go back from the new planet to Earth would have the option to either go back permanently, or to be entitled to a fraction of a common investment fund, the value based on the economic progress that occurred during their absence–to encourage people to go back for trade purposes without missing out on what they could have accomplished during that 10 years, to be paid on their return.

        After 10 years, the colony would either have failed or become wildly successful.

        The round-robin travel would allow for trade, resupply, and even advertising new opportunities to any who might be able to make the trip but had missed out in the initial group.

      • PieInTheSky

        I think the more interesting question is “Would the “colony” be more successful if the 50,000 got together and collaborated on everything they thought they would need ahead of time rigidly, or if each were free to bring what they wanted, – I would go for a hybrid bring some stuff I want but maybe talk to some other people and save some space… I mean no point in everyone bringing an anvil

    • PieInTheSky

      I wounder if a bunch of socialists would go to their own planet make real socialism

      • db

        I’d love to see them try that in a closed system. What an epic lesson that would be if they couldn’t force other people into paying tribute to support their structure as it collapses around them.

    • Brawndo

      Go through, then destroy the gate

      • PieInTheSky

        But how would you get new people in?

      • Nephilium

        The old fashioned way?

      • Plisade

        I guess your parents never sat you down for “the talk”…

      • Animal

        Fucking?

    • Urthona

      I wouldn’t go. I hate moving.

    • PieInTheSky

      I got another thought: what if going you get a pill bringing your body back to age 25 if you are above (your knowledge stays the same)

      • Urthona

        Uh fuck yeah.

      • Festus

        No. You’d eventually get bored with that, too. It can’t be Christmas every day. Who wants to live an orgasm every waking second of their life?

      • R C Dean

        I got another thought: what if going you get a pill bringing your body back to age 25 if you are above (your knowledge stays the same)

        Unless there were millions of such planets, this would set off a war for access to the planets as a means of getting the pill.

        Would I go? Unlikely, as I’m getting along in years. Much depends on how much a shitshow this planet is, though. And whether I would be allowed to join any group that I would want to go with. If this is just a total free-for-all, the first 50K to sign up go with no organization ahead of time, I think its pretty much guaranteed to fail.

    • The Hyperbole

      As I said last time, nothing manmade means no brussels sprouts so that’s a hard no.

      Also although not exactly the same, the “Donovan” books by W Michael Bear kind of carry out that thought experiment. There is no stargate but the space travel they have is unreliable so a mining colony gets stranded on a planet, and it’s hostile not just like earth. They create a libertarian-ish society, every once and a while a spaceship will manage to get there or back, although almost always way off schedule. I know I sound like someone commenting on a recipe and changing every ingredient but the books do explore how people cut off from earth with just the basic essentials would organize a libertarian society, and they are pretty good Sci-fi action adventure novels IMO.

      • PieInTheSky

        you could bring brussel sprouts from earth. You get a semi truck of stuff. or two.

      • The Hyperbole

        I’m ignoring that rather obvious solution to joke about how much I like Brussel Sprouts.

      • Nephilium

        The same concept was also explored in quite a few of Heinlein’s books. Off the top of my head, Farmer in the Sky and Tunnel in the Sky both dealt with people getting stranded (one a colony, the other a survival class to get approval to go to a colony), and the gates to other worlds were in one of the later Lazarus books (Time Enough for Love, IIRC).

    • Animal

      When I was 20, I’d have been down for that in a heartbeat. Now, not so much. I’m pretty content to stay where I am. The kids have been informed, the only way Dad is leaving this place is in a box.

  22. Rebel Scum

    Muh-racisms.

    In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court halts lower court ruling forcing Alabama to redraw its congressional map for diluting Black voters. Chief Justice John Roberts joined liberal justices in dissent.

    • Nephilium

      Ohio still doesn’t have a legislative map. The state supreme court just knocked down the redistricting committees second attempt.

    • UnCivilServant

      “A voter is a voter is a voter, using racial information to draw or challenge maps violates equal protection.”

      • Rat on a train

        Elections are a fraud unless I end up represented by somebody who looks like me. BTW, why aren’t there any Zoroastrians on the Supreme Court?

    • Urthona

      Some conservative pundits are saying this ultimately bodes poorly for Democrats.

    • Festus

      Hah! They still report these stories as if Roberts weren’t as far to the Left as Breyer. Trump got two out of three not bad.

    • Spartacus

      The only way this kind of stuff will ever end will be to randomly assign voters to districts instead of doing it geographically. It could be based on your SSN modulo the number of districts, or something like that.

    • robc

      No districts, single transferrable vote.

      Alabama would elect 6? representatives or whatever. No districts needed. If the black voters of Alabama want to list black people at the top of the ballot, then good for them. I think they have a large enough population to guarantee a rep or two.

      Not as much fun as CA would be, with less than 2% needed to elect a rep.

    • Urthona

      That seems somewhat cumbersome, but I guess it has a self-defense purpose also.

  23. PieInTheSky

    Goddamit the french accents annoy me in webex conferences almost as much as the indian

    • Festus

      Ugh. First “teams” meeting today. Did not like.

      • UnCivilServant

        Wait, you got it to work? That shit never works for me.

      • Ownbestenemy

        As we discussed before, it is most likely because of the shitty government Windows builds you and I both run that makes Teams trash. Works great on my phone.

    • Rat on a train

      Webex annoys me regardless of accent.

  24. Not Adahn

    My junior engineers are adorable.

    JE: “HALP! I did a PM and now it won’t turn on!”

    NA: “Ok, you can accidentally reverse the switch connection. Let me come down.”

    *two minutes later*

    NA: “Ah, never mind about the switch, there’s your problem. See the little green light telling you your power supply is working?”

    JE: “No.”

    NA: “Exactly.”

    • Fourscore

      My son talking to me.

      Me. “What green light”?

    • Ted S.

      There are four lights!

      • UnCivilServant

        Don’t be silly, there are 256 lights in multiple dense clusters.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Paranoid? Us?

    POLITICO reviewed a draft report titled “Sergeant at Arms Insider Threat Risks,” dated Dec. 30, 2021, and produced by the House’s Office of the Inspector General. The slim document suggested that the House Sergeant at Arms’ office — which leads security for the chamber — start a comprehensive “insider threat” program, which it currently lacks.

    National security officials use the term “insider threats” to describe people who deliberately harm their workplaces and employers. The best-known example is Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked an extensive amount of classified government material to journalists.

    Comprehensive insider threat programs are widely used in the executive branch, particularly in national security agencies, to try to prevent Snowden-style leaks and other security compromises. The programs generally assess typical employee behavior — the average number of pages printed per week, for instance — in an effort to gauge if someone’s online activity has become aberrant. The degrees of scrutiny that these programs level can vary substantially from agency to agency.

    Some of the most robust programs track every keystroke that employees make on their work computers.

    “Without a program, the House may be vulnerable to insider threats,” the draft inspector general’s office report reads. It then recommends that the Sergeant at Arms “work with House leadership to consider establishing a comprehensive insider threat program.”

    Just make everybody sign a loyalty oath. To Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.

    • SDF-7

      Brought to you by the folks who ignore Fang Fang, the drivers, IT “contractors”, etc…. but yeah, I’d be very willing to bet “GOP staffer” is the target here.

    • kbolino

      Having witnessed “the best-known example” in practice, let me say that this is a jobs program. It works in three ways.

      The first way is that you hire people to “research” the threat, “create policy” to address the threat, “implement the recommendations”, etc. Lots of white-collar professional-managerial class jobs.

      The second way is that you grind real work to a halt. Instead of a couple of engineers doing a good-enough job, you now have a dozen engineers doing a much worse job. Since no one has the power or ability to accomplish anything on his own, everything becomes a “team effort”, and since it’s the government, the best performers (who are mostly mediocre by industry standards) are dragged down by the rest (who would not even get hired in private industry to begin with). The only solution anyone recognize is hiring yet more people. This is a basic mistake identified in The Mythical Man-Month but the incentive structure leads to no other possible outcome.

      The final way is that you now have to essentially stand up an entire parallel agency to handle monitoring the primary agency. “Some of the most robust programs track every keystroke that employees make on their work computers” <– people who say this have no idea how much data this creates nor how to make any sense of that data. Massive opportunity for bureaucratic fiefdom creation, contract management, etc.

      • Urthona

        THIS SOUNDS FUN!

      • EvilSheldon

        Yup.

        I’ve been involved in standing up these kind of projects in the private sector, always against my advice. Without exception, they turn into giant white elephants within thirty days of being spun up, then they get cancelled at the 1-year renewal.

        And I pocket another three grand, and dust off the medium-polite ‘Next time I tell you not to do something, pay attention’ email template…

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Circling the wagons.

    • R C Dean

      The best-known example is Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked an extensive amount of classified government material to journalists.

      And just like that, Manning goes down the memory hole.

      Without a program, the House may be vulnerable to insider threats

      You mean, like Chinese spy chauffers for Senators, and sketchy IT guys shielded by House leadership? Those kind of insider threats?

      • Compelled Speechless

        How dare you! Manning was stunning and brave. Xhe should never be compared to that monstrous traitor Snowden. I don’t care that xhe did exactly the same thing with far less discretion. The moment xhe decided to cut xer junk off, xhe became immune from any moral or political judgement because stunning and brave.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      This seems reminiscent of some Mencius Moldbug musings.

      I had no idea this was a raging debate.

      • PieInTheSky

        I searched the comments and on this site and did not find Wordcel so I thought I would bring it in

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        If we’re slapping labels on each other now, then our resident wordcel would have to be Heroic Mulatto.

    • kbolino

      More things are discovered by shitposters on the Internet than in all of academia.

      Not all of these things are useful, of course.

      • Compelled Speechless

        But enough about academia……

  26. The Late P Brooks

    You’re overcomplicating things, Pie. Each settler gets two pairs of sturdy shoes, a smooth rock, and a sharp stick.

    Ready, set, go.

    • PieInTheSky

      nicks handmade boots?

  27. Rebel Scum

    The cops are not your friend.

    Elderly man pulled over by #Ottawa police for HONKING gets arrested for not complying to show his ID for wrongful stop.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    nicks handmade boots?

    Whatever you can afford.

  29. Rebel Scum

    There is actually nothing wrong with this position in and of itself.

    President Joe Biden reminisced of the days when you could have lunch with segregationists and still “respect” each other, during his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on 2/3/2022.

    But no respect shall be had for those that dissent from the current regime.

    • UnCivilServant

      I seem to recall Joe was himself one of those segregationists. Kinda makes the statement worthless.

      • Social Justice is Neither

        He could be talking about his relationship with other leftist totalitarians and how they respect no one who disagrees even the slightest on anything.

    • Ownbestenemy

      What? No endless articles about ‘both sides’? Huh.

  30. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Suspected Human Trafficker’s Full On Zombieland-Level Freak Out Caught On Camera

    This is why I never did blind dates.

    • Not Adahn

      I always preferred dating blind women. They were handsier than sighted chicks.

      Plus they didn’t recoil in horror upon first meeting me.

      • banginglc1

        I used to live right by the blind school when I was a teen. Thinking back, I missed some opprotunities to get with decent looking girls who couldnt judge me for my looks. Or possibly, knowing me only by my personality wouldn’t work to my benefit. Upon further reflection, I was fucked either way.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Actually, that settler scenario gives me a thought:

    Each person in the group (without being told) is given a component of a larger tool or device which, if assembled co-operatively, will make life easier and more efficient.

    But the people have to seek out the other necessary components and establish a working relationship with those who control them.

  32. PieInTheSky

    If you don’t want your country to be seen as an authoritarian dystopia, maybe don’t host a global alpine sporting event in a location which looks exactly like something from authoritarian dystopian fiction.

    https://twitter.com/mr_james_c/status/1491028359929012225

      • Not Adahn

        What exactly is hte white thing in the upper right container?

        And that doesn’t look like nearly enough calories for an olympic athlete.

      • Brawndo

        If it wasn’t so small, it looks like a raw, whole chicken

      • R C Dean

        Why do I doubt that the Chinese athletes are being fed so poorly? And being confined in such miserable conditions?

        So far, I have no watched a single second. And I am pretty confident this will be the first Olympics in my life that I don’t.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      This is what I remember about China just outside of the cities.

      East Germany was more picturesque.

    • Urthona

      I actually thought that was cool as fuck.

      • Urthona

        Also China really knows how to create a first person shooter level.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        The zoomed in or zoomed out picture?

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      This is a bit too close to home to do the whole “you know who else?” thing.

      • Sean

        It’s insane. Literally.

      • db

        I feel like I have taken my last trip to Europe.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I was going to scoff, but then I remembered being pulled over by Border Patrol in Texas a few years ago and them demanding that we tell them if we are citizens or not.

      I guess we are better because than those fucks because they didn’t require us to show papers?

      After that stop, I told my dad (who is so dark skinned the locals always thought he was Mexican) and my wife (Korean) that the only reason they weren’t arrested was because of my White Privilege.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Used to have to endure that every time I was coming back to Holloman AFB, with two sleeping toddlers after a 15 hour drive. They used to keep a Statie there too who would do the ‘questioning’. Fucking assholes.

      • db

        Probably the only reason you were stopped is they looked at you and then your companions and immediately thought “trafficker.”

      • Pope Jimbo

        That is what the wife and father said.

        My reply was that if I was trafficking them, I was the brokest, raggedy-assed human trafficker ever. They should have just locked me up now because I was never going to make it peddling such inferior goods.

      • db

        heh heh heh

  33. The Late P Brooks

    The report does not explicitly say which groups of people working on the Capitol Campus should be included in the proposed insider threat program.

    I think we can guess.

    • banginglc1

      I’m surprised the advise isn’t “Next time, try sitting in the corner and masturbating. You might learn you enjoy this sort of thing. Especially if her ex husband is far more endowed than you. Maybe you can even get your wife to let you help her please him”

  34. PieInTheSky

    China is pressuring Intel to give up its IP, forcing Apple to release pro-China TV shows, building up its semiconductor industry, cementing key alliances, and forging regional trade blocs in Asia while we sit on our hands.

    https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1491026525944049664

    • kbolino

      China is pressuring Intel to give up its IP

      This seems silly to worry about. Intel hasn’t produced anything novel since the Core 2 in 2006. What is there to steal?

    • Urthona

      The good news about our China alliance is that we are so inextricably linked that we are unlikely to go to war.

      The bad news? Their influence gets to come our way.

  35. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    Man, I cannot even imagine how bad a Frontier/Spirit mash-up will be. Individually, they are terrible. Together they may break the industry once and for all.

    • banginglc1

      I haven’t flow on Frontier since my old company sold them (Republic Airways), but I never had a bad experience on them. And usually they had no idea I was a coworker (I was a corporate office guy). Did they get worse, or did I just have some of the few good experiences? For reference, I probably last flew them around 2012.

      • Nephilium

        I flew Frontier once. Cramped tiny seats, a seatback tray that was smaller then a Kindle (so not enough room to set even a compact laptop down), and after adding in the cost of baggage checks and additional fees, not that much cheaper then Southwest.

      • Tundra

        They went low cost after that. I used to fly them in the early oughts and they were fine.

      • The Last American Hero

        My few flights on them sucked. Planes were not particularly clean, seats were worn and in need of a recover, that sort of thing.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      My ideal airline: no overhead bins, check everything that doesn’t fit under the seat. No food, water and coffee only upon request.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I haven’t flown Frontier, but Spirit was given a life time ban by me back when I was flying for business all the time.

      It wasn’t that the planes were cheap and dirty (they were), or the way they inflated cheap tickets with add on fees (tons of them), the thing that incensed me was my fellow travelers.

      Spirit is the choice of hillbillies who have never flown before. They come for the cheap fares and then clog up the system as they try to figure out how to get on/off the plane. It really isn’t their fault that they’ve never flown and don’t understand the etiquette, but I don’t need to be there as they learn.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Walker said in a statement that his team is rolling out “a strictly voluntary insider threat awareness and risk mitigation training opportunity” for employees.

    The training’s goal, Walker continued, is to “make them aware of the potential costs associated with talking about Member and or staff scheduling, travel, meetings, etcetera” with people who might not need that information.

    “The goal is to equip employees with the knowledge to help prevent carelessness so they do not accidentally, mistakenly or unwittingly share seemingly trivial or thought to be insignificant information with anyone not having a need to know,” he added.

    Of the people, by the people, and for the people.

    It’s getting on towards guillotine time.

  37. Pope Jimbo

    Guys, it might be time for a little humility. You just shot a completely innocent man, maybe now isn’t the time to be making demands.

    Minnesota lawmakers want to help police departments around the state buy body cameras for their officers. But for the second year in a row, that money might get held up by a disagreement over when and how police should release footage when a cop kills someone.

    Democrats who have a majority in the state House have introduced a bill that includes $2.5 million for body cameras, but it would also require departments who use the grant program to let the family of a person who was killed by police see the video within seven days in most cases.

    The policy is less restrictive than body camera regulations that DFLers proposed in 2021, drawing criticism from some reform activists who want a quicker 48-hour timeline for the family of someone killed by a cop to watch the body camera footage. At the same time, police groups believe decisions on video release should be made by local governments and law enforcement. Republicans who control the state Senate have also balked at requirements for quickly releasing footage, worrying it might interfere with investigations, even though they support money for body cameras.

    Kudos to the GOP for allying themselves with the most unpopular group of goons in the state. That will help turn districts red for sure.

    • kbolino

      How the fuck does the Minnesota GOP side with the police after what happened in Minneapolis in 2020?

      There’s a level of derangement here that boggles the mind. “Sure the cops will turn on us at a minute’s notice from their paymasters, but we might get them to vote for us one more time before then, so let’s do what they want!”

      SLD: make the cops buy their own cameras

      • Not Adahn

        Copsuckers gonna copsuck.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Because they think that Crime is going to be huge next election.

        They live in a binary world. No way you can be against crime AND against cops running roughshod over deplorables.

        The only thing that will save them is that the Dems will still be for defunding ALL cops. That is more delusional than thinking cops are always good guys. The limited experiment in defunding cops has not gone well here.

        If the GOP was smart enough to say “Crime is out of control. We need cops. We need cops to be accountable too and their union is going to have to accept that.” they would win bigly.

      • SDF-7

        Can’t have someone in government actually trying to *fix* a problem they’ve caused….

      • EvilSheldon

        There’s a certain amount of traditionalist bias here. Gun owners do the same thing.

    • db

      I think police bodycams should be on 100% of the time and livestreamed to a site like C-SPAN.

    • Brawndo

      Stolen from Michael Malice: the cops cracked down harder on businesses that tried to stay open than they did on people that burned them down.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    Peloton is in the news, and it reminds me of something I saw a long time ago. In a panel discussion teevee show about the auto industry, one of the participants asked, “What happens when everybody who wants a Hummer has one?”

    Same applies here, methinks. If you’re in a niche market, don’t scale yourself up too much.

    • Urthona

      If I buy my wife one of those, will she turn into the hot chick from the commercial?

      • The Last American Hero

        Yes, but she will be flirting with the hot dude in the commercial.

      • Festus

        No, but you could hook the bike up and run your buttplug with it.

    • Nephilium

      That’s why Peloton also has the subscription model going for it as well.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Yup. Nobody sells things anymore. They sell subscriptions.

      • Festus

        Sounds like Sci-fi and Fantasy novels. My Kingdom for a stand-alone fucking story!

      • UnCivilServant

        Hey! I try to make my stories work as standalone.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        My Kingdom for a stand-alone fucking story!

        Hype stood alone, hips pressed tightly against the wall of the bathroom stall. He had remembered to bring his battery operated dremel tool this time, after being run off by the truck stop attendant when he tried to plug in an extension cord last week. The smooth edge he had ground on the perimeter of the hole was a welcomed relief after three months of jagged metal digging into his most sensitive parts.

        He didn’t know who or what was on the other side of the wall, but Hype was glad that his retirement plan was working out. $400 this week, and he already had four reservations lined up for next week.

        Hype sighed as his mind wandered from the hand on his “task”, “My kingdom for a fucking stand-alone story.”

        /sorry Hype, the truck stop glory hole joke from the other day was front of mind

      • Gustave Lytton ????

        Too bad no one wants organic subscription level revenue and instead wants endless YoY growth.

    • SDF-7

      Huh… not really one of my more favorite stories (either one), no idea why it would be cropping up in the news now….

  39. Certified Public Asshat

    Barcelona, Spotify agree sponsorship deal worth 280 mln euros – report

    According to the Rac1 report, the LaLiga side have agreed a three-year deal with the streaming music platform worth 280 million euros ($320 million).

    The deal will see Barca’s men’s and women’s team bearing the Spotify logo on their shirts while the company will be the first brand to sponsor the club’s Camp Nou stadium, with an official announcement expected on Tuesday, added the report.

    Unrelated to everything going on with Rogan I am sure.

    • Urthona

      There’s video?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        What are you asking, on Spotify?

    • rhywun

      Camp Spotify has a ridiculous ring to it.

      • Raven Nation

        Spotify Field at the Nou Camp.

  40. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Well dammit. Got lazy and used autoremove on my nextcloud server. Now I’ve got to unfuck it.

    • db

      oh boy.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I think it’s just one module, but unfortunately it’s the redis cache.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Fixed, yay.

        Note to self, never use autoremove on a running server.

    • Plisade

      People don’t use the word “unfuck” nearly as often as the word deserves. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who does so regularly. Thanks.

  41. Pope Jimbo

    I’m telling you, invest in N95 masks for chickens and turkeys!

    In the past few weeks, several wild ducks killed by hunters in the southeastern United States have tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza. Cases have also been confirmed in eastern Canada.

    Despite the fact that those cases are far from Minnesota, a state official said they are an early warning for Minnesota poultry producers ahead of the spring waterfowl migration.

    “With the number of detections that they’re picking up in essentially healthy wild birds, we know that it’s circulating and that it’s going to be present in those populations,” said Minnesota Board of Animal Health senior veterinarian Shauna Voss. “I think it’s not a matter of if it comes to Minnesota — it’s when.”

    For many in the poultry industry, this scenario is uncomfortably similar to 2015, when about 9 million birds in Minnesota and 50 million across the country were killed by the virus, or euthanized in an effort to slow the spread of the disease.

    Masks worked so well for us humans, I bet they would work just as well for poultry.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    NPR explains it

    For the most part, most mainstream economists these days are dead set against reinstating a sprawling system of price controls and rationing. They argue it would result in a lot of costly bureaucracy. It would destroy market incentives that boost production of goods and services and could lead to shortages. It would lead to black markets and skimpflation and other forms of hidden inflation.

    That said, there are some progressive economists now arguing that some strategic price controls might make sense. Isabella Weber, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, contends that price controls could help prevent corporations from profiteering from supply chain bottlenecks during the pandemic, and help lower prices for consumers. But even these economists aren’t suggesting that we resurrect something as beefed up as World War II price controls.

    The whole thing is worth reading. tl;dr- they meant well.

    We just need the right Top Men.

    Let’s sharpen our pencils and make America fair.

    • kbolino

      We can’t have tariffs, but we can have price controls.

    • Brawndo

      “most mainstream economists think our preferred policy is retarded, but here’s one economist we found that will agree with us for 15 minutes of fame. Let’s hear her argument at the exclusion of others”

      • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

        They are platforming fringe opinions, which is ok as long as they like the fringe.

    • R C Dean

      some progressive economists now arguing that some strategic price controls might make sense

      Nothing says “progressive” like pushing decades-old policy proposals that have already been tried and rejected.

  43. wdalasio

    It sounds like the best place to keep Preet Bharara’s new new children’s book is in a woodchipper.

    • rhywun

      OMFG.

      • Sensei

        +1

    • Ownbestenemy

      Wonder if there is a chapter on how he valiantly donned a cape and went after people who side mean and sarcastic things to him.

    • kbolino

      A foreigner with few real skills laments that the U.S. is so racist it gave him some of its most important jobs and made him a millionaire.

      Many such cases.

  44. Trigger Hippie

    Well, the car saw its final day of use yesterday. Car, gone. Job probably gone soon as well and it’s completely my fault. I failed at life. I’m so ashamed of myself it makes me sick. I’m so tired of struggling when none of it means a damn thing.

    *boss’s car pulls up to pick me up, limply shuffles down the stairs*

    • Swiss Servator

      Hang in there man! We are here if you need.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Anyway you can scrub this post? It’s embarrassing. The morning links are no place for my self pity party.

        I’m sorry.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Don’t apologize.

        Everyone goes through shit. It helps to know that there are people out there who care.

        When my father passed away last summer the love I got from Glibs helped a lot.

      • db

        Like Jimbo says, everybody has their down times. This place can help get you through.

        All of us get lost in the darkness
        Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
        All of us do time in the gutter
        Dreamers turn to look at the cars

        –Neil Peart

    • Ownbestenemy

      What Swissy says, we’s be here brother!

    • Pope Jimbo

      Buck up! I know it sucks now, but keep picking them up and putting them down. Things will get better.

      Like the others are saying, let us know what we can do.

    • Homple

      Damn. Stay in touch and don’t let it get you.

    • wdalasio

      I’m not going to try to blow smoke up your rear about how it’s always darkest before the dawn. I will say hang in there and know we’re in your corner.

      • Fourscore

        Not to fear, TH, the glibs are here.

        Things will get better. Spring is on it’s way.

        I can say that this site and the glibs have been a real blessing to me recently. Pope Jimbo, Tundra, PO Nick and several others reached out in some dark moments when I needed it. OMWC and SP made me laugh when it hurt the worst.

    • Festus

      You are me right now, TH. It’s been much worse before and it may get worse later. Know what? You are going to be just fine. People care about you, I care about you and broken cars and broken relationships are not the end of the fucking world! I’m the loserest and dumbest Glib but I still keep coming back. Ya know why? Because the people here really care about one another. That’s important, Friend.

    • kbolino

      The Capitol Police answer only to Congress, so who exactly would hold them accountable?

      • Drake

        What I was thinking. They could zero out their budget after the next election. Would take nothing except guts.

      • kbolino

        No one in Congress has had any guts since Preston Brooks.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        This is Pelosi and McConnell.

      • kbolino

        Yeah, I guess my broader point is, whom does he go to? The Capitol Police are not an executive agency, so there’s no separation of powers concern. I suppose the courts could still get involved, but they are loathe to regulate the legislature’s internal conduct. He’d have to get at least his own party on board, which as you point out could be difficult when some are complicit.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        He’s got two options – the courts and public opinion (which requires media)

        I’ve got no confidence in either.

    • db

      Interesting. the comments are totally not getting it. He even stated near the top of his thead which Clause this violates, and commenters are saying stupid shit like “the police don’t have to tell you they are investigating you” and “this is a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

      Twitter is sooooo stupid.

      • db

        Although it’s questionable what constitutes “Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same;” and whether the investigation might be relying on the “except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest ” part. Nothing in that Section says anything about search and seizure.

      • Ownbestenemy

        You know they are relying on the part you highlighted. Dem strategists have come straight out and have invoked the 14th Amendment, Section 3 to be brought to bear on their political enemies.

    • Ownbestenemy

      If written about some truckers in Brazil or Argentina we wouldn’t call that far-fetched. The fact we are discussing it in supposed free countries scares the shit out of me. I don’t see some Dr. Evil plan but definitely a power struggle and countries with elected officials, that believe they are choosing their own paths are realizing that it was all a big fucking lie.

      • kbolino

        Examples like Brazil and Argentina were just the proving ground. For example, it is little known that the social media companies were already engaged in manipulative censorship abroad (especially in other languages) well before they started doing it visibly in the Anglosphere.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Not far-fetched at all.

      Trudeau is not going to concede anything. He wants to be his daddy and is stupid enough to force a physical confrontation.

      • Drake

        The Ottawa Police Chief – hard to imagine more of a globalist who would gladly crack redneck heads.

        – Immigrated to Canada
        – Partner at Deloitte
        – BA in Sociology
        – Graduate of the FBI National Academy
        – Two tours of duty in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Kosovo

      • rhywun

        Trudeau is not going to concede anything.

        Yup, him and Chief Wiggum have already stated as much.

      • Sean

        They’ve now taking to threatening Americans that donated to the Convoy.

        lulz

      • Rebel Scum

        Saw that. Good luck, hoosier.

      • rhywun

        No, hoosiers are America’s gun runners.

      • EvilSheldon

        I just made another donation. Gag on my ass, Trudeau.

    • EvilSheldon

      It doesn’t seem far-fetched at all, but there are some implementation issues. First up, is that the Truckers Convoy seems to have internalized the idea of, “When you draw your sword against the King, you throw away the scabbard.”

  45. robc

    Cop-counterproposal: Body cam footage streams live.

    • robc

      Note: I realize some potential problems with that, but it could be on a 20 minute delay like the stock market, or whatever.

    • db

      As I suggested above: do a C-SPAN-like internet stream of every bodycam 100% of the time.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      In court, all issues of fact should be construed against the cop for any period of time where the body cam is not functioning or the footage is lost.

  46. UnCivilServant

    *headdesk*
    *headdesk*
    *headdesk*
    The form for outlining the requested qualifications for an IT hire has not been updated since 2006. Anything from the sixteen years since then is missing as an available qualification.

    • UnCivilServant

      It doesn’t even have VMWare or virtual machines. The newest windows version listed is XP. It doesn’t have VoIP. The only reason it has some of my group’s tech is because it’s fucking ancient.

    • db

      “Must be able to diagnose Winsock 32 errors and fully conversant with the workings of Clippy.”

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Melinda admitted to and apologized for being behind the team who brought us Clippy.

      • rhywun

        I think a bigger apology is needed for Microsoft Bob.

      • Gustave Lytton ????

        “Fuck you, I did my time, I got my billions. I don’t have to apologize for anything. Or give my money away. I’m still a philanthropist and go to the cocktail parties.”

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      That’s ok. Not much has changed in IT since then.

    • Ghostpatzer

      Time to dust off my COBOL skills?

  47. Not Adahn

    Hampden Maine, Jul 22-24. A good time/place to be outside or no?

    I’ve been invited to work a match there.

    I understand why, but it breaks my heart to see that it’s faster to go south through MA than to cut across VT and NH.

    • UnCivilServant

      I still take VT 9. I did the turnpike once, and it was boring as all hell to drive. Worth the one hour difference for the scenery.

      • Not Adahn

        Yeah, that would also be my plan. VT roads are slow, windy, but very pretty.

        I was mainely worried that the location would be a fly-infested swamp.

    • Drake

      Only really faster in MA if the Mass Pike isn’t backed up – seems to be a rare occurrence.

      Bring your bug spray.

      • Not Adahn

        ^This is the kind of information I was looking for.

        If it doesn’t conflict with my upgrade/install I’d like to do it if for no other reason than I haven’t worn my NROI jerseys in over a year.

      • DEG

        In addition: MA gun laws.

        Cut through VT and NH.

      • DEG

        Full disclosure: I have smuggled guns through MA. I drove very carefully. The gun was locked in the trunk. I advise caution if you decide to go through MA anyways.

      • Not Adahn

        Oh yeah, when I drove to FL I did the guns in locked hard cases, ammo in locked ammo cans, gun cases in suitcases, suitcases locked in trunk…

        And I stated out of NJ. I don’t think I dodged MA though.

        But like I mentioned earlier, I’d go through NT/NH just for the mountain driving.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    The form for outlining the requested qualifications for an IT hire has not been updated since 2006. Anything from the sixteen years since then is missing as an available qualification.

    Ask the applicants what’s missing.

  49. pistoffnick the refusnik

    I’ve worked here for 15 years. I saw a capital expenditure budget for my department for the first time this morning.

    /off to buy a new toy

  50. rhywun

    W00t – no more meetings today

    • Ownbestenemy

      *Checks calendar* I envy you

    • Tundra

      Very nice. Thanks!

    • Ghostpatzer

      Thanks, I needed that.

    • Tulip

      Babs was happy to go up stairs, it was going down that was a problem.

    • Ownbestenemy

      This is the uneasy feeling I think Trashy had…cause you know the FBI will gladly get into bed with this one. Especially if you have vocal support for your local school board or didn’t demand J6 people to be executed.

      • Sean

        Meh. It’s juvenile bluster from a dude getting cucked by a country that hates him.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Yup. I have a feeling it’s gonna be like Napster. They’ll take down the big donors, but they’ll also take down some bit players at random to put the fear of God government in us. Wifey has first hand experience with that and doesn’t want to deal with it again.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        What would they take you down for though? Donating money to a cause isn’t illegal in any way.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Cause that has stopped our police/Feds? Carrying cash around isn’t illegal either but here we are…

      • Not Adahn

        Funding terrorists is.

      • UnCivilServant

        So, everyone who’s paid taxes is guilty?

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s clearly long past time to prosecute the FBI for crimes against this country.

      • Raven Nation

        Nuke it from orbit…except for the X-Files division. I hear they’re doing good work.

      • Sean

        I want to believe.

      • limey

        I only want to believe the first two or three seasons, from what I remember.

    • R C Dean

      I was unaware that I am subject to Canadian law. I guess this means I’m supposed to pay Canadian taxes, too? Register my guns in Canada? Anything else?

      • rhywun

        Turnabout is fair play when the US thinks the rest of the world is subject to its laws.

    • Rat on a train

      Let’s go Brandeau!

      • R C Dean

        Truck Fudeau!

  51. Sensei

    Japan’s 11-member Nambu family shows allure of frugality, limits of stimulus

    FactCheck – False. No Japanese family has 9 kids. Kidding aside –

    TOKYO, Feb 8 (Reuters) – When Japan handed Tokyo bus driver Keiki Nambu and his wife, Takako, $870 for each of their nine children, they spent it exactly as the government had feared: paying down a mortgage instead of going shopping.

    Welcome to one of the many differences between Japan and the US.

    • Gustave Lytton ????

      who struggle to kick-start consumption

      I know! Let’s ratchet the consumption tax up another couple of percentage points! That’ll do it.

      • Sensei

        But we will give you occasional reductions!

        Plus this absolute gem:

        Japan’s hometown tax donation program is called ふるさと納税 = furusato nozei.

        Furusato nozei, translated to English as “hometown tax,” is a system launched in 2008 to help fund regional revitalization. Income earners in Japan, including non-Japanese, can use this program to reduce upcoming tax payments by donating a portion of their taxes to a designated city—with the added benefit of receiving gifts in exchange for their tax donation.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Damn, fecund and sensible… good for them.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      No no no, they’re saints. The Scrooge McDuckian piles of money have nothing to do with it.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      It’s classic bootleggers and Baptists.

    • UnCivilServant

      I had an EV snark, but meh.

      Also, I hate Kia’s logo change. I keep asking “What car company is KN?”

      • Sean

        Also, I hate Kia’s logo change. I keep asking “What car company is KN?”

        This.

      • R C Dean

        They’re just setting up the release of their new Model 95.

      • Sensei

        Smug EV owners deserve all the crap they get.

        My issue is regular old ICE cars catch fire all the time. There are much better things to bash EV owners with.