432 Comments

  1. Rebel Scum

    I don’t understand the point of the convoys, polling already forced the left to drop COVID protocols.

    Honk.

  2. Rebel Scum

    U.S. Crude Oil Imports up 40.6% Under Biden Compared to Trump

    America is back, baby.

    • Pope Jimbo

      A am assuming that the ‘.6%’ number will be used by fact checkers to label any story that says “40%” as False.

  3. Yusef drives a Kia

    what exactly do they mean by America?

  4. Tonio

    Dems say they would flee… it’s easy to say that when responding to a poll. It’s harder to actually do so. Remember all those progs who said they’d relocate to Canada if Trump won? Did anyone hear of people actually doing that?

    • Fourscore

      I used to relocate to Canada one week every year. Was the best week of the year, sometimes warm, sometimes cold, sometimes mosquitos, you get the picture. Didn’t matter, the fish were always biting.

    • Drake

      America isn’t being invaded now?

      • juris imprudent

        Wrong movie, more like “the call is coming from inside the house”.

      • Bobarian LMD

        “I’ll have what she’s having”?

    • SDF-7

      I assumed part of it was three categories:

      – The CEO class. They already think of themselves as “global citizens” and multinational — so why not relocate? No loyalty there anyway.

      – The illegal immigrants and green card class. They have another country to return to anyway, and likely don’t care.

      – The BS in basket weaving class. These are the morons who think they’d be able to flee but would find out the hard way they can’t. But they know they hate America and capitalism and all.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I don’t know why the BS in basket weaving class would flee.

        I’m assuming we’d be invaded by commies or at least some flavor of socialists. That would be good because the new regime would surely distribute jobs and wealth evenly. Instead of being stuck serving up coffee, our conquerors would surely put them in charge of important things and then they could sit around drinking coffee instead.

      • Tonio

        The CEO class are also likely to have vacation homes elsewhere.

        US citizens who are immigrants, or first generation Americans, are also likely to have an escape hatch, but willingness to take that would vary by where that hatch leads to, ie Greeks more likely than Somalians.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Who is going to invade us?

      Our problems are completely self-inflicted. This sort of discussion ignores the greater issues in favor of an external enemy.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Shut up Scruffy!

        I’m sure a lot of us are drooling over a 40 mile long convoy of trucks filled with free ammo driving into our neighborhoods. Don’t scare them off.

      • UnCivilServant

        An invasion need not be an organized peer-level state military action. It could be an influx of people detrimental to the ongoing health of the country.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Those appear to be the people that say they would flee.

        You may be on to something.

    • db

      Like Scruffy points out, there’s no one to invade us.

      However, in an actual invasion scenario, probably 20%-40% of armed individuals (all armed individuals including criminals or little old ladies or hunters armed with little more than a cheap handgun or Uncle Emmett’s old deer rifle) would try to stand and fight. Without organization, many of them would be ineffective and/or dead.

      Unarmed individuals would likely become internal refugees (in a country as big as the US, it’s not easy to flee to an adjoining country, especially if internal transportation is disrupted, as would almost certainly be the case) and useless in resistance.

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        Wolverines!

      • Pope Jimbo

        Class of ’84 right? Not those jerks in the Class of ’12

      • Bobarian LMD

        Them bastards got invaded by North Korea.

        Fuckin’ weak.

    • Brawndo

      Likewise, it’s easy to say you’ll stand and fight if invaded when it’s just a poll asking a theoretical question.

      Me? I’m not so sure. I’ve thankfully never been in a violent confrontation and I have no idea what my response to violence would be. All I know is that fear and emotion are powerful impulses and it’s impossible for me to say for certain what I would do.

      • Animal

        I’m getting old. I have a disabled wife to care for. I honestly can’t say what I’d do.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Hide and resist as able.

        I’m too old to go to combat effectively.

      • R C Dean

        Static defense only here. I think I’ve aged out of mobile ops.

        Maybe. Who really knows until its staring you in the face?

  5. Fourscore

    Good morning Banjos,

    Russia believes they are in control with their energy capture. Little do they know, that in spite of Greta and the progressives, global warming takes a back seat when people are hungry and cold.

    • WTF

      Unfortunately the people in charge don’t care, and the hungry and cold idiots will keep voting “D” because YAY TEAM!

      • Grumbletarian

        The option is voting for a fascist, and no goodthinker wants fascists in charge. But it’s fine if you confiscate the bank accounts of nonviolent protestors, and use the government to intimidate private companies into punishing the correct political enemies.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Right. Anti-fascist behavior. If they don’t do those things and out fascist the fascists, then we’ll have fascism.

  6. Ownbestenemy

    The Amercian convoy was too late. Even the more moderate conservative outlets mention it in passing and you damn well know the MSM isn’t going to touch it unless it’s negative light.

    • Fourscore

      Bested again by our friends to the North. Always a bridesmaid…

    • juris imprudent

      The treatment of the Jan6 folks has had it’s desired impact.

      • Compelled Speechless

        The convoy organizers explicitly say so in the article.

    • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

      At this point, it has become a glowie convention.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Among the other findings in the poll were that a majority of Americans, 60%, now believe Russian President Vladimir Putin to be mentally unstable, and 78% support accepting Ukrainian refugees into the U.S.

    People believe what they read in the papers. I think we already knew that.

    • Lackadaisical

      Why would we need to accept refugees?

      Plenty of space in Europe for them.

      • Pope Jimbo

        What sort of globalist is going to be satisfied with letting white refugees into their country?

        It would be like having a straight guy for an interior decorator. It just isn’t done.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Helping white people = wearing pants after labor day.

      • Compelled Speechless

        *white pants after labor day.

      • Brawndo

        No no, that works too

      • Bobarian LMD

        If you haven’t had much sun, it gets hard to tell the difference.

      • Mojeaux

        My mind automatically filled in the “white” when presented with “pants after Labor Day”.

      • slumbrew

        Same. We’re just a couple of fashionistas, I guess.

      • Bobarian LMD

        My mind automatically filled in the “white”

        Institutional Racism ftw?

      • Fourscore

        In 1956 the US got a bunch of Hungarian refugees. My mother was appalled, “They’re taking our boys’ jobs”. Today she’d probably want a non-citizen doing her yard work.

      • Tonio

        Also, Australia and Canada.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      “And that’s… the way it is.”

      I was sad when Cronkite died. What a doof I used to be. His name means illness in German! I would have changed it.

      • db

        His name means illness in German

        I was always certain that really meant something about the universe.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      60%, now believe Russian President Vladimir Putin to be mentally unstable

      Good thing our president is mentally stable.

      • Swiss Servator

        Violent megalomania vs senility

  8. Toxteth O'Grady

    (Hey, Festus: that was meant as a compliment.

    I don’t suppose you get MeTV up there. Reviving the Saturday morning cartoon tradition daily: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13777138 )

    • Trigger Hippie

      Fun Fact: If you cut the cord on cable and just go with regular channels plus the extras like MeTV, Cozi, Comet, ect you don’t need those store bought digital antennas to watch them. Just straighten out a paper clip, plug into antenna jack, scan channels, done and done.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        The more you know! ?

      • Ted S.

        Depends on where you live.

        I’m on the edge of the broadcast are for the Albany channels, and can’t pick up the NYC channels at all.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Ah, okay. Guess I take my fancy city living for granted.

      • MikeS
      • Trigger Hippie

        Of course. Heh.

      • Fatty Bolger

        What if the nearest stations are 40 miles away?

      • Trigger Hippie

        No idea, sir.

  9. Rebel Scum

    Putin threatens to turn OFF gas pipeline to Europe as punishment for sanctions and warns oil will DOUBLE in price to $300 a barrel – as pressure grows on UK to reinvest in North Sea to shore up domestic supplies

    Domestic production is overrated.

    • Fourscore

      We need price controls and rationing, that’ll really put the damper on Putin.

      /sarc

    • WTF

      Peppermint Psaki says they haven’t done anything to limit domestic oil production and the Keystone Pipeline is irrelevant.
      She wouldn’t lie, would she?

      • Fourscore

        Well, she did say there were 1000s of drilling permits unused but she didn’t say why.

      • WTF

        Hmm, must be those evil oil companies refusing to drill so they can drive up the price of oil!

    • Pope Jimbo

      Domestic Production Is Domestic Violence

      • Fourscore

        Gaia approves this comment

  10. Rebel Scum

    At least they won’t go Hungary.

    Hungary stops all grain exports and stocks up food as of today. A food-crisis is all but assured because both #ukraine and #russianfederation are top grain exporters. 2022 will be an extremely bad year globally, Russia actually is the most important player on the wheat market.

    • Tonio

      “Don’t complain about paying more for a loaf of bread, be thankful you aren’t sitting on the cold concrete floor of a train station in Keev wondering if your friends and family are still alive.” /Progs

      • WTF

        America exports huge amounts of grain because we produce far more than we can use domestically. There shouldn’t be a shortage here.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I’m sure China would gleefully snap up any excess wheat/soy beans that we had.

      • AlexinCT

        Never put it past people that are steeped in marxists ideas to find a way to create scarcity of anything but misery and bodies.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Prices are going to go through the roof. Russia has halted fertilizer exports to the US and shortages are already occurring.

        It’s not a coincidence that the government and their media lackeys suddenly turned sour on the ethanol lobby in the last couple of month. They knew this was coming and were laying the groundwork for a shift away from ethanol in light of rising food and fuel prices. The cost of servicing the ethanol lobby just got too high.

        If you have any doubt that we live in a propaganda soaked state and culture, that should dispel it. They are constantly trying to manipulate public opinion and shape it to their agenda.

      • Rebel Scum

        halted fertilizer exports to the US

        Good thing I already ordered all the seasonal Scott lawn treatments for this year.

    • Rat on a train

      Don’t waste the opportunity to push gluten-free!

  11. The Late P Brooks

    U.S. Crude Oil Imports up 40.6% Under Biden Compared to Trump

    We’re saving ours for later. Strategy, baby.

  12. Drake

    They really thought sanctions would hurt the Russians and not us.

    • Lackadaisical

      Nah, they just don’t care

      • WTF

        Dude, just everyone buy an electric car, duh!!

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Hurt Putin you mean.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    It’s not as if Florida hispanics don’t already know about Cuba and Venezuela and Nicaragua.

  14. Tonio

    Ten BILLION in aid to Ukraine. JHTFC. Money we don’t have.

    • Pope Jimbo

      At this point what does it matter?

    • CPRM

      You gotta look at the way they do, with the inflation their causing it’ll only cost them $5 Billion to pay it off!

    • Nephilium

      There’s still checks left in the book!

    • db

      WTF are you talking about? They’ll just increase taxes on those greedy oil companies that are gouging American consumers.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Ten BILLION in aid to Ukraine. JHTFC. Money we don’t have.

    If we don’t buy their love and loyalty, the Russians will get them.

    • Sean

      When do I get my hot Ukrainian refugee in hooker boots?

  16. Pope Jimbo

    Bill Cosby should come out with a new act where he blames everything on him trying to fit into White Culture.

    Jump into the woke shit with both feet. Say that he was duped by The Man’s tricknology and that caused him to adopt the white culture of rape. Now, thanks to the help of the Black Community he has realized the errors of his ways.

    Bonus points if he also joins The Nation of Islam. Don’t half ass it by sucking up to Al Sharpton, go right to Big Daddy Farakan.

    • Fourscore

      Where da white womens at?

      /Runs and hides

      • Pope Jimbo

        Fourscore, um, why exactly are you hiding?

        Are you trying to tell us that you are transitioning? HH is going to be so awkward this year!

  17. Tres Cool

    whaddup doh’

  18. The Late P Brooks

    The polling concluded that 49% of Hispanic Americans are on board with limiting the influx of legal immigrants. Additionally, 42% support an increase in deportations, and 39% favor erecting a wall across the Mexican border.

    Everybody wants to come in and lock the gate behind them.

    *Disclosure: This is a completely inaccurate and unfair generalization.

  19. Rebel Scum

    I just figured they were using the kid gloves because of having limited goals.

    .@KofmanMichael on @WarOnTheRocks podcast today points to “increasingly more complex [air] operations” by Russia & says that its sparing use of precision munitions might be down not to low stocks but that “Russian military is likely afraid this will escalate into a regional war”

    • Drake

      That stuff is expensive. We used to spare the use of guided munitions too – until our military got an unlimited budget.

      • WTF

        Yeah, let’s not forget that Russia has an economy about the size of Texas’ economy. They couldn’t have come close to affording this war if Biden hadn’t driven up the price of oil. They still might not be able to afford it.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Sounds like Putin should have thought up a sweet scheme like the petro dollar. Then he could just print all the money he needs with zero short or long term consequences. MMT is brilliant. Why didn’t someone think of it sooner?

  20. Not Adahn

    The governess is saying it’s pointless to drop the gasoline tax in NY, because (paraphrased) “the price is going up, so people wouldn’t notice it.”

    Nice of her to admit that something’s only worth doing if she gets credit for it.

    Oh, the NY gas tax is apparently $0.48/gal. Also, when did the “cents” symbol get removed from keyboards?

    • Tonio

      Don’t look now, but they’ve actually added a key for the numeral one so the lowercase ell doesn’t have to do double duty.

      • Not Adahn

        I’m pretty sure my elementary school’s TRS-80 had both of those.

        Although you had to hit shift+0 to type lowercase.

      • Tonio

        I was making a joke about older typewriters. Now get off my lawn.

      • Nephilium

        /swaps Not Adahn’s keyboard layout to Azerty

      • Not Adahn

        I already ranted about those and how CAPS :LOCK should really be “shift lock.”

      • UnCivilServant

        The behaviour has been fixed in more recent versions. You need to upgrade. We can sell you consulting services for $112 Billion.

    • juris imprudent

      when did the “cents” symbol get removed from keyboards

      That’s when you knew inflation was going to be bad.

    • kbolino

      Also, when did the “cents” symbol get removed from keyboards?

      I don’t recall the IBM PC keyboard ever having it. ASCII doesn’t have a code for it, though the DOS code page 437 “extended ASCII” does (at hex code 9B to be precise). Curiously, the TRS-80 character set doesn’t seem to have the cents sign.

      • Not Adahn

        In my defense, elementary school was a log time ago, and I’ve had a bit to drink since then.

      • Not Adahn

        Now what would really shake my faith in my memory is finding out that BASIC didn’t use “” to mean “not equal to.”

      • Not Adahn

        Yup. I thought putting it inside quotes would have kept it from being eaten by the HTML fairy.

      • UnCivilServant

        It loves to gobble up those less than signs upto and including the next greater than. So < and > is what I use to get them to display.

      • kbolino

        Yes, and it gobbles them up even when it knows they’re not valid markup. So it knows enough not to use the symbols but it isn’t kind enough to replace them with benign character entities. WP hates you (read: is written by idiots).

  21. Ownbestenemy

    Good news people…lynching will be illegal!

    • db

      Wait, “will be?” How long do we have?

    • Rat on a train

      I was wondering what was behind the the spike in lynchings around here. It was larger than the normal pre-lent spike.

    • WTF

      Huh, I didn’t know it was previously legal!

      • Rebel Scum

        Several missed opportunities…

    • Rebel Scum

      It’s current year so it is about damn time.

    • kbolino

      You may think it’s a pointless gesture, but I’d bet we’ll see a prosecution under it within a couple of years.

      • Compelled Speechless

        What makes you think that a virtue signaling young prog DA up for re-election this year is going to even wait until tomorrow to prosecute under it?

      • kbolino

        1. ex post facto — which they will likely do away with eventually but not yet
        2. you want to find a case that’s media-worthy, which requires some waiting (not a lot)

  22. db

    I ordered some computer components from Newegg last week, a motherboard, a CPU, and a CPU cooler. Newegg doesn’t sell a fair amount of their merchandise directly anymore, so they have what they call a “marketplace” where the items are presented as being sold by Newegg, but eventually during the order process, they let you know that it will be coming from a third party. Often this works out OK.

    However, this time, two out of the three items have had issues. The CPU cooler was delivered last week in a timely fashion. The CPU order was delayed for several days, then cancelled by the third party vendor, who actually used their cancellation process to make it look like the order was cancelled at my request. Newegg was apologetic but ultimately unhelpful, and so far, I’m waiting on the vendor to refund my credit card.

    Last night I received an e-mail saying my motherboard was delivered, but I had no evidence of a delivery here at my house. Sometimes things happen where Fedex will deliver to the local post office for terminal delivery, and Fedex washes its hands of the package at that point, claiming “delivery.” Thinking that I was dealing with a case like that, I checked in more detail this morning, only to find out that my package was supposedly delivered yesterday to an address more then 300 miles away from my home, and signed for by someone I don’t recognize.

    I think the CPU problem was a case of the vendor claiming more inventory than they actually had and my order was one of the short ones. We’ll see how fast they refund me.

    However, I think the motherboard may be a scam. Newegg probably has no control about where third parties ultimately ship packages. It would be easy to ship an empty box to an address and have it signed for to show actual delivery, but seems a stretch because I’m able to see that it was delivered to a particular city (not address). If they had been smart and had agents in my area, it may have been able to fool me–perhaps a porch pirate got it?–but shipping to the wrong city seems particularly stupid.

    Newegg swears it is impossible for this to be a scam.

    Newegg also helpfully points out that if I don’t hear from the third party vendor within 2 days, I can file a “Marketplace Guarantee” claim. Sounds useful, if ultimately unhelpful. We’ll see. At least Amazon seems to have better control over their third party sellers; we’ll see if Newegg makes it right.

    • Rat on a train

      I only buy from Newegg if it states the seller is Newegg. Many sites are now marketplaces that include third party sellers. I avoid third party sellers unless the price is low enough that I am willing to eat the loss.

      • db

        I usually do that too but I was hopeful.

        I’m relatively confident that if the seller doesn’t refund my money, my credit card company will make it good—they always have in the past.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Yeah, Newegg marketplace is more like eBay than Amazon. They don’t keep a tight rein on their sellers like Amazon does.

    • Tonio

      Thank you for sharing this. I’ll avoid them.

      Let us know what vendor you end up using and what your experience is with them.

      • AlexinCT

        The last time I ordered something from Newegg was right before the Scamdemic. I got fucked by the third party vendor shit. Got the “it was delivered” when it was not, then got accused of trying to cheat them. In the end I proved they hosed me then got the refund way late minus some processing fee. Never again.

      • db

        I ended up ordering both the mobo and CPU from Amazon–we’ll see how they do. They’re saying delivery by tomorrow and Thursday.

        I had gone with Newegg out of some sort of nostalgic loyalty–I used to buy components from them all the time and had always been satisfied with them. I was hoping not to order from Amazon if possible, but Newegg dropped the ball big time on this one.

      • banginglc1

        Is tiger direct still a thing?

      • db

        I used to use Tiger Direct almost exclusively but they seem to have fallen off. I checked them out last week but they didn’t show the same products that Newegg and Amazon had, and their prices were considerably higher than both for the things they did list.

      • banginglc1

        Could that be because they don’t do the same third party and scammy stuff as newegg? I really don’t know. I haven’t ordered anything technical from anyone for a long time. Work provides almost everything now except my porn viewing device.

      • db

        I agree that they might not have the same apparent product selection because the scammy third parties aren’t faking it.

    • Sensei

      Newegg hasn’t been having a good time recently.

      Newegg promises ‘no questions asked’ returns on CPUs and motherboards after YouTube scandal

      Customer service flat out lied and got caught. Repeatedly. No idea if this was some mid level exec making sure to keep his job and/or get bonus, but the C-Suite either had piss poor controls or preferred not know any details.

      At this point I’d reluctantly rather make Jeff Bezos richer if the same product was available on Amazon.

      • db

        Wow, I hadn’t heard about that. I pay so little attention to computer stuff these days. I used to upgrade my computer hardware every year or two (multiple PCs and servers). Now I buy the best I can afford and then do nothing for 5-7 years. Then I have to play catch-up with 5-7 years of advances so I can be informed enough to even start to decide what to buy.

      • Mojeaux

        Now I buy the best I can afford and then do nothing for 5-7 years.

        #metoo

        My husband used to like to fiddle with hardware for his desktop, but now his “office” is in a dark, cold basement space, whereas his laptop is in his mancave. Now, he really only does computer stuff on his friends’ computers and solves their problems for them.

      • Sensei

        They did this to many more customers than Steve at Gamer’s Nexus. It’s just they didn’t have a popular YouTube channel and Twitter following.

        Steve is a hardware nerd so this stuff and especially this kind of drama isn’t what he generates clicks and revenue from. However, his audience in the US probably has just about a 100% chance of shopping at Newegg.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I used to use Newegg all the time.

      Once they went to the marketplace format, I started avoiding them.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Same here. I still check them out when I’m looking for something, but Amazon almost always turns out to be the better option. Especially as a Prime member.

        In Ohio we had Micro Center. I really miss that.

    • kbolino

      The same scam happened to me on Amazon, but for an admittedly much less significant purchase (ramen noodles).

      If you live near one, get your stuff at Micro Center. They’ll price match Newegg/Amazon as well.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Food often isn’t returnable on Amazon, so I avoid buying it there unless it’s from Amazon or a third party seller I know is trustworthy.

      • kbolino

        The only reason I went to Amazon is that I couldn’t find it at Costco and it was 3x the price at Walmart (they were selling much smaller packs).

        Ultimately, it was for the best, as I was eating too much ramen anyway.

  23. Pope Jimbo

    Yesterday I received a release of code from an overseas development team.

    After testing it locally, I discovered that for some reason the developers had hard coded “Pune” into any form/search that was related to test site locations. Since we didn’t have any testing sites in Pune, India that code couldn’t be deployed into our regular environments.

    Rather than torture myself by waiting for them to do their usual half assed job of fixing things, I spent the day sniffing out every single occurrence of the “Pune” search string.

    You could say I was a …..

    Pune hound.

    • db

      “Sniffing out … Pune” — nice secondary joke hiding in plain sight.

    • juris imprudent

      My brother was a [union] machinist. At one job they were running digital-control CNCs. The work rules said programmers program and machinists run the program. So he kept his machine shut down for 3 or 4 days because the program sent to him was bad. Eventually the foreman said “you can’t write the program, but I can let you edit it”. That got his CNC up and running.

  24. Fourscore

    Russia should have made an offer the Ukes couldn’t refuse.

    “Remembers the Alaska and Louisiana purchases”

    • Drake

      They are making it right now.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    There’s still checks left in the book!

    Speaking of which: how long ’til Biden announces a Five Year Plan to bring atomic fusion on line, and start showering Boeing and GE and Lockheed and Ford with cash?

    Failure is not an option!

  26. waffles

    We lost power last night and I’m ready to listen to all wisdom regarding home generators. If it takes 40 weeks it’s worth it. Especially to do it right.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      First step is how much power you need and/or can afford. And what fuel you have available.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I can write an article on this one. I know the topic pretty well since I sell and repair the things.

      • MikeS

        I would be very interested in reading it. I’ve been thinking about it for years and need to just pull the trigger. As I have 500gal propane tank sitting outside my house for the furnace, I’m thinking a propane generator in the basement would be my preferred set-up.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Ventilation and heat would be my first concerns. Noise would be the second.

      • MikeS

        It’s an unfinished basement that we seldom go down to, so I’m not too worried about heat. And that heat could actually be a good thing for winter power outages. I could place it very close to the wall and plumb the exhaust outside.

        Noise would be another thing. Being in the basement will obviously help some. I had considered building a small, insulated generator room for it. Of course, that may exacerbate the heat issue. I guess a small bathroom fan vented either to the outside or into the basement should take care of that?

      • juris imprudent

        We have a buried 1000 gal tank that feeds our water heater, furnace, stove and dryer – and the backup generator (which is outside), with the automatic cut-over when primary power goes dead.

      • R C Dean

        I’m surprised you haven’t had to replace it with an above ground tank. We have enough diesel on site to fuel a Russian invasion (we use it for our back-up generators), and we finally finished replaicng the underground tanks a couple years ago.

      • db

        Some day I might write up the story of my grandmother, the State, Big Convenience Store, and the mystery of the underground tanks.

      • mock-star

        I also would like this article, especially if you dumbed it down to almost Kamala explaining geo-politics levels, so I can grasp it.

      • db

        I’d be very interested in that too.

      • R C Dean

        Pls. write that up, Scruffy.

        Our electricity is very reliable – maybe a couple hours of outage every other year, and the occasional blip. I’ve looked at natgas generators for backup, but the deadweight cost for something that would get that little use just doesn’t pencil out. We are in an ideal location for solar. My install would be spendy, because I would want ground-mounted, but the big barrier is the air conditioners. Apparently, they need a big “draw” to get started, and the batteries just don’t deliver it. There’s probably a solution, but I haven’t dug far enough. The ROI is pretty uninspiring, but I have the feeling tomorrow’s ROI is going to be better than today’s.

      • Tundra

        I rented a place off-grid down in Texas. The AC worked fine, but it was a pretty small footprint.

        Cool setup, regardless.

      • R C Dean

        Its difficult to retro a house to be truly off-grid, is what I gather. You pretty much have to build everything to be highly efficient. And pretty small, if you want air conditioning.

      • Necron 99

        I second the idea for an article on home generators. I am building a house and looking for a propane whole house generator since I live in tornado alley and spring storms and winter storms can cause long outages. An in depth but understandable article would be quite useful.

      • Animal

        Yes, please. We’ve been looking into a backup generator for the house here – the power is sometimes a little iffy. I’d love a more informed opinion.

      • waffles

        Thanks, I’ll give him a call when I can.

    • Grummun

      FWIW we’ve got a Kohler 14KW with an automatic transfer switch. Kawasaki engine running on propane. My F-I-L is an electrician, he steered us to the Kohler. He doesn’t like the Generac with Briggs and Scrapiron engines.

      We’re happy with the Kohler. Propane means you avoid all of the issues with gasoline, but you need a propane tank.

      • db

        I wish I could find a combo Diesel/natgas setup. All the “multi-fuel” units I have seen are propane/natgas.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The fuel handling and ignition is completely different between diesel and NG. It’s an entire retrofit.

      • db

        Yeah, I know, but if you can run anything from palm oil to avgas in a Deuce-and-a-half, you should be able to run natgas and #2 in a home genny, IMHO.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Sorry, there’s no such thing that I’m aware of. NG, propane and gasoline require spark plug retrofits on diesel engine heads as well as a throttle body installation on the intake manifold.

  27. Not Adahn

    Somehow, I’m going to be shooting four majors this season. I’ll olny have to pay for the one that ES will be at.

    That gray jersey really opens doors.

      • Not Adahn

        Trident Armory Standby to Fly Benefit Match and Maine State Championship in July.

        New York State Championship in August

        USPSA Area 7 Championship in September

        USPSA 4 Division(Production, Limited, Open, and PCC) Nationals in October

      • EvilSheldon

        Clinton House Plantation is a real nice venue. For $40, I’d jump on it.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    You could say I was a …..

    Pune hound.

    Not a Pune slayer?

  29. AlexinCT

    Food poisoning/stomach bugs suck.

    • Fourscore

      Love the Verdana translation for those that don’t read italics

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Joe’s got a good grip on that tar baby, and he;’s not gonna let go

    President Biden’s courting of Venezuelan oil in an attempt to end reliance on Russian imports and assuage skyrocketing gas prices at home could risk whitewashing the alleged “crimes against humanity” committed by the Venezuelan government and its closeness with Russia.

    Several senior Biden administration officials from the White House and State Department traveled to Venezuela on Saturday to meet with the government of Nicolás Maduro and discuss the possibility of easing sanctions on oil exports from the Latin American country as U.S. gas prices soared past levels not seen since 2008.

    ——-

    The rare meetings came as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine less than two weeks ago accelerated already skyrocketing fuel prices in the U.S. Last week, Venezuela and regional Russian allies Cuba and Nicaragua abstained from a vote condemning Russia for the invasion.

    The adults are at the wheel. They’ll save us.

    • Rebel Scum

      It’s obviously better to buy from some other authoritarian that likely does not have the same environmental controls as far as oil extraction as the US does. We get to fail on 2 levels.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Pipelines bad, tankers good.

      • Pope Jimbo

        *Warren Buffet nods furiously*

    • creech

      It will be interesting to see if Biden’s handlers can hold out in opening U.S. energy production to more leases, pipelines, etc. I was at a township meeting last night where one of the progressive Dem Supervisors got into an argument with an “environmentally conscious” committee member over buying oil from places like Venezuela, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
      Proggie supervisor was critical of buying oil from such places and suggested Biden admin had to open up U.S. in order to help stop Russia’s “assault on democracy.” As pressure from within the Dem party increases, can Biden hold out?

    • Pope Jimbo

      Stop with the jibber-jabber. Let’s just invade Venezuela already!

      We have to do it in order to save Democracy!

      • juris imprudent

        No they have democracy, they elected a socialist strong-man – that is the end result all democracies should get. Once you’re there, you just validate every now and then how democratic that is.

  31. Trigger Hippie

    Well I tried writing up an article about the value of animal life versus human life and it was shit. I just can’t write. Much like my Repeal the Reapportionment Act article, it will never see the light of day.

    Oh well.

    • MikeS

      Don’t give up on it, yet. Put it away for a few days/weeks and revisit it later.

      • Mojeaux

        You need to do a piece expanding on your point about the abrupt end of glam rock to grunge.

      • MikeS

        I’ve thought about it. I’ll think about it some more.

      • Trigger Hippie

        It’s still going to suck no matter how long I put off looking at it.

        Ha!

    • Tonio

      Thank you for trying. No worries, we all have different talents.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Thanks.

  32. juris imprudent

    This is the kind of person who consumes our tax dollars.

    The former son-in-law of a top CIA official, Halper cut his teeth in the Nixon White House during Watergate. The New York Times identified him as the Reagan campaign’s point man in an alleged effort to spy on President Jimmy Carter, and he was later chairman of a bank that helped provide money to surreptitiously fund Nicaragua’s pro-American contra rebels during the 1980s. In the run-up to his subterfuge in the Trump-Russia caper, Halper was paid more than $1 million by a Pentagon office that produced work deemed of such little value that Sen. Charles Grassley recently identified it as a prime example of the government’s “systemic failure to manage and oversee” spending.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s the kind of person who should be Ceausescu’d.

      • juris imprudent

        Aw, really, he’s just a run of the mill grifter, not someone as responsible as Ceauscecu was.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m all into cautionary tales for the elite.

      • juris imprudent

        See, I’m more bothered that this guy was ever considered elite. There is the problem right there. Just not sure what we can do about it.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They may be doing it for us, destroying the dollar.

        At the risk of sounding like a Ron Paul bot, ending the Fed is the only real way out of this.

  33. Tonio

    Glibs is short on submissions and we have some calendar holes to fill this week. If anyone has anything you can fix up and send in for either this week or next, please do so.

    Remember to check your spam filters for emails from glibertarians dot com addresses as that’s how we communicate back with writers.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      TOG presents “How to Bake a Potato”. Seriously, I wish I had some Content.

      • Not Adahn

        Air fryers are FANTASTIC potato bakers.

      • UnCivilServant

        You could compare the various ‘baked’ potato perparation options. Oven, Microwave, Air Fryer, Open Flame, etc

      • juris imprudent

        Wrapped in foil and thrown into a pile of wood coals.

    • UnCivilServant

      I’ll see what I’ve got.

    • robodruid

      I talk about how not to do a hobby farm, but i would get in trouble with the spouse if she found it.

      • banginglc1

        But that could lead to other great articles such as: “How Having Random Internet Friends Led to My Divorce” and ” How being a Libertarian Cost Me Happiness.”

      • R C Dean

        Get out of my drafts folder!

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Resubmitted something,

    • Mojeaux

      For the nonce, I have shotteth my wad.

    • Tonio

      Thanks, folks.

    • Animal

      I know I’ve already got something in the queue for next Monday, but over the weekend I had a flash for my next “lyrics-as-basis-for-story” bit. I’ll be submitting it probably Saturday or Sunday.

      How many holes do you have to fill this week?

    • ron73440

      I will finish my Frederick Douglass piece tonight and have the stoic one done tomorrow night.

    • The Hyperbole

      I have a couple Glibcrostics ready, they’ve being going up every other week but I can throw one up for next week if you want. I usually wait to submit it until the previous one posts so I can reference back to it in the write up if I want, but I can get them ready earlier if you want/need them sooner.

      • The Hyperbole

        And I just noticed that you/they/someone moved the latest up to today from Thursday, I’ll have the next one submitted tonight.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Everybody Some people keep talking about how puny the Russian economy is, but I think it might be helpful to look at the composition.

    It seems to me there is an awful lot of low-utility bloat in our GDP. Can Twatter or facebook be productively repurposed for the war effort? Have our vast government wealth transfer programs made us stronger, or stiffened our national spine?

    • Pope Jimbo

      I think you are underestimating just how much ammunition a standard HR department can absorb. Even if you posit that each round fired hits and kills someone, the DEI industry in America could pretty much swamp the logistics of any invader.

  35. Rebel Scum

    A thread on urban armor.

    it’s a well-worn canard of armchair tacticians to asset that “tanks do poorly in urban combat,” but is that necessarily true? what is really being argued? should tanks sit parked on the outskirts of an urban battle?

    • Pope Jimbo

      Well I’ve never seen a tank for sale at Urban Outfitters, so I assumed that they were not needed.

    • Drake

      The answer is always “it depends”. I read one of Ambrose’s books about WWII. As American troops cleared cities in France, they would go in first with Infantry. As soon as they encountered significant resistance, they would bring up a tank or self-propeller howitzer and pulverize the building the Germans were shooting from. Rinse and repeat.

      • R C Dean

        Good combined arms is the key to using tanks in any environment. So far, it looks like Russian combined arms suck.

        I would speculate that advances in infantry anti-armor has moved the needle. Some. Its one thing to roll up a tank in an urban environment when the other side doesn’t have much that can take it out, and have the kind of tactical know-how to make it count. If they do, you can lose a lot of tanks.

  36. Scruffy Nerfherder

    In a rare stock tip, the CEO of Cheniere has announced that capacity on their new LNG trains is sold out through the 2040’s

    Anybody who thinks the US can just pivot and rectify this clusterfuck in the energy markets quickly is kidding themselves.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I think you are forgetting that we have Pete Buttigeg at the helm.

      • UnCivilServant

        So what you’re saying is those trains will be on fire by 2023?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Please. Mayor Pete isn’t competent enough to set a tanker full of kerosene of fire. At best it will be stalled on a track somewhere blocking other traffic.

      • UnCivilServant

        He doesn’t do it himself, looters do it by accident while trying to steal fuel.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Ugh, should I change the channel from TCM?

  37. hayeksplosives

    The Covid “regulations/mandates” are NOT finished.

    Federally owned (or regulated) workplaces still require N95 masks. Most schools require the masks. All “public” transport, including Uber/Lyft, still requires masks.

    The convoy still has a point.

    • Urthona

      I don’t think the school thing still exists here, but yes.

      Still, the problem with the convoy is political. Most people don’t care about the remaining requirements that much. It will be unpopular and used by the Democratic party to gain votes.

      I agree with the cause. Just think it will not be that successful.

      • rhywun

        Local school districts are trying to mandate child jabs. There’s still work to be done.

      • Urthona

        That’s some horse shit yeah.

        Saw that florida is recommending against child vaccines.

      • DEG

        Reopen NH sources tell me that the bill to require COVID-19 vaccination for schools received an “Inexpediant to Legislate” recommendation from the committee the bill is in. The bill is going on the “consent calender”, which in the NH House means that no State Representative is expected to oppose the committee recommendation. The bill dies unless some State Representative decides to oppose the committee recommendation between now and then next session day.

        I think there was a bill restricting the state DHHS from putting the COVID-19 vaccination on the schedule of vaccinations required for public school.

      • DEG

        Found it. It was relative to the state DHHS’s ability to mandate any vaccine.

      • DEG

        The CDC backtracked on masks in schools.

        There might still be some school districts requiring masks, but I think the bulk now are masks optional.

    • Ownbestenemy

      So weird….our facility is mask free…for this week at least. We are on a two week rolling basis

    • The Last American Hero

      and like 2 states, if that, have amended their emergency power laws.

      Just wait until 2 days before the November elections, when Team Blue locks down polling places in red counties due to “rising case numbers”

      • DEG

        It’s more than two states. I can think of five. There might be more.

      • The Last American Hero

        11 passed meaningful reforms. 5 did symbolic shit with no real change. 2/3 of the country lives in the 20 where nothing got out of committee.

  38. juris imprudent

    The stupid at work.

    As with everything that involves Putin, some creative diplomacy will be required in crafting a message that things will most certainly get worse for him if he mistreats captured members of the resistance or commits atrocities against the Ukrainian people. The story of Slobodan Milosevic, the former President of Serbia who died in his cell at the Hague while undergoing a trial for war crimes, provides a relevant cautionary tale.

    Really? You think you can threaten a man with nuclear weapons the same as a fucking peasant president of a Balkan shithole? What could possibly go wrong?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Everything about this clusterfuck is stupid.

      • DrOtto

        If you assume we’re not intentionally goading Putin into war, then sure, it’s stupid. What if that’s really what our elite want though is war? Then they are behaving exactly how I would expect.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s stupid for us. Smart for the elites.

    • kbolino

      This is what happens when people who get their news from a shallow reading of Wikipedia run things.

      Not only will Russia not be intimidated by this threat, they’ll likely be angered by it. They helped Serbia in the Bosnian War. Half the reason they hate NATO can be traced to that conflict.

      JHTFC

      • Gustave Lytton

        Fox or CNN had Wes Clark cheerleading for US involvement in Ukraine. The same idiot who almost started WWIII twenty years ago.

      • Swiss Servator

        That asshat is still around??

      • Compelled Speechless

        Do they EVER leave? The people that started every cluster fuck in the ME are the exact same people doing this now along with the same lying and scheming talking heads they put on corporate news to sell it.

    • Gustave Lytton

      or the lesson of Quaddafi.

  39. Sean
    • Urthona

      That’s sad. They’re all gonna die.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        That hair is a liability.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s fine, she just can’t work in the machine shop.

      • MikeS

        *shudders*

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        My first thought

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Nobody move, or the nigger gets it

    The U.S. has been considering whether to impose a ban on Russia’s oil and gas exports as a way of punishing Moscow.

    Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. have appeared to back away from a coordinated Western embargo on Russian energy exports, however.

    Energy analysts have warned that a ban on Russia’s oil and gas would have seismic repercussions for energy markets and the world economy.

    Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer, behind the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, and the world’s largest exporter of crude to global markets. It is also a major producer and exporter of natural gas.

    The European Union receives around 40% of its gas via Russian pipelines, several of which run through Ukraine.

    “Maybe we should think this through a little more carefully.”

    • Urthona

      I simultaneously believe that the sanctions are mild while believing we shouldn’t do anything.

      Does that mean I hate the Ukrainians?

      • juris imprudent

        It means you are more or less indifferent to some suffering somewhere in the world that you can’t do anything about anyway. In short you refuse to believe in yourself (and country) as a messianic power.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The EU is self-immolating at the behest of the USA.

      They had a good thing going with Russia and it was beneficial for stability. But the neocons at the US State Department and the grifters in NATO had other plans. I know there’s a lot of people who think Russia always would have invaded Ukraine, but the fact is nobody in the US and NATO ever lifted a finger to avert it. In fact, they seemed to encourage the heightening of tensions.

      • Pope Jimbo

        ^THIS^

        We’ve had since the Clintons to start winding down NATO.

        Fucking Trump tried to build it up even more by making other members pay more. He should have just started pulling troops out of Europe.

      • juris imprudent

        He couldn’t even get troops out of Syria or Afghanistan. COMMANDER in chief my ass.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Wuss in Chief, he shoulda commenced firings when he found orders weren’t being carried but he let other assholes talk him out of it.

      • Grumbletarian

        Fucking Trump tried to build it up even more by making other members pay what they agreed to when they joined.

      • kbolino

        Getting the other members to pay up (or openly refuse to pay up) is step one to getting the U.S. out.

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        “Either you’re in, or I am out.”

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        Hey, War Boners need Viagra too!

  41. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Real crimes against humanity

    https://covidreason.substack.com/p/screamed-for-mom-to-make-it-stop

    I thought for this post I would list a host of specific VAERS incidents so you can see for yourself the range of adverse reactions. You should, as always, make your own decisions about the vaccines but the evidence against giving the current CDC recommended doses to children is mounting.

    Many thanks to Jean Rees for compiling this. This is ONLY a sample of the AEs.

    11 yo female – 5 minutes post 1st dose, said she couldn’t hear, said she “couldn’t feel her ears” Lost consciousness, came to after ~2-5 minutes After – Had a seizure for 5 minutes Screamed for Mom to “Make it Stop”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      5 yo girl – 5 days post 1st dose Pfizer – (10 mcgm w/Tris) Seizure lasting 2 minutes 2nd Seizure 6 days later EKG Abnormal “Seizure on 11/23/21 and seizure on 11/29/21, each lasting approximately 2 minutes. EEG found abnormal . Started medication for seizures on 12/1/21”

      7 yo boy – 1 day post 2nd dose Pfizer – (10 mcgm w/Tris) Seizure “he had a seizure (right hand posturing, body turned to left, emesis & turned blue, he gasped)àthis lasted 4-5 minutes. Emergency was called & in ambulance, he had a 2nd witnessed tonic clonic seizure w/eyes deviated”

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I know a middle-aged adult with a PEC possibly worsened by adverse reaction (post and propter hoc, yada yada). Good thing I don’t know any kids, I guess.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC on Sunday that President Joe Biden’s administration was in “very active discussions” with European governments about banning imports of Russian crude and natural gas.

    Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the invasion have so far been carefully constructed to avoid directly hitting the country’s energy exports, although there are already signs the measures are inadvertently prompting banks and traders to shun Russian crude.

    Completely unforeseeable.

    It’s like an Act of God.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Blinken: You see, you should totally and completely fuck over your people even more than you already have during COVID. It’s for the greater good.

      EU: I dunno, they might start to dislike us.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I get zero sense that the people who run the EU have every given a shit about the opinions of the peons they rule.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    I know there’s a lot of people who think Russia always would have invaded Ukraine, but the fact is nobody in the US and NATO ever lifted a finger to avert it. In fact, they seemed to encourage the heightening of tensions.

    what? Joe Biden “double dog daring” the Russians to invade may have had an effect?

    • Pope Jimbo

      C’mon man!

      Joe challenging Putin to a pushup contest at dawn in no way influenced the invasion of Ukraine.

  44. Not Adahn

    I would like to thank all of you paying exorbitant chip prices for driving my annual bonus up to 13.46% of my salary.

    *does cha-CHING! dance around the cube farm.*

    *wonders how he can be so poor with such enormous numbers coming in. Remembers where he lives*

    *cha-CHING dance peters out*

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Otherwise known as a “reacharound”

      • R C Dean

        I am so using that when our annual bonus pays next month.

        “Hey, the reacharound hit my checking account today!”

      • Certified Public Asshat

        What’s a Columbus day off?

  45. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “ Supreme Court Rejects Appeal For Overturned Conviction In Bill Cosby Case”
    This calls for a celebration…pudding pops for everyone!
    Seriously though, the guy’s a sleaze but a deal’s a deal and he got screwed and if they can pull that kind of stuff with rich as hell America’s dad they can pull that kind of stuff with anyone.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I still don’t really understand the case. Were the women who went back to Cosby’s house after just meeting him intending to play Monopoly? I didn’t hear any accounts of Cosby slipping any of the women drugs without their consent, but maybe I missed that. Still sleazey but not sure if this is criminal.

      • juris imprudent

        Uh yeah, that’s exactly what he did – drug them. He apparently liked them un- to semi- conscious.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        It was his kink apparently and I think he gave them the pills, at least sometimes, saying it was aspirin or allergy medicine. They willingly took them but they were tricked as to what they were.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        saying it was aspirin or allergy medicine. They willingly took them but they were tricked as to what they were.

        It seems rather odd to accept aspirin or allergy pills when going back to a celebrity’s home to bang him. If that’s true though, that’s a different story and would absolutely be criminal.

      • R C Dean

        They willingly took them but they were tricked as to what they were.

        That’s their story, and they are sticking with it.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        There’s a world of difference between slipping pills in their drinks and offering the pills to be accepted or not. And maybe he did the former, I haven’t followed the case closely.

        It reminds me of the media hyping the pedophile rapists on Epstein’s island, which to me implies little kids are being raped. Then it surfaces that these are mostly older teenage women who wanted to be there and could leave at any time. Still sleazey as hell but not at all the same as raping little kids.

      • Urthona

        I definitely believe there’s some truth to this although I personally find it unpleasant .

      • kbolino

        Then it surfaces that these are mostly older teenage women who wanted to be there and could leave at any time.

        I don’t believe that for one second.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Seriously? You think there’s some magical shortage of women 15-25 years old that willingly trade sex for money, especially in a place like SE Asia? That doesn’t even facto in the clientele being some of the richest and most powerful men in the world.

      • kbolino

        I’m sure they exist. I also wouldn’t be surprised if some of Epstein’s “products” were overage in their native countries. But I would be extremely surprised if all of them were. If you want Thai women of legal age in Thailand, why not just go to Bangkok?

      • Gustave Lytton

        I thought the new sex tourism laws prohibit that even where its legal in the local countries.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        This is a different point. I’m not arguing the legality based on their ages. I’m pointing out the media portrayed this as little children being raped, when it turns out that it was teenage girls who volunteered to go to the Island as a paying job. I’ve read several accounts by the prostitutes and none said they were kidnapped against their will and forced into sex acts. I’m sure Epstein’s people had their pick of volunteers. That said, it’s not morally okay and I’m certainly not defending it.

        If you want Thai women of legal age in Thailand, why not just go to Bangkok?

        Why do people of power and money go to the exclusive Country Club when there is a YMCA or public golf course they could use instead? And a guarantee of privacy from the media.

      • kbolino

        I thought the new sex tourism laws prohibit that even where its legal in the local countries.

        Yeah, but it’s no more legal to just do it here. Maybe you’re less likely to get caught flying to the USVI than to SE Asia, but for the kind of people we’re talking about, hush money is an everyday expense.

        it turns out that it was teenage girls who volunteered to go to the Island as a paying job

        In most cases where things like this happen, older girls (or boys as the case may be) also double, when found “trustworthy” enough, as facilitators. Having a range of available ages allows for catering to different clients’ “tastes”.

        Why do people of power and money go to the exclusive Country Club when there is a YMCA or public golf course they could use instead? And a guarantee of privacy from the media.

        There are lots of exclusive places in foreign countries, and many secretive ways of getting there. The convenience Epstein offered probably does factor into the equation, but that doesn’t really say anything about the ages involved.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Funny how the only two who have charged is Epstein and Maxwell. And only a couple named like Prince Andrew.

        Melinda Gates is saying friendship with Epstein led to her divorce. I guess Bill isn’t cutting enough out of the B&M Gates Foundation for her. If he doesn’t come around, next will be her dumping some stronger evidence no doubt.

  46. Grummun

    House To Include $10 billion in Ukraine Aid In Government Funding Bill

    What fraction of that 10B will come right back to the US as purchases from American MIC manufacturers or consultants or just plain graft to the politically connected? 50%? 75% I guess it depends on what fraction will be absorbed by corruption in Ukraine first.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Hey, Zelensky’s new mansion in California where he’ll live out his days in exile ain’t gonna pay for itself.

    • Urthona

      So does this go to the corrupt Ukrainian oligarchy and then the russians?

      I hope it’s at least in the form of weapons. At least those are getting fired.

    • Drake

      Don’t forget the 10% for you-know-who.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    I learned a long time ago not to make threats I wasn’t prepared to follow through on. Part of that thought process involves finding and preparing options.

    I’m not going to sugarcoat it; our genius overlords dropped that ball in a rather significant way.

    • Urthona

      Well I know Berenson sued.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    *wonders how he can be so poor with such enormous numbers coming in. Remembers where he lives*

    Saratoga must have changed a lot since I was in high school.

    *that’s where you are, right?

    • Not Adahn

      I can’t afford* to live in Saratoga Springs proper, so I live in Milton. But the Ballston Spa school taxes are still six grand a year.

      *not entirely true, but anything affordable is housing stock built back when doctrine was “fuck insulation, houses need to breathe.”

      • Not Adahn

        There is some fucked up leather-eating penicillium endemic to this region that I lost a trove of rengear to.

        Dehumidify everything!

      • UnCivilServant

        I’ve never had mold attack any of the leather I’ve owned. I think it’s the house you were in.

      • Not Adahn

        I had a coworker who is a member of the horsey set confirm it’s existence.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Foxing, grrr.

      • UnCivilServant

        Around here it’s racing, Toxteth. Saratoga has a longstanding racetrack.

  49. db

    My employer has announced, earlier this week, that we will be moving to a hybrid work arrangement. Starting in mid-April, we will be in the office for one day per week. Starting in May, two days. It’s up to us managers to coordinate who and when.

    Also, they say they will be “following CDC guidance” wrt masks. They point out that CDC says masks are a personal choice, regardless of vaccination status. No other mention of vaccinations was made in the annoucement.

  50. Mojeaux

    Hey, sorry I had to duck out on last night’s thread, but it was bedtime. Thanks, everybody!

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Complimented you on the end of previous thread. “Good piece, Moj!” was all, I think.

      • Mojeaux

        Thanks! It didn’t seem to have come across as debbie-downer as I thought it would.

    • DEG

      It was good.

    • db

      Yep. An STI in 10mm Auto is probably one of the most impressive potential combat sidearms I can think of.

      • db

        I’m building one in .40 and I plan to fit a second barrel and ream the chamber out to 10mm once I get the .40 running. I have a friend who has done the same on his.

    • EvilSheldon

      I remember when a few of them went on the open market. Neat guns.

  51. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    A&E did an episode of their Playboy series on Cosby last night.

    That whole scene, rape or no rape, was disgusting.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      What did I miss? “Teaching comedy to Asian models”* daily afternoon breaks?

      *TY, Gilbert Gottfried

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        At the mansion, everyone was raping everyone all the time.

        (in addition to Cosby, Jim Brown liked the rape, too)

        And I was incredibly shocked to find out Tony Curtis was actually heterosexual. I thought he was one of those old-timey closeted Hollyweird gays.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I should send you his memoir that I haven’t yet given to a wee free library.

  52. Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

    After the last 3 days, I’m delighted to be able to put on long sleeves and socks again.

    • db

      *shudders in cold, cold workshop office after running out of fuel oil overnight*

      *shakes fist at KK*

      *goes to get a cup of coffee*

      • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

        Oh yeah – also hot coffee is pleasurable again!

      • Not Adahn

        While others speculated that the demon spirit of Tamamo-no-Mae had been resurrected after almost 1,000 years, local media said cracks had appeared in the rock several years ago, possibly allowing rainwater to seep inside and weaken its structure.

        “Rainwater seeping into cracks.” Sure. What, you thought “Venus, or perhaps a weather balloon” was too obvious?

      • UnCivilServant

        Hey, a thousand year imprisonment for a demon is pretty good.

        We got any demon slayers in the Japanese islands?

      • R C Dean

        cracks had appeared in the rock several years ago, possibly allowing rainwater to seep inside and weaken its structure.

        This just tells me it took the demon 1,000 years to weaken its prison so it could escape.

    • UnCivilServant

      Something went wrong. Try reloading.

      Twitter says we need more ammo. I guess that means some serious shit went down.

  53. The Late P Brooks

    And- CNBC’s money shot:

    Meanwhile, the world’s leading climate scientists delivered a landmark report last week that reaffirmed the urgent need to rapidly phase out fossil fuels in order for humanity to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

    U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report on the real-world impacts of the climate emergency as an “atlas of human suffering.”

    Guterres said the IPCC’s findings once again make it clear that “fossil fuels are choking humanity.”

    I’ll tell you what you can choke on, you fucking retard.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      an “atlas of human suffering.”

      If you think you’ve seen suffering, just get rid of fossil fuels and see what happens.

      • db

        Three words:

        Dung.

        Cooking.

        Fires.

      • db

        Also, I want my Mr. Fusion!

        That would also solve the generator problem we discussed above.

    • rhywun

      “Hey, ‘experts’ – we need you to crank out another alarmist report just like the last one. kthxbai.

      Love,
      UN”

  54. The Late P Brooks

    It’s a blessing in disguise! Once we learn to live without fossil fuels modern technology and agriculture, the world will be a better, happier, cleaner place!

    • juris imprudent

      Apparently if we let the demographics run their course, we aren’t going to need as much of everything.

    • Fourscore

      Ah, the memories of a wood burning cook stove, kerosene lamps and dentists were where one goes to get teeth pulled out.
      Fourscore remembers.

      The Good Old Days. I enjoy the nostalgia when I’m sitting around with my oldtimer friends but only because it’s history that we lived.

  55. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Off to fix the equipment that my supplier effed up and I spent five hours troubleshooting yesterday until I realized it wasn’t my design that failed, just their components.

  56. Tundra

    Good morning, peeps!

    Nothing cuter than a Golden Retriever puppy. Thanks for that little day brightener!

    So, how’s the war going?

    • Trigger Hippie

      Cal is down by seven.

      • Tundra

        Glorious. Shadow is so happy!

        Also, I gotta get me a heeler. What cool dogs!

        Thanks, KK!

    • UnCivilServant

      Is that why we have so many filthy commies?

    • Urthona

      yeah sure.

      I’ve enjoyed the pivot to ev vehicles, as an aside, but shouldn’t those electricity prices be rising as well?

    • Fourscore

      Hard to believe I would have been smarter than I am. I really don’t believe that study, what would be the explanation for the post ’96ers?

      They’ve lived the best of everything and still can’t figure out how to pay off a student loan for a degree that doesn’t pay a living wage.

      • Sensei

        The biggest impact would have been those born in 50s 60s and into the 70s. It impacts childhood development.

        Also, I’d expect it impacted those in urban areas more too

      • juris imprudent

        You can all be thankful of the impact growing up in SoCal in the 60s had on my IQ, otherwise you’d all be pawns in my global dominion. [/Maurice LaMarche voice]

  57. Certified Public Asshat

    The Dems keep talking about lowering insulin costs. That's a nice way of saying everyone is a fat pig now.— Melanie Englert (@MelanieEnglert) March 8, 2022

    • Tundra

      She’s not wrong. It will be interesting to see if war or diabetes bankrupts us first.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Diabetes cases will decline when we’re starving and eating tulip-bulb bread, like Audrey Hepburn during the war.

    • Urthona

      Didn’t they reverse Trump’s attempt to lower insulin costs?

      Insulin is expensive in the US because of patent protectionism. it could be easily alleviated if the government were no in the pocket of pharmaceutical companies.

      • juris imprudent

        Shhh! Big pharma is the friend of the masses these days.

    • CPRM

      Insulin is dirt cheap, auto-injecting pens are expensive due to IP law. So it’s not the medicine, but the delivery system, and many doctors won’t write scripts for old school injections because that would be barbaric.

  58. Rebel Scum

    Priorities.

    In an interview with The Associated Press, Brown commended President Joe Biden for not raising the U.S. nuclear threat level after Russian President Vladimir Putin made veiled threats to use his country’s nuclear arsenal amid its war in Ukraine. Brown also urged Biden to resist Republican calls to increase oil production as gasoline prices soar.

    “It’s true that the Russians are earning money from oil and gas, but to compound that problem by accelerating oil and gas in America would go against the climate goals, and climate is like war: If we don’t handle it, people are going to die and they’re going to be suffering. Not immediately, but over time,” said Brown, a Democrat.

    • R C Dean

      This could well be the hill the greenies die on. This isn’t the slow-boiling that has been working for them so far. This is a blowtorch. It makes apparent that they place their green agenda above the wellbeing of Americans.

    • Draw Me Like One of Your Tulpae, Jack

      In high school, I didn’t have a curfew. I just had to call home no later than 11pm and let the ‘rentals know where I was and when I would be home.

      Of course, most of the time I was playing bridge with friends.

      My parents were very lucky to have me as a child.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I didn’t know my city had a curfew until I was 17. Hail, fellow former L7!

      • Animal

        These days it’s really coming home to me how lucky I was to grow up when and where I did, with the parents I had. In the summer, my “where I’ll be” message was often something like “I’ll be back in three or four days,” Off I’d go with a few sandwiches and a .22 rifle or a fishing pole.

        When my Mom ever expressed a little worry, like when I took my canoe and went up into the Boundary Waters and was gone three weeks, Dad just said “he’ll come back when he gets hungry.” I always did.

        Wonder how many kids live like that now.

      • Tundra

        We tried our best to raise free-range kids in a control0freak world. It appears to have worked pretty well.

        After testing positive for the ‘vid, my son and his roommate did their quarantine on the ice catching salmon, cutbows and lakers. A couple weeks ago my daughter gathered up a bunch of friends and went off to Utah for climbing and hiking. They understand what is good in life.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Davy Crockett! ?

      • Fourscore

        “Mom, I’m gonna need a few hundred bucks for Spring Break in Florida. All the kids are going”

      • Animal

        “Well, your uncle is looking for someone to paint his auction barn.”

  59. Not Adahn

    Northeasterners — is there some animal up here that shits like a horse? There were what appeared to be horseapples on the trail yesterday, but I saw no hoofprints.

    • UnCivilServant

      Only thing that comes to mind in the size range would be black bears but I don’t know what their scat looks like.

      Or cows, but cow poo doesn’t resemble horse poo.

      • UnCivilServant

        Then I don’t know what else it could have been.

        Once in a blue moon, moose wander down this far south.

        But we don’t have too many large animals.

      • Fourscore

        Moose produce little round smaller than golf ball size pellets. Sold in Alaskan tourist shops as “Smart Pills”

      • Animal

        Can confirm.

    • juris imprudent

      If the ground was still frozen you probably wouldn’t see hoofprints. Although borium studs do leave imprints on asphalt.

      • Not Adahn

        There was snow and slush.

    • Pine_Tree

      Pegasus? that would explain the nuggets and the no hoofprints

  60. Rebel Scum

    Not the Bee.

    Seattle Education Association President Jennifer Matter told NPR-affiliate KUOW that the mask mandate should remain until at least May 1, two weeks after students return from spring break, saying there “should be no rush to lift the mask mandate.”

    “We have people who are immunocompromised, we have pregnant educators, we have educators who have children of their own that are under 5 years of age that cannot be vaccinated,” she said. …

    “In our experience, universal required masking has been our most important in-classroom and in-building mitigation measure during this pandemic,” the statement read, according to FOX 13. “Our students and educators have been wearing masks in schools for over a year now, and it has become routine and accepted. In fact, masks contribute to feelings of safety and normalcy that schools provide our students.”

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      “routine and accepted”
      Yeah well, so what? Doesn’t mean it’s right.

    • R C Dean

      We have people who are immunocompromised,

      The entire world can’t be made safe for them. They need to figure out their own arrangements.

      we have pregnant educators

      What does that have to do with anything?

      we have educators who have children of their own that are under 5 years of age that cannot be vaccinated that are at no real risk from the disease

  61. The Late P Brooks

    But on a population basis, shifting the average IQ down even a small amount could have large consequences, said Sung Kyun Park, an associate professor of epidemiology and environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. The entire bell curve shifts, he explained, with more of the population at what was once the extreme low end of IQ scores.

    “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” ― H.L. Mencken, On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe

  62. hayeksplosives

    TW: DailyFail, so poor editing, but the piece does include lots of good quotes from various industry “experts” on why the US both exports and imports oil, and what the economic effects our sanctions, green kabal worship, etc have.

    Spoiler alert: Jones Act.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10589985/Biden-set-announce-ban-imports-Russian-oil-natural-gas-coal-soon-TODAY.html

    Schork called the idea that Venezuela could pump more oil ‘a joke,’ and said the Biden administration should focus on being less hostile to domestic production.

    ‘The Venezuelan oil industry is a shell of itself due to 20 years of Hugo Chavez’s socialism. Even if Venezuelan production was up, Maduro is in bed with Putin. So we are going to Iran which is a state sponsor of terrorism. We’d rather negotiate with terrorists than Texans.’

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      This is fucking insane. Gas is going to be ten bucks a gallon because of these idiots.

      • hayeksplosives

        And while the U.S. imports crude oil from around the world, it is still exporting millions of barrels per day. ‘Perhaps we would export a little less oil and hold onto the oil,’ proffered Snape.

        But one hindrance on keeping oil at home is the 1920 Jones Act. The protectionist law says that ships carrying goods between U.S. ports must be built, crewed and owned by Americans, putting US-made products at a disadvantage against foreign competitors which can use market-rate shipping.

      • hayeksplosives

        Biden is also reportedly eyeing up a trip to Saudi Arabia after OPEC nations have for months rebuffed his requests to pump more oil. Biden during the campaign trail promised to make Saudi Arabia a ‘pariah’ and blamed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

        Joe is not much of a strategic thinker.

        Elections—and campaigns—have consequences.

      • kbolino

        Signs you live in an unserious country: we can pass an “anti-lynching bill” despite a dearth of lynchings and the universal illegality of murder in every state and territory, but we can’t amend things like the Jones Act or Anti-Deficiency Act.

      • juris imprudent

        Why deal with substance when we can indulge in symbolism?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Gas went to 4.25$ today, up 15 cents over night. This happens every other day,
        We are so screwed.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        Let me make you feel better, Yusef: where I used to live in the Lower Mainland of B.C., regular gasoline is $2.099/litre CAD, which after appropriate conversion comes out to approx. $6.20 USD per U.S. gallon. And it’s going straight north. Plus the provincial government there (NDP — think “commies with more champagne”) is increasing its gas tax come April 1st, to coordinate with a Federal increase in the “carbon tax.”

        Hard times make strong men, I guess . . .

      • slumbrew

        You can always make yourself feel better by including ‘Los Angeles’ in the chart.

      • Rebel Scum

        Perhaps I’ll have a case to be allowed to work from home if that happens.

  63. DEG

    I don’t understand the point of the convoys, polling already forced the left to drop COVID protocols.

    There are still COVID restrictions in effect.

    CMS vaccine mandate, Federal contractor vaccine mandate (working its way through the courts), masking on public transit, masking on airplanes, vaccination/testing requirements to enter the country. Probably a few more I’m forgetting.

    • kbolino

      This also reminds me of one of the court systems’ favorite tricks. State enacts a rule (rarely a “law” as such, more often a regulation enacted by bureaucratic fiat), affected party and/or concerned citizen sues, state rescinds or at least amends the rule, courts say ha ha it’s moot, go away.

      1. The government should not unilaterally get to dictate the terms of its own accountability mechanisms
      2. By mooting an issue as soon as the enemy backs off for a second, you allow them to lead you to their preferred battleground

    • Gustave Lytton

      Already hearing from my NPC coworkers about how it’s moot. And sneering at the truckers for wasting expensive fuel to sit outside DC.

      • DEG

        Solipsism at work. “It doesn’t affect me so therefore it doesn’t exist.”

  64. The Late P Brooks

    The never ending quest to criminalize private economic transactions

    President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on cryptocurrency this week that will mark the first step toward regulating how digital currency is traded.

    The move comes as administration officials have raised concerns in recent weeks about Russia’s use of cryptocurrency to evade the impact of crushing sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions have sent the ruble to historic lows and have closed the country’s stock market.

    Two people familiar with the process said the executive order on cryptocurrency was expected to be issued this week and it had been in the works long before the war. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the order.

    Anything they can’t track and control is by definition money laundering. And just because they say it’s intended for use against the Russians doesn’t mean they won’t use it against you.

    • Tundra

      This is far and away the scariest shit the slavers have pulled in recent memory. Controlling our ability to transact is worse than a fucking gulag.

      How do we gum up the works? Because if they succeed, we are well and truly fucked.

    • rhywun

      The fact that this “had been in the works long before the war” seems to indicate that this, in fact, has nothing whatsoever to do with Russia and that they absolutely intend to use it against Americans.

  65. The Late P Brooks

    How long ’til the “IMPEACH JOE BIDEN” signs appear?

  66. The Late P Brooks

    “25th AMENDMENT- IF NOT NOW, WHEN?”

    • R C Dean

      “IF NOT JOE, WHO?”

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I’d take Harris at this point. Maybe worse but maybe better so at least there’d be hope.

      • Name's BEAM. James BEAM.

        I wonder if that’s the plan — make Biden so awful that the Western world will welcome Harris . . .

  67. J. Frank Parnell

    More good news for 2022.

    The Sessho-seki, a famous rock in Nasu, Japan that was said to have imprisoned the evil nine-tailed fox demoness Tamamo-no-Mae, was found broken in half.

    After nearly 1,000 years, the demon vixen is presumably once again on the loose.

    • juris imprudent

      Nine tails? Does that mean nine assholes as well? If so I can see the concern – that’s a lot of shit to deal with!

    • kbolino

      I made it five paragraphs in. Things not mentioned: Yugoslavia, Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Yanukovych, Tymoshenko, Euromaidan, Orange Revolution. This is repudiating “anti-interventionism” with head-in-the-sand politics followed by knee-jerk interventionism. Nothing somes up the author’s argument better than his own words:

      There is no purpose in recapitulating the scope and meaning of the Ukrainian war here.

      • Tundra

        Or this:

        I do mean doing things the New Right doesn’t wish to do: taking sides, rendering moral judgments, and sending guns and ammunition to the people of Ukraine.

        Swing and a miss, Ben.

      • kbolino

        To be “fair”, this is how the U.S. gets involved in almost any war. Know nothing about the place or its history, keep the people ignorant about their own government’s actions, and then pick some spectacle (coup, warlords, genocide), get attacked via “blowback” (Lusitania, Pearl Harbor, 9/11), or just make shit up (USS Maine, Gulf of Tonkin), and voila, the sleepy but suddenly virtuous American people are roused to go around the globe and fight the good fight.

      • juris imprudent

        Give them credit, they learned from WWI how to suppress dissent.

      • kbolino

        Forget WWI, the U.S. government has been suppressing antiwar dissent since 1798, the Quasi-War, and the Alien and Sedition Acts.

    • kbolino

      I was a bit disappointed to find the author’s name. I thought better of Ben.

      Also, no offense to you Bob. I didn’t mean the above as a personal attack.

      • juris imprudent

        I read it this morning too (before it was linked here) and decided against linking for exactly the above criticisms. The straw-man “anti-interventionists” being nothing but some fresh clothes on the isolationist scarecrow.

      • kbolino

        The spectre of dangerous isolationism is always descending upon America but yet the plucky underdog interventionists always end up getting their way somehow.

  68. Rebel Scum

    Gramps assures us that we are going to pay more for gas and he is going to do everything he can to prevent us from paying more for gas.

    • Rebel Scum

      “To protect our economy we have to become energy independent.” – Sleepy Joe

      Curious that we were for a few years recently. What happened?

    • Rebel Scum

      “Transferring our economy to run on electric vehicles powered by clean energy with tax credits to help American families winterize their homes and use less energy, that will help.”

      I’d like to opt out.

      • kbolino

        I’m surprised they didn’t trot out tire pressure again.

      • Urthona

        Again, aren’t electricity prices just gonna go up too? And natural gas is included in this.

    • Urthona

      He literally stated that eliminating fossil fuels was one of his goals.