440 Comments

  1. SDF-7

    Morning, Banjos!

    Haven’t read all the links yet — just my immediate reaction to the first one: “Fuck you, cut spending — and stop trying to steal wealth with ‘unrealized gains’ you evil bastards!” Completely ludicrous how the budget reset to “normal” after the GWB/Obama splurge and stupid high levels… and now is trying to reset again to “COVID emergency” spending levels. Fuck you, Feds — the budget should be the 2007 budget plus whatever it takes to handle the interest to all the stupid debt you stupid bastards stupidly added.

    I’ll go read the other links, tie an onion to my belt and yell at the clouds now….

    • Sensei

      I won’t hold my breath for “unrealized” losses being able to applied to income.

      Also valuation will be ridiculous. OTH, it will allow for enrichment of attorneys and accountants. So jobs!

      • Festus

        We’re all going to be sucking at the Government’s teat sooner rather than later. Small business impacted by Covid? Fuck you! Pay me! Resource sector worker affected by the new green deal? Fuck you! Pay me! Retirement funds being double or triple-taxed? Fuck you! Pay me! The mortgage on your house? Fuck you! Pay me yearly! We’re being backed into a corner, folks.

    • rhywun

      Come on, man! We can’t “help” Ukraine with that kind of cowardly budgeting. What will the rest of the world think of us?

      • Festus

        I never signed up to “help” Ukraine. They’re all bad actors. Leave me and mine alone.

    • UnCivilServant

      the budget should be the 2007 1807 budget

      FIFY

      • SDF-7

        Heh… I’d have to go look up if that was before or during the funding for the original six frigates…..

      • UnCivilServant

        It’d still be cheaper than 2007.

    • Pope Jimbo

      +1

      It was amusing that he talked about “the Trump deficit”. Yeah, like the administration he was VP in didn’t run up trillion dollar deficits too.

      These attempts to label problems with some opponent’s name is stupid. Especially for someone who isn’t sharp enough to pull it off.

      And yes, cutting spending would be a good start. Like S-7 said, show me you can constrain spending to earlier levels for a few years and I might start taking your economic plans seriously.

      Maybe start by pulling our troops out of Europe and leaving NATO. That would save a bunch of money.

  2. slumbrew

    Great tune, Banjos!

    Will people get a refund when their unsold stock declines in value?

    Hah, just kidding, we all know the answer to that.

    • Sensei

      Beat me by 1 minute!

      • slumbrew

        The day can only go downhill after this victory.

      • slumbrew

        Can’t wait to pay a federal tax on the unrealized value of my house.

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s the SLT v2.0. You’re supposed to be squeezing every dime out of your proprty so they can tax it. Since you’re not, they’ll tax you on the theoretical max profits you could extract.

      • robc

        [insert eyeroll here]

      • Rat on a train

        Well, the government already can determine you aren’t using your property to the maximum benefit of the government and then give your property to someone who promises to put it to better use.

      • robc

        And in both major SCOTUS cases upholding that, it never go put to said better use.

        The only good news is that Midkiff was a 9-0 decision and Kelo was 5-4, so in 21 years the court got 4 better. It has now been 17 years since Kelo. Time for an update?

      • Rat on a train

        In 4 more years it will be upheld 14-4.

      • Bobarian LMD

        No idea where the current Justices would fall out on that.

        Thomas appears to be the only one who sat on Kelo left, and wrote the dissent, right?

      • robc

        I think O’Connor wrote the dissent, but not sure.

      • robc

        O’Connor wrote the dissent, joined by Scalia, Rehnquest, and Thomas.

        Thomas also wrote a separate dissent.

      • robc

        From wikipedia:

        “The final cost to the city and state for the purchase and bulldozing of the formerly privately held property was $78 million.[23] The promised 3,169 new jobs and $1.2 million a year in tax revenues had not materialized. As of 2021, the area remains an empty lot.”

        Even assuming it had worked out, the $1.2MM in revenue means the breakeven was 65 years. That is bad planning, even for government. And that doesn’t include any time value of money.

    • Nephilium

      Heh. I’m in a similar situation with distributions and reinvestments from last year. I had enough distributions from mutual funds that were reinvested I owe a nice chunk of federal taxes. Last time I checked, the market drop this year wiped out all of those gains already. But at least I know I still haven’t paid my “fair share”.

  3. Rebel Scum

    The president laid out the tax hikes as part of his $5.8 trillion budget blueprint for federal spending in fiscal 2023, which begins in October. Under his proposal, taxes would rise by $2.5 trillion, marking the largest increase in history in dollar terms. The deficit would be $1.15 trillion.

    Putin’s Price-hike Biden’s Budget Buster.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      JFC

      That’s freakin’ bonkers

      • Atanarjuat

        It kinda seems like everyone has agreed that the USD is just a goof.

  4. Sensei

    “FBI exec denies knowing whereabouts of Hunter Biden laptop as contents put into congressional record”

    I get the point, but dude wasn’t there to talk about that nor prepared to do so. So aside from DC games I’m not sure what the actual goal is.

    • SDF-7

      I think it is a bit telling that the Assistant Director of Cyber-Security for the FBI can’t even tell Congress *who to contact* about where the laptop would be. Knowing at least what office should be contacted for queries into evidence, especially politically charged evidence of that nature seems like a reasonable expectation.

      Of course, given the intelligence community behavior over the last decade or two — I’m surprised he didn’t just laugh in his face or flat out lie. There aren’t any consequences for them, after all. (Ok… amendment to the ’07 budget thought above… also defund the entire gorram Intel community that has proven it is definitively too big for its britches and out of control… defund all of them so they have to be fired. Tear down the whole stinking corrupt apparatus, and look into specifically defunding a good chunk of the Pentagon (where they also fester along with the political flag ranks) to flush them out too… whining that we won’t have intel on “international threats”? Tough… good reason to get everyone back on American soil where they aren’t exposed (hell, there’s a whole border down there they can help secure… you know… national DEFENSE and all….) until a reasonable and small military intelligence community can be rebuilt using none of the corrupt weasels we just fired.)

      Sorry, Banjos — your cute kitten pick apparently didn’t overcome me being a bit pissy this morning.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Cut the budgets of all the intelligence agencies by half. Then create a fund that pays back to any agencies when they identify corrupt activities in govt that lead to indictments.

        Get those MF-ers ratting on each other.

      • SDF-7

        Nice. Though at this point I don’t trust any of them and would rather kick them out. They can’t all be consultants on CNN and MSNBC, after all.

      • Lackadaisical

        It’s true, every single alphabet agency should be fired. DoD can be reformed as the department of war, and that’s it.

      • Ted S.

        I think most of us here are pissy every morning, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

      • Fatty Bolger

        It’s probably in the same place as Seth Rich’s laptop and all those IRS drives that disappeared.

      • Compelled Speechless

        So we need to get a dive team directly behind the Clinton’s Martha’s Vineyard Mansion?

  5. Festus

    Mornin’ Banjos! Bringer of gifs. We salute you!

  6. Fourscore

    When things can’t go on forever, they don’t. Borrowing money to pay the interest on the credit cards is not a good sign.

    • Tres Cool

      “Sometimes you have to wreck your truck in order to get an insurance check so you can make your truck payment.” -Jeff Foxworthy (or one of those Blue Collar guys)

      • robc

        I had hail damage on a car and just cashed the check, never fixed the car.

        I figured my care was more aerodynamic, like a golf ball. I think Mythbusters tested that?

      • UnCivilServant

        Yes, I believe they did.

        Whether your particular pattern of dents helped much is a different question. Have you noticed improvements in gas milage?

      • robc

        It was a long while ago. I noticed no difference. You almost had to know they were there to see them. CarMax spotted them when I sold the car though, but they deducted WAY less than I got for it. I think I drove it about 5 years with the hail damage.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I have a slightly eccentric relative who bought a hail-damaged car cheep.

      • UnCivilServant

        Were there birds nesting in the dents?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Heh. Not sure why I intentionally misspelled that.

  7. Rebel Scum

    Defense Department ‘Encryption Keys’ Found on Hunter Biden’s Laptop

    Move along, nothing to see here.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Fake News!

      Why would Biden need encryption keys to send email to Hillary? Her server didn’t encrypt anything.

      • UnCivilServant

        To download information to give to his foreign patrons.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      It’s almost like the laptop leak kicked off a chain of events that culminated in this conflict. ?

  8. Not Adahn

    McCarthy upset he’s not invited to orgies

    It is kind of hurtful to find out you haven’t been invited to one.

    • Sensei

      Do you really want see your buddies in that way?

    • Pope Jimbo

      I would think it would be even more hurtful to be invited and then be the one guy not picked.

      We used to call it the 101 club. The person who hadn’t been laid for the longest was the President. The thinking being if there were 100 gals and 101 guys, you’d be the 1 guy who didn’t get to pair up.

      • SDF-7

        Call me cynical — but I’d assume that if a gal is willing to go to an orgy, at least 1 out of that 100 wouldn’t have a problem being open to more than one guy at once.

        But I’m a square, I know — I find the entire idea right up there with a level of hell… don’t like locker rooms, sure as hell not going to be exposed in front of a small stadium of both sexes.

      • Sensei

        My first Japanese onsen bath was bit of a leap. You DO get used to it.

        What’s more odd is that you will most likely be the only white guy there…

      • Pope Jimbo

        LOL. Been there done that.

        Capsule hotels are even crazier. The one I stayed at all the time had a floor that had a sauna, whirlpools, showers and a big room where a TV played crazy sports. I was always the only foreigner there. And no one expected me to be there either.

        The first couple times I stayed there, it took some time to convince the clerk that I understood what I was doing there. And I had to swear I had no tattoos to get in.

      • Lackadaisical

        Amen SDF.

      • Fourscore

        At all the key parties I not only got my own wife, I had to drive my crappy car home, too. Bummer

      • UnCivilServant

        Were you also the only couple there?

      • Tres Cool

        neighbor #1- Come to this party I’m throwing tonight. There’s gonna be drinkin’, fightin’ and fuckin’ !
        Neighbor #2- sounds great! How many people?
        Neighbor #1- Just me and you

      • Fourscore

        Even the homeowners left early, had a previous engagement

      • Certified Public Asshat

        This is called cope.

    • Not Adahn

      True story:

      I double majored in college, but mostly hung out with the music and dance majors (until after I moved into the Fraternity house). Sophomore year, I was walking with the girl (Audrey) who was my primary FWB at the time and we encountered another girl, both of them stiffened up and did an awkward mini-wave acknowledgement as we passed. I asked Audrey who that was and she told me “I don’t know her name, I just met her at Thursday’s orgy.”

      I was devastated. Audrey and I only lasted another couple of years after that.

    • rhywun

      And they have the “models” to prove it. That’s what “experts” do, right?

    • Rat on a train

      You are behind. It is now Impeach Thomas

    • Rebel Scum

      Republicans bad, mmkay.

    • Lackadaisical

      Experts say you must vote for Democrats.

    • R C Dean

      Monday’s decision by a federal judge in California finding that it is “more likely than not” that former President Donald Trump violated the law and “corruptly attempted to obstruct” Congress in his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

      It is simply false and misleading to say this was a “finding” by a judge. Findings are a ruling in the case. This was the judge stating his personal opinion in a ruling. Whether or not Trump committed a crime is outside the scope of that case and this is not a ruling or finding by the judge.

      I find it fascinating that the left wing is now arguing that Thomas must recuse because he couldn’t keep his wife under control.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Electricity comes from the outlet in the wall. Money comes from checkbooks.

  10. Rebel Scum

    FBI Assistant Director for the Cyber Division Bryan Vorndran told the committee that he has “no background” on the Hunter Biden laptop investigation and could not confirm whether the laptop was authentic.

    “Cyber security is not really what we do here.”

    • Festus

      “Just play dumb, noone will ever find that body!”

    • The Last American Hero

      Background? You mean like a picture of a waterfall on the home screen? Sorry, that was wiped with a cloth.

    • Gustave Lytton

      “I am totally not prepared to be asked about recent FBI related new stories or cases. My briefing team is a complete fuck up. My dog ate my homework answer is in no way what I planned ahead of time because I’d rather not talk about it. And your oversight is meaningless. “

  11. Festus

    That poor kid. We have “Carny” touring carnivals that run through town about 3-4 times a year. I remember one time about 1990 or so a hydraulic hose let go on one of the rides while we were in line. Sprayed the patrons down. Crack-Heads should not be running complex machinery.

    • Lackadaisical

      I think they mostly use meth, thank you very much.

  12. Tres Cool

    I’m still laughing my tits off @ “show me your butthole”.

    Jugsy thinks Ive sustained a head injury.

    • Sean

      Well, did you?

      • Tres Cool

        I nearly fell off the ladder laughing, and I asked the guy “does your hat say “show me your butthole?”” and he proudly replied, “yes sir it does. In fact, this is my 2nd once, since I left one in a bar one time.”

        I already looked an that hat is available on-line. I may buy one for GT. In fact I need to drop her ear buds off once I sober up and stop giggling.

      • Gender Traitor

        I’d only have the nerve to wear it in front of the cats, and they already do so without prompting.

    • UnCivilServant

      Naw, you were cracked to begin with.

  13. Rebel Scum

    Disney’s activism partner Nadine Smith of Equality Florida tells LGBTQ employees that @GovRonDeSantis and @ChristinaPushaw want to “erase you, “criminalize your existence,” and “take your kids”—a wild conspiracy theory that Republicans want to kidnap gay people’s children.

    Ok, groomer.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’m perfectly fine with labeling them as pedophiles and letting them take all the heat that comes with such a moniker.

      They’ve been willing to cancel and ruin their opponents. Let them suck up some bad juju from pissed-off parents.

  14. Tres Cool

    350 lb 14 year old, and a football up-and-comer.

    His knees never had a chance.

    /too soon ?

  15. Rebel Scum

    350lb teen, 14, who fell to his death from park drop tower was 63lb over the max weight limit for ride

    This story is a bit heavy for this early in the morning.

    • Tres Cool

      “What kind of Tyre doesnt bounce?”

      • UnCivilServant

        The levantine city?

        /Alexander

      • Tres Cool

        I was going to go with ‘now he’s flat tyre’

      • Rat on a train

        A flat one?

    • waffles

      The ride attendants are not trained to assess size of the patron beyond “the bar was locked” and “the light was on”. It’s tragic but physics wins. Every story of an on ride death seems to involve someone overweight or oversize.

      • robc

        As far as I know, the girl that had both her feet cut off (on a drop ride like this one) at Kentucky Kingdom wasn’t overweight. She also didn’t die, but that is still pretty bad.

      • Tres Cool

        I remember the story but not the details. Be great if her last name was “Stubbs”.

  16. Sean

    4️⃣ 6️⃣
    5️⃣ 7️⃣

    And that’s a great song.

    • Plisade

      Got my first 2 in Wordle!!!

    • MikeS

      3️⃣4️⃣
      5️⃣7️⃣

      I missed a 6 by one damn letter.

      Speaking of Wordle…asshoe again today. Got a 6.

      • MikeS

        Also learned a couple Wordle facts today:

        1. you can have a different Wordle depending on which site you play it on. The NYTimes is one day ahead of the original website for some stupid reason.
        2. the answers are in the code though Oct. 2027, so no blaming shitty gameplay on the new owners.

      • UnCivilServant

        So they’re admitting the shitty gameplay was baked in from the start?

      • rhywun

        Huh. I had bookmarked the original site a couple days before the switch on and that day my link was redirected to NYTimes. I thought the original was gone.

      • MikeS

        Yeah, I got to NYTimes automatically, I thought. The reason I discovered this is I play against a friend and today we learned we had different words.

    • Plisade

      4 5
      6 9

    • Grummun

      5 6
      7 9

      Had to cheat at Worldle.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I got all the surrounding countries, but couldn’t think of the name.

      • Lackadaisical

        Same here. West Africa and random overseas territories are my Achilles heels.

      • Plisade

        What is considered cheating? Just played it for the first time. I had no idea so I looked at Google Earth and found it.

      • Grummun

        For me, cheating is giving up making guesses and opening Google maps. I end up cheating most of the time, because my knowledge of geography sucks. Most parts of the world, I don’t even know the names of the countries to keep guessing. Africa is the worst.

      • Lackadaisical

        Looking things up at all would be cheating to me. I don’t look at anything while trying to answer.

      • Plisade

        Yeah, then I won’t be playing that again.

      • rhywun

        Worldle?!

        Oh I am so down with that.

        I didn’t pore over atlases throughout childhood for nothing.

        LOL got it in 1.

    • Raven Nation

      4 7
      8 9

      Completely wasted a guess on the 7

    • Fatty Bolger

      3 5
      4 7

    • Tundra

      7️⃣5️⃣
      6️⃣8️⃣

      Wasn’t looking good but I endeavored to persevere.

    • kinnath

      3️⃣6️⃣
      5️⃣9️⃣

    • blackjack

      6 3
      4 7

      I missed the rains down in Africa. I’m not real good with African nations. I got to the continent on my second guess, so i don’t feel too bad.

  17. Tonio

    Disney’s activism partner Nadine Smith of Equality Florida tells LGBTQ employees that @GovRonDeSantis and @ChristinaPushaw want to “erase you, “criminalize your existence,” and “take your kids”—a wild conspiracy theory that Republicans want to kidnap gay people’s children.

    The “erasure” thing is a reference to the “don’t say gay” bill which only applies to schoolteachers, and is a terrible bill because of its vague wording.

    “Criminalize your existence.” Really? Is anyone calling for a return of the sodomy laws which were ruled unconstitutional by SCOTUS? Is anyone trying to make it a crime to be homosexual, to rent to lesbians, to sell broccoli to the non-binary?

    “Take your kids.” While I don’t doubt that somewhere in America someone wants to cancel adoptions by homosexuals, I am unaware of anyone, anywhere having even filed a bill to that effect.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      “Take your kids.” While I don’t doubt that somewhere in America someone wants to cancel adoptions by homosexuals, I am unaware of anyone, anywhere having even filed a bill to that effect.

      This last one is progjection all the way down. There is one party that constantly threatens to take kids away from those who don’t worship at the altar of the state.

    • Rat on a train

      Florida is going to put them back in chains.

    • hayeksplosives

      THEY WANT TO PUT YALL BACK IN CHAINS!!!!

      • UnCivilServant

        Shouldn’t that be ‘the closet’?

  18. Rebel Scum

    Speaking of grooming.

    “It truly makes me feel like I am not trusted as a professional. I know my kindergarten standards through and through and nowhere in our curriculum does it have anything about teaching sexual orientation or sexual identity,” Florida kindergarten teacher Cory Bernaert says. “I am afraid for my colleagues, myself, and my students.”

    I don’t understand what is so hard about not discussing sexual topics with elementary kids.

    • Rat on a train

      I just completed annual corporate training. The parts that tell me I can’t do things as an employee that I don’t want to do don’t bother me.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      It truly makes me feel like I am not trusted as a professional

      You’re not. Your profession is up there with politicians, lawyers, journalists, and used car salesmen as one of the least trustworthy.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Professional kindergarten teacher, lol.

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        I

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        Damn phone.

      • Rat on a train

        Between what parents saw during virtually learning and other actions of teachers, you blew what trust you had.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Hey, Beavis: heh heh.

    • Tonio

      The example used in the video is that he’s afraid the law will forbid him from telling his class that he went paddleboarding with his husband over the weekend. The law speaks about “encouraging discussions” about homosexuality and gender identity. There is so much vagueness there, and no way to know how a court would interpret it. It’s a terribly-written law with a perhaps-good intent.

      • Rat on a train

        I don’t recall teachers talking about their personal life. Maybe that has changed along with parents wanting to be their child’s friend instead of parent.

      • UnCivilServant

        My recollection was that the less they knew about the subject, the more they wanted to talk about themselves.

      • Plisade

        The only sexual discussion I recall a teacher having with my class started off regarding marijuana. It was in a high school science class. The students asked the teacher’s opinion on drugs, specifically marijuana. He told us he knew a married couple that, when younger, were always high when they had sex. But when they wanted to quit weed, they no longer enjoyed sex, so they couldn’t quit it. Nobody freaked; nobody thought to tattle on the teacher.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I think the sex talk started in 5th grade. Was probably just a basic birds and bees/puberty discussion.

        Of course my 5th grade teacher eventually went to prison for molestation.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Yeah, the live demonstrations were probably over the line.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        It wasn’t that bad, but very creepy in hindsight that this guy was in-charge of having these talks.

      • Nephilium

        South Park did it.

      • Lackadaisical

        Iirc, this bill only applies to k-3, I don’t need teachers talking to my kid about sex or relationships at that stage, thanks.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Remember in the good old days of the 1980s when the government teaching kids about sex at all was a bit controversial?

      • Lackadaisical

        No? I’m too young.

        But I have no problem striking that out too. I can manage to educate my son on such delicate matters if the school establishment cannot be trusted to do so appropriately.

      • Fourscore

        Look, Dude, we had to learn about sex from the gutter. If it was good enough for Cornhop and me it’s good enough for the kids of today.

      • Animal

        I remember Dean Martin once commenting, “People say I learned about sex as a kid, from little boys in the street. That’s absolutely not true! I learned about sex from little girls in the street.”

        Nowadays that would get him cancelled. But this was the Sixties.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Yes. Not only that, but parents wouldn’t sign permission slips (imagine that) for their kids to be taught that. And it wasn’t just one weirdo either.

        Now apparently the schools decide what they want to do and parents find out later. Or never.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Vague enough to warrant the over the top freak out by the left?

      • Rebel Scum

        IOW nothing is stopping that conversation. When asked about his partner it should be “People can be with whoever they want to be with” and leave it at that. They are saying that there are things in the bill that are not there. Narrative > facts.

      • Plisade

        So, does the bill prohibit “encouraging discussions” about any sexuality or does it single out homosexuality?

      • UnCivilServant

        Any.

        You’re not supposed to go into those topics with students of those grade levels.

      • Plisade

        Then I don’t see the problem.

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s not a problem to people whose priorities are normal. It’s a big deal to people who have made mental abuse of children a lifestyle.

      • R.J.

        Most of the people protesting don’t even HAVE children and should have no say in the conversation. Parents control how kids are raised. Not strangers.

      • Rat on a train

        it takes a village of idiots

      • Mustang

        So it applies to straight teachers as well then, yet I doubt anyone gives a shit if a woman teacher mentions her husband or vice versa. Nobody cares except people whose whole world revolves around sex, and I don’t want those people around my kid.

        So much for democracy. If DeSantis wins reelection (I suspect he will) will these people shut up and move? I don’t even know why I ask.

      • Rat on a train

        Disparate impact would only allow a neutral worded rule if the impacts are equal. If trannies are proselytizing but cissies are not, the rule cannot stand.

      • Lackadaisical

        Disparate impact, applied consistently would mean we have to decriminalize everything. It’s a dumb doctrine.

  19. waffles

    Defense Department ‘Encryption Keys’ Found on Hunter Biden’s Laptop

    This story keeps getting worse. It’s so disheartening. I am still angry at my sister for believing the whole laptop thing was a conspiracy/hoax/disinformation. I guess I can move past that soon enough.

    • Grummun

      “Encryption keys” really undersells the magnitude of what was found. Root certificates for a DoD certificate authority. Those should be burned to read-only media at time of creation and stored offline, only loaded on a computer long enough to sign intermediate certificates. That anyone could have them, let alone on a personal laptop, raises all sorts of questions about exactly how stupid or corrupt the DoD’s IT people are.

      • l0b0t

        Going back 30 or so years, our CEOI codebooks were attached to us by a paracord lanyard (and were the very first things to be destroyed in the event of an enemy overrun) because the penalties for misplacing or mishandling them were so severe.

      • Lackadaisical

        And nothing else happened.

        Just like Hillary this is going no where, because it goes right to the top.

      • Dr Mossy Lawn

        You are actually believing what the media says… remember they know nothing technical and went to Jschool. Whatever researcher this was misinterpreted standard public certificates.

        Everyone is just reporting what one guy “said” and I will say 100% that he was wrong. Show me the key… unless you actually have the private key modulus, you can in no way tell what cert it matches to.

        Here, you can do download those magic DOD encryptions keys: (hint, they aren’t keys)

        https://www.nps.edu/web/technology/dod-certificates

        Anyone can. The Public Cert part of a PKI in no way compromises the actual security.

  20. Rebel Scum

    You will own nothing and you will be happy.

    Investment firms, like Tricon Residential, are quietly buying a substantial number of homes for sale in high-migration areas of the U.S. These firms are receiving financing from big Wall Street banks and are most active in the Sun Belt.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Blackrock is heavy into it as well.

      All funded by the Federal Reserve. In other words, they’re stealing from you by inflating the currency and giving it to private equity firms to buy up real estate making housing less affordable for everyone.

      It’s not understatement to say I hate those bastards with the heat of a thousand suns. They’re all thieves.

      • robc

        And, of course, the investment firms are going to fight tooth and nail against any efforts to make building new housing easier, because that would crash their property values.

        Zoning may literally be one of the most evil things invented.

      • Fourscore

        “What if everyone decided….”

        I’ve heard that and other bright comments at Zoning Board meetings. Having to get rezoned X2 times to allow me the property use I wanted was a pain and expensive.

    • R.J.

      This companies will go utterly bankrupt during the next recession.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Two things about that.

        1) Bailouts
        2) Central bank digital currency and a bank holiday/dollar reset

        The four largest equity firms (Blackrock, State Street, Vanguard, and one other) hold over $200T in combined assets. There is no way in hell they’re not planning on self-preservation/fucking the serfs over. They own stakes across almost every industry and the Fed is under their influence. It’s hard to understate how powerful they are.

      • Shpip

        Top firms by AUM, ranked.

        Not sure where you’re getting $200 trillion from. The top five (I’m a client of two of them, and own a fund run by a third) have a total of about $30.4T under management. Expand to the top 10, and it’s just over $40T.

        Maybe they are TBTF, and they almost certainly have the Fed’s ear, but I can’t see them actively conspiring against their own clientele.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Sorry, typo. Was supposed to be $20T

      • The Last American Hero

        And will promptly be bailed out as “too big to fail” and “people will lose their homes” which, while true for some people is grossly overstated.

    • UnCivilServant

      Small potatos in terms of self-dealing around here.

  21. hayeksplosives

    Why bother to raise taxes at al? Now that deficits, not the Debt, are measured in trillions and the money printer continues to whir, isn’t it rather pointless?

    • UnCivilServant

      Because you need a stick to punish specific classes of wrongthinkers.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        This. The tax code is for social engineering, not for fundraising. Always has been, but now much more openly so.

      • Rat on a train

        Yep, taxes aren’t about revenue, they are about rewarding friends and punishing enemies.

        I recall Obama saying he didn’t care if raising rates didn’t bring in more revenue. It was a moral duty to reduce unequal outcomes.

      • Tonio

        ^This. The goal is to create a society in which nobody has more than anyone else. Nobody gets a scooter until everyone has a bicycle, yet the party bosses will ride around in limousines.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    It’s doomsday scenarios, all the way down

    Opponents say the law will effectively muzzle any discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity, out of fear. Under the law, parents can sue the school district if they believe the school is in violation.

    “Honestly, I feel like it’s just a blatant attack on education,” says Jorje Botello, who has taught eighth grade American history for 19 years at Osceola Middle School in rural Okeechobee, Fla. “A lot of these bills are written by people that have never set foot in a public education classroom.”

    ——-

    Looking ahead to teaching under the new law, Botello says he’ll be more cautious.

    “I know that I have to think a little harder when I navigate [these subjects] next year, now that this bill is gonna be in effect,” he says.

    If the climate becomes too restrictive, Botello says, he might have to consider retiring.

    Bless your heart. Good luck in your future endeavors, down at the Piggly Wiggly.

    • UnCivilServant

      As someone who suffered through a public education classroom, the more we can expunge the credentialed class of acedemia from that space, the less abusive it will be towards the children.

    • robc

      Separation of school and state and this becomes a non-issue.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Government schooling is child abuse. This teacher is one of the professional abusers.

    • rhywun

      Is this the one who blathers on about how “his kids” want to know about his private life?

      Sure, Jan.

      I can state with all confidence that I never once inquired about a teacher’s private life in grammar school.
      In high school we had a teacher “friend” who set up all kinds of activities for the German students – a weekend at the rich kid’s cabin on the lake, say. We all suspected he was gay but nobody gave a shit or questioned it and he didn’t seem the least bit put out that we didn’t want to know all about his sex life.

      No, I think what much of this is really about is they want to gay it up in front of kids in a vain attempt at stopping all the kids from calling each other “faggot” all the time. I hate to break it to them, but that isn’t going to happen.

    • LJW

      You’re a history teacher teach history! It’s not your job to provide counseling.

      • Rebel Scum

        Speaking of history, I learned from The Gilded Age that John Adams had a gay grandson. Shows what you know. //jk

    • Rebel Scum

      “A lot of these bills are written by people that have never set foot in a public education classroom.”

      They were all home schooled?

      As if it matters anyway. Education majors are the stupidest people in college.

      • Tonio

        They know exactly what they are saying. It’s expertism and credentialism all the way down. Educrats feel that they, and only they, should be in charge of the schools. Look at the recent move to discredit parents who want access to curricula, etc. They of course want to discredit people who went to non-government schools because class warfare (rich kids who went to swanky private schools) and culture warfare (poor kids who went to religious schools). And they get particularly outraged when taxpayers claim lived experience as a public school students to justify their opinions.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s about control. The Ed schools are ground zero for political activism. They get to groom the next generation, feel good about it, and not be held accountable for anything.

      • Lackadaisical

        That’s what blew my mind Tonio. I always remember getting a syllabus in school. I guess my teachers weren’t trying to hide what they were going to teach. Why would it be any different now?

        Trying to hide stuff only makes you look guilty.

      • Lackadaisical

        That’s all I could think.

        And then I figured, that is probably exactly who we need to write laws about how to educate. Only ever met nice, respectful and smart homeschoolers.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I’m guessing a very high proportion of politicians went to private schools. Same with their kids.

      • Fourscore

        While I should be resentful, RS, I’m not because you are right. It’s like doctors know the doc jokes, lawyers know the lawyer jokes. Teachers know that teachers are the joke.

  23. The Late P Brooks

    McCracken is appalled when he hears DeSantis claim that schools are, in the governor’s words, “sexualizing” kids and “injecting transgenderism” into the classroom.

    “This is a created culture war from him so that he can achieve his political ambitions. That’s all this is,” McCracken says. “So yeah, I’m not teaching kids how to be gay in my classroom, but I’ll tell you what I am doing. I am trying with all my power to teach kids to be OK with who they are.”

    Not the rednecks, though. We have to rescue them from their inbred hatred and bigotry.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      I am trying with all my power to teach kids to be OK with who they are.

      Fuck right off. Stick to the three R’s, hired hand!

      • Festus

        Ream, Ram and Ravish?

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Didn’t read article; first name Phil?

      • Festus

        Nicely done!

      • Mustang

        This is the kind of high quality comment I keep coming back for.

    • Grumbletarian

      “I am trying with all my power to teach kids to be OK with who they are.”

      Unless they’re super-straight.

      • Festus

        That’s the worst part. Xe should be teaching kids about who they aren’t. So they can learn. I don’t want to live on this world anymore.

  24. Rebel Scum

    Seems legit.

    The nearly 17 million Americans who received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine are less protected against serious illness and hospitalizations than those who got the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots, according to federal data released Tuesday.

    The latest data suggest Johnson & Johnson recipients should get a booster with one of the messenger RNA vaccines, if they haven’t already done so — and even consider a second messenger RNA booster for the greatest protection. The data come from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that analyzed the results of mix-and-match vaccine-and-booster combinations during a four-month period when the highly transmissible omicron variant was dominant.

    Even combining a Johnson & Johnson vaccine with a booster of either Johnson & Johnson, or one of the two messenger RNA vaccines, wasn’t as strong as three shots of the messenger RNA vaccines in preventing emergency room visits or hospitalizations, according to the report.

    It seems like the CDC is trying to kill people.

    • Sean

      It’s nothing personal, it’s just business.

  25. Lackadaisical

    “350lb teen, 14, who fell to his death from park drop tower was 63lb over the max weight limit for ride”

    This is why we have factors of safety.

  26. hayeksplosives

    My family is going through a health crisis with my mother at present.

    A couple of weeks ago, I flew to Oklahoma to visit her at the behest of my brother and sister who recognized that her mental state was deteriorating quickly. Had as good of a visit as one could expect under the circumstances.

    Yesterday evening, mom started to complain of discomfort and then chest pain. Sister called an ambulance and they took her to the ER at an OKC hospital. Ran lots of tests, some still pending. She’s been admitted to the hospital.

    One test result stuck out: very elevated level of troponin. What’s troponin? A heart enzyme that indicates acute inflammation of the myocardium.

    What causes it? Improper immune system reaction, often due to an external stimulant. For example, reaction to the mRNA Covid 19 vaccine. Guess who recently got her booster?

    I am now ready to exact bloody revenge. Sure, she’s elderly, but she has never had heart problems before in her life, and now is on morphine for the pain.

    Fuck Fauci. Fuck Pfizer. Fuck Xi. All the “elites” who’ve put us through this homicidal sadistic nightmare deserve to rot in hell.

    • Lackadaisical

      Sorry to hear about your mother. May God keep you steady in this difficult time and give you the strength to get through this and to be there for your family.

    • Sean

      Sorry to hear about your mom.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Prayers for mama Hayek. Flaming anger towards the a-holes who architected this shit.

      • Atanarjuat

        Thanks for finding and sharing this. My ex gave my teen son the Pfizer jab against my wishes. I am so thankful he wasn’t one of the unlucky ones.

    • Grumbletarian

      Wow, best wishes for her recovery.

    • robodruid

      Sorry Hayek. Hope and prayers that she gets better. Can’t be fun.

    • Festus

      Sorry to hear. I’m betting there will be lots of this happening, especially with the older cohort. Hope your Mom feels better.

    • Trigger Hippie

      Damn sorry to hear that, hk. Sending you best wishes.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’m right there with you. My MIL called yesterday. She’s had low blood pressure all her life and suddenly it’s gone to 190/90.

      I wonder what changed? Hmmmm….

    • Shpip

      Fuck Fauci. Fuck Pfizer. Fuck Xi.

      I agree with the sentiment in whole, but try to remember that in this instance, given Mom’s advanced age, Occam’s Razor suggests acute angina or a “mild” MI as the cause of her elevated troponin. Cardiologists can usually get an accurate diagnosis, but it takes time.

      Hope she feels better soon, on her way to a full recovery.

      • hayeksplosives

        Occam’s razor is a good reminder. In this particular case, it points to immune response being more likely than cardiac plumbing issues.

        And yes she’s old, but she doesn’t deserve to be hastened out of this world in pain. She already has lost the joy of living over the last two years due to Covid reactionary hysteria.

        I’ll be more coherent after I get some damned sleep.

    • Tundra

      Sorry, HE.

      Y’all are in my prayers, too.

    • hayeksplosives

      Thank you for your words of support and prayers.

      • Fourscore

        Sorry to hear that news, HE. I’m guessing your Mom is closer to my age. I hope she will improve and can get out of the hospital.

        Last night I got the news that a classmate’s husband had a stroke and is now in a care center. Same age as me, got all the vaccines, wore a mask last winter when he visited me.

        I’m grateful that Mrs F and I didn’t get the vaccines, we are sort of outliers when it comes to old people and health and didn’t think we were in vulnerable group.

      • hayeksplosives

        Yeah, Mom’s up there in the 4×20 + range. She’s still living by herself (plus the obligatory two cats) and up until the last month she and I had regular phone calls talking about various intellectual topics that proved her brain was still functional, aside from the occasional forgetting of a particular word.

        But shit has gone sideways in a hurry lately. We shall see how it goes.

    • ron73440

      Sorry to hear that.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    I actually watched that E Warren clip Rebel Scum linked. Gadfrey, what an insufferable cunt. I wonder how she would respond to my analysis of the completely wrongheaded incentives which exist in the political sphere.

    “So tell me, Senator, how many jobs have you created? How much net positive wealth have you added to the economy? How many people have you freed from the pointless burdens of government regulation?”

    • hayeksplosives

      That list is awesomeness condensed.

      I especially like the Daily Wire one and the View.

    • Shpip

      Will Smith is The Babylon Bee’s Woman Of The Year

      I didn’t realize that The Bee kept a biologist on staff.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Tell me, Senator Warren, absent the threat of force, how many people would willingly pay the government for its “services rendered”?

  29. Tres Cool

    “FBI exec denies knowing whereabouts of Hunter Biden laptop as contents put into congressional record”

    The presenter, Madison Foglio looks like she was popped in the R eye. Either she turned her head to avoid the hit, or the person was a lefty.

    CSI: Tres Cool

    • Trigger Hippie

      I clicked on the link and thought to myself “Why did Just the News hire a twelve year old girl to be their anchor?”

  30. Sean
    • Lackadaisical

      Good save.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Disgraceful

    Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said the way Republican senators treated Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson at last week’s hearings was “disgraceful” and “embarrassing” after they repeatedly brought up her record of sentencing child pornography offenders.

    Manchin said the behavior of GOP colleagues who repeatedly cut off Jackson while she tried to answer their questions about her sentencing decision crossed the line to become inappropriate.

    “It was disgraceful, it really was, what I saw. And I met with her and I read all the transcripts. I listened to basically the hearings and it just was embarrassing,” he told reporters Tuesday morning.

    You’d think somebody accused her of rape.

    • Tres Cool

      “Centrist” (D)?

      Is that like calling Zimmerman the ‘white-hispanic’?

    • Rebel Scum

      Not just rape, running a train on unsuspecting co-eds that are known political activists that can’t put a time/place on the event or provide any evidence and are controverted by alleged witness to said overt act(s).

      It was disgraceful, it really was, what I saw.

      Questioning a person’s record = disgraceful
      Giving a sappy monologue that does a disservice to the nomination process = perfectly fine

      • Lackadaisical

        Yup, it’s bizarro world.

    • Festus

      He knows which side of the buttered bread lands face down.

  32. The Other Kevin

    Last night I had a dream about a UFO. Weren’t they going to announce UFO’s were real? Are we not doing that anymore?

    • UnCivilServant

      You sure it was a dream?

    • Trigger Hippie

      I just assume all world leaders have been skinsuited by aliens via V style and are currently doing the work of slowly destroying humanity.

      The world makes more sense to me that way.

      • Rebel Scum

        That would explain Pelosi and co.

    • Rebel Scum

      I heard UFOs were savaging the Russian battalions because they stand with Ukraine.

    • PutridMeat
    • pistoffnick the refusnik

      Last night I had a dream about a UFO.

      Is your butthole sore?

  33. Certified Public Asshat

    Related to the Disney story:

    SCOOP: Disney corporate president Karey Burke says, "as the mother [of] one transgender child and one pansexual child," she supports having "many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories" and wants a minimum of 50 percent of characters to be LGBTQIA and racial minorities. pic.twitter.com/oFRUiuu9JG— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022

    What are the odds that two of your kids are “unique” ?

    • UnCivilServant

      I’d wager that neither of them actually are, but say these things to please their overbearing parent.

    • rhywun

      minimum of 50 percent of characters to be LGBTQIA and racial minorities

      Love how they lump those two identity groups together. That’s not patronizing at all.

      • Not Adahn

        You have more in common with an Asante weaver than a whitecishetpatriarch from your company. The social science is settled.

      • Atanarjuat

        Hopefully Disney won’t be accurately depicting how racial minorities view LGBTQIA people.

      • waffles

        If you’re not gay or brown are you really even a person? Do your lived experiences carry any meaning at all?

        She just wants to tell stories that matter.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That happens when you promote the ideas to your kids and shower them with attention for “identifying.”

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Incentives, what the hell are they?

    • Rebel Scum

      I suppose they can be groomed to be any way you like…

    • Fatty Bolger

      Those poor kids.

    • Lackadaisical

      Of there is one, the odds seem unusually high that more of the kids will ‘identify’ as something strange.

      Whether or attention, environment or genetics, I’m not sure. I suspect all 3.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    The further adventures of history’s greatest monster

    In a new interview published Tuesday, former President Donald Trump called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release any damaging information he has about the Biden family, in a brazen request for domestic political assistance from America’s top adversary.

    It’s the latest example of Trump’s willingness to solicit and embrace domestic political help from foreign powers — even from Putin, who is currently overseeing a bloody war against Ukraine.

    In an interview with JustTheNews, Trump pushed an unproven claim about Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Russia, and asked Putin to release any information that he might have about the situation. It’s not clear that any material exists, or if the Kremlin has access to it.

    “I would think Putin would know the answer to that,” Trump said, referring to Hunter Biden’s potential dealings in Russia. “I think he should release it. I think we should know that answer.”

    It is true that Hunter Biden was paid handsomely for consulting work he did in foreign countries, including Ukraine and China, while his father — President Joe Biden — was vice president. The Justice Department has an ongoing criminal investigation into these dealings and potential financial crimes.

    But no evidence has emerged to support Trump’s claims that the Bidens engaged in corruption or influenced US policy for personal gain, and the President hasn’t been implicated in the probe. Hunter Biden has denied wrongdoing and says he’ll be cleared when the criminal probe is over.

    And CNN will fight to the death to prevent any such evidence from seeing the light of day.

    • Rebel Scum

      Trump pushed an unproven claim about Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Russia

      Unproven, except for all the proof.

      But no evidence has emerged to support Trump’s claims that the Bidens engaged in corruption or influenced US policy for personal gain

      One fired prosecutor has a sad.

    • rhywun

      America’s top adversary

      Bullshit.

  35. Grumbletarian

    The NFL’s new OT playoff rules are bullshit. That’s about as succinct as I can put it. It’s apparently too much to ask that a playoff caliber team be able to stop the other team from going the entire fucking length of the field and scoring a touchdown.

    • Rat on a train

      They should go with the equivalent of penalty shots. Five field goal tries with different kickers. How about red rover?

      • Grumbletarian

        At the end of regulation, they should check to make sure both teams have had an equal number of times on offense., If not, whichever team is behind gets that many more chances to score. It’s only fair.

    • Lackadaisical

      Linky?

      Sounds like I’d support the rules.

      • rhywun

        I’m debating whether I’m going to give a shit about football this year, especially with them dialing up the woke to 11. I’m leaning towards “no”.

      • The Last American Hero

        I quit 2 years ago after following the game and teams closely for 25+. I don’t miss it at all, and my team did well 2 years ago and sucked ass this year. Like Phil Collins, I Don’t Care Anymore.

      • Lackadaisical

        Yup, the explicit racism against me should be reason enough.

      • Fourscore

        Millionaire players bitching about lack of recognition and taking a knee, whatever that means? If I was a player I’d be praying and thanking TPTB for making me a rich young man.

      • Lackadaisical

        This rule change will only apply to the postseason, where the advantage has statistically been more skewed toward the team winning the overtime coin toss (they’re 10-2 in such contests since the previous OT format began in 2010) than in the regular season.

        Why should winning a coin toss significantly impact your chances to win? This isn’t bingo, it’s meant to be a game of skill.

      • Grumbletarian

        Why does a team that can’t stop another team from scoring a touchdown deserve to win?

      • Lackadaisical

        I’m not seeing how your argument makes any sense, you’re only giving one team a shot at it, all I’m saying is give both teams a possession. If they both score touchdowns then neither team wins, better? 😉

      • Grumbletarian

        You’re not seeing how my argument makes sense? It’s simple: If You’re On Defense First, Stop The Other Team From Scoring A Touchdown.

        Explain why, after a full game has already been played, both teams have to get a chance on offense in overtime without resorting to the ‘it’s only fair’ argument. If fairness matters that much, then before you get to overtime, make sure both teams have had an equal number of chances on offense in regulation. Did one team succeed at an onside kick? Well the other team then gets an extra chance on offense at the end of regulation. Did one team score on a fumble recovery or interception? Great, exciting, but that meant their offense didn’t actually go out on the field, so maybe they get another turn before OT if necessary. It’s only fair.

        Ties don’t work in the playoffs. Some team has to win and move on and some team has to go home. Maybe we should change that, too.

      • Grumbletarian

        “Our playoff-caliber team couldn’t stop another team from marching down the field and scoring a touchdown in overtime, so we lost. Personally, I blame the coin.”

        sin,
        Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Bill Walsh, John Madden, Bill Parcells, etc.?

      • Lackadaisical

        Why even make the defending team have a possession? If you don’t score the defender should automatically win. You don’t deserve to win unless you score a touchdown. It’s nonsense.

        Its not fair to have equal number of possessions.

        It’s fair to have equal number of chances at possession. That’s why the team that started with the ball at the start of the game kicks it off in the second half, because they realize that a coin flip should not materially affect what is nominally a game of skill. If your chances to win change from 50/50 to 80/20 based on a coin flip it’s not a game of skill anymore, it’s luck.

      • Lackadaisical

        You realize it would only make a difference if the other team ALSO couldn’t stop the other playoff team from ‘marching down the field and scoring a touchdown’ right?

      • Grumbletarian

        Why even make the defending team have a possession?

        Because the winner is the team with the most points. Gosh, maybe that should change too.

        It’s fair to…

        Thanks, you failed my request.

        If your chances to win change from 50/50 to 80/20 based on a coin flip it’s not a game of skill anymore, it’s luck.

        That statistic is based on a set of 12.

      • Grumbletarian

        You realize it would only make a difference if the other team ALSO couldn’t stop the other playoff team from ‘marching down the field and scoring a touchdown’ right?

        Yes, which is why I said the following above: “The only reason the coin toss matters anymore is for the potential crucial third possession.”

      • Grumbletarian

        I should also point out that if you’re on defense you have a chance at possession. They’re called turnovers and they’ve been in the game since forever.

      • Lackadaisical

        “Thanks, you failed my request.”

        It’s not a failure of it wasn’t something I was trying to do. Usually rules are made to be fair. If your want arbitrary and unfair I can see why you support the previous rule. Calling a moron is beneath you, but I can see there is no point to this conversation. I hope you have a nice day.

      • Grumbletarian

        Lack.
        My intent was not to call you specifically a moron. Sorry.

        I thought the rules were fine before. Originally sudden death OT did mean the coin-toss-winning team could throw a couple of passes and try a long field goal and win. That was unfair. Going to the ‘field goal isn’t enough’ rules were great. Defense still mattered, and teams had to really play to win if they wanted to just walk off the field. This new bullshit is just the participation trophy of rules because all the advocates literally and do is say it’s not fair, and most times it’s when their team is on the losing end. The Bills didn’t support the Chiefs when they asked for that rules change when they lost to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game, but they were all for it after last year. Fuck them.

      • Grumbletarian

        “Over the last ten years the team winning the coin toss wins in OT on the third possession 90 percent of the time. NOT FAIR!”

        sin,
        Morons in 2032.

  36. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    The higher taxes would largely be borne by Wall Street and the top sliver of U.S. households, in the form of a steeper corporate rate, a modified wealth tax and a global minimum tax.

    What the fuck is a “global minimum tax”?

    • Rebel Scum

      “You will soon find out.” – WEF

      • rhywun

        Yeah, it is one of their wet dreams. The better to plunder us by.

        Go fuck yourself, Joe.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s kind of like what your 300 lb linebacker cellmate expects from you.

    • Rat on a train

      They want governments to collude on prices tax rates to reduce competition.

  37. Rebel Scum

    Nissan has a sad.

    Two German states announced on Saturday that it is now illegal to display in public the letter “Z,” a symbol of Russian nationalism.

    Anyone who bears the emblem while at pro-Russian protests in Lower Saxony and Bavaria could face up to three years in prison or a fine, according to officials. …

    German officials noted that while “Z” would be banned in situations connected to pro-Russian rallies, the letter is not entirely restricted. “The letter Z as such is of course not forbidden, but its use may in individual cases constitute an endorsement of the Russian war of aggression,” a spokesperson for the German Interior Ministry told reporters, according to Reuters.

    I do not like ver zis zensorship is going.

    • Rat on a train

      It’s not a Z. It’s a N that fell on its side.

    • Lackadaisical

      Exactly what I expect from Germany.

    • Tundra

      Wonderful.

      Thanks, Holiness!

  38. Mojeaux

    350lb teen, 14, who fell to his death from park drop tower was 63lb over the max weight limit for ride

    Called it.

    • Lackadaisical

      Does anyone else think that the ride’s limit is strange? 287 lbs, really? Or was the kids actually 363? Either way, they sure are cutting it close with their limit.

      • rhywun

        The kid wasn’t 350 – it was some not round number, so yeah probably 363.

      • Not Adahn

        Well, were they able to gather all of him up to get an accurate weight? Or was the final mass biased high because of included pavement scrapings and the like?

      • The Last American Hero

        The real limit is likely 250, 287 is what the machine will tolerate.

      • Sensei

        Does 130kg sound better?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        0.75 Trigglypuffs

      • Sensei

        0.75 T-Tons.

      • Lackadaisical

        Ah, I suppose I should have checked that.

        Anyway, a factor of safety of less than 1.2 on a dynamic load like that? But what do you expect from people doing their engineering in metric?

    • Pope Jimbo

      I’m not going to pretend. The sight of a big guy falling and splatting on the pavement has to be more interesting than a little skinny guy.

      • Fourscore

        As long as it’s not a participant sport

        /Thanks Jimbo for the electronics

  39. Bobarian LMD

    Suspended from Tweeter this AM for using Colbert’s words against him.

    Colbert said Doocy should be slapped for asking the President about his statements.

    My tweet ban was immediate.

    @StephenAtHome Steven Colbert should be slapped for opening his cock holster.

    • rhywun

      I remember when he was sort-of funny. What a colossal tool he turned out to be.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        After people left the Daily show, they became unfunny.

        Daily show writers used to be decent at hiding Leftyism in gotcha comedy news. I used to laugh at anyone who thought colbert was actually a nonLefty on comedy central. He would have never gotten a show.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Suicide pact

    Governors from 21 states are suing to end the federal public transportation mask mandate, claiming the continued enforcement “harms the states” and interferes with some local laws.

    The filing comes just days after airline CEOs called on President Biden to drop the mandate.

    ——-

    This newest charge from nearly two dozen states targets the leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security.

    A spokesman for the TSA told NPR that the agency will not comment on pending litigation. The CDC didn’t immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment.

    This legal action comes just weeks after the TSA decided to extend the mandate for mask use on public transportation and in transportation hubs through April 18. The mandate was originally set to expire on March 18.

    The CDC says it’s working on a “revised policy framework” for face coverings.

    You can’t dispute the CDC. They’re experts!

  41. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Looks like France and Germany aren’t wholly on board with fighting Russia.

    https://news.antiwar.com/2022/03/29/report-nato-allies-split-on-whether-to-talk-with-putin-what-weapons-to-give-ukraine/

    NATO members are split on whether or not they should be speaking with Putin to seek a diplomatic solution to the war. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have been engaging with Putin and favor the idea of talks as a way to end the crisis.

    “In view of the horrible pictures that we currently have to stomach now for several days and actually weeks, the highest priority for now is to be able to reach a cease-fire so that the killing can stop,” Steffen Hebestreit, a spokesman for Scholz, told reporters on Monday.

  42. Rebel Scum

    White people are the debil.

    During a panel discussion, Stewart argued with guest Andrew Sullivan, who pushed back against the idea that the U.S. is a “white supremacist” nation.

    Sullivan said that Stewart’s use of the term “white supremacy” to describe the contemporary U.S. minimized actual white supremacy. When Stewart mentioned racist “systems,” Sullivan asked him to describe what those systems were. Stewart then gave examples of allegedly racist (Democrat) legislation, such as the New Deal and the G.I. Bill.

    Another guest, Lisa Bond, then interjected, and told Sullivan that she was “shutting [him] down right now.” She argued that Sullivan was a racist, and that by disagreeing with the idea that America is a white supremacist country, Sullivan was using “racist dog-whistle tropes.”

    Now imagine if we flipped the script on skin pigment here.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Well then, if I’m a white supremacist by default why shouldn’t I align myself with those who will at least defend me against my enemies?

      They seem intent on escalating this into a race war. As a matter of self-preservation, a reactionary movement is already growing. They won’t like what happens when it gains a real head of steam. Idiots.

      • Rebel Scum

        As a matter of self-preservation, a reactionary movement is already growing.

        They will create that which they claim to hate.

      • Atanarjuat

        US elites love to create villains – mujahideen, ISIS, white supremacists, etc.

      • rhywun

        They seem intent on escalating this into a race war.

        That is exactly what they are doing, and by design.

        Same reason the left keeps the poor poor – by design. To create chaos and profit off of it.

      • The Last American Hero

        Yep. Take some white kid who has no view on race, call him a bigot for 13 years of school, see how that turns out.

        By the way, I know math is racist and all, but does the Black Community realize they are a tad outnumbered, and ridiculously so outside of downtown areas?

        -But people want to start a race war with a group that by their own admission, controls the government, the courts, the military, business, and outnumbers them 7-1?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        And holds most of the privately owned guns. And is growing its numbers (and ammo reserves) because of the rhetoric from the Left.

        It’s insane.

      • Trigger Hippie

        “I have a solution for that.”

        /Swalwell

      • rhywun

        no view on race

        That’s racist itself now. He must celebrate the BIPOC, to demonstrate his loyalty.

      • Pope Jimbo

        What are you talking about? I watch TV and every couple is either 100% black or at least mixed. So I’m sure black people make up at least 50% of the population.

    • Pope Jimbo

      At what point, do the crackers decide that if they are going to do the time, they might as well do the crime?

      If there is no way a white person can be considered a non-racist under any circumstances, why not be a racist? Fuck hiring any non-white. Gotta keep the power to your own race. Fuck helping anyone with a different skin color.

      • l0b0t

        “At what point, do the crackers decide that if they are going to do the time, they might as well do the crime?”

        1991?

  43. The Late P Brooks

    Another guest, Lisa Bond, then interjected, and told Sullivan that she was “shutting [him] down right now.” She argued that Sullivan was a racist, and that by disagreeing with the idea that America is a white supremacist country, Sullivan was using “racist dog-whistle tropes.”

    That’s not a debate. That’s just contradiction.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s argument by assertion and ad hominem. There cannot be good faith debates.

      Therefore it will devolve to violence.

    • Nephilium

      No it isn’t.

      • Atanarjuat

        *raises hand* “Would a hypothetical white supremacist nation re-elect a black president?”

      • Gustave Lytton

        That’s merely proof of how racist it is.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Yes it is.

      • Nephilium

        No it isn’t!

      • Trigger Hippie

        Yes it is!

      • Sean

        Duck season!

      • Rebel Scum

        Rabbit season!

      • Trigger Hippie

        Lemon curry?

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        Look, I paid for an argument.

      • TARDis

        Will ya settle for a pissing contest?

  44. Rebel Scum

    Priorities.

    President Biden on signing the ‘Emmett Till Antilynching Act’: “No federal law, no federal law, expressly prohibited lynching—none—until today.”

    No comment on the existing illegality of kidnapping/assault/murder…

    • Ownbestenemy

      Or that lynching was already a federal crime….this just adds modifiers to existing law from what I read.

  45. Not Adahn

    Vassar college newspaper celebrates canceling a trumpalo.

    But wait! Were they sufficiently inclusive in the skin colors expressing identical hatred? Nyet, comrade.

    In prioritizing urgency over thoroughness, we made misguided and insensitive oversights with whom we were representing in the article and failed to provide in-depth reporting of the issue at large. The majority of our quotations came from white students and therefore we reduced the positions of students of color to a singular, tokenized perspective. After this was brought to our attention, the paper decided to remove the article online in an attempt to prevent further harm among the communities we misrepresented.

    They then spend three additional paragraphs groveling before the DIE altar.

    • rhywun

      It is amazing the left can even tie its own shoes at this point.

  46. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. You gun nuts should be mad at Minnesoda.

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — A man is accused of stealing numerous boxes of guns and ammunition while working at a national shipping company in Minnesota, prosecutors said Monday.

    A search of Cikotte’s house turned up about 40 guns, tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition and firearm parts and accessories, authorities said.

    • Fourscore

      He had a good start anyway, he might have made a Minnesoda guy yet.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    US elites love to create villains – mujahideen, ISIS, white supremacists, etc.

    Big villains. Larger than life. The bigger, badder, meaner, more villainous they are, the braver and more noble we look.

    • Pope Jimbo

      I think that it is natural for people (especially youngsters) to want to fight for Good agains Evil. The problem is that the world has improved a lot and there really aren’t many truly Evil things to fight against.

      Our supply of Evil is greatly outstripped by the demand for it (as a foe). So we have to come up with Evil substitutes. And they just aren’t as good as the real thing.

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        …just aren’t as good as the real thing.

        The Mr. Pibb of villians?

      • Tundra

        *standing ovation*

  48. Atanarjuat

    https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/03/ukraine-sit-rep-part-ii-of-russias-military-operation-unfolds.html#more

    The Russian command has decided to now concentrate on enveloping and destroying Ukraine’s main forces at the Donetsk front. These are the most heavy equipped and most experienced units of the Ukrainian army. Since last fall some 60,000 men had been assembled there for a full fledged war on Donetsk, an attack that the Russian operation successfully preempted.

    The general task for the whole military operation as set out by the Russian command was to de-militarize and to de-nazify the Ukraine.

    The material de-militarization of the Ukraine is mostly done. During the next few weeks the Russian air and long range artillery forces will finish that task. The Ukraine would have to completely rearm, starting at about zero, should it want to regain significant military capabilities. It is hard to see how it will ever be able to finance that.

    The de-militarization of the main forces of the Ukrainian army will happen in the Donbas cauldron. The units there will have to give up or they will be destroyed by the materially vastly superior Russian forces.

    The de-nazification of the Ukraine has proven to be more difficult. The main fascist units of the Azov regiment were caught up in Mariupol where several thousand of them have been or will be eliminated. More fascist units at the Donetzk front will also soon be taken out. But during the eight years since the U.S. managed anti-democratic coup in Kiev the fascist ideology has deeply infiltrated all Ukrainian government structures. It will be hard for the Ukrainians to remove it even as its failures become obvious.

    The US will finance it with its moneyprinter, duh.

    • Fatty Bolger

      So Part I largely failed, but Part II will be a rousing success?

      • Atanarjuat

        I’m not sure that it was a failure from the Russian POV. They have eliminated Ukrainian military fuel and ammunition depots and encircled them in several cauldrons. Ukrainian forces can only starve, surrender, or fight to the death.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Not a single ukrainian city held by ukrainians is encircled. The ukrainians have cities under threat of encirclement but even Kiev has multiple routes to receive supplies.

    • R C Dean

      Since last fall some 60,000 men had been assembled there for a full fledged war on Donetsk, an attack that the Russian operation successfully preempted.

      Well, that’s certainly the Russian version. Its possible that Ukraine keeps a big army there because the Russians keep invading there. Who knows?

      Not addressed: what business it is of the Russians how Ukraine conducts what amounts to a civil war.

      The move east and west of Kiev was, as I have said for a while, a feint to fix mobile Ukrainian units around their capital city.

      I continue to doubt this narrative. You don’t usually make your “feint” a schwerpunkt. I think Plan A was to take Kiev (and ultimately annex Ukraine, if not de jure, then de facto). Annexing Donbas is the consolation prize. If that had been their goal from Day One, I don’t think this would have gone down the way it did. But, who knows? Everybody is lying about everything.

      Lost in all this is, if all Russia wanted was to defang the military and annex Donbas, why are they shelling cities? If you are merely feinting toward Kiev, etc. to hold forces there, you don’t need to shell them or try to penetrate and take them. Also, why the southern front unless your goal is to take a lot more than Donbas?

      • Atanarjuat

        Donbas as a consolation prize makes sense. I suspect the southern front was necessary to go after the Azov guys in Mariupol. The Russians are pretty serious about finding the people who have committed acts of terrorism against Russian speakers and whatnot.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        What? Russia invaded ukraine to get the azov battalion? This makes zero sense.

        Russia lies about most things.

        Russia clearly thought they could take Ukraine in whole. They have failed as of today. time is on Ukraines side. Ukraine gets stronger militarily, politically, and public relations wise each day.

        Furthermore, russian propaganda efforts have been utterly exposed and neutralized now. Putin fucked russia for decades.

  49. Brochettaward

    I think what some of you need this morning is a First shoved down your throat.

    FIRST OUT WITH YOUR COCK OUT ENERGY

    • Tres Cool

      I’m not really into fisting, but if it can involve my hand and your mouth? Sure, why not.

      • Brochettaward

        The only thing someone of your ilk should do in my presence is bow.

    • Tundra

      Lol.

      One of the best.

      • ron73440

        One of the best.

        No it isn’t.

      • Gender Traitor

        Dammit!

      • Bobarian LMD

        You vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous pervert! Don’t give me that you snotty-faced heap of parrot droppings!

      • Gender Traitor

        No it isn’t!

      • ron73440

        Yes it is!

  50. Pope Jimbo

    No rest for the SJW’s. Minnesoda’s new proposed math standards are attacked by shitlords and racists!

    The first draft of new K-12 math standards for Minnesota schools has received overwhelmingly negative feedback from parents and educators over its frequent references to the state’s American Indian tribes.

    Five of those 20 standards ask students to apply math concepts to examples “found in historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities and in other communities.”

    Since the document was released last month, parents and educators have called the tribal references “awkward,” “forced” and “ridiculous,” according to 265 survey responses the education department provided to the Pioneer Press with identifying information redacted.

    “Stop the disingenuous virtue signaling,” wrote a parent. “It is very insulting to us Anishinaabe people.”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      If Johnny Running Lizard has a teepee with a height of 16 arrows and a diameter of 12 arrows, how many squaws with their papooses can Johnny fit in there?

      • Not Adahn

        Is he allowed to stack them?

      • Pope Jimbo

        If Trader Bob gives Two Dogs Fucking 30 blankets for his tribe, how many teepees does the tribe need?

        NONE! Because Trader Bob’s blankets were all infected with smallpox and all the Indians are dead now.

      • Trigger Hippie

        The term squaw had been deemed offensive. Educate yourself, bigot.

      • Fourscore

        Does the p-word replace the v-word and vice-versa? I want to be sure I’m using insults properly and not being laughed at for my cultural ignorance

    • Rebel Scum

      apply math concepts to examples “found in historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities and in other communities.”

      They had fewer numbers and worse technology than the Spaniards so they lost.

      • Pope Jimbo

        They were too good for this world. The noble Dakota realized that all they needed was stone age technology to live a fulfilling life. No need to develop anything more.

        Not like the evil white Europeans who came here to rape and conquer.

    • creech

      All these joke math problems are offensive. To build self-esteem and pride, the problems should be more along the lines of “If Chief Snarling Bear puts seven arrows into a Seventh Cavalry trooper, and Brave Wolverine puts three into another imperialist white eyes warmonger, how many lying dog-pony soldiers will Custhitler lose in this ambush?”

      • hayeksplosives

        ROFL

        ?

    • rhywun

      But don’t you dare reference them in the context of sports.

      • Plisade

        Nice.

    • whiz

      I find it encouraging that educators objected as well as parents.

      • Pope Jimbo

        “I like the incorporation of the Native American tribes, but will we get some resources?” a secondary math teacher wrote.

        “I absolutely adore teaching geometry and proof and I am looking for more examples from native communities that are not just about beauty of pattern,” wrote another math teacher.

        As long as the teachers get more resources they are happy.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      If a chief gets a feather for every squaw he’s screwed, how many squaws has the chief screwed if his headdress has 50 feathers?

  51. Rebel Scum

    Monitor your face.

    The White House is directing the Department of Education to evaluate whether or not Florida’s parental rights legislation violates federal civil rights law.

    Because Biden and the Dems care so deeply about freedom and civil rights.

    • rhywun

      Biden really wants to die on the hill of strangers talking sex with your small children.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Remember just a couple years ago it was a crazy conspiracy theory that our government was replete with people who have/want sex with children….

      • Lackadaisical

        I’m ready to unironically believe in the lizard people.

    • Ownbestenemy

      A sane person hearing the oral arguments would laugh. We do not have sane people.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Sure the reading and math scores for Florida kids are way better than those of the kids in states where they shut schools down for years, but their wokeness scores were horrible!!!

      The Feds need to step in and take control of those schools to make sure that the FL kids close the wokeness gap. Maybe some Seminole Math?

      • Shpip

        Seminole Math seems to be working out okay for them.

        And for the Seminole people? Today every man, woman and child in the tribe receives biweekly dividend payments totaling about $128,000 a year. Indeed, by the time a Seminole child today turns 18, she is already a multimillionaire, thanks to tribal trusts that prevent children or their parents from touching the funds until adulthood.

      • Lackadaisical

        They did the smart thing and hired out their gaming management to outsiders (keeping ownership of course).

      • Lackadaisical

        Also, had anyone studied the Seminoles? Seems like a decent natural experiment about UBI.

      • Pope Jimbo

        The tribes here that pay out directly to members will put the payouts to kids into a trust because there were too many instances where the parents helpfully spent all the kids’ money too.

      • whiz

        The Seminoles also are sane when it comes to letting FSU use them as a nickname.

        Although I found this interesting:

        In 1947, FSU students selected “Seminole” as their football team name from more than 100 names proposed. Other finalists include Crackers, Statesmen, Tarpons and Fighting Warriors.

        Crackers?!

      • Atanarjuat

        Florida Cracker used to just mean “cowboy” essentially.

  52. The Late P Brooks

    Because Biden and the Dems care so deeply about freedom and civil rights.

    Exactly. Not like that goose-stepping authoritarian cartoon villain, Trump.

  53. Pope Jimbo

    Why don’t you assholes stop complaining about gas prices and take the bus?

    A bus had to make an emergency stop in north Minneapolis Tuesday after a rider opened the roof hatch and climbed on top of the vehicle while it was traveling along Interstate 94.

    The Metro Transit Police Department says officers and state troopers responded around 4 p.m. to a report of someone on top of a bus near the Dowling Avenue North intersection. MnDOT cameras captured the person lying prone and spread eagle on top of the vehicle.

    If Teen Wolf can take the bus, so can you.

  54. Scruffy Nerfherder

    From a supplier email this morning (verbatim):

    Dear Customers: Due to U.S. Energy Policies, the Russian War in Ukraine, the chaos of supply lines, shortages of raw materials, Covid affects worldwide on isolation and government shutdowns and the increased gas and oil prices, WCS costs on Pro Gard oil products are going up 10% this month. But WCS is going to absorb 5% of this increase for the time being, and only increase dealer cost by 5% effective April 1, 2022. These price increases are crazy.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Sounds like an April Fool’s prank. Everyone knows that Biden and Buttigieg will have all this sorted out by then.

    • Sensei

      It must also have made them have to lay off anyone capable of proofreading.

      I don’t claim to perfect here by a long shot, but if I send something out as a bulk mailing it ain’t going to read like that.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        At least they didn’t use “like”

  55. creech

    Yesterday, Sean reported that five school board members in the West Chester Area School District (PA) were ordered removed by a judge for failure to comply with lifting of mask mandates. I thought I could report more about that today. However, the local West Chester paper had nary a word about it in today’s paper (the top of page one headline given to the local Dem congresswoman’s “town hall” to solicit more “development” grant/grift proposals). Local journalism sucks- perhaps a combination of no longer having enough reporters and not wanting to report on victories by the yokels and non-woke.

    • Gustave Lytton

      As much as I like it, I doubt “judge ordered removal from office” is a statutory remedy or procedure.

  56. Pope Jimbo

    This could almost have been a Daily Ray of Sunshine! What is going on here?

    Eric Meyer agreed with the other testifiers that the state shouldn’t shut the door on nuclear energy, as it currently does with a moratorium written into state law. His primary motivation: fighting climate change. “I am here today in support of lifting the nuclear moratorium and exploring Minnesota’s options for reliable, affordable, and clean electricity from atomic power,” said Meyer, who founded Generation Atomic, an organization that advocates for nuclear energy, in St. Paul.

    Meyer, a Falcon Heights city council member, said he grew up near Buffalo Ridge in southwest Minnesota, an area he said is sometimes called the Saudi Arabia of wind power. He supports wind and solar power but doesn’t think they will be productive enough to replace electrical generation from coal and natural gas.

    “We need low-carbon electricity that isn’t dependent on the weather,” Meyer told the committee. “Our nuclear power plants have been providing that for decades, and the fact that nuclear power has the smallest environmental footprint, as an in-depth study by the UN Economic Council of Europe recently concluded, makes the case for nuclear even stronger.”

    • Pope Jimbo

      My snippets don’t do that story justice. The pro-nuke guy being quoted is a True Blue Proggie. I am sure the DFL will unperson him soon.

  57. Gustave Lytton

    Hotel behavior continues to decline. Latest was a pair of youngish women (late 20’s/30’s) watching a fucking show in the breakfast room on their laptop. What is wrong with people? Do they think they’re the only ones in the world? Go back to your room, dipshits.

    • Sensei

      Do not take public transportation.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That advice is dated 1973.

      • Sensei

        If only it was reasonable for me to heed it.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I see the dipshits walking around downtown with their music playing out of their phones speakers.

    • Sensei

      Those virtues don’t signal all by themselves.

  58. Tres Cool

    I’m kinda drunk, and writing to someone trying to be charming (as I slobber over my keyboard). This lass whom I made acquaintance with some years ago.
    And she writes- “Idaho is finally getting a little warmer. How is Ohio?”

    In Casey Kasem voice:
    I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner Jennifer. I really don’t pay attention to this as much as I should- specially knowing I may have correspondence from you.
    Ohio in spring is something else- having passed the ellipses of our annual celestial journey things begin to warm up. Robins come home- I can hear birds in the morning when I get home from work. Every 50-60º day begs to open windows and let out the accumulated funk acquired since Halloween when the furnace kicks on. Grills get lit- stuff is cooked in shorts while naively thinking “this is warm” while foregoing what July/August have in mind. Ohio isnt Houston or coastal Tejas with retarded heat and mind-numbing humidity. But for the poor souls that have never met the fire & fury of coastal heat- its a shocker.
    Ohio in the spring is a monster. Its G_d changing his mind (or since everyone is “woke”, xhe’s or xher’s) every minute like a menopaused deity with hands on the thermostat. “Im hot! Im cold! You dont love me! Hold me! Get away!”
    Its like Mother Mary and Gaia are mud-wrasslin’ and have each other in a combination purple-nerple/titty-twister.
    Last week it was 70º, then the temperature plunged to the teens, with snow. Then it was freezing rain (which coated my truck to where I had to chip my way into a door), and now back to mid 70s for the rest of this week.
    Sorry if that rambled on too much, or if I went crazy on imagery. Expository writing can be my thing when Im in a mood.

    • pistoffnick the refusnik

      Its like Mother Mary and Gaia are mud-wrasslin’ and have each other in a combination purple-nerple/titty-twister.

      Go on…

      • Tres Cool

        IS DON ON THE PHONE?

      • rhywun

        THAT’S ALL I NEED IS THESE FUCKUPS WHEN I’M DOING A GODDAMN SHOW WITH ANOTHER GODDAMN DEATH DEDICATION!!

  59. DEG

    The content of the laptop’s hard drive is currently undergoing an “ongoing analysis” by leading experts.Sam Faddis, a retired CIA Operations Officer who served in the Near East and South Asia, is leading the analysis of the drive.Faddis has just raised the alarm after discovering highly sensitive DOD “encryption keys” on the laptop.

    Retried CIA guy? Color me skeptical of his analysis.

  60. l0b0t

    HOLY MACKEREL! Motor vehicle registration in NY varies by county. Here in NYC (Queens County) it’s $276; while over in Alleghany County, it’s only $176.

    • Rat on a train

      Is it only registration? Many places include a personal property tax with registration. Here in Virginia it is a separate bill from your county.

  61. Gustave Lytton

    Grammys are Sunday. Who is going to punchout Trevor Noah?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Are they taking volunteers? Or is the privilege going to be auctioned?

  62. pistoffnick the refusnik

    Ma’am, that is an awesome musical selection. I have listened to it 3 times already this morning.

  63. The Late P Brooks

    Most powerful man on Earth

    Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Tuesday shot down President Biden’s new plan to raise $360 billion in revenue by imposing a 20 percent minimum tax on billionaires, a proposal the president formally unveiled Monday in his budget request to Congress.

    Manchin says he doesn’t support the president’s plan to tax the unrealized gains of billionaires, which would set a new precedent by taxing the value an asset accrues in theory before it is actually sold and converted into cash.

    “You can’t tax something that’s not earned. Earned income is what we’re based on,” he told The Hill. “There’s other ways to do it. Everybody has to pay their fair share.”

    “Everybody has to pay their fair share, that’s for sure. But unrealized gains is not the way to do it, as far as I’m concerned,” he added.

    Manchin’s opposition means Biden’s proposal is likely dead only a day after the White House unveiled it.

    Fucking centrists; how we hate them.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      If you wanted to crash the markets (all of them), that would be one way to do it.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Think of how cheaply you can buy up all the assets (entire neighborhoods, commercial districts, what remains of means of production) if you combine a crashed economy with an unlimited money printer.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Maybe Biden could have answered in a professional manner?

      Politicians have all sorts of ways to gloss over the fact that they fucked up. It isn’t like even Doocy was going to press him hard with followup questions.

      But to just say “Never said that” is insane. Everyone saw the speech. Fuck half the twitterers said it was an awesome speech. Better than the “Tear this wall down” speech. Were they wrong?

    • Lackadaisical

      No. He always was, we were just too stupid to realize it then.

  64. The Late P Brooks

    I’m starting to think this “unrealized gains” tax is just a negotiating tactic. They’ll take it off the table, in a show of bipartisan compromise, and slip something equally confiscatory in during reconciliation.

    • hayeksplosives

      The idea they can tax unrealized gains it ridiculous. Do they refund it when the stock loses value the next year?

      That could only cause an instant chill on investing, which helps no one.

      So you’re probably right.

      I gotta say, my decision to take early 401k withdrawal despite the penalty is looking better every day. At least I have no mortgage or other debt now.

      • Lackadaisical

        I’m hoping my debts get inflated away and my savings somehow don’t. Let’s see who wins.

  65. The Late P Brooks

    THIS SHIT IS PONDEROUS! PONDEROUS!

    On the Tree of Woe?

  66. The Late P Brooks

    Indeed, by the time a Seminole child today turns 18, she is already a multimillionaire, thanks to tribal trusts that prevent children or their parents from touching the funds until adulthood.

    Great White Father paternalism, FTW!

    • Tundra

      Honestly. Why the fuck can’t people recognize that he has done exactly what he said he was going to do? That he has acted rationally and isn’t a madman bent on conquest?

      I mean, even our NATO “allies” aren’t even playing along. This fucking war would be over if we would walk away.

      • rhywun

        Because the whole “madman” thing feeds into the games we’ve been playing there for a decade or more.

    • Plisade

      “He thought… he thought… he thought…” According to whom?

      I didn’t think Putin would invade this round, so my mind-reading skills are not any better. But, his army’s seeming incompetence in this campaign has been suspiciously over the top and nearly incredible to me. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s outfoxed the world at this point.

  67. B.P.

    “Leaked videos show officials pushing LGBT agenda, saying DeSantis wants to ‘erase’ gay kids”

    Apart from the content, I’m disturbed that the woman in the first video says “like” dozens of times per minute.

  68. The Late P Brooks

    Looks like it’s slowly dawning that Putin is doing exactly what he wanted and might be outfoxing the West.

    *staggers toward fainting couch*

    • Gustave Lytton

      How old is that video? That’s Alaska’s old unrefurbed interior with the carpeted bulkhead. RIP.

      • Gustave Lytton

        There’s no masks so it’s at least two years old.

    • Sensei

      I’m really torn. She deserved to get tossed and the guy did nothing to warrant the abuse.

      OTH, it’s one more sign of the decline.

    • MikeS

      ジェフ?⬇️
      @SpaceBard

      “Have some respect” she said. You can’t make this stuff up. As she has no respect for herself nor the people around her. Ugh. No one deserves to be harassed, but political garb should not be allowed on planes just for that reason. Everyone on that plane was delayed.

      Ah. You were so close to getting it.