Winston’s Mom Does the Links

by | Mar 2, 2022 | Daily Links | 370 comments

Good morning clowns!  Where have I been you might ask?  Florida!  Too bad I won’t be able to take the RV down to service the Spring Training crowd this year, but luckily the Kentucky Derby is still on.

Until then…

…Business as usual and time is money as they say.  Let’s get this over with.

I’m not even going to link a story.  Take your pick. The Breitbart crowd pretty well fucked a corpse last night.

This broad is going to disappear next week, and suddenly reappear six months later skinnier than she already is.

Its a damn shame they’ll have a hard time replacing her.

This story is everything I want it to be.

These fucking guys.

The short answer is no.

Gotta run, but I won’t go too far. ??

About The Author

Winston's Mom

Winston's Mom

Biological mother of Winston.

370 Comments

  1. Tres Cool

    whaddup doh’

    • Rat on a train

      Did anyone play SOTU bingo with a card full of mistakes and ramblings and find it easy to win?

      • UnCivilServant

        I have done what I’ve done for every other such speech – I ignored it.

      • waffles

        I was bad at ignoring it in prior years but I recently picked up Elden Ring and the means to play it. I don’t know if any glibs ever got into the dark souls type games but it’s probably my favorite game, ever. I defeated a big knight then got ambushed in a courtyard. I tried to run away down a hallway but my health was getting low and I got gnawed to death by some rodents of unusual size. Way better than the SotU.

      • Grumbletarian

        Waiting for a new gaming rig to arrive…

      • Lackadaisical

        Nice, might have to waste some more money. Probably should play all the other games I already have first though.

      • waffles

        Yeah I have a backlog too. But I have such limited time for gaming I may as well play the thing I really want to play, yanno?

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m still playing Arceus while waiting for Immortal Empires* to drop.

        *Not the actual title. It’s the unofficial name for the ‘all factions from all three games for Total Warhammer III’

      • Bobarian LMD

        I been playing ‘7 Days to Die’ online with my cousin and step-dad. My nephew got us started in it, but he done R U N N O F T to the Marines last year.

        They keep upgrading the game and dragging us back in.

      • AlexinCT

        ^^^THIS^^^

        I bet it was a shitshow, full of bullshit, ad was followed up by a bunch of sycophant asshats doing their best to convince people they had not just watched a train wreck in slow motion by people that are abusing an elderly man, albeit a scumbag and criminal one that has lost whatever wits heh had, to drag our entire country into the shitter.

      • Rat on a train

        I don’t recall the party in power ever giving rebuttals. That’s how much of a clusterfuck it was.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Even before the amyloid plaques kicked in Biden wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, now it’s just beyond sad.

      • Bobarian LMD

        This. He was outed as a plagiarizer back when I was still in College and got beat out by Dukakis.

      • robc

        I last watched one during Clinton’s first time.

      • Galt1138

        Same.

        I did read Vodkapunidt’s drunk blog after the SOTU was done. But, that’s about as much SOTU as I can take, from this or any president.

        Besides, watching it results in my breaking my “no adult beverages on weeknights” rule.

      • Sean

        I think I have a better idea to fight inflation, lower your costs not your wages.

      • UnCivilServant

        “Does that mean you’re going to cut taxes, Gropey Joe?”

      • AlexinCT

        He intends to put price controls in place, because that shit has worked well every other time idiots tried it…

      • Sean

        Literally, every single business cost we have has increased over the past year. Fuck that guy.

      • AlexinCT

        They want to convince the people impacted the hardest by their fucking destructive marxist green agenda, big government policies, those that actually have to work for a living, that the economic disaster they are experiencing isn’t happening, and that if it is, it is for their own good…

      • waffles

        I don’t understand the push to price controls. These don’t work. These have never worked.

      • UnCivilServant

        Because Real Price Controls have never been tried!

        /snark

      • Gustave Lytton

        Look at how fast rent control flared up…

      • creech

        Depends on what you mean by “worked.” Compare Nixon’s presidential election performance in 1968 (pre-controls) to his performance in 1972 (post-controls). The easily fooled folks just lapped them up. Joe’s handlers and their media overlords will spin controls as patriotic (only racist, white supremacists will object) in order to save themselves in November.

      • Galt1138

        “Compare Nixon’s presidential election performance in 1968 (pre-controls) to his performance in 1972 (post-controls)”

        I don’t see how the voters in 1972 were motivated at all by price controls. Nixon was re-elected for a lot of reason. Price controls weren’t one of them.

        Or, is my sarcasm meter broken?

      • Pope Jimbo

        I caught the last 5-10 minutes. Joe almost did the whisper thing again. He finished by angrily yelling about how this is going to be the greatest time ever.

        What I saw was creepy. Joe screamed something about “ONE PEOPLE, ONE COUNTRY” etc. In a time of Nazis hiding behind every bush, it was a strange thing to shout.

      • Animal

        Did he say anything about “ONE LEADER”?

      • rhywun

        The “USA!” chants were a nice touch.

      • Count Potato

        So MAGA Much Nationalist

      • Bobarian LMD

        If you played as a drinking game, then you haven’t regained consciousness yet.

  2. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Re: These fucking guys…At least with the Russian oligarchs you get caviar, hot broads, and good vodka. Sure, you might get murdered if you associate with those types but it sure beats the suiciding in the federal pen our oligarchs seem to prefer handing out.

  3. AlexinCT

    War with Russia Being Used to Force Great Reset Lockdown of Humanity – Learn How Before It’s Too Late!

    Well, with the Kung Flu panic theatre coming to an end now that it is hurting team blue’s prospects in the 2022 midterms, they need some other agenda to keep the usual lemming douchers in panic mode. And the whole Gaia is roasting to death agenda, while priority one to follow up the Kung Flu junket, is turning out to be more difficult to peddle since so many people realized the bullshit peddled as something far worse to do the global reset.

  4. juris imprudent

    I’ll pay attention to the SotU when it’s delivered as Washington (and every president up until that scumbag Wilson) delivered it.

    • Rat on a train

      Deliver it as a document with a crate full of props? Ensure the crate has holes to allow the kid to breath.

    • banginglc1

      I’ve said it in previous years, but I want it to be the actual State of the Union. “Federal outlays were XXX . . . 372 new bills were passed increasing the federal register to 638546566 pages. We will now read those pages . . . Let’s look at the details of each federal agency now . . . Department of Homeland Security Spent XXXXX dollars on the Transportation Safety Administration. That money was spent on . . . . They hired xxxx new employees, xxx retired, xxx left for other opprotunites . . . x were let go for cause. . .etc, etc, etc”

    • robc

      It is also supposed to be “from time to time”, so if I was President I would do a 2 year gap, then deliver then weekly for 6 straight weeks, then skip another 18 months. Etc.

      Keep congress on its toes never knowing when one is suddenly going to show up.

      • robc

        Also, I wouldnt tell anyone that the first one would be different than normal, so everyone shows up, tvs are there, then a courier walks in with a piece of paper and hands it to the Speaker.

        I would hire the horned convict guy to be my courier. He knows where it is, so has some experience.

        And, of course, he would be required to wear the horns agaiin.

      • Lackadaisical

        Robc for president for life.

      • robc

        I am pretty sure that is how long I would last in the job. Odds of being assassinated with a shorter term than WHH?

      • Lackadaisical

        Not shorter than WHH, but not much longer either.

        The CIA would try to turn you first.

    • Not Adahn

      I haven’t been paying attention to the age differences, but are Frank and Connor father/son or identical twins?

      • juris imprudent

        Well, I did put in Frank’s paternal line, but nothing about Conor.

  5. Rebel Scum

    Chinese news anchor wears Ukrainian flag colors while reporting NATO is responsible for Russian invasion

    “Stop making me hit you.” But in a certain sense she is not wrong if the stated position(s) of Russia are taken seriously.

    • AlexinCT

      I wonder if Xi is realizing that the problem the Russians are facing is that their military is still modeled on the old Soviet system. A requirement when you worry that a military that is too competent poses a threat to your dictatorship. Despite some moves to supposedly change their military to a more modern one (they are still using conscripts and have no NCO schools relying on officers to do everything), the system produces a military force that remains incompetent and ineffective, and at best, outside of tactics that involved massive artillery barrages to destroy everything followed on by hordes of rapists to deal with the survivors – like Zhukov did in WWII – can be used to frighten people that are more focused on old accomplishments vs. doing anything now. I hope the ineffectiveness of this Russian modern force, which is invading a neighbor using superior numbers and technology, and is still failing miserably, gives Xi pause that if he sends his military into Taiwan, a naval operation which is orders of magnitude more difficult than crossing ground troops into a neighboring state, might result in a disaster for him and his ambitions (Taiwan might not have the numbers China has, but its military is far more professional).

      Note that our current government is hard at work and doing its best to destroy and our professional military forces with wokeness and a focus on fighting AGW and not a near peer enemy, and I am suspecting that a lot of it has to do with fear of a quasi efficient military both making the civilian sector look bad because it’s ineffectiveness and posing a risk to it’s corruption and abuse of power.

      • UnCivilServant

        I was speculating that the Ukraine situation might make China not go after Taiwan. If they break their teeth on an invasion, the intimidation factor towards their other neighbors goes away, and they lose both influence and face. Better to keep saber rattling and make-believe.

      • waffles

        Modern China, if anything, seems to have restraint when actually using force. Whether this is real restraint or paper tiger stuff remains to be seen. Perhaps it will never be seen. But after Ukraine I’m not inclined to say never.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The Russians are methodically cutting off the important cities and are succeeding. Then they’ll use the threat of actually capturing the cities to try to secure a favorable deal and will only try to secure them if getting a deal fails. The Chinese vis a vis Taiwan are another story entirely and their bellicose saber rattling is for domestic consumption only. Unless they’re straight up nuts, and maybe they are, they know they can’t take Taiwan.

      • AlexinCT

        The problem with this analysis about the effectiveness of the Russian forces, is that it flies in the face of the obvious belief on the part of Putin that this would be a quick operation, something they needed to make sure the west’s reaction would remain minimal and ineffective, as the west would be forced to accept the new status quo. For one, the Russian military clearly, beyond the ineffectiveness of the training of its troops, also has both equipment reliability/readiness and ordinance issues. As I mentioned, the effectiveness of their tactics in western minds are still based on Zhukov’s WWII tactics, which involved blistering artillery attacks that leveled everything followed up with hoards of angry rapists. That shit don’t work when you lack the will & hardware to do the first thing in that equation. Worse yet, I bet Putin’s plan expected Zelensky to run to the west or to be captured/killed in the early moments of the invasion, while Ukrainian resistance would be minimal if non-existent (I wouldn’t be surprised that like our leaders thinking about Iraq, they expected the Ukrainians to greet them as liberators), allowing them to score a quick win.

        The shit isn’t playing out as expected. Worse for them, for once, the west has actually quickly imposed consequences. Coupled with the fact Zelensky remains a thorn in their side and Ukraine remains defiant, while the Russian troops remain not just ineffective, but seem to not want to be there doing the fighting, this bodes ill. maybe they think they can encircle the Ukrainian cities and bleed them, but I suspect Putin will be dealt with by his own people long before that tactic can be made to work now that Russia’s rich and powerful are suffering the economic consequences of this invasion.

        As for China, Xi is also a tyrant running a police state, and while most of the Taiwan shit is sabre rattling, he too is an ambitious prick with delusions of grandeur. I would not put it past him to want to capture Taiwan and reunify the country, no matter the cost, as part of his legacy. Especially since the CCP believes the greatest show of strength for their new world order ambitions will be a unified China. The Russian economy simply couldn’t produce enough effective military hardware, keep them reliably employable, and have enough ordinance for a prolonged campaign, because the Russian economy is about as big as that of Italy or NY state. That’s not the case with the Chinese economy, where western elites selling out their own people to enrich themselves for close to 3 decades now, managed to give China the ability to lie about how fast its economy was growing and steal western IP (and especially military IP), to help it build a more modern and deep military.

        China’s problem still remains the ineffectiveness of their military training and doctrine, despite China taking bigger steps towards modernizing it’s military training, but that gap is quickly closing as the US leadership is hard at work eroding whatever competency our military had left. My hope is that the Chinese leadership realizes the cost of going after Taiwan, especially if things go bad, is too high to contemplate any time soon. But if we in the west don’t change direction and start treating China like a near peer adversary and do our best to box them in, like we did to keep the USSR from going to far, we will be forced to fight sooner than later.

      • Drake

        obvious belief on the part of Putin that this would be a quick operation

        Not obvious to me. Why would they need to hurry? Their supply lines are very short and they have complete air superiority. What would be the rush, particularly if their goal is a negotiated settlement, not a prolonged occupation? Nobody is coming to the Ukrainians’ aid in any meaningful way and the sanctions on oil and grain hurt the west more than Russia given their partnership with China.

        Tucker had Magregor on last night, basically what he said.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The SWIFT sanctions could also backfire. The Russians and Chinese are going to financially partner now. And they are going to have a very good selling point to make when trying to get other countries to work in their currencies versus the dollar, given DC’s obvious willingness to use the banking system as a weapon.

      • R C Dean

        If he was planning a leisurely campaign, why the failed airmobile assault? Why the piecemeal feeding of uncoordinated units across the border? Why the logistical FUBAR?

        I don’t think the Russians are stupid enough to plan an invasion that doesn’t go as fast as it can. Time is not the invader’s friend.

        We are seeing an underperforming army. Will still win any big battles, but every day it drags on, every city shelled into submission, is a step toward Russia losing the peace.

      • Drake

        Given the fog of war and conflicting reports, and obvious propaganda bs, only time will tell what’s is really happening.

      • AlexinCT

        My guess is Putin was had by some Ukrainian chatturbate site floozy, and now he wants revenge.. The reason this is dragging on is that all the Russian troops are hunting for that Ukrainian floozy without understanding why she is on the first 51 cards of the deck, in various sexy poses, with Zelensky being the one on #52.

      • R C Dean

        Drake speaks wisdom. We are trying to separate information from a tsunami of propaganda.

      • Plisade

        In this respect, some credit to Putin is due in keeping the world confused. Nobody knows what he’s doing, what he expected. There’s much speculation but nothing more. He appears both incompetent and strategic at once.

        I don’t know what his end game is, and I don’t see any outcome in his favor, long-term. But I’ve been wrong about this thing from the start.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        ^This. They tried a quick decapitation, but there’s nothing to support it was expected to succeed. The ridiculously low civilian death count up until two days shows how little firepower and effort was put into that.

        Now the real war effort is beginning. I’ve seen nothing but anecdotal clips of Ukraine “winning” against a few soldiers or a handful of empty vehicles. Where are the videos of the actual firefights? We got more live streaming in the Canada protests. I’m thinking most of these are staged as propaganda to give exactly the false impression that Russia is stalled and Ukraine has the upper hand.

        Ukraine has a fraction of the forces, minimal training, and inferior equipment. I wish them the best of luck in defending their country, but there is no realistic scenario that Russia doesn’t obliterate them without boots on the ground intervention from NATO. There is no reason Russia can’t spend the time to level each city until Ukraine caves.

      • AlexinCT

        Now the real war effort is beginning. I’ve seen nothing but anecdotal clips of Ukraine “winning” against a few soldiers or a handful of empty vehicles.

        Anyone believing Ukraine is winning, is not paying attention to anything but propaganda. But the Russians sure as hell don’t look like they are being effective, let alone trying to win. And while Ukraine might not be able to fight to win, the Russians losing still is a possibility based on what I am seeing right now. Especially on the economic side.

      • waffles

        Without the impression that Ukraine can fight, how would Ukraine get material support?

        Propaganda, fog of war, it’s all lies. We’re seeing what wants to be seen.

      • juris imprudent

        I’m not convinced that the Russians are as incompetent as being portrayed, but I can certainly imagine that the troops have pitiful morale. How has their war-lust been stoked for this? If it is conscripts I can imagine this being Viet Nam level (pace American troops).

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        But the Russians sure as hell don’t look like they are being effective, let alone trying to win.

        Russia just started their real offensive on Monday. There is a 40 mile long column of Russian armored vehicles heading towards Kyiv as of yesterday afternoon. This hasn’t even begun to get real for Ukraine yet.

        There have been skirmishes and maneuvering, but the Russian hammer has not yet fallen on Ukraine’s cities. Once that happens, we’ll be able to judge the effectiveness of Russia’s military.

      • AlexinCT

        I saw reports that several units in that convoy ran out of fuel..

        That’s a serious problem of basic logistics. It reenforces the same thing I saw with their airborne troops being dropped and then running out of supplies. All this tells me that they didn’t expect this to be this difficult or take this long. that or they seriously are inept.

      • R C Dean

        You can read that 40 mile long convoy two ways:

        (1) It shows that Russia has the material superiority to crush Kiev any time it wants.

        (2) It shows that Russia can’t move an invasion force 60 whole miles from its own territory without having to stop for days.

        I keep coming back to – why would any invader move at anything less than their best speed? Every day of delay benefits the defenders, in multiple ways.

        Also, Putin had a plausible way to win the peace if the decapitation strike worked and resistance collapsed. What are his victory conditions now? How does he win the peace now? Especially if he has to go old school and flatten the cities? Sure, the Rissians can go olde schoole and bombard the crap out of everything, the old “make a desert and call it peace” route, but that leaves Russia worse off in the long run – its military has been shown to be a relic, albeit one with lots of artillery, its economy is reeling, the Western alliance is revitalized. Hell, Xi is probably eyeing those Siberian oil fields and cooking up an “historical claim” to them.

        I still think they had a weak Plan A, and Plan B is proving to be even worse. The effectiveness of a military is utlimately measured at the negotiating table. Russia’s army is not setting it up to do well on that front. So far, anyway – its been barely a week, after all.

      • Plisade

        RC, a delay by Putin gives the Ukrainians time to get the women and children out, which may be what Putin is waiting for.

      • Not Adahn

        Klinger was a they ahead of xer time.

      • Seguin

        Saw an interesting rumor in 4chan, supposedly via Telegram: Russian forces weren’t given much advanced notice of the move into the Ukraine, and unfortunately many of their officers had sold what they thought was excess fuel on the black market, leaving them short.

        Just a rumor, but plausible to me.

      • Loveconstitution1789

        Typical non military armchair generals who know nothing and cant see th8ngs for what they are.

        Notice all the trucks Russia is sending into Ukraine as an attack force? Notice that most of the vehicles in that 40 miles convoy are trucks and not tanks. You dont drive tanks hundreds of miles outside of combat areas because treads have short drive lives and tanks are maint intensive.

        If you dont know the difference between trucks making an assault run, tanks assaulting or lightly armored vehicles assaulting, you are not qualified to give anything but an opinion about how things are going in Ukraine.

        Ukrainian military and militia have defeated some of the best units Russia has to offer. Russian airborne units are paraded as elite units.

      • Galt1138

        “…they have complete air superiority.”

        I’m hearing conflicting reports about this. I read a Reuters article (yeah, I know) where many Western observers were surprised how light Russia’s use of air power has been, and that Ukraine jets are still able to attack ground forces.

      • kbolino

        They could take Kinmen County, which is an island, smaller than Hong Kong, surrounded on 3 sides by the PRC, with a ~2 mile wide moat called the Weitou Bay being the only real deterrence. I would be surprised if they didn’t try this at some point, and they’d probably stop there (for a while). Slap Taiwan and the U.S. around a bit without risking a real offensive commitment.

  6. Tres Cool

    Was Coolidge the last president to “phone it in” and deliver the SOTU to Congress in a letter?

    • Tres Cool

      Sorry JI….I just now read your comment.

      • juris imprudent

        No worries – this shit is all so normalized for us that it’s hard to know when it used to be different.

  7. Rebel Scum

    Can Europe Replenish Its Depleting Gas Inventories?

    If the US becomes a net exporter again.

    • UnCivilServant

      So what you’re saying is we need to to to war with Maersk?

      /Kathy Newman

    • Homple

      Here’s a link to information tracking daily European gas inventories. Cool graphs, for people who like that sort of thing.

      https://agsi.gie.eu/#/

  8. Rebel Scum

    Some of Russia’s wealthiest are moving their superyachts, potentially with the hope they can avoid having those items seized.

    Or assploded by the Ghost of Kiev, which is a totally legit real person and not Ukrainian propaganda.

    • Sean

      It’s on the internet. Don’t you believe the internet?

    • Not Adahn

      Some D was saying we needed to seize the local Russian consulate and all the assets thereto.

    • Spartacus

      Be a shame if some drone showed up and accidentally blew up the yachts.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Sop to the Democratic mayors?

    “We can end the shutdown of schools and businesses,” Biden said. “We have the tools we need.”

    “It’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again,” he continued. “People working from home can feel safe to begin to return to the office.”

    Just don’t stand too close to the curb. You might get pushed in front of a bus.

      • Fourscore

        I see firewood

      • dbleagle

        Tulip Tree. Gah. It is better on the ground and burned than to be next to a house. If DC truly cares, how about paying the landowners increased insurance and maintenance costs- an inevitable house repairs- out of a special donations fund?

    • The Last American Hero

      Mine does, as does my city, if the trunk is more than 8 inches in diameter.

      • kbolino

        Next week on Mystery Theater: “Why are all the trees in town either much smaller or much larger than 8 inches in diameter?”

      • Rat on a train

        Exceptions for unhealthy trees? It doesn’t take much effort.

      • UnCivilServant

        “That tree has COVID, get the chainsaw.”

  10. Gustave Lytton

    This broad is going to disappear next week, and suddenly reappear six months later skinnier than she already is.

    Clearly the yellow shirt is because she wanted to show her support for Falun Gong on air. And none of the production staff noticed her wardrobe.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    Other prominent Democratic politicians, such as New York City Mayor Eric Adams, have come out against indefinite remote work.

    Adams said New Yorkers “can’t stay home in your pajamas all day,” while Democratic governors have broadly sought to roll back mask mandates and encourage their urban workforces to return to downtown business districts, many of which have been hit hard by the lack of foot traffic to local businesses.

    Your city is a shithole, Eric. Try fixing that.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Let’s see: Working from home versus a shitty commute and trying to avoid getting pushed in front of the subway.

      • Sean

        Or shot, or car jacked, or poop smeared…A veritable cornucopia of fun possibilities.

      • Mojeaux

        +1 Bernie Goetz

    • Pope Jimbo

      Ummm. Why can’t they work from home?

      No one has any obligation to do something just to help city businesses out.

      • AlexinCT

        According to the public sector and political classes, you have an obligation to do whatever labor they tell you to enact to help them fill their coffers with cash they can then plunder for themselves and to buy votes peasant.

      • Lackadaisical

        Anything else would be unmutual, comrade Jimbo.

      • Pope Jimbo

        -1 Omaha

    • rhywun

      “can’t stay home in your pajamas all day,”

      (says the man with a chauffeured limo.)

      Watch me.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    Legislation to stop illegal cutting…

    Like locks, laws are for honest people.

    • Not Adahn

      Locks?

      Guy is an excellent salesman for his pick sets.

  13. Rebel Scum

    War with Russia Being Used to Force Great Reset Lockdown of Humanity

    The failing convid narrative had to pivot to something. And since Dr. Evil Klaus Shwab has touted cyberattacks, I expect that to be the next thing.

      • R.J.

        *takes roll and makes fashionable fedora

      • juris imprudent

        I’m gonna make mine into a cowboy hat!

      • Not Adahn

        I wonder how wide a sombrero you could make out of foil.

      • Homple

        Make sure it’s real tin foil. Aluminum foil does not work. The rays pass right through it. I know.

      • Not Adahn

        119 > 27

      • Homple

        If you have a newsletter, I would be interested in subscribing to it.

      • robc

        False. Al foil amplifies the rays.

      • R C Dean
      • Bobarian LMD

        A PROPER faraday cage hat would involve copper netting and a ground strap.

        Tin-foil will just focus the cellphone rays and cook your brain.

      • UnCivilServant

        I should build a faraday room into my house.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    After a cursory exploration of the place, I don’t think I want to live in Burley, Idaho. Twin Falls… maybe.

    • Compelled Speechless

      I’m up in the Boise area. I haven’t spent a lot of time down south in those cities, but from what I’ve seen, Twin Falls is the best of the bunch. It’s at least a real city with most of what you’d need close by but you can still find plenty of places with a decent amount of land. From what I hear, the prices have gone pretty nuts in the last few years relative to what they used to be. Par for the course in Idaho thanks to Calexit.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    Taking a stand for TRUTH

    On a call with reporters on Tuesday, Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Facebook parent company Meta, described the industry’s efforts to curb the reach of Russian state media as “exceptional measures” taken in response to “a highly exceptional and tragic state of affairs.”

    He also characterized the decisions as “a difficult balancing trick.” Ordinary Russians are using Meta’s services, which also include WhatsApp, to get information, organize protests, speak out against the war and communicate with friends and family, he said.

    That’s why Meta disagrees with calls from Ukraine’s government to cut off its services inside Russia, he said.

    “In the long run, the thing that really undermines propaganda is counter speech,” he said.

    Wheeeeeeee!

    • Gustave Lytton

      Now do China, you sanctimonious hypocrite.

      • Sensei

        I believe Facebook is still banned in China.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I stand corrected. WhatsApp too.

    • kbolino

      Nick Clegg, the original “libertarian” cuck.

    • UnCivilServant

      Who had the remaining 20%?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Bozo the Clown

    • blighted_non_millenial

      Maybe West should pick a state and stick with it.

      • juris imprudent

        C’mon man, he was military, he doesn’t know about things like that.

    • robc

      More disappointing: Beto got 91%. The Ds couldnt come up with anyone competent enough to even challenge him?

      • Lackadaisical

        What a joke. If Texas votes for that grifter they’ll deserve what they get.

      • prolefeed

        Beto came within 3% in his statewide Senate run against Ted Cruz. I’m guessing the Texas Dems think its finally this time for a open gun grabber in Texas to win statewide.

        If he wins, the arseholes who voted for him will deserve what they get. Everyone else, not so much so.

      • Lackadaisical

        “If he wins, the arseholes who voted for him will deserve what they get. Everyone else, not so much so.”

        Correct, that’s what I meant, but important to express properly.

      • SandMan

        It’s funny to see Beto now say he’s a big supporter of 2nd Amendment.

      • The Last American Hero

        Cruz is a snarky asshole who occasionally has good ideas. He is an unlikable guy. I don’t think Abbot suffers from the same malady.

      • juris imprudent

        [Critical Drinker as Narrator] Nah, it’ll be fine.

      • kbolino

        Almost always, the media picks the candidates.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    No one has any obligation to do something just to help city businesses out.

    You poor deluded foolish cracker.

    • waffles

      Another example of white supremacy. Wait, are serbs white? I kind of remember Patton saying they weren’t.

      “They are a scurvy race and simply savages. We could beat hell out of them. The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European, but an Asiatic, and therefore thinks deviously.”

      here we go.

      • waffles

        I guess I’m also misusing the word “serb” to describe all eastern europeans. I’ll educate myself and get on with my day.

      • Lackadaisical

        Slav please. Serbs are a specific set of South Slavic people.

        Do better.

      • waffles

        Ah, slavs. I attribute this to a coffee thing.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Don’t be abSerb. Foreign names are totes interchangeable.

      • R C Dean

        It happens when you are rushin’ your comments.

    • AlexinCT

      We need that in Washington D.C….

    • DrOtto

      Would’ve been better if when they showed his face, it was Hunter.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Even as tech companies face Russia’s ire, they are also under pressure from Western governments and civil society groups to act aggressively against Russian propaganda and disinformation.

    Major social media platforms have become quicker and more effective at spotting and removing Russian interference efforts, in contrast to how they were caught off-guard during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

    The lie that won’t die. Why does Russia even need an army, when they have such a powerful internet mind control apparatus?

    • Q Continuum

      The Cathedral won’t let it die because it’s so useful. Anything against the Narrative = Russian propaganda. Much too convenient to let go of considering that the average voter is stupid enough to believe it.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, recently activities are just whipping up the “Russia! Russia! Russia!” hysteria that was just beginning to die down. And boy are they gonna run with it.

      • waffles

        At least we aren’t talking about climate change. The interchangeability of issues really makes me queasy though.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/the-rising-role-of-the-agitariat

        “make a copy of me and pass it on.” this is the sole objective and the stern discipline of the selfish gene.

        it is also the pathway of the selfish meme.

        this has found confluence with a certain subset of society: those who base their identities upon external ideologies and who have become not so much people who have ideas but people who ARE their ideas and lack both substance and substrate without them.

        this has in many functional regards, rendered them memes themselves.

        the emergent properties of this combination are manifold and it appears that this new group that i shall term “the agitariat” is going to be a potent and durable feature of the post modern political and social landscape.

        many have marveled at the speed at which the covidian clamorers have pivoted to war frenzy. it was near instant, like some sort of phase change, a sublimation straight from solid to gas.

        but this is no marvel nor is it, in fact, even a state change. it’s just a property of the new class of society that spends its lives in and derives its identity from its constant state of aversive arousal and agitation. this tribe is always and everywhere at war because its identify is rooted not in self but in “against.”

        this is the agitariat.

      • Plisade

        They’re children.

        I remember well teaching my teenaged children to not get their identities from being against things – me, their mom, teachers, underage laws – but from their personal accomplishments, from living a principled life.

      • kbolino

        The Russia narrative is starting to look like it’s a lot less about bashing Trump than it is about deflecting attention away from the cesspool that is American politicians’ involvement in Eastern European affairs.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      They did try to interfere, just halfheartedely and ineffectively and it was more sowing chaos than picking a side. That being said, all of the major nations try like hell to influence elections in other countries. Nothing unique there.

  18. Q Continuum

    Ass Wednesday has a story: Once upon a time there were hot callipygian girls.

    https://archive.md/oODLq

    I didn’t say it was a good story.

    • Ted S.

      You didn’t say how long ago that time was, either.

      • prolefeed

        The short answer: forever. There’s always been some hot women with fat asses. And some guys who are into that.

      • Not Adahn

        Venus Callipygian was supposedly ~300 BC.

    • Lackadaisical

      What’s with the duct tape?

      Also, those guys aren’t wearing masks, they’ll be dead in a week.

      • B.P.

        That particular brand of duct tape makes a nice, shiny target.

    • db

      That sounds…farfetched.

      • db

        Oh…not chechnyans

    • AlexinCT

      I hear the Ukrainians have bullets coated in pig’s fat specifically to deal with them Chechens…

      • Rebel Scum

        Saw something about that. The writer thought it bad to offend muslims in such a way. Because of course.

      • juris imprudent

        Shades of the Sepoy rebellion.

      • limey

        That story has done the rounds in previous conflicts. Who knows?

    • Pope Jimbo

      Are they fighting elements of the Belarus army?

      Ukraine would have the best democracy in the world if they had a system of Chechens and Balarusans.

  19. juris imprudent

    So, now I’m really appalled at our SJW class. Thems have all the opportunity in the world to go forth and punch totalitarians, and here they sit on thems’ asses. These folks have been inculcated with pacifism for two, three generations, and yet they’re still willing to fight and not even a battalion of our glorious youth have volunteered.

  20. Sensei

    Finally, we know production costs for SLS and Orion, and they’re wild

    Martin said that the operational costs alone for a single Artemis launch—for just the rocket, Orion spacecraft, and ground systems—will total $4.1 billion. This is, he said, “a price tag that strikes us as unsustainable.” With this comment, Martin essentially threw down his gauntlet and said NASA cannot have a meaningful exploration program based around SLS and Orion at this cost…

    That figure is far higher than NASA might have hoped. Five years ago, a senior NASA official told Ars that the space agency would like to get its operational costs for a single mission a year down to $2 billion or less. Another source at the time said the internal goal was $1.5 billion.

    Just blame it on rising CPI.

    • robc

      I assume that is not really an Orion.

      The real Orion.

      Boom boom.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Get with the times Boome!

      The inflated costs are completely caused by Putin and his invasion of the Ukraine.

  21. Sensei

    And now something to distract from global events. Get your popcorn!

    Journalists at Gizmodo and related websites go on strike.

    Journalists from G/O Media publications including Gizmodo and Jezebel went on strike on Tuesday and protested in front of the company’s New York offices after contract negotiations fell apart.

    GMG Union, which represents about 100 workers from Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, Lifehacker and The Root, said on Twitter that it was asking people not to read content from or contribute to the publications.

    • Swiss Servator

      Oh noes, not Jezebel and the Root!!!!!!

    • Not Adahn

      GMG has 100 writers? Bullshit.

      • Sensei

        They get a ton of press releases that they need to lightly rewrite and post as news.

      • Not Adahn

        They could replace them all with GPT-3 and cummiebot.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I would like to purchase one of your cummiebots please.

      • juris imprudent

        Monkeys, typewriters…

    • Tres Cool

      I recognize the names but I dont subscribe to their content, newsletters, or pamphlets.

      • rhywun

        Lifehacker used to have some decent content but haven’t visited in ages. Since before I even knew what Gawker was.

    • kbolino

      Bold move for people who are just replaceable gears in the propaganda treadmill.

  22. Rebel Scum

    Wut?

    President Biden: “You can’t build a wall high enough to keep out…uhh…a uh, a vaccine”

    • AlexinCT

      Senility sucks..

  23. AlexinCT

    I liked the meme about the tanks being lost in boating accidents a lot more than this meme, but it is also funny.

    • Not Adahn

      He’s claiming that it’s true. Which, if true, makes it HILARIOUS.

      I’m assuming if you sell it later you have to claim it as capital gains.

    • Sean

      That’s awesome.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    this is the agitariat.

    Much heroic.

    • AlexinCT

      I thought to summon HM you needed to invoke eating ass incidents? What am I missing?

    • kbolino

      All the virtue, none of the work.

  25. Not Adahn

    New Yorkers made more than 270 sex complaints over the past year to the non-emergency hotline, with reports of everything from backyard orgies, to the sounds of “loud ruthless sex,” to the grunts of what one caller described as a “sexual-tyrannosaurus,”

    Aww, I never get invited to the good parties.

    • pistoffnick the refusnik

      “sexual-tyrannosaurus”

      You know what they say about the size of a man’s hands…

      • AlexinCT

        I thought it was your feet?

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        My feet are still growing…
        In high school, I wore size 9
        Got married in sized 10
        Now sporting size 11 steel-toed shit kickers

        You can call me Biggus Footius!

      • Pope Jimbo

        your feet

        Get with the metric system Alex!

      • AlexinCT

        Only when doing my unjeneering shizz!

      • Lackadaisical

        Everything sounds bigger in cm.

    • UnCivilServant

      to the grunts of what one caller described as a “sexual-tyrannosaurus,”

      Someone was watching Predator?

    • db

      “There is an obese gay man splashing his Latino lovers cheeks with his man syrup,”

      “Some guy is singing jingle balls at the top of his voice while another person is screaming yes daddy come down my chimney,” the complaint made on Dec. 23, 2021, said. “It is to late for this it has been going on for hours I’m tired of hearing these people singing Christmas carols while they have sex all day.”

      • AlexinCT

        Both of those things HAVE to be against the Geneva convention. if not, then we should get rid of the damned thing.

  26. Rebel Scum

    Gun control buzzword bingo.

    During Tuesday’s State of the Union Address (SOTU), President Joe Biden called for a ban on “assault weapons” with “high-capacity magazines that hold up to 100 rounds.”

    He followed this demand by asking, “Do you think the deer are wearing Kevlar vests?”

    Biden also mentioned his push to “crack down” on guns that can be built from gun kits. He referred to such firearms as “ghost guns,” a moniker commonly used by office-holding Democrats seeking to secure more gun control.

    Pwnd.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I should probably build another AR before June. It looks like the ATF is coming down on 80% lowers.

      • Lackadaisical

        I know it’s been mentioned before, but do you just need a drill press to finish them out?

      • Lackadaisical

        Hm, thanks for sharing that.

        Do their kits really have everything you need?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Yes

      • Lackadaisical

        Ah, sold out of those. 🙁

    • kbolino

      As we all know, a wise and prudent government should hold all the guns, and then when the country is invaded, hand them out like candy to every untrained LARPer who shows up.

      This is just smart policy.

    • EvilSheldon

      Biden just might be dim enough to believe that hunters are still a significant driver of gun culture.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    So, now I’m really appalled at our SJW class. Thems have all the opportunity in the world to go forth and punch totalitarians, and here they sit on thems’ asses. These folks have been inculcated with pacifism for two, three generations, and yet they’re still willing to fight and not even a battalion of our glorious youth have volunteered.

    They will be on the front lines of the NGO “aid” army.

    • robc

      On the ratio, for those who don’t brew, for an IPA I generally aim for just over 1. For a pale ale, about .8. This is about .6.

      • Lackadaisical

        What makes something a bitter then?

      • robc

        Because a brewery calls it that?

        Its a type of pale ale. Often the same beer would be called a pale ale if bottled, and a bitter if draft.

      • robc

        This is something Ron Pattinson, the beer historian who writes the barclayperkings blog, stresses. Names on historic british beers don’t necessary fall into easy-to-define categories.

      • Nephilium

        Some of the modern beers aren’t that easy to categorize either, but people keep trying.

      • Lackadaisical

        True that. Thanks for the explanations all.

      • Not Adahn

        The bitter is on a separate tap at the other end of the bar, usually unlabeled.

      • Not Adahn

        It took me far too long to figure that out. Once I did, pub visits were even more enjoyable.

      • kinnath

        what is the OB in that ratio?

      • robc

        Original Bravity, apparently.

        OG, not OB. I got a B in high school typing.

      • kinnath

        Thanks

        That was my guess. But I wasn’t sure.

      • Nephilium

        I would guess a typo for Original Gravity.

    • DEG

      Boddington’s is good.

      • Not Adahn

        Thames Welsh ESB is one of my all time favorites. Or was, when I could get it.

    • slumbrew

      That brings me back – Boddingtons was my go-to back when I had a regular joint (and drank beer regularly).

  28. The Late P Brooks

    GMG Union, which represents about 100 workers from Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, Lifehacker and The Root, said on Twitter that it was asking people not to read content from or contribute to the publications.

    So- just keep doing what you’ve been doing.

  29. Rebel Scum

    I just want to take this opportunity to signal the virtue that I stand with Georgia.

    • pistoffnick the refusnik

      Their flag is a big plus.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Not me! Those bastards are disenfranchising voters!

      MLB was right to move the All Star Game.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    The sign I saw in Twin Falls:

    “LUNCH BOX WAXING SALON”

    I laughed out loud.

    • Gustave Lytton

      When the first location opened years ago in Boise,that was my reaction too.

    • juris imprudent

      Apparently, you too, can share in the fun!

    • Bobarian LMD

      Posted this on the evening links. Laughed for 15 minutes.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Feud?

    The feud between President Joe Biden and Tesla CEO Elon Musk doesn’t seem to be cooling anytime soon.

    Musk said no one was watching Biden after the president did not mention Tesla during his hourlong State of the Union address on Tuesday.

    “Nobody is watching the State of the Union,” Musk said in an email to CNBC. Biden touted the combined $18 billion investments by Ford and GM to build electric vehicles. Tesla, an electric automaker giant, wasn’t mentioned in Biden’s speech to the nation. Musk did not immediately return CNBC’s follow-up requests for comment.

    Musk later tweeted directly to Biden saying “Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles & is investing more than double GM + Ford combined.”

    The lack of a mention by Biden leading into Musk’s latest comments comes after CNBC reported on the ongoing battle between a billionaire and a commander in chief. Musk, who also runs space exploration company SpaceX, has an estimated net worth of over $235 billion, according to Forbes.

    He puts profits over unions.

    • kbolino

      Musk is the only one who can make their green energy bullshit “work” and they hate him for it. Yet more evidence than the real goal is immiseration for the plebians and empowerment for the connect patricians.

      • juris imprudent

        Musk is PROFITING from the Holy Cause and that is unforgiveable.

      • kbolino

        Even worse, he doesn’t give 10% to the big guy. That is his greatest sin. No amount of taxpaying, donations to charities he (not they) choose, nor even sales of his filthy stock-lucre, will atone for it. Only his obedience will suffice.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Exactly. Musk is a horrible steward of the tax subsidies that Tesla gets. He uses too much of them to actually build cars.

        A better steward of taxpayer money – Solyndra – would have cut down on their costs so more money can be kicked back to the “right people”.

      • AlexinCT

        I think they are far more angry at him for calling them out for being idiots for believing the stupid shit they do…

      • rhywun

        empowerment for the connect patricians

        ^ this is the real, real goal

        It explains pretty much everything Biden does

    • Tundra

      Thank you!

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Biden’s advisors have privately pushed back against inviting Musk to future industry events, as they are concerned the outspoken executive will say something that could embarrass the president or the administration, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

    “Put some clothes on, old man.”

  33. The Other Kevin

    The IOC has decided that Russian athletes can compete in the Paralympics starting Friday, but they are considered “neutral” and have to cover up the RPC logos on their uniforms. Facebook erupts with people saying this was a weak response. I think I’m ok with this, it’s not the athletes’ fault what their leaders do.

    • kbolino

      I wonder if they can find a way to strip Russia of its veto in the UNSC. There’s probably a crack team of undergraduates farmed out from some think tank working on the problem through Twitter (they left Tumblr when it got rid of porn, naturally) as we speak.

      Seriously, is there any international organization which isn’t just a province of Western hegemony?

      • R C Dean

        I wonder if they can find a way to strip Russia of its veto in the UNSC.

        The Charter lists the USSR as a permanent member of the Security Council, not Russia. Russia could easily be removed altogether.

      • Gustave Lytton

        All it takes is the rest of the UN going along with it. See Taiwan losing its seat and recognition.

    • Urthona

      Yeah I’m fine not doing any of this bullshit.

    • The Other Kevin

      Usually things like this only hurt the little guy, not the people in power. I get that this is supposed to pressure people to hold their leaders accountable, but here in the “land of the free” our leaders aren’t even accountable.

      • Urthona

        Yeah this kind of thing seems both unjust and ineffective to me.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Is the Russian National Team actually participating or it’s a semi official group like they did for the Olympics due to the doping sanctions?

      • The Other Kevin

        Semi official, they are playing under “RPC”, Russian Paralympic Committee.

  34. MikeS

    @ kinntah, robc, Neph, anyone else with kegerator experience (Hyperbole?)…

    I posted in the forum asking for advice on doing basically a two-part kegerator build; short-term and long-term. I’d appreciate it if you’d come school me. (no homo)

    • kinnath

      You mentioned that you will have two kegs at your party.

      Short term solution — build a jockey box (there will be lots of youtube videos out there). You will need a 5lb or 10lb CO2 tank; a regulator; two sankey couplers; a splitter for the gas line; two faucets; a small, cheap cooler; some gas line; a lot of beer line. Most of this can be repurposed for a kegerator later on.

      Long term solution — get real, you’re not going to get rid of the jockey box after you built it. You will continue to use if for outdoor parties and picnics. So, buy a nice kegerator. Install it in your house.

      • MikeS

        I’ll take a look at jockey boxes.

    • Nephilium

      Replied in the forum with some basic advise.

      • MikeS

        Thanks, Neph. I’ll take a look

  35. AlexinCT

    How long will it be from Biden admitting defunding the police was a terrible idea, to the left pretending tat not only was it never their idea and call to arms, but that it was the domestic racist Nazi terrorists that supported and did this shit?

    • hayeksplosives

      Negative 2 days?

      • rhywun

        OFFS.

        Not only did every Democrat support “defunding”, many of them actually did so when they had the opportunity.

      • Nephilium

        The Parties SWITCHED!

        Wait… too soon?

      • rhywun

        The Dems are going to break their necks if they keep this up.

        Hm…

    • Spartacus

      That never caught on here. Our local police chief is still going to city council meetings and saying that if he doesn’t get 20 more officers right now, the entire city will overdose on fentanyl, and then be raped and murdered.

  36. Pope Jimbo

    Speaking of Texas primaries….

    Did the Squad pledges win their races? Or did the more sensible ones win?

    • Urthona

      I don’t know any of the Democrats and voted in the Republican primary. All the boring incumbents won there.

  37. hayeksplosives

    Re: Is Russia Incompetent at war? Whycomes they haven’t defeated Ukraine yet?

    I believe (and yes, it’s just my opinion) that Vlad doesn’t want to destroy Ukraine or kill “too many” Ukrainians, but that he wants to take it over as intact as possible.

    He is way deep into the Kievsn Rus mythology about the Russian ethnic and cultural history.

    • juris imprudent

      Even Vlad gave the orders to obliterate them – how well would the Russian army carry them out?

    • R C Dean

      Best I can figure – Putin is hoping an overwhelming show of force – the big convoy, etc., will make the Ukrainians surrender.

      I suspect, as I think about it, that maybe the big convoy north of Kiev is there as an “army in being” – the real action is to the south, and they are hoping to cut up the Ukraine using those forces, with the northern and western forces mainly being blocking forces. That is a strategy that makes sense to me.

      If the Ukrainians decline his invitation to surrender, and dig in to the west and in the cities, the Russians are likely to get cut up pretty bad. They’ll likely still “win” on the battlefield, but will have demonstrated that a Pyrrhic victory is still a thing. Hell, Georgia bloodied their noses, until they ran out of ammo. If the Western allies continue to feed support to Ukrainians holding in the West, this thing could drag out. If the Russians bombard the cities, it will be harder for the Western alliance not to direcly intervene.

      What a fucking mess.

    • AlexinCT

      THAT’S A MAN, BABY!

    • Not Adahn

      That must be an enormous crockpot.

      • UnCivilServant

        Original Donner Crock – For your biggest parties.

    • Lackadaisical

      Not sure you can blame that on the drugs.

    • B.P.

      The spirits of Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer are alive in Wisconsin.

    • CPRM

      Accounts of my death and dismemberment have been greatly exaggerated.

  38. Count Potato

    Who is the actress in the gif?

    • juris imprudent

      I believe that is Anne Bancroft (aka Mrs. Robinson).

      • Sensei

        Correct!

        Bonus Alfa Romeo Spider

        For the North American market a model marketed as the Graduate acknowledged the model’s appearance in the 1967 film, The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman.

        The Graduate was intended as a less expensive entry-level model with the same engine and transmission as the Quadrifoglio and Veloce, but with steel wheels, manual windows, vinyl seats, and vinyl top. Air conditioning and a dealer-installed radio were the only options. The Graduate arrived in 1985 in North America and continued until 1990.

      • juris imprudent

        The Graduate arrived in 1985

        About like an Italian train schedule.

      • Count Potato

        Thanks

      • R C Dean

        Anne Bancroft – the OG MILF.

  39. Count Potato

    In case you didn’t hear it…

    “‘He’ll never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people’: Biden confuses Ukraine and IRAN during his State of the Union address – while Kamala is seen mouthing the correct word right behind him”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10567679/Biden-confuses-Ukraine-Iran-State-Union-address.html

    “‘You put them there, 13 of them’: GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert HECKLES Biden over service members killed in Kabul during his remarks about son Beau being put in a ‘flag-draped coffin’ after dying from cancer”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10567605/Lauren-Boebert-heckles-Biden-remarks-son-Beau.html

    • Rat on a train

      How about Pelosi.

      • rhywun

        Good lord.

      • AlexinCT

        Vodka Skeletor doing her thing…

    • Urthona

      I thought he actually said Uranians. Which is awesome.

      • AlexinCT

        Are they being invaded by Klingons?

  40. hayeksplosives

    Just getting into a book called “The Moth in the Iron Lung”. It’s about polio and it requires a tinfoil hat, but I’m reading it because I can’t believe anything handed down as unquestioned from the government anymore.

  41. Mojeaux

    What is this “state of the union address” you people are talking about?

    • UnCivilServant

      The PO Box of a marriage councillor?

    • Raven Nation

      Whew! Thanks for asking, I was too embarrassed to ask.

      Apropos of nothing: we were in KC Saturday night (24-hour rapid visit) and the wife surprised me with here for dinner: https://www.lonniesrenoclub.com/

      Didn’t even know it existed until Saturday (although I’ve heard him multiple times at The Phoenix).

      • Mojeaux

        We don’t go to clubs or fine dining, so we wouldn’t know, but that looks like an excellent place to have a birthday dinner! Thanks.

        I think I heard Lonnie McFadden at The Phoenix too.

    • rhywun

      A drinking game. Not for amateurs.

    • Nephilium

      Here’s an example for you.

      • slumbrew

        “Shit.

        I know shit’s bad right now…”

      • CPRM

        Wait, that was the 2nd anniversary.

  42. Sensei

    I love the non-random useless polls from MSM

    Speech watchers have mostly positive reaction of Biden’s State of the Union, CNN poll shows

    Most speech watchers say State of the Union made them feel optimistic, proud – CBS News poll

    • Urthona

      41% of polled Democrats liked the speech which is pretty devastating.

      • Sensei

        For real, wow…

        Who’s polling was that?

      • juris imprudent

        NOT ENOUGH FREE SHIT!

      • creech

        Not enough? I wondered why Joe just didn’t come out in a Santa suit.

      • Nephilium

        Not the question suit guy who hawked books on getting government moneys?

      • Ownbestenemy

        I’m actually wondering if there is a limit of free shit that people say no to. As more everyday Americans are pushed out of the eligible for free shit column they might oppose the free shit.

      • juris imprudent

        Only kulaks and wreckers oppose FREE SHIT for the glorious proletariat.

      • CPRM

        He doubled our Chocolate Ration! Doubled!

      • rhywun

        As more everyday Americans are pushed out of the eligible for free shit column

        Seems like the opposite is happening, especially as Biden’s policies continue to make us poorer.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Only the ‘right’ people though are getting the free shit. I am guessing there is a certain skin tone that isn’t included.

      • CPRM

        Orange?

  43. DEG

    Superyachts owned by Russian billionaires who have ties to President Vladimir Putin are on the move as the United States and its allies prepare further sanctions on their property following the invasion of Ukraine.

    Smart move.

  44. Mojeaux

    @Bro, I reject your chastisement that I was off-topic last night and your reasoning for your chastisement. All you scofflaws were off-topic.

  45. Count Potato

    “New Yorkers made more than 270 sex complaints over the past year to the non-emergency hotline, with reports of everything from backyard orgies, to the sounds of “loud ruthless sex,” to the grunts of what one caller described as a “sexual-tyrannosaurus,”

    I think I missed a link somehow…

    • UnCivilServant

      “Just as soon as congress legislates an end to drilling bans by fiat, and removes the obstacles to new pipelines and refineries.”

    • AlexinCT

      These companies would be idiots to do this without getting it in writing…

  46. Nephilium

    In more uplifting news, a local school has set up a live stream for a nest on the campus. This happens to be a nest for a pair of bald eagles, who have laid an egg this year (and 20 over the past several years).

    • Ownbestenemy

      Hopefully a worker doesn’t try and take the stream down and become incapacitated and be a Pilipino national star

  47. Not Adahn

    1) I have no business believing that I could model Putin’s thinking with any degree of confidence, even with factual data regarding his behavior.

    2) I have no reason to believe I have factual data regarding his behavior.

    Just call me Xeno.

    • juris imprudent

      I’ll remind you that this is a country that relies on an overfed rodent to forecast spring.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        A groundhog you mean? Could they be any more off base…rooster entrails are where it’s at when it comes to predicting climate.

      • Not Adahn

        DeBlasio’s such an incompetent. You don’t kill the groundhog by dropping it, you disembowel it so you can see the pattern of it’s entrails!

    • Ownbestenemy

      Former Obama official made a Bushism…no more innocent Russians, either with us or against us. This is shaping up to the US falseflag in Ukraine to proxy a new cold war with Russia.

      • DEG

        What could possibly go wrong?

    • Not Adahn

      So you’re saying the zombie virus is a Russian bioweapon?

      • UnCivilServant

        Romanian, they’re just testing it in an area with plausible deniability.

    • Galt1138

      FWIW., I’m nearly positive I saw the exact same footage posted on FB by someone saying it was BS covid body bags news report. This was well before the Russians invaded.

  48. kinnath

    ‘Constant shelling’ as Russian forces lay siege to key Ukrainian cities

    Russian forces in Ukraine moved on Wednesday to tighten their siege of key cities, including the capital, Kyiv, and the southern port of Mariupol, as one mayor told residents he had been given an ultimatum to surrender or the city would be razed by shelling.

    At an outdoor meeting, Artem Semenikhin, the mayor of Konotop, in the eastern Sumy region, told residents: “They have given us an ultimatum. If we start resisting, they’ll wipe out the town using artillery.”

    Ukrainians also said they were fighting on in the Black Sea port of Kherson – the first sizeable city Russia claimed to have seized, which has also come under fierce attack.

    With shortages of food already biting and mounting concerns over the ability of hospitals to function in besieged areas, some western officials privately began raising fears that Russian forces would use the same tactics as those used against civilian populations during the Chechen and Syria wars, which involved scorched-earth tactics.

    • Not Adahn

      “Privately” raised fears with the press?

    • juris imprudent

      So even if Putin succeeds in splitting Ukraine, the western end becomes more likely to seek EU/NATO security. Does that count as an own-goal?

      • kinnath

        Depends on what the purpose of the invasion was.

        My guess is the primary purpose was getting permanent Black Sea ports. If so, why does Putin care about Western Ukraine?

      • R C Dean

        Because Western Ukraine under the control of the Ukrainian government means an unending low-level war? It could turn into the Spanish Civil War 2.0.

        I don’t know how much shipping goes outside the Black Sea, through the Mediterranean, but Black Sea ports may be less valuable if the straits to the Mediterranean are closed to Russian shipping.

        Looks like the Ukrainians really dropped the ball by not having anti-ship missiles on their Black Sea coast, BTW.

      • kinnath

        Russia took Crimea to get access to the Black Sea. It must be important to them.

        Ukraine under the influence of EU/NATO was always going to be a problem for Russia. Moving the border westward moves the problem farther from Moscow.

        Overall, it seems like a very high risk invasion. It will be years before it resolves and proves to be worth it or not.

    • Drake

      Somebody should ask “western officials” how many people were killed in the bombings of Serbia and Iraq.

    • Not Adahn

      Konotop

      Mmmm. Framke Janssen.

    • R C Dean

      And so it begins.

      Fuckity fuck.

  49. Count Potato

    “Democrats Decried Dark Money. Then They Won With It in 2020.

    A New York Times analysis reveals how the left outdid the right at raising and spending millions from undisclosed donors to defeat Donald Trump and win power in Washington.

    For much of the last decade, Democrats complained — with a mix of indignation, frustration and envy — that Republicans and their allies were spending hundreds of millions of difficult-to-trace dollars to influence politics.

    “Dark money” became a dirty word, as the left warned of the threat of corruption posed by corporations and billionaires that were spending unlimited sums through loosely regulated nonprofits, which did not disclose their donors’ identities.

    Then came the 2020 election.

    Spurred by opposition to then-President Trump, donors and operatives allied with the Democratic Party embraced dark money with fresh zeal, pulling even with and, by some measures, surpassing Republicans in 2020 spending, according to a New York Times analysis of tax filings and other data.

    The analysis shows that 15 of the most politically active nonprofit organizations that generally align with the Democratic Party spent more than $1.5 billion in 2020 — compared to roughly $900 million spent by a comparable sample of 15 of the most politically active groups aligned with the G.O.P…..”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/29/us/politics/democrats-dark-money-donors.html

    • AlexinCT

      They always accuse others of doing what they are doing or want to do. To them the system is just when they get to cheat, because their end goals are noble, while the other side just grabs their ankles. And yet so many people demand we not accept that reality and fight fire with fire.

      • Count Potato

        The surprising thing is that is in the NYT.

    • juris imprudent

      Oh, you hadn’t noticed that they had stopped complaining about it?

      Dr. Strangedollar, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Darkmoney

    • AlexinCT

      In a few months these people will all be acting like they didn’t have meltdowns whenever someone pointed out they were fucking idiots for thinking the chin diaper or the infinite prospect of non-effective boosters was the way out of the panic induced lunacy they all suffered from. In fact, I already had one of the biggest lunatic panic mongers I work with accuse other people of being panic mongering now that the new talking points are out.

      there must be an election around the bend and the polls must be telling these idiots that the charade is gonna sink their ship, so they are abandoning it finally.

    • rhywun

      Fuck every last one of those hypocrites. You know they were all on board the plague theater train until ten minutes ago.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Good on SNL for telling viewers that it’s fine to question, and to laugh at, all this.

      Oh Eric, you naive little fool. This is why nobody takes you guys seriously.

    • Drake

      He’ll always have Sambo.

    • Not Adahn

      Huh. I would have thought Putin was more of an ITF guy.

  50. pistoffnick the refusnik

    Gropey Joe is coming to my town today to highlight his infrastructure plans mumble and lie and grandstand.

    He could stop at Love Creamery if he wants ice cream (though the best thing on their menu is their fried cheese curds).

    This means nobody can be on the tarmac from 11:45 until 4:30. How the hell are we supposed to get anything done?

    • R C Dean

      So, all incoming and outgoing flights between 11:45 and 4:30 have been cancelled?

      • banginglc1

        Usually once the president is leaving for his local destination they reopen for the time he is away. Don’t know about today though. No president should be allowed to travel. In the modern world they can zoom if they need.

      • UnCivilServant

        Just because he already belongs to china doesn’t mean all of his conversations should be fast-tracked to them.

    • AlexinCT

      Watch granny porn…

    • CPRM

      They were saying he was going to be in Superior, WI today. So I figured he’d come in through Deeloot. Did I give you a Gropin’ Joe 2020 sticker at Honey Harvest? If so, find a way to smack that sucker on AF1 if you still got it.

      • pistoffnick the refusnik

        You did! That would be the ultimate tag (assuming I lived to tell about it)

    • Sensei

      Happens to me all the time in NYC.

      If you check the actual NOTAM you will get a much, much smaller window for the restriction. I love that they broadly block huge times to most outlets, but you can narrow it down with public information.

  51. DEG

    Police end NZ anti-mandate protest

    The area around Parliament has been the scenes of a full-day ordeal of violence as police removed protesters whose behaviour prompted the Prime Minister to say there were “words I cannot use in this environment for what I saw”.

    Early this morning, police launched an operation at Parliament and the surrounding areas “to restore order and access to the area”. Before the sun rose, police could be seen getting in formation, holding shields.

    As the sun set at the end of the day, about 150 protesters were peacefully facing police with riot shields on Featherston Street near the Railway Station – although other officers were clearing away signs of the earlier violence – bricks and bottles that had been thrown at them.

    The afternoon saw fires lit, explosions, weapons used against police, injuries to officers and arrests at the anti-vaccine mandates protest.

    About 5pm, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed media and laid out just how she felt about the actions of the protesters.

    Ardern said she was angry and deeply saddened to see Parliament desecrated in the way seen today, including the children’s playground being set alight.

    It demonstrated why the government refused to engage with the group, she said.

    “It was an illegal occupation, they engaged in hostile, violent and aggressive behaviour throughout the occupation, and today that has culminated in the desecration of this Parliament’s grounds. I am absolutely committed we will restore those grounds and we will not be defined by one act by a small group of people.”

    • R C Dean

      I will shed no tears for any of the current global ruling class who wind up decorating lampposts. Sadly, I think it will be few to none.

    • rhywun

      I’m going to assume every word out of her mouth is a lie until proven otherwise.

    • UnCivilServant

      If the police were really into restoring order, they’d have cleared out the inside of the parliment and burned it to the ground.

      “It was an illegal occupation, they engaged in hostile, violent and aggressive behaviour throughout the occupation, and today that has culminated in the desecration of this Parliament’s grounds. I am absolutely committed we will restore those grounds and we will not be defined by one act by a small group of people.”

      But enough about the MPs and PM.