393 Comments

  1. AlexinCT

    Biden administration reverses Trump policy, sends troops to Somalia

    Eternal wars are profitable, and not having those hurts the connected…

    • Contrarian P

      I’m really trying to think of anything this administration hasn’t fouled up. Usually even in a bad presidency you can find some positive. Carter deregulated the airlines and the beer industry, for example. Hell, even George HW Bush managed to keep us out of a regime change war in Iraq so he gets points for that. Biden, on the other hand, has managed to not have a single success that anybody can identify, despite the administration’s rather pathetic attempt to take credit for improved employment that’s obviously caused by the ending of the pandemic rather than anything he’s done and pretty anemic when you consider how well the economy was doing prior to the forced collapse the government engineered. In all other sectors it’s been one disaster after another.

      Now apparently we are looking to wars to try to get those flagging poll numbers up, but I don’t think it’s going to matter at all. Russia/Ukraine, despite the media going all in on the narrative, hasn’t caused more than a handful of Americans to care that much. Even those that do are becoming fatigued as the campaign there grinds on with no end in sight. I’m seeing fewer and fewer Ukrainian flags and avatars. More than a few people I’ve spoken with see this as another Vietnam or Afghanistan, where if and when American money and support dries up, the fighting will be over very quickly. In the meantime, Americans aren’t terribly happy with their money going to prop up Ukraine while mothers here can’t get baby formula.

      I’m pretty sure the midterms are going to be an absolute bloodbath. Unfortunately, I have no doubt that the Republicans will immediately go all in on silly issues that will disgust the electorate and we’ll be right back to usual by 2024.

      • Sean

        Their blunders have been epic and nonstop.

        It’s a tsunami of fails.

      • rhywun

        I can’t help but think it’s all deliberate. Nobody can fuck up every single thing he touches – it’s not statistically possible, is it?

      • AlexinCT

        ^^^THIS^^^

        The quickest way to make people that would otherwise by instinct avoid the bullshit the machine is peddling is to force them by giving them no other choice at a time when they have been made desperate.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Sorta deliberate.

        The thing is, it isn’t Brandon calling the shots. He’s just wandering around in his bathrobe while DOCTOR Jill fumes because the media doesn’t gush over her arms the way they did for Michelle Obama.

        The shots are being called by the True Believer party nerds. They are getting to do whatever they want because the root password on the BrandonBot is “password”. Because they are doing this on the sly, it also has the effect of shielding them from personal repercussions.

        Who among us could resist doing stupid things if we know there will be no consequences?

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        There are a lot of, ah, “social engineering” type issues that the left has been hoping and pushing for the last few years, such as higher fuel prices, that both this admin and the Obama admin worked at. And this is definitely what we are seeing. The closing of pipelines and ending fracking both are supposed Green measures that the left has been pushing for years, trying to get people in electric cars and use more solar power, a la Europe*. They also push for higher wages at every point, “living wages” so market fuckery is no surprise, nor is unionization. Jimbo is right, in that Biden isn’t calling the shots, he is reading the teleprompter. On those few occasions he has been caught out with no chance of ducking a question, he has been what he always was, a left-moderate. But on the teleprompt, he is back to reciting far left talking points, mixed with neo-liberal foreign policy.

        *Which just shows they have zero understanding of the economics of Europe, which is mainly that oil is not a huge reserve of much of that continent, thus prices are higher. They drive smaller cars mainly due to postwar issues, such as less steel and less fuel. Trains are used more often their for those reasons, plus there is much closer infrastructure. Americans who only vacationed there, or only visited cities see the things they want to see, not the small cramped houses for most people due to heating costs, that when people can afford it the move to the suburbs and buy bigger cars, just like in the US.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Opus!

        Pear pimples–

      • Not Adahn

        For hairy fishnuts!

      • Ted S.

        Nice avatar. You’re hawt.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        You too are a friend to bats?

        Don’t rewatch that episode unless you need cardiac evisceration.

      • AlexinCT

        I’m really trying to think of anything this administration hasn’t fouled up.

        I see your problem..

        In their eyes, the foul-up was the fact that evil dangerous and scary orange man had the temerity to cancel their racket in the first place.

        The opposition to Trump wasn’t done because his mean tweets or the fact that the guy is a narcissistic asshole became intolerable to the people running the show. it was done because Trump threatened their massive lucrative rackets hidden behind doing good, and even more dangerously, showed the American people that the machine was inept and as inefficient as it is by design. Trump proved the machine a liar by drilling our way out of ultra expensive energy prices in but a year, for example, and repeatedly forced entities that made ineptitude look like a boon considering how bad they were, to become effective.

        Nothing threatened these fucks more than having the people realize things are broken by design, so they can sell more and bigger government to desperate people of all reasons, and that it didn’t need to be tat way. That’s why the machine is pulling out all stops to make sure nobody on the outside ever again dares to stand up to their fucking evil rule.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They’re just not even bothering to hide it anymore. The gloves and masks are off.

      • AlexinCT

        They got both real desperate and real worried. Their investment in, and dependence on, the globalist mandarinate was on the verge of collapse, and they couldn’t have that happen. The gloves – and masks – came off. Every entity that could be utilized to bombard the serfs with programming to undermine the small group undermining the cabal was brought into action. The media went 200% in on the Russia bullshit. The legal system and the 3 letter agencies that were
        supposed to protect the country and the constitution went into overdrive and started looking for ways to run a coup on a sitting president. And then they got and abused a pandemic, and followed it up with fortifying – the new code for outright changing the rules of the game, mid game, to get a win you knew was otherwise impossible – an election. After they pulled it off, they doubled down by telling anyone that dared to question things that they would be punished for that. In the name of uniting the country, of course.

        That genie is out of the bottle, and they can’t get it back in. So the only action left is to break the system in order to create as much pressure on the resisters in order to force them into compliance…

      • Not Adahn

        The opposition to Trump wasn’t done because his mean tweets

        Actually, I think it was. Substantively, OMB was a dem. But stylistically, he was one of the hoi polloi and style over substance is completely the metaphysics of the governing caste. Think of all the focus on what was said, not only by OMB but by The Chosen One. How TCO’s pant crease gave that MSNBC guy an erection and he was not ashamed to admit it!

      • rhywun

        Serious people wanted him out because he opposed the deep state, so they got the ball rolling on pussy-gate which in large part accomplished their goal for them.

        /theory

      • Atanarjuat

        Agreed. It’s much deeper than an aesthetic difference. Trump actually was an impediment to DC establishment power, though of course not due to strictly pure ideological grounds as a libertarian would be. The part of the government that keeps orchestrating these regime change wars decided that it was Her Turn, and OMB threw a monkey wrench in the gears.

      • Not Adahn

        Most of the governing caste isn’t within sniffing distance of establishment power. The hate that comes through on TV/Radio/Twitter is genuine and generated by people who don’t matter in the slightest. They are however, socialized into that culture and know the correct caste signals and responses.

      • juris imprudent

        style over substance

        ^^^THIS!!! Muh credentials! My turn. Etc, etc.

      • Not Adahn

        Carbon emissions went down under Trump, but that didn’t matter because HE LEFT THE PARIS ACCORDS!!!!!

        Being in the Paris Accords literally (as in literally) mattered more than reducing emissions. The style of saving the planet mattered more than the actuality of saving the planet.

      • AlexinCT

        I disagree. The Paris accord was a racket that would allow the globalists to skim off tens of billions of dollars for themselves, while then directing hundreds of billions more to causes that would make them big cash from the loot they intended to confiscate from the productive class (especially in the US where the big money is). Trump telling them to fuck off on that made them all see red and made him an existential enemy to that group of criminals. Lowering emissions is meaningless if it costs the connected mandarinate money and power. Nothing to do with style…

      • Not Adahn

        You’re not wrong, but to the extent we actually encounter anyone deriving actual money/power form the accords, they make up an insignificant fraction of the people having public conniptions over CLIMATE CHANGE! And I don’t know (but rather doubt) that there’s any kind of feedback loop between people actually gaining/losing and the shrieking harpy flock.

      • AlexinCT

        Distinguish between the ruling class that knows the Climate Change shit is a racket of their making, and a great one at it, and their concern for the money & power in that racket vs. the lemmings that actually think this Climate Change racket is some sort of legit Gaia saving effort. The lemmings certainly rended their clothes and waled like women that have seen their men crushed by Conan the Barbarian and his conquering army. But they are idiots for believing that climate doesn’t always change and that the people telling them they need to give up their wealth, future prosperity, and freedoms to stunt it this time. I just feel sorry for people caught in that matrix. But the leadership peddling the lies are the ones to worry about.

      • juris imprudent

        But they are idiots…

        And we don’t even have to question what kind of idiots – they are idiots that vote. Don’t you just love democracy.

      • Not Adahn

        I should probably explain my definition:

        When I say “ruling caste,” I’m referring to people that believe that a) humans need to be ruled and b) they should be part of the ruling process.

        They don’t need to have actual power. They just need to believe that they should and/or are part of the process. So everyone in the media who is giving people “the information they need” to have a “healthy democracy” is part of it, even if Tater will never have any real power. Obviously officials also fall into this caste, but also thinktankers and “public ‘intellectuals'” as well.

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        Yes, but there is a split in the ruling class, that of Monied interests vs. Intellectual interests. And, post WWII the intellectual interests have had the whip hand, so to speak (the left right split is a secondary, but also important part of this). Trump was a sign of the Monied interests coming back into power, and Elon Musk is the same threat. Hence the deep and sudden freak out about him.

        A good read about it: https://leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/p/a-class-divided?s=r

      • juris imprudent

        Thanks Zwak, that was a good read.

      • Tundra

        Seconded. Excellent essay.

      • kbolino

        Trump’s style gave them a way to shift the masses against him enough to beat him with the margin of fraud, but it was substance that caused the elites to fear him. He said at the outset his goal was to put America First in foreign policy, and he wasn’t bluffing (again, at the outset): he talked about pulling U.S. troops out of places they’ve been for almost a century (Germany, Korea, Japan) and he talked about leaving NATO. Of all the symbolic powers the President has, it turns out he still has some real power over foreign policy (a lot moreso than over domestic policy). This was an “oh shit” moment for the entire establishment, it’s why they nuked every single FP advisor he wanted, it’s why they prosecuted Flynn, it’s why they called him a Russian asset and Putin’s agent, etc. Nothing, and I mean nothing, that Trump wanted to do elicited anywhere near the reaction from the deep state that his foreign policy did.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        ???

        That is the DC’s gravy train. Trump was threatening it.

      • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

        This. Trump didn’t share the left/PMC class’s shibboleths. He didn’t care about he game of musical chairs that most of DC thinks is the most important thing evah. And for that they put the needs of the nation behind in the effort to stop this “uprising”. This is why 1/6 is so big in their eyes, that is symbolizes that the people aren’t on the side of the light, that they actually do care about the constitution, due process, and so on.

      • DEG

        Similar to GWB. He is from a Connecticut banking family. He went to school in New England. His tenure is really just an extension of LBJ’s (see Medicare extension and the wars).

      • Atanarjuat

        I’ll give Biden credit for one thing: when the Afghanistan withdrawal was happening, all of the generals were publicly saying they wanted to leave a 2500-strong “peacekeeping” force there. Of course, the cease fire agreement with the Taliban was contingent upon leaving by a certain date. These troops remaining might have ended up in serious fighting with the Taliban, requiring reinforcements to be sent, and then the whole MIC gravy train would have kept going. Even if they hadn’t met with hostilities, the result of not leaving would be an American presence lasting as long as the American presence on the Korean peninsula (until our dollar, economy, and government collapse inward, anyway). Biden did the right thing overruling this idea.

      • AlexinCT

        They have plans to go back to Afghanistan. Bank on that.

      • kbolino

        Given everything that has happened since, I can’t help but think that the MIC wanted to leave Afghanistan, that it had become a net loss for operations to continue there. And while it pains me to say it, if the choice were either/or, I’d rather we’d have stayed in Afghanistan than be ramping up to WW3 with Russia.

      • Rebel Scum

        has managed to not have a single success

        Define “success”.

      • R C Dean

        If the goal was to scrape every vestige of the Trump administration from teh face of the earth, they’ve been pretty successful. The only remaining legacy is the judicial appointments. And, I guess, the tax cut.

      • Atanarjuat

        Exactly. When Biden cancelled those oil leases, it wasn’t seen as a failure by a good chunk of the left wing base.

      • Contrarian P

        I suppose something that is a net positive for the majority of the country’s citizenry in one of a number of important dimensions (economic prosperity, consumer choice, safety/security, and so forth). Generally I’d also include not further eroding civil liberties. I can’t think of anything this administration has done to fulfill any of those.

        I’m sure in their mind having a “first” in new categories (first transgender this, black that, asian gay the other) is some sort of important success. That seems to be what they’re going for. That and getting rid of anything that the prior administration accomplished because in their view it must by definition therefore be bad.

      • AlexinCT

        I suppose something that is a net positive for the majority of the country’s citizenry in one of a number of important dimensions (economic prosperity, consumer choice, safety/security, and so forth).

        After laughing so hard I cried, because of how sadly ludicrous it was to believe these people make decisions for the good of the country, I actually ended up crying when I realized they don’t. Their decisions are always for the good of themselves and their agendas. Their first, second, and third priorities is always what benefits them and their power agendas. It doesn’t matter if the choice is horrible for the country. And yes, occasionally something might align with being good for the country, but that is the whole “broken clock is right twice a day” thing.

      • kbolino

        They really have stacked the deck in their favor. The universities, the press and mass media, the social media platforms, the intelligence agencies, the military brass, large publicly traded corporations, labor unions, and (qua-)NGOs are all on their side, staffed with their people, believing the same things all right-thinking people are supposed to believe. There’s no external input into this process by which they would suddenly decide that “oops, we done fucked up”. Their first and only necessary response is to tell the people that they’re wrong to complain, things are great actually, and if they really think about it, the worse things get according to old, regressive, selfish metrics, the better they are according to the new, progressive, concerned-about-the-right-things metrics.

      • db

        Biden, on the other hand, has managed to not have a single success that anybody can identify,

        I think that the Left / Democratic Party define “success” as “implementing policy that we like” rather than “has had a positive effect on the country and its citizens.”

        Therefore, Biden has had nothing but success after success, in their minds.

  2. AlexinCT

    Whose running the Sussman trial pool? I want to put $100 on the judge torpedoing the fucking whole thing. If any trial needed to be on TeeVee, this is the one, but they will not do that because this will make the Amber Turd vs. Jack Sparrow bitch fight look like a distraction for the brain damaged lemmings as it makes it impossible for the machine to control the narrative…

    • juris imprudent

      The people of this country are far more interested in the lurid details of Turd/Sparrow than they are the machinations of the Clinton campaign, DNC and national security apparatus. Just like you will have an easier time engaging the average person on the street about the Kardashians than any of the finer points discussed here.

    • DEG

      Livestreaming Federal court hearings has not been allowed for a long time. There is a pilot program for bankruptcy and civil court hearings, and this, like the Maxwell trial, won’t fall under it because those are criminal.

  3. Not Adahn

    NPR had a rewrite of that Cali shooting story this moring, down to using the phrase “political hate.”

    I cannot possibly imagine that they want to open the door to discrimination against politics becoming a recognized thing.

    • AlexinCT

      They are just going to bury the story, and based on past performance, are counting that’s enough to have it disappear from memory.

      • juris imprudent

        Bury it like the Sacramento shooting – when the details emerged that no longer suited the narrative?

      • AlexinCT

        Nods..

  4. Shpip

    The study comes amidst the White House pledging to fight to reinstate to the recently overturned federal mask mandate for travelers.

    Say, whatever happened to that? Did the administration quietly let their mandate expire May 2, or are folks clamoring for mask mandates again since hordes of airline travelers are suddenly showing up in the morgue?

    • DrOtto

      I flew for the first time since 2017 and while the media says travelers want mask mandates, that wasn’t very evident. None of the crew were masking and only 3 or 4 of the passengers were masking in 2 legs of full flights.

      • Shpip

        Stated preferences vs revealed, Example number 3,446,291

      • Gustave Lytton

        All of the assholes maskers at work are no longer wearing ones either, even though they’re fully allowed to do so.

      • DEG

        It’s false consciousness. People really secretly want masks.

    • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

      I was looking at Amtrak the other day, and they point out that the madate is over, but please wear one if you want. Hint, hint.

  5. R.J.

    The California shooting is on ABC now, but nobody is talking about the China/Taiwan angle.

    • Festus

      Not to worry. Trust in the 45-year rule, like the Vegas unfortunate incident or that red car up in Wisconsin.

      • Nephilium

        Nothing happened in Vegas, what are you talking about?

        NOFX is even back on the Punk in Drublic tour after they got kicked off for making an insensitive joke about the nothing that happened there.

      • Festus

        I had a square single of theirs that came in a fanzine when I was a kid!

    • Zwak,The Baddest Johnny on the Apple Cart

      No one is talking about the anti-Christian rhetoric coming from the left on a daily basis either.

  6. Festus

    That first version is A-OK! I can feel the wind in my roller hair as I rink! We had moves, Baby! My fave was the one where you squatted down and let the left skate dangle. Not ashamed of the peacocking but pretty funny to look back upon. “What were you thinking?”

    • Fourscore

      A common language, you betcha.

  7. Atanarjuat

    Re: the SoCal Taiwanese church shooting

    He chained the doors and put super glue in the keyholes.

    Overkill.

    Records showed the four-unit property was sold last October for a little more than $500,000. Orellana said Chou’s wife used the money from the sale to move to Taiwan.

    Chou’s family apparently was among many forcibly removed from China to Taiwan sometime after 1948, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. Chou’s hatred toward the island, documented in handwritten notes that authorities found, seems like it began when he felt he wasn’t treated well while living there.

    This all seems like the personal grievances of a guy who previously received a serious head wound resulting in erratic behavior, not a greater trend of terror attacks.

    • Festus

      Speaking of which, when is Evan ever coming home? That dude needs to repatriate yesterday.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I forget the date, but supposedly well before EOM.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        (But something as well about a 3-month visa? Sorry, bleary with insomnia.)

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        (But something as well about a 3-month visa? Sorry, bleary with insomnia.)

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Ooh, lookit me; do I get a prize or two?

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Elaine! Elaine! ? ✝️

  8. Rebel Scum

    The Biden administration is deploying US troops to Somalia. President Biden signed off on the plan on Monday, along with a plan to target some dozen leaders of Al Shabab. Trump had withdrawn troops from the war-torn region near the end of his time in office. About 450 troops will be sent to Somalia, on Africa’s east coast.

    Ain’t no party like a war party.

    • juris imprudent

      Heaven forbid that Somalia ever be anything other than a war-torn country.

    • Fourscore

      Advisors. 60 years ago. Fourscore remembers

  9. The Late P Brooks

    “The findings presented in this short communication suggest that countries with high levels of mask compliance did not perform better than those with low mask usage in the six-month period that encompassed the second European wave of COVID-19,” Spira summarized.

    “The lack of negative correlations between mask usage and COVID-19 cases and deaths suggest that the widespread use of masks at a time when an effective intervention was most needed, i.e., during the strong 2020-2021 autumn-winter peak, was not able to reduce COVID-19 transmission.”

    Beyond finding no benefit to mask mandate compliance in curtailing the spread of COVID-19, the paper found a “moderate positive correlation” between the use of masks and COVID-19 deaths.

    Well, blow me down. I’m sure we’ll be hearing all abut this on the nightly news.

    Based on the volume (loudness) and intensity of the propaganda commanding maskage, you’d think there might be some discernible negative correlation between masks and “cases” no matter how tenuous.

    • Shpip

      Just imagine telling the Karen brigades “Hey! Your mandates did nothing to help, and actually hurt things.”

      It wouldn’t matter, because narcissistic moral preening is impervious to facts, and is the dopamine rush those types crave.

      And they’ll do it again and again, first chance they get, on any issue whatsoever.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      But your t-shirt worn over your face protects me.

      • Zwak, who counted all his blessings, and counted only one.

        And the diaper I am wearing keeps me from pissing on the floor!

  10. AlexinCT

    The shooting the media is ignoring

    They don’t just ignore shootings they don’t like – anyone have the numbers for Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Washington D.C., and so on this past weekend, for example – but any incident that would hurt their cause. We still don’t know why the Vegas Shooter attacked a bunch of people going to a country concert. You know, people that tended to be Ultra MAGA and love the country. That guy’s story simply vanished. and nobody cares to understand how the fuck that happened. And do you remember that fucking red SUV in Waukesha that hated honkey Christmas parade marchers?

    It’s evil shit. The fight, right now, is between the marxist/fascist totalitarian machine and their narrative controller’s need to control the programming of the vassal class, and the people that want to red pill these lemmings to get them out of the matrix where the programmed all believe the most inept, evil, and mendacious credentialed class of vultures that have crippled our economy and continue to destroy whatever working parts of the machine are left, run an entity – government – that they want us to believe solves problems.

    Meritocracy is under attack because the marxists/fascists can’t abide a system where they can’t do 180 degree programming changes to the what the vassals believe and accept without consequences. And that is because they are inept.

    • invisible finger

      32 homicides for May 2022 in Chicago.

      • AlexinCT

        How many stories did we get from the media decrying the fact that this happened/continues to happen despite the fact that the machine has made guns illegal to own by any law abiding citizens there?

      • Festus

        Why, that’s not even 1/3 of a Buffalo! Must work harder!

  11. Rebel Scum

    Jury selection for the high-profile criminal trial against Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann took place Monday, with a rare public appearance by special counsel John Durham, who brought the case in his long-running investigation’s first trial.

    *yawn*

  12. AlexinCT

    Abbott Labs, FDA reach deal on reopening shuttered baby formula factory

    Now do energy production self sufficiency!

  13. Rebel Scum

    ‘Twitter does not believe in free speech’: Undercover Project Veritas recording reveals Twitter engineer saying platform censors the right but NOT the left, everyone who works there is ‘commie as f**k’ and they ‘hate’ Elon Musk

    I hope Musk ruins them.

  14. Atanarjuat

    Re: McDonalds leaving Russia

    The iconic brand will end its three-decade run in Russia, following the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

    This dishonest, factually incorrect editorializing from a site called “Just the News”.

    So they’re closing 800 restaurants. That seems like a lot of business lost. Any chance they were pressured to do so by CIA or State Dept goons? Either way, great opportunity for Russian entrepreneurs to fill the drive through void.

    • Festus

      More grey, tasteless food? They will be fine.

    • Not Adahn

      It’s not like Russia is shy of expropriating assets and giving them to cronies.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      The insertion of a modifying word that editorializes is par for the course now.

      And those words always seem to repeat across multiple platforms and outlets.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Can we have Not Necessarily the News back instead? Cinemuck, musquirt.

      • rhywun

        I’m sure Sniglets would go over real well.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        ?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Any chance they were pressured to do so by CIA or State Dept goons?

      McDonalds Ownership:

      The Vanguard Group, Inc. 8.65% 63,976,688 15,940,431,582 +1,098,435 +1.75%
      SSgA Funds Management, Inc. 5.00% 36,973,382 9,212,287,859 +1,033,751 +2.88%
      BlackRock Fund Advisors 4.64% 34,332,652 8,554,323,572 -373,356 -1.08%

      Notably, these massive funds also own significant stakes in Raytheon and Lockheed (as well as pharma and media.)

      The fix is in. Corporate America has been told to divest from Russia, we’re going to war.

      • Atanarjuat

        Thanks. This is exactly what I was wondering. It’s a club, and you ain’t in it.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        A reminder that Apatow’s Carlin bio premieres on HBO May 20 – 21.

      • Festus

        He’s going to be a cunte about it, isn’t he?

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Or a CS or MF?

      • Ted S.

        And, right on cue, the shrieking about Vanguard and Black Rock that sounds like somebody took a lefty screed and replaced the words “Koch Brothers” with some other business venture.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        There is a huge difference between funding NGOs and political organizations and actual ownership with control of board appointments. These entities have their own interests that span multiple industries, or do you think the almost total media ban on anything against the COVID vaccines was totally organic and instigated from the ground up?

    • rhywun

      Any chance they were pressured to do so by CIA or State Dept goons?

      Most of those restaurants were directly owned by Micky D’s rather than franchisees so yes, every chance.

    • Ted S.

      Except that it was unprovoked, much in the same way 9/11 was unprovoked.

      • juris imprudent

        Russians hated Ukrainians for their freedom?

  15. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Those questions of the Twitter staff to the executive suite are beyond retarded:

    ‘How does the board and Mr Musk plan on dealing with a mass exodus considering the acquisition is by a person with questionable ethics?’

    Well, bye…

    “With no board in place, who will keep Elon accountable and how?”

    He’ll be the owner who wants to turn a profit, you ignorant twat.

    “Is there an updated understanding on what free speech means?”

    It’s not complicated unless you’re a retard.

    • Festus

      I’m shocked that he got the honorific from that bunch. Musk=Trump, lately.

    • R C Dean

      These idiots don’t even understand that the board is accountable to the owner, not the other way around.

      • Rebel Scum

        “Our jobs are at stake, he’s a capitalist and we weren’t really operating as capitalists, more like very socialist. Like we’re all like commie as fuck.

        Of course they do not understand.

      • juris imprudent

        I’ll repeat what I said the other day:

        Nazis were the wrong people with the right theory, communists were the right people with the wrong theory.

        These dumbshits don’t realize that is exactly what they are promoting.

    • cyto

      That veritas article was a revelation.

      They work as much or as little as they want? Dude worked half days last month? Because he wasn’t feeling it?

      They focus on “mental health” not efficiency or profit?

      How in the world are they still in business?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They are being run as a loss center in order to shape public opinion for their institutional owners.

      • juris imprudent

        And the gravest danger is that Musk exposes this – either by buying them, or backing out of the deal because it isn’t a real business.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Unlimited time off has been sold as a great new benefit from tech companies. It’s inevitable that someone will abuseuse it as intended.

      • Zwak, who counted all his blessings, and counted only one.

        They lie about the metrics in order to court advertisers. Which in turn allows them to be the dickheads they are.

        It really is that simple. Hence, why it is up for sale, as opposed to being a kept servant of the DNC.

  16. Rebel Scum

    The shooting the media is ignoring

    Asian on Asian doesn’t count. (despite them being racist af against each other…)

    • Not Adahn

      Only wypipo can be racist. It’s in the definition of racism.

      • juris imprudent

        This is true, and when confronted with the reality of Japanese racism, the solution was to magically turn them into wypipo.

  17. Rebel Scum

    The risk of the U.S. falling into a recession is “very, very high,” Goldman Sachs Chairman Lloyd Blankfein warned Sunday, saying citizens and corporations alike must prepare for the worst.

    Probably already in one.

    • Festus

      We need the Ron Paul GIF where he warns us about blowing up the deficit. Wave your hands in the air like you just don’t care? Sorry, already done. Fucking limp-wits.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s endless stagflation or major credit crisis.

      The banks and funds get hammered in a credit crisis, so stagflation it is. The little guy is going to get fucked good and hard.

  18. Sean

    Oh my.

    Daily Quordle 113
    6️⃣5️⃣
    3️⃣8️⃣
    quordle.com
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜? ?⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ?⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
    ?⬜⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ???⬜?
    ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ?????
    ????? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

    ⬜⬜⬜?? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ??⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
    ????? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ???⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

    • MikeS

      Ick.

      7️⃣4️⃣
      8️⃣5️⃣

    • Grosspatzer

      Hangin’ out in Chumptown

      Daily Quordle 113
      9️⃣7️⃣
      ?8️⃣
      quordle.com
      ?⬜⬜⬜⬜ ?⬜⬜⬜?
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ?⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜?⬜? ⬜???⬜
      ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ⬜?⬜??
      ??⬜⬜⬜ ⬜?⬜??
      ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ??⬜??
      ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ?????
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
      ????? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

      ⬜⬜?⬜⬜ ⬜?⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜? ⬜?⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ?⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ?⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ?????
      ?⬜⬜⬜? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

      • cyto

        Ok, I followed the whiz plan. I dropped my old reliable saute,choir opening and went with a three word opening.

        Daily Quordle 113
        5️⃣4️⃣
        6️⃣7️⃣
        quordle.com
        ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜??⬜
        ⬜⬜⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
        ⬜?⬜⬜? ⬜?⬜?⬜
        ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ?????
        ????? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

        ⬜⬜⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
        ⬜?⬜⬜⬜ ?⬜??⬜
        ⬜⬜⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
        ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
        ?⬜⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
        ????? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
        ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

        Got each in one guess. Wasn’t all that easy. And you can never do better with the three word open. But I would say it worked like a champ.

      • Tundra

        Which did you choose?

      • cyto

        Tares Nicol dumpy

        Just did 2 practice rounds in the library. Both had the same experience as this first try. 4,5,6,7. All 4 words were long think before single guess, all three games. It left one word with enough letters to get the first one, then by the time the last one comes due, there are enough letters missing to give a serious idea as to what the last one might be.

        So, it works. But the downside is there is no real opportunity to beat 7.

      • Tundra

        That’s how the Tundra line was established. It doesn’t always work, but I’ve only chumped once since I started using the 3.

    • Tundra

      Daily Quordle 113
      9️⃣7️⃣
      8️⃣5️⃣

      I’m shocked I didn’t take a trip to Chumptown.

      I needed a Hail Mary at the end. Quordle is asshoe.

      • kinnath

        Daily Quordle 113
        7️⃣9️⃣
        4️⃣?

      • one true athena

        Right there with you. Just a bad day.

        Daily Quordle 113
        8️⃣5️⃣
        9️⃣?

    • whiz

      Following the recommendations from last night, I am cutting out the extraneous stuff at the bottom to shorten the post. I encourage all to do the same, unless there is a special reason not to.

      Daily Quordle 113
      6️⃣8️⃣
      5️⃣4️⃣
      quordle.com

      I had the least hits ever after two seed words, had to go to the third, and then got lucky. I think Quordle is messing with me, I used to get a lot of 18’s. I guess in goes in cycles.

      • MikeS

        Another suggestion/peace offering is to place your score in one Quordle score thread per post. It concentrates them in one place which helps the collecting of scores for the Daily roundup as well as makin git easier for non-Quordlers to scroll past.

        I don’t want to speak for Hyperbole, but I’d have no issue with all of the scores being posted in the A.M. Links, even (especially?) if it’s a dead thread.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    “The North Fund is a nonpartisan social impact organization that partners with community leaders and organizers to help make our society a more just, fair, and equitable place to live, work, and raise families,” said the North Fund in an emailed statement. “As a fiscal sponsor, the North Fund provides operational and administrative support to projects, including legal and compliance, HR, accounting and payroll, and grantmaking support.”

    Making America a better place.

    • Atanarjuat

      Ctrl + F “equitable”

      delete

  20. Rebel Scum

    Three’s a crowd! Having more than two children can age parents by an additional 6.2 YEARS, study warns

    Tell that to the office milf.

    • cyto

      Hey, you get enough miles behind you and pretty much anything relatively in shape begins to look good.

      • Fourscore

        “My kids done it to me”

        2 kids, grey hair at 40.

        I look, feel every day of my age and no turning back

    • Zwak, who counted all his blessings, and counted only one.

      Some people age well, some don’t. I was doing well until I hit 50, the wife until about 45.

      Funny how that corresponds to the start of Covidiocy.

  21. Rebel Scum

    The fast-food burger chain will sell its Russian business – citing the war in Ukraine and the subsequent “unpredictable operating environment” as reasons that led the company to “conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald’s values.”

    Russia should nationalize it. Welcome to McPutin’s.

  22. Rebel Scum

    This is how it starts.

    @MarsCuriosity rover captured this image of rock formation which seems like a door on the 7th May 2022

    • AlexinCT

      Elon has already been there?

      • Grumbletarian

        Maybe Quato is there.

  23. Atanarjuat

    I hope I’m not posting something y’all have already seen. https://thegrayzone.com/2022/05/15/operation-leaked-emails-intelligence-coup-boris-johnson/

    Leaked emails and documents reviewed by The Grayzone have exposed the dimensions of a wide-ranging conspiracy managed by a shadowy cabal of hardcore Leavers to sabotage former Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, remove her from office, replace her with Boris Johnson, and secure a ‘hard’ withdrawal from the EU.

    I’m not sure what to make of it. It seems naïve to think that smoke-filled rooms aren’t the real seat of power in any government. I’m not sure anyone thinks that there was grassroots demand for a Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton contest in 2016.

    They mention CIA involvement. It would be amusing if the CIA helped push Brexit along to keep the UK in our hegemonic orbit, instead of being influenced by the EU, and inadvertently demonstrated to the world that secession and radical political decentralization can be accomplished peacefully with good outcomes for all involved.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      I’m convinced that half of US foreign policy is designed to keep Europe down. They’re actively encouraging the EU’s self-immolation right now in regards to Russia.

      • AlexinCT

        I am unsure of how you reached this conclusion that US policy is designed to keep Europe down? Can you elaborate? Cause yeah, I know policy has been to do the defense spending for the Eurocracy so the mandarinate in Europe could give their serfs more free shit in the Oceania experiment, but I can’t figure out how that translates to the US wanting to keep Europe down. Do you mean they are worried Europe will rearm and some Kraut will want a new Reich or something?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Europe would be far better off if it reached a detente with Russia and maintained economic ties. As it stands, they’re going to push themselves into a depression, starve and freeze their people, and risk full-blown war over a border dispute between two of the most corrupt countries on the planet. None of this improves their security or their economic prospects.

        The US has an active policy of keeping Europe within its sphere of influence. From the State Dept’s point of view it’s better for the EU to be a disaster and under our control than it is for them to be prosperous and independent.

      • Atanarjuat

        Agreed. The old way of thinking was “freeloading NATO countries need to spend more on their defense, right now the US taxpayers are footing the bill”. The new way of thinking is “this is entirely by design, the US is effectively neutering and militarily occupying Western Europe (not just Germany), while funneling vast sums to domestic weapons manufacturers”. And whatever bare shelves and high gas prices we have due to the proxy war, it’s worse in Europe.

      • AlexinCT

        Europe would be far better off if it reached a detente with Russia and maintained economic ties.

        Erm, I thought that is precisely what got us where we are today. Against common sense, the idiot Euros let Greta tell them that they shouldn’t be energy self sufficient, and then became reliant on Russian energy because of “economic ties”. That money allowed Russia to then arm up, and the Russians then use that option on their neighbors, which leave all the Euros al kerfuffled that Russia would do something like that.

        The US has an active policy of keeping Europe within its sphere of influence.

        Other than paying for Europe’s defense needs and getting nothing in return from them, I don’t think the US has any sort of working policy. And if they do, that policy is not working at all.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Europe’s energy policy has been schizophrenic at best. The German Greens are the perfect example of the disfunction, they hate domestic energy production and they hate Russia.

        As far as Russia arming up and using that money, it’s not like Russia hasn’t been warning everyone for fifteen years that NATO expansion was a problem for them. And why would they torpedo their highly profitable pipeline agreements with a war if it wasn’t a strategic security issue for them? Far better to keep pumping that oil and gas and get rich. There were offramps going into this shitshow and the US blocked all of them at every turn. Independent European countries were too stupid to object and now they’re going to pay the price for it. Brussels is another story.

        I will eat my words if Russia decides that it’s going to absorb all of Eastern Europe again and reform the CCCP as some have claimed, but I highly doubt that.

        And if they do, that policy is not working at all.

        I’d say the policy is working just fine. The political and economic ties between the EU and Russia have been severed. NATO is gaining steam. US arms manufacturers are going to get rich, and the EU is going to lean on the US for support.

      • AlexinCT

        As far as Russia arming up and using that money, it’s not like Russia hasn’t been warning everyone for fifteen years that NATO expansion was a problem for them.

        And everyone should have called bullshit on that. These asshats are also claiming they are in Ukraine to denazify it. The real reason for Russia going into Ukraine has nothing to do with NATO unless NATO is also part of the cabal that overthrew the Ukrainian government in 2013, and in the process allowed connected people in the Obama administration to take over all the lucrative money laundering illegal and corrupt rackets Russia was running in Ukraine. The Russians are in Ukraine because Putin wants to go back to the glory days of the USSR (which he believes he can do if he forces a recreation of all the old satellite states) and is still pissed the criminal oligarch class in the west stole the criminal enterprises his Russian oligarch class had been profiting from there.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The real reason for Russia going into Ukraine has nothing to do with NATO

        Then why have we refused to engage the Russians on their very publicly issued strategic security concerns and call their bluff?

        There was plenty of opportunity to do so. If we had taken steps, any steps at all, to deescalate the situation and Russia still invaded, I’d say you have an argument. But at every turn, the US and NATO have pissed on the negotiating table and walked away.

      • AlexinCT

        Then why have we refused to engage the Russians on their very publicly issued strategic security concerns and call their bluff?

        How do you engage into negotiations over a false premise? Especially when you know it is false. Agreeing to negotiations IMO is already admitting you lost.

        If you accuse me of doing sheep, I would be a fool to try to negotiate with you to point out that shit is whack and untrue. And I would say their bluff was called because this time they were not allowed to just annex an old ex-Soviet country back into their sphere (so far).

      • R C Dean

        Then why have we refused to engage the Russians on their very publicly issued strategic security concerns and call their bluff?

        Why give somebody a big slice the salami when you know they won’t let you keep the rest?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        What exactly would we have lost? Influence in Ukraine? Of what importance is that to the strategic security interests of the USA? That’s like saying Russia shouldn’t negotiate with the USA over influence in Mexico.

        If we proceed under the assumption that the other side is only arguing in bad faith (which is rich coming from the USA), then let’s just go to fucking war. The end is already written. Let’s get it over with.

      • R C Dean

        Of what importance is that to the strategic security interests of the USA?

        I can’t see anything. Which seems a like a reason not to stick our dicks in, except, perhaps at most, to provide a conference room for the Russians and the Ukrainians to negotiate in. If we don’t have a strategic interest, why should we try to shape the outcome, either with arms or by trying to dictate terms?

      • Tundra

        Ukraine has been a giant honeypot for our ‘elite’ for years. There is no strategic importance, but a shit-ton of money to be made.

      • Plisade

        It’s possible that the simple strategy is to keep regions either in our military control and/or destabilized to prevent any from creating a significant navy, ruling the high seas being essential to global dominance. Having a corrupt ruling class that profits from destabilized countries to money-launder and enrich themselves helps to fulfill this goal, better than boots on the ground.

        /theory

      • AlexinCT

        Ukraine has been a giant honeypot for our ‘elite’ for years. There is no strategic importance, but a shit-ton of money to be made.

        And the Russians are still pissed our ‘elite” stole that honey pot from them back in 2013…. That, and Putin wants to reconstitute a powerful new Russia because he views the fall of the USSR, and all that came with that but most importantly the unipolar world with the USA on top, as something shameful. All that other talk by the Russians is just obfuscation of these 2 items…

      • Zwak, who counted all his blessings, and counted only one.

        They can’t do that as the leaders of the EU are all in on the New World Order BS. It is why Germany is in the pickle re natural gas, France with immigration, and so on. They have bet the farm on this whole thing working out; they need solar, open borders, zero nationalism, etc to work, or it all comes crumbling down. And That Can’t Happen!

        It is the same game being played in the US, Musical Chairs.

      • juris imprudent

        I think you may be ascribing to malice what is better explained by stupidity.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        And that is definitely possible.

        It’s hard to tell with hubris.

      • juris imprudent

        Arrogance married to ignorance is the thing that really makes me a nasty person.

    • Brett L

      If the CIA was involved May would still be PM, so we can discount that part.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Tell that to the office milf.

    47 years old, and ready to make up for lost time.

    • Festus

      And as barren as the Sahara desert! Party time! Bring lube.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    McDonalds Ownership:

    The Vanguard Group, Inc. 8.65% 63,976,688 15,940,431,582 +1,098,435 +1.75%
    SSgA Funds Management, Inc. 5.00% 36,973,382 9,212,287,859 +1,033,751 +2.88%
    BlackRock Fund Advisors 4.64% 34,332,652 8,554,323,572 -373,356 -1.08%

    Notably, these massive funds also own significant stakes in Raytheon and Lockheed (as well as pharma and media.)

    The fix is in. Corporate America has been told to divest from Russia, we’re going to war.

    Daddy Big Brother Warbucks is pulling the strings.

  26. Sensei

    Well between the booster requirement and the supervision – I’m out!

    “Tourists who have been triple-vaccinated and come from the United States, Australia, Thailand and Singapore will be allowed to take part in the tours, which will be strictly planned in conjunction with travel agencies and accompanied at all times by tour conductors, it added in a statement.”

    https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-announces-limited-test-tourism-may-step-full-re-opening-2022-05-17/

    • Sean

      “tour conductor” isn’t slang for hooker?

    • Not Adahn

      …can we pick the tour conductors? Will they wear schoolgirl uniforms?

      • Festus

        I want monkey-butlers.

      • Not Adahn

        I never saw what people found entertaining about monkeys. The primate house at the zoo was always the worst-smelling place.

      • Festus

        But Monkeys dressed as butlers…

      • Not Adahn

        I don’t want the hands making my martinis to have been flinging shit moments earlier.

      • juris imprudent

        So you never frequented the bar that AOC used to tend?

      • Not Adahn

        I’ve only been in the city once.

        Here is my story:

        I went with the knifemaker that I worked for to the diamond district to pick up some gems/gold/other ornamental materials. I was somewhat taken aback by now tacky/inappropriate everything was. “Natural food” stores with neon signs, that sort of thin. Anyway, in that part of town, a very typical arrangement was to have a large glass storefront with a hot young woman in easy sight wearing some of the jewelery inside. We were passing one, a smoking blonde, immaculately made up, in a tight white turtleneck… who lifted her arms and smelled her pits.

        I have never considered urbanites sophisticated since.

      • cyto

        So… Where is the rest of the story?

        I used to read these in a letters to the editor section of some magazine.

        “,She lifted her arm to smell her pits…. My boss and I shared a knowing look…. She smiled and noticed my bulging 9…”

      • Not Adahn

        I’m not into chicks with smelly armpits.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Vax and the NK style tours are only the tip of the iceberg.

      I’m hearing fall-early winter for less restrictive measures.

  27. Evan from Evansville

    I got “lucky”. I just need to pay a $500 fine. I gotta figure out where to go to do it, I shouldn’t have to appear in court. Have a hotel til Tuesday. It’s time for me to relax.

    I showered and changed clothes. That’s a step up. I’m going to play drums as much as possible on Saturday, with all sorts of friends. I imagine I’m a week out of going back to the States. I want to go to immigration and get paperwork. I need to go to some office and pay the fine. I need to buy a plane ticket. I get to play on Saturday. I’ve check out on Tuesday. Most likely take a cab directly to the airport. Lessssful.

    I want many things. Y’all would be embarrassed of the stupid Stateside food that I will explore to devour. At least I can sleep in, in comfort, for the next several days. My body will tell me when to wake up. Not before. I want to kill and hold a girl. (I’m pretty good at it.) I wonder how popular I’ll be in America. I’m an international explorer, goofy as hell, look younger than i am, short, a bit of a fiend…should be an interesting chess game.

    • AlexinCT

      Are you back in the US?

      • Festus

        Not yet. Tomorrow will be a different story with a different outcome. Get the fuck home you fucking gas-bag! We’re tired of worrying about you.

      • AlexinCT

        ^^^THIS^^^

        If you still are there then you are just courting disaster.

      • Evan from Evansville

        I got big news today. It was important to wait. Now, I need to deal with the moving pawns, and they’re easy enough. I have to deal with one more big errand, (paying the fine in person), and I can bounce. That is the plan. It makes perfect sense. Knowing your plan first is better than improvising, especially in a foreign country. I’m on top of it. Today was a huge gain in stability and understanding. I need to know more information, but it’s all on its path.

        Please, do not worry. I’m thoroughly, though quietly, confident in all matters before me. I hope you are well.

      • AlexinCT

        I have to deal with one more big errand, (paying the fine in person), and I can bounce

        That right there….

        That’s worrying…

      • Evan from Evansville

        It’s actually quite chill. Even people here, locals, my lawyer friends and others, all agree that Korean bureaucracies are organized, well-run, and simple. They still give a shit about it here. It’s a small/city-state and relatively new and very recently wealthy. (It hasn’t had as much time to expand into nonsence, but that will happen.) They take shit seriously, here. Every president since the Republic of Korea was created has been imprisoned, executed, or freed from execution at the last minute, because of their misdeeds. The social culture is hard to navigate, but they take corruption, laziness, and ineptitude very seriously.

        Today brought great news. I get to rest. I’m going to have fun.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Nah. I’m still in Daejeon. Bureaucratic errands and fines need to be addressed. I am trying for a week from now. I’ve got a bunch of shit to do. I. Will. Eat. Everything. (Thank the Lord. I have been very bad about eating. I eat MAYBE a half meal a day. Ex-Lady and I are going to go to a nice restaurant soon. I think I know where to take her.)

        I’ll certainly be arriving in Chicago, probably stay for a day or two, and then go down to Indy. I have a few errands to run there, as well. (But those are the fun ones.)

    • MikeS

      Quit dragging your feet and get out before some other road block pops up.

    • Atanarjuat

      I want to kill and hold a girl. (I’m pretty good at it.)

      Hoping you left out a comma there.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m envisioning something out of a pulp cover – damsel in one arm, fending off the bad guys with the other.

        Though I suspect he meant to type kiss.

      • Evan from Evansville

        WOW. That’s the best John-typo of the day. I want to KISS a girl and hold her.

        Well, that’s a big literary fuck-up. (I still find it funny.)

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Oh, I was worried. Turn off that autocorrect; will only endanger you.

        You’ll feel better in time once back in the States (but obvo with Reverse Culture Shock).

    • DEG

      I think the $500 fine is a small price to pay to get out of the situation you are in. Pay it and get back to the US as soon as you can.

  28. Rebel Scum

    Sure…

    My 4-year-old just FaceTimed to ask what I’m doing to “help the people in Buffalo” and “why did the bad man do this?” Absolutely gutting. This cannot be his normal. It’s time to BAN ASSAULT WEAPONS. #EndGunViolence

    Surely you can provide a definition of “assault weapon” and a cogent argument as to 1) how it is responsible and 2) how such a ban would be congruent with the constitution that you are sworn to uphold.

    I’ll wait.

    • AlexinCT

      I would call him out on his bullshit. This is not something that happened outside this asshat’s fevered imagination… Four year olds want rainbow ponies, G.I. Joe, and to be groomed in school. Not to talk about Buffalo.

    • Not Adahn

      “What did you tell your daughter about the Chinese spy you were fucking?”

      • The Last American Hero

        Auntie Fang Fang was wondering where we keep the thumb drives.

    • Festus

      My grey cat asked me yesterday “Why do we only live for about 15 years, Dad? I just shook my head and said go ask your Maker. She’s buried in the back yard, little kitty. You should ask her. He thought about it for a moment and then started a slow-clap. I’m so proud of him!

      • AlexinCT

        This is more likely to be a true story than that idiot’s rant about their 4 year old…

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        +1 Pet Sematary (too tired to Ramone)

    • Certified Public Asshat

      I love the “no 4-year-old would ask this” takes. You’re in absolute denial if you think our kids aren’t watching the horrors we are allowing. pic.twitter.com/MnaWpCRTj3— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) May 17, 2022

      “I’m not lying about this, I’m actually a terrible parent.”

      • Not Adahn

        Yup. My parents controlled what television I was allowed to watch. And the horrors of the nation al news was not on the approved list.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I scrolled down some more. People are also noticing Swalwell’s “son” is wearing a bow and dressed like a princess.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Maybe he can hang out with Amy Carter and discuss nuclear proliferation.

    • WTF

      His 4-year-old was oddly incurious about the Waukesha massacre, and the need to ban assault SUVs.

  29. Ted S.

    Sorry to go off topic so quickly, but I need to vent and you guys are the one group of people I feel I can vent to. My life is a mess — the house is falling apart and it’s killing my father.

    OK, that last bit may be slightly hyperbolic, but let me explain. I helped Dad take care of Mom after she was diagnosed with dementia up until she died in March 2015, which I mentioned back on TOS the morning she died. Since then I’ve been living with Dad since it’s an arrangement which suited both of us financially and emotionally, him not being completely alone other than when I went off to work every day.

    Dad’s getting up there in years, being seven months younger than Fourscore, and naturally I’ve been worried about end-of-life issues. Those worries hit front and center in a big way recently. We suddenly ran out of water from the well, being out in the middle of nowhere, and the first thing determined was that the well pump or perhaps the pipe broke off, sending the pump to the bottom of the well some 300 feet down. Unfortunately, putting in a new pump didn’t help much as it was pulling up a lot of mud, so a new well is probably going to have to be drilled. 🙁

    At the same time, they replaced the water tank in the basement and Dad, being a retired electrician, set out to install a new circuit breaker for the new pump. Unfortunately, last Saturday morning he was on the second step of the ladder and not the bottom step when he stepped down, and fell, with a loud crash and a lot of moaning. Fortunately, I was in the house at the time and not out with the dog, so was able to come to his assistance immediately. We were able to get him upstairs, into a recliner, and then into bed, but the pain didn’t subside and we finally decided to call 911 after trying to get him off the bed to go to the bathroom caused unbearable pain.

    Sure enough: a fractured hip. Dad’s currently in the hospital, although for how much longer I don’t yet know. The surgery apparently went fine and they want to discharge him to inpatient physical therapy, but there’s where the problems really begin. I mentioned this briefly to him when I was visiting him in the hospital yesterday, but when one of my sisters down in Texas called him, he seemed to think he was going directly home from the hospital.

    Worse, I’m beginning to feel like I don’t have the capacity to give him the care he’s going to need whenever he gets home, be that physically, emotionally, or financially. I put in for an FMLA request, but I don’t see any way right now that I could possibly leave him alone and go back to work in the future. Since we live in the middle of nowhere with a 1000-foot driveway and a house that predates widespread cable TV, the house was never wired for cable or high-speed internet, and I’m stuck with a crappy satellite connection that prohibits WFH in terms of latency, bandwidth caps, and robustness. I don’t know that I had the money to install cable before, but with the cost of a new well…. I also looked up business 4G, but that’s apparently not available out here.

    On top of all that, every time I think about it, I just think of more practical issues. Dad’s pension and Social Security are close to adequate and I have quite a bit of savings, but things like getting at his financial records — I can’t find the password to log on to his computer or whatever other sites will need a logon — is just one of many issues.

    And I don’t want to just dump him in a nursing home. I’ve understood that I was going to be stuck living near or with Dad until he died, and that didn’t bother me, but with the fucked-up housing and rental market I don’t know if I can afford to move out. God forbid he should die, I could just move away closer to my sisters in Texas, not that it’s what I particularly wanted out of life. But I fucked my life up badly enough when I was younger that this is one of the ways it’s coming back to bite me now.

    Sorry for the wall of text, but I’ve been wanting to get all this off my chest since getting back from the emergency room Saturday night, and sure don’t want to dump on my sisters (at least I get along with them moderately well) or even my BILs (to whom I feel closer). My one sister and her husband were planning on coming up this way sometime in the summer and moved it up thanks to Dad’s health issues, and maybe I’ll be more comfortable talking to my BIL then.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Sorry to hear that man. Feel free to vent anytime.

    • AlexinCT

      Homeownership is always exasperating because there always is an investment in time and money to keep things viable. And that shit happening always comes all at once. But the real issue here is the needs of your aging father, and the cost there, in both time and actual cash, that is unavoidable. I don’t envy you where you are right now. None of the decisions will be anything but picking the lesser of a whole slew of shitty options. But that doesn’t mean you can avoid them.

    • MikeS

      I’m glad you felt comfortable enough with us to get it off your chest.

      Any chance that any of the cable companies would pay some or all of the cost of getting fiber to your house? The Feds have been spending a lot of money expanding fiber lately.

      • MikeS

        And hide the ladders!

    • Sean

      Sorry, dude. That’s rough.

    • Not Adahn

      Vent away. Someone might even have a solution.

      Check into in-home care.

      • Gender Traitor

        If full-time in-home care is financially prohibitive, see if there’s adult day care, perhaps closer to your workplace than to your home. One caveat: if dementia is not an issue for your father, I’d see if any such daytime care includes clients who are still mentally sharp.

      • cyto

        Insurance and Medicare took care of some in home care for my mother as she became frail. They mostly just sat and kept her company all day. They would help her to the bathroom and do a load of laundry.

        She was very happy to have the company, if not so much enthused about needing the help.

    • Sensei

      Sorry to read all that. I can’t offer too much other than sympathy.

      I think in typical Musk fashion Starlink is backed up like no tomorrow, but worth investigating. I believe much better rates and quantity of data.

      • cyto

        I would definitely put in for starlink. At least you will be higher on the list.

    • R.J.

      I have now gone through this twice in the past eight years. I have some advice, and will attempt to gather some more.
      1. Don’t forget Star Link, it can run WFH and you might be able to get that for your house.
      2. Start with finding the email password. Once you have that, you can get i to everything else and set new passwords.
      3. You should start paperwork to take over for your dad. I will try to gather some information on that and pass to you via forum. There are a few options.
      So sorry this is happening. You are a good man and might just need a point in the right direction, which is hard to see when you are in the middle of it.

      • Nephilium

        Start with finding the email password. Once you have that, you can get i to everything else and set new passwords.

        A good plan for something like this is to have a sealed envelope containing passwords to your computer, as well as any other important passwords/PINs/One Time Codes/etc. (or just a password to an encrypted file containing all of the others).

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Or get something like LastPass and then you only need to keep up with one master password.

      • MikeS

        Yup. I was came here to suggest the one I use: KeePass. There’s dozens out there. The nice part about a password vault programs is you can make your site passwords completely random and unique because you don’t need to remember them anymore.

      • Mojeaux

        We too ise KeePass.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Yeah, forum for all of this.

    • Festus

      Fuck. That’s awful! We’re dealing with similar but it’s a younger fellow with no way out. I wish you the best and remember, The Man With The Honey has bounced back quite spryly! Sorry, Friend.

    • Atanarjuat

      I greatly respect your reticence to pawn your father off in a nursing home.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      I’m really to hear that about your Dad. Maybe Starlink is a possibility for internet?

    • Surly Knott

      I’m sorry.

    • Mojeaux

      I am so sorry to hear all this. I have no advice and there’s not much to say. Just know that I’m thinking of you.

      • Festus

        Extremely good vibes sent to TEds

      • Ted S.

        Yeah, as I was writing it up I was thinking of your house adventures.

    • JG43

      Sorry to hear about your Dad. Mine is in a similar situation but Mom’s still around so that helps a lot.

      I second the recommendation for StarLink. I also live out in bum fuck Egypt and have been using a cellular wireless ISP. Just got StarLink a couple of weeks ago to replace it. Speed and latency are much better now but I still get interruptions every few minutes from the trees blocking the signal. No data cap either. For some reason, I can’t post my Quordle results though.

    • Tonio

      Ted, I’m sorry to hear this and hope things get better for both you and your dad.

      In addition to in-home care, there is also the option of assisted living as a temporary measure — that’s for people who are generally compos, and who don’t need skilled nursing care. They do have people to help with mobility issues.

    • Fourscore

      I’ll stick to my personal experiences.

      The therapists and medical people absolutely would not stand for me wanting in hospital/nursing home therapy (because there is very little of it). They were adamant about my return home. My wife is old, not big, certainly not physically strong but home I went, after 16 days in the hospital (and no surgery).

      We set up the alternative living in the basement, my wife carrying all the food downstairs, dishes back up. After a few days, 10 or so, I decided to make my own breakfast (oatmeal) from the wheel chair. Worked well, she could then sleep in. After a few months I decided I wanted to eat upstairs, it was tough but 1 step at a time, then she was free not to have to drag everything up/down and we closed the basement kitchen.

      I didn’t want my wife helping me, she didn’t know when stuff hurt but I could figure out how to do things that reduced the discomforts. It also gave me incentives to do more for myself.

      My kids initially were going to rush here from TX to help, I convinced them there was nothing they could do and to continue on with their lives. My daughter came 6 months later (HH) and both will be here this summer.

      Ted.S’, while I know nothing about your Dad I’m guessing he is the sort of guy that will strive for his own independence. Most important that you are there if he needs something. That’s the problem, not knowing when and if he needs just a little more help, for a while anyway. Hope you can get the water problem resolved and your Dad can scoot around with a walker/wheelchair soon.

      I had a visiting nurse and a therapist come out for about 2-3 weeks, at their insistence but they didn’t really do much but it was good to see the masked hombres anyway. Your Dad is tougher than you think. I’ll leave you with advice from my ortho doc.

      “Your life will never be the same again. Don’t fall down” That’s a day by day living experience. Now ‘scuse me, I have to go walk on the treadmill, check the garden and bees. Good luck. We’re here for you.

      • Tundra

        This is solid advice.

        Good luck, Ted. We are always here for you.

    • Threedoor

      On the well issue depending on how large the diameter of the original well is you may be able to pull the pump and liner and drill it deeper at a significant savings. Mine fire example is cased with 8’ steel. It’s not going to be able to ever be pulled out, but it can be deepened at 6” diameter.

    • DEG

      Sorry.

      I have a relative in an inpatient physical therapy program. Look closely at them. As far as I can tell, the staff treat her well but the physical therapy seems to be lacking. The food is also horrible.

      I think you should have a talk with your sisters and brothers-in-law about what to do. You’re taking on a heavy task. Maybe they can help?

    • grrizzly

      Sorry, Ted. It’s tough.

  30. Ted S.

    On a lighter note, I did Quordle this morning:

    Daily Quordle 113
    5️⃣7️⃣
    4️⃣6️⃣
    quordle.com
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜??
    ??⬜⬜? ⬜?⬜?⬜
    ?⬜⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ????? ⬜?⬜⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

    ?⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜?
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ??⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ????? ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

    • grrizzly

      Sean wishes it was Wednesday.
      7️⃣5️⃣
      8️⃣9️⃣

      • Sean

        🙂

  31. The Late P Brooks

    “Tourists who have been triple-vaccinated and come from the United States, Australia, Thailand and Singapore will be allowed to take part in the tours, which will be strictly planned in conjunction with travel agencies and accompanied at all times by tour conductors, it added in a statement.”

    You’re going to North Korea?

    • Sensei

      Not me!

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Good luck, Ted. I don’t know what else to say.

    • AlexinCT

      Those are the good Nazis, I bet…

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Just like Werner von Braun except way less useful.

    • Not Adahn

      I hate NYC nazis.

    • AlexinCT

      That chick just is scared of real dick, Q…

    • rhywun

      Good lord, I can’t imagine.

    • Atanarjuat

      What an incredible, loyal wife.

    • Not Adahn

      Well, his mouth still works, and since he’s got no balls, maybe his needs aren’t so much?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Jeez…

    • Pope Jimbo

      Well of course he gets asked about his sex life a lot. People see him and they think and think and think. Finally they have to ask because they are stumped for an answer.

      • AlexinCT

        SWIIISSSS!

        This guys is calling you out…

      • R.J.

        May he’s a bisect-ual?

      • Pope Jimbo

        Do you want Swissy to look at you crossways?

      • R.J.

        I know I am going to Hell for that one. it was too good to leave unspoken.

      • whiz

        You certainly won the dark side of the internet today (this week, month, year?).

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Now that’s a guy with real problems. Jesus.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    2. Start with finding the email password. Once you have that, you can get i to everything else and set new passwords.

    Good point. Also, if you can get into his computer (if such a thing exists) can you get to the stored passwords?

    • Nephilium

      For saved passwords in Chrome, you can view them under Settings/Autofill/Passwords. To view them (instead of just the sites they’re to), you’ll need the computer PIN/password. In Firefox, you can view saved passwords under Settings/Privacy and Security/Saved Logins.

      I’m going to guess that dad wasn’t setting up TFA for many sites, but that would just require phone access.

      • UnCivilServant

        You’re assuming he was in the habit of storing the passwords.

      • Not Adahn

        I don’t. I algorithmically generate a password based on a seed and the name of the site in question. Sometimes the sites have restrictions that prohibit my generated password, so I write those down and store them in a gaming rulebook appropriate to the situation.

      • Mojeaux

        I use words (sometimes nonsense words, think “bandersnatch”, sometimes foreign words) because I read somewhere that randomly generated number/letter/symbol combos are easier to hack.

    • Mojeaux

      My husband and I have a password keeper I put in a Dropbox folder I encrypted (been so long now I don’t remember how I did it).

      • Festus

        I have random post-its that live in the top drawer. It’s not very efficient.

    • Ted S.

      I knew the password for the old computer, but not his current computer.

      I was having fun trying to get through the contacts and whatnot on his flip-phone when I was visiting him in the hospital on Sunday.

    • MikeS

      Oh my gawd the dust in here. I need stronger allergy meds or something.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I thought about issuing a High Dust alert with that one.

        Amazing how something so gut wrenching can be so motivating.

    • Festus

      Hey Pope, I didn’t mean to rain on your parade the other day. Things have become very visceral, lately. Judi had to go rescue him last night and there is absolutely nothing that either of us can do to save him from the walking dead. You don’t know how bad this has become but I still love you in an on-line way.

      • Pope Jimbo

        on-line, off-line, main-line. I love you every which way too Festus.

        Never worry about offending me. If you ever do manage to pull it off, I will just figure that it is payback for some time I offended someone else.

        Hope things get better in your life my friend. Remember that the secret is to keep picking them up and setting them down. Eventually the shit times will pass.

      • AlexinCT

        D.I.: Liking leads to loving private….. You know what loving leads to?

      • Festus

        That is good advice! Your thumbs-up means a lot to me. It’s just been one fucking thing after another, lately. Sometimes I lash out without meaning to. I mean, Anne Landers is a boring old biddy!

  34. The Late P Brooks

    President Senile Retard is headed to Buffalo to stand on top of those bodies and bloviate. With any luck, he’ll fall off and break his hip.

    • Not Adahn

      NPR had a “memorial,” and unless I am misremembering, the victims ranged in age from 50 to more than 80. I can understand the daytime grocery store crowd skewing older, but that seems a bit extreme. I wonder if the aged were deliberately targeted and/or their senior status played a role in the lethality of the shootings.

      • Festus

        *This* was seen. You went there.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    NPR is on the case

    A 180-page online screed attributed to the white man accused of killing 10 people at a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo on Saturday has brought a once-fringe white extremist conspiracy theory into the spotlight. But the underpinnings of the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which has been iterated on over time to appeal to wider audiences, has penetrated a much more mainstream portion of American society. A recent poll, conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that one in three American adults now believes in a version of replacement theory.

    The speed with which this false narrative has tipped into American discourse since a French ethnonationalist first coined the term roughly a decade ago has stunned even extremism experts who have tracked the spread of hate-filled ideologies. They cite the failure of major social media platforms to effectively moderate such content, the role of Fox News hosts in amplifying these ideas, and the uptake of the conspiracy’s language by some elected Republican officials.

    Never mind the multitude of articles in the archive about demographic change in America, and how that will sweep away the White Devil’s stranglehold on society. That’s good and true, and we should welcome it.

    • Not Adahn

      I seem to recall NPR being celebratory whenever they ran a story about the US becoming a majority-minority nation. I’m sure that’s not the same thing at all.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      They were jerking themselves over the recent census results not long ago at all. This is the worst kind of gaslighting.

    • MikeS

      the role of Fox News hosts in amplifying these ideas

      Now, I haven’t watched Fox News in over a decade. I’ll visit the online page once or twice a week, maybe more if there is some breaking news happening. About once ever couple months I might click on a transcript “article” of one of Tucker’s monologues. So, I have very limited exposure, but I just do not see all this white-supremacism that Fox generally, and Tucker specifically, are supposedly spreading. If it’s there I have no problem acknowledging it, but the people that make this claim never share their evidence. It’s always just stated as fact.

      • cyto

        Fox is winning and provides the only outlet for “not far left propaganda”. They mostly do “establishment republican propaganda”.

        But Tucker is the juggernaut. He is the only voice that is even a little outside the establishment range. They made him the primary target a month ago (give or take) so they were going to blame the next thing on him, be it protest, racist slurs on a coffee cup or a school shooting. This just came up on the wheel.

    • Q Continuum

      What they care most about is having an electorate that is compliant and supports Big Government; the racial makeup of that electorate is incidental. If Norwegians were known to vote solid D and were clamoring to get in, they’d crowing about the wondrous emerging Scandinavian majority and how it’ll make America perfect.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Pretty much this. Race is incidental to them beyond its utility in spawning political division.

      • Drake

        The divisions caused by forced multiculturalism are a feature, not a bug. They can be exploited to prevent any real opposition to the uniparty.

      • cyto

        It is the intended result.

        This was clearly a MoveOn strategy to re-inject racism into society to counter apathy about the left among Black voters in the era of Obama. This is why they pushed Ferguson to be riots. (Remember, Obama/Holder withheld the information that the gentle giant grabbed the officers gun inside the vehicle and that he did not have his hands up… For over a month. They threatened local police into silence about it too.

        There is no legal justification for doing that. But there is a political one.

        This is not a new strategy.

      • AlexinCT

        Excellent analysis, Q. As I pointed out above, the people in charge of things have agendas, and they then create reasons that they can peddle as good for things to help those agendas. That’s why they have so many massively stupid things they peddle as good when everyone can see it is otherwise as well as the ability to pivot on what is good on a dime. Because it is always about the underlying racket.

    • juris imprudent

      Cooke on the case.

      As I wrote last year, we ought to acknowledge more often how downright weird it is that the social appropriateness of this idea “seems to depend entirely upon the political worldview of the speaker. When made triumphantly by figures such as Dick Durbin, or in books such as The Emerging Democratic Majority, the claim that ‘demographics will destroy the GOP, all we need to do is wait’ is held to be fine. When it is made in anger . . . it’s a racist conspiracy theory that is only advanced by white supremacists.”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That depends on how the Russians want to handle the propaganda war, if at all.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        With the exceptions of their commanders they’ll probably be treated OK. Putin’s many things but Stalin he isn’t. Then again, it looks like they might be in the hands of one of the local militias which might be unfortunate for them.

      • R C Dean

        I’ll be surprised if they don’t all disappear. Actual neo-Nazis, who bloodied the Red Army? Liquidation time. Especially if the Russians have a convenient “militia” cutout to take the blame. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the Chechens.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I’m guessing POWs will be sorted. Non-Azov will be prisoner swapped for Russian POWs. Those sporting swastikas and other Nazi symbols will be publicly tried for war crimes against the Ukrainian residents in the Donbas.

      • R C Dean

        Genuine question – is there something in the Geneva Accords that provides for trying and punishing POWs for war crimes? I’m not very familiar with them, other than a general prohibition (which may have exceptions) against doing anything with POWs except hold them in humane conditions.

      • R C Dean

        Those sporting swastikas and other Nazi symbols will be publicly tried for war crimes against the Ukrainian residents in the Donbas.

        I don’t think Russia recognizes any Ukrainian residents in the Donbas, only Donbas residents since Russia recognized the secession of that area from Ukraine.

    • Drake

      Look how the mainstream media reports it. Blatant lies mixed with spin.
      https://archive.ph/9p9FH

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Ukraine ends bloody battle for Mariupol, evacuates Azovstal fighters

        Moscow has not yet publicly responded to the developments in Mariupol, which were described by Russian state media as an order from Ukrainian military command for its troops to “surrender.”

        Those two statements don’t go together.

      • Atanarjuat

        Mariupol officials said in mid-April that as many as 1,000 civilians were also hiding in the subterranean network.

        And whitewashing the Azov Boi’s use of human shields.

      • R C Dean

        Much depends on why they were there. Seeking shelter from Russian bombardment, and not allowed to evacuate by the Russians? Not human shields. Driven into the plant at gunpoint by Azov, and not allowed to evacuate by them? Human shields.

        I for one don’t have a clue which is the case.

      • Drake

        The only info I have is from Patrick Lancaster and he’s been pointing the finger at the Ukrainians. The locals he talks to (no idea which are ethnic Russians vs. Ukrainians) seem pretty happy that the Ukrainian army has been chased off.
        https://www.youtube.com/c/PatrickLancasterNewsToday/videos

      • R C Dean

        Who the hell knows?

        Is he a Russian asset? Or is this article a (counter-)propaganda hit job? The fog of war hasn’t exactly cleared for me.

        I do note that, as I thought I recalled, the Chechens are in Mariupol. If they’ve got the Azov Bois, the ones who aren’t dead will be soon.

      • Ted S.

        He confirms Drake’s biases, so he’s obviously right.

      • Drake

        He’s former U.S. Navy and was acclaimed for his coverage of the Armenian Azerbaijan war. He and his wife seem to speak the local languages.

      • R C Dean

        I honestly don’t know. Its entirely possible the Ukrainian government has done such a shit job that there’s a lot of people who would rather by ruled by Russia. Or that the complicated stew of ethnic identification and shared history leads to the same result.

        Civil wars (which is what Ukraine has had for several years now) breed war crimes. On both sides, of course. The fact that the Chechens are in Mariupol should be a red flag on that front, and likewise, I wouldn’t be surprised, for Azov.

        The Western media’s careful avoidance of Azov’s nature is a propaganda red flag. Lancaster’s careful avoidance of the Chechens’ history and reason for being in Ukraine is another.

      • Ted S.

        Where the fuck were they supposed to go? Think of all those old westerns where the setters hole up in the fort along with the cavalry. Would you say the cavalry was using the settlers as human shields?

        But this is the Ukrainian military, and everything they do has to be spun as preternaturally wicked.

    • Sean

      Badly. That’s how they’ll be handled.

    • Atanarjuat

      There has been a bunch of wild speculation about various NATO generals and whatnot who may have been down there with them (and this may have been who the doomed rescue mission was sent to evacuate).

    • Plisade

      Preemptive Hospitalization

  36. Ozymandias

    Daily Quordle 113
    7️⃣5️⃣
    8️⃣9️⃣
    quordle.com

    That upper right word can eat shit.
    I, for one, blame whiz.
    (No more DUMPY LOINS for ME!!)

    • Sean

      #waffle116 2/5

      ?????
      ?⭐?⬜?
      ?????
      ?⬜?⭐?
      ?????

      ? streak: 23
      ? #waffleelite
      wafflegame.net

      • cyto

        #waffle116 0/5

        ?????
        ?⬜?⬜?
        ?????
        ?⬜?⬜?
        ?????

        ? streak: 1
        wafflegame.net

        You talked me into it. I had no strategy. But I won my first outing. Barely.

    • whiz

      Sorry Ozy, Quordle lately has not been kind to my seeds. Two weeks ago was a different story.

    • Grummun

      5 8
      4 6

      Yeah, top right is not a word I would ever use, written or spoken.

    • Ozymandias

      STEVE SMITH WANT FRIEND… AND BY FRIEND MEAN “ORIFICE.”

    • AlexinCT

      Ask the ladies what they are wearing on their feet and if they like anal…

      Great conversation starters…

  37. The Late P Brooks

    The baseless theories claim that these population shifts are orchestrated by elite power holders. In the U.S., Miller-Idriss said white nationalists ascribe the plot to Jews who they believe are bringing in immigrants and promoting interracial marriage to suppress whites. In Europe, the false narrative blames elite politicians for a growing Muslim population. Miller-Idriss said the coining of the term “Great Replacement” in France marked a key moment in the growth of these beliefs.

    “It has unified and really spread [the conspiracies] online in memes and videos and in a lot of propaganda,” she said. “It capitalized on a moment when you’re not just reading written propaganda or sharing it in a newsletter or in a small group in a backwoods militia. But it’s circulating in these dark online spaces where this [alleged] Buffalo shooter writes he was exposed and radicalized.”

    From there, the conspiracy theories migrated toward progressively less fringe conservative media platforms, said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League.

    “We have literally watched as ideas that originate on white supremacist message boards, or like the dark web – the places that are very difficult to get to – move,” said Greenblatt. “They literally jump to [Internet message boards like] 4chan and 8chan, which are much more accessible, [then] they jump to web sites like The Daily Caller or Breitbart, and then they jump to Tucker Carlson’s talking points or Laura Ingraham’s talking points, or other AM radio DJs’ talking points. And then you have theoretically mainstream Republican politicians repeating some of this stuff.”

    Good grief. Talk about gaslighting. No wonder nobody trusts you people anymore.

    “Nothingburger! There’s no there, there!”

    • Rebel Scum

      On the one hand they brag about reducing the number of white people, on the other hand you are a racist for noticing and questioning it.

      • AlexinCT

        That’s by design…

        They want to rub it in your face, and then use it against you if you call them out on it…

  38. The Late P Brooks

    I have very limited exposure, but I just do not see all this white-supremacism that Fox generally, and Tucker specifically, are supposedly spreading. If it’s there I have no problem acknowledging it, but the people that make this claim never share their evidence. It’s always just stated as fact.

    Objective reality is white supremacy in its most virulent and destructive form.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Still, Miller-Idriss and other extremism experts say the mainstreaming of replacement theory remains alarming. Greenblatt said it isn’t enough to condemn the violence, because speech that dehumanizes other people – whether Blacks, immigrants or Jews – can inspire violence.

    “What I would suggest is that people in positions of authority, who have platforms, should use those platforms responsibly and call out this kind of ugliness and cease the incitement immediately because it’s too dangerous to do otherwise,” he said.

    In the wake of the tragedy, much attention is focusing on whether stricter gun laws might have prevented it, the role of social media, whether the suspected gunman had a history of mental health problems, and whether law enforcement authorities missed early red flags.

    “But all of that really doesn’t make a difference if [individuals] in the end don’t have a basic understanding of the legacy of racism, of structural racism [and of] systemic racism in this country,” said Miller-Idriss.

    We must muzzle the ungoodthinkers, and get them to the Ministry of Love, so they may be rehabilitated and brought back into the welcoming embrace of the Party.

    • Festus

      Whatever happened to reading History? I mean it’s all there, warts and all. No need to make up boogey-men. They are Legion.

    • Rebel Scum

      We must muzzle the ungoodthinkers

      Well let’s not go off halfcocked.

    • The Other Kevin

      If someone is being paid to look for racism, there’s a 100% chance they’re going to find a lot of racism.

  40. Festus

    I counted on my fingers and toes last night. Ten working days left. I’m not feeling very positive about the outcome. In about six months someone is going to get the prying stick.

  41. Rebel Scum

    Tucker inciting racial hatred again…

    Fox News host points out how President Biden and Democrats are using race politics to capitalize on the deadly Buffalo shooting on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’

    On second thought, he’s on point.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Supposedly the Russians are loading them onto buses and taking them to a hospital. It’ll be interesting to see how they’re ultimately handled.

    Tragically, they all succumbed to their wounds.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Are these aliens more akin to the occasional green chicks Kirk used to bang or are they the big headed large eyed ones that bring Dana Perino to mind?

      • UnCivilServant

        Neither, these ones are more along the lines of sapient jellyfish.

      • R.J.

        Ah. So enemies of the Sontarans?

    • Festus

      I’d rather gaze upon a potato. Seems like they are going to be pretty hard to come by after the next few months.

    • AlexinCT

      References…..

  43. The Late P Brooks

    Maybe shopping at Walmart just sucks, and people are sick of it

    In an interview with CNBC, Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said the significant jump in fuel prices, elevated labor costs and aggressive inventory levels weighed on the company. He said some merchandise arrived late and other items, such as grills, plants and pool chemicals, didn’t sell due to “unseasonably cool weather in the U.S.”

    Plus, he said, Walmart employees returned from Covid leave quicker than expected and caused the company to become overstaffed during part of the quarter. He said those scheduling challenges have been resolved.

    The discounter’s bottom line results “were unexpected and reflect the unusual environment,” CEO Doug McMillon said in a release Tuesday morning. Inflation in the U.S. is at a nearly four-decade high.

    “We’re adjusting and will balance the needs of our customers for value with the need to deliver profit growth for our future,” he said in a news release.

    “Overstaffed”. Haha, good one, Brett.

    Meanwhile, I saw something about Walmart now recruiting managers straight out of college. They used to promote from within, from a pool of people who had wide ranging experience in internal operations. That’s just dumb. Nobody does that.

    • Not Adahn

      What kind of self-respecting NCG would take a job at Walmart?

    • cyto

      Inventory problems have to have weighed on the company. I see large chunks of empty shelves regularly these days.

      I never remember that happening pre COVID. And even in COVID, it was limited areas. Now, it is everywhere.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The last three times I’ve popped into one the item that showed as in stock online was nowhere to be found. I’m no Bezos fan but at least Amazon has it if they say they have it.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Hiring department/store managers out of college, or hiring into the myriad back office support apparatus that runs Walmart?

      • Festus

        They are both good tunes. Humble Pie Live is one of the first albums that big bro ever bought. I’ve been a fan since I was 12 or so.

      • Tundra

        Yeah, there is something about that band that ticks all my musical boxes. Just dirty and nasty (in a good way).

  44. Tundra

    Good morning, Banjos!

    And it really is a good morning, despite the best efforts of the monsters.

    Three’s a crowd! Having more than two children can age parents by an additional 6.2 YEARS, study warns

    Uh, so?

    We only had two and I really wish we would have had one or two more.

    • Festus

      That’s my one regret. Too late then, too late now.

  45. db

    Whiz:

    from the English word list I found on GitHub:

    Total words: 370105
    5-letter words 15920 (4.3% of total)

    • whiz

      Just seeing this now…

      That’s a lot bigger than the Michigan list, by a factor of 5 for all the words and 3 for 5-letter words. Since the Michigan list has a lot of obscure words, the GitHub list must be even more so.

  46. Rebel Scum

    Heh…

    A huge display of skywriting with the words ‘Alex Jones Was Right’ appeared over a pro-abortion protest in Los Angeles over the weekend.

    The video clip was sent to comedian and personal friend of Jones Eddie Bravo.

    “That is crazy how they’re doing that,” said one of the individuals observing the banner being flown.

    “It is pretty wild,” agreed another.

    • EvilSheldon

      Eddie Bravo the gay vampire BJJ guy?

  47. The Late P Brooks

    Clash of the titans

    A simmering feud between President Biden and Jeff Bezos has spilled into the open after the Amazon founder went on the offensive to criticize the White House’s approach to inflation and taxing wealthy corporations.

    Biden has frequently used Amazon as a foil as he pushes for higher taxes on the richest Americans and big companies to help fund his economic agenda, and he recently vocally backed unionization efforts at the company.

    But Bezos’s tweets accusing the president of “misdirection” and of risking worse inflation with his economic proposals, and the White House’s sharp response, marked an escalation in what has become an increasingly adversarial relationship.

    “It doesn’t require a huge leap to figure out why one of the wealthiest individuals on Earth opposes an economic agenda for the middle class that cuts some of the biggest costs families face, fights inflation for the long haul, and adds to the historic deficit reduction the President is achieving by asking the richest taxpayers and corporations to pay their fair share,” deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.

    “It’s also unsurprising that this tweet comes after the President met with labor organizers, including Amazon employees,” Bates added.

    Come on Bezos, get with the program. They’ll leave you with enough crumbs to fuel the superyacht.

    • cyto

      Fox asked new girl how raising taxes on corporations would combat inflation.

      Her answer was… Epic.

      We are in for quite a ride.

      • R C Dean

        Fox asked new girl

        Blackberry. Her name is Blackberry.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    Monday’s back-and-forth followed multiple tweets over the weekend, in which Bezos took issue with the White House’s argument that raising taxes on major corporations would help lower inflation. He argued the two were unrelated, and he suggested a government disinformation board should investigate a Biden tweet making that case.

    Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, asked about Biden’s tweet, spoke broadly about the benefits of a fairer tax code for working Americans and for tackling climate change.

    Raising corporate taxes will stop inflation.

    Do monkeys write this shit?

    • kbolino

      While what they sell to the masses is economics for single-digit IQs, I’m more interested in what they’re really after.

      Raising corporate income taxes directly reduces corporate profits, corporate profits directly affect dividends and share prices, dividends and share prices directly affect retirement and institutional accounts, ???, profit?

      Given that the institutions and retirement portfolio managers are all on their side, is it necessary to fleece the money and thus some measure of power from them?

      • R C Dean

        I can’t figure out why the Deep Money (Blackrock et al) faction of the ruling class hasn’t strangled this in the cradle.

      • kbolino

        The devil could be in the details. You’d think the insurance industry would’ve strangled the ACA, but instead they turned it into a massive handout for themselves.

      • R C Dean

        The insurance industry was neatly co-opted at the outset by the ACA’s insurance mandate and Medicaid expansion (which takes pressure off the unreimbursed costs they have to subsidize). I don’t see anything in this other than a straight transfer of money from Deep Money pockets to the IRS.

        Its likely that everyone knows this is pure eyewash which will never pass, so Deep Money is happy letting their cronies in the government throw some red meat to their base.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      What, didn’t you take dumbassanomics in college?

    • rhywun

      Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, asked about Biden’s tweet, spoke broadly about the benefits of a fairer tax code for working Americans and for tackling climate change.

      Yeah, if there’s one thing Americans are clamoring for right now it’s higher prices on everything.

      JFC my brain hurts from the disconnect.

    • JaimeRoberto (shama/lama/ding dong)

      Uh oh, problematic.

  49. Certified Public Asshat

    I guess the senate voted last night 82-11 to pass the Ukraine spending bill. I had to go looking for it.

    Anti-war Bernie of course was a yes vote.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      40 billion right into the fucking shitter at the start of a recession. Holy shit are our political leaders out of touch to a dangerous level.

      • PieInTheSky

        To be fair hardly a dent in the budget

      • whiz

        Sad, but true.

    • kbolino

      Anti-war Bernie of course was a yes vote.

      The cucking of Bernie has been an interesting side-arc.

  50. DEG

    The Biden administration is deploying US troops to Somalia. President Biden signed off on the plan on Monday, along with a plan to target some dozen leaders of Al Shabab. Trump had withdrawn troops from the war-torn region near the end of his time in office. About 450 troops will be sent to Somalia, on Africa’s east coast.

    What could possibly go wrong?

    Abbott also claimed in its announcement that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had found no “conclusive evidence” linking formulas made at its Sturgis, Mich. facility to the infant illnesses and deaths that triggered the initial recall in February.

    I do not trust the CDC. But if I could, I would say, “Not surprising.”

    • PieInTheSky

      Typical US attacking the one true libertarian country

  51. DEG

    Townhall posted a video on their twitter account of Clarence Thomas sending a message to the media which made me chuckle.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Saw that yesterday, I like his laugh.

    • kbolino

      It’s a good crack, but the media actually does their job very well. Their job just isn’t what most of us think it is.

    • Threedoor

      I’d like to watch that but after a week on the Twit I’m blocked. They don’t like jokes about transmissions over there.

  52. Not Adahn

    Is there any work issue that can’t be made worse by getting Security involved?

    Is it wrong that I’m on a first name basis with the local and the US heads of Security?

  53. The Late P Brooks

    While what they sell to the masses is economics for single-digit IQs, I’m more interested in what they’re really after.

    Raising corporate income taxes directly reduces corporate profits, corporate profits directly affect dividends and share prices, dividends and share prices directly affect retirement and institutional accounts, ???, profit?

    It’s just more reverse-engineered justification for their pre-existing goal. Raising corporate taxes is good, per se; even Dwight Eisenhower agreed. It matters not how patently spurious the reasoning is, they will make their argument-by-assertion and claim rhetorical victory.

    • kbolino

      It’s possible I’m overthinking it and it’s just red meat for their base.

  54. Threedoor

    The Taiwanese need some Rooftop Korean help.

  55. The Late P Brooks

    Hiring department/store managers out of college, or hiring into the myriad back office support apparatus that runs Walmart?

    I took it to mean retail operations, but maybe back office.

  56. Rebel Scum

    Sane, well-adjusted people.

    A pregnancy center in Baltimore was allegedly vandalized with threatening messages over the weekend as pro-abortion supporters took to the streets in protest of the pending Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade.

    The Alpha Pregnancy Center in Reisterstown claims messages were spray-painted on its walls Saturday, threatening the safety of those who work there. “If abortions aren’t safe, neither are you,” one message read. “Not a clinic,” read another message. “You’re anti-choice and not pro-life,” read another.

    • PieInTheSky

      I like the anti choice thing by people who probably want to ban large sugary drinks

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      God-damned death cult lunatics

    • R C Dean

      False flag odds?

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s Baltimore, so I’ve gotta list it as a toss-up. Need more evidence.