447 Comments

  1. PieInTheSky

    All Stock Market Gains Erased Since Biden Took Office

    Al bubbles burst… the pandemic stock market was wild.

    • PieInTheSky

      White House says Biden has sparked ‘historic economic BOOM’ – followed by a historic BUST?

      • cavalier973

        Actually, I am aware of several “booms”, all at chemical plants and food processing plants.

  2. PieInTheSky

    Biden’s Approval Hits Yet Another Record Low as Gas and Food Hit Record Highs – right wing conspiracy? people don;t know how good they have it tbh.

  3. UnCivilServant

    All Stock Market Gains Erased Since Biden Took Office

    My brokerage account lost a quarter of the nominal value I put into it. The only thing that hasn’t gone down in price is my one share of Pepsico stock.

    • cavalier973

      You bought a single share of a company that sells coke?

      • UnCivilServant

        No, I bought ten of a company that sells plastic crack.

    • juris imprudent

      Next – erasing all of the gains made the previous TWO administrations!

    • DrOtto

      My Valero and Chevron have done well.

      • MikeS

        In late 2018 I put some money into three smaller oil companies that do business in the Bakken. They’ve skyrocketed. Unfortunately, we’re talking hundreds of dollars and not thousands. I got some Chevron in late 2020. Should have bought more of that, too.

      • Jerms

        I shorted Phizer 2 weeks ago at 53 1/2

  4. db

    Constitutional carry takes effect in Ohio

    Oh, I was wondering why the Ohio river had reversed direction and was now flowing red back into PA this morning.

    • Sean

      Has Neph opined on the best carry pistol for biking yet?

      • Nephilium

        First, I would need to have an opinion on pistols. Second, something I learned during the REEEE-ing about Constitutional Carry is that Ohio already allowed for open carry.

      • db

        On the hip: Stacatto C2

        Clipped across the handle bars: Serbu Super Shorty 12-ga

        10.5″ BRN-180S SBR in a bike mounted scabbard for longer range threats.

      • Sean

        You should have seen my gf eyeing up a pristine P7M13 on Saturday.

        $4,500. Oof.

      • db

        “Nice Suit.”

      • Drake

        Things I should have bought new back in the day (if I had been a kid with cash)…

      • l0b0t

        Sigh… 1994, pawnshop in Thomasville, GA. FN-FAL for about $500. I still wince when I recall disregarding it for the $80 SKS I don’t even have anymore.

      • Sean

        Have you seen SKS prices these days? Crazy.

      • DEG

        FN-FAL for about $500.

        Those go for about $3000 or so now on the collector market.

      • Animal

        I remember seeing Chicom SKSs on sale in The Shotgun News for $49.99. Russian ones were about a hundred bucks. Sure wish I’d had the money and foresight to buy a few crates of them on speculation, but at the time I remember handling them and thinking “no way this cheap piece of shit will ever be worth anything.”

        Now, I guess they are cheap pieces of shit that are worth something. Go figure.

      • SDF-7

        Apple stock. Lots and lots of Apple stock in the early/mid ’90s. I should have skipped college and done freelance tech support, using the excess to buy as much Apple as I could when it was like a buck a share (or less?).

      • db

        Thompson M1 and 1928 submachine guns back in the 1980s. I met a guy at a gun show who financed 3 kids’ worth of college by selling off several Thompsons from his collection–and that was back in the early 2000s.

      • db

        For that matter, factory Colt M16s made before 1986 would have been an incredible portfolio today.

      • EvilSheldon

        $4500 would buy a pretty nice engagement ring or a week at a nice Bahamas resort, but your girl was drooling over a P7M13? Seriously, keep this one…

      • l0b0t

        When I was young, in shape, and happily single I was into solo multi-day camping/single-track mountain rides in Colorado’s Front Range. I always carried my uncle’s S & W Model 69 as prophylaxis against bear attack. I absolutely hated shooting the thing; it was quite brutal on the hands, but it would get the job done. Thankfully, I never had to use it for it’s intended purpose.

        https://www.smith-wesson.com/product/model-69?sku=10064

      • pistoffnick

        Has Neph opined on the best carry pistol for biking yet?

        Spandex never lies!

      • Nephilium

        Chamois padding helps…

      • EvilSheldon

        You ever see Charles Askins Jr.’s custom 5.5mm Velo Dog (nee .221 Askins) Colt Woodsman? I think it’s still on display at the National Firearms Musuem.

      • Animal

        I’ve head he had one but have never seen it. Colonel Askins is one of my personal heroes, even if he did pre-empt the name I would have used for my autobiography – Unrepentant Sinner.

      • EvilSheldon

        https://www.colt22.com/askins.html – Being responsible for a rules change in a national-level shooting competition, is on my bucket list.

        I dunno about hero – Junior was basically a serial killer with federal law enforcement credentials. But he was certainly a fascinating character for all that. And he had a ton of smarts about guns and shooting.

    • Nephilium

      Just wait until fall.

      • db

        I might have to consider a move to OH. Although PA’s gun laws are still way better than Ohio’s, Ohio is taking baby steps toward improvement.

      • DEG

        There won’t be any change in PA until you get a new governor who is not Josh Shapiro.

        Even then, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Republicans shoot themselves in the foot a la privatizing the state stores under Corbett.

  5. PieInTheSky

    If You’ve Had COVID You’re Likely Protected for Life

    wohoo I got it

  6. db

    If You’ve Had COVID You’re Likely Protected for Life

    Suck it, Fauci, I vaxxed myself.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Thanks db. I was wondering about how Brandeaux could get infected a second time.

        I’d like to know how many people have died from the Rona on a second infection. I’d think if you make it once, you are way less likely to kick it when you get it again. Also what the symptoms severity are.

      • db

        I could totally see an effect like a cold or flu, where previously contracting the disease and beating it with the natural immune system, where subsequent infections are possible due to minor mutations, but far less severe because the immune system has a toehold already.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Eh, COVID mutates very rapidly.

      You’re going to catch it again but you’ll be at least partially protected because immunity to the nucleotide protein which doesn’t evolve as fast as the spike protein.

      Vaccination with the novel gene therapies however is of little to no use and may even be detrimental due to temporary immune suppression and training your body to overreact to the spike, thus inhibiting an immune reaction to the nucleotide protein.

  7. Rebel Scum

    The stock market has lost all the gains it made since President Joe Biden was sworn into office, according to recent data reported by Fortune on Monday.

    Build Back Better Bankrupt.

  8. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “Boom”
    It’s interesting how politics has progressed from how to address issues, however terribly they managed to do that, to spinning bad results with no plan whatsoever. Sooner or later reality comes a callin and it’s presently knocking on the door. Someone with some sense needs to answer it.

    • Drake

      I came across a video of the Indian External Affairs Minister. Could we hire this guy? Maybe trade them Blinken and a dozen high-level idiots from the administration to be named later?
      https://youtu.be/9KwXJ-jlY44

    • EvilSheldon

      ‘At present’ or ‘currently’. ‘Presently’ means ‘in a little while’.

  9. Rebel Scum

    White House says Biden has sparked ‘historic economic BOOM’

    If by “boom” you mean nuking it from orbit.

    • Grumbletarian

      Hiroshima and Nagasaki experienced historic booms under a Democrat president.

      • cavalier973

        One of my favorite Brian Regan jokes:

        “As a young man, Adolf Hitler’s application to art school was rejected. One thing led to another, and the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the sovereign nation of Japan. This is some pamphlet!”

  10. Rebel Scum

    Biden’s Approval Hits Yet Another Record Low as Gas and Food Hit Record Highs

    C’mon, man. This is the most popularly elected president in history. That’s just some wide-eyed Fox News conspiracy theory.

    • cavalier973

      He’ll win with over a hundred million votes in 2024.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    ‘The American people are well positioned to face these challenges because of the economic historic gains that we have made under this president in the last six months,’ she noted.

    Voters, however, don’t seem to be buying the White House argument. They consistently give Biden low marks for his handling of the economy.

    The administration has consistently blamed high prices of gas, food and housing on Russia, referring to them as ‘Putin’s price hike.’

    Just think how terrible things would be if President Cartoon Villain were still running the show.

    • Count Potato

      “Just think how terrible things would be if President Cartoon Villain were still running the show.”

      I wonder about that. Gas prices would be lower, there would less trouble at the southern border, but there would still be inflation.

      • DrOtto

        “Printing a bunch of paper and handing it to people to not work causes inflation? Why come I didn’t know that?” – Janet Yellin

      • R.J.

        I agree with that. Chances are he would not have done a second stim payment though. Remember though he was pushing to reopen the country with some common sense rules ASAP as opposed to creepy Joe wanting us to flagellate in darkness indefinitely. That would have cut the economic impact. We may never know what would have happened as Trump is quite unpredictable.

  12. Rebel Scum

    If You’ve Had COVID You’re Likely Protected for Life

    That’s just what a disinformation insurrectionist would say.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Jean-Pierre said the White House was watching the stock market closely.

    ‘We’re watching closely. We know families are concerned about inflation in the stock market. That is something that the president is really aware of,’ she said.

    They whipped the shit out of inflation in the stock market, so they’ve got that going for them.

    • juris imprudent

      All future profits have been removed from stock values. You’re welcome. /Biden economic team

  14. rhywun

    states receiving federal funds for EV charging stations must position such facilities every 50 miles along highways

    LOL OFFS

    • R C Dean

      “In addition, federal regulation dating back decades prevents much commercial activity at highway rest stops with electricity. The rules, put in place to protect off-highway business development, often prevent the construction of charging stations at such stops, according to the WSJ.”

      You can’t make this shit up.

      • Count Potato

        “commercial activity at highway rest stops with electricity”

        So old-timey mechanical cash registers are OK?

      • Grumbletarian

        The charging stations should have lines of bicycles that run the generator to charge the EV.

      • rhywun

        Finally, squirrels can do some good.

      • db

        Gooble-Box Technology!

      • DrOtto

        *pulls out the knuckle buster* We take credit too!

      • invisible finger

        I wonder if the Demoncrats will whiz on Chesteron’s electric fence.

    • l0b0t

      Our remaining Stop & Shop removed the two handicapped spaces nearest the store to install EV parking spots with chargers. “Suck it, crip! We’re in an existential battle with the sun.” – NYC pols (probably)

      • Pope Jimbo

        If the lame want a good parking spot, they better start throwing more money into pols re-election coffers than the greenies.

      • rhywun

        That’s perfect.

  15. Rebel Scum

    “I’m thankful for the protection my vaccines continue to provide.”

    Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra has tested positive for COVID, less than 30 days since he previously contracted the virus, according to a news release from the department.

    Becerra tested positive on an antigen test Monday and is experiencing mild symptoms. He also tested positive for COVID-19 on May 18 while in Europe and experienced mild symptoms then, HHS said at the time.

    • Sean

      That fucker needs Jesus booster shots!

    • rhywun

      It’s almost like the Jab and the Booster give you coof.

    • invisible finger

      Sounds like the prepared statement read by a hostage.

      • DrOtto

        Count his blinks, he may be trying to tell us something.

      • Pope Jimbo

        1, 2, 3, 4 …. 182!

        Fuck him, let him suffer.

  16. db

    “In a statement at the local ice cream parlor, Mr. Biden said, ‘I’m looking forward to continuing my leadershiff beyond 1924 and making sure all Americansh have asshef to common shense heff car!”

  17. Count Potato

    “Increasingly evidence is showing that long-lasting immunity exists.”

    Yet people still get it more than once.

    • Drake

      I’ve had colds and the flu more than once each in my life. They mutate. Same with covid, it’s here to stay. I’ll never get the same strain of covid again.

      • Count Potato

        I don’t know if immunity would be that narrow.

    • db

      It’s worth noting, as I linked above, that the researchers responsible for that study issued a statement decrying the misinterpretation of their work in January 2022.

  18. Rebel Scum

    I present to you the endgame for the American left.

    “You can’t use a gun for self-protection in Canada. It’s not a right that you have,” says Trudeau.

    Criminals could potentially harm you and your family with ILLEGAL guns, but YOU, law-abiding citizen, do not have the right to defend yourself with a LEGAL gun.

    • Drake

      Says the guys with a dozen armed guards.

    • juris imprudent

      I’m sure the American left will learn to love the weather up there.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        If only…

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      Same in Britain. I may remember the details wrong, but someone posted an article not too long ago. A British farmer shot a home invader and the politicians wanted to string the farmer up. There was outrage after the local government unit (prosecutor? judge? however England does it) didn’t press charges against the farmer.

    • Pope Jimbo

      What if a trucker with an assault horn pulls into town and threatens you?

    • blighted_non_millenial

      Wife and I got married in Savannah and had the reception at what is now named the GA State Railroad Museum. At the time, they’d fire a steam loco and bring the bride and groom to the reception in it. It was a little pricey then, I don’t see it as an option now. We did not avail ourselves of the oppurtunity.

      • Nephilium

        Missed it this year, but the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad does a couple of annual steam locomotive rides. They also do theme rides during the year (including beer/wine tastings), and run along a very nice mixed use trail.

        Looks like most of the out and backs (for running, cycling, kayaking, hiking, and the like) are on hold due to erosion though.

  19. Grumbletarian

    The opinion written by Sotomayor reverses the judgment of the lower courts and finds that the process provided by ICE provides sufficient procedural protections for non-citizens, and that Arteaga-Martinez was not entitled to a bond hearing before an immigration judge. The Supreme Court declined to address Arteaga-Martinez’s constitutional claims.

    The Wise Latina said that? Maybe leftists should threaten her children.

  20. Semi-Spartan Dad

    Fed likely to boost interest rates by three-quarters of a point this week

    Ugh. I’m locked in an ARM. Fixed rate was not an option for me when buying, due to being an “unusual property” (> 10 acres), but a local credit union would loan to me through an in-house ARM. We don’t have much left on mortgage and refinancing would cost more than the difference in interest. Fortunately, I have a 2%/year increase cap and a 9% max ceiling that provides protection from truly insane rates dropping on me suddenly. And the amount is low enough that I could pay off in a year or two with some stretching. Or immediately with my Roth… if anything is even left there after the market drops this week.

    • UnCivilServant

      How is that acreage unusual? Just because there’s an infestation of postage stamp lots doesn’t make a real property unusual.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Most mortgages are packaged together and resold by the lender. There is some federal component to these. I don’t know if it’s a regulation or federal backing or whatever but virtually every mortgage has to follow certain conditions. We found out a week before closing when our traditional mortgage broker dropped us.

        The local credit union holds their ARM mortgages in-house without reselling and so can set their own rules. They had no problem with acreage.

        I ran into the same problem looking at an USDA loan for small farms. I was told unofficially that they would never approve a mortgage for >10 acres so not to bother. Apparently their mission is really to finance the breakup of larger tracts of land in smaller chunks and encourage the demise of small farms. I’m guessing the point of this is to facilitate the consolidation of farming land in the hands of large companies that can be more easily controlled.

      • juris imprudent

        I hear faint laughter from the grave of Roscoe Filburn.

      • invisible finger

        Isn’t a farm more of a business loan (income-producing property) rather than a mortgage (non-income producing property)?

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Definitely a mortgage. There is no existing farm. My terminology may not be correct on the USDA program, but this program is different than their one for buying a working farm. It’s supposedly to encourage family farms and new farmers.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        And a lot of a family farms are hobby or subsidence with no intention of producing income. I have farm insurance instead of homeowners. It covers my livestock, barn, etc. But any business activities require separate riders.

    • juris imprudent

      We were able to get fixed rate conventional (Rocket Mortgage) even though the land was probably of greater value than the house.

    • Necron 99

      We are building a house on our land, currently have the builder floating the building loan so not locked into anything yet. Once complete in a few months I will have to get a loan for the agreed to price, ~$275K, and I will have to see what’s out there. I felt good about locking in when I did since costs are going crazy, but now that interest rates are following the cost I’m a little apprehensive. Hoping to find a good rate on a fixed 15 year mortgage, fingers crossed.

  21. Rebel Scum

    Seems legit.

    Pleased to see Biden Administration continuing to advance framework for reducing death and disease from tobacco that we announced in Summer 2017. Key element was regulating nicotine so combustible tobacco could no longer create and sustain addiction while creating pathway for new medicinal nicotine products and electronic nicotine delivery systems that went through an appropriate series of regulatory gates; for adults who still wanted to access nicotine without all the harmful effects of combustion

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      So vaping is an acceptable alternative? That same thing they’ve been attacking like crazy? I really hate these people.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, what in the everloving fuck?

      • Nephilium

        But these would be “approved” and “safe” vape systems. IE, they gave their 10% to the big guy.

      • rhywun

        Yup. And why do I get the feeling the delivery mechanism is going to be a syringe?

      • Count Potato

        “electronic nicotine delivery systems that went through an appropriate series of regulatory gates”

        Which would eliminate 99% of everything.

    • MikeS

      so combustible tobacco could no longer create and sustain addiction

      He says that as if they haven’t also gone after smokeless tobacco. Asshole.

  22. Lackadaisical

    “The opinion written by Sotomayor reverses the judgment of the lower courts and finds that the process provided by ICE provides sufficient procedural protections for non-citizens, and that Arteaga-Martinez was not entitled to a bond hearing before an immigration judge. The Supreme Court declined to address Arteaga-Martinez’s constitutional claims.”

    Are they glad they’ve got a wise Latina on the court?

    I’m a little perplexed how they could have ruled on the bond issue but not constitutional rights? Habeas corpus is the constitutional issue, is it not ? I would tend to disagree with the court on this, even though I’m anti illegal immigration, everyone is entitled to a hearing on bond, based on habeas corpus, you don’t need to be a citizen to have rights here.

    • Grumbletarian

      Agreed. I love arguing with people who think the Constitution only applies to citizens. My response is to say that, if that were true, illegal immigrants and legal tourists could be tortured to death in the streets for killing JFK and Jimmy Hoffa. Cruel and unusual punishment? Doesn’t apply. Evidence? You don’t need evidence if they don’t have a right to a trial.

  23. Sean

    #waffle144 4/5

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    ? streak: 1
    wafflegame.net

    • TARDis

      #waffle144 4/5

      ?????
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      ?????
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      ?????

      ? streak: 23
      ? #waffleelite
      wafflegame.net

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t see the Ukrainian clusterfuck happening with Trump in the White House. Certainly not as it is currently being handled.

    • Count Potato

      They wouldn’t spend $12B on a wall, but gave $40B to Ukraine.

    • Rebel Scum

      Trump may have actually *gasp* attempted to address the concerns of Russia via negotiation. Which would, of course, be deemed by the media to be “sucking up to Putin”.

      • Drake

        Instead Biden & Blinken sent Victoria fucking Nuland to Moscow – the absolute worst of the globalist neo-cons and architect of the 2014 coup in the Ukraine which set off 7 years of violence against Russian-speaking people in the Ukraine.
        https://jamestown.org/program/a-war-and-peace-visit-to-moscow/

        It worked out about as well as expected.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Trump didn’t understand the games being played at State, nor did they feel inclined to explain it to him.

  25. Rebel Scum

    I don’t know what you’re smoking…

    I trust Joe Biden’s steadiness and judgment, and if he runs again, I’ll probably back him in 2024. But today I want to suggest someone who isn’t even a Democrat, and whose positions on many issues I (and I suspect you) strongly disagree with — but who could possibly be the best president of the United States for the perilous time we’re entering.

    I’m referring to Liz Cheney. …

    Since the attack on the Capitol, Liz Cheney has demonstrated more courage and integrity than any other politician in America. Democratic lawmakers have opposed Trump’s Big Lie, to be sure, but most knew they wouldn’t pay a price for their opposition. Cheney knew she would pay a price — and she has.

    …but carry on.

    • Grumbletarian

      Actual LOL.

      • Sean

        ^^

      • Ted S.

        Ditto.

      • rhywun

        seriously

    • ron73440

      I don’t now what he’s smoking either, but it looks like it will stunt your growth.

      • EvilSheldon

        *standing ovation*

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That may be the worst endorsement you could possibly get. Seems she deserves it though.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      He’d endorse the damn Devil if he could make political hay out of it. What a piece of fucking shit.

      • juris imprudent

        “If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference of the Devil in the House of Commons.” — Winston Churchill (in defense of allying with the Soviet Union in the wake of the Nazi invasion)

        So better men than Reich have been tempted.

  26. Lackadaisical

    ‘Constitutional carry takes effect in Ohio’

    RIP Nephilium et al. We will miss you.

    • Nephilium

      Removal of mask mandates, stripping the governor of “emergency” powers, and multiple trips killed me last year.

  27. Rebel Scum

    Hippos don’t fuck around.

    One of the lions barely made it out alive.

    Two members of the coalition are stuck on the other side.

    via Great Plains

    • dontreadonme

      Went on a river walk with a guide in South Africa a few years ago and a few hippos entered the rather large river from the other bank and swam over to our side and followed us downriver for a couple hundred yards bobbing their heads and giving aggressive snorts the entire time. Our guide armed with a Weatherby big game rifle walked between us and the shore and commented that the hippos only stayed in the water because they could see his rifle. Not sure that I believed him, but I wasn’t interested in testing the theory.

    • kbolino

      I was wondering what the hell Stellantis was, and apparently it’s Fiat-Chrysler plus Peugeot-Citroen.

      Are they just rolling up all the shittiest car companies in the world? If it weren’t for the war, could Lada get in on this action too?

      • Sensei

        That is pretty much the whole history of Chrysler.

    • rhywun

      Some consumers of pork are more equal than others.

    • The Gunslinger

      Nope. ‘Divine’

  28. Sensei

    Good luck with lights FL Glibs.

    “NextEra plans to focus first on developing large solar farms in Florida, as well as projects to produce “green hydrogen” with excess solar power through a process called electrolysis. While the solar development will occur steadily over the next two decades, the company doesn’t expect its gas plants to run exclusively on hydrogen until about 2040.”

    They explain just about nothing on this. I assume while the sun is shining you generate and store hydrogen for the literal rainy day.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/power-company-nextera-plans-to-cut-carbon-emissions-to-close-to-nothing-by-2045-11655207881?st=kg4r2u91ozqpefg&reflink=share_mobilewebshare

    • Lackadaisical

      I’ve always wondered why they didn’t do this, but I always assumed it was unsafe and/or uneconomical. Could still be either, but I guess they’re going for it.

    • kbolino

      The efficiency of electrolysis is pretty low. And, while all energy storage is dangerous in one way or another, hydrogen is kind of well known for its combustibility.

    • rhywun

      The technology to store the necessary amount of reserve energy to cover rainy days doesn’t exist, at least not until Uncle Joe throws a few hundred billion at the problem to git ‘er done.

      • kbolino

        Solyndra II: Electric Boogaloo

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Methinks there’s some life decisions that may come back to haunt mom and dad.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’ll start out semi classy and will proceed into the gutter in a desperate bid for attention and dollars. She’ll be flicking her bean on camera inside of a year unfortunately.

    • juris imprudent

      Is that a case of crazy sticking it in Denise Richards?

  29. Count Potato

    “The Mayor of Washington D.C., Muriel Bowser, is adding a 51st star to the American flags displayed on Pennsylvania Avenue for Tuesday’s Flag Day holiday.

    This June 14 marks the 106th Flag Day celebrated in the United States.

    Bowser’s controversial decision to add a star to the already existing 50 – which represent each state in the Union – comes on the heels of a measure approved by the US House that would grant the District of Columbia statehood.

    The Senate, however, has not approved the measure – nor is it likely to.

    There is a growing movement among Democrats to induct the District of Columbia as a full-fledged state. The people living within its boundaries do not currently have a voting member of Congress, despite its residents paying more in federal taxes than 21 other states.

    In a statement, Bowser said: ‘Today, ahead of Flag Day, I directed our team to hang 51-star flags along Pennsylvania Avenue as a reminder to Congress and the nation that the 700,000 tax-paying American citizens living in Washington, DC demand to be recognized.'”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10913671/Mayor-Washington-DC-adds-51st-star-American-flags-flying-Pennsylvania-Avenue.html

    They just want two more senators.

    • UnCivilServant

      The answer is simple, give DC back to Maryland.

      • Lackadaisical

        Agreed, anything not federal land, being used for them national government should revert to the states. I don’t think they should be without representation, but DC should never be a state.

      • kbolino

        I live in Maryland. I’ve never had “representation” in my life. Vote in an election, results go the other way. Pointless.

        That having been said, it also gives me no reason to oppose re-annexing DC. Oh no, the blue-getting-bluer state is even bluer.

      • Lackadaisical

        Heh, I had the same feeling when I was in new York.

        There are several problems with our system of representation, but being able to vote would be an improvement over not at all.

      • kbolino

        Voting is the process by which elite consensus is ratified as “popular opinion”, and more acutely, oppression is justified as “democracy”. Ceteris paribus, I don’t regard it as a good thing. The primary reason, for me, to bring DC back into Maryland is because the federal district hasn’t served its purpose.

      • Lackadaisical

        Well, I’m not sure that representative democracy is worse than a straight up monarchy or whatever else might replace it, short of an idealized anarchy or direct democracy.

        You’re not wrong that there are crappy things going on in our system, but I think they can be mitigated with minimal changes… I’ll explore this more if I ever write an article on it.

      • Count Potato

        The west half of the country is mostly federal land.

      • UnCivilServant

        It should be sold to individual citizens to pay down some of the national debt.

    • kbolino

      Not just two senators. The only state comparable to DC in politics is Hawaii. They want two radically left senators. Also, I find it rich that we’re supposed to believe the people who would vote to raise taxes every chance they got are uniquely oppressed by being taxed without “representation”.

      • Nephilium

        I would give it about a year before the Congressional staffers start agitating for the right to vote in both DC and their “home” state to be fair.

    • rhywun

      It’s cute that they are pretending to be unaware of the purpose of a “federal district”.

      • kbolino

        Many of them are aware, but are banking on others not being aware. Also, the intention of the district hasn’t kept up with reality.

      • SDF-7

        I’d be equally fine with simply making it illegal to have residences within the District other than the White House / VP residence. Come to work in DC, but live in whatever state you want. And that none of these people can be honest about what the Constitution says (and that it is hence irrelevant what Congress passes on the matter barring starting an Amendment) makes me not care about their whining.

    • Grumbletarian

      Would adding a star count as defacing the flag?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yes, but so are so many other things politicians do with the flag.

      • EvilSheldon

        If it means tossing the mayor of DC in the clink for a while? Works for me.

    • UnCivilServant

      You didn’t think the lockdowns were about a disease, did you?

      • db

        Not for one shake.

    • Sean

      Yeah…I tapped out part way through.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Suck that female cock or you’re a bigot. It’s straight up insanity.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Being a prog means never, ever stopping the rebellion against ever evolving norms.

        They’re fundamentally broken people that cannot be satisfied. Trying to appease them is a fruitless endeavor.

      • rhywun

        I see old hags like Pelosi and Biden spouting the most insane woke gibberish and say to myself, “They don’t believe any of this. They never have and never will.”

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Oh they’re sociopathic cynics who use it to their advantage. The useful idiots actually believe it.

    • Drake

      Maybe the Taliban really were the good guys.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Our culture has become so debased it has me wondering too.

  30. kbolino

    Supreme Court rules noncitizens not entitled to bond hearings

    From the article itself as well:

    The decision comes on the heels of a string of controversies surrounding the continued existence of ICE and a concerted effort to grant illegal immigrants the same procedural and Constitutional rights as American citizens.

    Both of these framings are disingenuous. Deportation is the remedy for a foreign national here unlawfully. Any appearance before an immigration “judge” (they’re executive, not judicial, officials) is entirely at the government’s discretion. Unless you are actually an American citizen and ICE screwed up, there’s no case to be argued. An immigration proceeding is not a criminal trial and there are very few “procedural and Constitutional rights” that apply. Moreover, an illegal immigrant is not only allowed, but encouraged, to self-deport, at any time.

    It amazes me also how much credulity we’re supposed to give to the argument that everybody crossing the border illegally is actually under severe threat to their life from whatever government they came from. There’s an odd parallax here where foreign countries are definitely not shitholes but also if you live in them you’re going to die. While asylum and refugee status may legitimately apply in some of these cases, they’re supposed to be applied for before or upon arrival, not years after.

    • Lackadaisical

      Administrative law’judges’ are a travesty in and of themselves. It’s not like they caught this person on the border entering from without. I don’t get the justification for denying habeas corpus.

      Agreed with the rest, regarding refugee status, etc.

      • kbolino

        Administrative law ’judges’ are a travesty in and of themselves.

        I agree, actually. The entire administrative court system should be abolished. Of course, the entire body of administrative law should go with it.

        However, in this situation, that would mean immediate deportation. No immigration “judges” = no immigration hearings = no immigrant detention = don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.

      • Gustave Lytton

        The term ALJ is an abomination as if they’re impartial triers rather than agency employees. Hearings officers as they used to be called is at least a little more accurate.

  31. cavalier973

    Yesterday was the big day when the SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade.

    Any more news about that?

    • UnCivilServant

      The ruling was not issued.

      I think the court is trolling the protesters by waiting to issue it.

  32. Pope Jimbo

    The opinion written by Sotomayor reverses the judgment of the lower courts and finds that the process provided by ICE provides sufficient procedural protections for non-citizens, and that Arteaga-Martinez was not entitled to a bond hearing before an immigration judge.

    Say, I wonder if it is now racist to call her a “wise Latina” instead of “wise Latinx”?

    • Lackadaisical

      Let me just get this paper bag out and test you to determine that. /Totally woke anti racist

    • slumbrew

      Shut up! I’m not crying, you’re crying!

      • Pope Jimbo

        Best case of I’m Not Crying ever:

        Bored shitless at NAS Millington (training school) and with no money, I went to the base theater and saw Old Yeller at the noon matinee.

        End of the movie and the place was full of young men trying to pretend that they never cried at the end of that movie.

      • Sensei

        Legit LOL.

      • slumbrew

        I’ve never seen it – not sure I could handle it…

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Smithfield cited higher taxes, as well as higher utility and labor costs, at the plant, compared with other facilities it operates, as the reason for the closure. The cost of utilities in California, for instance, is 3.5 times higher per head to produce pork than in the 45 other meat processing plants Smithfield operates in the U.S., according to a company spokesman.

    Fair share!

    Fair share!

    • Pope Jimbo

      Minnesoda’s Hormel plants are 100% behind the benevolent overlords of California!

      Don’t let those dirty capitalists talk you into relaxing those regulations.

  34. Rebel Scum

    Oh…

    Rep.⁦ @JamaalBowmanNY⁩ warns if Republicans retake Congress, Biden will be “impeached” & “white nationalists” may launch a “civil war”

    I’m glad we are toning down the rhetoric.

    • SDF-7

      Impeachment of him and most of his administration for willful ignoring the laws (open border, etc.) seems reasonable. But why give the Dems something to rally around in 2024, assuming he’s coherent enough to be propped up at all? One would hope they’d lay out a clear agenda, pass legislation that would make it happen — and let his puppeteers veto it. If the wave is big enough for veto-proof majority (highly doubt it — too many deluded folks still supporting his agenda), great… if not – you have a clear “Here’s what we’ll actually do given the chance record”.

      Of course, since that seems to be the absolute last thing the whining weasels in DC ever want to do — that’ll never happen. Instead, they’ll make meaningless gestures and if somehow given the Executive as well as Congress in 2024, they’ll rediscover “bipartisanship” and turn the ratchet more sloooowly and call it a win.

      Baa baa black pill, I know.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I’m sure they will put out their agenda right after they roll back Obamacare. After all that has been their #1 priority since the day it passed.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        There’s not a dime’s but of difference between the Democratic and the Republican parties. For the most part they agree with each other and this is largely a sham.

    • kbolino

      Wouldn’t losing the election kick of the civil war? Why would they launch a civil war after winning?

      • Lackadaisical

        Ask Lincoln.

  35. PieInTheSky

    massive fucking storm outside. Stupid storm.

    • SDF-7

      I knew Europe was more into debauchery that most of the US — but you have roving orgies bad enough to be termed storms? Damn….

    • PieInTheSky

      Does not seem to stop but the wind slowed some

      • SDF-7

        Hard to push against resistance long term, I suppose…

      • PieInTheSky

        screw you buddy my car is parked under a tree and can be crushed at any time

      • Drake

        You have angered Gia!

      • PieInTheSky

        Maybe 1998 Angelina Jolie can spank me

    • PieInTheSky

      And I just got the fucking Ro Alert message… very useful

    • db

      Post removed for rule violation?

  36. PieInTheSky

    “Panics do not destroy capital; they merely reveal the extent to which it has been previously destroyed by its betrayal into hopelessly unproductive works.” John Mills, 1867

  37. Scruffy Nerfherder

    About those shots for little kids, you really should read this to understand how badly the FDA is lying and how overt the corruption is. It’s not debatable anymore.

    https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/urgent-omg-the-pfizer-data-for-kids/comments?s=r

    That 80 percent figure for efficacy you’ve seen reported is worse than a joke, it’s essentially a fabrication.

    Here’s what the Food and Drug Administration and Pfizer did; they only counted cases after the THIRD mRNA dose.

    But of the 375 Sars-Cov-2 infections in the trial, 365 occurred before the third dose. Only 10 occurred after the third dose.

    Yes, you are reading that right. The efficacy figure is based on 3 PERCENT OF ALL THE INFECTIONS IN THE TRIAL. (Which is why the confidence intervals are so large.)

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Lol, so that is how the 10 cases from yesterday came to be.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s so blatantly false that anyone can understand it. These lies are no longer confined to high-end statistical manipulation, they’re just making it up as they go along.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    Welcome to the future!

    Temperatures are expected to soar as the sunshine returns Monday afternoon. The heat mixed with high humidity will make it feel upwards of 100 degrees.

    That means air conditioners will be working overtime, straining the power grid across the metro.

    In an effort to make sure the power stays on, Evergy is notifying certain customers that it will take control of their smart thermostats.

    It will only impact customers who signed up for Evergy’s thermostat program.

    Evergy said it will adjust the thermostats of homeowners in the program by several degrees between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Monday.

    Adjust your expectations, or they will be adjusted for you.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      What kind of idiot would sign up for that program? It must come with some kind of discount or something.

      • Fatty Bolger

        It does come with incentives, but the amounts are laughable ($25 a year where I live, for instance, which I think is typical).

      • Lackadaisical

        It does, but the discounts are laughable, at least that I’ve seen around here. I agree that you’d have to be silly to agree to it. ‘several degrees’ damn son.

  39. PieInTheSky

    “Independent of their physical strength (ability to protect), discovering that a person is willing to protect you greatly increased their attractiveness as a partner…discovering that a male date was unwilling to protect them was a deal-breaker for women”

    https://twitter.com/PsychoSchmitt/status/1534641682049904642

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Never really thought about stretching my ballsack in a tense situation, but I guess there’s always something else to learn.

      • db

        So, you’re in a tense situation, maybe confronted by some hoodlums on the street, or having a stressful first meeting with your future in-laws, or maybe giving the Big Presentation to the executive committee.

        Best thing you can do to recover your calm and confidence is to reach down in your pants and stretch your ballsack.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      There’s only about a couple million years of evolutionary biology at play there.

      • Urthona

        Although — interestingly — the “ability to protect” didn’t matter. The willingness to did. So that expression of self-sacrifice is what’s most important.

      • The Last American Hero

        There’s also a lot of bs in the so called study.

      • Urthona

        Anything that involves asking women something is bound to be just for fun.

  40. Sensei

    You have to love CNN.

    “The 14 most compelling lines from today’s January 6 committee hearing”

    Not 10 not 15. The 14, yes 14 amazing lines.

    • PieInTheSky

      Will I be able to believe number 12?

      • R C Dean

        No. Also, numbers 1 – 11, 13, and 14.

  41. SDF-7

    Daily Quordle 141
    6️⃣7️⃣
    4️⃣5️⃣
    quordle.com

    • Cannoli

      Daily Quordle 141
      6️⃣3️⃣
      5️⃣4️⃣

      • MikeS

        Congrats.

        7️⃣3️⃣
        5️⃣6️⃣

        I guessed wrong on a 50/50 in the LR and an 18 turned into a 21. C’est la Quordle.

      • Ozymandias

        I took a chance on the UL and fucked up what started out awesome. C’est la Quordle.
        Daily Quordle 141
        5️⃣8️⃣
        2️⃣6️⃣
        quordle.com

      • TARDis

        Nice score. You take it to Patriarchy.

    • Tundra

      Daily Quordle 141
      7️⃣4️⃣
      6️⃣5️⃣

    • pistoffnick

      96
      8x

    • whiz

      Daily Quordle 141
      3️⃣7️⃣
      4️⃣5️⃣

    • grrizzly

      Daily Quordle 141
      3️⃣6️⃣
      5️⃣4️⃣

      • grrizzly

        Daily Octordle #141
        3️⃣5️⃣
        8️⃣6️⃣
        9️⃣?
        7️⃣4️⃣

        One of the few times I could finish Octordle without a clock picture.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Yes a much better day than yesterday

      Daily Quordle 141
      4️⃣5️⃣
      7️⃣6️⃣

    • Grummun

      6 4
      7 5

  42. PieInTheSky

    Some people in Romania are protesting high gas prices by blocking gas stations… I am unsure what they want to achieve. I mean I suppose if it was a purely local phenomenon you could make yourself believe the gas stations are at fault but…

    • UnCivilServant

      Food comes from the store; electricity comes from the wall; gas comes from the station.

      That’s about as much thought as they gave it.

    • Urthona

      Don’t know about Romania, but here in the United States the government makes more money from gas sold than Exxon and its ilk.

      • PieInTheSky

        Here taxes are probably 60% of the pump price

    • PieInTheSky

      the 99 octane stuff just hit 7.5 US dollars per US gallon. We are but poor Romanians… it is ok for you lot to pay that much but we can’t afford it

      That being said, there is nary a blip in Bucharest traffic.

    • The Last American Hero

      Blocking access means less gas sold means lower demand means lower prices.

      I think Adam Smith went over this on the chapter on how blocking access to the candlestick maker could drive down prices.

  43. Sensei

    Be prepared for an uptick in the war on drugs.

    Illinois Congressman Sean Casten announces death of his 17-year-old daughter
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sean-casten-illinois-congressman-daughter-death

    The statement described Gwen as Casten’s “beloved daughter” and said the family was requesting privacy during this “heartbreaking time.”

    Police in Downers Grove, Illinois, said they were called to the Casten home around 6:48 a.m. for an unresponsive 17-year-old female and determined that she was deceased.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      “This will be great for my reelection chances!”

    • db

      Sounds like Traffic

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      What is a greentext?

      Or should I not ask?

      • PieInTheSky

        Green text Stories are anecdotes written in short, concise sentences that are often shared on the image board 4chan using the site’s “green-text” code.

  44. robc

    Daily Quordle 141
    5️⃣9️⃣
    4️⃣6️⃣
    quordle.com
    ⬜?⬜⬜? ⬜⬜⬜⬜?
    ⬜⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜?⬜⬜?
    ⬜⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜?⬜?⬜
    ?⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜?⬜?⬜
    ????? ⬜?⬜⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ???⬜?
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ???⬜?
    ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

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

    It could have easily been 4-5-6-7, but no, the upper right had too many options.

    • l0b0t

      Daily Quordle 141
      5️⃣7️⃣
      4️⃣6️⃣
      quordle.com
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜?⬜?⬜ ⬜??⬜?
      ?⬜⬜⬜? ⬜?⬜⬜?
      ?⬜⬜?⬜ ⬜?⬜?⬜
      ????? ⬜?⬜⬜⬜
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜?⬜⬜
      ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ?????

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

    • JG43

      Daily Quordle 141
      7️⃣9️⃣
      5️⃣6️⃣
      quordle.com

  45. kinnath

    Daily Quordle 141
    5️⃣7️⃣
    6️⃣3️⃣

    • db

      6 8
      2 7

      • db

        Could’ve had it in 5-6-2-4 if I hadn’t been stupidly focused on the upper left word. Need to keep your scan going for every word after every guess!

    • one true athena

      Daily Quordle 141
      8️⃣6️⃣
      7️⃣3️⃣

  46. The Late P Brooks

    When I think “efficiency”…

    President Joe Biden’s Department of Energy on Monday will propose a new rule to make residential, natural gas furnaces more energy-efficient. It would be the country’s first significant update to furnace standards since the 1990s.

    In the proposed rule, the details of which were shared first with CNN, non-weatherized gas furnaces and furnaces used in mobile homes would be required to be much more energy-efficient, achieving a 95% annual fuel utilization efficiency standard. Just over 40% of furnaces shipped today are at or above 95% fuel utilization.

    And unlike previous administrations’ proposed standards for furnaces, the Biden administration will propose a new national energy efficiency standard that applies to all sizes of home heating furnaces.
    The proposed rule would effectively phase out less-efficient “non-condensing” furnaces, which waste excess gas, and make newer, more energy-efficient furnaces mandatory.

    “By updating energy standards for many carbon-emitting appliances, such as home furnaces, the Biden Administration is working to save consumers money,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

    Spend $10,000 to save $50?

    • Urthona

      Um…. why don’t the consumers save themselves the money?

    • Rebel Scum

      required to be much more energy-efficient, achieving a 95% annual fuel utilization efficiency standard.

      And with the stroke of his pen he so willed it.

    • Lackadaisical

      Yeah, this is bullshit meant to stop people from getting new gas furnaces. Just another front on the war against cheap and plentiful energy.

  47. PieInTheSky

    My cousin the ambulance chasing lawyer (he bribes orderlies at the hospital to notify him of traffic accidents ) has started a side gig shilling residential solar panels, tried to sell my mom some and was surprised when she refused because the math does not check out.

    • Swiss Servator

      “My cousin the ambulance chasing lawyer”

      Wait…wut?

      • PieInTheSky

        what is unclear?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        His preferred ambulance chasing sneakers. Is he a Nike or New Balance man?

      • PieInTheSky

        “Ambulance chasing, also known as capping, is a term which refers to a lawyer soliciting for clients at a disaster site. The term “ambulance chasing” comes from the stereotype of lawyers who follow ambulances to the emergency room to find clients.”

        seems to be correct usage

      • Swiss Servator

        I didn’t know you had a cousin who was a lawyer.

      • PieInTheSky

        well I literally just told you 🙂

      • R C Dean

        I didn’t know Romania had lawyers.

      • db

        When all your contracts are written in blood and property changes hands only every few thousand years, there’s not much call for that kind of blood-sucking parasite.

  48. PieInTheSky

    Never Apologize

    https://accordingtohoyt.com/2022/06/11/never-apologize/

    “The left doesn’t believe in culture. It confuses it with race, which is why it accuses people of racism if they object to specific aspects of a culture: how they treat women, or gays, or other races.

    To them — as to Hitler, from what I understand, and no, that’s not argument ad-Hitlorum, it’s just an observation — culture is like race or sub-race, bred in the bone. If you are descended from a certain type of person, you’ll belong in a certain way.

    That confusion is manifested with their referring to behaviors from Western, post industrial culture as “white supremacist.” (And by the way, I know what I speak of with “post industrial”. You can track the presence or absence of such things as punctuality, quality control, etc by when a country was industrialized. They were present in England before they were present in Germany. In fact Germans were considered pretty sloppy until industrialization.)”

    Sounds like what a racist would say. Suspicious./

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Eh, the Left “believes” what is politically useful to them at any given moment. Everything comes down to power and the acquisition of it. Everything.

      • kbolino

        Power exists whether they believe in it, or even want it, or not. And it is always a means, not an end. The primary use of power is to reward your friends and punish your enemies.

        For the left, a friend is defined as someone who believes in leveling naturally arising hierarchies, inflicting egalitarianism on those who don’t want it in favor of those who don’t deserve it, and in a very broad sense, choosing entropy over order. An enemy is therefore anyone who opposes these things, or even just benefits from the alternatives.

  49. The Late P Brooks

    “Americans have been forced to rely on antiquated and wasteful furnaces for long enough,” Joe Vukovich, an energy efficiency advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. “Since about half of the homes in the U.S. depend on fossil fuels for space heating, this standard will significantly lower energy bills each year and slash dangerous climate-warming emissions across the nation.”
    The newly proposed DOE rule comes after the agency scrapped a Trump rule that would have weakened the standards for furnaces and water heaters. The Biden administration rule exceeds the Obama-era rule, which set the efficiency standard at 92%.

    Brace yourself for a boom.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’s just one thing after another. This is on purpose.

      • Ownbestenemy

        The final push to end fossil fuel use and set us back 200 years.

    • Nephilium

      Man… how was I able to get a high efficiency furnace a couple years ago without those rules?

    • Fourscore

      Biden Admin contemplates setting new efficiency standards at 110%. “If it’s good enough for our Democratic friends it’s good enough for everyone, even those others”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      She’s a hack, much like Carly Fiorina.

      • Sensei

        The destroyer of HP.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The apologist articles that got written for Fiorina years after she wrecked HP with the Compaq acquisition are downright embarrassing.

        And don’t get me started on how HP was once the king of the test and measurement industry, a high margin business that they spun out in order to focus on low margin computing products. At least they kept their printer business.

      • Sensei

        Their test equipment is wonderful. As a finance guy their 12C and other financial calculators are also tools of the trade.

        Printer is an ugly business. It now mostly works on the razor blade model. They should have kept the equipment and sold personal printing.

        I have the YouTube channel for you. Vintage HP equipment collector, NASA electronic restorer, old computers as well. And currently working on S Band Apollo microwave communication system.

        https://www.youtube.com/c/curiousmarc

        This just makes my head hurt. This is the Apollo S band radio.
        https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-_93BVApb58SXL-BCv4rVHL-8GuC2WGb

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        You should see the frequency hopping stuff we built for the military back in the 90’s. It’s probably still classified so I can’t offer details, but the packaging was downright insane with multiple tens of thousands of dollars in machining before you even started added electronics.

      • Sensei

        I mentioned my good friend was a microwave engineer as well.

        He’s mentioned working with machinists to get exactly the parts he wanted.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It’s a requirement in the business. Not everything can be put on silicon.

      • Count Potato

        ” It now mostly works on the razor blade model.”

        Worse. With the razor blade model at least you have to shave. The HP printers would require new ink cartridges even if you didn’t print anything.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        They have done good work with the expansion of the printing business into high end 3D and have a good market share in that industry. But as you say, the consumer inkjet business is crap.

      • slumbrew

        I wasn’t cool enough for a 12C – I had a 17B.

        Have, maybe – I should dig through the boxes in the basement.

      • Sensei

        I had one of those too. After I got used to RPN I prefer it.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The 42S was my favorite. It got stolen back in the 90s after HP stopped making it.

      • Tundra

        17B II sitting in my desk drawer right this second. Still use it from time to time!

      • db

        I have used RPN calculators for so long, it actually takes me a minute or two to get used to a “normal” calculator when I have to use one.

      • robc

        I use an RPN app on my phone because standard calculators are fucking stupid.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Here’s the black magic part of RF and microwave in that assembly. I haven’t seen one of these in forever.

        https://youtu.be/laYpGB1pWAc?t=1351

        Keep in mind that this was designed and built BEFORE modern electromagnetic simulation software packages were available. Somebody had to model that using hand calculations.

  50. PieInTheSky

    suited up before riding mower through 1.5 acres of poison ivy:

    * long jeans
    * long sleeve T
    * tall boots
    * work gloves
    * cap

    took everything off and tossed in wash, then took cool shower and scrubbed well

    …and yet my right elbow is itchy now …

    HOW?
    HOW ?!?!?!

    https://twitter.com/MorlockP/status/1536442754774990850

    unrelated STD?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Dawn dishwashing soap plus a washcloth.

      The oil on poison ivy has the consistency of axle grease but is clear. You have to cut it with a surfactant and active agitation.

    • db

      I’d hate to see an STD that was related to mowing an acre and a half of poison ivy.

      • Urthona

        What is this a euphemism for?

      • SDF-7

        Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy fan-fic, obviously.

      • Lackadaisical

        Go on…

  51. The Late P Brooks

    The new rule comes as the Biden administration is focusing more on energy-efficient heating. Last week, Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to speed up domestic manufacturing of heat pumps, among other things, an action that will still require funding from Congress. Senior White House officials will meet with lawmakers this week to talk about two bills that would help fund heat pump manufacturing in the United States.

    In addition to reducing planet-warming emissions, Granholm said in a statement that the new furnace measures would “provide huge material benefits to American households in the form of cleaner air, modernized technology, and cheaper energy.

    Mister President, we cannot allow a heat pump gap.

    Granholm has no more self-awareness or cognitive ability than an AI parrot.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Were we in danger of a critical heat pump shortage?

      Seems to me that this is vote buying in the Midwest.

      • db

        This is all about converting to an all-electric system.

        Without upgrading the grid, recognizing that fossil fuels provide the vast majority of our electricity, and breaking down the barriers to nuclear innovation, this is foolishness beyond comprehension.

      • Rebel Scum

        I assume malice.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Yep. And note that the article makes a point to say that European countries are doing even more, thanks to Russia:

        While the new rule would be a big update to the current standards, the US is lagging behind some European countries which are taking bigger steps to phase out fossil-fuel powered furnaces in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

        Not mentioned is the fact that the US does not need to rely on Russia or any other country for its natural gas, which makes this meaningless non-sequitur. But those DNC talking points have to be shoehorned in somehow.

      • kbolino

        It would not surprise me to discover that the manufacturers of heat pumps are all AFL-CIO affiliates.

    • db

      That’s totally a great solution for an economy where in some places the cost of electricity is higher than natural gas, and in some places it’s the other way around.

      Way to think the entire world is a homogeneous blob, morons. This is how you get the systemic failures that are inevitably delivered by command economies.

    • Urthona

      Is there anything more dangerous and abused than the Defense Production Act? What a fucking scam.

      • Swiss Servator

        But it got us ventilators!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      • db

        Do not get me started.

    • R C Dean

      She was a classmate of mine in law school. She’s not stupid, just a politician. Be thankful she’s Canadian, or she would be a leading candidate for President. Not sure why she isn’t in Congress.

  52. The Late P Brooks

    It’s just one thing after another. This is on purpose.

    Yes. And I refuse to accept any claim that Biden is merely a puppet or a ventriloquist’s dummy for some cabal of behind-the-scenes string-pullers. He is an active and eager participant in this cargo cult idiocy. Nothing could befall him which would elicit the slightest sympathy from me.

    • kbolino

      And I refuse to accept any claim that Biden is merely a puppet or a ventriloquist’s dummy for some cabal of behind-the-scenes string-pullers. He is an active and eager participant in this cargo cult idiocy.

      These two things are not mutually exclusive.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        ^^^ This.

        Politicians are whores. Biden may be an eager participant but also certainly marching to the orders of someone. Those $500k a pop paintings that Hunter sold weren’t to get some sort of regulatory relief bill passed. Same with Hilary’s foundation.

        cabal of behind-the-scenes string-pullers

        It does become ridiculous when thinking of it as some sort of single shadowy mastermind. Very reasonable though when looking at normal human behavior of groups of powerful people that want to advance their agenda and are well funded. These aren’t even behind the scenes. WEF is out in the open their goals, funding, and membership. I’d be shocked if the CCP hasn’t been buying politicians too.

      • kbolino

        A lot of this stuff is in plain sight anyway. It’s not that hard to pull back the curtain and find that the Wizard of Oz is just a man pulling levers to generate lights and smoke, but if nobody wants to look, they’ll all claim not to see it.

        The bigger problem for identifying the root of all of this is that there is no one person or even group calling the shots. The natural conclusion of specialization into domains of expertise, voter constituencies, special-interest groups, etc. is that there is no such thing as a sole source of authority. At every level, there are dozens of interjection points where a person in apparent authority can be undermined by others due to this compartmentalization of competence. Defection and treachery generally aren’t punished heavily, which also feeds into the inability of any one person or coherent group to wield real power for long.

      • Gustave Lytton

        The two facets of bribing a politician (money, blackmail) is fear of getting caught and staying bought. As for the first, there is no personal honor, sense of shame, or a media that really cares so that’s not much of a leverage these days (see Chinese agent Rep. Shart). The second is while there might be some immediate quid pro quo, they don’t stay bought and without shame or personal honor, they really don’t care nor do they feel obligated to extend favors indefinitely. Same as with political donations, if you’re not writing checks, all of the ones you did don’t matter at all.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Generally yes, I’d agree with all this. But that’s on a much lower scale. Bribing a politician to getting a zoning approved. Or a govt contract awarded. Etc.

        This is something completely different. The funders have essentially bottomless pockets and can easily to continue buying politicians. They buy politicians like they would hire any other sort of trade.

        The WEF has a “young leaders” (or something like that) program that is essentially an indoctrination program for up and coming government, NGO, and finance leaders across the world. Imagine being so well funded and connected that you’re able to actually set up a global indoctrination program for leaders across different sectors in addition to giving individual bribes. I thought the WEF was crazy conspiracy stuff, and then I saw the list of graduates from their young leaders program.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        My CEO was just bragging about how enlightening WEF was, and how the company should double down on ESG and being “good global citizens”.

        It’s not just governments that are compromised.

      • UnCivilServant

        You need to take him aside and put him out of his misery.

  53. Rebel Scum

    Is that a threat?

    Attorney General Merrick Garland on #January6thHearings: “I am watching and I will be watching all of the hearings…and I can assure you that the January 6th prosecutors are watching all the hearings as well.”

    Seems to me that the political shenanigans taking place with this committee create a conflict of interest with the prosecutions that should lead several cases to be dismissed with prejudice and other cases convictions overturned.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      That sure looks like an open admission of political prosecutions.

      • kbolino

        Bill Barr going after Antifa was an unacceptable political intrusion into the apolitical bureaucracy.

        Merrick Garland going after people present at the Capitol on January 6th with the top cover of a political show trial in Congress isn’t.

  54. Count Potato

    “LISTEN: The moment Hunter Biden says his father will do anything he tells him to

    The recording was located on a copy of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop within a password-protected backup of his iPhone XS. Konstantinos “Gus” Dimitrelos, a cyber forensics expert commissioned by the Washington Examiner, located the password during his examination of the hard drive.”

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/hunter-biden-laptop-presidennt-joe-tapes

    • kbolino

      404 for me

      • kbolino

        ?

      • Gender Traitor

        THEY didn’t cancel it. It was cancelled by the networks/channels running it due to the low ratings. They’re replacing it with reruns of “Book TV” from C-SPAN.

  55. The Late P Brooks

    I’m not really a fan of this guy or his pal Hoovie, but I watched this depressing little video the other night

    Too long; didn’t watch version:

    Manufacturers are making shitty overcomplicated cars using cheap plastic parts which can’t/don’t survive in their installed environment, and they have pretty much abandoned any pretense of after sale support or parts availability.

    Not directly mentioned, for some reason: regulations.

    • Urthona

      Why are cars getting so much more reliable then?

      • kbolino

        There seems to be a bell curve at play here, cars in the middle remain reliable/serviceable but low-end and high-end cars have pushed the envelope.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Yes

      The sweet spot for vehicles in terms of performance and support appears to be from about 1995 to 2008

      • Sensei

        Yes. At that point a combination of emissions rules and required technologies plus cheap computing power for finite element analysis give us our current crop of cars.

        No manufacturer cares at this point about reputation. If the car is reliable through the warranty period that is all that matters.

    • Sensei

      Hoovie is junk food. But he has similar taste in autos to me.

  56. The Late P Brooks

    And with the stroke of his pen he so willed it.

    Just wait ’til he signs that executive order banning assault weapons. The next time you open your gun safe, it will be empty.

  57. DEG

    The panel will “look at the facts” and publicly release the evidence, but it will be up to federal prosecutors to pursue any charges against former President Donald Trump or anyone else, Thompson told reporters Monday.

    “No reasonable prosecutor”.

  58. Mojeaux

    Well, l0b0t isn’t the only one making a 180 on his life July 1. We are going to help my kid move to Sioux Falls July 1. He is a tornado of fierce independence, willfulness, ADHD, and brilliance, and my husband and I are the walls trying to hold him in. He has a plan, money, preparations in place, and a job and apartment waiting for him. Quite honestly … I’m proud of him.

    • ron73440

      Good for him.

      Sounds like he should be successful.

    • Count Potato

      Sounds good.

    • db

      Best wishes for Mojunior!

    • Nephilium

      Good deal Mojeaux, may everything work out well for all involved.

    • Gender Traitor

      Oh my goodness!

      (You’re really sending him off to military school, aren’t you?)

      • Mojeaux

        LOLno. Don’t think we didn’t think about it, though…

    • Surly Knott

      Sioux Falls is, or was, a pretty decent little city. (I grew up down the road a bit, near Capt. James T. Kirk’s birthplace.)
      And congrats to all 3 of you!

    • Grosspatzer

      Good on him! And good on you for letting go, Mojeaux, that is not easy.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Sounds like he’s got a heck of a pair of parents getting him ready, too. Congrats to the Mojo family!

    • Sean

      <===

    • Tundra

      Well done, Mo.

      Scary to boot them from the nest, but man do they get good quickly. All the best to all of you!

    • MikeS

      ????

    • DEG

      Good for him. Hopefully it works out for him.

    • Animal

      Good for him – and now you’re one step closer to empty-nesterhood!

    • Fatty Bolger

      I knew that kid would be all right. 🙂 Best of luck to him.

    • l0b0t

      Oh, Mojeaux! That is wonderful news. I wish him (and the rest of your family) all the best.

    • Mojeaux

      Thank you. Some of the zoomies know more of the story, but this is the gist of the resolution.

      As for kicking him out, we’re not doing that so much as letting him go and making it easier for him, instead of standing at the door saying, “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”

  59. Count Potato

    “The abortion group @RuthSentUs has got its website back up today. The website came down just after the armed man was arrested outside Justice Kavanaugh’s house last week. The group now says that man belongs to “colonizers”, not them.”

    https://twitter.com/JerylBier/status/15363701

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Your link, it is not that.

  60. UnCivilServant

    *sigh*

    The agencies aren’t going to care that the application happens to live on a network VLAN tagged with the name of a different agency in the project constortium. In fact, if we don’t bring it up, they won’t even know.

    /I would rant more at the co-worker, but he’s not here and I’m trying to calm down.

    Lets write a positive reply instead of the scathing rant I didn’t even type here.

    • Gender Traitor

      …a positive reply instead of the scathing rant…

      Those fiction writing skills come in handy yet again! ?

  61. The Late P Brooks

    Hoovie is junk food. But he has similar taste in autos to me.

    Some of the stuff he does is probably fairly interesting, but I find him pretty much unwatchable for some reason.

  62. Sensei

    I don’t understand how this could depress economic output.

    “For an hour every day, Xu Xinhua waits in line for a health worker to push a swab down his throat and swirl it around. Each time, he hopes his Covid test will be negative so that he may continue delivering food, medicine and flowers to residents across Shanghai.”

    PCR – not rapid test.

    For Its Next Zero Covid Chapter, China Turns to Mass Testing
    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/14/business/china-covid-testing.html

    • kbolino

      I have gone from thinking China got COVID right to thinking they’ve gotten in terribly wrong and wondering what exactly is the end game here.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Control. It is always control

    • kinnath

      I sent my senator an email yesterday saying that Red Flag laws were a trojan horse designed to strip away our constitutional rights while making it impossible for anyone to complain about it.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        My senators view that as a plus.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Due process is just a silly old white person made up mechanism. We need to be able to arrest immediately anyone for any reason for the safety of our children.

      • Nephilium

        No real point in sending a message to the senator from Ohio who isn’t running for re-election but supports “common sense” gun control.

      • blighted_non_millenial

        Selling out your constituents on the way out the door is totes democracy in action.

      • db

        Same here. Pat Toomey’s a piece of shit.

        I’d be supportive of legislation or Congressional rules that prevented members of Congress who announce their retirement from introducing or voting on legislation, and removes them from any committees they may sit on. This BS has to stop.

      • db

        The only reason they announce well in advance is to signal to potential candidates to begin their campaigns. It’s self-serving to their party.

  63. The Late P Brooks

    No manufacturer cares at this point about reputation. If the car is reliable through the warranty period that is all that matters.

    As long as you buy a new car every two or three years, everything will be fine.

    • Sensei

      Some manufacturers used to care.

      At this point I think Toyota is the closest to a manufacturer that cares about post warranty ownership experience. Both in terms of parts availability and cost.

      • R C Dean

        Toyota is also the only car company willing to say the obvious about EVs: they are a niche vehicle for the foreseeable future, and Toyota isn’t dumping billions into making them.

        Saw a dust-to-dust analysis of EVs recently (sorry, can’t find it). Lithium batteries are an environmental horror show to produce, and are so energy intensive that EVs may well produce more C02 than ICE vehicles.. Any environmentalist who supports EVs is an idiot.

      • Sensei

        There is intense pressure in their home market for more of an EV push. I’ll be curious if they can hold out.

      • db

        I saw a breakdown of the ore required to be mined to produce the batteries for one EV–something like 200 tons of extracted ore of various minerals per battery, plus the energy required to refine that ore, plus the waste disposal…

        Can’t find the link though

      • creech

        “200 tons of extracted ore of various minerals per battery,”
        But totally not “raping mother earth” like the greenies warn us to avoid.

  64. Gustave Lytton

    Happy birthday Army. Make sure to have a slice of rainbow cake to celebrate.

  65. The Late P Brooks

    I have gone from thinking China got COVID right to thinking they’ve gotten in terribly wrong and wondering what exactly is the end game here.

    Early on, when the Chinese freaked out, I feared maybe it was because they had the inside info, and that it might actually be a deadly manufactured superbug.

    Now? I don’t know.

    • db

      A *really* paranoid take would be that they deliberately developed and released a pathogen that was *just lethal enough* to cause a panic, but not so much that it decimated populations, in order to create the environment necessary for their heavy-handed reaction to cover for a massive effort at suppressing their own people and influencing other governments to install the infrastructure to do it as well.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Add that they new Western governments have been wanting in on the authoritarian game also under the guise of ‘democracy’

      • Ownbestenemy

        *knew*

        *slumbrewed*

    • EvilSheldon

      I suspect that the shot callers in the Chinese government have all driven themselves insane.

      • R C Dean

        They are in a trap, having gone full lockdown at the outset and being institutionally incapable of admitting error (even de facto, by changing their approach). The lockdowns have also, and I think incidentally, proven “useful” as a tool to repress dissent, but at this point I think they are only further undermining the regime.

        And that’s aside from the massive damage they are inflicting on the Chinese economy. Which is still hugely over-leveraged and facing an increasing demographic crisis. Long term, I’m not that worried about China as a global hegemon.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      This is close to my take too. They had inside info and a deadly manufactured superbug version but weren’t sure initially which version had been released.

      I still think the release was deliberate. But the confusion on the version may be one of those times it really was incompetence instead of malice.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      WTF is that bullshit about crypto? Does he honestly believe any of that crap?

      • Urthona

        This is a huge talking point today. That all these bubbles were “caused” by crypto, and not the more obvious culprit.

        Also, same types are gleeful that the crypto market is “crashing”.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        They care about inequality, but enjoy watching it play out IRL.

      • Urthona

        It’s obvious they hate crypto, and I suspect it’s for 2 reasons.

        1) It threatens government control.
        2) They are at their core envious and some people have gotten rich from it.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I could be wrong, but now that crypto has proven it can last we are about to see institutions come in and buy it up on the cheap. Same as any other asset.

      • creech

        So with the collapse of Bitcoin, we should be seeing inflation come to a screeching halt and the Fed should forgo the interest rate hike.

      • EvilSheldon

        He’s desperately casting about for an excuse other than, ‘the political and regulatory decisions of my Team.’

      • Urthona

        It’s really the political and regulatory decisions of both teams, but especially his team.

      • EvilSheldon

        His team has the power, so his team gets the blame.

      • Urthona

        Sure yes. Especially from voters.

  66. Rebel Scum

    What the fuck?

    According to emails released by the Arizona Daily Independent, the questions were part of a program used by the Unitown Club in the Scottsdale Unified School District to discuss sexual orientation with students. …

    The worksheet asks kids to question their heterosexuality by suggesting the following questions should be posed to minors by adults who are not their parents:

    What do you think caused your heterosexuality?
    If you’ve never slept with a person of the same sex, is it possible that all you need a good gay/lesbian lover?
    Is it possible that your heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of others of the same sex?
    To whom have you disclosed your heterosexual tendencies?
    Why do you insist on flaunting your heterosexuality?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It’s almost like they want the reactionary phase.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Its the flip side argument that Christians made towards gays…

    • Nephilium

      What do you think caused your heterosexuality?
      If you’ve never slept with a person of the same sex, is it possible that all you need a good gay/lesbian lover?
      Is it possible that your heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of others of the same sex?
      To whom have you disclosed your heterosexual tendencies?
      Why do you insist on flaunting your heterosexuality?

      No idea.
      Potentially, but I don’t have much interest in experimenting and finding out.
      Why would I be afraid of other men?
      My sexual partners.
      In what way am I flaunting it?

      • R C Dean

        Its exactly the same kind of things you’d ask during conversion therapy, only with “hetero” instead of “homo”.

        I see two possible outcomes:

        (1) We are truly broken as a culture and allow this to continue.

        (2) Purging of our educational system, firing a great many teachers, with an ongoing pogrom that will undoubtedly be overbroad.

      • UnCivilServant

        Firing?

        Public firing squads.

      • R C Dean

        I’m trying to be optimistic here. Although, to be honest, I’m betting on (1).

      • UnCivilServant

        Biology – it’s the only mode of operation that continues the species.
        Nope.
        Nope.
        Everyone.
        How does one ‘flaunt’ being the statistical norm?

      • Animal

        None of your fucking business.
        None of your fucking business.
        None of your fucking business.
        None of your fucking business.
        None of your fucking business.

    • Fatty Bolger

      I don’t know how it was used by the school district, but the last question makes it obvious that it’s a role reversal exercise.

      • Urthona

        I thought so too.

      • R C Dean

        I think that only works if they asked the same questions with homo and hetero. Which I would be very surprised if they did.

        And even so, it begs the question of why this is being done in schools at all. As far as I am concerned, any discussion of “sexuality” in school, beyond the bare biological mechanics of sex, is grooming.

      • Fatty Bolger

        These are questions that gay people have often been asked. I’m pretty sure the point of it is to put heterosexual people in their shoes, so they can understand what it’s like to have your sexuality questioned.

        Whether it’s appropriate for schools is another matter. But it seems innocuous enough to me for high schoolers.

      • R C Dean

        Asking anyone these questions, whether the hetero or homo version, is clearly an attempt to convert them. The purpose of these questions is to make someone doubt their natural sexual preferences. It doesn’t even make sense to ask someone the questions relating to a sexual preference they don’t have. I don’t think its innocuous at all, and I don’t think there should be any doubt that it has no place whatsoever in a classroom.

  67. PieInTheSky

    This is A Thread On Owl-Whispering, how to charm #owls, how to simply get on well with them. Includes occasional eagles, b/c y not.
    All photos in this thread are my own, or of me (using my camera).

    https://twitter.com/Gurdur/status/1536027818001412098

    • Animal

      How cool is that! Amazing photos.

      Our daughter #3 is absolutely fascinated by owls.

    • db

      Awesome!

    • EvilSheldon

      There are cool people, and then there’s that dude. The apex of human coolness.

    • MikeS

      Lorraine Wistrom
      @LorraineWistro1
      Replying to
      @EWErickson

      So suck it up buttercup. It’s wise in the long run. But Biden is not responsible for the oil companies gouging all of us. Send your inane tweets to them Erick.

      Lorraine and her ilk do not give a single shit about how many people get hurt on the way to their green paradise.

      And then there’s the “gouging” talking point. ? Idiots.

      • EvilSheldon

        Abusers often try to shift blame.

  68. Tundra

    More fun in Yellowstone:

    House boat?

    • Fatty Bolger

      Amazing that it stayed intact that long. I wonder how far it got before breaking up or running aground?

      • MikeS

        The contractor who built that house should use that in their advertising.

  69. Ownbestenemy

    In a sane world, we would just stop reporting these…

    Republican senator who led the push to end mask mandates on planes and public transport tests positive for COVID-19 for the 3rd time in a year

    I love how journalism tries to connect dots that have nothing to connect to. Also, if third time and seems healthy enough, what is the damn fuss?

    • R C Dean

      Why is he even testing?

    • Fatty Bolger

      It’s like Pat Robertson blaming pacts with the devil for Hurricanes, or saying somebody got AIDS as a judgement against homosexuality.

  70. The Late P Brooks

    I love how journalism tries to connect dots that have nothing to connect to. Also, if third time and seems healthy enough, what is the damn fuss?

    The human brain is compelled to see patterns where none exist.

    And, of course, asking, “People are getting it repeatedly, and they’re still not dead. Why should we panic, exactly?” would be journalisming in bad faith.

    • slumbrew

      apophenia / pareidolia .

      Probably a survival mechanism – “is that a shadow or a tiger?”

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s safer to burn energy jumping at shadows than getting eaten by them.

      • db

        That’s why we developed critical thinking–to avoid this shit.

        Truly, we are DEVO.

  71. UnCivilServant

    One of the local gun clubs is accepting new members again. Been on the waiting list six or seven months. Not so bad for around here. Can’t spell the name of the place…