Friday Morning Links

by | Jul 22, 2022 | Daily Links | 408 comments

Double your pleasure

The Astros took a doubleheader from the Yankees yesterday. F1 is in France (and practice is starting!) and the Browns have signed QB Josh Rosen for obvious reasons. And that’s pretty much it for sports. Man, the fall needs to hurry up and get here already.

This was crazy!Ā I wonder if the rhetoric of his opponent drove the attacker? Well, we’ll never know because the media won’t sensationalize her words like they would if it was the other way around.

Diversify. Diversify. Diversify.Ā I’m not a big fan of this, but what are you gonna do?

And the Ls keep coming.Ā I don’t get it. First they say they don’t want to enforce the laws as written. Then the mayors of big blue cities complain about illegals clogging their systems after being transported there by Texas and Arizona. Ā Gee, you’d almost think they were hypocrites or something.

Bene-tard, amirite?

Consider your virtue signaled.Ā Yawn. But the biggest problem is there will be in creased airplay of “Love Is A Battlefield” now. And that song was shit.

This is the future.Ā Which would be fine if the city had cut everybody’s taxes when they made the cut. But I doubt that was the case.

Thanks a lot, Indiana.Ā Your lazy cutlery laws must have caused this.

Turn right for unemployment.

I never even heard of this service.Ā No wonder it closed down. Also, they need to start complaining about heavy-handed government overreach in their very own state or they’re not gonna make it at all.

This is an incredibly sad story.Ā And I really don’t know if justice was served here. I’d enjoy a robust debate in the comments, as I’m sure there are several differing opinions on what should have happened.

Here you go.Ā Haven’t played these guys in forever.Ā So here’s a second one for you.Ā Enjoy them both.

And enjoy this Friday and the weekend, dear friends!

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

408 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    “Iā€™m not a big fan of this, but what are you gonna do?”

    Eliminate regulatory capture?

  2. Count Potato

    “Pat Benatar is refusing to perform her hit 1980 song ā€œHit Me With Your Best Shotā€ in the wake of the horrific mass shootings across America this year.”

    OFFS!

    • UnCivilServant

      Pay no attention to the attention seeker.

      I doubt she sounds the same as she did in 1980 anyway.

      • Count Potato

        I’m sure she doesn’t look the same either.

      • UnCivilServant

        I am of the camp where I don’t care what a musician looks like, just what they sound like. I know, it’s strange, but I’m usually putting music on in the background of some visual activity, so my eyes are not on the performer, just my ears.

      • Lackadaisical

        Some great, ugly, female singers who don’t get nearly enough play because of their looks. Kind of stupid.

        I don’t mind good looking front women, of course, but come on.

      • Count Potato

        The same applies to male singers, and entertainers in general.

      • Shpip

        One of the criticisms of early MTV (you know, back when they played music videos) was that actual musical talent had taken a back seat to how good the act looked on camera.

        They had a point. Can anyone imagine these guys getting a bunch of airplay in the 1980s or 90s?

      • rhywun

        Heh.

        But I do remember “Fight Fire with Fire” getting a lot of airplay.

      • Gender Traitor

        One who got SOME of the play and recognition she deserves (covering one of my favorites): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=onz11EPJD8E

        (Very different style than when she first came to fame.)

      • R.J.

        Dirty Lemmy?

      • Chafed

        Is there any other kind?

    • invisible finger

      Eddie Schwartz hardest hit.

  3. tarran

    Re the ATM shooting, yes he should have been charged.

    Certainly, I hope the family sues him civilly. It doesn’t matter if you are in fear for your life; you are responsible for where every bullet you shoot ends up. It’s not an accident when you choose to shoot into a vehicle hoping to hit one of its occupants and you do so.

    • Tonio

      I know for damn sure we’ll be hearing about this in the media for weeks while the story about the hero bystander who shot a shooter without killing any bystanders will be buried.

      I agree that Mr. Earl acted irresponsibly. Holding the assailant responsible for any property damage caused by his, or Earl’s, bullets is one thing; giving Earl a pass on having shot an innocent bystander is something else. Certainly charges of negligence and manslaughter (not sure to which degree) should apply.

      • Count Potato

        Ever get those emails? Maybe they got put in your spam folder?

      • Tonio

        Yes, sorry for not responding sooner. I thought the first was phishing since there was no identifying info. I was racking my brain trying to figure out who “CP” was. Brain fart.

    • sloopyinca

      I tend to agree with you. Especially since he said he targeted the truck he shot into.

      He will lose the civil case, I bet. But that doesn’t make up for his criminal negligence.

    • Rat on a train

      He didn’t see the robber enter the truck. No shots or other aggressive actions came from the truck. Yet he fired multiple rounds at the truck. Sounds reckless.

    • Sean

      You know a cop would have gotten a free pass on this one.

      • Grummun

        And we would have the same criticism. Earl broke a cardinal rule: know what you are shooting at. I think he should have been charged.

    • EvilSheldon

      Agreed. This was a bad call by the grand jury, as there was IMO more than sufficient evidence to prosecute Earl for manslaughter.

      • Gustave Lytton

        And now there’s a just so story complete with sympathetic victim to be used against concealed carry and defensive use of a [hand]gun. Right after the Indians mall shooting too.. *adjusts tin foil*

    • MikeS

      Investigators say Earls fired at a truck thinking the robbery suspect had possibly climbed into it. But the vehicle was actually carrying Alvarez and her family…

      Shooting blindly into vehicles should not be protected by any self defense law. You must be certain of your target.

      • Fourscore

        Maybe he was sure of the assailant being in the truck but he’d made a mistake?

        If someone takes a shot a me I assume he/she has deadly intentions and will take another, given a chance. If I have the opportunity to deploy firepower at the perp I will keep pulling the trigger until I run out of ammo or the perp is on the ground (or both). I would, of course, be sure of my target. If there is more than one, all are fair game.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Is there something about this that isn’t being reported correctly? Because I find it hard to believe that the law says that blindly firing into a vehicle because you think your assailant might have crawled into it is considered self defense.

  4. Rebel Scum

    I wonder if the rhetoric of his opponent drove the attacker?

    Holding Democrats to their standards…

  5. SDF-7

    What’s crazy is that the would-be assassin was released on his own recognizance. Must be nice to be on the correct side of politics in our two tier justice system…

    • UnCivilServant

      “New York isn’t safe”
      *person tries to stab speaker*

      Sounds scripted.

      • UnCivilServant

        Note: I do agree that New York isn’t the safest place, but the timing of the incident sounds suspect to me.

    • sloopyinca

      Twitter was full of people saying this would happen and a bunch of leftists calling them crazy. I think even Hochul herself said that’s not how it works.
      Expect that part of the story to get memory-holed.

    • Rebel Scum

      Suspect David G. Jakubonis, who jumped on stage and told Zeldin ā€œyouā€™re doneā€ before trying to stab him with a sharp object in the neck, was charged with attempted assault in the second degree.

      Sounds more like attempted murder.

      • WTF

        Only if you’re registered “R”. Or wandered around the Capitol building.

  6. Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

    I saw the Smithereens in ’89 or so. Small club in Ventura, good show. Long ass drive home though.

  7. Grummun

    ā€œCourts did not allow states to sue the federal government based on the indirect, downstream effects of federal policies. And district judges did not purport to enter nationwide relief.ā€

    The left opened this can of worms against Trump. I seem to recall an applicable Iron Law.

    • R C Dean

      ā€œCourts did not allow states to sue the federal government based on the indirect, downstream effects of federal policiesā€

      Which is weird, because the feds can assert jurisdiction over anything based on its indirect, downstream effects.

      • SDF-7

        Wickard waves its ghoulish rotten hand “Hello!”….

  8. Rebel Scum

    Pat Benatar is refusing to perform her hit 1980 song ā€œHit Me With Your Best Shotā€ in the wake of the horrific mass shootings across America this year.

    Speaking to USA Today, the rock singer said she will avoid performing the track during her current tour in ā€œprotestā€ of gun violence.

    I don’t understand.

    • UnCivilServant

      It’s simple, Pat has been starved for attention and is trying to get people to pay attention to her.

      Don’t give her what she wants.

    • Tonio

      She needed a PR boost.

    • sloopyinca

      People won’t buy tickets if they don’t know she’s on tour. Now they know she’s on tour. And she has a whole gaggle of wokesters who will perhaps shell out a few bucks to see her before she gets into the county/state fair segment of her performing career.

      It’s self-promotion seeing as the song has nothing whatsoever to do with using a gun.

      • slumbrew

        ā€œ Itā€™s self-promotion seeing as the song has nothing whatsoever to do with using a gun.ā€

        Exactly this.

      • SDF-7

        I always assumed on some level it was a similar metaphor to Frankie Goes To Hollywood…. IYKWIMAIKYD.

      • Plisade

        Yeah, I always thought she was asking for a facial.

        /shrugs

      • Grummun

        she gets into the county/state fair segment of her performing career

        I saw Patsy at the fabulous Midland Theater, which, while a nice room, probably holds about as many people as a county fair grandstand.

        She opened the show with some bullshit about how they were going to play all night, and then went for maybe 70 minutes.

  9. Nephilium

    In relation to Lyft shuttering their rental business, when I used Uber last weekend, they popped up a notification that I could get a discount on Uber Rentals. Look, 80% of the time I’m opening a ridesharing app it’s because I’m going to or from an event with drinking. I’m definitely not interested in renting a car in those instances.

    • sloopyinca

      I’d imagine it’s geared toward city folk who don’t own a vehicle and want to get out of the city for a few days. Otherwise, it’s for guys who want to upgrade their ride to impress a woman.

      • R C Dean

        If you wanted to impress a woman with a car, is NJ really the place to do it?

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        My girlfriend told me to kiss her where it stinks, so I took her to New Jersey.

      • UnCivilServant

        Rent a car to impress a woman? Naw. That says high maintenance girl.

        Rent a car just to drive it? Of Course.

      • sloopyinca

        I don’t think they’re trying to date her as much as they’re trying to get laid.

        I also don’t think it’s a well thought out decision.

      • Rat on a train

        I recall seeing some exotic options at the LAX Enterprise. I think multiday discounts could get some of them down to almost $1,000 per day.

  10. Rebel Scum

    Texas law ā€œgives very, very broad self-defense rights for people carrying guns, even if the person makes a mistake,ā€

    Which is why “manslaughter” is a thing.

  11. Count Potato

    “Which would be fine if the city had cut everybodyā€™s taxes when they made the cut. ”

    Why do you hate the children?

  12. SDF-7

    Re: the immigration story (“And the Ls keep coming”) — I don’t think this is related to the mayors, they’re just trying to get back to the “prosecutorial discretion” excuse from the Obama years. In other words, ignore everyone but the absolute worst ones to “save their resources”. Legal fig leaf for their open borders.

    And on that note and the Minneapolis police one — it does keep leaping to mind “If one side refuses to hold up their side of the social contract, the other side isn’t going to hold to it forever.” At some point, Minneapolis is going to say “Why are we paying you people?” and similarly, it is getting past time for the states to say “If you can’t provide for the common defense or ensure domestic tranquility, we don’t need you FedGov!” The cynical side of me says that will be when/if the money presses stop going BRRRRRRRR, I know… bribery has gotten them this far, after all. But it is really getting stupid.

    Re: the music links — is that band what happens when The Smiths meet Megadeth?

    • Nephilium

      You mean like 150 “activists” threatening violence to cause a comedy show to be cancelled?

  13. Rebel Scum

    Safe and effective.

    This morning, the German Federal Ministry of Health posted a stunning tweet, admitting that 1 out of every 5,000 Covid jabs cause ā€œserious side effects.ā€

    This figure is likely a sharp underestimate, given the fact that side effect reporting systems for drugs and vaccines are largely voluntary.

    Nonetheless, it implies that almost 300,000 Americans and Europeans have suffered severe side effects after receiving mRNA shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. …

    Health authorities now acknowledge that the mRNA vaccines do not stop Covid infection or transmission and likely have no preventative value against the Omicron variant within months. Thus their risk-benefit profile appears increasingly absurd, especially because Omicron is notably less dangerous than earlier Covid variants to everyone, vaccinated or not.

    • SDF-7

      Don’t know why I haven’t thought this earlier… but one of my problems with World War Z reading it was that I didn’t buy the hysterical adherence to the “vaccine” when it was obvious (pretty quickly) that it didn’t do squat.

      I formally apologize to Mr. Brooks and stand corrected. (Kif sigh).

    • Rat on a train

      The vaxcists won’t be pleased.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      It will be interesting to watch how the narrative crumbles and shifts into something else.

      I don’t have much hope for accountability.

      • The Other Kevin

        The interesting thing to me is how they’re ALLOWING the narrative to crumble. They aren’t going after these stories like they would have a year ago. Either there is just too much truth out there to hold back, or they’re up to something. Very similar to the narrative shift we’re seeing with Biden.

      • invisible finger

        They’re working out who is going to get blamed for the vax injuries. So far the only point of agreement is “Not Pfizer.”

      • dbleagle

        They work well enough to be used by the biden Administration to kick tens of thousands of troops from the military who asked for exemptions based on the biden’s rules.

  14. mock-star

    “This is an incredibly sad story. And I really donā€™t know if justice was served here. Iā€™d enjoy a robust debate in the comments, as Iā€™m sure there are several differing opinions on what should have happened.”

    The shooter was no longer in danger of death or serious bodily harm (as far as I can tell) AND he could not and did not properly identify his target. Yes he should have to answer to charges, IMO

    • R.J.

      Agreed. You stated this perfectly..He fired in anger at the wrong target.

    • R C Dean

      And I think he is being charged, just not with murder.

      I think he should be charged with something, assuming what we are told about what happened is true. I dunno what I would charge him with if it was up to me.

      • sloopyinca

        Nope. The grand jury did not indict him with anything, not even reckless endangerment.

      • R C Dean

        I must have misread the article. Thatā€™s messed up. I mean, its not like heā€™s some kind of activist who killed a Republican.

      • sloopyinca

        The thing is, it was investigators who said he thought the robber had gone into the truck after firing at him. It also says he was fired upon and returned fire.
        I don’t see a statement from him or his counsel that says he thought the robber was in there. So perhaps that’s conjecture on their part and he never claimed it.
        Now, if he returned fire immediately after being fired upon and thought he was firing back at an assailant’s position, that could be a reasonable argument for self-defense.
        I doubt his legal team will say anything publicly, as it could only hurt their position. I still think he acted recklessly, but without confirmation that he deliberately fired into the truck, I’m not quite sure that part is accurate.

        IMO: reckless endangerment and involuntary manslaughter should be charged here based on what we’re being told. I just don’t know if what we’re being told by the media is what the grand jury was told.

      • Rat on a train

        Should be a manslaughter charge.

    • Tonio

      “[Earl] was no longer in danger of death or serious bodily harm…”

      ^This.

      • R C Dean

        Could he have known that at the time?

        One reason for giving people a tiny bit of latitude is these are high-stress, fast-moving events, that we judge with imperfect hindsight.

      • sloopyinca

        “According to prosecutors”

        They said he was fired upon and returned fire. If he had just taken fire a moment before, there could be a reasonable fear, and returning fire a logical response. But he’s still responsible for knowing his surroundings.

      • EvilSheldon

        This. Private citizens aren’t legally allowed to use suppressing fire to break contact. Firing a gun at a target you haven’t positively identified is reckless endangerment at the very least.

  15. Grummun

    The people in Minneapolis should be putting their money into private security, instead of propping up the local po-po.

    • juris imprudent

      Pinkertons’ ears perk up.

    • EvilSheldon

      That’s where we’re headed. Private security contractors for the 1%, street gangs and ‘neighborhood committees’ for the 99%.

      • Rat on a train

        We will go toward what I saw in the Philippines where gated communities are standard down to the middle class and each home in gated communities is still surrounded by high walls and gates. The top of the walls tend to have embedded glass or metal.

      • EvilSheldon

        Exactly. A lot of central/south America rolls this way, too.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Yup

      • WTF

        And America’s descent into third world shithole continues apace.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        We’re moving towards that at the SSD homestead compound, though for other reasons.

        Drunk drivers keep ramming my fence posts and bringing down my fence. I’m going to line the front of my fence with concrete pillars to take the force. Since one drunk asshole also rammed my gate, I need to reinforce the gates too. A concrete pillar behind each gate post with supporting braces from the concrete to the post. If I’m doing that, I figured I might as well leave a hole while the concrete sets so I can run a galvanized steel pipe through the concrete posts behind the gate to further brace the gate. That last one is more of a SHTF kind of thing, but is minimal effort to add.

        We keep losing poultry and waterfowl to a fox. Traps and standing guard with a shotgun didn’t work. So we now have two Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs that provide 24/7 security in the yard. Well, they’re still puppies but growing fast. We got them for predator control, but they’ll do for 2 legged rats as well. That’s in addition to the indoor GSDs.

        A intermediate term project is raising the 4′ high fence around the yard to an 8′ fence with electric hot wire and barbed wire. The reason here is because my wife wants emus and a 4′ fence won’t cut it. My neighbors joke that it’s going to be a stockade.

      • juris imprudent

        Hope you like barking – GPs are bark machines.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I hear you, but I’ll take barking over the headless duck carcass that greeted me this morning.

        This spring I’ll be planting a screen of 300 Green Giant liners between the fence and the road. That will hopefully reduce their need to bark at neighbors and also act a sound shield.

      • blighted_non_millenial

        Can confirm. My parents had a pair (down to one now) and they prowl and carry on all night long barking at anything that moves.

      • Muzzled Woodchipper

        I want a LGD bad. Weā€™ve been decimated twice in 5 years from foxes.

        But the wife wonā€™t have a fully outside dog, which defeats the entire purpose.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        My wife and I were initially both against an outside only dog, especially given the separate indoor pack and concern about what mixing may look like.

        It’s turned out to not be an issue though. The LGDs prefer to be outside all the time. They have no desire to be inside and make no effort to come in when I open the door to bring in the GSDs at night or when it rains. The GSDs and the GPs get along very well and just blended into their own pack that splits up at night.

  16. Tres Cool

    whaddup doh’

    yo whats goody

    • UnCivilServant

      Well, lets see… the office is nice and quiet, and the air conditioning works.

      • R.J.

        This is a good thing.

      • Sean

        We just upgraded the office AC. ‘Tis wonderful.

        My actual office has had it’s own, but now the common area is also nice.

    • dbleagle

      Adams also leaves off that the vast majority of the new illegals were flown to nearby airports by Team biden over the last year and not a bus load from TX. Team biden is screwing him without the common courtesy of a reach around.

    • Nephilium

      Better then trying to fight the bots.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      When Springsteen tickets are going for $5k, I know society is still well and truly fucked in the head.

  17. Rebel Scum

    Ok, groomer.

    Leftist activists spoke out in a public library meeting in Illinois defending the presence of pornographic LGBT graphic novels in the Young Adult sections.

    “It is not pornography. This is not an erotic adventure in any way, shape, or form.”

    One of them literally says there is reference to oral sex in the books.

    • Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

      Dude, young men will take National Geographic “into the restroom” so to speak. I think porno is where you find it.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        People _can_ spank it to anything. Doesn’t mean that describing a dude blowing another dude (I don’t know if that’s actually the case here… I didn’t click in) in a book for 12 year olds is a good thing.

        The “everything can be porn” argument strikes me as intentionally obtuse. Yeah, somebody may be able to crank the hog to Sesame Street. So what?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Yeah, somebody may be able to crank the hog to Sesame Street. So what?

        What you do in your can is your business dude.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Hey! It’s slim pickings here! Rosita is having to lay low after dissing some black girls, and most of the humans are too scared to get within grabbing distance from my can.

      • Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

        I don’t think I was being clear. I DO think this shit is porno, and I think the argument that it isn’t is BS.

      • pistoffnick

        + 1 Sears catalog

        / my Grandma would rip out the ladies underwear and swimsuit sections of the catalog so we would see them.

      • SDF-7

        That’s a… rather obliging Grandmother there… Did she put out Kleenex for y’all too?

    • juris imprudent

      This was not foretold?

  18. Lackadaisical

    The crazy thing about the attacker of zeldin is he was released on his own recognizance. Now, I’m not in favor of special treatment for politicians, but anyone who attacks someone with a knife ought not be released so easily.

    • R.J.

      Now that is suspicious. Staged? Starting to see UnCivilā€™s point.

      • Sean

        Staged?

        NY.

      • Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

        Off Broadway.

      • Lackadaisical

        I don’t think it was staged, though that is a conservative area he was in. I think it’s just NY’s shitty bail laws.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Knife attackers are able to easily cut through the red tape of jail and get out quickly.

      • slumbrew

        Youā€™ve got a point.

      • MikeS

        Any way you slice it, it’s a bad situation.

      • Trigger Hippie

        It’s a sharp analysis.

      • SDF-7

        They’ve honed their arguments well for just such an eventuality so they can stay on the cutting edge.

      • Pope Jimbo

        What a keen observation.

  19. Shpip

    It’s Friday, let’s have some Top Shelf Derp to kick off the weekend!

    At a moment when mass shootings are nightmarishly commonplace, Bruen feels aggressively wrongheaded. But even if you believe (as the conservative justices say they do) that they are simply reading the Constitution closely, they have lifted the Second Amendment above the First, which explicitly sets down the ā€œright of the people peaceably to assemble.ā€ Those rights that have long defined this country ā€” freedom of speech, religion, the press ā€” are being eclipsed by another right, one thatā€™s become an article of faith for many Americans.

    From what I can run through my Derp to English translator, the author is worried that if a peaceful protest turns “fiery but mostly peaceful,” the rioters protesters might face immediate, deadly consequences for their mayhem. Darn shame, that.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      People’s brains are broken. In context: “Congress shall make no law respecting … the right of the people peaceably to assemble.”

      It doesn’t say “Congress shall pass all laws necessary to ensure the right of the people peaceably to assemble without thread of deranged madmen shooting them for no reason.”

      • Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

        Let along Antifa coming along to break shit up.

      • sloopyinca

        Any of these laws banning people from having guns would also be a form of prior restraint, no? I know it’s only ever been applied to 1A items, but why shouldn’t the principle also apply to other rights?

      • Rat on a train

        Freedom from fear is a right. Get on it Congress. Protect me from everything I fear no matter how irrational.

      • Plisade

        And if I fear fearless people… ?

      • UnCivilServant

        Or government ‘protection’?

      • Lackadaisical

        Involuntary commitment to a mental institution, as that is clearly crazy. Every sane person trusts big brother to keep them safe.

    • Rebel Scum

      At a moment when mass shootings are nightmarishly commonplace

      We do need to do something about gang violence.

    • blighted_non_millenial

      Did that tweet draw a penalty box? Account is suspended.

  20. Sean

    #waffle182 4/5

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    šŸ”„ streak: 26
    šŸ„ˆ #wafflesilverteam
    wafflegame.net

    • Lackadaisical

      Ooo, a rate day when I got a 5 star. Almost goofed on the worldle today though to make up for it.

    • Grummun

      Quordle:

      7 4
      8 6

      I got the chromatic waffle this morning.

      • SDF-7

        Daily Quordle 179
        4ļøāƒ£6ļøāƒ£
        7ļøāƒ£8ļøāƒ£

        Should have been better, but made two 50/50 unlucky style guesses. Ah well.

      • Tundra

        Daily Quordle 179
        6ļøāƒ£7ļøāƒ£
        4ļøāƒ£8ļøāƒ£

        Lame-O

      • MikeS

        My bleh streak continues

        5ļøāƒ£6ļøāƒ£
        7ļøāƒ£8ļøāƒ£

      • whiz

        Daily Quordle 179
        4ļøāƒ£3ļøāƒ£
        7ļøāƒ£6ļøāƒ£

      • TARDis

        Draggin’ the line.
        Daily Quordle 179
        5ļøāƒ£4ļøāƒ£
        6ļøāƒ£7ļøāƒ£

    • Cowboy

      Daily Quordle 179
      5ļøāƒ£4ļøāƒ£
      6ļøāƒ£7ļøāƒ£
      quordle.com

      Think i got the hang of it. Also, yall start early. Get to the office, have some coffee and boom 200 comments already. Dont yall have meetings to go to and emails to check? I can barely keep up

      • MikeS

        Sounds like you need to make some life changes.

      • SDF-7

        I’m lucky in that I still live on Eastern time, so I get up at 3am (would be 6), links pop at 5am after my first few cups of coffee and start work at 6. I work 9-5, just not in my timezone. šŸ˜‰

    • JG43

      Daily Quordle 179
      9ļøāƒ£6ļøāƒ£
      7ļøāƒ£šŸŸ„

      Chumped. Need moar coffee

  21. The Late P Brooks

    Chin up, America

    For more than a year, President Joe Bidenā€™s ability to avoid the coronavirus seemed to defy the odds. When he finally did test positive, the White House was ready. It set out to turn the diagnosis into a ā€œteachable momentā€ and dispel any notion of a crisis.

    ā€œThe president does what every other person in America does every day, which is he takes reasonable precautions against COVID but does his job,ā€ White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told MSNBC late in the afternoon on Thursday.

    It was a day that began with Bidenā€™s COVID-19 results and included repeated assurances over the coming hours that the president was hard at work while isolating in the residential areas of the White House with ā€œvery mild symptomsā€ including a runny nose, dry cough and fatigue.

    Biden, in a blazer and Oxford shirt, recorded a video from the White House balcony telling people: ā€œIā€™m doing well, getting a lot of work done. And, in the meantime, thanks for your concern. And keep the faith. Itā€™s going to be OK.ā€

    He’ll die a hero’s death, in service to the land he loves.

    Wear your mask. Get a shot. Wash your hands.

    • R.J.

      His idiot doctor is giving him Paxlovid. Thatā€™ll stretch out the infection for a month.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        You’re assuming he actually has COVID.

      • invisible finger

        Maybe they’re trying to give him covid.

      • Count Potato

        Paxlovid makes it worse?

      • R.J.

        Yessir. My wife took it, initial infection was over in five days. Three days later, it came roaring back and lasted another ten days. 18 days of illness instead of ten.

    • The Other Kevin

      Didn’t he say, or more likely yell, that if you take the shots you WILL NOT get COVID?

    • Muzzled Woodchipper

      So this is how theyā€™re gonna kill him offā€¦.

  22. Lackadaisical

    ‘This is an incredibly sad story. And I really donā€™t know if justice was served here. Iā€™d enjoy a robust debate in the comments, as Iā€™m sure there are several differing opinions on what should have happened’

    I’m all for the right to protect your property with deadly force. This ain’t it.

  23. Grumbletarian

    David G. Jakubonis, 43, of Fairport, New York, has been charged with attempted assault in the second degree, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said. He was arraigned in town court and released on his own recognizance.

    “You tried to stab a Congressman? Oh, he’s Republican? G’wan, go home.”

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      attempted assault in the second degree

      Last I checked, stabbings are usually attempted murder.

      • R.J.

        ā€œTechnically I was just trying to SHOW him my new shiny knife your honor. Then the bad congressman grabbed my hand and tried to steal it! You should arrest him!ā€

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        “I was just going to cut his neck a little bit.”

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m just surprised “Attempted Assault” is its own offense. I always figured it was still assault, you just failed to inflict battery.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        That too.

      • Lackadaisical

        I thought new York was the opposite of everyone else on the definition of assault vs battery. Like having the supreme court be the lowest level….

      • UnCivilServant

        Normally, I’d go rush off and look it up, but I’ve got a bunch of meetings today.

      • juris imprudent

        At the very least assault with a deadly weapon.

  24. rhywun

    I wonder if the rhetoric of his opponent drove the attacker?

    Well, she has assured us that Zeldin is a “dangerous far-right extremist” so I mean you’d be crazy not to take a stab at him.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      You know who else survived assassination attempts?

  25. rhywun

    Then the mayors of big blue cities complain about illegals clogging their systems after being transported there by Texas and Arizona.

    Oh, they want the illegals – they just want taxpayers from other states to pay for their upkeep.

    • The Other Kevin

      They should rename the Democrat party to the NIMBY party.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    It was all part of an administration effort to shift the narrative from a health scare to a display of Biden as the personification of the idea that most Americans can get COVID and recover without too much suffering and disruption if theyā€™ve gotten their shots and taken other important steps to protect themselves.

    The message was crafted to alleviate votersā€™ concerns about Bidenā€™s health ā€” at 79, heā€™s the oldest person ever to be president. And it was aimed at demonstrating to the country that the pandemic is far less of a threat than it was before Biden took office, thanks to widespread vaccines and new therapeutic drugs.

    Conveying that sentiment on Day 1 of Bidenā€™s coronavirus experience virus wasnā€™t always easy, though.

    In a lengthy briefing with reporters, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said repeatedly that the White House had been as transparent as possible about the presidentā€™s health. But she parried with reporters over specifics. And when pressed about where Biden might have contracted the virus, she responded, ā€œI donā€™t think that that matters, right? I think what matters is we prepared for this moment.ā€

    ——-

    Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said itā€™s important for Americans to know they must remain careful about the virus, which continues to kill hundreds of people daily.

    ā€œThatā€™s the balance that we have to strike,ā€ Osterholm said. ā€œThe president of the United States will do very well. But that may not be true for everyone.ā€

    Keep fear alive. Don’t let me slip back into irrelevance.

    • Grummun

      I donā€™t think that that matters, right?

      I know she was avoiding an awkward question, here: who that the president has come in contact with isn’t vaxxed up to the gills/getting tested hourly, but she’s unintentionally right. It doesn’t matter. COVID is everywhere now, it will always be everywhere.

    • Rebel Scum

      without too much suffering and disruption if theyā€™ve gotten their shots

      Fuck. Off.

    • SDF-7

      Huh. I was expecting busty mechanics or maybe country girls out on offroad adventures.

    • Negroni Please

      Idk. If i just watched a dude go down the drain and die, I’d probably at least need to finish my drink. Probably need a few more after that too

    • EvilSheldon

      For all my various weird kinks, human furniture is one I just can’t seem to *ahem* wrap my head around…

      • Lackadaisical

        Sounds like someone needs his mummy.

    • Lackadaisical

      Maybe a NSFW warning here.

    • Sean

      Nope.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Outflow > inflow

    New satellite images released by NASA Wednesday reveal the dramatic loss of water at Lake Mead due to the ongoing mega-drought.

    ā€œThe largest reservoir in the United States supplies water to millions of people across seven states, tribal lands, and northern Mexico,ā€ NASA wrote about the image. ā€œIt now also provides a stark illustration of climate change and a long-term drought that may be the worst in the US West in 12 centuries.ā€

    When you compare these two natural-color images ā€“ one acquired on July 6, 2000, and the other on July 3, 2022 ā€“ you can see the lake full and, in the most recent imagery, you can see the mineralized lakeshore which used to be underwater.

    Must be global warming. There is no other conceivable explanation.

    • sloopyinca

      It’s a fake lake in the middle of the desert. Of course it’s gonna be a lot more empty if they have one year of low rainfall. Two years and it’ll look totally different.

      I still won’t take people freaking out seriously until they get the desalination plants up and running to pull CA off the Lake Mead water, since they’re sucking over half of it to coastal SoCal.

      • Rat on a train

        Those desalination plants would hurt the poor and minorities.

      • juris imprudent

        Water justice!

      • Pope Jimbo

        The ugly animals hardest hurt

        A staff report prepared for this weekā€™s commission vote on the project highlights the potential downside of large-scale efforts to turn the salty water of the Pacific Ocean into drinking supplies for coastal California.

        The commission staff estimates that would annually suck in more than 80 million fish larvae, eggs and invertebrates along 100 miles of the Southern California coast, including a number of Marine Protected Areas.

        The good news is that this was already voted down.

      • invisible finger

        It’s a good thing there are no fish and invertebrates in all the other water sources.

      • Pope Jimbo

        They do also seem to be taking advantage the public’s ignorance of fish and broadcast spawning. 80M eggs? Umm, OK. If fish emit thousands of eggs at a time when spawning, is that number really that big?

      • Lackadaisical

        They’re also throwing invertebrates in there, of which there are probably a million or two in any gallon of water, since lots of plankton is made up of tiny crustaceans.

      • UnCivilServant

        How many whaledays of feeding is this amount, really?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Somebody should ask Lizzo.

      • db

        Also, clearly, there is absolutely no possible way those eggs, larvae, and invertebrates could be separated from the water before being sent to their violent deaths in the prefiltration system of the plant.

      • Ted S.

        So instead of fluoridated water as a conspiracy theory, we’ll have caviar water theories instead?

      • waffles

        It doesn’t help that the water rights were parsed out based on data that seems to be from one of the wettest periods in several millennia for the region.

        In the middle of the 19th century a huge portion of California’s central valley was a shallow marsh. Today, it’s irrigated farmland but would be a scorched desert without the water. The west is typified by extremes. It’s just trendy now to blame fossil fuels for it.

    • Rebel Scum

      mega-drought

      *rolls eyes*

      • Rat on a train

        They mean MAGA-drought, right? It is all Trump’s fault for resisting the reasonable, common-sense plans of the Democrats.

      • Nephilium

        They’ve got a solution…

        The West is dry, and we didn’t plan well enough. We need a system to move water from Midwest:

        In response to the various letters on pumping water from the Mississippi River to the West: As an engineer, I believe a large pipeline from near the mouth of the Mississippi would be expensive, but sustainable. A month of average flow from the Mississippi would fill every empty reservoir on the Colorado River.

      • robc

        I have a solution too—free market water.

      • SDF-7

        Right… because the same eco-lunatics screaming about the Delta Smelt and flushing half the snowfall down the Sacramento River wouldn’t have a problem with diverting a bunch from the Big Muddy, right? No way that will get killed by lawsuits.

        And I’d really want to see an expense / energy breakdown versus local de-sal plants. (Not that they didn’t get shot down by the same ‘no water for humanity’ groups).

      • Lackadaisical

        Yeah, it would be an interesting cost benefit analysis.

        Sad long as they seriously consider the null case- let people move to where the water is.

    • Homple

      Outflow > inflow. Precisely.
      Hoover Dam was finished in 1936 and the population it supplies grew (what, 10X ?) since then and not so much as a square foot has been added to the catchment area that fills it.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Just like other infrastructure, they did nothing while expansion was occurring. They also didn’t update or modify water-use agreements and as Sloopy above stated, Cali is the largest offender

      • Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

        This. And a lot of planned infrastructure was cancelled by, you guessed it, Jerry Brown.

  28. Count Potato

    “Eleven Fewer Dead People

    A deep dive on the Greenwood Park Mall shooting shows a clear path to even fewer dead people than that

    The only way out is to shoot our way out and itā€™s CNNā€™s fault.”

    https://hwfo.substack.com/p/eleven-fewer-dead-people

    Worth reading the whole thing.

    • slumbrew

      Good read.

      I had no idea that cartoon was from the Washington Post – shocked they ran that.

    • EvilSheldon

      Handwaving Freakoutery is a wonderful name for a sub.

      The article is on point, too. Rampage killings are a matter of time. If you want a smaller body count, you stop the killer fast.

      • db

        Yes. The type of weapon doesn’t really matter if no one can stop the shooter.

        The Crazy Jill shooting at Penn State in the mid ’90s was stopped by a brave student who attacked her while she was reloading her boyfriend’s deer rifle (7×57 Mauser). She was also armed with a knife that she tried to use against him, and then turned on herself. At that point she had fired 7 shots in relatively short time and struck at least three people, killing one, gravely injuring another, and hitting a third in the backpack (the guy reportedly didn’t know he had been hit until he opened a book from his backpack and found the bullet lodged in the pages).

        If she hadn’t been stopped, she would have simple reloaded and kept killing people. Granted, her magazine was limited in size, but she was apparently very close to being done reloading when she was stopped.

    • Pine_Tree

      It’s just an Expected Value calculation. Our company (like most) of course has the policy that, in the event of an attack like this, they want to maximize friendly/innocent casualties. Our Risk Management Director (with whom I’m on good terms) really didn’t like it when I showed her the math on the board and said “so, now you know that’s your policy”.

      • UnCivilServant

        What the actual policy that results in the increased casualties? Employee disarmamant? Some explicit response protocol?

      • Pine_Tree

        The standard “gun free zone” thing.

    • Lackadaisical

      ‘Dicken has no military or police experience and was taught to shoot by his grandfather’

      Which explains why he was a good shot…

      Love the take of calling this guy a dork.

    • db

      A good read for sure.

    • Chipwooder

      Ever since the details were made public, I’ve been in awe of this kid’s shooting. That’s some fuckin’ Quigley Down Under type shit.

      • db

        We’re discussing how to simulate the incident for our October relaxed-rules practical match. There’s not a good way to simulate it under USPSA rules because you can’t mandate both a par time and a minimum number of hits.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m not sure I could get off ten aimed rounds in fifteen seconds, nevermind get 80% on target at that range.

        *thinks* No, I can get the number of shots off, since I get 4-7 second times for 4 targets maximum of 5 rounds, even with a lever gun. I might not hit, but I could get the rounds down range.

        It would be an interesting challenge.

      • db

        For seasoned practical shooters, the number of rounds on target in the time is not the challenge. That’s pretty easy for even a middling shooter to do. To do it at 40 yards under actual time pressure and adrenaline rush is the big thing. Practical matches do a good job of simulating the time pressure, and sometimes the physical stress (not a real fight-or-flight adrenaline rush, but elevated heart rate etc.), but the 40-yard range is going to be the toughest thing for most people with a handgun.

        Even good shooters have their lowest scores on the long-range classifiers, generally.

        I haven’t heard for sure yet whether his gun had an optic or iron sights.

      • EvilSheldon

        db –

        Make it a fixed time stage. One target at 40 yards, ten rounds, par time at 15 seconds. Your score is your number of points. Anyone who scores under a 32 (4 Alphas, 4 Charlies, and 2 Mikes, minor PF) can be roundly mocked.

        If you want to make things really interesting, bracket the target with a couple of no-shoots…

      • db

        I think you have to somehow simulate the “get the girlfriend out of danger and get other people behind you” before engaging, too.

      • EvilSheldon

        I wouldn’t bother. This is still meant to be a game, not a simulation of a gunfight (that’s the sad rabbit hole that IDPA went down.)

        But, if you want to jack up the pucker factor a little, do that one stage as a heads-up man-on-man competition. I’ve done man-on-man events in matches and classes, and it still gets me excited like nothing else.

      • R C Dean

        Yup. I’ve done a couple of those at training sessions. They also amp up the smack-talk and provide many wagering opportunities.

      • db

        I think that’s a good idea.

      • R C Dean

        Thereā€™s not a good way to simulate it under USPSA rules because you canā€™t mandate both a par time and a minimum number of hits.

        I bet the “return fire” thing is also against the rules.

      • EvilSheldon

        I know, right?

      • db

        Before our club was ever affiliated with IDPA or USPSA (we abandoned IDPA around 2003 or so), we had little pyrotechnic traps that we’d set up in our stages, so that when a shooter would go through, certain targets would activate the pyros behind or near new targets.

        It was fun, but it became really tedious to set up–it worked for small groups, but would be untenable for a real match–plus the rules don’t allow it, I think.

      • EvilSheldon

        There were at least two guys at the 50-yard range at ESS last night who were trying to replicate that engagement. I gave it a try at 25 yards with my Glock 48 and was reasonably successful, although the 48 is really too small to shoot well.

      • db

        To do it right you have to use your daily carry gun. I’m not sure I could do it at 40 yards with my Micro 9, but I’m going to try it.

        With a Limited rig, it should be no problem. With Open or Carry Optics, I’d imagine it’d be trivial (given a match setting rather than real-life).

      • EvilSheldon

        I agree. The G48 conceals nicely, especially since I take some pains to not dress like a bum in public, but that’s about the only thing I like about it. I need to carry my Staccato more.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Itā€™s not utilitarian to want to weigh different policies by the statistical chance that I personally will die as a direct result of the policies in question. I want to be able to stop a mass shooter, but I also want to reduce my chances of getting shot if I cut someone off in traffic.

      Back to the shark attack analogy, what if there was a drug some politicians were proposing to add to the ocean that would cause sharks to stop attacking humans, but the drug increased swimmerā€™s likelihood of developing skin cancer. Iā€™d want to weigh those two risks. </emű

      Interesting but flawed analogy in the comments. It's more like politicians proposing that nobody is allowed to swim more than 20 feet from the shoreline, and some beaches restrict it to 5 feet, and some require a permit to get in the water at all.

      • R C Dean

        I also want to reduce my chances of getting shot if I cut someone off in traffic.

        Maybe you should stop cutting people off in traffic.

    • PieInTheSky

      Inejiro Asanuma (ęµ…ę²¼ ēØ²ę¬”éƒŽ, Asanuma Inejirō, 27 December 1898 ā€“ 12 October 1960) was a Japanese politician and leader of the Japan Socialist Party. Asanuma became a forceful advocate of socialism in post-war Japan – what an asshole

      • Gustave Lytton

        Yamaguchi Kimmel a commie for mommy.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Kimmel? Wtf? Yamaguchi killed a commie for mommy.

  29. Pope Jimbo

    If Pat Benatar wanted to really make a statement she should have made a stink about how she wouldn’t play Give Me Your Best Shot when Biden mandated the vax shots.

    • Lackadaisical

      ROFL.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    You cannot defend the indefensible

    Closing arguments in Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress trial are set for Friday after the former Donald Trump adviser declined to put up a defense argument or present evidence to the jury.

    Federal prosecutors rested their case against Bannon on Wednesday, and Bannon’s team indicated Thursday that they would not call any witnesses or present a defense case. Much of the day Wednesday was spent on discussions away from the jury, including talk about a defense motion for acquittal and discussion of the final instructions that will be delivered to the jury before they begin deliberations.

    Bannon lawyer David Schoen said that, while Bannon wanted to testify, he would not do so on advice of counsel.

    Especially when the judge throws out all your arguments.

    • rhywun

      Yeah, kind of pointless at a political show-trial where the verdict is known in advance.

    • Shpip

      Roland Freisler managed to get the Scholl siblings tried and executed in the span of a few hours.

      Judge Nichols is going to have to up his game, especially if he’s utterly devoid of irony.

      In the midst of the first witness testimony of the trial, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said Bannonā€™s lawyers could not cross-examine anyone on the stand in a way that would suggest the case against him is politically motivated.

      • juris imprudent

        Which is why they should’ve attacked the prosecution witness on Holder sliding by.

      • SDF-7

        In related bench decisions, his lawyers can not imply bears defecate in the woods nor that the Pope is Catholic. And definitely not that the judge is a partisan hack….

        (Ok, the Pope thing is much less of a sure bet these days, I know).

        If it was anywhere but Deep Swamp Avenue, DC I would expect the jury could see the obvious. They probably still can — they’re just happy to punish their enemies.

  31. The Other Kevin

    Ah, Smithereens. I saw them at a show in Chicago over Christmas break when I was in high school. But they sold too many tickets and the fire marshal made them cut the set short. šŸ™

    • juris imprudent

      Never saw them live, but I sure did listen a lot.

    • Nephilium

      First time I saw Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was in a little local venue (the Grog Shop, pre-move), halfway through the set, cops came to tell the owners they were over capacity. Band still walked through the crowd playing for some of the songs.

    • CatchTheCarp

      Love the Smithereen’s!

  32. PieInTheSky

    Gypsies and Travellers in Britain are already marginalised, but they face further problems when it comes to obtaining things like banking access. The FT takes a rare look into how the Traveller community is fighting to overcome financial exclusion

    https://twitter.com/FinancialTimes/status/1550080650329305090

    • UnCivilServant

      Step 1 in the process of opening a bank account is ‘Obtain a permanant address’. Perhaps they should start something akin to a trailer park, or maybe a private mailing company to make sure the clients are reachable. Without that reachability, who the hell is going to want to do business with someone who might just vanish without notice?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Unless the customer is borrowing, the bank is usually the one who vanishes with the money.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t get the impression that these people are bemoaning difficulties opening savings accounts.

      • slumbrew

        Indeed. Avoiding a paper trail is a higher priority, Iā€™d think.

    • PieInTheSky

      i tried to paste some appropriate quotes from Snatch but was unable to due to server errors

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m still waiting for someone to point me to the edit where Snatch is intercut with Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to make a single cohesive film.

      • PieInTheSky

        the movies are unrelated.

      • UnCivilServant

        Editors can do marvelous things.

      • Nephilium

        While they share an actor, the actor is playing different characters. There’s no link between them.

      • UnCivilServant

        The tone, tenor and style all match, a good editor could make it work.

      • PieInTheSky

        not really, the second one has a diamond, the first one has death by being beaten with a rubber dildo. Also the first is a bit more authentic cockney than the second.

      • Chipwooder

        They share at least four actors – Jason Statham, Vinny Jones, Jason Flemyng, and Alan Ford.

      • Chipwooder

        All playing completely different characters though, to be fair

      • Nephilium

        I could remember one, and thought there were others. I will accept the correction and feel shame. šŸ™‚

      • Chipwooder

        Something something periwinkle blue

  33. The Late P Brooks

    The pantomime burlesque show drags on

    Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) announced on Thursday that the Jan. 6 select committee will hold additional hearings in September.

    Cheney, the vice chair of the committee, announced the additional upcoming presentations at Thursdayā€™s prime-time hearing, asserting that the panel has ā€œconsiderably more to do.ā€

    ā€œIn the course of these hearings we have received new evidence, and new witnesses have bravely stepped forward. Efforts to litigate and overcome immunity and executive privilege claims have been successful, and those continue. Doors have opened, new subpoenas have been issued, and the dam has begun to break,ā€ Cheney said.

    ā€œAnd now, even as we conduct our ninth hearing, we have considerably more to do. We have far more evidence to share with the American people, and more to gather. So our committee will spend August pursuing emerging information on multiple fronts before convening further hearings this September,ā€ she added.

    Come one, come all.Step right up. All will be revealed.

    Your most salacious and prurient fantasies will be acted out on the grand stage.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Who would have thought they’d drag it out until mid-terms just in time for an October surprise…

      My guess, indictments of republican candidates in areas where Dems are going to lose a seat

      • juris imprudent

        Zero indictments. Let them play it out right up election day – and reap the consequences.

      • The Other Kevin

        I’m expecting this.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        If that happens then we really are done.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        šŸ‘† Jailing opposition politicians en masse is treading on very dangerous ground and is the sort of thing that leads to civil violence.

      • juris imprudent

        Yep that is declaring themselves (those abusing that power) to be legitimate targets.

      • R C Dean

        Yeah, that’s what they’d really like to see. And with the DOJ/FBI, you absolutely can’t rule it out. They might just settle for arresting Trump. Which would probably be about the only thing that would get me to vote for him again, just as a “fuck you” to these raging assholes.

    • Gustave Lytton

      At least HUAC had an actual no shit threat underneath it.

      • juris imprudent

        You know that a Soviet rat was in Congress and instrumental to the establishment of that committee, right?

      • Grummun

        So Dickstein was instrumental in creating the committee that would become the HAUC, but his focus was on Nazis and Fascists, and after he got kicked off, the focus shifted to commies. How does that relate to the assertion that there were genuine commies (Dickstein was one!) in the government at the time?

      • juris imprudent

        Well, irony is appreciated or it isn’t. Rooting out political enemies isn’t a sound policy for anyone in political power. Or are you a fan of the Jan 6th select committee?

      • Gustave Lytton

        Rooting out political enemies isnā€™t a sound policy for anyone in political power.

        The key is not to lose power. As long as Madame Guillotine works for you, everything is fine!

      • Grummun

        Your post read (to me, at least) like you were going for some kind of “gotcha” moment, and I didn’t see the “gotcha”.

        I would say rooting actual, on-the-payroll, agents of foreign powers out of your government is a worthy endeavor. I’m not suggesting that is the goal of the current clown show, or was the goal of the HUAC. I don’t have any suggestions on how to prevent the worthy endeavor from devolving into the clown show.

      • Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

        I think one of the problems in that case was the two things were so intertwined. Democrats and Communists. And a lot of that came out of the labor movement.

      • juris imprudent

        I donā€™t have any suggestions on how to prevent the worthy endeavor from devolving into the clown show.

        Exactly, and when you can’t delineate that, and prevent something ostensibly worthwhile from becoming a clown show, or worse, the only solution is to find another way to conduct that endeavor or simply live with the unpleasant reality.

      • juris imprudent

        And big key element here – when the on-the-payroll agent of a foreign power is SETTING THE THING UP, that’s a good indication it’s a clown show from the start.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Brennan and Comey were both commies, makes me wonder if much has changed since then.

    • juris imprudent

      She’ll know she’s dead meat (politically speaking of course) on Aug 17.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Like her shitheal dad, I doubt she’ll go quietly into the night.

        Push her out into Ukraine at 18kft without a chute so she can actually fight her battles.

      • Chipwooder

        Oh, she’ll go quietly enough into her new lucrative career of being a lobbyist, collecting big checks for the no-show job of sitting on corporate boards, and doing lots of CNN appearances.

    • rhywun

      Translation: “We not getting the bang-for-buck we expected. Must pantomime harder.”

      • Plisade

        They don’t have the balls for a Permanent Revolution, so Permanent Showtrial it is.

    • The Other Kevin

      I put the TV on last night, and was sickened to see they’re still having these hearings on prime time. And all the channels titled it “Democracy in Peril” or something stupid like that. They might as well show a video of a steel drum with a fire in it, and people throwing stacks of taxpayer money into it.

    • Rebel Scum

      the dam has begun to break,ā€ Cheney said.

      Your stream of bullshit is too much.

  34. Tundra

    Good morning, Sloop!

    Pat Benetar’s best song is Promises in the Dark.

    The Smithereens hold up incredibly well. Good selections!

    • slumbrew

      No love for Hell Is For Children?

      • Chipwooder

        I would say Love Is a Battlefield

      • Tundra

        Never did much for me.

        Heartbreaker is a good one, too.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I preferred Patty Smyth who a quick Googling shows is currently married to John McEnroe. Huhā€¦

    • Shpip

      Pat Benetarā€™s best song is Promises in the Dark.

      I won’t argue, but I have a soft spot for Shadows of the Night.

      IMO, great song, but a top candidate for stupidest video ever made (which, lets admit, is saying something).

      The plot — remember when some music videos were like four-minute movies? — is thus: our intrepid hero flies a World War 2 trainer to an undisclosed airfield, where she and her pals place a bomb in a chalet that’s been commandeered as German field headquarters. Then they make it back to their plane and dogfight their way out.

      Did the video director consider that, if you have an aircraft outfitted with a bomb, there’s an easier way to take out a target than landing and lugging the ordnance over to what you want destroyed?

      Still, that first a capella chorus and chord progression make me turn up the radio every time Sirius XM’s 80s on 8 plays it.

      • SDF-7

        Nope, that has to go here. No question about it.

        “What should we do for a great song that invokes an interesting story? I know! We’ll put the camera in the floor, the Boys can stand above it barely moving and we’ll have some half-assed dancing intermittently above it! Brilliant!”

        Granted, most PSB videos are really disappointing given the imagery they put into their songs — but that one really stood out as stupid.

      • Grummun

        Is that Judge Reinhold at 0:59?

      • Shpip

        Yes, and pre-“Game Over, Man” Bill Paxton at 3:14.

    • PieInTheSky

      How do you people know all this obscure music

      • SDF-7

        I know Pat Benetar is no Frankie Yankovic, but obscure? Just because we can’t all listen to the Rocking Undead or whatever tops the Romanian charts, Pie….

  35. PieInTheSky

    100+ acres Will Give You FREEDOM – Mountain Property, Creeks, Rural Vacant Land

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R-dlB-EdLw

    i dunno the specialty coffee shops in the area can;t be that good…

  36. Fatty Bolger

    Wealthy Minneapolis neighborhood is CROWDFUNDING to pay for extra police patrols just two years after woke city council pledged to ‘end policing as we know it’ by disbanding department and defunding it by $1M

    Libertarian moment?

    • Swiss Servator

      Nah, they are paying the po-po. A libertarian bunch would just form their own patrol…

      • Nephilium

        /looks at the local black man who has started armed patrols of his neighborhood with like minded people in Cleveland

      • Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

        Militia. The whole point of that clause.

      • Nephilium

        So far the guy organizing it has only been arrested once for open carrying. Unfortunately, it looks like they don’t have their own web site, just social media pages. The group is New Era Cleveland.

      • R C Dean

        The same thing was happening in Dallas 15 years ago. The po-po stopped responding to calls of theft, vandalism, general hooliganry because they were under-resourced. But you could still get an “off-duty” cop in uniform and a squad car to patrol your neighborhood by ponying up cash.

        Totally not a protection racket, though.

  37. Pope Jimbo

    Local proggie take on the Richie Rich’s in Minneapolis hiring more cops

    You won’t be surprised to find out that the proggies are not happy at all about this. It is just so unfair. But don’t worry a city council member has a plan.

    The Ward 1 councilmember said oftentimes the neighborhoods that have the highest needs have the least resources, and by allowing wealthier neighborhoods to tap into the total capacity of the police force disproportionately through programs like buyback, that means neighborhoods that have higher needs are going to see those needs go unmet.

    Because that possibility exists, there need to be more checks and balances in place to prevent it, he said. One way is to shift discretion over which buyback contracts are accepted ā€“ which currently happens on a precinct-by-precinct basis ā€“ to the city council. That would allow city staff to ask for much stronger racial equity impact analyses for each contract that is requested and considered.

    See the problem with things now is that the council didn’t have enough power. The next phase in this drama will be when the city council decides to allocate the extra cop overtime more equitably and the cops simply refuse to go work OT in the super shitty neighborhoods.

    How racist of them to not want to work OT in the neighborhoods that are actively hostile to them. I mean they were willing to work in the rich neighborhoods that were mostly safe and the people welcomed them. So why not work in the hood?

    • Tundra

      It’s not like the people in Lowry Hill aren’t raging proggie fucwits.

      • Pope Jimbo

        No doubt they gave more to the Defund movements and BLM that North Minneapolis did.

        Still, it isn’t like they will be throwing rocks at off duty cops

    • Plisade

      “neighborhoods that have the highest needs have the least suck up the most resources”

  38. Tundra
    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Is she always hammered or does she just always seem to be hammered?

      • rhywun

        She always seems to be hammered. And/or drugged to the gills.

    • PieInTheSky

      heh

    • Tundra

      Wannabe Defense Atty
      @StrictLiable
      Ā·
      15h
      Replying to
      @NYPDnews
      Can you put this in American English? Most of us don’t speak 1940’s German

      Nice.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Just rob a store with it. That gets you a free pass.

    • Rat on a train

      People may shoot their eye out.

    • Fatty Bolger

      The reply under mentions a NYC correction officer killing a kid with a water gun. Was it the same kind of water gun, and is that what prompted the tweet?

      Peopleā€™s City Council – Los Angeles
      @PplsCityCouncil
      Replying to
      @NYPDnews
      you all killed a kid and then a few hours later tweeted this. fuck you

      https://twitter.com/PplsCityCouncil/status/1550339121398157312

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Itā€™s not like the people in Lowry Hill arenā€™t raging proggie fucwits.

    They’re raging proggie fuckwits who own nice stuff. That’s different.

  40. Evan from Evansville

    In a bit I go up to Peru, IN to see more circus stuff. There is a new exhibit at the museum. A local-ish man spent decades carving a miniature circus. Full of individuals, wagons, buildings, trains, performers, etc…all to a quarter inch to a foot in scale. It’s about 26’x9′ apparently. I also want to talk to the calliope musician and the guy who refurbishes/builds early 20th century wagons.

    The lady, who’s father crafted the “Small, But Mighty” circus, is gonna be in Peru donating the exhibit to the town museum. She’s gonna be there today and tomorrow to answer questions. I want to see the circus and will take pictures. I also plan on chatting with her but will have to hone my dad’s craft of getting strangers to talk. This should be the easiest event for me to practice this skill, which I’m not wholly bad at. I just haven’t mastered the craft to boil everything down into a max 600 word newspaper story. Might as well learn in the easiest setting possible! I will certainly ask her little softballs that my dad still does. Just tiny shit like “what’s your favorite one?” to get things going.

    Get them to, and then let them, talk! This should be an interesting day. Even the ones that don’t go exactly as planned, or the ones that fall off the rails, are still interesting. The former will certainly happen and it would take an act of d_g for the latter to occur. I populate the juggle between the two. Like usual, these days tend to go way better than I anticipate them to.

    I’ll be there pretty much all day today and early tomorrow to watch their parade. It’s going to be an interesting and important day. My life is strange. It and me are many things, but “boring” doesn’t float near the top to describe it all.

    • The Other Kevin

      This job sounds like it will be a great experience for you. I’m thinking Mike Rowe or American Pickers or something like that. I have a friend who’s a musician, but his family was really into car racing. Now he’s a regular on a TV series that features old race tracks and their history. He loves it. There’s a lot of interesting stuff out there.

      Don’t worry about getting people to talk. I find that even the most shy person will talk on and on about something that they are passionate about.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Yo! I gotta go in a bit but I wanted to hit you up first.

        Have you ever been to/know of the Circus City Speedway? That’s up there and I plan on spending time there so they all know me. There’s the Miami Correctional Facility and the Grissom Air force Base (for reserves). It’s bizarre to (about to) be a part of a tiny town of 12k. This will be interesting. Another new chapter, but this time in English and in Indiana…but it seems so much more foreign. Mostly, that’s cuz of the new gig, but there’s a lot of reverse culture shock still permeating. It’s been 13 years since I “lived” here. I think that will stay for a while. It’s kinda fun.

        T-MINUS 30 til takeoff. Gotta go!

      • Evan from Evansville

        My dad pretty much WAS Mike Rowe, just for a newspaper. And different topics, though some overlap. No beat at all. Just people and their stories. Lots of farmers, construction workers, homeless guy, whatever. He can just find a dude and get 600 words that you wanted to read. Five times a week for forty years. There’s the Asperger’s kicking in in a good way. Older bro got the good bits, where I got some of the…let’s just say riskier aspects of it.

        Strange and fitting that me being [Insert Dad’s name here] Jr. came full circle. I’m legit excited. I actually WANT to talk to the mini circus lady and the calliope and wagon-maker folk. Legit shit I want to do. Should be hella easy. And the rest is just say hi and chit chat w people with stands/booths. Just so they learn my name/face. I’m not even technically working. So I don’t even HAVE to do ANYthing. I will eventually and this festival is the perfect time to do it.

        A medical dose of edible has been taken. Just an hour away. Yeesh. Good nervous.

    • db

      Have you ever been to the Ringling Museum in Sarasota? There’s an amazing scale layout of a town and circus there.

  41. robc

    Daily Quordle 179
    9ļøāƒ£5ļøāƒ£
    6ļøāƒ£7ļøāƒ£

    27 is a standard robc.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Blue-on-blue

    In the video, which was muted and blurred by the police department to protect an internal investigation, Pullease can be seen appearing to talk to the suspect, who is handcuffed and in the back of a patrol car.

    The female officer can be seen approaching him and grabbing his duty belt in an apparent attempt to pull him away, according to Sunrise Police Chief Anthony Rosa.

    The video shows Pullease wheel around and briefly grab the officer by her throat while pushing her backward into another patrol car. He does not appear to deploy the pepper spray.

    Not cool, man.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Somebody took one too many ‘roids that day.

      • PieInTheSky

        steroids are illegal and no office of the law would take them

    • rhywun

      Oh, pullease.

    • Rat on a train

      Heated and illuminated unlike the community pool.

      • Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

        And the water is urine free!

    • EvilSheldon

      XKCD covered this a while back. If that’s a spent fuel containment pool, and I think it is, there are divers who regularly go in the water to service the monitoring equipment.

      Like most things, if you know what you’re doing and take appropriate safety precautions, the danger is pretty minimal.

    • Rat on a train

      Boomba?

      • Grummun

        Sidebar on that led to one of my all-time favorites: Nap Time!

      • slumbrew

        *half the Glib parents start looking for the Order button*

  43. rhywun

    LOL someone just forgot to cover their camera at a Teams meeting. Mostly naked hairy guy in India.

    • UnCivilServant

      Teams meetings are the worst. At least in webex I know how to shut off participant video.

      • rhywun

        We only have video at big meetings where Important People want to be seen speaking.

        Day to day, nobody videos, thank goodness.

      • UnCivilServant

        Day to day, only the poor sods with laptops even have cameras on their computers.

        I have to shut off the video of the bigwigs when it lags my connection working remote.

      • db

        Same here. Our people who consider themselves Big and Important are the only ones who ever turn on their cameras. They end up looking like fools; I’m not certain why they keep doing it.

      • R C Dean

        They end up looking like fools; Iā€™m not certain why they keep doing it.

        Sometimes, the answer is contained in the question.

      • SDF-7

        I just don’t plug a webcam into my workstation. QED.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I’m on a laptop (#$#^@) so I make certain to slide the little cover thingy over it.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Didn’t know you were living in India now.

      • UnCivilServant

        In the IT realm, India is right next door.

      • PieInTheSky

        I hope the food is not too spicy

      • UnCivilServant

        That which I’ve been exposed to has been lacking in both spice and flavor.

        It’s quite confusing given the reputation Indian Cuisine has.

      • Nephilium

        That’s sad. We’ve got a couple places here that their hottest is at the limit of what I can comfortably eat.

      • Zwak doesn't know what to ignite and what to extinguish

        Yeah, the first Indian food I ever had was in London when I was 18. Ho-Le Shit was that hot.

      • UnCivilServant

        My speculation is that the coworkers who bring it in are either choosing recipes without spice, or deliberately leaving out ingredients because of the people who’ll be attending these events.

        No, I have not tried restaurant Indian Food.

      • slumbrew

        Is it all meant to be spicy or varies by region?

      • rhywun

        Is it all meant to be spicy

        I would guess no, and that it varies by dish.

        All spicy all the time would get tiresome to me, at least.

      • Nephilium

        UCS:

        Ah… if you’re talking work potluck, then yeah. From my experience, they only bring in the mildest dishes for those. You’d have to befriend them and let them know you like spicy for them to bring you the good stuff.

        Find a good local place and get samosas, vindaloo, and naan.

      • Nephilium

        slumbrew:

        Almost all is meant to be spicy (meaning heavily spiced, not capsaicin hot). There’s regional variation (and some of the more popular dishes are from the UK). The places around here offer heat levels from 1-10, which varies based on the establishment. Whereas I’ve noticed that round eyes need to fight to get enough heat in Chinese restaurants, Indian places DGAF. You order 10, you’ll get 10.

      • db

        We have a local Thai place where you dare not order anything above a 6-7. They pull no punches at all.

      • db

        In cultures that are suffused with spicy food, do children grow up eating and liking the spicy food, or do they find it as unpalatable as many Western children appear to?

      • rhywun

        Same.

        Theoretically it should not be needed but who knows when you might fat-finger the camera on.

      • TARDis

        My new office laptop has a cover built in.

      • Tundra

        My Macbook Air doesn’t have a bezel, so covers are challenging. I just use a port-it.

      • slumbrew

        The ones I linked to are very thin, but might still be too much for the Air.

        Post-it works.

      • db

        I use a strip of black electrical tape.

      • slumbrew

        Nobody needs to hear about how you treat your nipples, Wendy O.

    • Rat on a train

      It’s not the size of the sample that matters …

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        It’s how you measure it.

    • Chipwooder

      His girlfriend told him it was a good sample size

    • PieInTheSky

      deja vu

      • Fatty Bolger

        Hah, I just noticed.

        But I can’t be liable for knowing the content of a link that just says “LOL.” I just can’t.

  44. Penguin

    My apologies if this has already been addressed re: the Earls shooting. The guy who was robbing Earls should get tried for the death of the little girl. If he doesn’t rip Earls off, all of this is a moot point.

    Earls should be held accountable in the civil trial, perhaps.

    • UnCivilServant

      Typically, that would fall under the offense of Felony Murder – a death resulted from the commission of a felony.

    • Fatty Bolger

      It was talked about above, most of us think he should be charged with manslaughter.

      Yes, the robber instigated the situation and can be charged with murder. But that doesn’t absolve Earls of firing blindly into a vehicle, not knowing who the occupants were, or if the assailant was even in it (which he wasn’t).

      • EvilSheldon

        The robber (or his lawyer) could claim that he had already completed the robbery and was running away, and that Earl shooting at him was a new and separate act. The robber could be charged under the felony murder rule, but he’d have a defense and it might work.

      • UnCivilServant

        That is a matter for the jury.

  45. PieInTheSky

    Typical American Jewish family trajectory

    Generation 1: garment factory worker
    Generation 2: pharmacist
    Generation 3: Chair of the Federal Reserve
    Generation 4: feminist freelance journalist with hairy armpits

    https://twitter.com/wiki_early_life/status/1550220129404846082

  46. Gustave Lytton

    Noticed at checkout that the discount store has raised their candy bar price 25%. They’re also playing games of listing multiples for a certain amount (like 4/$5 on the candy) instead just posting the unit price.

    • Chipwooder

      Kroger does that all the time. Annoying as hell.

      • Nephilium

        Yeah. I’ve noticed a lot more of the 2/$4* (*lesser quantities sold at regular price) tags up. Or requiring you to be a member of a specific tier of their loyalty program.

      • Gender Traitor

        Office Depot keeps increasing the minimum order amount for our business account to get free shipping. For quite a while it was $50. Then it was $60, and now it’s $65. Of course, you’re ordering the same amount of stuff as when it was $50. šŸ™„

      • UnCivilServant

        So, if you keep ordering the same amount of supplies, the shipping isn’t an issue. (Just inflation)

      • Gender Traitor

        ::points to comment ā˜ļø, points to own nose šŸ‘‰šŸ‘ƒ::

  47. db

    Huh, I don’t know much about Hindu mythology/religion, but now it seems like Leeloo Dallas Multipass is actually an incarnation of Vishnu.

    Whenever righteousness wanes
    and unrighteousness increases
    I send myself forth
    For the protection of the good
    and for the destruction of evil
    And for the establishment of righteousness
    I come into being age after age

    Cool.

    • Swiss Servator

      That is Warty Hugeman, right?

      • EvilSheldon

        Leeloo and Warty would be quite the power couple. I imagine she got sick of Bruce Willis pretty quickly…

      • SDF-7

        Nah, she wanted to avoid a Woman of Steel, Man of Kleenex situation and after all, he’s unbreakable.

  48. Gender Traitor

    So…if the Daily Stoic doesn’t post, I guess we should just accept that.

    (It’s a test, isn’t it?)

    • UnCivilServant

      I’m kinda Zen about it.

      • Gender Traitor

        ::claps with one hand::

    • ron73440

      I’ve been gone all week, but submitted it last night.

      Just checked and it says scheduled-missed schedule.

      Hope I didn’t screw it up.

      • juris imprudent

        Tonio and Swiss point at each other.

      • Mojeaux

        Published now.

      • TARDis

        /Stops throwing things and postpones ranting.

  49. Translucent Chum

    “Nothing is noble if it’s done unwillingly or under compulsion. Every noble deed is voluntary.” – Seneca