Good morning my Glibs and Gliberinas! Grab that coffee, wave to that co-worker, and enjoy another glorious day and the links!
Biden to continue depleting US oil reserves as OPEC slashes production
Biden Avoids Midterm Campaign Trips Amid Plummeting Favorability
Biden burned more than $5 billion in taxpayer funds on new COVID-19 shots hardly anyone wants
Gasoline Prices Keep Climbing, but Retail Gas Station Margins Plunge, With Many Now ‘Under Water’
Housing brought to its knees by the Federal Reserve
Americans see ‘most severe’ pay cut in 25 years due to inflation
Supreme Court vacates controversial Massachusetts gun control law
A Republican Is Leading The Governor’s Race In A Deep Blue State
Oklahoma Governor Signs Bill Stopping Gender Transition Services At Children’s Hospital
Trump Could Be Back On Twitter By Midterms Under Elon Musk’s Deal
Twitter employees eye the exits after Musk takeover
LinkedIn Billionaire Behind ‘Good Information Foundation’; Group Accused of Election Meddling
That’s all I got for today. I’ll leave you with a song and move along with my day.
First?
Thats a lot of bad news to look at.
I should go back to bed
I don’t know about that. Those Twitter employee tears are quite a treat.
I’d think long and hard before just walking away from a job (or even switching companies given “Last hired…”) as companies are becoming more open with the global recession. There’s going to be some serious fat trimming, especially if Western European markets collapse like one would expect at this point.
If there is the possibility of severance, then quitting just because ELON is really stupid.
NPR seems to have gotten stuck on the “hah now he’s forced to buy twitter” mode. Maybe holding out optimism for the billion dollar backout penalty.
The SC didn’t immediately ignore it’s own decision on guns – that’s pretty good news.
I’m guessing that a ruling on MA’s requirement for a special license to purchase and possess a handgun would also affect NJ’s similar laws. But then again who knows. The courts are fickle and inconsistent.
It certainly should — but I would also expect states with such laws to pull a New York and immediately put them back under a different title to give themselves another 6 years as the lawsuits wend through the courts.
Gas went up 40 cents in 8 hours yesterday, so much for road trips.
I’m driving a 2800 mile round trip starting Sunday to attend my grandma’s funeral. I’m not looking forward to the gas bill.
Sorry to hear about your grandmother.
Indeed. Sorry, Trashy.
I hope she had a long and fruitful life.
Thank you. She was an awesome lady and a great cook. She used to send us home with gallons of spaghetti sauce and meatballs every time we visited. Im tempted to make some homemade spaghetti and meat sauce to bring along for my family in remembrance of her. (I’m also tempted to see if Alfred is close enough to swing by on the way out)
Sorry for you loss. I’m glad you have good memories.
I just did a 1600 miler. It was not very cheap at all.
I’m glad I did the 10k mile trips during the Trump year gas price nadir.
I did a 2,700 mile trip back in 97. No more. Now I try to keep to one day drives.
Thank you for reminding me I need to attend my grandma’s funeral.
Because you forgot your grandma died?
No I need to find out the exact date of the funeral and book a flight. I had procrastinated.
I went to book the flight, saw it was going to be $650 for me alone, and audibled to driving. I can pick up my brothers and their significant others on the way and save us all $1500 in airplane tickets.
I just don’t have the time to drive to Florida from Pennsylvania. That has to be at least two excruciating days of driving each way.
Sorry 🙁
Sorry to hear that trshy. I just did (6 months ago) a 6k round trip across country, and boy was my CC hurting at the end.
My condolences. Better to drive than fly though, I agree with you.
Got to stop lurking and start working now. I hope you have a nice drive and a peaceful funeral filled with remembrance and not drama.
Condolences about your grandmother.
Did anyone think this wasn’t going on? With so many “influencers” out there who don’t have actual jobs and are basically whores, it seemed readily apparent that interested parties would be using it to swing public opinion. Everybody from PACs to clandestine agencies had to be in on the act.
But you repeat yourself… 😉
Sounds like he’s on track for another landslide victory then.
#Dominion
Yah mule! Yah, yah!
#Fortification
I’m going to chortle, loudly and repeatedly, if there is a red wave. Then I’ll drink [heavily] because it will mean the Republicans are in charge of Congress again.
I’m gonna keep on course, personally.
So you were going to drink either way.
But the Biden/Harris admin ain’t going nowhere, so at best there will be two years of glorious gridlock.
Hopefully there won’t be bipartisanship on Ukraine funding, assuming we’re still operating under the quaint assumption that spending originates in the House.
That doesn’t seem to be the case. The headlines read like Biden is just ordering money to Ukraine. Seeing as how we are funding the entirety of their government if it ceases, so will Ukraine.
Best we can hope for is gridlock. Republicans have no plan to do anything useful.
Even if they had a plan, unless it involved starving the beast of funds as spending bills are supposed to start in the House, there’s no way the Republicans can get a veto proof majority.
“Starving the beast of funds” – I chuckled too. There are some up-and-coming outsiders, but not enough to actually starve the beast of money.
Oh no! The free money spigot is slowing down! Prices will not rise 20% per annum in perpetuity! All is lost!
But how will I finance my lifestyle with a HELOC?!
*without
Headline that keeps popping up in my newsfeed:
Kosh: “Yes”.
I mean, holy God — I know I’m not as good with money as I should be and my bills have a tendency to expand to meet my budget… but wow…. If that $4.5k was because you were paying it off aggressively, it’d be one thing — but I strongly suspect they aren’t. Of course, I don’t know how anyone who doesn’t have the extra cash ready goes for a $60k or $70k or higher car. I know that’s where things have crept up (inflation, mandatory electronics out the wazoo, etc.) — but it still boggles my mind.
People are fucking stupid. News at 11.
I think the mortgage (likely on a $650k house at 30 years) is the least offensive of the group. Also, those debts aren’t nearly enough to make somebody making $350k live paycheck to paycheck. If you flip flop the car and student loan debt, that’s only slightly more than we started out with. We were paying a much smaller mortgage, though. Even so, we were putting well over a thousand a month into knocking out our debt on less than half their income. Somebody is blowing all their money on frivolities.
And its an easy fix too. Sell the cars and buy something more reasonable. You dont even need to go with beaters, but two $40k cars. Reduce debt from $170 to $80. That makes a huge difference.
Step 0 is figuring out where the hell the other $8k per month is going.
Id guess that they could be 100% debt free minus the mortgage in 18 months with a few minor sacrifices. Like you mentioned, selling the cars and getting some average cars would be a real easy win. Living on $75k a year ($130k including mortgage) would free up enough cash to pay off the student loans in less than 12 months. From there, the leftover $100k in car loans would be payable in 8 months or less. Big shovel means you can fill in the hole really fast.
No boat payment too (and $ for a slip down at the marina and a couple jetskis)?
This person truly is poor. All the “rich” people I know have at least 2 watercraft they are paying off.
Everyone who bought the last two years at low rates will be surprised to learn a HELOC usually means you need equity.
We locked our rate on Dec 31st last year.
So glad we did, I was kind of hoping it would tick back down, but we went ahead and locked. It was higher than we were paying in SC, when we were well under 3, but I aint gonna complain about 3.25%. If rates every drop back again, I will happily refinance lower, but not worried about it.
Hearing stories about how people bought their first homes in the 70s really drives home how obscenely difficult it is right now.
There should be a glut of cheap foreclosures in a few years.
I’m already seeing a few more homes popping up in my bottom of the barrel price range. Unfortunately, the rental market being what it is, I can’t really afford to wait it out.
What is your range? I have friends around Longview/Tyler who could research and provide some property suggestions. If you are uncomfortable here you can send me a message in the forum.
I may just take you up on that. I have to wait a bit to see if I’m going to be able to get any kind of reprieve from Medicaid on their estate recovery before I have a final number, but in the likely event that I get hosed on that, probably about $70k
Because wind turbines and battery packs just fall from sky like manna.
Moron.
Luckily the strategic windmill reserve is still strong.
I’d like to join Swiss’ applause. That was brilliant.
It certainly isn’t something you’d want to go full tilt at.
All these headlines and $600+ Million in Military Aid to Ukraine. This administration is on a mission to spend as much money as rapidly as possible.
Part of the great reset, they get a kick-back on all of it, or just trying to break the economy beyond repair?
I think it’s just looting.
Kosh: “Yes.”
“The avalanche has already started; it is too late for the pebbles to vote.”
Yes.
The Federal Reserve is offering bonus miles!
It’s looking like a bungle for the history books.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-03/gazprom-ready-to-ship-gas-via-shelved-nord-stream-2-pipeline
Blutarski! I told you to doublecheck the detonation circuits!
Only thing I’ve seen that might actually buttress the “Russia sabotaged their own pipeline” theory.
The saboteurs were in a rush because they forgot to close the screen door on their submarine.
So you’re blaming the Polish?
I decided to implicate Polish bungling not because I have any evidence, but because I enjoy bigotry.
‘Orning ‘ordles — preliminary round was good (not Hype good, but good for *me*).. which probably lulled me into a false sense of security for the Main event. Because that wasn’t Chumptown… but sure wasn’t pretty. Blew a couple of guesses I probably shouldn’t — but didn’t see a lot of options at the time so felt like I had to try.
TL;DR: LR sums it up.
Daily Duotrigordle #218
Guesses: 35/37
Time: 06:33.33
https://duotrigordle.com/
Daily Quordle 255
6️⃣4️⃣
7️⃣8️⃣
quordle.com
Daily Quordle 255
6️⃣5️⃣
4️⃣7️⃣
quordle.com
Daily Quordle 255
6️⃣3️⃣
4️⃣8️⃣
Daily Quordle 255
5️⃣6️⃣
3️⃣7️⃣
Not bad today.
Chessle 236 (Expert) 4/6
🟩🟩🟨⬛⬛⬛🟨🟩⬛🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛⬛🟩🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
https://jackli.gg/chessle
I figured one out!
Daily Quordle 255
7️⃣6️⃣
4️⃣9️⃣
50/50s almost did me in.
3 5
4 6
Daily Quordle 255
7️⃣4️⃣
5️⃣8️⃣
Daily Quordle 255
🟥7️⃣
8️⃣🟥
4 guesses to get UR. I should have skipped it today!
Daily Quordle 255
4️⃣6️⃣
2️⃣7️⃣
Daily Quordle 255
6️⃣5️⃣
3️⃣7️⃣
lower right is horse shit
Amen
Daily Quordle 255
3️⃣5️⃣
4️⃣6️⃣
quordle.com
Housing brought to its knees by the Federal Reserve – to be fair, housing was asking for it
VP Harris must have been put in charge of housing….
Americans see ‘most severe’ pay cut in 25 years due to inflation – I got of full 6% raise this year. Inflation is… who knows but a lot fucking more than 6 I tell ya that
Sorry, friend….looks like you went over 15%.
https://tradingeconomics.com/romania/inflation-cpi
I wish 15% … but the data does not lie, does it
British gardener’s 56.3-inch leek earns Guinness World Record
“If your leeks are overly extended, contact your physician…”
“the CANNA U.K. National Giant Vegetable Championships”
*blinks repeatedly*
I hear Boris Johnson came in second last year.
So, if someone stole it, would they be taking a leek?
It depends on if they give it to the Russians…
This seems to be a very sensible take on the question.
I think the unavoidable point is that NATO should have disbanded with the collapse of the Iron Curtain. It was always a cannon pointed to the east, and once that threat no longer existed – it had to find a new threat to justify its existence.
Likewise, a very relevant read that comes down to this: For if Russia cannot avoid military humiliation in Ukraine, it will not survive as a great power.
Russia is only a great power because of its nuclear arsenal. Economically, they are roughly the same as Spain (which isn’t exactly the leader of the EU economy-wise). Russia probably has the natural resources to remain a peer competitor with the U.S., but the endemic corruption will always cripple them.
Not if our endemic corruption surpasses theirs! USA! USA!
More seriously – yeah, first link was a decent read I can’t argue with. I believe I’ve said before NATO should have been gone when the Cold War ended, no argument there.
As far as Russia’s “great power” status… meh — it comes and goes historically, I expect those cycles to continue. Too many resources and potential to discount them if they have a cycle of reform (barring China deciding Siberia is theirs, I suppose… but I doubt that would end well for anyone).
History repeats, reporters forget.
Russia survived Afghanistan.
Britain survived WWII as well.
Only in the sense that there’s still something called “Britain”.
Exactly the point.
I think it’s reasonable, but left unsaid is the point that the US wanted this war. Putin was stupid enough to give it to them.
What does Europe Command do if it doesn’t have an adversary? It must have one – every Combatant Command needs one.
The provocations and Ukrainian mobilization seem to have started the day after our bungled exit from Afghanistan. Can’t not have a war or hot proxy war going for more than a couple of months apparently.
Raytheon executives have to eat too, you know.
Imagine: You push out two senior FDA officials because you insist on the same booster strategy for a 12-year-old as an 82-year-old
Then you rush a bivalent booster without human data saying randomized trials take too long
And then no one wants it
Just for old times sake, which clause in the Constitution authorizes the executive to purchase billions of dollars worth of experimental vaccines?
You’re going to need Nic Cage and a candle for that.
Dang. All I’ve got are these cool hippie sunglasses with various colored lenses.
I’m sure the brilliant Constitutional scholars on the left would trot out “General Welfare” — their excuse for cradle to grave socialism already, after all… why not for this?
Commerce clause, baby. If you get sick, you might sneeze, and one of the viral particles in that sneeze might get picked up on a strong breeze and cross state lines.
“35 slaughtered in nursery massacre: Thai ex-cop knifes sleeping children as young as two, shoots teachers including eight-months pregnant woman then kills his wife and son and takes his own life
An enraged drug addict former policeman has killed 35 people in a bloodthirsty rampage at a Thai nursery, butchering sleeping children and executing a pregnant woman before shooting dead his family.
Panya Khamrap, armed with a shotgun, a pistol and a meat cleaver, first shot dead multiple adults including an eight-month pregnant woman, before forcing his way into a locked room decorated with animal pictures where he stabbed sleeping children as young as two to death.
The 34-year-old, who had been in court earlier today on drugs charges, arrived at the nursery and was agitated to find his child was not there and started the massacre at the kindergarten 300 miles northeast of Bangkok.
He continued the attack in nearby streets, shooting at bystanders and trying to run over panicked pedestrians as he fled in a white van which he torched at his home before killing his wife and child and turning the gun on himself.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11286469/Mass-shooting-child-daycare-centre-Thailand-kills-31-including-children-adults.html
Anyone can have a bad day.
Pope Jimbo’s timing, with the next comment is irony bordering on tragedy.
Bonus Ray
You just know that that’s not her leaves. Someone is going to be upset.
What, inspired by Revenge of the Sith?
Daily Ray of Sunshine
“‘A police state for women’: Outrage as Florida’s high schools quiz female athletes about their menstrual cycle and share data with sports tech firm
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, abortion rights advocates are incensed that the data, which can be subpoenaed, could be used to prosecute female students if they terminate a pregnancy. Abortion in the state of Florida is illegal after 15 weeks of gestation.
Some fear trans students the policy may be used to target trans students after Florida governor Ron DeSantis (pictured) signed a bill banning trans athletes from playing women’s sports”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11286455/Floridas-high-schools-share-details-female-athletes-menstrual-cycles-party.html
It’s none of the schools business, period.
I’m spotting a flaw in the data: they could lie on the quiz.
Abortion in the state of Florida is illegal after 15 weeks of gestation.
Also they could pad the date of conception.
“Female athletes in Florida high schools who are asked to report information about their periods and menstrual cycles on their annual physical forms will now have their sensitive medical data farmed out to a third party.
The company claims it keeps student data confidential and will not sell it to other third parties, but because Aktivate is not a medical care provider it is not restricted by HIPPA privacy laws and would therefore be required to turn over data to the authorities if subpoenaed.
Its privacy policy also says that it may share student data ‘to work with third parties who conduct studies or assist us in providing and improving our products… and with affiliated education companies’.”
The school can’t stop the flow of information.
Aside from misspelling HIPAA (a sure sign the writer doesn’t know what he is talking about), HIPAA specifically says you have to cough up medical information if it is subpoenaed.
“Disclosing that information to outside entitites without adequite information security is against our policies. Given the sheer number of breeches of government data, we cannot permit you to load that data on your systems.”
“Aside from misspelling HIPAA”
The Daily Mail does that all the time.
“What’s a HIPAA?”
“A Hippa? Isn’t that a female Hippo?”
They could pad the stats as well.
And I need to read further…
You were late.
He was trying for a dramatic pregnant pause.
It was misconceived.
Winner.
Florida’s high schools quiz female athletes about their menstrual cycle and share data with sports tech firm
I no longer complete surveys unless there is a compelling reason why I personally gain from providing my answers. More people should take the same position, IMO. If the survey doesnt directly benefit you, it almost certainly will be used to harm you in one way or another.
Do the 3rd parties get access to that data for free? Or are there strings attached?
I don’t care what you do Swiss, you can’t tampon our enthusiasm for puns about female products.
3rd parties might pad those numbers to make a business case…
Looks like it’s his time of the month.
Former Uber Security Chief Found Guilty of Obstructing FTC Probe
Points for creativity!
I guess it was a… feature, not a bug?
That kooky Musk and his fixation on free speech!
I wish my parents had paid more attention to the crazy teachers who taught me and realized they were brainwashing me in Civics class. We were regularly groomed to believe that Free Speech was a good thing and it was one of the reasons we were better than other places.
I find it interesting that Twitter was able to hide the armies of bots.
I’ve you’re not trying too hard to look for bots, you’re not going to have much in the way of metrics to turn over to Musk & co.
Not like Musk would have had the raw data to work with.
“Biden to continue depleting US oil reserves as OPEC slashes production”
We’ll it’s a damn good thing they’re going to do what any half an idiot knows is smart do and increase domestic production, right? Wait, they’re not? Well this is on purpose then.
I am dubious of Biden’s ability to wage a mechanized war 5,000 miles away in Eastern Europe with a depleted oil reserve and lower OPEC production.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alec-baldwin-criminal-charges-rust-update-b2195072.html
The gun went off, and a single bullet struck Souza in the shoulder before fatally striking Hutchins in the chest.
The precise details of how the gun was fired remain bitterly contested. Baldwin has maintained he had been assured the gun was “cold”, meaning it had no live ammunition, and that as he cocked the gun it went off without him pulling the trigger.
Is that possible?
Unlikely. He probably had his boogerhook pulling on the trigger as he cocked it and the hammer just fell after he released it.
Seem to recall reading that the gun in question underwent testing and was found to be mechanically sound. So, it was the booger hook what done it.
I was going to post the same story, but with a different headline:
A prop gun was fired. A cinematographer was killed. Procedures were followed… I guess you don’t always have to be one of the king’s men to get the passive voice treatment.
It depends on the SA. Some if you pull back the hammer but not all the way it can snap back, but the cylinder wouldn’t be lined up. So it’s more likely he was holding the trigger back and fanned it.
Supposedly, it was tested after the shooting and wouldn’t fire without the trigger being pulled.
Now, it was tested by law enforcement, so grain of salt. I think it was the NM law enforcement, which has appeared near-desperate to let him off the hook, so maybe they didn’t botch it.
Regardless, he was negligent in that he had it pointed directly at a person, which is a no-no even on movie sets with blanks in the gun. So really, he was negligent (if not reckless) regardless.
It is theoretically possible, but it didn’t happen.
When it comes to treaties and agreements, you cannot trust anyone, but particularly not DC.
https://news.antiwar.com/2022/10/05/poland-says-its-discussed-hosting-nuclear-weapons-with-the-us/
The US violating prior agreements is Putin’s fault!
Milfolini is in cahoots with the Ruskies.
Russia will resume gas deliveries to Italy after suspending them due to a transport problem in Austria, Russian energy giant Gazprom said in a statement Wednesday.
“Transportation of Russian gas through the territory of Austria is resuming,” Gazprom said, adding that a “solution” was found with Italian buyers following regulatory changes in Austria.
Most Russian gas delivered to Italy passes via Ukraine through the Trans Austria Gas Pipeline (TAG), to Tarvisio in northern Italy on the border with Austria.
Italian energy company Eni said Wednesday that “gas supplies from Gazprom resumed today” and welcomed the “resolution by Eni and the parties concerned of the constraints resulting from the new regulations introduced by” Austria.
We’re going to find out how determined NATO is in the next few weeks. I think there’s a strong possibility that more pipelines will be rendered inoperable.
Food preparation factories and pipelines coincidentally have all the same maintenance flaws.
Like this?
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-faces-lng-supply-challenge-021735904.html
I hate the way hybrids eat brakes. Of course their brakes are also more expensive.
I thought the brakes were capable of regeneration?
Yeah… no. That’s another misconception. It’s degeneration as far as I can tell.
I haven’t heard of this. Hmmm…
Every time I go on a road trip I tend to daydream about a vehicle upgrade. Every time I read the news I think my focus sedan with a 5spd manual is just perfect.
To generate power when braking, the brakes on a hybrid are more complicated than those on a normal car. Hybrids also weigh in at almost twice the curb weight of regular cars. My CMax is built on an escort chassis, but has a 3,500 curb weight, this puts more strain on the brakes as well.
I didn’t realize the curb weight difference was that much. I guess the performance must kind of suck, no? Lighter cars drive so much better. Pretty amazing that they achieve such great fuel efficiency even at higher mass.
The electric motor does give a good deal of accelleration. I only get 38mpg though.
“Hybrids also weigh in at almost twice the curb weight of regular cars.”
Because fuck physics?
Because those batteries weigh a fuckton.
Hybrids also weigh in at almost twice the curb weight of regular cars.
This is misinformation. My 2009 Camry Hybrid is 3700 lbs, while the non-hybrid base model is 3200.
I have not had a problem with brakes wearing excessively, in fact I have had only one brake job since I got it new in 2009 (although it’s possible it might need another soon).
Must be an issue with your model. I’ve had to replace my brakes exactly once (and they didn’t _really_ need it) on my hybrid, and it has 70k miles on it. The regen system takes a substantial portion of the braking load.
North Korean Missiles Push Japan to Improve Deterrence
I’ve never quite understood why Japan doesn’t or hasn’t built the capacity to strike back. If you launch a missile without warning which has a path that could strike within my country I’d assume that it was an attack and an aggressive act.
I’d argue that sending a missile right back to the launch site “to prevent additional launches” is purely a defensive action. Having his launch site blown up might give the Norks pause.
I suspect they’re worried such a counterattack ends up with a response of “They blew up our totally peaceful rocket science facility! WAR!”
Since the it is totally peaceful do what everyone else does during rocket launches and announce the flight window.
Just spit-balling but I would have thought it’s because the US won’t let them.
Nice base you’ve got there. OTH, I don’t have to pay for it…
You may be right.
I’ve never quite understood why Japan doesn’t or hasn’t built the capacity to strike back.
Doesn’t make sense with the US subsidizing their defense. That money can be diverted to domestic agendas.
And building the giant transforming robots that will be called up of North Korea decides it’s time to throw down.
Not to mention that Gojirra is hidden away in Mt. Fuji.
Report: Switching to zero-emission trucks could save 66,000 lives
No word on what impact that might have on the Chinese slave laborers working in open-pit lithium mines…
There needs to be a term for degrees in “pulling numbers out of my ass,” maybe numeronateology.
Did we ask the 66K that were saved what their opinions were? Saving those at the tail end of life is the Broken Window Fallacy. A job provider for lesser productive people.
I vote for numoronscatology. Because they are shit with numbers.
Check with NA this weekend.
It’ll be totally possible when we can give fully loaded 52-foot trailers the weight and mass of empty ones.
Totally achievable, all they have to do is destroy the supply chain.
Better assume no air resistance too. Just to be safe and to make the math easy.
Those spherical cows can just be rolled over to the slaughterhouse…
Got your new train wheels right there! And with the methane, got your battery juice!
Ban trucks and only consume what is locally produce, la the villagers 500 years ago
Out of sight, out of mind.
See also: US industrial policy for the last half century.
Maybe those invisible slaves are too far away for a ghost to haunt
Biden’s Secret Promise To OPEC Backfires
Who is in charge of U.S. energy policy? The DOE seems to be out of the loop.
Given that we have crippled our domestic oil production, it’s a bad sign that the Saudis are moving away from us and towards the Russians. All our talk of “regime change” towards any country we disagree with – up to and including the largest nuclear power on Earth – might not be the best way to make friends.
Well once we deliver that pallet of benjamins to Iran and we become BFF’s, who cares about the Saudis?
If the Saudis really do ditch us the Ruskies maybe the war in Yemen will end?
might not be the best way to make friends.
I believe the diplomatic term is client state.
screengrab of the Intercept article
So the US does have “boots on the ground” in Ukraine after all. Go figure. Another easily predictable lie
I keep hearing mention of foreigners involved in the Ukrainian offensive actions. Are these active duty soldiers who have put on a different uniform, or more like Blackwater mercenary types? And I’d be fascinated to know how many have died there given that they were advancing through artillery fire. There have to have been some American families notified their son/brother wasn’t coming home, but you don’t see it in the news.
Don’t worry, it’s only
military advisorsmilitary transition teamscontractorsuh… consultants!My money is on Blackwater at this stage.
From what I’ve heard, Blackwater types are getting big money to go to Ukraine. On the order of thousands per day.
Billions in “foreign aid” has to go somewhere.
Fighting urge to link to this video without making obvious cheap and racist joke……
Let’s just say, I’m impressed with the parenting skills shown there.
When I was driving through NC this summer I saw a guy showing off a baby at a gas station. It was incredibly cute and tame, but I’ve heard they get wild as they get older. He claimed to have spent about $600 getting it all the proper shots at the vet, which I thought he should have spent on a downpayment on new teeth. Maybe someone could selectively breed them for docility like that Russian scientist did with foxes.
Your position is untenable and you are not a serious person.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday signed a decree that ruled out any talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, declaring they would be an “impossibility.”
The decree was first put forward by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda, the decree states “the impossibility of holding negotiations with the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.”
The move formalized comments that Zelensky made on Friday following Putin’s approval of annexing four Ukrainian territorites. “He does not know what dignity and honesty are. Therefore, we are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with another president of Russia,” Zelensky said.
Responding to Zelensky’s move, the Kremlin said it would wait until he changes his position or until there’s a new president in Kyiv to hold talks. “We will now wait either until the incumbent Ukrainian president changes his position, or until there is another president in Ukraine who will change his position for the sake of the Ukrainian people,” Peskov said.
If Russian retreats and stops the war I am sure dialogue will be possible again
The US oil piggy bank is half empty… OPEC+ today announced cutting oil supply by 2mb per day…
Making Biden’s release of 1mb per day look increasingly futile… and unsustainable as the SPR is getting depleted to dangerously low levels…
The US gov’t is at war with its allies and its own people.
There. I said it.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/06/oil-us-delivers-angry-rebuke-of-massive-opec-production-cut.html
The neocons are being confronted with reality and they don’t like it at all.
They should just call on Biden to pump more oil.
Biden (or rather his handlers) would have to give the middle finger to one of his last constituencies in order to do that.
And spinning up oil production doesn’t happen overnight. One might think that those who desperately want to maintain global American hegemony would at least be mildly competent, but it doesn’t appear to be so.
And if I were a domestic oil company, I would have no confidence that the rules wouldn’t change next week to stop my drilling projects.
Exactly.
Is there a reality-based community anymore? Anywhere?
Sentinel Island?
^^^
“the shortsighted decision by OPEC+ to cut production”
The patients truly have taken over the asylum. It’s all OPEC’s fault
I expect the Dems any day now to question why OPEC is on the side of white supremacist MAGA Republicans.
It is plain as day that this is all about the midterms.
Cutting domestic production and going hat in hand to OPEC+ was a bold play by the Biden administration. Shame it didn’t work out.
They’ve always been at war with us
They were going to fill up the SPR at $24/barrel. But Schumer stopped OMB from getting his way.
Once again, no thought other than “Do the opposite of TRUMP!”
The White House made the decision earlier in 2022 — before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) even authorized the new, variant-specific bivalent COVID-19 boosters — to purchase more than $5 billion worth of them from Pfizer and Moderna. Now, more than a month after the shots became available, only about 3% of eligible Americans have gotten one.
Bad on wasted money. Good that people are not getting the clot shots.
I find it funny how in the first 12 years I followed any kind of libertarian politics online the specter of inflation was easily pooh-poohed. And now when it has come to roost, crickets.
“Blue Lives Matter.”
https://twitter.com/neiltyson/status/1577715903013294092
OK?
Figures…
Neil deGrasse Tyson is like the human incarnation of reddit.
Smugness and misinformation?
Equally relevant.
Blue Lives Matter
Oh wait, I meant equally irrelevant.
I’ve decided that the Somalis who stole $250M from the govt in the Feeding our Children scandal are pikers. They are small timers and need to realize that now that they are here in the US they should think bigger.
They really need to get into building light rail lines. I can’t even imagine how much money was stolen from the taxpayers for our newest light rail line (that still isn’t completed). It has gone from $1B to nearly $3B. They have no real idea when it will be completed. That is real money!
The article goes into the details of how politics played such a big part in this disaster of a project. Of course there is no talk about just walking away from it all. That money hole needs to be built! I was looking forward to paying to subsidize this line for the rest of time, but it is extra juicy now that all those suburbanites are working remotely and ridership will be waaaaaay lower than the projections.
But for the tunnel, the SWLRT project might have already been delivered, nearly on time and nearly on budget. But for the tunnel, paying passengers might be riding already purchased rail cars.
Sure it would have.
At the local level, that’s an insane amount of money, although it’s a few days of Ukraine war profiteering.
Light rail lines are back door ways to get the Feds to pay for urban renewal. Our first light rail line got $3 from the Feds for every $1 they spent. Lots of infrastructure that was only tangentially related to the light rail line was paid with that money.
Oh, to build the line across that street we had to replace the water mains for 8 blocks around the area. We also ran fiber and new electrical lines all the way across half the city.
Honestly, that’s a pretty slick scam.
Has the city bus system gone to shit too? That’s what usually happens when suburban light rail begins to eat up so much money that they have to cut corners on the vehicles that people were using in greater numbers.
Buses are still OK. We are lucky that all the mass transit is handled by the Met Council. This is a body that is appointed by the gov, so they don’t have to worry about angry tax payers. So they haven’t had to scrimp or cut back. We can lose money on both bus and rail!
The bus route between the two downtowns ended up being faster than the light rail line they built to replace those routes, so most commuters still ride the bus.
That’s the most annoying thing. Buses actually help people who need it, while these flashy train projects cost a fortune and accomplish little. Considering that every public transportation project is a money loser and amounts to welfare, it makes sense to direct that welfare to where it will do the most good for the people who need it the most.
Kate Andrews
@KateAndrs
Getting to see a GP within *two weeks* is nothing to applaud.
https://twitter.com/KateAndrs/status/1577608279026458625
I think it is. I mean in America only the top 10% ever get to see a doctor. The NHS is slow, but you get there, dead or alive
Gasoline Prices Keep Climbing, but Retail Gas Station Margins Plunge, With Many Now ‘Under Water’
But the alleged president assured me that gas stations were gouging customers.
Well, all gas stations are part of Big Oil, it is known.
Rory
@roryreckons
Autism researcher: “how did the blue triangle feel?”
Autistic participant: “shapely?”
Autism researcher: “Sad was the correct answer”
Autistic participant: “you know it is a triangle, right?”
https://twitter.com/roryreckons/status/1577549728203812865
Theory of Mind tests are at least hilarious to read about.
Did the researcher just assume the triangle’s emotional state?
Americans see ‘most severe’ pay cut in 25 years due to inflation
But Biden created the most jobs in history, or so I am told.
More second jobs to make up for the pay loss!
People are more employed than ever!
“When multi-billionaires take control of our most vital platforms for communication, it’s not a win for free speech. It’s a win for oligarchy.”
https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1577431891505913857
Because Alphabet and Meta are owned by poor people?
(Don’t read the comments.)
He should write an article in the Washington Post or LA Times about it
He’s Guardian level.
In musks case, it’s also a win for fascism
You keep using that word…
The Simpsons used to be so good. Last night they had on two of my favorites: the monorail; and Homer eating an old sandwich and missing taking the kids to Duff Gardens.
I saw part of the second one – yeah, many LOL moments.
That channel tends to show several hours every day, a sampling from various seasons in order. You can actually watch the quality go down in real time.
I once had a friend, a few years ago, who animated for the Simpsons. He even worked on the Simpsons movie. It was amazing to see how it was done. But even he admitted the shows were terrible, and he stopped watching after about season 15.
The movie was the end point, I own up thru season 10 on DVD, 13 was when I thought they were trying to kill it off.
Twitter employees eye the exits after Musk takeover
Well…bye.
Between the rumored quiet layoffs at FB and the Twitterites abandoning the ship, the IT job market is going to be full of a lot of pretentious developers soon. I wonder if any of them are self-aware enough to realize that companies aren’t letting their best employees go first?
The New York Times
@nytimes
There’s always a night when you want to have breakfast for dinner, and this is how to do it British-style, in a very untraditional, sheet-pan take on the classic.
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1577443485908623361
American sausages don;t look that great. Also I don;t think I ever cooked sausage in the oven
don;t think I ever cooked sausage in the oven
Where do all the little Romanian buns come from then?
Those don’t look like breakfast sausages. They look like bratwurst.
Sheet-pan kielbasa sausage with peppers and onions is a once a month dinner for us. Super easy to make on busy days, and it’s decent so long as everything is well seasoned. The cheap mass produced kielbasa is what holds it back the most.
/flaunts local Eastern European butcher privilege.
Tenacious D – Kielbasa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZBmBZa-9qo
Cooking acidic foods on aluminum? No thank you.
Me: That picture actually pisses me off. What kind of dribble chin waterhead would try to cook a meal like that? Using that technique?
Narrator: The New York Times
Me: That person is physically and mentally useless.
Size queen.
I was really hoping that headline about a Republican leading in blue state governor race was about Massachusetts. Maura Healy scares the shit out of me.
I have one more day till vacation and am far from finishing what I should have done at work… in a way serves em right for giving me something complicated for which I had no experience. Oh well…
Also fuck parasitic extraction one more time
TRUMP REACTS TO “PUERTO RICAN” SLEEPY JOE!
Hola do you do, fellow Latinxes
Several other employees expressed displeasure with the company leadership over Blind, an app used to discuss workplaces under pseudonyms. When someone put up a poll asking what employees will miss “post-privatized Twitter,” some employees seemed not to express a desire to stick around.
Isn’t Twitter private already? What would they be otherwise?
well I assume they are thinking private as opposed to public traded company
Of course. I was thinking not private sector -> public sector -> implicit branch of the gov, I had forgotten Musk is taking the company private.
Eh, they’re currently beholden to their board which is controlled by the major shareholders like Vanguard and Blackrock. Let’s just say that their motivations are not necessarily always driven by what’s best for Twitter.
Biden meets DeSantis in Florida. Someone didn’t think ahead, because now we have photos of DeSantis behind the Presidential seal while Biden stands in the background not even wearing a suit jacket. The optics are striking. And hilarious.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/paula-bolyard/2022/10/05/desantis-flashes-his-alpha-dog-energy-in-meeting-with-diminished-biden-n1635042
<==
And Joe got to sniff a chick!
Little old for him, though.
But Biden possibly look more like a grumpy old man?
DeSantis behind the Presidential seal
Looking presidential is one of the keys to the office…
You know, DeSantis isn’t bad, there’s plenty about him I like, but FFS what a fluff piece. To me the guy doesn’t exactly exude charisma, but that’s down to taste I suppose. But regardless, it’s so unbelievably stupid that things like that are what elects presidents.
Every plan to decarbonize assumes the power grid gets builds out, yet here’s the current state of transmission development. It’s why permitting reform is so crucial.
https://twitter.com/JohnArnoldFndtn/status/1577331266105606146
3 more years just for a permit. The collision of the environmentalists vs the environmentalists.
They truly are morons that will lead us into the Dark Ages if we let them.
Dark Age?
Mind-boggling!
The national average price of regular gas, as of Oct. 5, was $3.831 per gallon, up $0.26 from the previous day, $0.66 from a week back, and $0.45 a month ago, according to data from American Automobile Association (AAA). In contrast, profit margins of gas stations have gone down.
Come to NH where gas prices are not only below that average, but have been holding fairly steady.
The case in question, Morin v. Lyver, centers around a controversial Massachusetts law that imposes strict restrictions on the possession and purchase of handguns, including the need for a license in order to purchase or possess a pistol. The law also includes a lifetime ban on purchasing handguns on anyone convicted of a nonviolent misdemeanor involving the possession or use of guns.
The U.S. District Court of Massachusetts originally found the law constitutional, but the Supreme Court on Monday ordered that ruling vacated and the case “remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit for further consideration in light of New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen.”
Whoa.
a license in order to purchase or possess a pistol
This has always been a prima facie, obvious, and irremediable violation of the 2A.
Welcome to NJ.
Moment police ‘with no search warrant’ swooped on house of gender-critical Catholic mother and arrested her in front of her four children over ‘series of anonymous posts on internet chat board’
Mother-of-five Caroline Farrow has been arrested in her home over online posts she put on Twitter this week
The journalist and mother was arrested on Monday by Surrey Police over the web content in Guildford home
She said two police officers ‘forced’ their way in to accuse her of ‘malicious’ content and ‘harassing’ others
But the mother-of-five and journalist has strenuously denied the allegations and says police were wrong
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11282263/Moment-police-swoop-house-devout-catholic-mother-malicious-online-posts.html
I was really surprised a few years back when British Tyranny arrived in rainbow colors.
Now it’s just another case of florida man bites dog.
WTF is “gender-critical” supposed to mean?
Not kowtowing to the infinite genders claptrap, I guess.
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/10/05/azov-neo-nazi-ukrainian-congress/
The delegation’s other Azov wife was Yulia Fedosyuk, the leader of “Silver of the Rose,” an anti-feminist, anti-gay group linked to the Azov movement, according to journalist Oleksiy Kuzmenko.
Turns out antifeminists are way hotter than actual feminists.
Could the photo montage with the circles and lines possibly look any more “deranged conspiracy theorist”?
I get it, but its just a dead ringer for colored-yarn-on-a-corkboard.
This has been a consistant pattern. I could speculate on why, but that requires reading minds, and I’m in a meeting right now.
I really hate dealing with prime government contractors. They require you to jump through multiple hoops just to get paid. Unless you know their tricks and hold their feet to the fire, you will not get your money at all.
Federal? Everything sucks with federal funding.
What about composite government contractors?
FBI whistleblower has a theory on the Vegas shooting
So what happened in Las Vegas?
Former FBI special agent John Guandolo told Turning Point USA in a recorded interview (below) that there’s a 90% certainty that the Las Vegas attack was a jihadi operation and Stephen Paddock was the conduit through which the terrorist organization attacked America.
[snore] Just like everything is white supremacy to the SPLC, this guy’s shtick is Muslim Brotherhood/Islamic extremism.
Ehh.
Jihadis don’t usually work through intermediaries. They want everyone to know who they are, who they’re attacking, and why.
“We have a lovely selection of Hawai’ian cuisine” *explodes*
I read that and it’s stupid
“He was openly contemptuous of religious people”
later
“It was almost certainly ISIS because it’s the sort of thing they’d do”
zero actual linkage between ISIS and that guy. The ex-fed is just going with his gut.
ISIS my speckled pink fanny. The Vegas shooting was an FBI operation that they lost control of, just like the Boston marathon bombing.
ISIS my speckled pink fanny.
You may want to see a doctor about that.
Of course…
Rams players, NFL face legal threat as tackled protester files police complaint
It’s CA so I won’t be surprised with anything that happens.
“No reasonable person would expect to be TACKLED on a football field just because you’re releasing an unknown gas in a place where there are thousands of people!”/whatever is five steps below a beta male
The answer here is to countersue and bring in any organization that provided material or moral support to this person. Bankrupt the individual and get at the non-profit that put them up to it.
I hate the Rams, and the players certainly don’t need the money, but I would contribute to their defense fund.
Long ago, in a galaxy far away, some fool ran across a football field. A famous linebacker laid him out flat with a vicious blindside hit. After the game, said linebacker said you couldn’t run across his field and not expect to get hit. And the world celebrated.
No charges were filed.
Cricket players also: https://youtu.be/WWrFlGZakZs?t=38
Back in the day. Mike Curtis tackles “fan”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdP2G7UtS9I
That wasn’t so bad, he didn’t even lead with his helmet.
The most entertaining amicus brief I’ve ever read
I read about it in the news, but not the brief itself.
There are a number of patent falsehoods in that brief. They really should take this seriously, someone might come after them for lying to the court.
The Bee is THE source of satire/parody. It is known.
I guess I missed them…
/Not a real attorney
That cant be real.
It is. The suit is from a guy over in Parma. Land of Drew Carey, pierogi, and pink flamingos.
I met Drew once in the late 90s, in a restaurant in the Flats (before they looked like Syria). I was working up there, and one of my colleagues had a brother that was a sous chef at the restaurant. Drew was in the corner, reading something, and I asked for his autograph. He was funny- talked to us for a few minutes. I remember him saying “the last time I was here, I think the place was on fire”. I didnt have any paper so he signed a $1 bill with a sharpie marker, with his brush-cut caricature. I still have it around here someplace.
Drew singing
The Flats have been revitalized again. Now the East bank is the fancy side, and the West bank is the one going into the shitter.
All it takes is good marketing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f574Kdzl6iU
I see The Onion finally got back to its roots.
Too soon for irony?
It depends what killed him.
Leukemia apparently, and quickly.
Could’ve happened to anyone.
After the hammering BR took last week on the pound crisis and their losses in the real estate market, me thinks this is just the start. The ESG backlash just provides a political framing to it.
https://twitter.com/willhild/status/1577755596937478146
Please let this snowball, please…
In honor of the Elon Musk news, I present my first ever twitter link, which lays down the facts from a trusted reporter…
https://twitter.com/JoeNBC/status/1577596735328763905
“The dollar is enjoying generational dominance. Our military is the strongest ever relative to the rest of the world. Poverty is at 50 year lows. The US is the world’s top energy exporter. Technologically, we are 2nd to none. Please stop hating on America and the West.”
There you have it. Shut up, whiners.
Given that he’s married to the daughter of the person who presumably could be considered the godfather of our glorious proxy war in Ukraine, I would love to see that boot-licking POS get shuffled off into retirement permanently. He can yell at the clouds like Olbermann for the rest of his years.
The US is the world’s top energy exporter.
I’d like to see the data behind that claim.
Labor, enacted.
Being a net exporter doesn’t mean you’re the top energy exporter. Surely the middle east countries export way more than they use.
Well, that was a happy set of links!
“It’s not my money.”
/s City Hall.
Staten Island firefighter canned over COVID-19 vax mandate gets job back after judge’s decision
“By god, I’m not taking the jab” is a religious exemption.
Bullshit. 100%.
We just learned this morning that Jugsy’s BFF (ever since kindergarten) took her life. Obviously some mental illness was at work, but she’d been getting help and was well medicated. Ironically, plans were in place to have her live with us while she worked through a rocky break-up with her toxic (my words) boyfriend of 12 years. I guess at least I dont have to clean the spare bedroom now.
I knew this broad, and from 10 minutes after our introduction I said “she’s nuttier than squirrel shit”. And I meant that like “she’s not fun to party with and go shopping with crazy- she’s more the “we the people, find the defendant…” cray cray.”
I suppose it resonates with me, since she leaves behind only 1 sibling (both parents are dead) and a son the same age as Tres Version 2.0. I can only imagine what is going through that kid’s melon right now.
Any positive thoughts/vibes/prayers directed to SW Ohio on her behalf are most appreciated.
Relevant
Sorry. Hopefully Jugsy and the girl’s son can find peace in the aftermath.
Terrible news.
Sorry for Jugsy and the boy.
Sorry.
Sorry as well.
Sorry man. It’s been a rough couple of years for that.
I’m very sorry to hear this. Everyone, please know that you are much more needed by, wanted by, and valuable to your families and loved ones alive than not.
Oh, no! I’m so sorry! Please give Jugsy a hug from me.
Sorry 🙁
Sorry to hear. I hope the kid has some kind of support system, that’s got to be tough.
What Pat said. That sucks…
I’m so sorry.
Kamala Harris was in accident falsely dismissed as ‘mechanical failure’
Yes, a “minor” overcorrection and curb strike completely destroys a run flat tire.
It was a warning.
Was she behind the wheel?
The security guy was in the back seat fighting to take control of the steering wheel.
If you hit the curb right it will pop the tire loose from the rim. Entirely possible. Seems non-controversial.
Puncture resistant run flats?
Someone found a way to get off her security detail.
I’m sure Robby Soave happened by the situation and got the car back on the road immediately.
+2 Pomeranians
The Good Lord is still giving us the gift of Tulsi.
https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1577254504549924864?cxt=HHwWgICqgbCnxOMrAAAA
I’ll say it again:
– ‘Slow is smooth, smooth is fast’ is enormously destructive advice.
– Tulsi showing off playing with the guns and magazines that she wants to ban for others, makes her a first-rate piece of shit.
Still wood.
*sigh*
Yeah, me too.
As a reminder:
Just how insanely finite element analyzed was this?
This isn’t some high performance EV. This isn’t the usual conservative Toyota.
Toyota finally finds fix to keep wheels on its new bZ4X EV crossover