Saturday Morning Substitute Links

by | Jul 22, 2023 | Daily Links | 157 comments

OMWC has spoiled you guys on the weekends. My kid has been up since 0430, making this a work day for me.

Some people were born on this date: Alex Trebek, Sonny Liston, George Clinton, the chick who wrote the poem for the Statue of Liberty and some dude who tortured me posthumously in college.

A man has got to know his limitations. But seriously, that’s a freak accident for a dude that size at that weight.

EVs are Goldilocks, they only work when the temperature is just right.

This sounds bad until you find out the bacteria is… anthrax. Don’t get me wrong, anthrax ain’t good for you, but its not likely to be a global pandemic. Unless Pfizer has a vaccine for it.

Imagine if this was guns and not medical mistakes. 370k dead Americans per year. That’s something like ten times as many deaths as guns cause.

Okay, the birthdays gave me a LOT of ideas for music.

One for Sonny Liston, here’s one of George’s (who used to rent a house around the corner from my wife’s parents in Tallahassee in the 90s), and a New Yorker’s cynical take on the Statue. Epic mullet.

About The Author

Brett L

Brett L

Brett set out to find America, the real America, the America of strip malls and serial killers, of butthole waxing and kelp smoothies, of cocaine and maggots. He sought it in the most American part of America—Florida: swamp gas and fever dreams, where love arrives on a rickety boat and leaves when it doesn't have the money for its fourth abortion. Oh, where has Brett gone? He’s drinking at the neck of America’s wang, chewing its foreskin and working its shaft. Brett is becoming legend. Brett can never die. Brett can never die. Brett is America, facedown in his own patriotic puke: the red his blood, the white his stomach lining, and the cold, cold blue his gas station slushie, spiked with coconut rum and tetracycline.

157 Comments

  1. R C Dean

    “370K dead Americans per year”

    Are we back to believing the public health establishment again?

    • slumbrew

      Interesting point.

      Are you suggesting that number may be low or high?

      • R C Dean

        Have you even known them to lowball a threat to public health requiring more public health funding to address?

      • juris imprudent

        Funding for these efforts remains a barrier,

      • slumbrew

        Ah, there it is.

  2. Shpip

    Across diseases, the overall average error rate was estimated at 11%, but the rate ranges widely — from 1.5% for heart attack to 62% for spinal abscess. Stroke was the top cause of serious harm from misdiagnosis, found in 17.5% of cases.

    Diseases with high error rates should be top priority targets for solutions, the authors said.

    One wonders if diagnosis might be an area where AI could be a useful tool.

    • R C Dean

      Absolutely. Already happening, for certain values of “AI”.

      A big challenge in diagnosis is most people who are really sick (not just a head cold) have multiple problems. And, many are on a stack of pharma, which creates its own complications.

      • RBS

        “And, many are on a stack of pharma”

        With wildly varying levels of compliance.

      • hayeksplosives

        During Covid hysteria, which includes my ex-husband’s serious strep-induced heart failure, I lost my remaining shred of confidence in the health care “industry”.

        I had to fight for his life. I’d had to fight for my own life in 2018. And I’d had to advocate for other relatives over the years just for comfort, food etc.

        I was on about 6 meds at that “these guys really don’t know more than I do except for Latin/Greek words for body parts” time. I quit all of my medications except for my anti seizure pills.

        My health improved immensely.

        Fuck all these mini Faucis, their egos, and their greed.

      • R C Dean

        I’ve thought for a long time one of the best things you could do for the elderly would be to have a detox program. In hospitals, its not unusual for somebody to be parked in a room on very minimal meds until the pile of pills they have been on clears their system, because you can’t diagnose until they have detoxed. Unfortunately, just plain old pharma detox doesn’t generate a billing code, so it doesn’t happen until the patient is in a crisis.

        Invariably, the patient is discharged with a much smaller set of prescriptions.

      • Lackadaisical

        My wife worked at a nursing home when she was starting out. One of the residents got so bad they went into hospice, so they took them off all medication.

        Must have been a miracle because she was got as a fiddle after that.

      • hayeksplosives

        👆👆👆

    • Grummun

      Predictive models are a big thing, from what I’m seeing. Where I work, I’m aware of efforts to predict 1) likelihood of re-admission; 2) likelihood of sepsis and 3) likelihood of kidney failure. There are probably others, I’m tangential to the group that does much of that work, so I don’t know everything they are up to. I believe the likelihood of re-admission model has been productionalized; that is, it’s integrated with Epic (the electronic medical record system) so clinicians actually use it.

  3. Rebel Scum

    A new study suggests that excessive heat can greatly diminish electric vehicle range. The findings are similar to other studies that show how excessive cold also reduces range. Thankfully, it seems as though the range is mostly unaffected unless the temperature is in the triple digits.

    Convenient since the people that want you to drive them don’t want you to be able to travel at all.

    • The Other Kevin

      Oops, too hot for driving. Oops, too cold for driving. Oops, power grid is overloaded, can’t charge.

      They are trying to reduce consumption. This is not an accident.

    • Sensei

      Remember nobody gets their research in the news for being reasonable.

      Yes in AZ it’s a problem in summer. The much bigger issue the cold. It impacts way more locations in the US with more people for a longer part of the year.

      The issue we cant have nuance. EVs can be a valid solution for a large percentage of uses, but they aren’t a panacea that politicians and the green lobby proclaim. As an understandable result, many now have a negative knee jerk reaction to anything about because of fucking politics.

      See also vaccines…

      • hayeksplosives

        Let the market sort it out. An EV works for me, but I’d never force one on anybody else.

      • Sensei

        Which would be easier without the subsidies.

        Tesla got an emissions credit it sold when it made my car and I got $3.5k federal subsidy and no NJ sales tax. It’s ridiculous.

        And that doesn’t include any other indirect subsidy of which there are many.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Similarly with occasional use outdoor power equipment. Yet the control freaks aren’t satisfied with that, they want a complete ICE ban.

      • hayeksplosives

        Won’t someone think of Gaia?

        Konstantin Kisin is completely right when he says that if a parent has to chose between some vague climate change goal and the immediate health and future opportunities for his child, he’s going to choose the child every time.

        How many human sacrifices in the name of reducing greenhouse gases (which I’m not convinced are a bad thing) are negated by one belch from a volcano?

  4. Rebel Scum

    IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF AN INFECTIOUS DISEASE THRILLER?

    The WHO is going to release another disease?

  5. Rebel Scum

    That’s something like ten times as many deaths as guns cause.

    30 times if you control for homicides vs. suicides.

    • Pine_Tree

      It’s actually infinitely more than guns “cause”.

  6. Gender Traitor

    some dude who tortured me posthumously in college.

    Happy Birthday, Laurence Sterne!

    • hayeksplosives

      GT, yes the cat avatar is my newly adopted charity case kitty. She has been in and out of the shelter for 1.5 years because she will lash out at strangers, kids, other pets, etc.

      I brought her home to my nice quiet apartment on Wednesday night, and she is making great strides already. Even played with the feather wand toy a bit last evening!

      She’s not hiding from me anymore because she’s figured out that I’m just going to say hi and not try to touch her.

      Slow and steady…

      • Sensei

        Food is your friend.

        I was able to break my rescue cat out of his shell by treats and being able to pet him while he focused on the food.

      • hayeksplosives

        She’s definitely a foodie. She’s 10 years old and has quite a belly.

        I have some special treats I’m saving for rewarding good behavior.

      • Gender Traitor

        👍🏼😻

      • hayeksplosives

        Poor baby. I wonder what her backstory is. She’s been “in the system” for 1.5 years, but even the shelter ladies didn’t know what her prior 8 years were.

      • Gender Traitor

        Yeah, I wonder the same thing about my kitty boys – one from the Humane Society, one from our front porch. They were someone’s pets before – I’m certain Little Black Kitty was a woman’s cat based on the way he glommed on to me from the get-go.

  7. The Gunslinger

    Carrying over from the deadththread:

    “*Mosquito activity seems on par with last year when I didn’t have either”

    The property we moved into a year ago has a bat box. Judging by the pile of guano? at the base of the pole there’s definitely bats in there. Kinda cool to sit by the fire at dusk and see bats flying around.

    • R C Dean

      We have a ton of bats. I have two gripes with them:

      (1) They will nest under the eaves of the porch, etc. When they do, they are nearly impossible to get rid of. And they shit all over everything.

      (2) Ya gotta be quick going in and out of the house in the evening, or you will find yourself with . . . . indoor bats! Indoor bats and pit bulls are great combination. Just great.

      • The Gunslinger

        I’ve not noticed bats near our house. I’ve been told the box we have can house dozens of bats. It’s only got an opening on the bottom about 4″ x 12″, maybe bigger but it’s on a tall pole so hard to judge. Maybe having a dedicated bat house on the property helps keep them from nesting at the house?

      • R.J.

        Yes. Try that and post it away from the house. Put some crickets in it from the pet store. The bats will figure it out.

      • DrOtto

        “Indoor bats and pit bulls…” we had a bird get in the house and our retriever based mutt went nuts. We ended up trapping the dog in one room and the bird in another and finally got the bird out by swatting him down with a window screen enough to realize he could fly out the now screenless window. Also, dragon flys used to taunt my dog for fun in the backyard, so I’m guessing flying things and dogs in general are an entertaining combination.

      • The Gunslinger

        Our chocolate lab chased a turkey into a tree last year. Those things are not graceful flyers.

    • Lackadaisical

      Oh, we’ve got tons of bats. From what I read they inhabit the Spanish moss that’s growing all over the oaks.

  8. Rebel Scum

    That’s some mighty fine projection.

    “Republicans have proven quite crafty in ways in which they have tried to do undemocratic things. You know, they’re all about the retention, the acquisition of and retention of power. Even if it’s illegitimate power, they will use that to keep themselves in power.

    Maybe we need to brainwash them to change their opinions.

    That’s some mighty fine projection.

    “This ain’t my parents’ Republican Party. I was raised by two Republicans who told me about the values of Ronald Reagan. I didn’t agree with them, obviously, but they were rooted in principles. When you listen, you know, to Bannon and Stone, it’s a party of violence, it’s a party of chaos, it’s a party of grievances and a party that’s trying to win through subtraction, by taking away your rights, by taking away your freedom and taking away your votes. That’s what they’re going to run, the same playbook in 2024.”

    Do these people hear themselves when they speak?

    • rhywun

      dilute the power of black citizens

      Eric Holder is a racist prick – film at 11!

    • Rebel Scum

      production facilities there do not seem to have suffered major damage.

      Shame.

  9. Rebel Scum

    He could use another bump in the polls.

    Atlanta’s top prosecutor is preparing to charge former President Donald Trump with racketeering for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

    Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will formally accuse Trump, 77, of influencing witnesses and computer trespassing, The Guardian reported Friday, in what could be the former president’s fourth indictment this year.

    • RBS

      The walls are closing in!

      • rhywun

        We have got him this time!

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Preemptive lawfare intimidation to prepare the battlespace for future fraud and other shenanigans just in time for the next election. What a crock.

    • hayeksplosives

      Is Georgia where they stopped counting at midnight due to burst pipes?
      Then were on camera bringing in boxes of ballots.

      Not many years ago, bunches of senior citizen volunteers could deliver a good count from every precinct by 2 am, latest. A precinct is small for a reason. It’s a manageable number of voters and ballots.

      The push toward centralization has bad intentions painted all over it.

      • Rebel Scum

        could deliver a good count from every precinct by 2 am

        All counting should be done at the precinct level. It is insane that it is not.

      • hayeksplosives

        I think you meant “It’s dishonest and criminal that it is not.”

    • juris imprudent

      Gun-grabbers wave hard-ons around – ooooh, another mass shooting!!!

    • hayeksplosives

      I have never understood the logic (spoiler: no logic is involved) in a parent killing their kids and partner before killing themselves.

      If you want to end your own suffering, just frikkin kill yourself . No need to kill innocent kids.

      I only recently learned that it’s a whole field of study in criminal psychology: family annihilation.

      Fascinating reading, but not for the faint of heart.

      Some peeps be crazy.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        I don’t get using your last act to confirm the decision of the person you killed yourself/murdered others over as being the correct one. Seems incredibly self-defeating.

      • hayeksplosives

        That’s where the psychology part comes in. This is not rational behavior. The annihilator wants to erase the entire existence and reality of the family. Lacking a time machine, just murdering everyone involved seems like a clean slate to these nutters.

        And then there’s another cause: some annihilators don’t want the family to talk about them after the killer is gone.

        Yet another category is annihilators who believe twistedly that they are sparing the kids from a terrible life of orphanhood.

        Insanity.

      • Q Continuum

        I’m guessing it’s in the same constellation as mass shooters in general (Aurora theater, Virginia Tech, etc.). There’s a resentment and desire for vengeance wrapped up in the desire to end suffering; one targets the family, the other targets the world at large.

    • Rebel Scum

      Supervision fail due to fireworks laws.

    • DrOtto

      Was the tub unavailable?

  10. Rebel Scum

    Mexican Gov and US gov can fuck the hell off.

    “Texas has been installing these buoys along with razor wire on the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. Mexico is now requesting that Texas remove these barriers. They say the state is violating international treaties and that they raised this with the administration three weeks ago. Do you agree with Mexico that Texas is violating these international treaties?” a reporter asked.

    “This governor … has treated the situation that we’re seeing at the border in an inhumane way,” Jean-Pierre responded. “It is atrocious, the actions that he decides to take. He takes this [action] instead of dealing with this issue in a way that we can get to a resolution and working together, he turns it into a political stunt.”

    If only buzzwords and platitudes were effective border policy.

    Texas began rolling out the new floating barriers in early July, but migrant advocates have voiced concerns about drowning risks from the buoys. Environmentalists also questioned the impact on the river.

    Millions of people crossing the river and camping out next to it in trashy slums has no impact, obviously.

    • rhywun

      LOL I wasn’t aware we signed a treaty to let in millions of urban campers.

      • hayeksplosives

        Mexico needs those sweet dollars flowing back to Mexican families, and thus the economy, from illegal labor north of the border.

      • R C Dean

        The mix has really changed. A lot (most?) of the illegals now are from Central and South America, not Mexico. Mexico has proven to be incapable or unwilling of controlling their southern border, mostly wants those people gone from Mexico. You haven’t seen racism/tribalism until you’ve gotten a Mexican wound up about Guatemalans.

      • hayeksplosives

        So they’re not sending their best?

      • juris imprudent

        These aren’t Mexicans crossing, they’ve got jobs. This is mostly Central Americans.

      • hayeksplosives

        But admitting that out loud proves they’re not refugees. If they were refugees, they’d settle in the first safe spot they reached.

  11. Lackadaisical

    “That’s something like ten times as many deaths as guns cause.”

    We need common sense doctor control.

  12. Sensei

    It’s the perfect sleeper restomod. As a Mustang guy from my generation it’s almost exactly what I would do.

    Coyote Swapped 1985 Sage Green Notchback Mustang
    https://youtu.be/WRK5n8AWnqg

    • Tundra

      My neighbor has a 1979, but it has the 302. All original and sweet!

    • Gustave Lytton

      Disappointing that that they didn’t put the 5.0 badge on the sides where it belongs.

  13. Rebel Scum

    The court wants universities to continue to be soft targets.

    The University of Michigan is entitled to ban guns on university property and can remain a gun-free zone, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

    The case could be further appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court.

    A university is a “sensitive place” and “laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places are consistent with the Second Amendment,” Court of Appeal Judges Mary Cavanagh and Deborah Servitto wrote in a 14-page opinion.

    “It is up to the policy-maker — the University (of Michigan) in this case — to determine how to address that public safety concern.”

    Sure. Address the public safety concern by continuing to do the same thing that has never worked.

  14. hayeksplosives

    Lone data point: my EV, a 2018 Tesla (old!) started with 305 mile range. Now max charge gets it to 285 miles.

    I drove that puppy in the Mojave for 2 years, parked it outside, vicious thermal cycling,

    My daily range (in miles) was affected only by my use of heater or AC, which is to say, not much at all.

    (Tesla Model 3, long range RWD)

    • Sensei

      Mine is 308 to 299.

    • DrOtto

      Curious about 2 things – how many miles total on your Tesla, and when it says you can go 285 miles on a charge, how many miles do you actually drive before needing to recharge?

      • Sensei

        The mileage estimates on a Tesla are fantasy.

        In normal weather in normal highway usage figure around 250. In city stop and and moderate temps you may get higher than EPA, but that’s not my use case or most people’s.

      • hayeksplosives

        I’ll let it get down to 50 miles before I get a little range anxiety.

        I find the mileage estimates to be not bad, even on long drives like from San Diego to Las Vegas. One stop in Barstow does the trick.

        Here’s another dirty secret: not a government subsidy but a company one. I plug in a couple times a week at work for Co
        My daily commute is 6 miles one way, so I get by for free unless I’m road tripping.

        When I lived in Nevada and commuted 50 miles one way, I charged at home overnight every other day.

      • Homple

        The term “range anxiety” was cooked up by an advertising genius. It turns “I just want to get to my destination on time without extra planning hassles” into a symptom of a sissy-sounding neurosis.

  15. Tundra

    Good morning, Brett!

    Thanks for the pinch-hit.

    The squatting accident is a bummer, but I am puzzled why such an experienced dude didn’t dump the bar backwards, use the safety pins or have two spotters. And 400 isn’t that much for a strong dude. I think he was murdered. /dramatic music

    The medical mistakes number is horrifying but the more I think about it, it seems plausible. All the more reason to stay as far away as possible.

    Love Parliament. Having George as a neighbor would be awesome!

  16. Q Continuum

    “Now an influencer with a bank account bursting with cash, Jenna pulls in up to £32,000 ($25,000-$40,000 USD) per month from her job – averaging $1k a day[…]Jenna estimates that she has 2,500-3,000 boyfriends in total but spends most of her time with seven of them every day, dedicating an hour to each man”

    https://www.dailystar.co.uk/real-life/i-make-1k-day-professional-30511210

    Sounds like a lot of work.

    • PieInTheSky

      too many simps in this world. Just go to a brothel ffs

    • Don escaped Texas

      Jenna pulls in up to £32,000 ($25,000-$40,000 USD) per month from her job – averaging $1k a day.

      why doesn’t that paper have any confidence in its readers’ math skills?

      • juris imprudent

        Oh I think they know their readership.

      • Don escaped Texas

        why oh why can’t Michael Bloomberg give everyone a million bucks?

    • The Last American Hero

      Some poor dude is getting sloppy 7ths.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Getting medical schools to focus on diversity and inclusion well bring those medical mistakes down.

    • hayeksplosives

      You slay me.

  18. Common Tater

    “For those who thought receiving a horse’s head in a bed was the height of grotesque, a florist was flabbergasted upon discovering a package with a severed schlong outside their bodega.

    The apparent intimidation audit occurred earlier this month when a mysterious box was found at the Rosas de Los Mochis flower shop in the center of Los Mochis, northwest of Mexico City….

    The package — adorned with a funereal floral wreath — came with a sinister note inside that read: “The reflection of your actions. So you can educate yourself and get off my balls.””

    https://nypost.com/2023/07/21/severed-penis-left-outside-florist-with-note-attached/

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      You want a penis?I can get you a penis, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don’t wanna know about it, believe me.

      Hell, I can get you a schlong by 3 o’clock this afternoon… with a Price Albert piercing.

      • Tundra

        Only licensed individuals are legally allowed to handle the small creatures, which happen to populate the dunes of Hoylake. At Royal Liverpool only man is properly trained: James Bledge, the course’s Links Manager.

    • Rebel Scum

      Soy lattes and yoga is not a martial art.

    • Don escaped Texas

      revolutionary defeatism ☭ 🇵🇸 @revdefeat the symbolism is too important. and plus, it starts out 2 a year, and then becomes 3 and 4, and so on, you know how these guys are

  19. PieInTheSky

    If barbie really wanted to embody feminism, Greta Gerwig should have chosen lead stars that don’t conform to hyper-feminine and masculine ideals. Where’s the representation of women of colour, women who aren’t size 0 and don’t look perfect on this billboard? There isn’t.

    https://twitter.com/DrProudman/status/1682296955580428288

    Also Oppenheimer should have been played by a woman of color

    • Don escaped Texas

      a woman of color

      Billy Kwan is dead

    • The Last American Hero

      I think they are saving that for Hidden Figures 2.

  20. Sean

    @Lack re: praying mangos eggs

    From the dead thread – from a single egg you can get 50-100 hatchlings.

    • PieInTheSky

      I did not know a mango lays eggs

      • Sean

        Mantis. Stupid autocorrect

  21. Common Tater

    “School district bans opt-out from LGBTQ lessons because too many families opted out

    D.C. suburb says injunction on mandatory “storybooks” with sex workers, kink, drag, gender transitions would cause “significant disruption,” stigmatize children, violate federal law.

    An affluent liberal D.C. suburb has a simple explanation for why it won’t honor parents’ requests to exclude their children, some as young as 3 years old, from “storybooks” with sex workers, kink, drag, gender transitions and same-sex romance for elementary-age children: It’s hard.

    Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools claims it was flooded with opt-out requests when the books were introduced in the curriculum in January, giving it legal justification, on logistical grounds, to issue a blanket policy of no exceptions and no notifications…..

    Pre-kindergarten students, for example, are required to read Pride Puppy, which “promotes pride parades as family-friendly events without cautioning about the frequent nudity and sexually explicit conduct that many parents find objectionable –especially for children.””

    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/education/school-district-says-it-banned-opt-out-lgbtq-lessons-because-too-many

    “Pre-kindergarten”

    • Sensei

      That which is not forbidden is permitted.

    • Sensei

      Also it’s “bothersome”.

      “I mean, I understand how they feel, but it’s bothersome to me that they think these books are dangerous to their children!” said Leslie who supports the gender-inclusive curriculum.

      I wanted something less right-wing spun, but failed to find any article really trying to justify this because aside from an opinion piece in the WP it looks like most other news sources are silent here.

      Tensions flare at MCPS board meeting as parents and advocates clash over gender-inclusive curriculum

      • Ted S.

        “Gender-inclusive” needs to be in sneer quotes. “Pedophilic” would be just as accurate, since it’s trying to sexualize children.

      • Ted S.

        It’s also bothersome that you’re trying to sexualize my kid and keep it a secret from me.

    • Rebel Scum

      School district bans opt-out from LGBTQ lessons because too many families opted out

      Parents don’t own their kids. You some kind of conservatard fascist?

      giving it legal justification, on logistical grounds, to issue a blanket policy of no exceptions and no notifications

      DeMoCrAcY.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Nor do they run the school boards.

        The simple solution is to string up the boards and superintendent from the nearest lampposts.

    • Sean

      Heh

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      Was that yours?

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Also Oppenheimer should have been played by a woman of color

    A man, but with Downs Syndrome.

  23. hayeksplosives

    Does anyone have a good link to RFK’s testimony yesterday (or Thursday—I’ve been busy)?

    I want to watch and make up my own mind rather than read some biased reporting about it.

    • Rebel Scum

      I want to watch and make up my own mind

      *red flag*

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        OBEY

  24. The Late P Brooks

    Do battery packs burn better when they have been pre-heated to triple digits? Also- doesn’t resistance rise with temp?

    • hayeksplosives

      There’d have been a lot more people needing to go the hospital if I’d have been driving that car.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    How many generations of imbeciles are we up to now?

    The grandson of President John F. Kennedy, Jack Schlossberg, ridiculed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday for not endorsing Joe Biden’s re-election bid and running for president himself as he continues to spread conspiracy theories.

    In a video posted to his Instagram, Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy’s son, said his grandfather’s legacy was important and that Biden was becoming “the greatest progressive president we’ve ever had.”

    “Under Biden, we’ve added 13 million jobs, unemployment is at its lowest in 60 years. Biden passed the largest investment in infrastructure since the New Deal and the largest investment in green energy ever. He’s appointed more federal judges than any president since my grandfather. He ended our longest war. He ended the Covid pandemic, and he ended Donald Trump. These are the issues that matter. And if my cousin, Bobby Kennedy Jr., cared about any of them, he would support Joe Biden too,” Schlossberg said.

    WHEEEEEE!

    • The Last American Hero

      Our court system is fucked if that is true.

    • Common Tater

      “the greatest progressive president we’ve ever had.”

      LOLOLOLOL

      • Common Tater

        ketamine?

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates when he said…I drank what?

    • Rebel Scum

      He ended our longest war.

      Disastrously because he violated the agreement and timeline established by the Trump administration.

      He ended the Covid pandemic

      This pandemic was over before it was announced as such.

      passed the largest investment in infrastructure

      Which will do nothing for infrastructure.

      largest investment in green energy ever

      We’d be better off just burning the money.

    • hayeksplosives

      RFK Jr needs to be wary of surgeons bearing ice picks.

      The Kennedy family is morally bankrupt. Most of the decency came from folks who married in, and even they had to fold at some point in order to survive.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Modern day Dillinger

    An otter in California is on the run from local and federal authorities, wanted for aggressively confronting locals and stealing surfboards at a popular beach. But its outlaw status has turned the slippery sea otter into an international icon, with growing support to leave her in the wild.

    The 5-year-old female otter, known officially as otter 841, has been deemed a public safety risk by state and federal wildlife officials because of her “unusually aggressive” behavior along the Santa Cruz coast. As a result, wildlife officials and Monterey Bay Aquarium staff are attempting to capture and rehome the otter to an aquarium or zoo, according to a joint news release. But support for a live-and-let-live approach is growing with each unsuccessful attempt.

    ——-

    However, the agencies charged with catching 841 have maintained their stance that capturing and rehoming her is best for the otter and humans alike. Biologists say catching the otter could take days or weeks because of environmental conditions like water clarity. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) told NPR that capture efforts could be “suspended or halted entirely” if the otter continues to elude officials and stops interacting with people.

    They should just serve her with a restraining order.

    • Gender Traitor

      SF’ed the link. Please fix – I want to donate to her legal defense fund and buy a t-shirt!

    • Common Tater

      Oh Oh here she comes
      Watch out boy she’ll chew you up
      Oh Oh here she comes
      She’s a sea otter

      • Gender Traitor

        😄👏🏼

    • Grumbletarian

      They otter leave her be.

  27. Common Tater

    “Pedophile Sympathizer Condemns “Sound of Freedom” For Promoting “Conspiracy Theories” On Child Sex Trafficking

    Bloomberg is under fire after publishing a scathing review of Sound of Freedom penned by a writer who has expressed sympathies for pedophiles. Noah Berlatsky called the new anti-child trafficking film a “QAnon dog whistle.”

    But Berlatsky’s review is attracting ample attention on social media as many have pointed out that he once served as the communications director for “pro-pedophilia” organization Prostasia.

    Independent outlet Reduxx has previously revealed that Prostasia’s campaign efforts have almost exclusively been directed at ending child pornography bans, demanding child-like sex dolls be kept legal, and funding research into “fantasy sexual outlets” for pedophiles.

    The organization has also condemned anti-pedophile sentiment as harmful “Nazi-like” rhetoric,” calling for social media platforms to censor those who speak negatively about pedophilia.

    In addition to his work with Prostasia, Berlatsky infamously penned an article in 2016 lamenting the treatment of “children engaged in survival sex” by police. Calling them “child sex workers,” Berlatsky framed children forced into prostitution as willing participants in legitimate employment.”

    https://www.thepublica.com/pedophile-sympathizer-condemns-sound-of-freedom-for-promoting-conspiracy-theories-on-child-sex-trafficking/

    CWAA

    • juris imprudent

      Look, an asshole serves a useful purpose. This guy does not.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Right wing agitators are destroying academia

    Texas A&M University on Friday announced the resignation of its president in the fallout over a Black journalist who said her celebrated hiring at one of the nation’s largest campuses quickly unraveled due to pushback over her past work promoting diversity.

    President Katherine Banks said in a resignation letter that she was retiring immediately because “negative press has become a distraction” at the nearly 70,000-student campus in College Station.

    Her departure after two years as president followed weeks of turmoil at Texas A&M, which only last month had welcomed professor Kathleen McElroy with great fanfare to revive the school’s journalism department. McElroy is a former New York Times editor and had overseen the journalism school at the more liberal University of Texas at Austin campus.

    ——-

    American Association of University Professors President Irene Mulvey criticized Texas A&M’s handling of McElroy’s hiring, and called efforts against diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education a “misguided culture war.”

    “This will surely result in chilled conditions for academic freedom in teaching and research,” said Mulvey, a mathematics professor at Fairfield University.

    ——-

    In an interview with NPR in 2021, McElroy said journalists should be pushed to find information from beyond what she called traditional sources that “skewed white patriarchy.”

    “We can’t just give people a set of facts anymore,” she said. “I think we know that and we have to tell our students that. This is not about getting two sides of a story or three sides of a story, if one side is illegitimate. I think now you cannot cover education, you cannot cover criminal justice, you can’t cover all of these institutions without realizing how all these institutions were built.”

    A right-leaning outlet in Texas highlighted those comments in a story after McElroy’s hiring and the publisher Friday said it helped expose a “woke agenda” at Texas A&M.

    Sounds like old fashioned incompetence. That’s not journalism, that’s propaganda.

  29. Common Tater

    “‘Experts’ Recommend Obese Children Be Prescribed Weight Loss Drugs That Can Cause Vomiting, Organ Failure

    “We can recommend more servings of vegetables and more fun physical activity. However, if a person’s neighborhood has no grocery stores to shop at or sidewalks or parks to walk in, these recommendations are not realistic,” argued Dr. Roy Kim, who serves as a paediatric endocrinologist at Cleveland Clinic Children’s in Ohio…

    While data regarding the drug’s long-term effects in children is not yet available, the clinical trials that have been completed in adults show that once taken off the medication, patients gain back the weight they had lost. As a result, doctors are currently “counsel[ing] families that this is a long-term treatment,” according to Dr. Emily Breidbart, a pediatric endocrinologist at NYU Langone Health in New York City.”

    https://www.thepublica.com/experts-recommend-obese-children-be-prescribed-weight-loss-drugs-that-can-cause-vomiting-organ-failure/

    Between this and the gender stuff, pediatric endocrinologists seem way more interested in making money for big pharma than children’s’ health.

    • Gender Traitor

      🦦👍🏼

  30. Gustave Lytton

    Unless Pfizer has a vaccine for it.

    If only a Glib would write the goddam book on it…

  31. The Late P Brooks

    Blue-on-blue

    The state of New Jersey is suing the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) over New York City’s proposed congestion pricing plan.

    In a press conference Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) called the plan a “poorly designed proposal” that will harm New Jersey’s environment. Murphy said the federal government lacked a “thorough environmental impact review” when approving the plan.

    “Unfortunately, New York’s proposal will prompt toll shopping, where more drivers seek circuitous routes to avoid paying the highest tolls, resulting in more traffic and more pollution in certain areas,” Murphy said.

    Murphy also stated his concerns about how the pricing plan will affect New Jersey residents’ wallets. He said he is concerned about how the possibly $23 per day cost, as stated in a report from August 2022 released by New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, might make life financially harder for those living in the Garden State.

    You can’t take our people’s money. That’s our job.

    • Sean

      Murphy doesn’t care about NJ residents. 🙄

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Axios headline:

    Relentless U.S. heat wave is likely to extend into August

    “Summer to continue- film at eleven.”

    • PieInTheSky

      this summer is particularly bad though

      • R.J.

        Sorry to hear it. If you do plan out a visit to the American South in summer, at least all our buildings are air conditioned.

      • PieInTheSky

        If you do plan out a visit to the American South in summer – I do not. I am thinking November if I ever get to the south. Maybe early December or late January

    • creech

      After all the boohooing about climate change on this mornings tv weather report, we learn the hottest day on record in Philly was more than 80 years ago.

    • Rebel Scum

      But now those broken windows need to be fixed. He is just stimulating economic activity.

    • hayeksplosives

      Quite diverse indeed: he bashed Audi, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Honda…oh, that’s not the diversity you meant.

      In other news, I learned from yesterday’s Tom Woods podcast that the only region that will still have fertility above replacement rate is sub Saharan Africa. Those folks need to up their education, Justice (in the literal meaning), and honest governance game.

      New windshields aren’t going to manufacture themselves.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Baffling

    Spain could be about to be governed by a coalition that includes a far-right party for the first time since the Francisco Franco dictatorship ended in 1975, propelled in part by frustration surrounding a drought and the environmental measures that are in place to ameliorate it.

    Opinion polls indicate that the conservative Popular Party, led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has enough support to unseat socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, but will fall short of an outright majority. That leaves Vox — an ultranationalist, anti-immigration and anti-feminist group — the likely kingmaker.

    Part of the reason Vox has become Spain’s third-biggest party is it has followed another key trend in modern far-right politics: fears that green measures in Spain, which faces chronic droughts, will destroy the agricultural industry. Vox and the Popular Party, which already jointly govern the southwestern Extremadura region, back a controversial plan to legalize and expand water drilling in one of Europe’s most important wetlands, much of which is already arid and lifeless, to fuel the lucrative fruit industry.

    It’s almost as if people are looking at the real world consequences of far-left-ism and saying “enough is enough”.

  34. hayeksplosives

    A lady at work is trying to get together a group to watch Megan Rapino’s last game in Seattle.

    I declined to participate, saying that I don’t like round ball. My self-professed commie employee tried to persuade me to come, saying soccer is obviously the best sport because the majority of the world loves it.

    I said to have a great time, but I’m not a “rest of the world” kind of person. Seemed to bug him a lot.

    Filthy commies.

    • slumbrew

      The rest of the world really likes hating Jews, too. Not sure that’s a great yardstick.