Tuesday Morning Links

by | Oct 10, 2023 | Daily Links | 366 comments

::shrug::

The Dodgers are on the brink of being bounced. The Braves avoided that same fate with a gritty win last night.  I’m curious to see if the Orioles can bounce back on the road and avoid the sweep. And obviously I need the Astros to win tonight. And that’s pretty much it for sports today.

Cool story, bro. Although I suppose it’s possible. But the odds going from a trillion to one to 999 billion to one shouldn’t be worthy of a front page piece on CNN.

Did this retard not see Footloose? By the way, Banjos absolutely hates that movie.  She refuses to watch it with me and says it’s the dumbest concept ever. I just think she hates learn-to-do-something 80s montages that don’t involve fighting.

“I’m here to educate your kids”

Boo-fucking-hoo. Sex education was always supposed to be reproductive education and why it’s best to avoid it until you’re an adult. What are they trying to include that falls into that category?

Is it ok to hate every man involved in this story? Because I hate every man involved in the story.

“Kick his ass, Sea Bass.”

“Taken to a hospital?” Hopefully its for treatment from the severe beating he took from the parents of the kids he was trying to do something with.  REOPEN THE ASYLUMS!!!

Is the lesson “don’t live like this piece of shit?” Because that’s pretty much the only lesson any decent person could give about the man’s actual life. Quick question: what’s it called when a black man’s entire life is whitewashed?

Cope and seethe, dickhead.  Cope. And. Seethe.

I have a sneaking suspicion there’s more to this story. But asking the reporters to go find it is too much, apparently.

Let’s lighten the mood now. Nah, let’s make it downright positive with a great song. And here’s another. That’s sure a long version. Oh well, enjoy it.

And enjoy this lovely Tuesday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

366 Comments

  1. SDF-7

    Just popping in to do… the links!

    And that image….

    *narrow gaze* on behalf of Swiss.

    • PutridMeat

      Shouldn’t it really be ‘Just popping out to do…’?

  2. UnCivilServant

    Cope and seethe, dickhead. Cope. And. Seethe.

    I couldn’t finish the article. His whining was too irritating.

    • Rat on a train

      We need to get rid of checks and balances in order to save Democracy.

      • SDF-7

        People are only free to think what I think they should think, at the barrel of a gun is the distilled version I got.

        “And those meanies on the Court have been placed there to stop that….. waaaah….”

      • juris imprudent

        It’s apparent this guy doesn’t spend nearly every day thinking about ancient Rome.

    • Mason

      It’s Drew Magary, so…

      • UnCivilServant

        That name means nothing to me, so…

      • Mason

        He was a writer for Deadspin and then GQ. Of the same ilk as Stephen Colbert and John Oliver. Smarter than everyone else.

      • juris imprudent

        Smarmier than everyone else I think you mean.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Heh. My son has a college friend who writes for SFGate. Fuckin’ rag, nothing more, nothing less.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        I hope it’s not Morford.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        He did Kissing Suzy Kolber too, but he won’t talk about that anymore.

      • Robonerfherder

        Ah yes, that idiot.

    • sloopyinca

      Watching him go from general complaining to uncontrolled impotent rage in six paragraphs made me so happy.

      • rhywun

        I stopped at “spree of evildoing”. If there is fun to be had, I’ll soldier on.

      • sloopyinca

        Do it! He completely loses it by the end.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I especially like that he doesn’t consider crime an issue.

        crime (rolled eyes emoji)

      • rhywun

        crime (rolled eyes emoji)

        Wow. A world-class piece of garbage.

      • rhywun

        Ugh, tedious progjection punctuated by tuff-gai expletives.

        What a piece of shit. Perfect for that piece of shit website.

      • Grumbletarian

        I can imagine his keyboard became more and more spittle-flecked with each sentence.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Positively drenched.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Make SCOTUS your only political issue this coming election year. Don’t let Biden, or Dicky Durbin, or any other fossil off the hook. Don’t let them wave off SCOTUS reform as a pipe dream, a cause that isn’t worth pursuing.

      Nothing else is going on I suppose.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        To be fair, I do make SCOTUS one the main political issues in presidential elections. Court nominations are one of the most important powers a president has.

      • Ted S.

        I’d bet Magary hates Netanyahu’s proposed judicial reforms too.

      • MikeS

        I’d bet Magary hates Netanyahu‘s proposed judicial reforms too.

        FIFY

  3. SDF-7

    But the odds going from a trillion to one to 999 billion to one shouldn’t be worthy of a front page piece on CNN.

    Well, it isn’t like anything else important is going on or anything… just churning out some make-work articles for the front page…. (sarc off)

  4. SDF-7

    By the way, Banjos absolutely hates that movie.

    Well, if there’s anything worth your love it’s worth a fight….

  5. Raven Nation

    Sports carryover from the weekend: Rugby World Cup quarters are set. If things go according to form, it’s likely to be France v. Ireland for the title.

    • sloopyinca

      Is France gonna be healthy enough to take the Springboks down?

      • Raven Nation

        Good point; they have some damage to deal with.

      • sloopyinca

        If Antoine Dupont is 100%, it should be a banger of a game. If he’s not, I don’t know if they’ll be able to keep pace.

        Remember, the Springboks were a couple of poor line outs and a conversion away from winning that Ireland match (one of the most physical matches I’ve ever seen). I think they’ll be tough for the frogs even on their home soil.

      • Raven Nation

        True. So, probably out of those three. I think the ABs are a step behind this cycle, although you never know.

        That said, I would LOVE to see Fiji take out the poms.

    • robc

      Sports carryover from this weekend:

      It is rare to see a GT game talked about so much, not that we had much to do with that. Its pretty much entirely how big a moron Mario Cristobal is. I know Miami can’t afford to buy him out, but is there any way he can survive this?

      When players are caught on the sideline saying “What the fuck are we doing?”, you know the coach has done screwed up. The announcers were in complete disbelief.

      One of the best comments I’ve seen is why game probability was only showing 99.9% chance for Miami to win. 0.1% is to account for the possibility of the coach being a complete idiot.

      • robc

        Fun fact: The last three Georgia Tech coaches won their first game vs Miami. In all 3, Miami was favored by at least 19 points.

      • Raven Nation

        The only thing that would have made that more enjoyable was doing against UGA.

  6. SDF-7

    Boo-fucking-hoo. Sex education was always supposed to be reproductive education and why it’s best to avoid it until you’re an adult. What are they trying to include that falls into that category?

    I’m also fine with education on STDs (and again, why waiting for a committed monogamous relationship is better to avoid them), which the article even says was part of it. So yeah… sorry it doesn’t include your groomer “Here’s the best way to give your older course instructor desired partner oral”, assholes… but that’s not the point. Anything beyond reproduction and health safety should be the family’s concern, not yours.

    (I know… I know… they don’t want there to be a family so the State rules all. Fuck ’em…. …. ….. but not in that way.)

    • juris imprudent

      It is the demos that the public schools serve, so how can any of these people who love Democracy have any complaints?

    • sloopyinca

      I consider the STD education part of reproductive health education since it’s a risk one takes when engaging in reproductive sexual activity.

    • Lackadaisical

      If we don’t get detailed instructions on analingus then you’re discriminating against mulattos.

      “they don’t want there to be a family so the State rules all”

      In loco parentis is one of the scarier legal doctrines.

      • Common Tater

        HM hasn’t been here in ages.

      • slumbrew

        He sticks his nose in once in a while.

      • Common Tater

        *spits coffee*

      • EvilSheldon

        Analingus is really less about technique and more about enthusiasm, anyway.

  7. SDF-7

    Is it ok to hate every man involved in this story?

    Survey says…… Yes!

  8. Strange Brew

    Quick question: what’s it called when a black man’s entire life is whitewashed?
    That’s called a Barry Soetoro.

    • rhywun

      I would rather jam a hot poker into one of my eyeballs than spend one second talking to that preening asshole. Let alone complete reading the article talking about it.

  9. SDF-7

    Nah, let’s make it downright positive with a great song. And here’s another.

    That song’s supposed to be positive? I’m probably biased by the video — but I always took it to be the way the entertainment industry pounces on new meat, corrupts and wears them out then spits on them and all. Not precisely a rollicking laugh fest or anything. 😉

    • sloopyinca

      It’s a great song. A catchy tune. I didn’t say it was as positive as a Bobby McFerrin classic, just that it was a great song.

    • Tundra

      It’s a wonderful cautionary tale.

  10. rhywun

    Many LGBTQ students say they have not felt represented in sex education classes. To learn about their identities and how to build healthy, safe relationships, they often have had to look elsewhere.

    OFFS!!

    Yup, that has nothing whatsoever to do with “sex education”.

    • Rat on a train

      Your sex ed instruction didn’t include how to pick up people at a bar?

      • Robonerfherder

        I could have used some help in that area.

      • Ted S.

        What’s the punchline to the “Two sex educators walk into a bar” joke?

    • R C Dean

      Umm, if you need a class from someone to “learn about your identity”, maybe that’s not actually your identity after all?

      • sloopyinca

        DING! DING! DING!

        We have a winner!

      • rhywun

        They want their “queerness” “affirmed”. Celebrate me! That’s all this is.

  11. Gustave Lytton

    Sex education was always supposed to be reproductive education and why it’s best to avoid it until you’re an adult.

    It was always about endorsing hedonism and undermining traditional values.

    • Robonerfherder

      Just add it to the other myths like “safe, legal, and rare”

      • "RFK Apologist"

        “Safe, legal, and rare” is a big reason why they want this taught in schools. In the US, the general public is outraged about any restrictions on abortion without the exceptions of “rape, incest, and the life of the mother”. No other country in the world allows these exemptions. It was controversial in France to raise the abortion restriction to 15 weeks. In the UK, the country with the most permissive abortion laws in Europe, you cannot attain an abortion after 24 weeks for any purpose without good reason and approval from a board of ethics.

        So either people are routinely dying in Europe from the lack of the “rape, incest, and life of the mother exemption” or Americans embrace nine month abortion, unlike every other nation in the world except China, Vietnam, Cuba, North Korea, and Canada, or Americans have been taught to excuse barbarism with myth.

        Some things are unnatural and must be taught.

      • rhywun

        We like to think Europe is getting more crazy prog than the US but in actuality we’re outpacing them in many areas.

      • "RFK Apologist"

        Right. And in some countries, like France, “le woke” (as they call it) illicits violent responses among elites and workers. Opposition to American progressivism is probably the only issue that can unite the French now.

      • B.P.

        Well, the French did cook up a fair portion of woke. I’m told they don’t want it back.

      • Robonerfherder

        Foucault says hi.

      • EvilSheldon

        Europe still has that royalist stain, even reaching into the universities and filtering down to the primary and secondary schools. Woke progressivism may have been inspired (partly) by some French and German philosophers, but it’s really a product of the American Ivy League.

  12. Robonerfherder

    While we’re focused on the shitshow in Israel, other things are also unraveling quickly, like the Davos stranglehold on EU politics.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/6-takeaways-afds-massive-gains-bavaria-and-hesse-regional-elections

    With both Bavaria and Hesse combined, the AfD party will now have 70 seats, a 50 percent increase compared to its previous 2018 elections. The party actually did better than the polls said it would, which had already painted a rosy picture for the anti-sanctions, anti-immigration party.

    For example, AfD was polling at around 16 percent in Hesse, but actually ended up in second at 18.4 percent, while in Bavaria the AfD is on par with the Greens and Free Voters, where it earned 15.8 percent, making it the third-largest party.

    The party has for years had a stable level of support at around 10 to 12 percent, but in the last year, it has soared in the polls up to 23 percent and continues to hover at 21 percent.

    • sloopyinca

      I wonder what the US would look like if our legislature was comprised of people representing the percentage each party gets in broader elections.

      • sloopyinca

        I can only imagine what the national LP would do if someone said “right, you get to stick 8 people in the House.”
        I assume they’d put the most retarded people imaginable in, including the dude who shows up and strips at the convention on CSPAN.

      • rhywun

        I think the House would be greatly improved with 8 or more of that guy.

      • prolefeed

        You could pick the worst of the 50 state LP organizations, give them carte blanche to pick 8 House members, and all 8 would likely be better than any of the Democrats, and almost all of the Republicans.

        And I say that despite having been a state LP chair for a small state — two years of herding dysfunctional cats.

    • R.J.

      Meh. They’ll ban the party and de-bank all the voters.

      • juris imprudent

        Stupid voters! Do as we tell you, not what you think.

  13. Rebel Scum

    80s montages that don’t involve fighting

    The lame ones, IOW. But the “gettin’-stuff-done” montages are ok.

    • Rat on a train

      We need a montage.

    • sloopyinca

      Yeah, those are fine too. But she does have a valid point on the Chris-Penn-learning-to-dance-in-a-mill montage.

    • The Other Kevin

      Every time I see a montage, I say out loud that it’s a montage because I like the word, and my wife hates that I do that.

  14. Rebel Scum

    Many LGBTQ students say they haven’t felt represented in sex education classes and have had to look elsewhere for relevant information.

    You are supposed to be learning about your parts and the other sex’s parts and how they work, not kinks and fetishes.

  15. Rat on a train

    Expense report kicked back. I can’t approve because you didn’t charge any hours on your travel days.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Client charging or just general hours? Easy, but wrong answer to the latter.

  16. Rebel Scum

    Parents in Seattle confront a naked man at a JCPenney store after he allegedly attempted to inappropriately touch their children

    What a dick.

    • R C Dean

      Of course, in my book “touch in any way without the parent’s permission” is inappropriate touching.

    • sloopyinca

      What? A dick!

      • MikeS

        What a… Dick!

  17. Rebel Scum

    what’s it called when a black man’s entire life is whitewashed?

    Social justice?

    • Robonerfherder

      Israel is going to go overboard on Gaza. Iran and Hezbollah are going to get involved. And then we’re going to end up at war with Iran and hell is going to break loose.

      I can hear the neocons salivating.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        It’s not possible to go overboard on Gaza. The area needs to be removed from further consideration. Either by the citizens of Gaza (overthrowing Hamas or fleeing) or by Israel.

        The US shouldn’t be involved. But that’s a separate issue from Gaza’s continued existence as a functioning State.

      • UnCivilServant

        “Functioning” is a stretch.

        When Israel first fully ceded Gaza to the current residents, they left behind plenty of productive agricultural facilities including mature orchards. The Gazans destroyed them all because Jews built them. The strip is 100% dependant on foreign aid, a lot of which gets reappropriated to further the aims of warring against Israel.

        I have no sympathy. Cut off all aid. Kill anything trying to go in or out. Force them to learn to support themselves.

      • Robonerfherder

        Gaza isn’t a functioning state. It’s not even a state, it’s an open air prison for 2 million people, half of them kids.

        Hamas needs to be extinguished, but I’m not going to pretend that Israel is some ethically and morally upright entity here.

      • Common Tater

        Are they even allowed to flee?

      • Robonerfherder

        No, the border is closed.

      • slumbrew

        “The border”? Borders, multiple.

        Surely the Egyptian border is open to their fellow Arabs.

      • slumbrew

        I assumed I didn’t need to add a ‘sarc’ tag

      • milo

        Missed it by that much.

      • Robonerfherder

        Quoting unnamed Egyptian sources, the statement “emphasised the danger of calls for mass population movement that will empty the (Gaza) Strip and liquidate the Palestinian issue itself. Moreover, Egyptian sovereignty is not fair game.”

      • KSuellington

        Heh, I was just about to mention that inconvenient little fact. No other Arab countries seem to want to take in any significant number of Palestinians, and that most definitely includes the Arab country bordering Israel.

      • B.P.

        Only the U.S. is expected to take in everyone who shows up.

      • Swiss Servator

        Their Islamic bros in Egypt keep the border sealed. SOLIDARITY!

      • dbleagle

        Even the other Arab states consider Palis as untrustworthy assholes.

      • Lachowsky

        I hope not, but the war party’s boner’s are all standing at full attention. If this escalates, I can easily see US troops deployed. On the bright side, Ukraine is gonna have to do without for awhile.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        If I put on my tin foil hat, I might notice that Hamas launched this attack and opened up a new possible war front for the US, right after the House deposed McCarthy and refused to send any more funds to Ukraine. It’s the clear the US population has no interest in continuing to fund Ukraine, but have always been receptive to forever wars in the Middle East.

        It’s probably just a coincidence and not from being given the green light by a 3 letter agency. The same ones that surely knew about it this brewing and didn’t pass the information on to Israel. I’m not ready to believe that yet, but these coincidences have been stacking up quite a bit over the past decade.

      • Robonerfherder

        There are no coincidences in geopolitics.

      • Robonerfherder

        I wish I were surprised.

  18. rhywun

    I have a sneaking suspicion there’s more to this story.

    I’ll pick up my shocked face when we learn that the “more” is that it’s completely fabricated bullshit.

    • Lackadaisical

      Wonder what was printed on his hat. It’s weird they didn’t mention what kind of hat he had on, since they specified others’.

  19. Rebel Scum

    “We’re sorry. We was just messin’ around is all.”

    A senior Hamas official said the group is open to discussions over a possible truce with Israel, having “achieved its targets.”

    Moussa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera in a phone interview that Hamas was open to “something of that sort” and “all political dialogues” when asked whether the Islamist group is willing to discuss a possible ceasefire.

    • R.J.

      They know damn well you don’t get a truce after a sucker punch. This is just a political ploy.

      • Rebel Scum

        Apparently in jihad you can only call for a temporary peace if you happen to be in a weak position. They must know that they are in a weak position.

      • R.J.

        Are they ever in a weak position! I don’t understand what prompted them to do this. Nobody is going to back up Palestine. Iran gave money and weapons, and then got some popcorn. Hamas was stupid enough to use them. What did their leadership think would happen?

      • UnCivilServant

        What did their leadership think would happen?

        That they would gain brownie points for the afterlife by waging war on the Jews.

      • R C Dean

        Indeed. I’m not sure how much cold political calculation goes into the decisions of murderous religious fanatics.

      • Robonerfherder

        Hamas played the part of useful idiots quite well and did exactly what gives Netanyahu an excuse to go apeshit.

        I’ve got no sympathy for them. There a lot of innocent people who are going to get killed as a result, and probably not just in Gaza.

      • Lachowsky

        Exactly. Wasn’t Netanyahu recently in some hot water over some corruption thing or another? Nothing like a good terrorist attack to sure up your grip on power.

    • R C Dean

      “We killed some Jews, kidnapped some new sex toys, so we’re good. Can’t we all just get along?”

      • juris imprudent

        Hey, hey, no culture shaming there buddy.

      • prolefeed

        The Bee nailed it, for once (link is probably broken — windows 7 computer):

        babylonbee.com/news/emperor-hirohito-calls-for-ceasefire-after-bombing-of-pearl-harbor

    • The Other Kevin

      Things had been relatively quiet in recent years, but those of us oldsters remember this play. Terrorists do something horrific, there is retaliation, then the terrorists complain because their women and children were killed. Then the American left falls for it.

      • Nephilium

        I’m starting to believe that the other countries may no longer give a fuck what the American left thinks about it.

    • mindyourbusiness

      I’m sure the Israeli government would agree to a cease-fire, given the acts of Hamas.

      After Hamas – and probably Hezbollah – are destroyed. Root, leaf, and branch.

    • Lachowsky

      I don’t see anything wrong with the deleted tweet.

      • Sensei

        In my opinion it’s too early for us to be advocating a cease fire and we should have stayed silent.

      • R C Dean

        Given the timing, he was basically saying Israel should just lay back and take it.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Well, they were wearing a short skirt.

      • Lackadaisical

        Only problem to me is that none of this is any of our business.

    • sloopyinca

      It’s complete bullshit that a government account has the ability to delete their tweets. If you’re an official, whatever you say is a matter of public record. It cannot be removed. It’s a violation of record retention laws.

      I think we need to make that a felony akin to kidnapping or something. Alter or delete a public record? 20 years.

      • milo

        20 years in Gaza.

  20. R C Dean

    I wonder if the thing to do with Gaza is just lock it down tight – no food, no water, no power, no nothing – and starve them out. Why go in at all? Of course, rocket and mortar attacks should get immediate counter fire, regardless of human shields.

    If you want to fight a war where no innocents get hurt, you will eventually lose the war. As we have seen.

    • Lachowsky

      I don’t know how to stop this thing now, but there will never be an end to Palestinian terrorism so long as the Israel/Palestine conflict isn’t resolved. Two state solution, One state solution, give Gaza to Egypt, I don’t know. But i do know that the status quo is untenable and shit like this won’t stop until something changes.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Egypt doesn’t want Gaza back.

      • "RFK Apologist"

        Their Arab neighbors have screwed the Palestinians as much as Israel. Lebanon keeps them in camps, Jordan doesn’t want them, and Egypt hasn’t cared since Nasser. Doesn’t excuse the Israelis for following suit.

      • rhywun

        Nobody wants the Palestinians – they’re too useful for political purposes.

        I don’t know what the solution is but the “two-state solution” has been offered and rejected several times, because what the Arabs really want is to wipe all the Jews off the face of the earth.

      • The Other Kevin

        This guy gets it.

      • KSuellington

        “From the River to the Sea”.

        They want the whole thing.

      • MikeS

        Right. A lot of otherwise smart people on these very pages don’t seem to get this. Or don’t want to.

      • sloopyinca

        The Israelis could give a warning to the people in Gaza and then bulldoze every square foot of it into the Mediterranean Sea. Then turn it into a massive resort area with casinos and an amusement park.

        Problem solved.

      • Lachowsky

        Where are the people of GAZA supposed to flee to? It’s not like there is any country that will take them. It’s an impossible situation.

      • Robonerfherder

        To wit, Egypt just closed the border.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Then they turn on Hamas. Or die. It’s more than the choice we gave the people of Japan before correctly nuking them into submission. It’s the same choice we should have given the people of Afghanistan after 9/11 rather than putting boots on the ground.

      • Lachowsky

        Like the average Palestinian or Afghan or Japanese or American has any control over their government’s foreign policy.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Stop it US Government, or we’ll vote!

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        But or course the average Israeli has complete control over everything their gov’t does.

      • Common Tater

        I don’t know if those nukes were necessary. Japan was already losing, and there was zero threat to the U.S. mainland.

      • R C Dean

        The deets of where and when? Sure, debate that.

        But it was that, or invade. We weren’t settling (and shouldn’t have) for anything less than unconditional surrender. Given a binary choice like we had, I think nukes were the right call. Fewer dead Japanese, too, in all likelihood.

      • sloopyinca

        The ones who have been tolerating and/or supporting the rule of these terrorists for generations? Gee, I don’t know. Maybe they can petition the Israeli government for relief.

      • R C Dean

        The conflict can’t be resolved as long as both Israel and Palestine exist. Pick which one you wipe off the map, or expect this to continue.

      • Lachowsky

        I have a fantasy that in 1948, The Jews were given Bavaria to create their state in.

      • Gustave Lytton

        30 years too late then.

      • Tundra

        The Zionists got rolling at the turn of the century. Balfour was 1917. This clusterfuck has deep roots.

      • Tundra

        Or what Gustav said.

        1948 was when the ethnic cleansing really picked up though.

      • Lachowsky

        True, but right after WW2 would have been the only time the west could have gotten away with giving away parts of Germany. And lets be honest, Bavaria is a lot nicer land than where they currently reside.

      • Robonerfherder

        The clusterfuck was well tended to and fertilized by the Brits.

      • Tundra

        They were desperate and made promises to everyone. A lot of Arabs turned on the Ottoman Empire with the promise of their own lands. Psych! We’re giving it to France!

        A lot of the current problems are a direct result of their stupid empire and WWI. I suspect history won’t be kind to our stupid empire either.

      • Robonerfherder

        I used to think it was stupidity and desperation.

        Now, not so much. When pretty much every border and treaty you create sets up ethnic and geopolitical tensions that can be triggered at a later date, it ceases to be ineptitude.

        The Brits aren’t that dumb, nor have they ever been that dumb.

      • Lackadaisical

        @robo

        I think it’s a myth that easy ethnic borders existed in the area. Not saying the Brits weren’t dicks, but people don’t typically stay on the ‘correct’ places. Europe is only the way it is after several of what could be called genocides by killing or expelling people repeatedly as needed to make things nice and neat.

      • milo

        Indeed. The roots are nestled deep in the British Empire. Quite a lot of todays problems also are rooted there.
        To be fair, I guess that is the thing with roots. They are the root of things.
        That last part was a Kamala quote.

      • Lackadaisical

        The root of the root days back to the Babylonian empire at a minimum, so…

      • sloopyinca

        The root of the root of the root is the fact that the Islamists literally cannot tolerate the existence of non-Muslims anywhere. Their goal is complete and total subjugation of the human race and they are willing to kill anybody that gets in the way of the global caliphate.
        Gay? You’re dead.
        Jewish? Dead.
        Christian? Dead.
        Forgot to pray to allah yesterday? Flogged (at best).
        Drew a sketch of Allah? Dead.
        Went in a date without an escort? Stoned.
        Showed your head in public? Dead.

        They’re not like other religions or races. They refuse to coexist in peace with others. And I don’t know how to deal with people like that in a way that doesn’t involve fighting in their terms. It sucks, but they made the rules.

      • MikeS

        Those stupid Jews messed it all up?

      • slumbrew

        I still like Carolla’s suggestion to give the Jews Baja.

        They know what to do with a sea-side desert and Mexico could use some Jews to help get their shit together.

      • Tundra

        Dave Smith suggested Canada. But there may be too many Nazis there.

      • Common Tater

        But are donkey shows kosher?

      • Ghostpatzer

        Ask Fredo.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Yes, lets move Jews to a place that tried to incinerate the lot of them.

      • Tundra

        One of the more interesting things I learned recently is that Hitler offered to pay to relocate German Jews but the US and Great Britain said nah.

      • MikeS

        citation please.

  21. Lachowsky

    “The man is attempting to evade people chasing him wearing nothing but socks after he was allegedly holding on to two children”

    I would have shed the socks. Hard to get any traction with just those on.

    • Sean

      Coulda been grippy socks. You don’t know.

    • DrOtto

      The question I had was, where was he wearing the socks?

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Maybe he was in a Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band.

  22. juris imprudent

    Portand that progressive utopia!

    “People walk up and they punch women in the face, and then they turn around and walk away, knowing nothing will happen. And the thing is, we don’t expect anything to happen anymore,” Costantino says. “When this happened to me, people did not stop. Think about that. It’s dystopic. We’re so used to seeing bodies on the ground.”

    And no, she did not have an epiphany from the experience.

    • Rebel Scum

      I had an epiphany once. But that may have just been her stage name.

    • rhywun

      Well, we once had a solution to this problem and everyone decided to abandon it.

      What next?

      • prolefeed

        They literally have a model of how to fix this in a neighboring county, and won’t try those other policies:

        “Oregon’s become a guinea pig for the rest of the free world to see if this would even work. And it hasn’t,” says Ben West, commissioner for Clackamas County, which borders Portland but shares few of its social ills. West … sees the policies pushed by Portland, which he characterizes as “perpetually caught in adolescence,” as cruel and enabling.”

      • rhywun

        And yet the left does not learn anything from this. They look at the failure in Portland and turn around and put the same fucking policies in place everywhere.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        “But this time, it will work!”

  23. Rebel Scum

    But your party is the one that is facilitating this invasion.

    “The Democrat convention is in Chicago next year. Are you confident that your city and your state are gonna have a better grasp?”

    Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker: “Someone needs to work in Texas with these border politicians to have them stop sending people only to blue cities!”

    • sloopyinca

      Fuck you, dickhead.

    • R C Dean

      Something like 2.5% of the people in this country (9MM) came in illegally over the last 3 years. By my math, Chicago and NYC are nowhere near taking their pro rata share.

      • rhywun

        About halfway there.

        2.5% of 8.5 million is 212,500 – NYC has already taken 110,000. Another 100,000 will bankrupt the city and kill tourism unless, you know, they stop throwing money at them.

      • Lackadaisical

        Sounds like a plan. /Texas

    • prolefeed

      In Texas, every one of the people going to the blue cities on a bus signs a form agreeing to go there. So, your problem.

      • rhywun

        And it’s not like they weren’t already going to do that.

        They go where their relatives/village went and where they don’t have to learn English and where they get three squares and a roof for free.

      • B.P.

        I had a couple of flights over the weekend. I noticed numerous illegal immigrants waiting for flights and receiving instructions (presumably) on where to go, what to do, etc. All of this (hotel rooms, flights, medical care, etc.) has to be tallying up to a medium-sized fortune.

    • whiz

      Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker: “Someone needs to work in Texas with these border politicians to have them stop sending people only to blue cities!”

      But pretty much all of the large cities (with resources to take them) are blue.

  24. Rebel Scum

    Yeah, sure…

    U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker TĂźrk, issued a call for peace and understanding in the region from his office in Geneva, Switzerland, before admonishing any prospective retaliatory move by Israel against its Islamic attackers. He cautioned:

    “The imposition of sieges that endanger the lives of civilians by depriving them of goods essential for their survival is prohibited under international humanitarian law

    Any restrictions on the movement of people and goods to implement a siege must be justified by military necessity or may otherwise amount to collective punishment.”

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      But it’s totes OK to cross borders to kill civilians, and capture some to parade on TV with live executions.

      Totes.

  25. "RFK Apologist"

    Seems like college kids at our more pretentious institutions are OK with dead civilians, so long as they’re Jewish. Much the same way that these institutions opposed any escalation with Russia during the Cold War, but now demand blood now that Russia is no longer communist.

    The institutions are not alright and the effeminate kids who have never been in a fistfight are becoming more violent

    • rhywun

      That’s what all their professors are teaching them.

    • The Other Kevin

      Muslims are cool as long as they’re killing and raping and not protesting against showing porn to kids.

      • Nephilium

        Muslims, the natural allies of QUILTBAG+!

  26. prolefeed

    “The Supreme Court convened last week for its fall term, a prospect that now elicits more dread in the average liberal than 90-degree days in October.”

    90 degrees in October here in Texas is also known as “this Thursday and Friday”. Literally.

  27. Sean

    I played https://squaredle.com 10/10:
    *23/23 words (+3 bonus words)
    📖 In the top 16% by bonus words

    • rhywun

      I played https://squaredle.com/xp 10/10:
      21/21 words (+1 bonus word)
      🎯 In the top 48% by accuracy

      I played https://squaredle.com 10/10:
      23/23 words (+2 bonus words)
      📖 In the top 32% by bonus words
      🔥 Solve streak: 16

    • SDF-7

      I played https://squaredle.com/xp 10/10:
      *21/21 words (+1 bonus word)
      🎯 In the top 13% by accuracy

      I played https://squaredle.com 10/10:
      *23/23 words (+1 bonus word)
      🎯 In the top 11% by accuracy
      🔥 Solve streak: 16

    • Ghostpatzer

      I played https://squaredle.com 10/10:
      *23/23 words (+7 bonus words)
      📖 In the top 1% by bonus words
      🔥 Solve streak: 3

  28. prolefeed

    “Because when we last left this Supreme Court, it had abolished affirmative action for college admissions, killed President Joe Biden’s already meager student loan forgiveness plan, gutted the Clean Water Act, and granted a Colorado web designer the right to deny making wedding sites for gay couple … This spree of evildoing came a year after the court infamously overturned Roe v. Wade,”

    I’m working off a completely different definition of evildoing, such as the woman who almost became president calling for “formal re-education” camps.

    • cyto

      Amazing how she got a pass from everyone except us crazy folks.

      I think it comes under the heading of “this is what they actually believe”

      The other day there was a big speech about DNC representatives voting as a block. “We are stronger together”

      Actually talked about fighting MAGA fascists and said “we are stronger together”.

      I am too lazy to go find the original Mussolini speeches.. but that is the exact phrase he condensed to the analogy of a bundle of sticks. A fascist.

      Irony died long ago

    • Rat on a train

      It’s for the greater good as the evil party defines it.

    • rhywun

      I’m working off a completely different definition of evildoing

      You could add: reverse racism, making the working class pay elite college students, valuing the life of a fish over that of a human, compelling certain speech and therefore thought.

      How do you even reason with someone who is completely wrong about everything?

      • prolefeed

        You can’t, by definition, reason with the faith of someone in a faith-based quasi-religion, since faith requires ignoring inconvenient facts and short-circuiting reason. As I saw firsthand during my short tenure as a Mormon. Literally heard this statement dismissing an argument: “If it’s good enough for the President of the Church, it’s good enough for me.”

  29. cyto

    “Many lgbtq students have said they do not feel represented”

    Ok, no they didn’t.

    First…. “many” you would be hard pressed to use the word “many” if *every single gay and lesbian student* complained.

    But that wouldn’t happen… so a tiny percentage of a small number is your theoretical maximum. “Many” is a lie.

    Second… the major contention is around 5th grade sex Ed. Nobody (for large values of nobody) is gay or lesbian or straight or a foot fetishist or any of that in the middle of 5th grade. At best a fraction are beginning to encounter hormones and discover that they have a sexuality. Moreso, teachers spend a big chunk of their effort getting the kids to stop giggling at the word “penis” in the lesson plan.

    The notion that anyone in that class went to an administrator and said “I didn’t feel that my lesbian identity was sufficiently addressed” is just silly.

    Our schools spend 4 days on sex Ed for 5th grade. Before the new Florida laws they spent 2 days on reproductive biology and 2 days on social issues like dating, marriage, families, and a huge chunk of time on lgbtq definitions. Like, way out of proportion in my book. But none of that stuff about it being OK if a grown man wants you to have gay sex.

    The kids got nothing out of most of it. They were not ready to understand sexuality beyond clinical descriptions.

    But they were only a year or so away. And many were right on the edge. So it was the right time. Forewarned is forearmed. We had a kid knocked up in my 7th grade class back in the 70s. My kids haven’t had anyone knocked up in their schools yet… boy is in 11th and 2 girls in different middle schools… so 3 middle schools and a high school with zero pregnancies.

    Something is working.

    So let’s not screw it up by claiming that teaching little kids how to have non-binary anal sex is a critical human right.

  30. Rebel Scum

    You should probably send them to camp. It’s for their own safety, of course.

    The hands-off approach on the night will undoubtedly prompt accusations of bias given that counter-protesters who had earlier attempted to wave the flag of Israel were arrested by police.

    As protesters arrived at Town Hall earlier in the evening, a man clutching an Israeli flag was dragged away by three police officers for ‘disrupting the peace’ – before he even had a chance to unfurl it.

    In an video of the incident taken by Daily Mail Australia, the man can be heard repeatedly saying ‘I’ve done nothing wrong’.

    An officer told him: ‘You’ve been arrested in relation to a breach of the peace.’

  31. Common Tater

    “a gun in every school lunchbox”

    What a maroon.

    Everyone knows the lunchbox is for ammo.

  32. prolefeed

    “when a rebel chode faction led by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz moved to boot him, Democrats then unanimously voted to kick McCarthy to the curb.

    Usually, I only see Democrats exhibit this kind of ruthlessness toward their own kind.”

    The ‘ruthlessness” of every Democrat in the House voting against one of the more squishy RINOs they’re liable to be able to manipulate, because they’re afraid they’ll get primaried for voting for any Republican whatsoever?

    And then whine about what a hardass McCarthy’s replacement might be.

    • R C Dean

      This narrative annoys me. The minority party never, ever votes for the majority party’s leader. This wasn’t some grand conspiracy between the handful of conservative Repubs and the Dems who hate them (and are hated by them in turn). This was business as usual, as far as how the Dems acted. What would have been unusual is for the Dems to install the Repub’s leader by voting for him.

  33. Common Tater

    “Dear Reader,

    TOMORROW, The New Republic is hosting one of the most exciting and important events of the season—the Stop Trump Summit. We are gathering some of the brightest minds in American politics and culture for urgent discussions about the all-too-real threat of a catastrophic second Trump presidency.

    Guests will include the sharpest analyst of Trump’s dangerous mind, his niece, psychologist Mary L. Trump; Oscar winning actor Robert De Niro; former Trump official and “Anonymous” whistleblower Miles Taylor; constitutional scholar and Trump impeachment manager Jamie Raskin; lawyer and CNN contributor George Conway; broadcast journalist Don Lemon; the Reverend Al Sharpton; abortion rights expert Jessica Valenti; lawyer and Supreme Court expert Dahlia Lithwick; journalist Joan Walsh; journalist Molly Jong-Fast; ghostwriter of Trump: The Art of the Deal Tony Schwartz; and Stuart Stevens, messaging maestro of the Lincoln Project.”

    Is there a Guinness record for assholes per square foot?

    • Rebel Scum

      catastrophic second Trump presidency

      The first one went well for a few years.

      sharpest analyst of Trump’s dangerous mind

      “Orange man bad.”

      Jamie Raskin

      You couldn’t find a more dishonest, sanctimonious cunte if you tried.

      • B.P.

        Catastrophic. Yes, we wouldn’t want to abandon these tranquil waters of peace and abundance for more of the chaos we had a few years ago.

    • R.J.

      “Is there a Guinness record for assholes per square foot?”

      Heheheheheheheheeh!

      • Ghostpatzer

        some of the brightest minds in American politics and culture

        WTF? I never heard of most of these people but the ones I have heard of…

        Robert DeNiro?
        Jamie Raskin??
        Don Lemon???
        Al Sharpton????

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Robert fucking DeNiro? Other than being a good actor due mainly to being an unintelligent empty vessel with a talent for memorizing lines what the fuck are his quals?

      • rhywun

        Radical leftist?

    • rhywun

      I’m noticing a similar mass hysteria w.r.t. Trump hatred vs. Jew hatred.

      Both seem to stem from relentless propaganda and have little to no basis in reality. Both end with masses of overeducated white people frothing at the mouth in rage.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        I have said he was treated like the first Jew allowed into a country club. That was he did not go through the cursus honorum. Or to put it in Chicago terms he was nobody that nobody sent. A true outsider as opposed to someone with 20 years of experience who voted against the party line once or twice and is running as an outsider. This goes a way as to why they hate him.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Both Jews and Trump are visual reminders of the failure of Liberal Internationalism.

        Putin is up there too, along with any political leader who preaches any sort of nationalism.

  34. Tundra

    Good morning, Sloop!

    I actually got a good night’s sleep last night, but it didn’t help. The world is still retarded.

    A man in a black hat then decides to throw punches with the man, as the accused pervert fights him off

    Sentence of the day.

    Astros/Twins is an afternoon game, btw.

    Nah, let’s make it downright positive with a great song.

    Both great songs and the cameos in the second are fantastic!

    We were just chatting about Petty yesterday and what an amazing body of work he created. There was a good part in the Replacements book Trouble Boys where Petty took them along on his tour and blew their minds with his professionalism and earnings. It obviously didn’t take and I read elsewhere that Petty regretted the invite.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      So many bands don’t seem to realize that touring is where the money is, and to tour successfully, you need to be professional. In other words, don’t get drunk every night, show up on time, do a good sound check, rehearse, and otherwise put on a good show.

  35. Robonerfherder

    All of the geopolitical fault lines are in play now.

    https://twitter.com/insiderscorner/status/1711717900095279278

    South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff have issued a statement suggesting that North Korea is gearing up for a surprise attack on South Korea, employing tactics reminiscent of the recent Hamas attack on Israel.

    • The Other Kevin

      I wouldn’t be surprised at anything right now. Who’s going to stop any of this? America has the worst leader in its history to the degree that he’s even in charge. Our military is far off from its recruitment goals and is more concerned with being woke than being prepared. We have zero energy independence and our oil reserves are drained. The border is wide open and for all we know every bad actor country has 1000 sleeper agents in place. And every single resource in our federal government is focused on “getting Trump”. We are in an absolutely terrible position right now.

      • Robonerfherder

        We’re switching from a unipolar to a multipolar world. It was never going to be smooth. It seems the best we can hope for is that it won’t be nuclear.

      • Rebel Scum

        So you’re saying that we are ready for a multifront war.

  36. The Other Kevin

    “This SCOTUS was engineered to be a political sleeper cell”
    WTF? Those justices were specifically picked to be (supposedly) more conservative and strict constitutionalists. Everyone has been completely open about that from day one. Why are we seeing all these articles from people who are surprised by this?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Because they aren’t really surprised, it’s rhetoric and lies aimed at convincing the stupider among them.

    • Lackadaisical

      Following the Constitution is stochastic terrorism.

  37. Tundra
    • R C Dean

      Looks ‘shopped to me.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        I think her legs are better defined and larger IRL

  38. Robonerfherder

    On the bright side, the oil markets are not yet pricing in global disaster.

    • Lackadaisical

      Honestly, shouldn’t be any effect on oil, none of the parties to this conflict are significant producers. If Iran gets directly involved maybe that changes, but I don’t see it.

      • Robonerfherder

        Some of the nuttier players are talking about bombing Iranian refineries or attacking a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.

        The markets aren’t lending them credence, yet.

    • Robonerfherder

      Why are we sending our cops overseas for any training?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Because we have money to burn and we’re damn idiots.

      • prolefeed

        Well, the Israelis do know how to spot potential terrorists boarding a plane, without subjecting everyone to the TSA experience of “guilty until x-rayed and patted innocent”.

      • kinnath

        A comment heard from Israeli pilots a long time ago — “You Americans are stupid. You look for weapons. We look for terrorists.”

    • "RFK Apologist"

      Teaching American police Rabin’s “break their bones” policy

  39. Tundra
    • cyto

      Why does no one else understand this.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Throw enough sugar in it and no one notices.

    • robc

      Didnt Michael Jordan do something similar?

    • robc

      Hanko, Inkoo, Porvoo.

      Listen, just because you don’t know the names of any Finnish cities other than Helsinki, doesn’t mean you can just make shit up.

      • cyto

        10 of 10

        Would laugh again

      • robc

        One of my all time favorite maps had 3 cities listed: Bogota, New York City, and Moultrie, GA.

        Most surreal map ever.

        It was connected to a story about drug trafficking using the Moultrie airport. But still.

      • Pine_Tree

        Heh. I was actually born in Moultrie. No memory of it though – moved to Valdosta right after.

      • Robonerfherder

        I’ve been to Oulu, and I had a dog that got Parvo.

      • rhywun

        Finnish is one of the odder-looking languages. It can look like someone’s keyboard is malfunctioning.

        E.g. a song from a band I like: “Kaheksan päivää viikossa”. They’re all like that.

      • Robonerfherder

        Takes three times as long to say anything in Finnish.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Finnish is the Welsh of Scandi languages.

    • PutridMeat

      Wondering who would have an interest and ability in sabotage here. Nordstream, definitely the US/Brittish. But here? Maybe Russia? I don’t see any US, or should I say US deep state, interest. Presumably a lot of Russian oil flows through there now, despite (?) sanctions.

      • B.P.

        It was those guys in that fishing boat again.

  40. milo

    What’s the penalty for offing a woodpecker? Asking for a friend.
    STOP PECKING ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE!!!!
    Three days in a row. God hates me.

    • Suthenboy

      It is pecking for bugs. You might want to have a look at that.

      • milo

        I was afraid of that. fortunately, I just bought the winning ticket for Wednesday’s Powerball. After that these things will be beneath my notice.

      • robc

        I didn’t realize it was that big. I might have to buy one to split it with you. Hope you don’t mind.

      • thrakkorzog

        I feel like the whole sex ed argument can be summed up in three words. “Wear a condom.” This shit ain’t complicated.

        Oh you’re gay and condoms are uncomfortable. Yeah we know, still have t to wear them. That’s not really a gay or straight thing it’s just a thing.

      • B.P.

        Don’t they also peck at things that make loud noises to attract mates?

    • Lackadaisical

      Pmita prison where a lot of wood with be pecking at you instead of your house.

      I would check for rot, usually they’re after bugs.

    • Mojeaux

      Get Hardieboard siding. Had a woodpecker. Got Hardieboard. No more woodpecker. Likely broke his beak.

    • Fourscore

      Pellet rifles aren’t just for kids anymore.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Don’t shoot kids with pellet guns!

      • UnCivilServant

        But if I use real guns, people throw a fit.

  41. Sensei

    Last night, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 54, which will require venture capital firms in the state to annually report the diversity of the founders they are backing. This is the United States’ first piece of legislation that aims to increase diversity within the venture capital landscape. The law will go into effect on March 1, 2025.

    https://news.yahoo.com/california-passes-law-mandating-vc-160119292.html

    • kinnath

      Where is Lex Luthor when you need him?

    • Robonerfherder

      ESG is failing at the national level, so California tries to keep it going.

      Just more evidence for my theory that California is controlled by outside forces which want to destroy the USA.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Divorce cannot happen soon enough

    • rhywun

      This is the kind of thing I was getting at with the U.S. becoming more batshit than Europe. Racial grifters have always been around but since 2020 they have basically taken complete control of everything.

    • Common Tater

      UN Women is so consistently cringe it has to be a psyop.

      • rhywun

        trans lesbians are lesbians too

        OMG 😂🤣

  42. Rebel Scum

    “You know I was in a hostage situation once…”

    “Sadly we know that at least 11 American citizens were among those killed–many of whom made a second home in Israel,” the statement read.

    “It’s heart wrenching. These families have been torn apart by inexcusable hatred and violence. We also know that American citizens still remain unaccounted for, and we are working with Israeli officials to obtain more information as to their whereabouts. My heart goes out to every family impacted by the horrible events of the past few days. The pain these families have endured, the enormity of their loss, and the agony of those still awaiting information is unfathomable,” Biden said.

    Biden said his administration is still working to confirm Americans are being held hostage.

    I’m sure you guys are all over this, like Afghanistan.

    • Suthenboy

      Three and a half days in and Biden is going to get right on this.

      • Robonerfherder

        The question becomes “Who the fuck is in charge?”

        I can only imagine the infighting among various factions in the executive branch right now. Everybody’s got an agenda.

      • R.J.

        The Squad is in charge. And they’ll sort this out!

      • cyto

        This is the only question.

        Also, the question everyone is avoiding asking. We pretend that we have a representative republic with a president who controls the executive. If Trump didn’t disprove that, Biden certainly does. He clearly does not direct anything. The poor dude says it out loud.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    For the good of the nation

    Top real estate and banking officials are calling on the Federal Reserve to stop raising interest rates as the industry suffers through surging housing costs and a “historic shortage” of available homes for sale.

    In a letter Monday addressed to the Fed Board of Governors and Chair Jerome Powell, the officials voiced their worries about the direction of monetary policy and the impact it is having on the beleaguered real estate market.

    The National Association of Home Builders, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Realtors said they wrote the letter “to convey profound concern shared
    among our collective memberships that ongoing market uncertainty about the Fed’s rate path is contributing to recent interest rate hikes and volatility.”

    The groups ask the Fed not to “contemplate further rate hikes” and not to actively sell its holdings of mortgage securities at least until the housing market has stabilized.

    If only we could get back to 3% mortgage rates, the country would be awash in affordable housing.

    • Rebel Scum

      the country would be awash in affordable housing

      I can’t afford to live in the subdivisions I design.

    • Lackadaisical

      3% sounds a little high.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      And by all means, let’s continue to block new construction while allowing millions of people into the country every year.

      • Tundra

        This right here.

        Building homes has become a game only the giants can play. Thanks, government!

      • Common Tater

        Yes, look at Canada.

    • Sean

      Oh, “they” are. They’re focusing on Trump supporters.

      • Lachowsky

        It’s gonna be the 90’s again. Way to go GOP for creating the laws and departments post 9/11 that are going to be used to go after your most ardent supporters.

    • EvilSheldon

      Bulk ammo prices are already trending upwards (again.)

  44. The Late P Brooks

    At the same time, the housing market is suffering through constrained inventory levels, prices that have jumped nearly 30% since the early days of the Covid pandemic and sales volumes that are off more than 15% from a year ago.

    Inconceivable.

  45. Endless Mike

    Dumbest concept ever? Footloose is based on a true story!

    • Lackadaisical

      I don’t support giving either country anything.

      That said, I think Israel can handle it on their own, especially when compared to Ukraine v. Russia.

      • Sean

        They’re passing out guns to civilians now.

        *points to avatar*

      • Ghostpatzer

        They’re passing out guns to civilians now.

        Can confirm. Had a zoom meeting with my (((boss))) this morning. He opined that this shitshow is the result of 50 years of neglect – that the country had gotten complacent, relying on the IDF to keep them safe. An he expects that their very tight restrictions on gun ownership will be lifted in short order – apparently only those living/working in occupied territories can carry as of now. Didn’t help when the borders were breached.

      • Nephilium

        I work for a company with a HQ in Israel, and they just sent out a message about employees/employee families getting activated to their military units.

      • Rebel Scum

        But idk what flag I’m supposed to put in my twitter bio this month.

      • Lackadaisical

        When in doubt, rainbow it out. 🌈

    • Rebel Scum

      Any funding for Ukraine should be redirected to Israel immediately

      Maybe we shouldn’t be funding either. Maybe we shouldn’t be sending “aid” to any Muslim country either. Or any other country for that matter.

      • Tundra

        Wait till you find out who funded Hamas back in the day.

      • Rebel Scum

        Heard Ron Paul say Israel.

      • Tundra

        And the US. They were a hedge against the PLO.

        You literally couldn’t make it up.

      • Lachowsky

        Nah. The U.S. would never consider funding a terrorist organization

    • Robonerfherder

      It’s truly a Sophie’s Choice.

      • cyto

        Sophie??? That bitch Sophie is calling all the shots?

        All this time we have been asking who was controlling things.. the DNC, the CIA, the FBI… some Billionaire cabal… Wall Street…

        Nope. It was effing Sophie??

        Where is this batch. I would like a word….

      • Sensei

        Remember what happened to Sophie!

  46. KSuellington

    I’ve never quite understood why the lefties, and not just the American ones, but worldwide, love to support the Palestinian cause. I get that they always want to socially preen about being on the side of the oppressed, but the “oppressed” in this case are actively against most of their other professed causes. You have the likes of Gerry Adams and Jeremy Corbin, among many others tweeting out support after this weekend. If they lived under the regime they support they’d be against the wall in a month. Well, they have really turned it up to 11, especially the DSA statements and Harvard anti Israel groups. This isn’t going to play out well for them in the long run, princically because of the videos that Hamas themselves released showing the world exactly how they behave. “Free the Palestinians!” doesn’t quite inspire the vast majority of people when they’ve seen videos of dead raver girls with obvious broken limbs being spit upon and paraded around as a war trophy.

    On a similar not, the Free Press has rapidly become one of my favorite sites, they have put out some great stuff over the last few months. I recommended the MAGA Hamptons article and another a few weeks back. This one is also very good and will be a familiar sentiment to the Glibs.

    https://www.thefp.com/p/this-is-what-decolonization-looks

    • Lackadaisical

      “I get that they always want to socially preen about being on the side of the oppressed, but the “oppressed” in this case are actively against most of their other professed causes.”

      They don’t think that far ahead. I think it’s that simple.

      • The Other Kevin

        Just last week they were all butt hurt because Muslims were protesting against porn books in schools. Besides being on the side of the oppressed, there is really nothing the left has in common with Muslims.

    • rhywun

      I’ve never quite understood why the lefties, and not just the American ones, but worldwide, love to support the Palestinian cause.

      Was puzzling that out yesterday. A lot of it boils down, I think, to college indoctrination. Plus good old fashioned Jew hatred.

      See this for more. I think it’s close an explanation as I’ll see.

    • The Other Kevin

      I read that today. Really good article. The Free Press came out of the Twitter files, and I think they do a pretty good job. The articles seem well researched, and it’s a good sign that I agree with some of them and disagree with others.

      • KSuellington

        Yup, same here TOK. I generally take that as a very good sign when I see articles I agree with and disagree with. That is one of the reasons that I dig RealClearPolitics for my daily news breakdown (besides Glibs of course).

        Good article Rhy, as an unallied observer to the situation I feel much the same way as the writer of that. It’s a 2000 plus year conflict that both sides have been bad actors on. And very unfortunately for everyone, most especially the Palestinians, has been the involvement of outside actors, principally Iran, that have used them as pawns.

      • thrakkorzog

        I feel like the whole sex ed argument can be summed up in three words. “Wear a condom.” This shit ain’t complicated.

        Oh you’re gay and condoms are uncomfortable. Yeah we know, still have t to wear them. That’s not really a gay or straight thing it’s just a thing.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    Economic recovery

    The richest Americans are emerging from the coronavirus pandemic with their share of wealth and income on the rise again despite some thought that the tight job market and hefty wage gains spawned by the crisis might narrow the gulf between rich and poor.

    Recent data from the Federal Reserve shows the top 1% of households by income held roughly 26.5% of household net worth at the end of June, up about 1.5 percentage points since 2019, the year before the pandemic bounced the economy between recession, massive government stimulus and high inflation.

    New estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, similarly, show the share of income going to the top 5% grew from 2019 through 2022 – to 23.5% from 23% – extending a trend dating from the 1980s that has given the highest earners greater fodder to build even more wealth.

    For the bottom 40% by income that means a smaller slice of the pie even as their net worth has risen at the swiftest pace in years. While the collective net worth of the bottom one-fifth was up 27% to $4.2 trillion at the end of the second quarter from $3.3 trillion in 2019, their share of the country’s wealth shrank to 6.7% from 7% during that time.

    After a tumultuous period in which labor market leverage seemed to swell among lower-income families and less educated workers, with double-digit wage increases offered by companies struggling to fill less-skilled positions amid a broad worker shortage, the latest data shed a different light on what that has meant.

    “If you think they have any leverage, it is leverage to what end?” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank focused on labor issues. “Share matters because if profits have been so high, wages could have done even better.”

    Needs more Ministry of Plenty.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      So they actually have more but less percentagewise as a comparison and they’re bitching about it? STFU and LOLGF.

      • Lackadaisical

        Unless the dollars are inflation adjusted I’m not sure there was any rise in wealth at all.

    • Rat on a train

      It’s your fault for not being in the top 1%.

      • cyto

        People who have not read Harrison Bergeron think everyone should be in the top 1%

  48. Tundra

    Oh hey, look at that!

    Iranian spies in the government.

    Thank God for the ME distractions or our leaders might have some ‘splaining to do.

    • Robonerfherder

      Now you know DC is going to make its play for war with Iran.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      No surprise there, I’d expect them to spy on us if they have the chance.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        Everyone spies on everyone. Even our allies.

      • Common Tater

        Yet no one had Hillary’s emails?

      • rhywun

        I think the difference is that Biden and friends are doing those countries’ work for them.

      • Tundra

        Does it rhyme with “reason?”

        (drink)

      • Rebel Scum

        Listen, fat. Someone had to do something about Bad Orange Man’s foreign policy. It was far too effective.

      • cyto

        Bonus… as Obama’s VP, the current US president attempted to get the Justice Department to use the Logan act against incoming Trump officials for calling their counterparts to set up the transition.

        Meanwhile… Kerry, also an Obama cabinet official is literally violating the same act…. while actively engaged in Treason.

      • R C Dean

        Democracy?

    • rhywun

      The Biden Administration is compromised by foreign spies.

      I read that as “compised of” and it still works.

      • rhywun

        Only in my head it was spelled right.

      • cyto

        Indeed.

        I was actually stunned by this one.

        The people in charge, whoever they may be. Have been horny to invade Iran for a good 30 years. They claimed Trump was starting world war III by not invading Iran.

        Sure, Iran would be targeting the inner circle to gain visibility and influence. But I figured the neocon cabal would have a tighter rein on this. I suppose that happens when campaign managers and interns full the power vacuum

      • R C Dean

        Which is it? The people in charge want to destroy Iran, or they want to make friends with it by letting it do whatever it wants? Looks the latter to me. What am I missing here?

      • cyto

        Dunno… but neocons have been pushing war with Iran for decades. From HRC to Lindsey Graham and every Bill Kristol in between, they never miss an opportunity to push for war with Iran. It is part of the neocon theology of bringing democracy to the Middle East by overthrowing dictators.

        Maybe the appeasement is a long game of creating excuses. Give them enough freedom from sanctions and they will fund terror, develop nukes and provide a causus belli

      • kinnath

        If the American Empire wanted to wage a war of conquest to take over these lands and run them as part of an ever expanding empire, it would at least be logical.

        But our constant fucking around with other governments to try to create a bunch of Mini-Me‘s around the planet is just plain stupid.

  49. The Late P Brooks

    Recalibrating…

    Britain’s main opposition Labour party on Monday vowed to “rebuild Britain” if it wins the 2024 General Election, as Shadow Finance Minister Rachel Reeves announced a host of new economic pledges aimed at stimulating growth.

    In a confident speech to a packed exhibition hall in Liverpool, Reeves said Labour would fight the next election on the economy but said “change will only be achieved on the basis of iron discipline.”

    “You cannot tax and spend your way to economic production. The lifeblood of a growing economy is business investment,” Reeves said, further cementing the party’s recalibration in recent years as a centrist, pro-business alternative to the ruling Conservatives.

    No, really. This time we mean it.

    • cyto

      “Rebuild Britain”

      So…..

      Are they gonna Build Back Better? Or Make Britain Great Again?

      Because apparently those seemingly close synonyms are diametrically opposed.

  50. The Late P Brooks

    “C’mon, Charlie Brown. I’ll hold the ball steady, and I promise not to pull it away.”

    • Robonerfherder

      Not exactly what she said.

      I condemn the horrific acts we are seeing unfold today in Israel against children, women, the elderly, and the unarmed people who are being slaughtered and taken hostage by Hamas. Such senseless violence will only repeat the back and forth cycle we’ve seen, which we cannot allow to continue. We need to call for deescalation and ceasefire. I will keep advocating for peace and justice throughout the Middle East.

      The Israeli Defense Minister has called Palestinians ‘human animals’ and promised to cut off all electricity, all food, and all fuel to civilians in Gaza.

      This is collective punishment, a war crime, and the U.S. should oppose any violations of international law if we truly support a rules-based international order.

    • cyto

      There are no war crimes against an enemy that does not accept the Geneva convention. You only get that protection if you respect it yourself.

      No targeting civilians. Oops. That was the primary target.

      Must be in uniform. Oops.

      I’m sure there are more. But you can’t get legalistic and miss the foundational legal premise.

      And if you want to go the moral route… Isreal has offered a 2 state solution for decades. Complete independence and autonomy. The only condition? Reject your founding charter and it’s call for the elimination of the state of Isreal. If you are not willing to acknowledge the right of the state of Isreal’s very existence… even to the point that you will stay under blockades and incursions for decades? Well.. that shows some commitment at least.

      Also on the moral route… at what point does Isreal take the Hamas declaration of war seriously. They have maintained this since they were formed, and they enjoy popular support for their war footing and “death to jews” sloganeering.

      Really hard to make a good guys argument in this one… but really, really easy to make at least one bad guys argument.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t expect there to be a good guy in the fight. My question boils down to “If one side were to eliminate the other, would I regard the civilization built on the ruins to be better than the other?” I expect a surviving Israel to build a prosperous and stable society, and not notably expansionist. I expect a surviving Palestine to create yet another Islamic shithole, carrying on more wars against new targets. So, given the number of impossible outcomes and untenable outcomes, I choose Israel.

      • cyto

        Your expectations are clearly the only possible outcomes of total victory with these players.