301 Comments

  1. PieInTheSky

    Complaint Alleges Harvard’s Chief Diversity Officer Plagiarized Her Husband’s Work

    leave Harvard alone they are doing the essential work of teaching the next rulers of America

    • rhywun

      I am loving these developments.

      The whole edifice of fakery is collapsing and what are they going to do about it? Apologize and replace the fakers? LOL.

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

        At every turn, they chose someone due to the color of their skin, as opposed to the scholarship they claim to have done. Of course the replacement will have the same issues, as they were brought up in the same system.

        Like turtles, it is fakers all the way down.

      • juris imprudent

        God forbid they should abandon the whole endeavor – that would be a total loss of faith.

    • Social Justice is Neither

      Well then, in that context stealing is practically a job requirement. So really they’re just getting administrators with practical on the job experience.

  2. PieInTheSky

    Treasury Sec Yellen: High Prices Are Here to Stay

    Well we would not want deflation would we? I never expected the fucking things to go done. They almost never do.

    • Sean

      We all knew it was bullshit that prices would mostly go back.

      • R C Dean

        But the smoothbrains hear “inflation is down” and believe that means “prices are down”.

        Because their brains are smooth.

      • Not Adahn

        As a baby’s bottom.

      • DrOtto

        Prices not rising as fast equals going down to this administration and the press. Then they accuse business owners of greed for not lowering their prices, even though their costs are still going up, albeit not as rapidly. If dividing the country was your goal, this tact would make sense.

      • juris imprudent

        Increasing spending less than you planned to increase it is a budget cut to the same people.

      • creech

        “Budget cut?” You haven’t been listening. That’s called “slashing spending to the bone” when some GOP a-hole proposes even the slightest reduction in increased spending.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        People will die!

    • Cunctator

      From the article, Biden bought refreshments. When KJP was asked what Biden thought about the prices American’s pay:

      —“So, look, when he went over to you all, to the press corps, he was having a good time, right? And offered, as you know, offered to buy them coffee,” Jean Pierre responded. “There was a big group there, and he made sure everyone got coffee and pastries. So I just want to make that really clear.”—

      WTF?

      • SDF-7

        “Look fat — there’s the bread part… and those attorneys we coached are giving the circuses…. What more do you want — a new rain barrel to dunk your straight razor in before you take on Corn Pop for rubbing your smooth legs? Pity Beau was killed at Valley Forge by those extremist MAGA Republicans or he could help me out here….”

  3. SDF-7

    Morning, Banjos!

    Re: ‘Far-Right’ Domestic terrorism:

    Bruce Hoffman, a professor at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and Jacob Ware, a research fellow at CFR, were scheduled Tuesday to present their book, which traces right-wing domestic terrorism through U.S history, including the Ku Klux Klan and groups involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots seeking to reverse the 2020 election.

    Well, that tells me these jackasses are just political grifters. Hey morons — the KKK were not “far-right” (think about it… Wilson was very fond of the KKK… was Progressive Idiot Numero Uno ‘far-right’?).

    All of this just reinforces that this administration hates anyone outside their political coalition and wants to use all their power(s) to crack down on them. And that the Feds should therefore have less powers to use in case of idiots like the PPP bunch. Choir. Preaching. Morning.

    • juris imprudent

      Wilson? Who he??? /modern proggie

    • rhywun

      LOL they’re getting slammed in the comments.

  4. SDF-7

    Treasury Sec Yellen: High Prices Are Here to Stay

    Everyone else: Duh!

    Be nice if they’d stop screwing with energy production and ratcheting up the minimum wage keeping inflation going, though.

    • Nephilium

      Ohio tied the minimum wage to the rate of inflation as a constitutional amendment back in 2006. So each year, they announce near the end of the year what the new minimum wage will be for the upcoming year.

  5. Shpip

    For months officials in the Biden administration have falsely claimed prices on everyday goods and services were going down. In reality, they’re getting more expensive at a slower pace.

    Anyone who thought “inflation is easing” meant “we’re going back to 2019 prices” is too stupid to participate in any rational discussion about current events. If you know a person like that, do everything in your power to keep him or her far away from any polling places this year.

    • Derpetologist

      Unfortunately, it is illegal to advise such people to vote by text message or not to forget election day on November 10th.

  6. PieInTheSky

    That’s all I got for today. I’ll leave you with a song

    Did the leather jacked and smoking make one a rebel in the 60s?

    • Not Adahn

      Smoking? No. How one carried their ciggies? Yes.

    • SDF-7

      I thought it was more of a grey jacket thing since everyone smoked.

      Oh.. 1960s….

  7. SDF-7

    Jesus… the rest of the links…. ugh. Try to have a good day, folks. I think I’ll just go watch things like this until I have to start work.

    • bacon-magic

      Nut punches galore!

  8. Not Adahn

    Last weekend there was an environmentalism radio program celebrating this plan to tear down the dams and free the river.

    • PieInTheSky

      If we get small efficient cheap nuclear reactors I would be in favor of dismantling some hydroelectric stuff. It does ruin the river sometimes. Off course some dams are needed as reservoirs for water not just power.

      • juris imprudent

        Flood control – although Gaia does love a good flood.

    • blighted_non_millenial

      Yes, free the river. I’m guessing none of these environmentalismists have ever lived near a truly free river.

      • UnCivilServant

        No, no, I’d rather not have my house washed away with the spring melt.

      • Not Adahn

        If you can’t afford to floodproof your home, then you don’t really deserve to live there, now do you?

        Even religions primitives figured out how to do that more than a thousand years ago.

      • R C Dean

        I’ve been to the British version (St. Michael’s Mount), which is pretty much right across the Channel fro the French one. Pretty neat.

      • UnCivilServant

        My house is floodproofed by the infrastructure on the river keeping it under control.

      • Fourscore

        Mine is flood proofed by elevation

      • Nephilium

        May I interest them in a Burning River instead?

      • TARDis

        They should be given free helicopter rides to one.

  9. Evan from Evansville

    Mornin’ mornin’.

    Yesterday went shockingly smooth, compared to the clustercuss of Monday. Hope for a repeat at work and Group Outpatient to rise to its former decency and gain. I certainly hope Cutie-Newbie returns. Obviously and for good, nothing will spark between us. Regardless, I’ll have a lovely damsel to tastefully admire. I do love pretty flowers.

    Hope everything is looking up for y’all.

  10. PieInTheSky

    Question: If there is more than one Attorney General do you say Attorney Generals or Attorneys General? And which version is less gay?

    • R C Dean

      Attorneys General. Being correct is never gay.

      • Not Adahn

        In some corners of the internet there is fierce debate about how to be correctly gay.

      • creech

        Except in Florida where you can’t say gay.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Correct, just like Sergeants Major.

    • Not Adahn

      The second one. Although I think that’s grammatically incorrect.

      • R C Dean

        Well, they’re attorneys, not generals. “General” is a descriptive part of the title that modifies “attorney”.

      • Not Adahn

        Except that it’s a distinct position. It’s not a regular/generic sort of job. I might see that logic applying if there were an organization with multiple AGs, but since that’s never the case, the only time you’d be using the plural is when you’re referring to a group of independent individuals with very specific jobs.

      • Evan from Evansville

        This guy’s jib. I strongly approve.

        AP goes with Attorneys General. I didn’t approve of this at the paper.

      • Not Adahn

        From now on, as long as I remember to do it and as long as I find it funny, I’m going to pluralize the abbreviation AG as AsG.

      • Rat on a train

        see also Privates First Class, Sergeants First Class, Sergeants Major
        What is the possessive? Attorney’s General or Attorney General’s?

      • rhywun

        It’s from some bastardized legal lingo we inherited from the French.

    • SDF-7

      Attorneys General is my understanding. And ask Tonio, I’m not qualified.

      • Tonio

        W00t! I agree with RCD and NA that Attorneys General is the correct pluralization. They are attorneys, not generals, so therefore attorneys general, surgeons general, and Vogons prostetnic. But the plural of major general is major generals because they are generals, not majors.

      • Chipwooder

        And yet the plural of sergeant major is sergeants major. Go figure.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Old school, they were Sergeants appointed to a Major position.

        E7 was the highest pay grade until the late ’50s. First Sergeants and Sergeants Major were selected from that pool of senior NCOs and went back to being Master Sergeants when no longer in the position.

    • Nephilium

      The dick answer is Attorney’s General’s, but I would lean towards Attorney Generals as I believe the title is Attorney General (instead of the title being Attorney and you’re just a general one) and you have more than one of them. If you had multiple people who were cooks on a line, would you call them Lines Cook or Line Cooks?

      • SDF-7

        I always preferred Cook Cruisers to Cooks of the Line anyway.

      • R C Dean

        Well, they aren’t lines, they’re cooks, so you pluralize cooks. Just like Attorneys General are attorneys, not generals.

      • Not Adahn

        Are they though? Can’t you be elected AG without a law license? Obviously they’re not an attorney in the sense that you can go and ask one to write you a will or defend you in court.

      • R C Dean

        Well, no, they won’t do work for you because they are in-house counsel for the government. You’re not their client, and can’t be.

        Whether you have to be licensed, I don’t know. It may not be a black-letter requirement, but it certainly is a practical requirement. I’ve never heard of one that wasn’t an attorney.

      • Not Adahn

        Right, so just like the lawperson profession is specified in the UK as “solicitor” or “barrister,” an Attorney General is not just some attorney with a better office, it’s its own thing. It’s an office. The “general” is not an adjective modifying the office, it’s part of the office.

        When the Surgeon General releases their latest recommendation, we talk about the “Surgeon General’s report.” Because the word “general” is part of the noun.

        Maybe we should rename the position to be General Attorney, like we do General Manager.

      • Fourscore

        Generals can be managed because they are political

    • R C Dean

      Oh, and very well played, Pie. You know your audience well.

    • Mojeaux

      Attorneys General.

      Mothers-in-law, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, fathers-in-law.

      But in-laws and outlaws.

      • R C Dean

        The Editrix has spoken. So let it be written.

  11. Sensei

    I follow Big Brother and finance and this is new news to me.

    Banking Industry May Need to Spend Millions to Gain Access to Company Ownership Database

    The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Treasury unit in charge of managing the database that became effective this month, estimated that financial institutions would need about 6.5 million hours of work in the first year to establish procedures and implement safeguards to meet the security and confidentiality requirements to access the database.

    That translates into more than $686 million at a $106 hourly rate, FinCEN estimated in a notice filed on Monday.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/preparing-to-access-beneficial-ownership-database-will-cost-banking-industry-millions-fincen-estimates-1f4e462d?st=8a9uuklnzo9dqpn&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • R C Dean

      Talk about camel noses and tents. I’ve had to do a a little bit of work on this anti-money-laundering crap and it’s about as intrusive an exercise as I have seen.

      Because people engaged in money laundering are of course going to make a full accounting of their associates and holdings to the fucking feds. We got ‘em this time!

      • SDF-7

        The utopian idealist in me keeps wanting to ask “Please point to the section of the Constitution that authorizes the Federal Government to do this. No, the “Regulate Interstate Commerce” clause does not count….”

        Sigh.

        “But it is anarchy if we don’t get to run every aspect of everyone’s lives through faceless bureaucracies! The terrorists and criminals might win!”

        Double sigh.

      • juris imprudent

        Really, there’s no point in asking. People need to be told – fuck off slaver. It isn’t any more effective, but it at least puts it in proper perspective.

      • Not Adahn

        Is “camel’s nose” racist yet? And if not, who has been slacking?

      • Not Adahn

        Yeah, but “racist against Muslims” has been a thing since 9/12/2001.

      • creech

        Could be racist. After all, a couple years ago a U of Penn student was found guilty of a hate crime by telling some loud girls they were a “herd of water buffaloes.”

      • Sensei

        +1 OFAC List. I work in financial services. Don’t get me started.

      • Gender Traitor

        This. The BSA was truly a BS act.

      • Rat on a train

        I worked with redacted BSA data (only the who not the what). That was enough of a pain.

    • Rat on a train

      Just as long as almost meeting reporting criteria is still a crime.

  12. Derpetologist

    Speaking of inflation…

    MAGA Is Based on Fear, Not Grounded in Reality
    Opinion by Paul Krugman

    ***
    That is, at this point, Republican political strategy depends largely on frightening voters who are personally doing relatively well, not just according to official statistics but also by their own accounts, by telling them that terrible things are happening to other people.

    This is most obvious when it comes to the U.S. economy, which had a very good — indeed, almost miraculously good — 2023. Economic growth not only defied widespread predictions of an imminent recession, it also hugely exceeded expectations; inflation has plunged and is more or less where the Federal Reserve wants it to be. And people are feeling it in their own lives: 63 percent of Americans say that their financial situation is good or very good.
    ***

    [Kif sigh]

    • Cunctator

      —“Economic growth not only defied widespread predictions of an imminent recession, it also hugely exceeded expectations”—

      I suppose that if you count government spending as part of GDP, you can get the illusion of widespread growth. Money used to be a place holder for production. It’s much easier to move an amount of money cross country to pay for the goods, rather than ship the goods for barter, but at some point there needs to be goods. Big bags of money moving around don’t necessarily indicate a healthy economy without the concomitant goods.

    • The Other Kevin

      Who the hell are these 63%? The stats are out there, and they’re not good. Household savings way down. Credit card debt way up. Home prices way up. I just got my annual 3% raise, which I am grateful for, but that doesn’t cover inflation. There was an article on the Federalist last week about how high prices were like an extra $900 bill every month for the average family. That’s not “miraculously good”.

      Maybe if they keep up this gaslighting more people will realize what fools they are.

      • Derpetologist

        That figure comes from an online poll posted by Axios, one of the many lefty trash-humper gangs out there.

      • creech

        I’m afraid the fools only wake up when unemployment starts going up. Then it becomes a partisan horse-race on whether the “greedy (Republican) business owners” get the blame or the “big spending (Democrats) in Washington” get it.

      • Fatty Bolger

        There’s no way that’s a legitimate poll result.

    • Not Adahn

      That case is so egregious that if the Feebs were rewarded, it’d be redacted time.

    • R C Dean

      And it only took three years (so far). One of the things wrong with our legal system is it’s too damn slow.

      • Sean

        Tell that to Derek Chauvin.

      • The Gunslinger

        And Mark Steyn and Rand Simberg.

      • creech

        Then again there’s Canada where, yesterday, the cops in London, Ontario just got around to arresting five hockey players who allegedly raped a woman back in 2018. I heard one commentator opining that it’s perfectly feasible that it take six years to review surveillance tapes, interview witnesses, etc. etc.

    • Nephilium

      When the Ninth slaps you done…

      On the other hand, who in the FBI will be punished for this overreach?

      • Not Adahn

        Well, this isn’t so serious as say falsifying a FISA warrant application, so the punishment needs to be less than that.

      • SDF-7

        Yup… that’s what is severely missing from this story — consequences for the blatant overreach. “Oops…. did I do that? Oh, and we ‘misplaced’ about 20% of the take!”

        Highway robbers were less brazen.

      • juris imprudent

        Highway robbers risked getting shot for their trouble. The King’s men have no such worry from the King’s bench.

      • juris imprudent

        Did Belichick ever coach the FBI?

    • Tonio

      Also, this case was litigated by the Institute for Justice, an organization to which the Glibertarians Foundation regularly donates. But that doesn’t preclude you from making an individual donation to IJ if you are able to do so.

      • Rat on a train

        I am on payment plans for IJ and PLF. Any other suggestions?

      • Tonio

        Bless you.

        I assume PLF is Pacific Legal Foundation.

        Also, the FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (formerly the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education). They do an excellent job fighting against speech codes, compelled speech, etc. Glibertarians also donates to them.

      • Sensei

        I do so every years as part of my “forced” voluntary giving asked for by my Fortune 100 employer. Naturally they don’t match the donation unlike they do to more PC charities.

      • trshmnstr

        Naturally they don’t match the donation unlike they do to more PC charities.

        I threw a shit fit a couple years back because they’d match contributions to Planned Parenthood, but not to Compassion International (which provides essentials and education to poor kids in various countries). They “fixed” it, but it reverted the next year so I said “eff it” and stopped using the match program. My IJ contribution isn’t formatted in a way that could be submitted to them they need a receipt for each payment, and I only get a receipt annually.

      • robc

        I have no problem free riding on the back of the glib foundation, thank you very much.

        But seriously, IJ is near the top of my list for donations (Convoy of Hope is in the #1 spot currently). Funny story, when I bought my house back in 2007 (many houses ago), the primary carryover mail from the previous owners was the IJ asking for more money. I liked that two owners in a row were pro-IJ.

  13. Derpetologist

    The square root of 2^4096 is about 1e384, which is about the number of possible 4096-bit keys with an equal number of 0s and 1s. For comparison, the Enigma machine had about 1.6e20 possible settings.

  14. juris imprudent

    How is the FACE act not facially deficient on Constitutional grounds? Commerce? I don’t care how many times Congress chants “commerce” it doesn’t make it real.

    • Not Adahn

      ‘Cause abortion is not only the most important right, it’s the ONLY right recognized by one major political party. To be fair though, most of those people do also believe in the right to vote without ID.

      • Not Adahn

        I phrased that badly. Abortion is the only right that in the opinion of IFLSers may never be restricted or limited. Covid can nullify 1A and 4A, 2A, 9A and 10A never existed, but abortion may never be infringed.

        Anyone know if during the two weeks years to flatten the curve, abortion clinics were closed, or were they classified as essential?

      • R C Dean

        Medical facility, so “essential”.

        I believe both the mother and fetus had to be masked, though.

      • Not Adahn

        IIRC, didn’t your (and other) hospitals close to non-COVID patients for a while? Isn’t that why nurses had so much free time to make tiktok vids?

      • "RFK Jr Apologist"

        Yes, but abortion and gay sex is also a central part of American foreign policy. If you think that’s facetious, then try to figure out another reason why the US pressured the Japanese to approve gay marriage and fund opposition groups in Hungary and Poland to legalize all abortions and gay marriage.

      • R C Dean

        Not closed to non-‘Vid patients as such. For a stretch, closed to scheduled (known as “elective”) procedures (which isn’t a small thing), but otherwise open for bidness.

      • Nephilium

        Now I’m curious if the states that shut down elective surgeries included abortions in that.

      • "RFK Jr Apologist"

        No, they did not. Some Red states tried to be cute and seize abortion clinic masks etc. and the same federal courts who ignored the first clause of the first amendment and 200 years of precedent shut them down immediately. The courts are not legitimate

      • The Last American Hero

        That same party also favors the right to publicly funded sex changes for minors.

        It’s not just about abortion.

    • "RFK Jr Apologist"

      Because it’s used against the “bad people”. It supposedly makes blocking religious services a felony. That happens frequently now, especially after 9 month abortions was decided not to be a constitutional right. No one has been prosecuted. No one even gets prosecuted for vandalizing and burning churches anymore, which has occurred over 50 times since Roe v. Wade was overturned. People need to stop pretending like courts are legitimate

  15. SDF-7

    Before I forget (again) — hope WebDom is feeling better today. I expected a whole different site with login problems (because I’m cynical when it comes to IT projects these days) when I woke up this morning. Sorry she was sick yesterday.

    • R C Dean

      I jammed in a half-baked post just before yesterday’s deadline so I could put off tangling with the new-fangled block editor.

      *shakes cane*

      • juris imprudent

        Currently writing in OpenOffice and I’ll figure out the export later.

  16. SDF-7

    I played https://squaredle.com/xp 01/31:
    *23/23 words (+4 bonus words)
    🎯 In the top 18% by accuracy

    I played https://squaredle.com 01/31:
    *34/34 words (+5 bonus words)
    🎯 In the top 8% by accuracy
    🔥 Solve streak: 222

    And I looked at some of the leaderboards for ones I’ve done — Bonus Words definitely dominate way over accuracy when it comes to score… so I’m way below the 500s. And I don’t care… my own goal is for accuracy, I don’t play for other people’s metrics. (Anarchy! Anarchy!)

    • Sean

      I played https://squaredle.com/xp 01/31:
      *23/23 words (+6 bonus words)
      📖 In the top 9% by bonus words

      I played https://squaredle.com 01/31:
      34/34 words (+15 bonus words)
      📖 In the top 13% by bonus words
      🔥 Solve streak: 129

      I’ve only looked when I’ve had an exceptional day, but don’t care enough to change from anonymous.

  17. Derpetologist

    War is a racket, exhibit 18B

    ***
    Joe Biden appears to have found a way around the Republican Party’s blockade of Ukraine aid using a little-known presidential power.

    In a letter to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, reported by Greek media, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US would send Greece a batch of weapons and equipment free of charge under the Excess Defense Articles law.

    The rule states that the US president can authorize the transfer of weapons deemed to be surplus to US requirements to other countries for little or no money.
    Under the deal, the US will send Greece two C-130H aircraft, 60 Bradley armored fighting vehicles, 10 engines for P-3 patrol planes, three Protector-class ships, and a consignment of transport trucks. That’s in addition to selling Greece a fleet of 40 F-35 fighter jets for $8 billion.
    ***

    • "RFK Jr Apologist"

      The FT also had an article about an EU plan to bankrupt the Hungarian economy if they keep vetoing further money for Ukraine

      • Derpetologist

        future journalist:

        It became necessary to destroy the EU in order to save it.

      • Drake

        Like a hole in the head.

      • R C Dean

        You know who else tried to unite Europe under a single regime?

      • Not Adahn
      • Cunctator

        Points to avatar—-Not me

      • Drake

        So is the EU like the American Federal government, where a state can never leave without winning a civil war? The EU sure acts like the Warsaw PACT now.

        Once the Ukraine winds down, why wouldn’t Hungary and Slovakia punch out of the EU and join BRICS?

  18. UnCivilServant

    (-.-)

    Of course the textbook I’m using had to bring in code requiring a header file not in their example code, nor in the manufacturer’s delivered development material.

    It wouldn’t be this project if there weren’t something completely unhelpful.

    • Unreconstructed

      That’s always fun! Gotta love trying to chase down an obscure header file with little to no documentation.

      • UnCivilServant

        I took the alternate route – transform their code to what would work without the header’s shortcuts.

        Sure it means more bitwise math, but “TACTL_bit.TAIFG==0” and “(TACTL & TAIFG)==0” are logically equivalent in the end.

      • UnCivilServant

        (Those are delivered identifiers, where TACTL is Timer A Control, and RAIFG is Timer A Interrupt Flag, a bitmask to indicate bit 0 of the TACTL byte)

      • Unreconstructed

        I guessed something along those lines. What microcontroller are you programming? And yeah, cute header shortcuts are not always that important. Some can be handy, but the one you’re highlighting doesn’t seem to provide a lot.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m learning the MSP430 series. The chip I have in front of me is a G2553, but some F2003s will arrive friday.

  19. Aloysious

    …that they say provides a path to remove four dams on the Snake River in Washington, replacing the hydroelectric power the dams produce with power from wind and solar sources.

    Talk about being divorced from reality. Replacing reliable, consistent electricity with delusions is idiotic. There’s no such thing as magic, and the progressives behind this kind of thinking are the worst kind of superstitious primitives.

    • juris imprudent

      What are you talking about, the sun always shines half of the day and the wind always blows when it doesn’t.

      • Aloysious

        I know, I’m a slow learner. I’m incapable of superstitioning in the correct, approved military manner.

    • The Last American Hero

      The green weenies have benefited from low electricity rates for a decades because of these dams. They really don’t understand what they are fucking with to save the fish.

      But they have the votes, so the dams will come down. Rolling blackouts, here we come.

      • Aloysious

        The irony is that here in Idaho we live in the land of canals. There are hundreds of miles of canals everywhere, they’ve been done for decades. On the rare occasion I converse with someone who supports dam removal, I point this out. I then ask why we can’t dig fish friendly canals around the dams to aid in the return of the fish to their spawning grounds. All I get is a blank stare. Dam removal is an article of faith.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      I don’t know anything about these specific dams, but dams can get silted up resulting in low power output. In those situations dam removal might be warranted. Replacing that power with wind and solar, however, is stupid.

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

      Its all backwards rationalizing. The left/greens/etc. HATE dams with a passion that might even exceed that of their gun hate. See Edward Abby et al. So, in order to achieve the removal they give out half baked plans for green energy. But, no, they don’t really care about flood plains, industry, black people (who are directly involved in the two previously mentioned things) natives, etc.

  20. R.J.

    Dear TPTB:
    Since the update did not occur last night, I went ahead and turned in my piece for Thursday. Use it this Thursday or next, should the update occur then.

  21. rhywun

    Montana Child Trafficking Story Exposes GOP Weakness In Protecting American Children

    Leftist control of all the institutions is complete despite which teams the clowns supposedly running things are from.

    Film at 11.

    • R C Dean

      Exhibit 1,283,412 for “why should I vote, again?”

      • rhywun

        Sigh… I know.

        I’m only doing it for the (very mild) lulz.
        Plus I like to point at the tiny number of non-Dems in my district’s results and triumphantly declare, “That’s me.”

    • Certified Public Asshat

      During the examination, the hospital refused to call the Kolstad’s daughter by female pronouns and the name she was given at birth. Instead, they referred to her as a boy named “Leo.” It’s supposed to be illegal in Montana for children to receive “permanent, life-altering medical procedures” like hormone blockers, cross-sex hormones, or irreversible surgeries. But unlike conservatives, progressives never ask for permission when exercising their bureaucratic power.

      The staff ultimately determined the teenager could not have taken painkillers with the cleaning supplies as she claimed. Physically, she was fine.

      If you want hormones, just lie about ingesting Mr. Clean.

  22. Suthenboy

    Cited: The Dylan Roof shooting. Jan. 6 doesnt count as that was kabuki theater coordinated by the FBI.
    Ok, what other right wing extremisty have they got? Nothing about the left burning, looting and killing during the summer of love?

    Cori Bush? Fannie Willis? I think Willis already played the race card. Bush will, bet on it.

    Again, I wonder how many Ivy League Admins are shitting their pants praying that somehow they get overlooked.

    You cant vote for Trump, he will destroy democracy. Would love to see him win in a landslide by write-ins. That would be a huge ‘Fuck you’ to the state-level fascists.

    The horror of the mutilating of children, both physically and psychologically is really hard for me to swallow.

    The corruption runs so deep and the accountability nearing zero, they aren’t even trying to pretend anymore.

    And we are the fascists. Progjection all the time with that bunch.

    Cheap, easily available energy empowers individuals and facilitates a healthy economy. It must not be allowed to stand.
    Ask The Twentieth Century Motor Company what lies at the end of that road.

    No one is hated more than the Apostate.

    Shorter Yellin: “Mission accomplished!”

    • "RFK Jr Apologist"

      Plagiarism is rife among academics, but no one seemed to care about that when they were banning Tolstoy over the War in Ukraine or harassing anyone to the Right of Stalin.

      Easy prediction: only academics who aren’t spouting American foreign policy are at risk. The crime committed here was questioning American policy in Israel.

      It’s farcical to believe that no one knew that colleges were infested with rabid bigots. Everybody knew that. But, it only became a problem when they were no longer “our bigots”.

  23. R.J.

    I wonder what Fetterman’s wife thinks of all this. He did change after his stroke. This is not uncommon after a traumatic event. He’s not going to change back.

    • SDF-7

      Lots of gossip on that apparently. I don’t care and think it looks like “DC is teenage girl Junior High writ large” so haven’t read it… but you can’t avoid the headlines.

      • R.J.

        I feel for the guy. If it’s true that the going got tough and she left, that is very sad.

      • trshmnstr

        If she left him because of his political stance on Israel, as rumored, then it sounds like he may have just been given a gift.

        I would really enjoy the red pilling of Fetterman.

      • rhywun

        he may have just been given a gift

        THIS

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yeah by all accounts, was leeching off his political rise. She doesn’t need him no more, I expect her to resurface latched to another politician.

      • R C Dean

        I suspect she was hugely disappointed when he survived and she couldn’t inherit his office, as is traditional for the spouses of deceased politicians.

      • Chipwooder

        I 100% believe she was disappointed that he survived.

      • The Last American Hero

        I don’t. He’s a power hungry shithead that wanted to be elected more than he wanted his health. Him and Biden can both go to hell.

      • Fatty Bolger


        Magills @magills_
        Fetterman finally got that annoying lump removed

      • juris imprudent

        That’s a rude way to refer to Gisele.

    • Urthona

      Well she left him. Or vice versa. A real piece of shit that one.

      And there’s some speculation that losing his loony partner may have a made him a little more … you know… right wing.

      • creech

        Could be. He’s apparently joined Republican senators like Vance and Rubio in denouncing the proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel.

      • juris imprudent

        Well that’s not an idiot brigade I would care to join.

    • Drake

      I firmly believe that he died last year and Fetterfake was installed. She probably is enjoying the upgrade.

    • rhywun

      I have no idea what’s going on there but in blank-years-old stuff, I was marveling the other day at a South Park episode about trannies that could have been ripped from last week’s news. It was dated 2005.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I liked that movie.

      • Derpetologist

        My expectations were low, and I was pleasantly surprised by the behavior of my students. Their math knowledge, not so much. Then again, that is why we have teachers and schools.

  24. CPRM

    …we no longer live in a country that protects the divine right of parents.

    This is kind of phrasing sours me on conservatives, that sounds like some sharia shit.

  25. Aloysious

    In the context of Hollywood putting out limp dick movies time after time after time, I do think Guy Ritchie is going to hit it out of the park again. I mean, he’s not the cineast that either of our very own Ted’s or R.J. is, but he does ok.

    • Nephilium

      I’ll stand up for the Gentlemen, and I may even give the Netflix show on it a chance.

      • kinnath

        I really enjoyed the Gentlemen, and I am looking forward to the series.

        The new movie looks good.

    • R.J.

      Ted is far better spoken than I. I am like Ted’s twin brother who is kept in a wicker basket.

      • Aloysious

        Do not denigrate yourself. As the official alien Tulpa of Glibertaria, you are irreplaceable.

        In fact, since we officially have Tulpa-spawn wriggling about, I must, as a mere henchtulpa, demand that the noobz bow to the GREEN BLOBBY HEADED ONE. …but keep one eye on your backside, noobz. STEVE SMITH is always behind you.

    • ron73440

      I love Guy Richie movies.

      Usually, a Netflix show based on a movie I like would be something I would be wary of, but if he is involved, it should be a good show.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Just like a real politician

    As he looks past the GOP primary and towards a likely general election rematch against President Joe Biden, Donald Trump will meet with members of the Teamsters Union in Washington Wednesday afternoon as he tries to cut into Biden’s support.

    The former president will participate in a roundtable with the group’s executive board, its president and rank-and-file members as he targets the blue-collar workers who fueled his 2016 victory and who are expected to play a major role in November, particularly in critical Midwestern swing states like Wisconsin and Michigan.

    ——-

    Among the topics planned for discussion Wednesday are the shrinking middle class, workers’ wages, antitrust and bankruptcy issues, as well as union rights.

    “Our members want to hear from all candidates of all parties about what they plan to do for working people as President,” Teamsters president Sean O’Brien said in a statement. “Our union wants every candidate to know that there are 1.3 million Teamsters nationwide whose votes will not be taken for granted. Workers’ voices must be heard.”

    Sure, Trump, go suck up to the crooks at union HQ.

    • The Last American Hero

      He doesn’t need to win the endorsement. He needs to siphon enough votes away from the lock team blue has and make them play defense for once. Same goes for the monolithic black vote.

      I do not support Trump, never did, never voted for him, and won’t this year. However, that is the strategy here.

    • kinnath

      Good old Ronnie Raygun took a bunch of union votes away from the Dems back in the day.

      It’s a solid strategy.

    • creech

      Trump’s line will probably be that independent non-union trucking companies will be hiring all them illegals who will be driving tractor trailers without proper licensing and running motorists off the highways while blaming great red-blooded American Teamsters for the carnage.

    • R C Dean

      O’Brien’s a commie, though. So it will be one trap after another, and then a misrepresentation of what was said.

      Probably best to pass on this one, and just go straight to the members.

      • kinnath

        I think it’s a good strategy. Two things could happen. First the union leadership might actually say good things about Trump (unlikely, but possible). Trump wins. Second, the union leadership could try to stab him in the back after the meeting. At that point, Trump goes to the rank and file and says that union leaders are just as bad for the union as the dems are are. Another win.

        Trump just wants to cause churn which gives him fodder to flap his jaws in front of the press. It doesn’t matter what the union leadership does. Trump benefits.

  27. Shpip

    “I posted several months ago that i would be talking a break from social media. I was bored with it … i am a Pisces … it wasn’t adding anything to my life .. but leaving social media is somehow more exhausting than having it?!” she said on Twitter. “You guys really are terrible, respectfully,” she added.

    Sounds like going to Washington made her…
    (dons sunglasses)
    … a fish out of water.

    • Sensei

      Thanks!

      What a difference between the microagressions of today and the US of pre-civil rights days.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, and the people perpetrating the present-day campaign to depict today’s America as the most racisty institution in the world should be fucking ashamed of themselves.

  28. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda

    South Minneapolis’ Edmund Boulevard is about as nice of a place as you’ll find in an American City. A leafy street in a quiet neighborhood, each house faces the stunning Mississippi River gorge, itself a huge linear park boasting one of the city’s best recreational paths. Throw in good public schools, not to mention the private ones, and countless cultural amenities and restaurants within an easy drive, it’s easy to get enchanted.

    Yet whether they like or not, the residents of Edmund Boulevard are becoming symbols of Minneapolis’ often invisible racism. For historians, the street reflects the structural racism that’s made Minneapolis a poster child for deeply rooted racial inequality. That’s because the mile-long street is named after Edmund Walton, the man who brought legal racial segregation to Minnesota.

    There are some priceless quotes in there. The best part is the biggest gadfly pushing to change the street name doesn’t even live on the street.

    • Pope Jimbo

      The good news is that there seem to be a few sane people left in Minneapolis:

      That’s probably one reason that Brandt, Howery, and others like Joseph Larsen have fliered Edmund Boulevard itself a few times now, hosting two community meetings aimed at an official petition. The first went well, but the second back in early December attracted mostly skeptics. It was disheartening for the LCC crew, but they’ve regrouped and are aiming to broaden the discussion to include more people throughout the city.

    • Fourscore

      Growing up in Mpls in the ’30s-’40s many of the schools and street names were Indian, the street names remain AFAIK but the schools I went to closed for lack of customers (I guess). Neighborhoods change as they get older. Where the remaining kids go to school I have no idea nor do I care.

    • rhywun

      See my comment above about people pushing this shit.

      Fine, rename the street. Whatever. Let’s not pretend it’s going to “heal the planet” or some such.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Right wing terrorism

    A gruesome killing is under investigation after a man posted a social media video showing what he claimed was his father’s decapitated head and ranting about the Biden administration and the border crisis while declaring himself the new acting president of the United States under martial law.

    The video circulated for hours on YouTube – garnering more than 5,000 views – before it was taken down. Justin Mohn, 32, now is being held without bond, charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and other charges, Pennsylvania court documents show.

    The horrifying case comes amid a fraught national political environment and as social media executives – set to be grilled Wednesday by Congress – have been under fire for allowing graphic and sometimes violent videos to be posted and remain on their sites.

    Police started investigating Mohn after a man in his 60s was found beheaded and covered in blood Tuesday, CNN affiliate WPVI reported.

    In the video, the man identifying himself as Mohn apparently reads from a written statement and at one point holds up what appears to be a bloodied head inside a clear plastic bag. He says his father, who was a federal employee for over 20 years, was a traitor to his country.

    “The federal government of America has declared war on its citizens and the American states. America is rotting from the inside out as far left, woke mobs rampage our once prosperous cities,” he says in the video.

    I hope they charged him with sedition.

    • trshmnstr

      He clearly doesn’t have a good head on his shoulders.

      • Fourscore

        Singing “I ain’t got no body”

    • "RFK Jr Apologist"

      This will be one of those incidences where the anti-death penalty crowd all of a sudden will get silent. Just like when that asshole shot up a black church and suddenly the death penalty became good. Perhaps the most disingenuous group in America, which is a high bar to clear

    • Not Adahn

      was found beheaded and covered in blood

      Wouldn’t it be more newsworthy if he was beheaded without being covered in blood?

      • juris imprudent

        That would implicate Pie wouldn’t it?

  30. The Late P Brooks

    You can’t condemn the the entire program over one little slip-up

    Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is calling on the United States and its allies to restore funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), warning it risks a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

    The Biden administration froze aid after Israeli allegations, deemed credible by the U.S., that a dozen of the agency’s workers participated in the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians.

    Sanders, an outspoken critic of Israel’s invasion of Gaza and blockade of humanitarian supplies, said the allegations need to be investigated and repeated his condemnation of Hamas but argued that the U.N. must be allowed to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians.

    There are many fine people working at the United Nations.

    • The Other Kevin

      On both sides.

    • kinnath

      Fuck the UN. Just send in the Red Cross / Red Crescent.

    • Nephilium

      What’s stopping the UN from shifting funding from one of their other buckets to fund the UNRWA themselves?

      • R C Dean

        They’ve got to get the people skimming from those buckets to agree, first?

      • rhywun

        Ha, good question.

        I guess the optics of continuing this bucket and its express purpose to hide people like those terrorists and their fellow travelers is just too appealing to the U.N.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    I watched The Kansan last night. In addition to what has to be one of the greatest barroom melees ever put on film, it featured a privately owned toll bridge over a ravine, owned by an evil capitalist swine.

    • SDF-7

      Sounds like they were just trolling their audience.

    • Derpetologist

      I like the shootout at the end of The Wild Bunch. That’s probably the earliest example on film of a realistic gun battle.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ysVoV3x5Zo

      ***
      Peckinpah stated that one of his goals for the movie was to give the audience “some idea of what it is to be gunned down”. A memorable incident occurred, to that end, as Peckinpah’s crew were consulting him on the “gunfire” effects to be used in the film. Not satisfied with the results from the squibs his crew had brought for him, Peckinpah became exasperated and finally hollered: “That’s not what I want! That’s not what I want!” He then grabbed a real revolver and fired it into a nearby wall. The gun empty, Peckinpah barked at his stunned crew: “THAT’S the effect I want!!”

      He also had the gunfire sound effects changed for the film. Before, all gunshots in Warner Bros. movies sounded identical, regardless of the type of weapon being fired. Peckinpah insisted that each different type of firearm have its own specific sound effect when fired.[21]
      ***

      I shot a gun into a wall once. Not my brightest moment. Fortunately, it was at night on the 4th of July, so no one noticed.

      • R C Dean

        “He then grabbed a real revolver and fired it into a nearby wall.”

        Oof. Live rounds on set. Bad Peckinpah. Bad!

      • Chipwooder

        New defense for Baldwin: “I’m a big Sam Peckinpah fan and was emulating his work”

      • juris imprudent

        And mistook the cinematographer for a wall?

      • Chipwooder

        Hey, who hasn’t been guilty of that once or twice?

  32. Cunctator

    I don’t know how to link to articles (yet), but I thought this was interesting. Way to play to stereotype.

    Naked Florida woman barges into gas station, threatens to kill staff with apple peeler

    • Ownbestenemy

      I think there are some guides that people have posted through the years but I believe there is a link on the homepage for Monocle. Still works as far as I know and makes some linking tasks easy. Just remember the rule of two; two links per comment.

      • trshmnstr

        Also, monocle will break on the site revamp.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Awe…darn.

      • CPRM

        please halp

      • trshmnstr

        I’ll see what I can do, although Slumbrew has been doing the Lord’s work fixing some of the server load issues that the comment refresh causes.

      • Gender Traitor

        😢

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I’m mentally preparing myself for that eventuality.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Just post the URL. I don’t mess with HTML (too lazy).

      • R C Dean

        Same here. Copy and paste the link directly. The Brave browser will even clean up the link for you, to get rid of the tracking garbage.

    • Nephilium

      As it currently stands, any bold (strong), italic (em), strikethrough (del), and/or links (a href=”%link%”) are done with HTML tags (tags provided after, just remember to close your tags with / and the tag, and to use proper HTML formatting.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Same for the ampersand.

      • R.J.

        Good point.

  33. Brochettaward

    To boldly First.
    Where no man.
    Has Firsted.
    Before.

  34. db

    John Fetterman’s Wife Quietly Goes Dark On Social Media Accounts Amid Progressive Backlash

    She must be furious at him

    • Fourscore

      “John Fetterman’s Wife Quietly Goes Dark…”

      Sometimes a guy just gets lucky.

  35. The Late P Brooks

    No justice, no cuisine

    Farmers have captured France’s attention by showering government offices with manure and besieging Paris with traffic-snarling barricades of tractors and hay bales.

    The farmers say their protests aren’t a moment too soon. Grievances have long been brewing in the European Union’s leading agricultural power.

    The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused painful economic shocks, including higher costs, bringing farmers’ anger to a head in France and other European countries. Climate change and pressure for more sustainable and more productive agriculture are also squeezing the 500,000 or so French farmers, who already have to compete against counterparts from far afield.

    I’d be a little more sympathetic if they weren’t such a bunch of welfare queens.

    • "RFK Jr Apologist"

      Houellebecq predicted this four years ago. The man is either a modern Cassandra or people are taking inspiration from his books

    • Derpetologist

      Something, something great fiction something living at the expense of everyone else.

      -Some French guy maybe, probably

    • R C Dean

      “Climate change and pressure for more sustainable and more productive agriculture”

      I doubt “climate change” per se is putting any squeeze on the farmers.

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        More like regulations with the stated intent of fighting so-called climate change.

    • Sean

      That’s a backdoor maneuver.

      • juris imprudent

        SWISS!!!! He’s making Greek puns.

    • The Last American Hero

      Just wait until some Team Red shithead wants to pull a Biden in 16 years or so. Team Blue will impeach him over it.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Just send in the Red Cross / Red Crescent.

    Sure, send those fucking parasites in, that will make everything better.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    He doesn’t need to win the endorsement. He needs to siphon enough votes away from the lock team blue has and make them play defense for once. Same goes for the monolithic black vote.

    He needs to do what he did before, which was to go over the heads of union leaders and appeal directly to workers on an individual level. I’m guessing there are a lot of UAW members who think Sean Fain and Joe Biden are both stinking commies (not that they are planning to refuse the pay bump) and have no intention of voting for Biden on Fain’s say-so.

  38. The Late P Brooks

    Another common grievance from protesters is that they’re being suffocated by red tape and tied down by French and EU rules that govern farming, land use and the distribution of billions of euros (dollars) in agricultural subsidies. Farmers complain that they’re losing to rivals from countries with fewer constraints and lower costs.

    On the barricades, Ukraine in particular is on some protesters’ lips. Fast-tracked for EU membership talks, it’s seen as a potentially fearsome rival with its vast fields of grain and other agricultural products that have flooded into Europe since the invasion.

    “We’re worried because they don’t have the same regulations as us,” said Stéphanie Flament, a farmer of cereals and beets east of Paris. “It will be cheaper for the consumer, so where will consumers or companies turn to process flour and so on? To products that cost less.”

    Obviously, the Ukrainians must be hobbled by EU regulations, because fairness.

    • "RFK Jr Apologist"

      “Obviously, the Ukrainians must be hobbled by EU regulations, because fairness.”

      No. Only one side should follow the rules.

      I don’t understand this line of thinking. It reminds me of taxi cabs. For decades if you tried to do your own taxi company without a medallion you’d be immediately shit down and fined. But, when somebody decided to start his own taxi service without a medallion, BUT having the backing of big finance, then suddenly it became legal. Just say “I don’t support free markets, I prefer favoritism”, because I don’t see how that argument can be viewed as anything other than favoritism

    • PieInTheSky

      EU agriculture has been way to cozy with government for decades, it was inevitable they get screwed.

  39. Not Adahn

    This is worth a listen.

    https://www.npr.org/2024/01/31/1228067671/does-history-support-removing-donald-trump-from-the-presidential-ballot

    NPR has a couple of totes turthseeking academic historians to provide an amicus brief full of goodfacts as to why OMB is an insurrectionist.

    They start off being effective in acting neutral, even while admitting that the purpose of 14A S3 is to keep the wrong people from getting elected. But then, when asked about the historical record indicating that J6 was an insurrection, the masks come off.

    • "RFK Jr Apologist"

      It’s hard to take people like this seriously when they take a constitutional clause more seriously than the people who literally fought in the war that created that amendment. Same goes for idiots who tear down statues. I’m supposed to honestly believe that someone born nearly 200 years after the conflict are more outraged with the South than the people whose friends and families died in the conflict?

      • juris imprudent

        It is also hard to take seriously any progressive argument about the Constitution – since they demand it be ignored when it stands in their way.

  40. Derpetologist

    ***
    Joe Biden is behind former President Donald Trump in seven 2024 swing states, with immigration the hot topic issue affecting the president’s reelection hopes, according to a poll.

    A Bloomberg/Morning Consult survey found that Biden is between three and 10 points behind the Republican front-runner in November’s race in Arizona (47-43 percent), Georgia (49-41), Michigan (47-42), Nevada (48-40), North Carolina (49-39), Pennsylvania (48-45) and Wisconsin (49-44).

    In total, Trump leads Biden across all states on average by 48-42 in the poll, which suggests Biden’s hopes of winning the next election are looking precarious.

    Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former Trump White House communications director and a CNN commentator, said the results show “eye-popping numbers” for Trump in battleground states.
    “This should be a 5 alarm fire for the Biden campaign,” Griffin posted on X, formerly Twitter.
    ***

    Huzzah!

    • R C Dean

      Polls – feh.

      Early polls – blecch.

      Disconnect between votes cast and ballots counted – yikes.

      • trshmnstr

        ^^ this.

        5 percentage points may be within the margin of fraud at this point. The left hasn’t even started their run at scaring everybody into voting for them yet. If it still looks like this in October, maybe there’s something there. Even then, I expect full-on shenanigans to start up soon, so we’ll see how that impacts the situation.

        All that said, I’ll be staying home until I fix the electoral system.

      • trshmnstr

        *they fix

        I have not the power nor the werewithal to fix the system.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I think you expressed the gravity of it though with your original statement.

    • The Other Kevin

      Good thing the Democrats are running the best and brightest candidate they have to offer.

    • The Gunslinger

      Trump is not going to win Michigan as long as Whitmer/Nessel are in control of the state.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    Eyes on the prize

    So it’s no surprise that Swift’s endorsement is reportedly the biggest prize the Biden campaign is seeking, as the Democratic incumbent gears up for a rematch of the 2020 race against Trump.

    I’m living in the rubble of a once great nation. Soon the rats will have completely taken over.

    • Chipwooder

      Everything is stupid. EVERYTHING.

      I find it difficult these days to find anything to be positive about outside of my family.

      • Derpetologist

        I’m looking forward to the Trump-Biden debates. Biden will ramble, mumble, stutter, shout incoherently, and probably shit himself. Good times.

      • juris imprudent

        And the media will slobber all over his ever-so-presidential demeanor.

      • Chipwooder

        There is no way in hell they allow Biden to debate. Frankly, I don’t think Trump’s advisors want it to happen either – he’s definitely been slipping more mentally.

      • Derpetologist

        True. At least he kept Hillary out.

      • Urthona

        Debates? Both these geriatric idiots are gonna keep sitting in their basements.

    • Not Adahn

      Woo hoo!

      Party at my nest!

    • PieInTheSky

      rat burgers for everyone

      • Gender Traitor

        I’ll have one without so much rat in it.

    • The Gunslinger

      Narrator: In reality the rats had been in control for quite some time.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former Trump White House communications director and a CNN commentator, said the results show “eye-popping numbers” for Trump in battleground states.
    “This should be a 5 alarm fire for the Biden campaign,” Griffin posted on X, formerly Twitter.

    Just wait. An endorsement from Taylor Swift at halftime of the super bowl will turn it around.

  43. Mojeaux

    Welp, 1520 Main is posted well into March.

    In other news, Pinterest took down one of my pins for adult content. “We remove or limit the distribution of mature and explicit content, including: *Nudity *Sexualized content, even if the people are clothed or partially clothed *Graphic depictions of sexual activity in imagery or text *Fetish imagery”

    Feast your eyes on my salacious content.

    • Sean

      *unzips*

    • kinnath

      Well, that does look like a fetish to me.

    • Derpetologist

      Any image that looks like an article of female clothing will confuse a poorly trained AI.

      There was a case where an AI was trained to distinguish between wolves and dogs. However, in the training data, all the wolf pictures had snow in the background. Thus any picture of a dog in the snow would be incorrectly labeled as a wolf.

      AI are kind of like the enchanted broom from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. You gotta watch em close.

      • Derpetologist

        Here’s my educated guess: a bunch of people have posted trad wife near-porn that features them in a kitchen holding a muffin tray. In the training data, the human labeled those pics as Romper Room no-no stuff. So now any time the AI sees muffin tins, kitchens, or baking utensils, it labels it as verboten.

        For a similar reason, a speck of black on the white part of a stop sign can confuse a self-driving car’s AI into thinking it’s speed limit sign.

        Computers are fast, but very, very stupid.

      • Derpetologist

        Another example: grocery store AI bots often advertise any red vegetable around Valentine’s Day, because it’s the time of the year where humans buy lots of red flowers for some mysterious reason.

      • kinnath

        Computers are fast, but very, very stupid.

        Back when PCs rolled out, I tried to explain to people that computers were just very fast idiots. They do what you tell them to do, exactly, without the benefit of wisdom.

      • creech

        How does AI respond to someone flashing the o.k. hand sign?

      • Derpetologist

        Depends on the training data. Here’s video about how an AI is trained:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv6UVOQ0F44

        The term AI is an umbrella term which includes things like neural nets.

      • Derpetologist

        In a way, a neural net is merely a complex flowchart. It takes inputs and gives outputs according to rules. The key difference is that a neural net has an easier time with ambiguous inputs than a traditional computer program.

      • Derpetologist

        Another good explainer

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-EtmaFJieY

        I should add that AIs are usually said to be trained whereas neural nets are bred via genetic algorithms.

        Our good friend Warty knows a thing or two about machine learning. He mentioned k-clustering once.

    • PieInTheSky

      Are you pouring gold bars in different shapes?

      • Mojeaux

        I wish. Alas, no. Those are for things like loaves of banana bread and poppy-seed bread you give away at Christmas.

      • Mojeaux

        Which, really, are as good as gold in my house.

    • Mojeaux

      Now, the funny thing is, I have a board dedicated to lingerie. One pin keeps getting taken down and reinstated over and over again.

      Later today I’ll get a notice that my muffin pan fetish imagery will be reinstated.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    *Fetish imagery”

    Muffin tins. I’ll be in my bunk.

  45. Tres Cool

    One of my displays went black. But then it came back.

    I hear that never happens.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    Imagine, if you will

    A second fundraiser was held in the Miami area in the evening, and it was hosted by Chris Korge, the national finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee. He said the event raised $6.2 million.

    Biden warned the audience to “imagine the nightmare if Trump returned to office.”

    Nightmare. Uh huh.

    He’ll undo Joe’s legacy, and then we’ll be sorry.

    • creech

      Imagine the nightmare if Biden wins and then drops dead or completes his journey to senility. President Cackleharris.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    One of my displays went black. But then it came back.

    That happened to me yesterday. The power went out for a couple of hours. It’s working now.

  48. Derpetologist

    From NPR

    ***
    Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has been under martial law, which prohibits men ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country and requires them to register for military service. Men between the ages of 18 and 26 can’t be drafted but are encouraged to volunteer. Many men and women have. Ukraine’s military doesn’t reveal troop numbers.
    ***

    These people are not serious about winning.

    • Fourscore

      It’s a good thing being ugly isn’t against the law, I see two life sentences with no possibility of parole.

    • The Gunslinger

      “Super Bowl commercials, donations to Democratic politicians’ campaigns, and $25 million to a friend’s law firm — talk about bloated.”

      Superbowl commercials? For an advocacy organization?

    • The Gunslinger

      So nice I linked it twice.

      DOH!

  49. Derpetologist

    1 in 5 Americans say they would vote for Taylor Swift’s pick for president.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixBz0D58oMk

    I once heard the Bill of Rights described as “these are the things we think Americans are too stupid to vote on”.