Tuesday Morning Links

by | Jun 11, 2024 | Daily Links | 329 comments

The Panthers pressed and pressed their way to another win and are up 2-0 over Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Finals. An interesting side piece about the Finals. I don’t know what else is going on in sports. Oh wait, the Astros blew another game. That’s about it. Moving on…

This is taking a little longer than to should. Although based on the venue we shouldn’t be surprised. Hey, maybe the court can schedule a visit with the First Lady to congratulate them for doing their civic duty. That would be a neat photo op.

What does “unlock legal status” mean? ::scans article:: Oh, it means ignoring due process and the law. Which candidate is the authoritarian again?

This assessment from the Trump campaign is generous. That dude has no freaking idea where, or who, he even is.

The dumbing down continues. Pretty soon kids won’t even have to show up to school to get pushed through.

The law in Atlanta is a shitshow. As if we needed any more evidence that the prosecutor’s office and local judges were insane.

They’re talking about the hostages that were held in the civilian areas by a journalist, right? Just making sure we’re talking about the same raid they’re accusing Israel of committing war crimes during a hostage rescue. Maybe there’s a different group or something.

Wait, when did Nick Nolte transition? Yeah, it’s not a news piece but just a tweet. It still needed to be mentioned because these people are fucking retarded with their endless scare-mongering about anybody to the right of the far leftists that have run the show for decades.

Here you go, 80s kids. Not a bad one. And here’s another one. Enjoy them both.

And enjoy this lovely Tuesday, dear friends.

About The Author

sloopyinca

sloopyinca

329 Comments

  1. UnCivilServant

    The dumbing down continues

    Funny, I don’t recall passing the Regents as being required. If I remember correctly the options were “Regular Diploma” (Skip the Regents) “Regents Dipomla” (Pass the Regents) and “National Honor Society Diploma” (get an extra sticket on the piece of paper.) I ended up with the third type.

    The Regents were a joke anyway. I slept through them and got 90s-100

    • R.J.

      I can’t remember if the SAT or equivalent was required down here.

      • UnCivilServant

        The New York public schools didn’t even expect people to take the SAT or ACT.

      • rhywun

        Why would they? College isn’t for everybody.

    • Rat on a train

      Give everyone a certificate of attendance and pass them to the next group.

      • sloopyinca

        Why do you bigoted against truants? They deserve a chance too.

      • Rat on a train

        If you miss everyday of school you only get a certificate of enrollment.

      • Ownbestenemy

        certificate of enrollment

        Aren’t they already that?

    • rhywun

      We had the first two in my day. The Regents tests were harder, and considered an achievement.

      I vaguely recall them making them mandatory for everybody years later, which can only mean they dumbed them the hell down.

      So… if they return things to the way they were, I don’t see any problem with that. But somehow I doubt they have anything like that in mind.

      global citizens

      Oh fuck off.

  2. ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

    Obviously, schools should just be teacher conferences.

    As an ’80s kid, I accept this offering.

    • Evan from Evansville

      Were teachers in the ’80s, outside of film, more attractive than in my ’90s? I remember having only one ‘hot’ teacher. (I was also 16. Mileage/concern tends NOT to vary at that age.)

      • UnCivilServant

        I have never seen an attractive teacher in real life. All of them were older than dirt, morbidly obese, or both.

      • juris imprudent

        I had an extremely hot HS biology (of all things) teacher. I may have spent some time in my bunk.

      • rhywun

        All the red-blooded boys were into my first German teacher, 7th grade.

        Some of the male teachers were fetching, too. Sadly I can’t remember the name of my chemistry teacher….

      • Nephilium

        In my entire schooling, there was one teacher that qualified as passable (to teenage males). To be fair, this was Catholic school, so there was a percentage of nuns.

      • The Other Kevin

        8 years of Catholic school, 4 years of public high school, graduated in 90. I had zero hot teachers. The closest we got was the Van Halen video.

      • slumbrew

        8th(?) grade art teacher, Mrs. Lutkenhouse was pretty hot. A.k.a., Mrs. Lucky.

        There were various rumors…

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        “All the red-blooded boys were into my first German teacher, 7th grade.”

        Yes, my HS German teacher was quite a fetching fraulein. College German teacher had been on the East German Womans Bodybuilding team, by the look of her.

      • Gender Traitor

        My freshman art teacher (and, for the rest of HS, mime director) was young and hot. (His wife had been my music teacher in junior high and was my Humanities teacher my senior year. She was great but not nearly as hot.)

      • Bobarian LMD

        Other than a substitute straight out of college, no.

        But many of the girls were gaga for the biology teacher, who was probably in his mid to late twenties and 10+ years younger than most of the other teachers.

      • Grummun

        I don’t recall any of the female teachers in any of the schools I attended being particularly attractive (except for a vague recollection of my kindergarten teacher, but I can’t remember if that was the teacher or her daughter/teacher’s aide).

        I did hear rumors that my high school “typing teacher”/wrestling coach was popular with the girls, biblically so.

  3. Not Adahn

    Now what used to be in a HS education can be kicked up to the college level where a “Bachelors of Educated” degree can be the new HS diploma. Teacher get more money, students get longer to learn dependency and the tax cattle get harvested. Win-win-win!

  4. Ownbestenemy

    I have no issue with someone baring their breasts, but fuck the Oilers.

    • UnCivilServant

      have issue if the view is unattractive. This case seems fine, but it’s not difficult to imagine cases where it’s not.

    • Not Adahn

      Kate, who works on a Canadian oil field, also went on to address the question “a lot of people had.”

      “No they are not,” she said when asked if her breasts were real.

      Relevant to my interests. Also, all the local minor league teams where I grew up were called “Oilers” so between that and The Great One, I’ve reflexively liked Edmonton.

    • sloopyinca

      I don’t see how Edmonton win this series. The Florida forechecking has just been relentless and they’ve completely controlled the games from start to finish.

      This one could be over in 4-5 games.

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        It’s hokey, so, one of the girls might trip over her skirt.

      • rhywun

        Maybe the Florida weather is messing with them.

        Hopefully the right the ship back in proper hockey territory.

      • The Other Kevin

        I like Edmonton, but I agree, this doesn’t look good for them. I expect Dreiseitl to get a suspension for that hit.

  5. Drake

    So the Judge and Prosecutor had a secret meeting? And the Judge is mad that the defense attorney found out?

    • UnCivilServant

      I think so?

      I haven’t had a chance to see the version at the link sloopy provided, but the other summaries I’ve seen were clear as mud.

    • sloopyinca

      Not just the judge and prosecutor, but the judge, prosecutor, and a witness. Which is even worse.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Surprised the AJ hasn’t written an article at the contempt of a white lawyer to a black judge yet.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I saw an earlier clip from that trial where the black male judge was excluding evidence over the protestations of the black female prosecutor. She had failed to submit the evidence on time or something and he excluded it. She went ballistic and was yelling at the judge in a way that I’ve never seen before.

  6. PieInTheSky

    NY schools are severely underfunded, they cannot be expected to have exams.

    • UnCivilServant

      You misspelled Overfunded and Overunionized.

    • Not Adahn

      True story: someone in the Teacher’s Union pissed off someone in the NYS legislature, so they passed a law giving merit raises based on the scores of a particular test.

      The teachers told students that the test had no bearing on their grade and if they didn’t want to take it they could go off to the gym and chat with their friends.
      Then the teachers demanded the test not be used to evaluate them because not enough students took it.

      • UnCivilServant

        Next step, end all recognition of NYSUT and declare the organization a criminal Entperise and begin procesutions. Extortion would stick. Doesn’t matter what the crime is, precedent is that the accused is guilty until declared guilty.

      • Pope Jimbo

        To graduate from the U of Memphis, you had to take a test that covered general knowledge. Didn’t count for any grades or anything, but the state of Tennessee used it to allocate funds. You had 3 hours to take it.

        At the beginning of the test there were 3 or 4 admins who pleaded with everyone to try their best because it was so important to the school.

        I was surprised when there were only 5 or so of us who stood up and turned in their test right after it started. I would have thought the line would have been out the door. Yeah, I’m spending hours taking a test that has no benefits for me.

  7. Suthenboy

    Jury deliberations? They are deliberating about their and their family’s well being.

    ‘…unlock legal status…’ = abandoning rule of law
    The left may not be able to meme but their talent for inventing language is unmatched.

    They are really gonna try to put this guy in the WH for another four years? Bullshit. They know he is toast. I wish I could’ve been a fly on the wall when his handlers explained to Kahhhmala what her job is.

    Other than what UnCivil says I got nuthin’ on the regent’s thing.

    Everything mentioned in the constitution (in this case due process/rule of law) is there for a very good reason. Those guys saw all of this shit before.

    When your goal is to destroy a culture letting that culture’s enemies in the front door is SOP.
    Fuck the UN.

    Back in the day I thought the extremely irritating Sean Hannity was engaging in hyperbole when he equated leftism with mental illness.

  8. Drake

    The effort to turn Ukraine into WW3 continues. Apparently the plan is to base “Ukrainian” F-16s in Poland and Romania to strike Russia.

    Russia rightly points out that would make the planes and those airfields legitimate targets.

    https://www.rt.com/russia/599085-russia-strike-nato-airfields-f16/

    • PieInTheSky

      I doubt that is the plan though.

      • WTF

        You really think the idiots in charge have some sort of coherent plan?

      • Drake

        I hope you are right. My country is led by neo-con maniacs and your country seems to go along with all their bad ideas.

    • WTF

      Let’s see, F-16s flying out of NATO bases strike Russian targets. Definitely an act of war by NATO against Russia. And if it escalates, the Russians will have to resort to nukes since they would get clobbered conventionally given NATO’s overwhelming air superiority.
      Good thing Trump’s not in office to start WWIII.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        ^Yeah this, it’s longstanding Russian doctrine to use nukes if necessary (bang for the buck, they don’t have the $$$ to match us conventionally) and they can and will use them. The game we’re playing is incredibly dangerous and stupid.

      • Drake

        The first problem is there probably aren’t any airfields in the Ukraine suitable for F-16s. If there are – they’ll be destroyed as soon as the arrive. Then logistics and maintenance personnel, etc.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Good point Drake, they aren’t suitable for nonpristine runways like the Russian stuff. It’s another good reason to not give them those but they’re obviously hoping the Russians take the bait.

    • Rat on a train

      Think of all the target opportunities. Ukraine could strike Kaliningrad from Poland. Planes based in Finland could strike Sankt Peterburg.

  9. rhywun

    That dude has no freaking idea where, or who, he even is.

    I am more curious about why Juneteenth is now a multi-week celebration and why there is a Floyd family member next to the President.

    • UnCivilServant

      I want to know why it’s anything outside of a Texas, and even there it should not be grounds to close anything.

      • Ted S.

        “A Texas”?

        One Texas is more than enough.

      • UnCivilServant

        What’s wrong with multiple Texi?

      • Nephilium

        UCS:

        If there was more than one Texas, they would immediately go to war with each other over which one was bigger.

      • Gender Traitor

        Doesn’t Texas have a plan in place to split up into 4 or 5 states if it gets a wild hare to do so? I assume they’d be North, South, East, West, and Central Texas, as which would willingly give up the Texas name?

      • UnCivilServant

        GT – The Republic of Texas already donated land to Six states – 1/1 of Texas, 2/3 of New Mexico, 1/3 of Colorado, a chunk each of Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Pandering to a slipping voting bloc.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Maybe we need Juneteenth to take over June.

      • rhywun

        I’ll make the popcorn.

      • Nephilium

        One local chain (4 locations IIRC) announced in their monthly e-mail that they would be closed for Juneteenth. Owners are youngish women with ample danger hair, but they make solid food, and aren’t that far gone yet (the only reason they started doing vegetarian/vegan menus was the price of chicken had gone up, and they were looking for other options). There is definitely a racist call that could be made, as they’re a chicken wing and tender place primarily.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Ya rompers…beyond age of 4 its a crime and even then, no seasoned parent would put a child in one due to the logistical nightmare they are.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        The romper in the bee article is full pants, but the rompers that are shorts remind me of onesies.

      • Suthenboy

        “…reminds me of onesies…”

        Because they are. *shivers*

    • Grummun

      Genuine LOLLOL

  10. juris imprudent

    The judge presiding over Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial in Delaware is a former corporate civil lawyer with a background in biology who was nominated to the bench by the Biden family’s chief political antagonist: former President Donald Trump.

    [blinks, removes and cleans glasses, reads again] A biologist judge? Well, maybe she should be on the Supreme Court.

    • Ted S.

      And none if the judges in the Trump trials are politically motivated at all….

  11. PieInTheSky

    So what is the official glibertarian view of the Brit prime minister not attending D-Day festivities? It seemed to ruffle patriotic brit feathers.

    • Ownbestenemy

      That is for the British subjects to deal with.

      • PieInTheSky

        off course but people here have an opinion about everything.

      • juris imprudent

        We also have assholes Pie. Doesn’t mean we all need to share.

    • UnCivilServant

      You should know by now there is no official position on any issue here.

      Though Sunak doesn’t belong in Britain, let alone in a position of power anywhere.

    • R C Dean

      I don’t really see why some Indian guy would think D-Day was that big a deal.

      • Drake

        This.

        And he’s only PM for a couple more weeks.

  12. PieInTheSky

    Fucking historic heatwave we having. Goddamnit. 36C in mid fucking June.

    • Nephilium

      We had a high of 50 F yesterday. The day before we were in the 80’s. Today we’re supposed to get back up to 70 at least.

    • R.J.

      Wow. Texas temperatures. I doubt you have houses and air conditioning built for that so I feel for you.

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        Yeah, I was in London during a heat wave once. Holy Cow, did that stink. Literally, the Thames is gross in the heat.

    • Suthenboy

      I dunno what the humidity there is like but around here I have been busting my ass in 100+F heat indexes.
      If you have no AC try sitting with your bare feet in a bucket of water.

      • PieInTheSky

        25% relative humidity.

        I do have AC, obviously.

      • R.J.

        I would just get in a tub full of water too, you get humidity easily twice 25% here with 95 F +. I too, work in it. If you have access to ice that helps also. Just stay in the tub after work.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      What’s that in real units?

      • R C Dean

        Around 50 pounds, I think.

      • rhywun

        97 – yikes.

        Today’s high is 65 here. Nice.

    • Gustave Lytton

      36C is a breast size, not a temperature.

  13. R C Dean

    “Pretty soon kids won’t even have to show up to school to get pushed through.”

    You mean, like during the Plague Years?

    “This is taking a little longer than to should. Although based on the venue we shouldn’t be surprised.”

    I doubt they’ll acquit, although I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ll be mildly surprised if they convict. There’s enough ringers on the jury that I think they’ll deadlock.

    • Suthenboy

      What I find remarkable is that these banana republic monkeys expect people to swallow this horseshit.

      *reads mainstream news*

      Oh. Never mind.

      • PieInTheSky

        banana republic monkeys – RACISM!!!!!

  14. PieInTheSky

    Britain: Everything from smoking to sugar sin-taxed. 11% of GDP spent on the NHS. It is illegal to build an extension without permission from a local politicians. Tax at all time highs.

    Financial Times: If they were any more economically right wing, they would fall of our graph

    https://x.com/echetus/status/1800240568045326695

    I am constantly frankly amazed how many brits see their government as basically economic libertarians.

      • R.J.

        I am not seeing anything that angers me there. Sure they are going to increase healthcare spending again and bankrupt the country. But the other items seem reasonable if you want the general population to respect and vote for you. I like “no more green levies.” That’s the first step to shutting it down altogether.

    • Drake

      My knowledge of British economic policy is limited to watching ‘Clarkson’s Farm’. They seem to be against any activity that makes a farmer a profit.

      • R.J.

        Yes they are. That Tory manifesto is almost an olive branch. Almost. I imagine they have to take what they can get, just like us.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Britain is the US just 40-60 years ahead (at best).

    • Suthenboy

      When you are bred and born of the herd you cant imagine any other way.

      • juris imprudent

        And here is the heart of what the long march of the institutions sought to achieve. Cultivate that herd mentality.

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        Which plays right back into yesterdays debate: Feudalism, is it socialist or not?

      • UnCivilServant

        As it is extolled, or as it is practiced?

      • juris imprudent

        I might accept feudalism – as run under decadent Enlightenment (and Judeo-Christian) values, is socialism.

      • UnCivilServant

        Respectfully, as run, Feudalism has no resemblance to socialism.

    • rhywun

      It’s got a pretty Venn diagram. It must be truthy!

      • PutridMeat

        And a Venn-ish diagrams where ‘traditional’ social values are clearly authoritarian. Unlike those libertarian/progressive social values. Because of course progressive social value can never be authoritarian! Nice way to conflate two largely unrelated things to make sure everyone understands that the only way to not be authoritarian is to adopt our social values. Or else.

  15. Pope Jimbo

    An interesting twist on the argument that the economy is good, but you are too dumb to know: ‘There’s a concerted effort to make people afraid of crime,’

    “Moderate Democrats have done a lot of work in making people afraid of downtown Minneapolis,” she said. “There is a concerted effort to make people afraid of crime.”
     
    “White supremacy is ingrained everywhere,” Moriarty said. “White supremacy is what we all live in. It’s the water. It’s what we swim in here.”
     
    “Crime is down,” Moriarty said repeatedly throughout the conversation.
     
    She also discussed her advice for current law students, which was to ask more questions. “You talk about the rule of law, it’s like, what is that? I mean, I kind of wonder how anybody talks about the rule of law now. Wasn’t Roe v. Wade rule of law? I mean, what happened to that?” Moriarty said.

    She is sort of right. Crime has come down a bit, but it was at an all time high.

    • R.J.

      If your crime rate went down because muggable people left the city center, that doesn’t count.

    • R C Dean

      Has it come down, or have people just stopped calling it in because it’s pointless?

      • WTF

        Or have the police stopped reporting it and are they downgrading felonies to report them as misdemeanors? There are a lot of ways to game the system.

      • Drake

        If you don’t arrest people, and don’t prosecute the few people arrested… Crime goes down.

      • juris imprudent

        Also possible – local police no longer report their stats to national agency (FBI/DOJ).

    • Suthenboy

      After implementing leftist policies the only argument left is ‘dont believe your lying eyes’.

    • Nephilium

      So fear of crime is white supremacy? That’s a bold stance Cotton…

      • WTF

        I haz a confuse. Is it white supremacy because black people commit a disproportionate percentage of crime, or is it white supremacy to notice the crime is happening, or are they saying only white people worry about crime?

      • Nephilium

        WTF:

        I think asking those questions makes you an ultra-MAGA white supremacist.

      • juris imprudent

        WTF – black perpetrated crime mostly victimizes black people. Ignoring that used to be called indifference to black suffering, now paying attention to it is white supremacy. You can never be right – see, isn’t THAT simple?

      • rhywun

        When you’re dealing with a political class that deliberately and intentionally WANTS more crime, it’s pointless to even listen to them. Their brains are just too broken.

    • Suthenboy

      Explaining to her what ‘rule of law’ is would be a complete waste of breath.

      I recommend a straight jacket and a hefty dose of chlorpromazine.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Suthen, she’d school you. See, she knows not only the Law but biology. That is why she offered two teens involved in a home invasion that ended up in murder a plea deal.

        Moriarty has followed that controversy up by reversing a decision made last year by then-County Attorney Freeman to prosecute two teens as adults for the murder of a Brooklyn Park woman during a home invasion.
         
        Moriarty has said she is simply “following the science,” which she says is conclusive about adolescent brain development. According to Moriarty, the human brain is not fully developed until 25 years old.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I’m sure you will be shocked to learn that the only case she has doggedly prosecuted was that of state trooper Ryan Londregan who killed a black guy during a traffic stop. The traffic stop was legit (driving at night with no tail lights) and the driver had a warrant for his arrest and a gun in the car (which was a no-no, him being a felon). The cops were half in the car when he decided to drive off and Londregan shot him. I’m no cop boot licker, but there wasn’t much wrong with their conduct.

        Moriarty brought in several legal teams to try the trooper. She had to get rid of some of them because they told her that there was nothing criminal about Londregan’s conduct.

        Finally she said that she was dropping the case. Mostly because rumors were King Walz and Brother Keith were going to take it away from her because of all the damage it was doing to the DFL. Of course we all know the real reason: King Walz hates Queers!

    • WTF

      Their lawyer should plead that their actions are protected by the first amendment, since they were making a counter political statement to a political statement made in a public place on a public street which was in fact made for driving over. The government can’t discriminate based on viewpoint.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        That’s actually a decent argument. Don’t know if that’d fly in Spokane though.

      • R C Dean

        It’s a good argument that will likely get the book thrown at the defendants.

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        At this point, I am guessing that the kids chose this specific spot, as kids will do shit like this.

    • The Other Kevin

      I’ve put this comment out about a half dozen times on Twitter:
      How do they make a mural on pavement, and get made because people drive over it? Did they rope it off?

      • Ownbestenemy

        No but the scooter company has geo-fenced the location and their scooters will no longer be able to function within the sacred painting. Absolute insanity.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Sounds like a good place to dump all the errant scooters, then.

  16. Sensei

    It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

    “We think AI’s role is not to replace our users but to empower them,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, after the event. “It needs to be integrated in the experience you’re using all the time. It needs to be intuitive. But it also needs to be informed by your personal context.”

    https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/apple-intelligence-ios-18-macos-sequoia-ai-b08bb299?st=1dxcqzpylgtlvn9&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • UnCivilServant

      Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

      It needs to be carefully segregated from the user realm and user data, fed carefully curated items to keep it from going insane and deleting itself.

    • rhywun

      The mad scramble to inject AI that nobody asked for into absolutely everything is pissing me off.

  17. PieInTheSky

    I am pretty confused that people think America is in any danger of turning into a theocracy. It’s never been less religious than right now. If you did think this surely it’s the really quite Catholic Biden you should be worried about and not the irreligious Trumpians?

    https://x.com/IronEconomist/status/1800212317315137958

    I doubt at this point Biden is any sort of Catholic. But I also don’t see how the US could become a christian theocracy, unless you define theocracy as you define fascism: stuff I call my opponents.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Anyone with an IQ north of 80 making that claim is being deliberately obtuse.

    • R.J.

      Woke is the new theocracy. Not that anyone outside of this group sees that.

      • Seguin

        Refer above to the teens charged with felony heresy vandalism.

      • Seguin

        That was supposed to have a strike through on heresy.

    • Nephilium

      I believe Biden is a lapsed Catholic. I could see a way for the US to become a theocracy, but it would require some populist religious person to start the process off. Are there any Billy Graham types out there that have a large enough base?

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I don’t think he’s lapsed, he still attends mass regularly AFAIK. Of course, many questions are raised about how he conducts himself politically and how that reconciles with a devout faith.

      • Rat on a train

        Having attended mass in the past, many Catholics are just going through the motions. Show up late, get communion, leave immediately.

      • Nephilium

        CPA:

        Regularly attending mass doesn’t mean that he’s in communion with the Church. His stance on abortion alone puts him out of communion with the Church.

        I call myself a recovering Catholic, my still devout friends sigh and correct me to being a lapsed Catholic.

      • rhywun

        he still attends mass regularly

        For political reasons. I doubt he believes a word of it.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        I’m definitely not saying he is a good Catholic, certainly a bad one, but the term lapsed doesn’t necessarily apply.

        Having attended mass in the past, many Catholics are just going through the motions. Show up late, get communion, leave immediately.

        I have always been confused by this. Why show up at all? Would you approve of a dinner guest at your house that showed up late and then immediately left after eating?

      • rhywun

        Show up late, get communion, leave immediately.

        LOL I fell away long ago but even I’m not that crass when I do rarely attend.

      • Nephilium

        I’ve had several discussions with the “going through the motion” Catholics who have taken offense to me not going up for Communion when I’m at a mass (weddings, funerals and the like). I point out that I have been out of communion with the Church for decades, and going up with be a real slap in the face to the Church. The devout Catholics actually respect me staying seated and have spoken up in my defense at times.

      • R C Dean

        When I’ve been to Catholic churches for weddings and such, I don’t take communion either, on account of I’m not a Catholic. I thought it was, if nothing else, common courtesy. I’m not there to eat crackers and drink wine, after all.

      • Nephilium

        Gustave Lytton:

        I’ve got no issue with that, but I’d probably just stay in my seat. Having been raised in the Church, I can handle some thrice a year Catholics trying to judge me. Also, I seem to recall a similar gesture used by pre-Vatican 2 participants who still wanted to receive the Eucharist in their mouth instead of their hands. But I’m not sure how many of that cohort are still going to mass.

    • juris imprudent

      stuff I call my opponents

      Give that man a cupie doll!

    • UnCivilServant

      I did not know that such an agreement existed.

    • PieInTheSky

      I hope the choose Leu

      • rhywun

        You’re not on the Euro? For shame.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Yeah and the Chinese are buying Russian petroleum products with the yuan. Frankly we did it to ourselves once we weaponized the dollar.

      • Rat on a train

        Kicking Russia out of SWIFT was short sighted, but that is SOP.

    • R.J.

      Yes, I believe they are backing BRICS.

    • tarran

      This is great news for our grandkids.

      The agreement allowed the dollar to survive much longer as a currency than it otherwise would have. In effect the U.S. government took the dollar off of a gold-standard and unto a petroleum standard.

      As a consequence of this, the dollar is going to get more volatile, with more rapid changes downwards in purchasing power than we have experienced in the past. It also means that the U.S. government’s attempts to monetize its debt are going to have much more dramatic inflationary effects than it has in the past.

      This is going to create more popular discontent with both the government and the elites running the country. These elites will either have to curb their inflationary policies or oppress the people harder. My guess is that they will do the latter. If they do follow the oppression path, I expect Texas will attempt secede, and whether it succeeds of fails initially, ultimately it will set in inexorable motion the fracturing of the United States.

      My generation will live the rest of our lives experiencing the economic and political chaos and a seeming decline in our living standards. But I think when things stabilize the stage will have been set for our grandkids to have a better lives.

      • Gustave Lytton

        A large part, well almost entirely, of the deficit spending is the welfare state, direct and indirect. The populace won’t be happy at that being cut when they can no longer have their cake and eat it too.

  18. PieInTheSky

    Dawn Butler ✊🏾💙
    @DawnButlerBrent
    We were all warned about the rise of the far right and INCELS. The attack on Woke feeds into this dangerous rhetoric.

    Alexander
    @datepsych
    The early misperception of incels as a far-right, overwhelmingly White cohort was probably formed by associating the far-right with misogynistic attitudes (“since incels have misogynistic attitudes, incels must be far-right”).

    All of the survey data on incels to date indicates otherwise – incels are both politically and racially diverse!

    Perhaps ironically, left-wing political critiques of incels and misogyny seem to lack intersectionality. For example, there is little acknowledgment that non-White immigrants from more patriarchal cultures often hold deeply misogynistic beliefs. There is also little acknowledgment that violent crimes against women (VAWG) are overrepresented in immigrant and minority populations.

    https://x.com/datepsych/status/1800225363542601861

  19. Pope Jimbo

    The reason that the kids don’t have to take the year end assessment is because it would be (more) concrete evidence of how disastrous the lockdowns were for the kids.

    The last thing anyone wants is more data to demonstrate that the kids were truly fucked by two years of remote “learning”.

    My last job was working for one of the big companies giving these assessments and I have heard through the grapevine that they are having a tough time now because all the states and school districts are doing their best to not give any tests because they know the results will be bad.

    They will go back to testing once the kids that were kindergarten in 2020 have turned 18 and moved through the system.

    Right now, everyone in govt that had anything to do with lockdowns is pushing for the end to year end assessments. Or at least to dumb them down so much that even the lockdown kids can pass.

    • Ownbestenemy

      …concrete evidence of how disastrous the lockdowns were for the kids.

      I think that is the most logical conclusion.

  20. Timeloose

    Well from this morning’s links:

    Hunter should have no defense. There is no requirement for you to be “addicted” to illegal drugs (even if the state you reside in it is considered legal to posses and use) on the fed form. You lied on a fed form and got caught, All Stop. Anyone else would be Effed in the A.

    I’m hoping this BS trial leads to a change in the BS federal law or if he skates then a precedence setting decision that could be used by non-royalty.

    Love and Rockets is wonderful and one of my HS era favorites. Got a chance to see them last Summer and was very happy.

    • UnCivilServant

      I don’t want a squirrly result. I want them to explicitly challenge the consitutionality of the law.

      • Timeloose

        You and I both, but I’m sure that the goal is to make this as quiet as possible.

      • Suthenboy

        The goal is to distract from any charge that might pull the curtain aside on daddy. They are shielding Creepy Joe. That is all this is about.
        The feds almost never charge people for lying on the 4473

      • juris imprudent

        This case never really touched on Joe.

        The next case, on evading income tax – that has implications not easily ignored. Though true blue Democrats are up to that challenge.

    • WTF

      ^This. They keep trying to pound the issue of whether or not he thought he was an addict at the time. The form doesn’t just say addict, it says addict or illegal user of drugs. There is no question that he was in fact an illegal user of drugs and lied on the form.

    • slumbrew

      I’m hoping this BS trial leads to a change in the BS federal law or if he skates then a precedence setting decision that could be used by non-royalty.

      If we weren’t descending into banana-republic status, we’d end up with one of those two, positive outcomes.

      I’m pessimistic enough to believe he’ll skate AND other people will continue to get prosecuted for lying on the forms.

    • Pope Jimbo

      If the fix is in and Hunter walks, I’d like to see Joe explain to all his close black friends how his kid got off while all those poor black kids get rung up on the same sort of gun charges.

      • Bobarian LMD

        Joe’s close black friends?

        I don’t recall the Obama girls getting wrung up on gun charges.

  21. Pope Jimbo

    Local grievance studies program decides to hire a (((guy))) who says Israel is conducting textbook genocide in Gaza. This has caused some (((resignations))).

    Two members of the advisory board of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies have resigned in protest over the planned hiring of the center’s new director.
     
    Karen Painter and Bruno Chaouat both resigned Friday evening after learning that Raz Segal, a professor at Stockton University in New Jersey, had been offered the position by Ann Waltner, the interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts, which is where the CHGS resides at the university.
     
    Segal has studied the Holocaust in the Carpathians and in Hungary, and focuses his study of the Holocaust as a result of the decline of empires and the building of nation-states in Europe. The focus on nation-states is a central theme in an argument Segal makes that the Holocaust is not unique compared to other genocides.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Uffda. I meant to make a snide comment on the domain name of the link above. “tcjewfolk.com” is pretty good, but “tcjewfolx.com” would have been better.

      As a bonus link, here is an article about the (((guy))) who was offered the job where he claims (((they))) aren’t even from Judea. And he makes up a hate crime by (((kids))).

      No idea why you wouldn’t want him running a center that advocates for Jewish people.

      • WTF

        Wait, Jews are not from Judea? The Romans called the place “Judea” because that’s where the Jews were from. Just like they called another place “Germania” because that’s where the Germans were from.
        These people are fucking insane.

      • DrOtto

        The ‘not from Judea’ is an argument usually leveled at the Ashkenazi Jews. I’m not going to go into it here as it’s not really pertinent. Either it is wrong to wholesale kill a group of people or it is not. Anytime you start parsing that issue, it is usually because you are trying to excuse or perhaps reinstate bad behavior.

    • WTF

      So “genocide” is another word that has been stripped of all meaning.

      • PieInTheSky

        language is fluid.

      • WTF

        “When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

        ’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

        ’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”
        ― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

        We are officially through the looking glass.

      • Suthenboy

        Language is fluid but concepts are not, thus the endless chicanery.

    • Gustave Lytton

      It’s happened sooner than I thought, but at some point the Holocaust will be a historical footnote like so many distant events. The last survivors are almost all gone and their children are aging too.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    Which candidate is the authoritarian again?

    Democracy can be slow and messy. They know what the people really want.

    • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      Happy Birthday?!?!?

    • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

      Mozell Tov!

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      🎂 🎉 !!

    • Sean

      Damn! Happy Birthday. 🙂

  23. Pope Jimbo

    Been busy for a while. Is the decision by Adobe to claim all your content in the Drugs/Ass zone?

    A change to Adobe terms & conditions for apps like Photoshop has outraged many professional users, concerned that the company is claiming the right to access their content, use it freely, and even sub-licence it to others.
     
    The company is requiring users to agree to the new terms in order to continue using their Adobe apps, locking them out until they do so …
     
    Adobe says that its new terms “clarify that we may access your content through both automated and manual methods, such as for content review.”
     
    The terms say:

    Solely for the purposes of operating or improving the Services and Software, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free sublicensable, license, to use, reproduce, publicly display, distribute, modify, create derivative works based on, publicly perform, and translate the Content. For example, we may sublicense our right to the Content to our service providers or to other users to allow the Services and Software to operate with others, such as enabling you to share photos

    Adobe has always seemed to be a stupid company, but this seems extra stupid.

    • Pope Jimbo

      There are also people claiming that Adobe won’t let you cancel your subscription and download your content until you agree to the new terms.

      • UnCivilServant

        Then they can drop those Terms and write a clearer “Adobe has no acces to your data and it gets encrypted with a key only you have” model.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Possibly. Or they got caught and are now backpedaling.

        Seems fishy if you can’t even cancel without clicking the “I Agree” button. But I’m not a lawyer and I haven’t paid that much attention to the details.

        I have been burned by Adobe in the past, so I am liking seeing them getting burned by this.

      • R C Dean

        The new explicit authorization to access your content by automated means essentially blows the doors off.

    • UnCivilServant

      There’s another reason I’m happy I stuck with the last Non-subscription versions I could get my hands on.

      Never trust the cloud, a subscription, or “free to play”

    • R C Dean

      From what I’ve read, they are going to catch some lawsuits, lose them, and likely get buttfucked by the judge/jury.

      I sure hope so.

    • Suthenboy

      No.

      There are people still using photoshop?

      • UnCivilServant

        I have a standalone license from the beforetimes. It doesn’t expire, so I still use it.

        My cover artist uses it to digitally paint.

    • Mojeaux

      I saw this Friday as a tweet, and said something on Zooms. Deadhead was skeptical, but honestly, it’s Adobe. OF COURSE they would do this. I have a copy of Pshop 7 I use all the fucking time, and I bought it off eBay 15 years ago.

      Adobe will do anything to shake down its users.

  24. DrOtto

    Unlocking legal status is a unique feature of America’s pen & phone democracy.

  25. Tres Cool

    Bauhaus w/o Peter Murphy is just Love & Rockets.

    • Nephilium

      Just sent an e-mail to (I hope) your address.

  26. The Other Kevin

    No New Tale to Tell is one of the best songs of the 80’s. Or any decade. I can play it on guitar too.

    • slumbrew

      Something about it just doesn’t work for me. Just a dirge.

      De gustibus…

    • Timeloose

      David J is a hell of a song writer. He sung only a few songs in L&R and Bauhaus. Who killed Mr. Moonlight being another one.

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        Of Lily’s and Remains is another favorite.

    • EvilSheldon

      You’ve probably never made a more true statement.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    The company is requiring users to agree to the new terms in order to continue using their Adobe apps, locking them out until they do so …

    I know a few people who quit Adobe when they moved to a subscription.

    • The Other Kevin

      I’m still bitter about Adobe buying Macromedia and ruining everything.

      • Pope Jimbo

        Piker.

        I’m mad at Macromedia for buying Cold Fusion from the Allaire brothers and ruining everything.

        Then Adobe bought Macromedia and double-fucked everything.

      • The Other Kevin

        Macromedia products were amazing. Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks were what I used for all my early web work.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I still use Fireworks a lot (got a copy of CS6 for free in a raffle).

  28. PieInTheSky

    Previous research has demonstrated that a stronger belief in free will contributes to a variety of socially desirable behaviors. We assessed the correlation between free will beliefs and health behaviors in four studies (N = 1172). The present research suggests that regardless of whether free will actually exists, believing it does motivates people to engage in healthier behaviors. Belief in free will is positively associated with health protective behaviors (e.g., physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, low fat diet) and negatively associated with health risk behaviors (e.g., alcohol consumption, smoking, unhealthy snacking).

    https://x.com/DegenRolf/status/1799686270534271082

    • slumbrew

      low fat diet

      Sean haz a sad.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Yeah sure, if you think it’s all our of your hands why ever try to kick maladaptive habits?

    • Suthenboy

      So free will is associated with a healthy attitude towards oneself. In other words such people are ultra-mega-MAGA extremists.

  29. PieInTheSky

    The Woke and the Greedy
    How to think about the motivations of teachers unions.

    https://www.betonit.ai/p/the-woke-and-the-greedy

    Teachers unions never stop demanding bigger budgets.

    They infamously stand by teachers accused of incompetence or misconduct.

    They try to prevent parents from seeing what their kids are learning.

    They get angry when parents ask hard questions.

    And they struggle to crush any form of school choice!

    ..

    If you read The Parent Revolution carefully, however, you’ll discover a long list of union activities that aren’t plausibly motivated by greed. If your overriding goal is to get piles of money for your members, why would you enthusiastically defend the right of biological males to use girls’ bathrooms? To compete in girls’ sports? Especially in the public sector, standing up for unpopular causes seems like a demented way to make money.

    Do teachers unions care about money? Naturally, but it’s on a spectrum. Call it the Woke-Greedy Spectrum. And once you concede that there’s a spectrum and sift through the evidence, the further from the greedy pole and the closer to the woke pole the unions seem to stand.

    • R C Dean

      Fundamentally misguided thesis. There is no trade off for the unions between wokism and greed, so there’s no spectrum. I don’t see anybody agreeing to make financial sacrifices in exchange for wokism. In short, por que no los dos?

    • rhywun

      The unions support boys playing girls because they were skin-suited by radicals just like every other institution.

    • Fourscore

      Garland is the joke. Everyone is laughing and he doesn’t know why.

    • Suthenboy

      I heard a bit of Comey speaking in the last few days. Same shit, obviously coordinated effort.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    Low trust nation

    A left-wing activist on Monday released secret recordings of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife, as well as Chief Justice John Roberts, discussing a range of politically sensitive topics.

    In conversation with the activist, who represented herself as a religious conservative and did not disclose in the recordings she released that she was producing them and would make them public, Justice Alito endorses her suggestion that “people in this country who believe in God have got to keep fighting for that – to return our country to a place of Godliness.” “Well, I agree with you, I agree with you,” Alito says.

    At another point, the activist represents herself as a devout Catholic, telling the justice, “I don’t know that we can negotiate with the left in the way that, like, needs to happen for the polarization to end. I think that it’s a matter of, like, winning.”

    “I think you’re probably right,” Alito responds. “On one side or the other — one side or the other is going to win. I don’t know. I mean, there can be a way of working, a way of living together peacefully, but it’s difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised. They really can’t be compromised. So, it’s not like you are going to split the difference.”

    The recordings were made by Lauren Windsor, a self-described documentary filmmaker who said she made the recordings during a dinner hosted by the Supreme Court Historical Society last week. The subjects appear to be unaware that they were being recorded by Windsor, who called the clips “undercover audio” on X.

    First, tell me how this is any different than that right wing jackass who does the same thing to people like Planned Parenthood.

    Next, tell me how we survive this incessant chipping away of that e pluribus unum fantasy.

    • juris imprudent

      endorses her suggestion

      So, FBI operation?

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        Well, obviously being SCOTUS they completely lose the ability to have personal opinions, beliefs, and wants.

        Unless it is a wise Latina!

    • juris imprudent

      oh shit – represents herself as a devout Catholic – so you are saying she lied. That’s not a slight representation issue.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I can see how an undercover reporter might have to lie to get the story. That doesn’t bug me that much.

        What I don’t see is anything terrible that the justices said. As Stinky said below, it seems like they are mostly being nice and not picking a fight with her. And even as a non-believer, I don’t see anything wrong with a religious person saying that the country needs to get back to godliness.

        Where is the part where one of them talks about putting people in camps? Or admitting that the fix is in and they will vote a certain way no matter what the facts are?

        O’Keefe got the Acorn people to not only agree with him but to help him fill out forms to get money and other bullshit like that.

      • Suthenboy

        Your Holiness: You dont find anything they said wrong because you are not a left wing lunatic. Their reaction, like that of a schizophrenic, is completely different for reasons you cant fathom.
        I repeat from my earlier comments, I used to think Sean Hannity was engaging in hyperbole when he equated leftism with mental illness.

        By the way, thanks for answering the age old question “Is the Pope Catholic?”

      • EvilSheldon

        I’m not sure how common this is, but I have a few widely-dispersed left-leaning friends for whom ‘religion in the public sphere’ is a spittle-flinging trigger point.

        For example, one of my D&D buddies, an otherwise highly intelligent and thoughtful career man, is offended to the point of ranting about, “One Nation Under God,” being printed on our currency.

      • Grumbletarian

        “For example, one of my D&D buddies, an otherwise highly intelligent and thoughtful career man, is offended to the point of ranting about, “One Nation Under God,” being printed on our currency.”

        I always ask those people if they think crosses, Stars of David, and other religious symbols should be removed from tombstones in Arlington National Cemetery. I never get a straight answer.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Also, she actually said the stuff, the perfectly reasonable stuff IMHO, and they were just being agreeable and kind of parroting her concepts back to her. Are these people under the impression that SC justices don’t have political viewpoints (they aren’t under that impression but they’ll pretend to be)?

      • juris imprudent

        THEY ARE WRONGTHINK!!!! WHAT DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT THAT!!! NOW STFU AND OBEY!!! /prog-tards in full voice

  31. Sensei

    “Harold Daggett is again alerting all locals to be prepared for a strike on October 1st,” an ILA spokesman said.

    Sure, right ahead of the election. I doubt Team Blue is going to let that happen. So they will either put a gun to management’s head or force them to mediate and push it past the election.

    Dockworkers Cancel Bargaining, Threaten Strike at U.S. Seaports

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/dockworkers-cancel-bargaining-threaten-strike-at-u-s-seaports-b5712a1a?st=r6s5lt9r5kagfqa&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • R C Dean

      Team Blue will absolutely force management to give concessions as a vote-buying ploy. Of course, with junk mail voting, last minute shenanigans count for less every cycle.

  32. juris imprudent

    Well, well, well – almost succeeded in burying it. Of course she’ll be returned for another term.

    You see, politicians aren’t half the problem that voters are.

    • Suthenboy

      “The voters are getting what they voted for, good and hard.” – Menken…I think.

      • UnCivilServant

        I never get what I vote for.

      • Suthenboy

        “I never get what I vote for”

        I do. I was told if I voted for OMB we would get WW3, so I did. They were right.

    • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

      Eh, they don’t have to bury that, it is soto voce what SF wants.

    • slumbrew

      That’s amazing.

      • slumbrew

        Well, not “amazing”. “Perfect encapsulation”, maybe.

    • Suthenboy

      That is hilarious.
      Also, trains in CA? If there is any state you cant live in without a car it is CA.

    • KSuellington

      Yes, but this isn’t just any old train, this train is going to help California to change the climate.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    You see, politicians aren’t half the problem that voters are.

    You know that old saying, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others”?

    I’m beginning to suspect it’s bullshit.

    • R C Dean

      I knew a very intelligent and accomplished lawyer who could argue convincingly that monarchies were the way to go.

      • UnCivilServant

        I am a monarchist if and only if I am the Monarch.

    • PieInTheSky

      I can be emperor of America if needed.

      • Suthenboy

        My God, why would you want that? Speaking of bullshit the ol’ “It’s good to be king.” is just that.
        Everyone else’s problems become your problems. Who needs that shit?

      • PieInTheSky

        why would you want that – for the wine and the women

      • UnCivilServant

        But you’ll get Whine and “women”.

    • Suthenboy

      The Founders knew it is bullshit. That is why WE DONT HAVE A DEMOCRACY.

  34. juris imprudent

    You have to be a screaming dumbshit to take Rep. Donald’s words as praising Jim Crow, when in fact he was praising the strength of black families in spite of Jim Crow. Fortunately, the LA Times found a screaming dumbshit.

    And of course Granderson ignores Sowell’s point that the laws deeper origin was a means to deal with free [poor] whites in the South.

    • PieInTheSky

      Fortunately, the LA Times found a screaming dumbshit. – to be fair, that is not easy these days, so few of those around

    • WTF

      Don’t worry, the MSM will run with the narrative that he was praising Jim Crow. Because he’s a Republican so of course he was.

    • UnCivilServant

      It doesn’t need to be a substantial reason. Any flimsy excuse will do.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        They haven’t gone this nuts since the price of *insert disgusting odiferous semisoft cheese here*doubled.

  35. PieInTheSky

    Reconstruction of a Palaeolithic cave exploration through footprint analysis – the Italian Basura Cave, revealing two adults, a teenager and two young children crawling and walking through the dark with a pine wood torch circa 14kya

    https://x.com/Paracelsus1092/status/1800456691021906024

    • PutridMeat

      two adults, a teenager and two young children

      Clearly the first evidence of Paleolithic LGBQTRIAGN++ couples raising their non-binary trans children in the face of racist neanderthalic patriarchy.

    • Mojeaux

      I don’t see he did much wrong. He didn’t seem to be going fast and lightly wet streets and RWD just does that on its own. Couldn’t tell if his tires were bald. My truck is very touchy on lightly wet streets and I hate driving it when it’s wet and I refuse to drive it in the snow. And its tires are DEFINITELY not bald.

    • PieInTheSky

      something slippery jumped out of nowhere in front of it

      • Suthenboy

        Give a little time between rains and a bit of oil floats out of the pavement and stays there with a short, light rain.
        The road can be slicker than owl shit and you cant see it.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Just like those army rangers climbing up that cliff

    Warning about the far-right Project 2025 agenda for a Donald Trump White House, a group of House Democrats has launched a task force to start fighting the proposal and stop it from taking hold if the Republican former president returns to power.

    Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman of California is unveiling The Stop Project 2025 Task Force on Tuesday, the latest sign that congressional Democrats and outside groups are treating Trump’s campaign seriously in the expected rematch against Democratic President Joe Biden this fall.

    “The stakes just couldn’t be higher,” Huffman told The Associated Press.

    Huffman said the Project 2025 agenda will hit “like a Blitzkrieg” and lawmakers need to be ready.

    “If we’re trying to react to it and understand it in real time, it’s too late,” he said. “We need to see it coming well in advance and prepare ourselves accordingly.”

    Their loyalty to the government is infinite. No sacrifice is too great.

    • The Other Kevin

      “Core to the Project 2025 plan is ousting thousands of civil servants and replacing them with personnel from a database of applicants, an effort to reverse the setbacks of Trump’s first term, when many of his more extreme ideas were thwarted and blocked by those refusing to break norms, violate laws or overextend presidential powers.”

      Presidents staffing the executive branch with people who agree with them? SHOCKING! How will democracy survive!

      • Grummun

        refusing to break norms, violate laws

        Norms like Executive agencies doing what the Chief of the Executive Branch tells them? Laws like military leadership not conspiring with foreign militaries?

    • rhywun

      “The stakes just couldn’t be higher,” Huffman told The Associated Press.

      “My Caribbean vacations don’t just pay for themselves, you know.”

    • WTF

      You’re racist for noticing that.

      • Suthenboy

        That is what they used to say about Cortez’s account of the Aztec temple build entirely out of human skulls.
        Since said temple was recently discovered below the streets of Mexico City there has been a deafening silence about it.

        I always thought Cortez was too kind and generous in his treatment of the Aztecs.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Huh…seems unsafe, they must have bribed the code inspector.

    • R.J.

      I blame the white patriarchy.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    The Democratic-led task force comes as groups on and off Capitol Hill are increasingly alarmed over Project 2025, a sweeping blueprint from the conservative Heritage Foundation that is preparing to quickly help staff a new GOP administration with plans for dismantling aspects of the federal government and installing loyalists for a second Trump term.

    Right. The end is nigh. Anarchy and chaos await.

  38. PieInTheSky

    “Perfection is impossible.

    In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches.

    But what percentage of points did I win?

    54%

    In other words, even top ranked tennis players win barely more than half the points they play.

    When you lose ever second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot.

    You teach yourself to think:
    ‘Okay, I double faulted…it’s only a point.’
    ‘Okay, I came to the net and I got passed again…it’s only a point.’

    Even a great shot, an overhead backhand smash that ends up on ESPN’s top 10 playlist – that too is just a point.

    Here’s why I’m telling you this.

    When you’re playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world. And it is.

    But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you.

    This mindset is crucial – because it frees you to fully commit to the next point with intensity, clarity, and focus.”

    https://x.com/DylanJardon/status/1800191077695062038

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      A wordy way to say don’t dwell on the past but I concur.

      • PieInTheSky

        it was a commencement speech he had to stretch it to fill the time I guess.

      • R C Dean

        R C’s commencement speech:

        “Well, you’ve got a new credential and are going to need find something else to do now. Don’t fuck it up.”

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Core to the Project 2025 plan is ousting thousands of civil servants and replacing them with personnel from a database of applicants, an effort to reverse the setbacks of Trump’s first term, when many of his more extreme ideas were thwarted and blocked by those refusing to break norms, violate laws or overextend presidential powers.

    There is no Deep State, and you should get down on your knees and thank them for saving you from Trump’s power mad blood lust.

    • WTF

      That’s a roundabout way of describing insubordination to thwart the will of the people’s elected representative.

      • Suthenboy

        Yep. In a word – sedition.

  40. UnCivilServant

    What’s with these КИ cars? I thought we were sanctioning Russia.

    • Nephilium

      Ask Yusef.

      • UnCivilServant

        He does not appear to be around.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      I see it as the Nine inch Nails logo, ridiculous really

    • Gustave Lytton

      I think of that sex cult where the women got tattooed.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    When you’re playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world. And it is.

    Be the ball, Danny.

    • PieInTheSky

      Perfect timing! She gets tackled and starts screaming the second she says “racist police.” Give that officer a raise.

      Thank you to the UCLA encampment for starting again, I didn’t realize how much I missed these videos.

      https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1800516365771812932

    • Suthenboy

      How would Uber know if your phone battery is low?

      • PieInTheSky

        I assume the app can access that info

      • Suthenboy

        Going off of the grid seems more appealing every day.

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        Why? If the Dems win the whole grid will break anyway.

  42. The Late P Brooks

    As a founder of the Freethought Caucus on Capitol Hill, Huffman said he has particularly been alarmed about the rise of Christian nationalism within GOP ranks and efforts to push more conservative theology into government.

    “We were able to beat back some of the worst of this Christian nationalist agenda, this authoritarian agenda, in the first Trump presidency, because they didn’t really know what they were doing,” Huffman said. “The fact that they have been putting all of this forethought and research and planning into a second Trump presidency means we’ll be dealing with a much more formidable foe, if it comes to that this time around.”

    Bibles in every classroom. Prayers everywhere. The Ten Commandments carved over the entry to the Supreme Court.

    • R C Dean

      I read that as the Free of Thought Caucus.

      • Not Adahn

        RE: yesterday and the difference between personal best and arbitrary classification system.

        In this case I’m going to defend the classification system. It’s based on taking the best people as the standard and then comparing the rest to them. For a match score to count, there have to be enough really good people there in order to declare that the standard is legitimate — if it’s just one they might be having a bad day. Real life example: I beat Max Michel. Once. On one stage. Because he fucked up. In the case last weekend, the guy at the top of the charts was Sal Luna, who is a great shooter, but maybe he had a cold or something. Without other GMs on the standings to verify Sal’s performance, it shouldn’t be used to determine how well I did.

        Speaking of, some guy is modifying the ELO system to try and make it work for shooters. His software seemed to do a good job of predicting where I finished.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    False consciousness

    Even if Hochul is telling the truth about restaurateurs’ complaints, they’re still a terrible justification for her flip-flop on congestion pricing. The same goes for public leaders elsewhere who scuttle other urban transportation reforms that merchants often loathe, such as replacing street parking with dedicated lanes for bikes and buses. When it comes to shoppers’ travel habits, small business owners simply don’t know what they’re talking about — and not just in New York.

    In study after study in city after city around the world, researchers have found that merchants exaggerate the share of patrons who arrive by car and undercount those who walk, bike, or ride transit. Those misperceptions lead them to oppose transportation reforms that would limit the presence of cars and make urban neighborhoods cleaner, more pleasant, and less polluted — and would likely increase spending at their business, too.

    ——-

    It’s also possible that business owners are misled by what they are told about local transportation. Think about it: If you’re on your way to a restaurant and your train is delayed or you can’t find a nearby bike corral, would you complain to the staff? The thought likely wouldn’t cross your mind. But what if you were in a car, and you had to circle the block a few times before squeezing into a parking spot? Now the odds of sharing your annoyance are probably higher, since there are few more universal American experiences than complaining about parking. If store owners hear more griping from car owners than from transit riders, cyclists, and walkers, they might conclude that the bulk of their customers are driving — and that any policy that worsens drivers’ burden could spell doom.

    Good old Vox is here to tell you why you’re stupid.

    • Suthenboy

      Commie researchers find that restaurants are miscounting their tills. Someone should alert them.

    • EvilSheldon

      Free translation – “We hate small businesses because we can’t control them, so we support hounding them out of business.”

    • R C Dean

      I’m unclear on how reducing transportation to and from urban neighborhoods will increase the number of people going there to spend money, myself.

    • Suthenboy

      Again, I was told that if I voted for Trump…

    • The Other Kevin

      Hard evidence of Russian collusion. They are there to pick up classified documents from Mar a Lago.

  44. The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

    Hunter Biden eligible for 20+ years in pmita prison. Now how will the judge sentence?

    • EvilSheldon

      Huh. Well, here we are.

    • R C Dean

      I’ll be damned. I would have lost that bet.

      • R.J.

        Not yet. He’s guilty – now what will the sentence be?

    • Nephilium

      So will it also be “convicted felon, Hunter Biden”?

      • Not Adahn

        Presidential candidate and father of convicted felon Joe Biden.

    • The Other Kevin

      I’m still not sure why the Biden DOJ when ahead with this. There has to be an angle and I don’t see it yet.

      Regardless, tomorrow is Wednesday, and it’s going to be epic.

      • Not Adahn

        I predict Cracky has a breakdown.

      • Grumbletarian

        Presidential pardon in 5… 4.. 3…

  45. The Late P Brooks

    Whatever its genesis, the pro-car bias of business owners presents a major roadblock to urban policy reform.

    And there it is. We want what we want, and anybody who doesn’t like it can go fuck himself.

    • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

      People with cars have money to spend.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    “Your Honor, we tried and we tried, but we just couldn’t figure out how to spring him.”

  47. The Late P Brooks

    Now how will the judge sentence?

    A stern admonishment, and time served.

    • R C Dean

      Good question. The feds have pretty strict sentencing guidelines and the judge has to publicly justify going low.

      • Sean

        Regular drug testing could be amusing.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      He is gonna do time, same as Trump, then we do a prisoner exchange,
      Cheers!

  48. The Late P Brooks

    See something, do something

    The King County, Washington, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged a man with second-degree murder and assault, both felony counts, for allegedly shooting a teen he thought was holding a gun and who he believed was about to rob a sporting goods store.

    Aaron Brown Myers, 51, told police he believed the 17-year-old victim had a gun and was going to rob a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in the Seattle suburb of Renton last Wednesday as the teen headed toward the retailer with two others, according to court documents filed by the prosecutor, Leesa Manion.

    The boy was holding an airsoft gun, according to a police affidavit. An airsoft gun is a replica firearm that shoots low-power, nonmetallic pellets.

    The two teens who were with the victim told police they were going to the sporting goods store to either return or exchange the airsoft gun because it was malfunctioning, the affidavit said.

    Another dumbass spooled up by nonstop paranoid panicmongering from the media?

    This is what the nonstop battle against “normalizing” gun ownership gets you.

    * self-contradiction disclaimer

    • Gustave Lytton

      Huh. I see a fair number of people carrying firearms into Cabelas, there are a good number of concealed and open carriers, yet I haven’t heard of one mistaken shooting locally.

    • Sean

      That story makes no sense.

  49. The Late P Brooks

    It gets better-

    “The investigation revealed that the victim and two other 17-year-olds were walking toward a store to return a handgun-style BB gun when the armed suspect got out of his vehicle and confronted the trio,” according to the filing obtained by ABC News. “There was an altercation that turned physical, and the suspect allegedly shot the victim multiple times.”

    Myers told police he works as an armed security guard elsewhere, and he had just gotten off work and was waiting in his car in a parking lot as his son attended martial arts classes nearby, according to the police affidavit.

    “Myers indicated that he conducted ‘overwatch’ at the location as he has seen numerous crimes occur in the parking lot in the past,” the affidavit read.

    God job, Wyatt Earp. Have a nice time in the slammer.

  50. The Late P Brooks

    I’m still not sure why the Biden DOJ when ahead with this. There has to be an angle and I don’t see it yet.

    They tried to bury it with that plea deal, and the judge laughed them out of court.

  51. Not Adahn

    I have a theory about the verdict, but I’ll save it until 12:30 EDT.

    • R.J.

      I look forward to it.